FB: Liberty League

[Caz Bombers]

Weird af to say but Utica is the best team in the state.

[IC798891]

Weird af to say but Utica is the best team in the state.

Looks that way, but I still have memories of the 2019 Bombers, who brought in a late career transfer QB, spent 7 weeks lighting up the world, but couldn't respond to a punch in the mouth putting them behind
Union and RPI.

Washington & Jefferson has always been really good, but they just got lit up by Hampden-Sydney too. Still some tough games to go for Utica.

[Jonny Utah]

I don't think it's live internet keeping students away.

I think, increasingly, college is about internships, work experience, and extra circulars. If you're a journalism major, and all you're doing is getting a degree, you're wasting money and setting yourself up for a hard time getting a job after graduating. More and more, students are just *doing* more. The skill sets they graduate with are insane

And, the arms race of college has resulted in so many more amenities for students across the board. There's just more to do on campuses

You know one thing that impacts crowds and gatherings in general is the ability to text and call people at will.  I know cell phones and texting have been around for 25-30 years but I think way back when people and kids just knew they would go to the game (or any event) meet people and find out what was going on later.  Now you can just text a group of friends and find out exactly where they are going to be without the meet up.

I've thought about this in my job.  I've worked in law enforcement for 25 years now, and 20 years ago (in a college area of Boston) we would have 100 loud party calls a weekend.  Students, younger grads, HS students etc would have bashes and keg parties that got out of control.  This past weekend there were zero calls for this.  This has been consistent the past 10-15 years or so.  I also get the sense kids drink less alcohol than they used to. 

Anyway just my two cents on the issue.

[Jonny Utah]

And 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.

[Bartman]

Hobart's next game is Utica and Hansen gives Hobart a 49% chance of winning, although based on the two losses so far that seems generous. Hobart DBs are good, but I'm not sure our pass rush will be good enough to limit their QB. That said, I don't think the Utica Defense is in Brockport's league, so we'll see, but it looks like the scoreboard will be active if Hobart competes well. I'm still very concerned , but our Defense has some good athletes and they do look for turnovers. I think our QB Conrath has enough experience now to provide a good counter to the Utica QB and I think EJ Taylor will have a good game. In any case, I just hope we are injury free going into Ithaca, when the season really starts.

[ICAlum16]

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.

And 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.

[Machiavelli]

Howdy gang! I hope everyone is doing well. I've been absent for a while, but I've done some minor lurking on the message boards, and have been paying attention to games and scores, etc. Kind of a disappointing start for the LL so far. Feels like it could be a bit of a down year, though the LL always feels pretty tough by year's end. Hope this year is no different.

I figured my easiest way to re-engage is just to just drop some Predictions for week 3, so I guess here goes:

Mach's Gorgeous Week 3 Predictions:

Brockport(25) - 24
RPI - 14
The homer in me wants to think Utica is a bigger beast than we all expected and to go with RPI at home in this one...but...I hope I'm wrong on this prediction. Watching RPI, they haven't really impressed me and seem kind of young and vanilla. I still think they will be tough to beat week in/week out, but Brockport might just be a bit more polished this early on.

Alfred - 35
St. Lawrence - 21
I think St. Lawrence might be able to stick around for a bit, but ultimately Alfred is a better team.

Utica - 42
Hobart - 17
I think Hobart/Ithaca/RPI are pretty much in the same tier at this point, but Utica might just be the real deal this year. I'm thinking Hobart's D struggles to stop the Utica firepower and they run away with it.

St. John Fisher - 17
Rochester - 24
This is probably the game I'm least excited about this week. Just seems kinda 'meh', but Rochester seems half decent again while SJF barely beat the Larries. I think Rochester does what they need to.

Morrisville St - 10
Union - 31
I really thought Union was gonna knock off Cortland, then they turned into Union in the 4th. I don't think Mooville is any good, so I'd anticipate the Doucheman get their first W of the season.

Ithaca - 63
Dilbert - 13
I kind of hate Dilbert being in the LL. Buff State was bad enough, now we have this group that would likely not win a game in the MASCAC. In any case, I hope Ithaca keeps the gas pinned.

