FB: Liberty League

[UfanBill]

I was travelling and away all weekend so I haven't had the chance to recap the weekend. I listened to the first half of Cortaca, then the 4th quarter during the Shoes halftime. I think 1 thing that hurts the LL/E8 in rankings is that these rivalry games between top teams in Upstate NY seem to always be a coin flip, no matter how much better on paper one team is than the other. Any of the big 4 in the LL can always go either way. It's a different brand of football that I don't think exists in other parts of the country. The year RPI made it to the Final 4(2003), they got beaten pretty good by Hobart. 2022 Ithaca was 12-0 at one point, beat both RPI and Union by only 3, but blew everyone else out. 2022 Cortland was undefeated until Cortaca and got smoked by Ithaca. 2022 RPI beat IC/Union, and then very good Endicott and Cortland teams in the playoffs, but lost 10-9 to Hobart. I just don't think this parity with 'rivalry' teams exists elsewhere and it makes for great football, but low national ranks and respect. In a number of cases, our under-appreciated conferences do a little damage in the postseason. While I'm sure Ithaca and Union supporters were hopeful they could both beat RPI, I don't think anyone thought it would happen based on common results heading into those games, but anyone can win in these games every year.

As for the games themselves:

Cortaca
It seems to me at the end of the year, Ithaca may have been the best overall team in the LL, but they made the QB change too late. Their defense would likely give them an edge in the playoffs with the added offensive firepower. While Cortland had a few chances to pull it out, the IC defense came up huge in the 4th quarter. In the end, Cortland got a much more favorable playoff matchup than Union and COULD give JHU fits in Round 2(assuming they get there). Cortland still has the stank of playoff magic from 2 years ago, so it will be interesting how they perform.

Shoes
I was pretty livid about how RPI started. I couldn't watch, and I wasn't there, but I also heard there was some pretty lobsided officiating going on, though RPI just didn't come out of the locker room the same way Union did. Union definitely has a weapon in Flanagan. I fear it could be a little too 'one-trick pony-esque' against a team like Muhlenburg, but they definitely have a puncher's chance and hope they can win a game and continue to show that this league can compete with teams that seemingly get more national credit year in/year out... I had made mention of concerns about RPIs secondary from earlier the season. I called it out in the Buff St and Hilbert games. The problem is, during those games, while you may see it happen, it doesn't get exposed or as much attention as those games end up in blowouts.

I don't want this to sound like an excuse(though it will), because I think Union physically beat and outperformed RPI last weekend, but I can't help but wonder if RPIs schedule hurt them in the last 2 games. Breakdowns against Buff St and Hilbert didn't matter because it was like they were invincible against the competition, and maybe they got a little sloppy or lost some of their edge the minute Ithaca and Union smacked them in the mouth. And they didn't get their sh!t together until later in both games.

I give RPI a lot of credit for showing a lot of heart and never giving up the last 2 weeks. It turns out the offense wasn't as good as we thought they were(again based on some of their competition) and the secondary was exposed with all 3 losses this year. Hopefully it's a building block towards continued success next year, and hopefully they finish strong and beat the hell out of SJF. I also hope and expect Hobart to win handily.

Good luck to both Union and Cortland. While W's in the postseason only seem to skew reality in the moment, I still would love to see some success.

One last thing...Union still sucks, and I hope whoever owns the cowbells that I had to listen to the entire game had fender benders on the way home and needed the cowbells physically removed from their a$$ses.

