FB: Liberty League

[Bartman]

I guess the national panel isn't as excited for the RPI/Ithaca game as I am. I get it's not gonna be the 'Game of the Week', but it didn't even get an 'under the radar' callout? Pssssh...Ya'll gonna miss a good one. Have fun with Alfred vs. Alfred St. and Coast Guard vs Springfield, though. I'm sure those will both be bangers. LOL.

Bring on some Ruck wings and Blue Cheeshhhh....

I was just going to post about this. After the early season OOC losses the D3Football guys just moved on from the LL. I think the RPI v. Ithaca game is certainly an "under the radar" game . I think RPI and Union have both showed continuous improvement this season that should be recognized. It will be interesting to see if a good IC defense can stop a very good RPI offense....my money is on RPI. Also, Union better not sleep on Rochester, they have enough talent to pull off the upset and ruin the Shoes Showdown drama next week. On the Hobart front, will Hilbert actually tackle EJ today?

[Caz Bombers]

Hearing reports that it's a great day to be a Bomber!!

[Bartman]

Congrats to Union to stay undefeated in the LL.Congrats also to the Bombers on the win over RPI. Insernia is not a dumb coach, he went for the win on the 2 point try , knowing he had to win the Shoes game anyway, so I'm thinking he knows the secret tiebreaker and it favors RPI with a win and a net points differential greater than the other 2 teams that tie.Grok, help me out here ..haha. BY the way , the Dutchmen are forever jinxed in the Shoes game having changed to Garnet Chargers....the Dutchmen Ghosts will see to that

[Machiavelli]

The RPI 2 point conversion was nothing more than an adrenaline rush decision after a blocked punt TD. It was dumb. Had they just kicked the PAT, I have zero doubt they would have won. But they didn't, and here we are. May not matter in reality, but losing matters and losing sucks. And they shouldn't lose to an inferior team. Great game either way, but crumby ending.

[XREDDRAGON77]

Can't believe it's almost the end...rivalry week! Cortaca Jug time! Can't wait to make the trip up to Ithaca! And for you Shoes guys, enjoy!

[unionpalooza]

The RPI 2 point conversion was nothing more than an adrenaline rush decision after a blocked punt TD. It was dumb. Had they just kicked the PAT, I have zero doubt they would have won. But they didn't, and here we are. May not matter in reality, but losing matters and losing sucks. And they shouldn't lose to an inferior team. Great game either way, but crumby ending.

Hard agree. Coach let his dudes down with that decision. 

[ICGrad]

The RPI 2 point conversion was nothing more than an adrenaline rush decision after a blocked punt TD. It was dumb. Had they just kicked the PAT, I have zero doubt they would have won. But they didn't, and here we are. May not matter in reality, but losing matters and losing sucks. And they shouldn't lose to an inferior team. Great game either way, but crumby ending.

Zero doubt? Really?

[Ice Bear]

I was watching and honestly quite shocked with the decision to go for two. My thinking is that Ralph didn't want to give the Bombers the chance to have the last touch, run the clock, and get the score to win with no time left for an RPI offensive response. If he misses the two, maybe he thought he could get the ball back with enough time to win?

I agree wholeheartedly that this was not wise. I also believe that RPI most likely would have won the game if they tied it up. Who knows? I was impressed with RPI overall though and think next week a very angry and solid RPI team comes to Schenectady hungry for an NCAA birth. Looking forward to the game for sure.

I'm thinking, at least for now, the Bombers have found their QB. I like how IC stretched it out on offense and had a couple aggressive down the field plays that paid off.

[Machiavelli]

The RPI 2 point conversion was nothing more than an adrenaline rush decision after a blocked punt TD. It was dumb. Had they just kicked the PAT, I have zero doubt they would have won. But they didn't, and here we are. May not matter in reality, but losing matters and losing sucks. And they shouldn't lose to an inferior team. Great game either way, but crumby ending.

Zero doubt? Really?

Yeah. Zero.

[Ice Bear]

Union holds on and gets a big win out in Rochester to set the stage for a "win and in" scenario next week in one of the best rivalry games in D3. Of course I couldn't watch because of horse **** U of R using Flosports to stream their games, man that burns me up.

Looks like once again PF led the team in rushing and was the spark on offense. Senior wide receiver and Niskayuna native Dan Quinn pulls in two TDs. Happy for him and his Garnet Charger brethren for putting themselves in this position here in 2025.

