I am hearing word that the IC head coaching search is not going as smoothly as people would like. The word I've heard used is "disorganized". I don't have much more than that but I don't think the new AD is winning any favor with how things are going...

Yea that totally makes sense and I agree. There are a lot of Bomber alum from the last 10-15 years out there in the coaching world starting to make waves so it would be interesting to see if any of them get a chance.

This is also the first time we are doing a coaching search with a new AD who doesn't have ties to the program beyond being the new AD. I tried to use chatgpt to get a list of Ithaca grads in the college coaching ranks but it wasn't able to pull anything substantial. We definitely need someone who focuses on the trenches and can make us tougher up front.

Quote from: IC798891 on December 16, 2025, 09:16:19 AMRe: Faggiano

Utica's always going to have an uphill battle in the E8. Their cost of attendance is about double that of Cortland and Brockport, and their most recent four-year graduation rate is 44%. They don't have a ton of football history to lean on either.

I could be wrong, but I suspect that like Boyes at Buff State, Faggiano is getting absolutely the most that could be reasonably expected out of them, and most other coaches would be much worse.

I saw last night that Frank was getting feisty with another d3 football account on twitter because he tweeted something and was referencing Union and put (NY) to specify what school he was referring to and Frank got so triggered by it. At the same time, I still kind of respect it because he's passionate about his school and he has no obligation to be unbiased or objective. Now, I would also be prickly if my favorite team was the little brother of the rivalry and only won twice in the last 10+ years.

Someone was talking about Faggiano from Utica earlier, I mentioned him to a friend of mine the other day. I would worry about his lack of playoff appearances and success in conference.

Did anyone see the tweet response Frank Rossi had to the Ithaca X post about the Toerper departure?

He tweeted "This is the best-case scenario for probably everyone involved" which I thought was a little strange. Obviously Frank is a known Union guy, which I have no problem with and I love what he does covering D3 and very much think he covers Ithaca fairly, but what do you think he means by this? Did Toerper wrong him in some way? Did he just think that Toerp had reached his ceiling and wasn't going to win a big game?

I know from people in the world that Toerper is kind of polarizing in the sense that people in the program love him but he maybe has some during game/post game actions that rub people the wrong way. So it wouldn't surprise me if at some point he took issue with something Frank said at some point. It could be a whole lot of nothing but it feels like there is something deeper there.

I would gladly welcome anyone from the Hopkins staff to the Ithaca staff

Quote from: The Man on December 12, 2025, 12:37:52 PM

Quote from: Caz Bombers on December 11, 2025, 05:18:48 PM

Quote from: ICAlum16 on December 11, 2025, 03:59:11 PMI am hearing that the winds of change are swirling on the South Hill of Ithaca, NY. I don't know anything for certain but I would not be shocked if by next week big changes are announced.

Toerper going to East Hill to be Swanstrom's new DC, I suppose.

https://footballscoop.com/2025/12/10/sources-ivy-league-school-parting-ways-with-defensive-coordinator

Toerper to Cornell as DC. Hopkins OC to Ithaca as new HC. 🤫

I am hearing that the winds of change are swirling on the South Hill of Ithaca, NY. I don't know anything for certain but I would not be shocked if by next week big changes are announced.

Bartman, curious on your thoughts on Coach DeWall. Are you starting to maybe turn up the heat on his seat? Seems like a good guy and obviously a solid coach but he also has some Swanstrom in him where he tends to struggle in more meaningful games. Obviously they beat Ithaca and won the league last year but if you look at the body of work it is overall disappointing in conference. I had to come to terms with this during the Swanstrom era and eventually found myself looking for change to try and get over the in league hump, he did get us over the hump with Cortland which was felt great the first two years.. but I digress. Not throwing any shade or anything like that just very curious on what you think!

Quote from: Bartman on September 30, 2025, 08:46:23 AMAll this talk of gray jerseys....how boring...give me the pumpkin all orange for Hobart this Saturday against RPI...pants, jerseys and helmets....and in some cases cleats as well.
On another topic, I just read about the Hope Flying Dutchmen's game and it made pine for the old Dutchmen of Union. Now when I recharge my phone , I think of Union    

Rochester - 13
RPI - 28

Buff St - 31
Hillbert - 11

Hobart 14
Ithaca 24

SLU - 17
Union - 16

Quote from: Machiavelli on September 23, 2025, 12:54:28 PMOk, before my predictions, I just took a look at the Top 25, and I hope someone here can help me get this straight. Ithaca lost to the #3 team in the country. They then proceeded to throttle Alfred who beat Hobart who beat Utica. The result is Ithaca getting no Top 25 votes while Utica gets 3. The math ain't mathing. Me thinks one of the voters submitted their ballot for this week last Friday.

In any case...

Mach's Astonishingly Brilliant Week 4 Predictions:

Rochester - 17
RPI - 35
This is one of the 2 LL games of the week. I really liked what I saw from RPI last week. They looked much improved from the first 2 weeks against a very tough Brockport. RPI decided not to show up after the 11 hour drive to Roch-Vegas last year and a total bender at H(*)(*)TERS. They will avenge that barf-fest from a year ago and stick it to the Bumblebees at home.

Buffalo St - 6
Dilbert - 8
This pick is mostly out of spite for Buff State getting destroyed by friggin Alfred State last week. I'm pulling for the Dilberts to get their first ever W, even though I think it's less than likely.

