No idea, though if it comes down to a common opponent result, Ithaca would have the chance to get the upper hand on Union with a Cortaca win (not looking great with the way IC's offense is going, but the possibility is there)

I would think an SOS tiebreaker would also favor Ithaca unless Cortland loses to both Brockport and Utica because the Bombers have Hopkins

I like how the IC guy is like "I think I'd have Union ahead of IC" and the Union guy is like "I'm not gonna be convinced Union should be ahead of IC until they beat them"

We are many things on this board, but we're not, in terms of talking about the quality of our teams, blatant homers

As for Union, Flanagan has really come into his own as a runner. He's got to cut down on the turnovers, but if he does, Union could take the conference.

My current gut for the eventual pecking order:

RPI
Union
IC

Yeah to echo the post above, this Hobart season reminds me a bit of IC's 2015. The Bombers were coming off back-to back conference titles, started 4-1, and led Brockport 14-0 in Game 6.

They scored 26 points the rest of the season and finished 4-6.

Injuries, tough breaks, it all happened. I've never seen the wheels come off a season so completely

I think that's what's happened to Hobart, but the schedule is flipped. They're obviously going to beat Hilbert and Buff State and will probably beat Rochester and St. Lawrence. But this team can just cannot catch a break right now.

Quote from: Pat Coleman on October 06, 2025, 03:51:20 PMGoing to guess that in the mind of the two voters who have Ithaca on their ballot, it may be that Ithaca's loss is to Johns Hopkins, who nobody should hold against a team for losing to. RPI's is to Utica, which is not the same.

Some wise person told me, it's not who you lost to, it's who you beat 

Quote from: ICGrad on October 06, 2025, 03:01:30 PM

Quote from: Machiavelli on October 06, 2025, 09:45:51 AMGood solid statement win for RPI this week. Surprised Ithaca struggled with Rochester like they did, but optics are definitely looking like RPI might be the frontrunner, though there's a lot of football left to play. Hobart is definitely a talented team, but it's clear this just isn't their year.

That said, I can't let a week go by and not make a comment about Top 25 votes. I'm happy someone from the LL is getting votes, but if you're an outsider and evaluating Ithaca and RPI, I'm really curious what part of Ithaca's body of work would place them getting votes over RPI. Obviously RPI had a VERY bad loss on their schedule, but they followed it up with a touch win against Brockport and blowout wins against Rochester and Hobart while Ithaca crawled past both over the same 2 week span.

It still just doesn't pass the sniff test to me.

Wait...last week, weren't you complaining that Ithaca wasn't getting votes you felt they deserved to get over other teams in the region? This week, Ithaca gets votes, and how you're complaining that RPI isn't getting votes you feel they deserve more than Ithaca?

Each week gives us new information.

Last week made it so Ithaca and RPI now have two common opponents: Hobart and Rochester

RPI has beaten those two teams by a combined score of 67-13.
Ithaca has beaten them by aa combined score of 23-13

On to the LL. I've never seen a defense like Ithaca's.

The Bombers lead the conference in PPG and YPG allowed by a significant margin: 3 PPG and 43 YPG. But how they do it is just surprising.

Ithaca has forced just two fumbles all season, has just 1 interception, and has just 5 sacks. That's an almost unbelievable from what you'd expect from the best statistical defense in the conference

Quote from: Pat Coleman on October 05, 2025, 01:45:39 PMI would love to see an attempt. People talk about Camp Randall Stadium in Madison and it is centrally located but I think the Brewers' stadium would be cool and the marketing weight of an MLB club certainly helps in these endeavors.

My thought there is that upper limit for fans is 46,000 and change if they get into standing room only. Cortaca drew 45,161. Tossing another grand in there at the margins is fine, but doesn't tell anyone anything new. Again, with these schools being so much bigger — and the games simply meaning more — like, why not shoot for the moon. Why not go for 60,000?

What was so significant about Johnnie-Tommie at Target was the eye popping number. It more than doubled the previous record.

What was so significant about MetLife was the decision to move it to hundreds of miles away from both campuses — Target Field's distance to UST was less than 10 — and make it truly a neutral site game.

Make a splash.

Also as someone who ran the comms roll outs for the Cortaca games — the amount of energy surrounding a game where you kind of know there's no limit to the fans you're going to draw is palpable. Every single new "thing" you announce or that gets picked up in the media, you're using it, wondering what kind of push you're going to get from it. Waaaay more fun. Think of your under appreciated comms teams, schools!

I have to say, I am kind of surprised the UW schools haven't taken a shot at the D3 all-time attendance record. I think there's just such a bigger buzz around WIAC football, and obviously, with bigger student bodies — and, as it follows, bigger alumni bases — you've simply got a bigger audience. If Cortaca can draw 45,161, I feel like a WIAC battle could clear 50,000 easily, maybe push up to 60,000.

I have to say, I am kind of surprised the UW schools haven't taken a shot at the D3 all-time attendance record. I think there's just such a bigger buzz around WIAC football, and obviously, with bigger student bodies — and, as it follows, bigger alumni bases — you've simply got a bigger audience. If Cortacaa can draw 45,161, I feel like a WIAC battle could cleaar 50,000 easily.

Agreed with the Union dude.

Ithaca gifted them short fields all day with fumbles, penalties, and whatever the final 4th down call was, and they simply couldn't score.

I said after the IC/Hobart rockfight that if this was indeed the Top 2 teams in the conference, the conference was in trouble. IC didn't do much to change my mind, but at least RPI is stepping up.

RPI/Ithaca is week 9 and RPI/Union is week 10. Looks like that's gonna decide everything

Sigh, this ain't it

Yeah, I sorta remember those, though everything pre-2020 feels like a blur.

I get it, there's a lot of stuff, and limited bandwidth for everyone. Admittedly, I'm biased and just don't do podcasts, and much prefer the quick bites of text.

Random thought:

Pat and the crew should do a non-podcast recap of the weekend on Mondays highlighting some things they saw, in a similar fashion to Fridays "Quick Hits".

Quote from: Bartman on October 01, 2025, 08:59:45 AMThis was also highlighted on the D3FB "In the Huddle' this week as one of the bad calls this weekend. What a critical moment where Hobart's third string QB almost broke the curse.

Well, they would have picked up 15 yards on the flag, and they picked up 11 on the next play anyway. Like, I don't know how the mental aspect of it impacted anything, but in terms of where the ball ended up, it was minimally impactful

The 4th down call though, that's what we call the old Day 1 install. You simply can't do what they did there.