I have a couple of posts to make but I'll start with this.... Not sure what "lobsided(sp) officiating" you're referring to but I WAS THERE and I didn't recall many penalties at all so I checked them on the play by play and the video. The first RPI penalty happened on the 2nd play of the game. A late hit on Flanagan as he was being tackled into the RPI sideline. There was no question it was legit...Second RPI penalty didn't come until it was already 14=0 Union. A roughing the passer (happened at 1:13:44) that was also unquestionable. Since Patch completed the pass on the play to the RPI 9 yd. line the markoff was only 5 yards. A Flanagan run on the next play made it 21-0. The 4th and last RPI penalty of the half was a drag down offensive holding call of no significance since 2 plays later Union was called for an (undetectable) illegal use of hands that evened things out and RPI subsequently scored anyway. Four total penalties on RPI (a false start)and 3 on Union (a false start and a block in the back) in a half doesn't seem lopsided to me. Sounds like sour grapes.  If you want to see for yourself ... https://unionathletics.com/sports/2018/8/23/football-video.aspx   

[Machiavelli]

I was travelling and away all weekend so I haven't had the chance to recap the weekend. I listened to the first half of Cortaca, then the 4th quarter during the Shoes halftime. I think 1 thing that hurts the LL/E8 in rankings is that these rivalry games between top teams in Upstate NY seem to always be a coin flip, no matter how much better on paper one team is than the other. Any of the big 4 in the LL can always go either way. It's a different brand of football that I don't think exists in other parts of the country. The year RPI made it to the Final 4(2003), they got beaten pretty good by Hobart. 2022 Ithaca was 12-0 at one point, beat both RPI and Union by only 3, but blew everyone else out. 2022 Cortland was undefeated until Cortaca and got smoked by Ithaca. 2022 RPI beat IC/Union, and then very good Endicott and Cortland teams in the playoffs, but lost 10-9 to Hobart. I just don't think this parity with 'rivalry' teams exists elsewhere and it makes for great football, but low national ranks and respect. In a number of cases, our under-appreciated conferences do a little damage in the postseason. While I'm sure Ithaca and Union supporters were hopeful they could both beat RPI, I don't think anyone thought it would happen based on common results heading into those games, but anyone can win in these games every year.

As for the games themselves:

Cortaca
It seems to me at the end of the year, Ithaca may have been the best overall team in the LL, but they made the QB change too late. Their defense would likely give them an edge in the playoffs with the added offensive firepower. While Cortland had a few chances to pull it out, the IC defense came up huge in the 4th quarter. In the end, Cortland got a much more favorable playoff matchup than Union and COULD give JHU fits in Round 2(assuming they get there). Cortland still has the stank of playoff magic from 2 years ago, so it will be interesting how they perform.

Shoes
I was pretty livid about how RPI started. I couldn't watch, and I wasn't there, but I also heard there was some pretty lobsided officiating going on, though RPI just didn't come out of the locker room the same way Union did. Union definitely has a weapon in Flanagan. I fear it could be a little too 'one-trick pony-esque' against a team like Muhlenburg, but they definitely have a puncher's chance and hope they can win a game and continue to show that this league can compete with teams that seemingly get more national credit year in/year out... I had made mention of concerns about RPIs secondary from earlier the season. I called it out in the Buff St and Hilbert games. The problem is, during those games, while you may see it happen, it doesn't get exposed or as much attention as those games end up in blowouts.

I don't want this to sound like an excuse(though it will), because I think Union physically beat and outperformed RPI last weekend, but I can't help but wonder if RPIs schedule hurt them in the last 2 games. Breakdowns against Buff St and Hilbert didn't matter because it was like they were invincible against the competition, and maybe they got a little sloppy or lost some of their edge the minute Ithaca and Union smacked them in the mouth. And they didn't get their sh!t together until later in both games.

I give RPI a lot of credit for showing a lot of heart and never giving up the last 2 weeks. It turns out the offense wasn't as good as we thought they were(again based on some of their competition) and the secondary was exposed with all 3 losses this year. Hopefully it's a building block towards continued success next year, and hopefully they finish strong and beat the hell out of SJF. I also hope and expect Hobart to win handily.

Good luck to both Union and Cortland. While W's in the postseason only seem to skew reality in the moment, I still would love to see some success.

One last thing...Union still sucks, and I hope whoever owns the cowbells that I had to listen to the entire game had fender benders on the way home and needed the cowbells physically removed from their a$$ses.