Buffalo St. - 14
Alfred St. - 13
I take back my comment about Rochester/SJF. This one is just gross. If Buff St loses I would be onboard with signing a petition to ban them permanently to Hoboken, NJ.

It's good to be back and look forward to the banter.

[Bartman]

Bartman Week #3 picks. 12-4 on the season


Brockport  28.      RPI.        10.  Eagles fly over the Slide Rulers

Alfred.    24.      SLU.        17   Larries fall short to the Saxons

Hobart.    35.      Utica.      34   Pumpkins D slows down Pioneer QB with 3 INTs
                                         
Union     28.      Morrisville 17    Chargers start to put it together

Ithaca.    56.      Hilbert.  7.    Bombers prepare for the Clash at Cayuga Lake next week

BuffaloST  24      Alfred St  28.    Any team from Alfred, NY wins this weekend

Rochester. 27.      SJ Fisher 14.    Yellowjackets swarm the Cardinals

[Bartman]

Hobart's assumed strength coming into the season was the Oline where 4 of 5 starters were returning. Unfortunately the injury bug hit the group pretty hard and some of them are playing wounded but giving it their all. This was evident last week against Brockport when they could barely move the beefy Dline of Brockport limiting the impact of EJ Taylor and forcing Conrath to hurry a few throws.
 Hobart always protects the Boz well, so looking forward to seeing the defense defend the Utica air show and the Pumpkins offense to start to click. 

[Jonny Utah]

Hilbert running the triple option....Bombers up 7-0 early.  I have a feeling this could be a record day for the bombers.....

[Machiavelli]

Never been more happy to be wrong about a prediction. LFG Red! 

[Bartman]

Hobart gets a great 20-17 win today over a very good Utica team. Hobart DC put a great game plan together as they hold a potentially explosive QB to 17 points and made him look human. The Hobart offense won the game with their third string QB after Conrath was injured and Tru Styles couldn't throw today. Thank god for EJ as he scored all three TDs. The Oline played tough today and special teams had a great day . We are ready for Ithaca if we can solve our QB issues this week in practice.
Congrats to Ithaca , RPI , Rochester and Union on their wins. We all are 0-0 in the LL. It should be an exciting season.

[Machiavelli]

Hobart gets a great 20-17 win today over a very good Utica team. Hobart DC put a great game plan together as they hold a potentially explosive QB to 17 points and made him look human. The Hobart offense won the game with their third string QB after Conrath was injured and Tru Styles couldn't throw today. Thank god for EJ has he scored all three TDs. The Oline played tough today and special teams had a great day . We are ready for Ithaca if we can solve our QB issues this week in practice.
Congrats to Ithaca , RPI and Union on their wins. We all are 0-0 in the LL. It should be an exciting season.

Never been happier to be wrong on 2 predictions! lol.

[Ice Bear]

Nice day for the LL! Congrats to RPI, Hobart, Rochester, and Union for their victories over E8 teams. The league needed today.

Honestly, HUGE games for Bart and RPI. BART's had a couple tough games. This is a nice W especially considering their QB issues.
RPI, after getting absolutely smoked last week, really impressed with their ability to bounce back with grit and beat a good Brockport team. That shows me a lot.

[Ice Bear]

A nice win for Union yesterday. I thought Mo'ville had some athletes but they just couldn't get a lot going as a team.

I think Dinardo #4, established himself as the number #1 back and Jones, only a Soph, has some potential.

I was pleased with the play and physicality of the defense. Some inexperience there, but I loved the effort and some real third down stops.

I like our receivers, mostly undersized, but athletic. Couple tough drops with a couple nice catches.

Patch continues to be Patch. Tough as **** and always competes. I feel his accuracy and timing with routes within 10ish yards has really improved. He struggles with consistency on the deeper balls which is certainly not uncommon at this level. He is a very tough and agile runner. Like I've said before, he has won me over.

Overall I'd say this is an average team with some skill players who are capable of making some big plays. Drach needs a couple of years to build his team but I think we are moving in the right direction. I think a 500 finish, or maybe 4-6 would be good.

I see the LL like this right now:
1.) Bombers
2.) Pumpkinheads
3.) RPI
4.) Rochester/Union
5.) SLU
6.) Buff
7.) Hilbert