FB: Liberty League

[Bartman]

Delayed, but wanted to share with you guys my story on the history (and 2026 revival) of the Ithaca College Pep Band

https://www.ithaca.edu/news/pep-their-step

Great article and wonderful to bring the tradition back. I love some of the favorites that were situational pieces. We had this at Hobart in the 1970s and 1980s as Ron Cox , music professor loved sports and played a mean trumpet himself, but the tuba player was classic . Thanks for the article and stirring up memories.

[Ice Bear]

Well, right or wrong I'm just not even going over to watch Union/Buffalo State. I will certainly watch some of the game online and hope Union gets a W today with no injuries for either side. I'd like to keep the positive momentum from last week.

I will also try to tune into RPI/Hobart as this is a big one in league play. I understand RPI was listless last week but I do expect them to show some fight today and maybe surprise against a decent Hobart squad. Hoping for a great game and no injuries.

Also, I'm very interested in THE CNU/Susquehanna game today. I'd like to see Susquehanna come away with a big W!

[Jonny Utah]

Hilbert is #2 (tied) in the country for TOP. 

That is all.

[Ice Bear]

Watched the first half of the Hobart/RPI game. RPI was the better team in that half, especially in the offensive side of the ball, and was up 7-0 on an excellent TE TD right up the middle. Last I saw 19-0 RPI. I thought the Hobart QB really struggled and the offensive play calling wasn't much better. I had a feeling RPI was going to have a game today.

Union goes into half up 21-0. Buffalo State had a decent first drive and an athletic play here and there, but nothing else. Union offense is playing well, against what is an overmatched Buffalo State defense but with that being said, nothing really impressive IMHO. Again, hopefully no injuries for either side today. Hoping Union keeps doing what they should in this one, and that is win.

[BomberJeff]

Well that was just an outright pounding.  Ithaca 66 St. Lawrence 0 as the Bombers defense just ground the Saints offense into dust: 10 punts, 1 interception and 1 fumble for their drives.  Only 1 of those 12 drives ended in Ithaca territory and that was at the 48.

Not really sure what else to say about this one.  Just makes me wonder even more about where the Bombers would be if they didn't come out so flat to Hopkins.

[IC798891]

Buff State showed a bit more fight today against Union but once the avalanche started, with a long TD pass on 3rd and 16 to put the Chargers up 21-0, it got ugly quick.

Speaking of ugly...ye gods. St. Lawrence looked as bad as anyone in the LL has look all year against Ithaca. They looked bad in all three phases.

RPI has as impressive a turnaround as I've seen. They looked dead in the water after the OOC schedule, but what a win today over Hobart.

Rochester-Hilbert also happened.

[IC798891]

Also, Ithaca kneeled it out after the two-minute warning. Classy

[IC798891]

We're four weeks into the season, and Ithaca's the only LL team without two losses -- and there's at least a solid chance that that is solely because of the scheduling quirk of Cortaca being the final week of the season.

Remember the year where St. Lawrence won the league at 5-5? This kinda feels like that.

Becaue every time I start playing the comparative results game -- which *absolutely* has flaws -- I just get depressed.

How did Hobart struggle to put away an Alfred team that got absolutely dog-walked by Fisher on their own field?

How did RPI give up 600 yards to a Brockport offense that, I'm not kidding, got shutout by Hartwick in the first half?

Why does Union's offense feel like they're sleepwalking in the first half every game, even when they're playing some of the worst teams in the E8 and LL?

How did Ithaca do nothing on offense until they were already down by 23 points in the second half against a Hopkins team that gave up more than seven yards a play in its next two games?

Maybe Union's defense is really stingy enough that it won't matter, and they can go 8-2 and win an ugly playoff game. Maybe Ithaca's blistering offense -- which has basically played lights out in 7 of its 8 halves -- isn't solely a product of its moribund schedule. But I remain skeptical of the conference as a whole.

[Ice Bear]

I'm right there with you IC. You're laying it out there quite well my friend. So many questions right now.

[The Third Division]

The Liberty League is cooked.

[Bartman]

 While sitting with some old Yale Football alumni at the Cornell-Yale game yesterday, I watched the #17 Yale teams get thumped by ex-Bomber coach Swanstrum's Big Red.It wasn't as simple as Yale's first string stud QB sat out due to injury as the whole Yale team seemed to not show up. Then , I checked my phone to see my Hobart Statesmen also start a game without their QB, but the rest of the team did not show up against a proud RPI program that sent a statement that their Liberty League season was in their control.Yesterday the RPI and Cornell teams gave a big middle finger to football prognosticators and followed their coaches game plan and performed at their best. Yale and Hobart, not so much. It reminded me that you can look at statistics and try to analyze and project an outcome , but those young men play one snap at a time and when 11 players are on the same page you win the play and likely win the game.
  Congrats to RPI for dominating Hobart yesterday in every phase of the game. Now Hobart looks at saving their LL season next Saturday against a peaking Bomber team at home on the BOZ. I don't care how the LL looks in the D3 Power rankings. I don't care about the logic of comparing common opponents, because this season, that seems to be a fruitless task. I say Hobart beats Ithaca at the Boz and let some real chaos ensue   .   

[Ice Bear]

I think with the five teams anything is possible. Here's how I rank them right now.

1.) Ithaca
2.) RPI
3.) Union
4.) Hobart
5.) Rochester

I think Union and Hobart could certainly switch. I think Union and RPI could switch, and I believe Ithaca has a solid hold on that number one spot. 

[Machiavelli]

The Liberty League is cooked.

Thanks for the superb commentary. Well thought out.