FB: Liberty League

[DagarmanSpartan]

I guess it's time...

Mach's Shameless LL Week 1 Predictions

Ithaca - 21
Johns Hopkins - 38
Hopkins might just be one of the best in the country this year.

Buff State - 6
Brockport - 42
Will Buff St improve this year? No idea, but my magic 8 ball says 'probably not'.

Case Western Reserve - 21
Rochester - 24
If Rochester maintains any of their recent mediocrity, this might be a really fun game to watch.

St. Lawrence - 28
Norwich - 10
Hopefully the Larries drop the beat down.

Alfred - 24
Hobart - 35
Alfred shocked the blumpkins to start last season, so maybe a payback is order.

WPI - 10
RPI - 42
Hopefully the boys in Red stay healthy and get some good reps ahead of the next 3 weeks.

Dilbert - 6
St. Vincent - 10
Can Dilbert get their first win ever? I guess this is their chance, but I just can't pick them. This game is an attrocity.

Little off on the CWRU - Rochester prediction.

Statistically lopsided CWRU victory.

27 to 9 on First Downs and 445 to 164 in total yardage in CWRU's favor.  CWRU QB had over 300 passing yards and 4 TDs.

[Machiavelli]

I guess it's time...

Mach's Shameless LL Week 1 Predictions

Ithaca - 21
Johns Hopkins - 38
Hopkins might just be one of the best in the country this year.

Buff State - 6
Brockport - 42
Will Buff St improve this year? No idea, but my magic 8 ball says 'probably not'.

Case Western Reserve - 21
Rochester - 24
If Rochester maintains any of their recent mediocrity, this might be a really fun game to watch.

St. Lawrence - 28
Norwich - 10
Hopefully the Larries drop the beat down.

Alfred - 24
Hobart - 35
Alfred shocked the blumpkins to start last season, so maybe a payback is order.

WPI - 10
RPI - 42
Hopefully the boys in Red stay healthy and get some good reps ahead of the next 3 weeks.

Dilbert - 6
St. Vincent - 10
Can Dilbert get their first win ever? I guess this is their chance, but I just can't pick them. This game is an attrocity.

Little off on the CWRU - Rochester prediction.

Statistically lopsided CWRU victory.

27 to 9 on First Downs and 445 to 164 in total yardage in CWRU's favor.  CWRU QB had over 300 passing yards and 4 TDs.

Sick week 1 call out bro. Who the f are you anyway? If you are ever around these boards, you'd know I'm not a Rochester guy. Just made a blind prediction with 2 lackluster programs. But huge win. Rochester is a goddamn beast. Hopefully you are in the top 25 this week. Huge win. Congrats.

[The Third Division]

How many more years does Johns Hopkins have to play Ithaca before Johns Hopkins realized they're just the better team?

[Jonny Utah]

How many more years does Johns Hopkins have to play Ithaca before Johns Hopkins realized they're just the better team?

Do you think they scheduled Ithaca because they weren't certain they could beat them? 

[Machiavelli]

What the hell is going on with this sudden clown show on the LL boards? Last time I checked Johnny Hopkins was ranked 4th in the country and Ithaca was unranked. That powerhouse was only able to be a lowly LL team by 9? Should be embarrassed.

Then we have this other doofus from Case Western Reserve doing a victory lap for beating a team with 8 LL wins in 9 seasons.

It's like the damn twilight zone over here.

[DagarmanSpartan]

Then we have this other doofus from Case Western Reserve doing a victory lap for beating a team with 8 LL wins in 9 seasons.

Aren't you the guy that picked that latter team to win?

Just sayin'!

[IC798891]

How many more years does Johns Hopkins have to play Ithaca before Johns Hopkins realized they're just the better team?

Ithaca vs Hopkins, scores and end of season rankings (current for now)

2026: #3 Hopkins 30, Unranked Ithaca 21
2025: #3 Hopkins 42, Unranked Ithaca 14
2024: #3 Hopkins 27, Unranked Ithaca 23
2023: #8 Hopkins 27, #18 Ithaca 17

Average score (rounded): 32 to 19

I'm guessing most Top 5-10 teams OOC games are nowhere near this competitive

[Machiavelli]

Then we have this other doofus from Case Western Reserve doing a victory lap for beating a team with 8 LL wins in 9 seasons.

Aren't you the guy that picked that latter team to win?

Just sayin'!

I put about .8 seconds of thought into that useless game of terd teams.

Just sayin'. Congrats though. Yuuuuge win.

[unionpalooza]

How many more years does Johns Hopkins have to play Ithaca before Johns Hopkins realized they're just the better team?

The more interesting question: how many years will it take Johns Hopkins to realize that a school with 30,000 students and a $13 billion endowment playing at the D3 level is super lame? 

[Bartman]

How many more years does Johns Hopkins have to play Ithaca before Johns Hopkins realized they're just the better team?