I have a couple of posts to make but I'll start with this.... Not sure what "lobsided(sp) officiating" you're referring to but I WAS THERE and I didn't recall many penalties at all so I checked them on the play by play and the video. The first RPI penalty happened on the 2nd play of the game. A late hit on Flanagan as he was being tackled into the RPI sideline. There was no question it was legit...Second RPI penalty didn't come until it was already 14=0 Union. A roughing the passer (happened at 1:13:44) that was also unquestionable. Since Patch completed the pass on the play to the RPI 9 yd. line the markoff was only 5 yards. A Flanagan run on the next play made it 21-0. The 3rd and last RPI penalty of the half was a drag down offensive holding call of no significance since 2 plays later Union was called for an (undetectable) illegal use of hands that evened things out and RPI subsequently scored anyway. Four total penalties on RPI (a false start)and 3 on Union (a false start and a block in the back) in a half doesn't seem lopsided to me. Sounds like sour grapes.       

Jesus Christ, ease up big guy. I wasn't there and I wasn't watching it. The info I got was from a non RPI/Union person(he was from St. Lawrence) and said the officiating was terrible in the first half. I have zero additional details. Maybe it was missed calls? He was a lineman, so maybe there were things he was seeing that the refs weren't. I don't know, but that was the info relayed to me. And I'm exceptionally sorry for the typo.

Are you just in a bad mood because they couldn't get the cowbell dislodged?

[UfanBill]

I was travelling and away all weekend so I haven't had the chance to recap the weekend. I listened to the first half of Cortaca, then the 4th quarter during the Shoes halftime. I think 1 thing that hurts the LL/E8 in rankings is that these rivalry games between top teams in Upstate NY seem to always be a coin flip, no matter how much better on paper one team is than the other. Any of the big 4 in the LL can always go either way. It's a different brand of football that I don't think exists in other parts of the country. The year RPI made it to the Final 4(2003), they got beaten pretty good by Hobart. 2022 Ithaca was 12-0 at one point, beat both RPI and Union by only 3, but blew everyone else out. 2022 Cortland was undefeated until Cortaca and got smoked by Ithaca. 2022 RPI beat IC/Union, and then very good Endicott and Cortland teams in the playoffs, but lost 10-9 to Hobart. I just don't think this parity with 'rivalry' teams exists elsewhere and it makes for great football, but low national ranks and respect. In a number of cases, our under-appreciated conferences do a little damage in the postseason. While I'm sure Ithaca and Union supporters were hopeful they could both beat RPI, I don't think anyone thought it would happen based on common results heading into those games, but anyone can win in these games every year.

As for the games themselves:

Cortaca
It seems to me at the end of the year, Ithaca may have been the best overall team in the LL, but they made the QB change too late. Their defense would likely give them an edge in the playoffs with the added offensive firepower. While Cortland had a few chances to pull it out, the IC defense came up huge in the 4th quarter. In the end, Cortland got a much more favorable playoff matchup than Union and COULD give JHU fits in Round 2(assuming they get there). Cortland still has the stank of playoff magic from 2 years ago, so it will be interesting how they perform.

Shoes
I was pretty livid about how RPI started. I couldn't watch, and I wasn't there, but I also heard there was some pretty lobsided officiating going on, though RPI just didn't come out of the locker room the same way Union did. Union definitely has a weapon in Flanagan. I fear it could be a little too 'one-trick pony-esque' against a team like Muhlenburg, but they definitely have a puncher's chance and hope they can win a game and continue to show that this league can compete with teams that seemingly get more national credit year in/year out... I had made mention of concerns about RPIs secondary from earlier the season. I called it out in the Buff St and Hilbert games. The problem is, during those games, while you may see it happen, it doesn't get exposed or as much attention as those games end up in blowouts.

I don't want this to sound like an excuse(though it will), because I think Union physically beat and outperformed RPI last weekend, but I can't help but wonder if RPIs schedule hurt them in the last 2 games. Breakdowns against Buff St and Hilbert didn't matter because it was like they were invincible against the competition, and maybe they got a little sloppy or lost some of their edge the minute Ithaca and Union smacked them in the mouth. And they didn't get their sh!t together until later in both games.