Hobart - 17
Ithaca - 34
Hobart is flying high after last week's W, but Ithaca basically had a bye week against Dilbert and will more than likely be in a better spot. I like Ithaca at home by a bit.

St. Lawrence - 14
Union - 28
I'm not entirely sure how to feel about this one. Union SHOULD win, possibly even by a lot, but I don't know how I feel about the douchmen yet. I'd stay relatively traditional here and Union handles them.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Carry on...

This feels very spot on. I was really disappointed to see the Bombers get physically dominated and outclassed in every aspect of the game and it had me worried about what was to come for the rest of the season.

Last week's result against Alfred did give me a lot of optimism for the rest of the season especially with teams like Cortland, Union and RPI seeing like they are some what "down" compared to previous years. I think it also shows the difference between the elite in D3FB and teams that are good. I do think that IC has all the talent to win the LL and obviously the showdown with Hobart will have the winner in the driver seat for the conference. There is a lot of young talent on IC right now so these next few weeks of game experience are going to be massive for the first time starters.

Quote from: Jonny Utah on September 15, 2025, 11:34:25 AMAnd back to football, it was nice to see Ithaca get their act together.  Maybe JHU really is just that good.  Still hard to watch as Ithaca has been very competitive with them the past 3 years. 

Ithaca also has a few new faces on offense and defense.  Two freshman starters on defense and overall 16 of the 22 starters are underclassmen.

Hilbert next week should be a good chance for experience for the younger players and then on the the Finger Lakes Fiesta with Hobart.

BUFFALO ST. (7).  v.  BROCKPORT(45)
SLU (21)           v.  OLIVET(16)
ALFRED(14).        v.  HOBART(29)
ITHACA(22).        v.  JOHNS HOPKINS(31)
SUSQUEHANNA(41).   v.  UNION(20)
St.VINCENT (42).   v.  HILBERT(10)
RPI (28).          v   WPI(10)
ROCHESTER(24).     v.  OLIVET(17)

Does anyone know if there have been any FBS or FCS transfers into any of the LL teams? I feel like there are usually a few in any given offseason which I always find interesting. Curious if anyone is up to speed on this.

A bit of a discussion question for the group, would you all consider this a down year for the LL? Ithaca, RPI and Union all having relative down years and Hobart being bounced in the first round. Curious to hear everyone's thoughts!

Union 27 - St. Lawrence 13: SLU can be a tough place to play after some long travel. The score is closer than the game actually is

RPI 22 - Rochester 9: RPI defensive staff puts together a great game plan for the UR rushing attack and RPI wins ugly.

Mercyhurst 42 - Buffalo St 14: I don't know anything about Mercyhurst but if they are are a new FCS team this could be ugly... or not? I really have no idea but still too much for the Bengals.

Ithaca 21 - Hobart 10: Ithaca continues the domination over the Pumpkins and continue to reign supreme over the Finger Lakes. Ithaca defense forces a few turnovers and the offense rides JLO and J Williams to a gritty victory.

FYI - Ithaca has a much needed bye this week and travels to Milton to take on Curry on 9/28

Nothing quite like week 1 predictions season

Hopkins 27, Ithaca 17 - As much as this pains me I think with a bunch of new starters it is going to take the Bombers a little bit to get going. My guess is they are going to rely on the 1-2 punch of Osborne and Williams to carry the load. I know they have some young speedsters (sophomores I believe) so this will be good experience for them. I expect them to play well on defense but the experience of Hopkins help them pull through on Butterfield (turf = not my Butterfield)

Hobart 28 Alfred 10- I think IC said it perfectly with respect to these two teams

Utica 23 Union 24 - I think Union gets it done on the road. Despite some new starters I think coaching makes the difference here.

Rochester 21 Olivet 18 - truthfully I don't know anything about Olivet but Rochester controls the clock with their running game and plays tough defense to get their season off to a strong start.

La-Crosse 38 RPI 20 - I think RPI hangs tough in the first half but La-Crosse pulls away late behind a big midwestern offensive line. I do think RPI has a chance to put up more points than we think.

Endicott 35 St.Lawrence 14 - I think the long travel for Endicott makes them start slow and allows St. Lawrence to even have a slight lead at halftime. Endicott is a talented team and the experience from last year allows them to pull away in 2H

Brockport 42 Buff St 9 - Tough start for the Buffs but hopefully they show flashes of getting back to being competitive throughout the game

Quote from: IC798891 on September 03, 2024, 02:52:26 PMPredictions

Hopkins 31, Ithaca 14. Bombers hang tough, but inexperience in the back of the D and a new O-line prove too much to overcome

Hobart 23, Alfred 3. I am lower on the Statesmen than most (I think they are a half step below the other three contenders), but Alfred has really backslid as a program.

Utica 17, Union 14 Pioneers haven't been super dominant against LL teams, but I think home field tips the scales

Rochester 24, Olivet 20 Do we get the Daniel Papantonis that can look unstoppable like he did in 2022? Or do the injuries that took much of his 2023 season render him a good, if limited back? It's week 1, let's be optimistic

La-Crosse 35, RPI 13 Don't think RPI has the magical mystery dust up in Wisconson

Endicott 38, St. Lawrence 7 Sorry Saints, but Endicott does not get enough national love for their season last year, so I'm taking it out on you

Brockport 55, Buffalo State 3 I miss plucky Buff State, and wish for a safe return to that status eventually. But Brockport's got to get ready for Susquehanna in Week 2, so I don't expect the Bengals to get much quarter here