FB: Empire 8

[XREDDRAGON77]

And the Dragons have a new Head Coach! We went with an IC alumni! Looks like a solid guy that's been pretty successful! Love that he was a wrestler in his HS days! Hope Coach Blu can keep the Dragons rolling!

[Bartman]

And the Dragons have a new Head Coach! We went with an IC alumni! Looks like a solid guy that's been pretty successful! Love that he was a wrestler in his HS days! Hope Coach Blu can keep the Dragons rolling!

Good luck to Cortland's new HC Blumenauer . Big shoes to fill but he looks like a great choice for Cortland and NYS D3 Football.

[Caz Bombers]

Fisher hires in conference, Ed Raby from Morrisville (who himself succeeded Curt Fitzpatrick when he went to Cortland).

[jdex]

Schedule out for Cortland and new coach Tom Blumenauer. Will travel to first-ever foe Alfred St. on Nov. 1. And will be home to start '25 campaign vs. Grove City PA (Sept. 6) and Union (Sept. 13) ---- having clashed with both in earlier playoff meetings. RDragons edge Grove City enroute to '23 national title and against Schnectady's Union on three occasions, '89 Union NCAA playoff win, '07 Cortland ECAC Northeast Bowl win, '17 Cortland New York Bowl win.
    2025 slate
    Sept. 6 Grove City PA; 13 Union; 20 at Hartwick*; 27 at Morrisville*.
    Oct. 4 Utica*; 18 Alfred U.*; 25 at St. John Fisher*.
    Nov. 1 at Alfred St.*; 8 Brockport*; 15 at Ithaca
    * Empire 8

[Kahuna67]

A lot of transition in the Empire 8 going into the 2025 season. Is the gap closing in on the Red Dragons? Are the Golden Eagles on pace to sit atop the perch? Which other schools will be in the hunt and who will be the biggest dark horse next season? All the changes will lead to some excitement and new expectations for those members. Can't wait!

[XREDDRAGON77]

Preseason #10 for the Red Dragons. I was actually surprised with that spot. Lots of questions need to be answered heading into the season. New HC and staff(Coach B has a very strong resume). Key positions being reloaded! Should be interesting!

[IC798891]

Cortland just seems too high to me for a team that took a bigger step back than I think people realize. The 2023 team basically played a flawless regular season except for a disaster of a final 5 minutes vs. Susquehanna.

The 2024 team barely got out of Brockport unscathed, had to fight Susquehanna for 60 minutes, and were less impressive against a worse Ithaca team at home.

The irony, of course, is that the 2024 team went 10-0, and the 2023 team went 9-1. But there was a sense of inevitability about Cortland's offense in 2023 that wasn't there in last year — losing two NFL caliber WRs will do that.

With Boyes gone and the QB position an unknown, and St. John also graduating, I feel like we're looking at another step back.

All that said, as we saw with Ethan Gallo's record-setting season, just because someone doesn't make an impact one year, it doesn't mean they can't be elite the next. But Cortland feels like they're going to be a little like Ithaca 2024 to me. Figuring out the passing game, relying heavily on a great back, and having to kick off the season with a really tough game.

[Pat Coleman]

Yep -- it's one of those things where there have to be ten teams in the Top 10, so someone has to be in that spot. Probably a WIAC team will be a better top 10 candidate than Cortland, but nobody knows which one.

There will be a big opportunity for teams to move up in 2025, I think -- for whomever puts together a run after all of these double senior classes graduated.

[IC798891]

Right, it's one of those "I don't know who should be 10, but I feel pretty confident it *shouldn't* be Cortland"

[Pat Coleman]

I get it. Voters don't have the option to leave the No. 10 spot blank, so ...

[HansenRatings]

FWIW, over the last decade, the #10 team averages 365 poll points, if you exclude 2021 (for obvious reasons), that average is 369. Cortland had 335 poll points. So the voters in aggregate have less faith in Cortland as a Top 10 team than the typical #10 team.

[XREDDRAGON77]

We will find out in time!  The Dragons played Springfield with Boyes at a fraction of his normal self. Defensively, that game was a coaching enigma! Not sure what the staff was thinking with the fronts and shades they ran v that offense. Almost unorthodox, coming from an alumni base where 90% of your players are coaching at the HS level. But...SC played NC tougher then anyone else down the stretch, so it's safe to say SC was the real deal last year!

Anyway, the kid that we thought that was gonna jump into the QB role last year v Springfield is a horse. Should be good, but has huge shoes to fill. I believe Joe Iadevio is back after missing last year. He was a stud receiver from the Stag Bowl run. The last 4 years were an amazing run. As much as I'd love to see the momentum remain, it's only natural to see a hiccup at some point. Fingers crossed!

[IC798891]

I can never tell based on class years anymore. Who is the Cortland QB you're talking about?