The more interesting question: how many years will it take Johns Hopkins to realize that a school with 30,000 students and a $13 billion endowment playing at the D3 level is super lame? 

True, they can budget whatever they want for athletics(actually 6k in undergraduates), but so can University of Rochester with only 4 Billion in endowment and 6k undergrads, or MIT for that matter or Mach's new buddy at Case Western Reserve(I thought that was a winery) with 3.4 billion. It is interesting that high endowment D3 athletic schools do not seem to prioritize Championship caliber teams.

[FourthAndShort]

How many more years does Johns Hopkins have to play Ithaca before Johns Hopkins realized they're just the better team?

I am sure their decision to schedule a couple of two-year series has a lot more to do with the relationship between the programs. The last two head coaches at Ithaca were former Hopkins coaches, and Ithaca's DC is the son of the late Jim Margraff, which adds another direct connection between the programs.

The two programs have a great deal of respect for each other, and it's a quality non-conference game that helps prepare both teams for conference play.

[Jonny Utah]

What the hell is going on with this sudden clown show on the LL boards? Last time I checked Johnny Hopkins was ranked 4th in the country and Ithaca was unranked. That powerhouse was only able to be a lowly LL team by 9? Should be embarrassed.

Then we have this other doofus from Case Western Reserve doing a victory lap for beating a team with 8 LL wins in 9 seasons.

It's like the damn twilight zone over here.

Ha third division has a great Tik Tok channel which does some good stuff with d3 football.  I like the style and format he uses on his videos. 

His LLPP game though?  Rookie level trolling stuff. 

[IC798891]

It is interesting that high endowment D3 athletic schools do not seem to prioritize Championship caliber teams.

2026 Director's Cup finishes and endowment sizes

1. Washington St. Louis, $14.5 billion
2. Tufts, $2.8 billion
3. Hopkins, $13 billion
4. Emory, $11.5-$12 billion
5. Williams, $3.9 billion
6. Chicago, $10.9 billion
7. NYU, $7.4 Billion
8. UW Lacrosse $46 million
9. Claremont Mudd Scripps $505 million
10. Amherst $3.9 billion
11. MIT, $27 billion

Only two of the top 11 schools came in under two billion. More than half had ten billion or more.

[Bartman]

It is interesting that high endowment D3 athletic schools do not seem to prioritize Championship caliber teams.

2026 Director's Cup finishes and endowment sizes

1. Washington St. Louis, $14.5 billion
2. Tufts, $2.8 billion
3. Hopkins, $13 billion
4. Emory, $11.5-$12 billion
5. Williams, $3.9 billion
6. Chicago, $10.9 billion
7. NYU, $7.4 Billion
8. UW Lacrosse $46 million
9. Claremont Mudd Scripps $505 million
10. Amherst $3.9 billion
11. MIT, $27 billion

Only two of the top 11 schools came in under two billion. More than half had ten billion or more.

Point taken when measured by Directorship points. But, when you look at actual Championships the Billion+ schools are not as dominant and no D3 Football Championship is held by a Billion+ Endowment school.Which is interesting when you consider Football budgets. Hopkins or one of the NESCAC colleges could change that in the future.

[IC798891]

Point taken when measured by Directorship points. But, when you look at actual Championships the Billion+ schools are not as dominant

Incorrect. Based on what I see, D3 awards 28 team titles in D3. So since 2024, that's 84 team titles.

The nine schools listed above with billion dollar endowments represent just 2.1% of the schools in D3, but have won 27 of 84 titles (32.1%) in that span.

EDIT: 26 of 84. I made a mistake with NYU men's hoops

Tufts won men's lacrosse and women's rowing in 2024, rowing, lacrosse, field hockey and men's soccer 2025 and men's lacrosse in rowing more in 2026. (8)

NYU won women's hoops in 2024, men's in 2025 (EDIT, no they didn't, they lost in it), women's XC in 2025, and women's swimming in 2026 (4)

Emory won golf in 2025 and 2026 and men's swimming in 2025 (3)

Chicago won men's tennis in 2024 and 2026, and women's in 2024 (3)

Washington St. Louis won women's soccer in 2024 and 2025, women's outdoor track in 2024, indoor in 2026 and women's tennis is 2025 (5)

MIT won women's indoor and outdoor track in 2025, women's swimming in 2025, and women's XC in 2024. (4)

no D3 Football Championship is held by a Billion+ Endowment schoo

This is what you mean. Schools with billon dollar endowments don't win Stagg Bowls. But they're pretty much dominating D3 athletics

I think the quiet part you don't want to say out loud (But I will) is that for most fans, the sports that "matter" are the Big 4 ones with pro equivalents we grow up watching. (Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey). And so yeah, zero football titles on that list, and just two in the Big 4 sports.

And I'll admit I'm a bigger fan of IC football than any other sport (though I was just talking with our SID about the volleyball team's win over the #3 team in the country last night). But we shouldn't let our personal preferences cloud us from seeing the bigger picture.