I give RPI a lot of credit for showing a lot of heart and never giving up the last 2 weeks. It turns out the offense wasn't as good as we thought they were(again based on some of their competition) and the secondary was exposed with all 3 losses this year. Hopefully it's a building block towards continued success next year, and hopefully they finish strong and beat the hell out of SJF. I also hope and expect Hobart to win handily.

Good luck to both Union and Cortland. While W's in the postseason only seem to skew reality in the moment, I still would love to see some success.

One last thing...Union still sucks, and I hope whoever owns the cowbells that I had to listen to the entire game had fender benders on the way home and needed the cowbells physically removed from their a$$ses.

I have a couple of posts to make but I'll start with this.... Not sure what "lobsided(sp) officiating" you're referring to but I WAS THERE and I didn't recall many penalties at all so I checked them on the play by play and the video. The first RPI penalty happened on the 2nd play of the game. A late hit on Flanagan as he was being tackled into the RPI sideline. There was no question it was legit...Second RPI penalty didn't come until it was already 14=0 Union. A roughing the passer (happened at 1:13:44) that was also unquestionable. Since Patch completed the pass on the play to the RPI 9 yd. line the markoff was only 5 yards. A Flanagan run on the next play made it 21-0. The 3rd and last RPI penalty of the half was a drag down offensive holding call of no significance since 2 plays later Union was called for an (undetectable) illegal use of hands that evened things out and RPI subsequently scored anyway. Four total penalties on RPI (a false start)and 3 on Union (a false start and a block in the back) in a half doesn't seem lopsided to me. Sounds like sour grapes.       

Jesus Christ, ease up big guy. I wasn't there and I wasn't watching it. The info I got was from a non RPI/Union person(he was from St. Lawrence) and said the officiating was terrible in the first half. I have zero additional details. Maybe it was missed calls? He was a lineman, so maybe there were things he was seeing that the refs weren't. I don't know, but that was the info relayed to me. And I'm exceptionally sorry for the typo.

Are you just in a bad mood because they couldn't get the cowbell dislodged?

I've actually been in a great mood since Saturday, thanks for asking...The cowbells are the idea of Union player parent who devised the plan to be noisy enough so their sons could hear their presence. These are the same parents who organize and serve a large post game tailgate meal for the team both home and away. They travel in large numbers and Union is lucky to have their commitment...and yes they cheer loudly.   

[unionpalooza]

I was travelling and away all weekend so I haven't had the chance to recap the weekend. I listened to the first half of Cortaca, then the 4th quarter during the Shoes halftime. I think 1 thing that hurts the LL/E8 in rankings is that these rivalry games between top teams in Upstate NY seem to always be a coin flip, no matter how much better on paper one team is than the other. Any of the big 4 in the LL can always go either way. It's a different brand of football that I don't think exists in other parts of the country. The year RPI made it to the Final 4(2003), they got beaten pretty good by Hobart. 2022 Ithaca was 12-0 at one point, beat both RPI and Union by only 3, but blew everyone else out. 2022 Cortland was undefeated until Cortaca and got smoked by Ithaca. 2022 RPI beat IC/Union, and then very good Endicott and Cortland teams in the playoffs, but lost 10-9 to Hobart. I just don't think this parity with 'rivalry' teams exists elsewhere and it makes for great football, but low national ranks and respect. In a number of cases, our under-appreciated conferences do a little damage in the postseason. While I'm sure Ithaca and Union supporters were hopeful they could both beat RPI, I don't think anyone thought it would happen based on common results heading into those games, but anyone can win in these games every year.

As for the games themselves:

Cortaca
It seems to me at the end of the year, Ithaca may have been the best overall team in the LL, but they made the QB change too late. Their defense would likely give them an edge in the playoffs with the added offensive firepower. While Cortland had a few chances to pull it out, the IC defense came up huge in the 4th quarter. In the end, Cortland got a much more favorable playoff matchup than Union and COULD give JHU fits in Round 2(assuming they get there). Cortland still has the stank of playoff magic from 2 years ago, so it will be interesting how they perform.