[IC798891]

So, here's the three-way scenario.

As it was posted, the bolded line of "record against teams at or above .500" is the relevant bit. And since all the conference stuff is the same, it comes down to OOC play. So if RPI beats Union, and everyone is even here's what we have:

Union: 0-2
RPI: 1-1
Ithaca: Currently 0-1.

If Ithaca beats Cortland and moves to 1-1, then Union at 0-2 is eliminated, and we go back to step 1, which is H2H. Ithaca gets in by virtue of their win today.

If Ithaca loses to Cortland, the Bombers fall to 0-2, they and Union are eliminated, and RPI gets it.

[IC798891]

So the autobid scenario is as follows:

Union- In with a win.
RPI- In with a win and an Ithaca loss.
Ithaca- In with a win and a Union loss.

Here's hoping Toerper was nice to Isernia in the handshake line

[ICGrad]

The RPI 2 point conversion was nothing more than an adrenaline rush decision after a blocked punt TD. It was dumb. Had they just kicked the PAT, I have zero doubt they would have won. But they didn't, and here we are. May not matter in reality, but losing matters and losing sucks. And they shouldn't lose to an inferior team. Great game either way, but crumby ending.

Zero doubt? Really?

Yeah. Zero.

Ithaca was the better team out there Saturday. They outgained RPI by almost 100 yards and outscored them 17-7 in the second half, except for a fluky special teams TD at the very end.

I'm not sure if Ithaca is the clearly inferior team or not, as you claim, but they seem to have found a QB who can effectively move them down the field. Fingers crossed for the Cortaca Jug...

[Jonny Utah]

The RPI 2 point conversion was nothing more than an adrenaline rush decision after a blocked punt TD. It was dumb. Had they just kicked the PAT, I have zero doubt they would have won. But they didn't, and here we are. May not matter in reality, but losing matters and losing sucks. And they shouldn't lose to an inferior team. Great game either way, but crumby ending.

Zero doubt? Really?

Yeah. Zero.

Ithaca was the better team out there Saturday. They outgained RPI by almost 100 yards and outscored them 17-7 in the second half, except for a fluky special teams TD at the very end.

I'm not sure if Ithaca is the clearly inferior team or not, as you claim, but they seem to have found a QB who can effectively move them down the field. Fingers crossed for the Cortaca Jug...

Yea Ithaca is simply a different team with this QB.  I questioned them all year about all sorts of things but now I gotta eat some crow as the staff has hopefully found what they needed in this QB.  He did things that the other QBs have not even been close to doing this year.  Some perfect fade balls that won the game for IC.

As for the chance to go for two, I don't mind that but you have to think of a few things.  First, RPI has to see something from Ithaca's XP block team before deciding to run a play like that.  You don't just run that blindly without knowing how Ithaca is going to defend it.  And it was defended well for the most part. 

The punt block on the other hand was horrible for Ithaca.  There were three defenders in there that would have probably blocked that if the first guy didn't. 

RPI has some real good running backs and their special teams are very good.  Ithaca's QB made some perfect plays that even a great defense isn't gonna stop.  Their defense was very good and hit hard and flew to the ball and tackled well.  Their QB seemed average to me.  Wasn't a runner and didn't really fling the ball around like great QBs should.  Maybe Ithaca had a great defensive plan which is entirely possible. 

Back to the tie breaker it makes you now wonder about the non conference schedule again.  I guess 3 way tie breakers are less important than pool B talk in the LL?  (Does scheduling winning record JHU help you more than scheduling winning record Curry?) 

Hopefully Patch doesn't run the QB GT counter 29 times for 290 yards next week and the Bombers can handle business.  Still probably a rebuilding year for the LL but crazier things have happened.  Union, RPI and Ithaca have great coaching staffs that can hopefully make magic in the playoffs

[Oline89]

I guess the national panel isn't as excited for the RPI/Ithaca game as I am. I get it's not gonna be the 'Game of the Week', but it didn't even get an 'under the radar' callout? Pssssh...Ya'll gonna miss a good one. Have fun with Alfred vs. Alfred St. and Coast Guard vs Springfield, though. I'm sure those will both be bangers. LOL.

Bring on some Ruck wings and Blue Cheeshhhh....

C'mon man. Everyone knows that the latest WIAC battle between UW-Bratwurst's 49-year old QB and the stifling defensive front of UW-Walleye is all that matters.

Winner. Post of the year......