Shoes
I was pretty livid about how RPI started. I couldn't watch, and I wasn't there, but I also heard there was some pretty lobsided officiating going on, though RPI just didn't come out of the locker room the same way Union did. Union definitely has a weapon in Flanagan. I fear it could be a little too 'one-trick pony-esque' against a team like Muhlenburg, but they definitely have a puncher's chance and hope they can win a game and continue to show that this league can compete with teams that seemingly get more national credit year in/year out... I had made mention of concerns about RPIs secondary from earlier the season. I called it out in the Buff St and Hilbert games. The problem is, during those games, while you may see it happen, it doesn't get exposed or as much attention as those games end up in blowouts.

I don't want this to sound like an excuse(though it will), because I think Union physically beat and outperformed RPI last weekend, but I can't help but wonder if RPIs schedule hurt them in the last 2 games. Breakdowns against Buff St and Hilbert didn't matter because it was like they were invincible against the competition, and maybe they got a little sloppy or lost some of their edge the minute Ithaca and Union smacked them in the mouth. And they didn't get their sh!t together until later in both games.

I give RPI a lot of credit for showing a lot of heart and never giving up the last 2 weeks. It turns out the offense wasn't as good as we thought they were(again based on some of their competition) and the secondary was exposed with all 3 losses this year. Hopefully it's a building block towards continued success next year, and hopefully they finish strong and beat the hell out of SJF. I also hope and expect Hobart to win handily.

Good luck to both Union and Cortland. While W's in the postseason only seem to skew reality in the moment, I still would love to see some success.

One last thing...Union still sucks, and I hope whoever owns the cowbells that I had to listen to the entire game had fender benders on the way home and needed the cowbells physically removed from their a$$ses.

I can't stand cowbells in the stands. I love that Ithaca bans them, and enforces it. It's almost always a mom. Yell and fry your vocal cords like a real fan, lady. 

[UfanBill]

The Liberty League announced their 2025 Football Awards today... https://libertyleagueathletics.com/news/2025/11/18/liberty-league-reveals-2025-football-awards-and-all-league-teams.aspx and there were few surprises. Patch Flanagan won Offensive POY, Ithaca's Joe Spira DPOY and Union coach Jon Drach took staff of the year. Congratulations to ALL.

Back on August 2nd (LL page 3499, Post #56979) I referenced that Union had made a hire to their coaching staff that caught my attention. Ryan Ehrets who was a two time first team All Liberty League center(2018,19) and All ECAC and D3football All East player was brought aboard to coach the offensive line. I stated that I thought he'd do a great job. Turns out he did a fantastic job. The Union offensive line has jelled into the best in the Liberty League as evidenced by 4/5 of their members getting All League distinction. Tackles Kyle Webster and Nick Olivola were named First Team. Center/guard David Cooperstein Second Team and guard Jack Beacham got Honorable Mention. The fifth O-lineman, guard/center Bryan Ermshar played great last week in opening huge holes for QB Patch Flanagan to run through the RPI defense. Gotta add guard Dan Barber who was injured a lot of the season but got a few starts. Great work guys and coach Ehrets.   

[UfanBill]

And another tidbit with a nod to Utah ... https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/d3/current/team/705

Back on October 7th Utah asked what Liberty League team was leading in TOP and 33rd in the country? Well after 10 games this same team still holds the LL lead in TOP (Union is 2nd,67th) and has now moved up to national #18. Of course they also stand dead last nationally in Pass Offense completing only 15 of 37 passes for 22.9 yards/game with ZERO passing touchdowns.   Springfield is not surprisingly first in TOP and second to last in passing...Good news though. When you don't throw you're #10 in Fewest Sacks Allowed 10. Union is tied for 21st at 8. Springfield is #1 with only 2.