FB: Empire 8

[boobyhasgameyo]

Cannot wait to sit next to the Pep Band at Growney on Saturday.  It was a blast two years ago!!

On Saxon Warriors!


p.s.  I always liked the Fisher gold helmets, but the photos seem to show the new ones are pretty cool.  Look forward to seeing them in person.

I love the new helmets.  They are the nicest that I've seen so far. 

[fisheralum91]

Boob- I agree- the new Unis look great!
I was a bit skeptical before i saw them - but they really look sharp!

[bomber3]

The cage......Quite possibly the WORST collegiate football experience anybody could have......
Just a mess from the word go.

Care to elaborate?  I'm contemplating the trek from Hoboken but if it's not worth the trip I may reconsider.  Anyone know if Hartwick usually streams their games? If the stadium/seating sucks and they stream their games I'll probably hang tight.

Thanks to all for the analysis.  So long as Ithaca keeps hold of the ball their defense should be able to hold back Hartwick.  So did Hartwick's qb get bencher or hurt when they put up 3 points last week? 

[Jonny Utah]

The cage......Quite possibly the WORST collegiate football experience anybody could have......
Just a mess from the word go.

Care to elaborate?  I'm contemplating the trek from Hoboken but if it's not worth the trip I may reconsider.  Anyone know if Hartwick usually streams their games? If the stadium/seating sucks and they stream their games I'll probably hang tight.

Thanks to all for the analysis.  So long as Ithaca keeps hold of the ball their defense should be able to hold back Hartwick.  So did Hartwick's qb get bencher or hurt when they put up 3 points last week?

bomber3 this is a great place to watch a game.  Kind of wierd playing there as their isn't much rooms for the teams, but this is a cool stadium.

[fisheralum91]

Utes I disagree.  Hard to get to, unfriendly,  confining and cold.  Last visit we were booed, tripped had mud thrown at us and had major issues parking.  The drive there is gorgeous...the cage...not so much. Bomber3 it is only one mans opinion so please don't cancel a trip because of it......

[Jonny Utah]

Utes I disagree.  Hard to get to, unfriendly,  confining and cold.  Last visit we were booed, tripped had mud thrown at us and had major issues parking.  The drive there is gorgeous...the cage...not so much. Bomber3 it is only one mans opinion so please don't cancel a trip because of it......

Yea parking is tight on that campus but I've never had a problem with the fans. 

[fisheralum91]

Let's just say I had a tough couple of visits then....

[bomber3]

The cage......Quite possibly the WORST collegiate football experience anybody could have......
Just a mess from the word go.

Care to elaborate?  I'm contemplating the trek from Hoboken but if it's not worth the trip I may reconsider.  Anyone know if Hartwick usually streams their games? If the stadium/seating sucks and they stream their games I'll probably hang tight.

Thanks to all for the analysis.  So long as Ithaca keeps hold of the ball their defense should be able to hold back Hartwick.  So did Hartwick's qb get bencher or hurt when they put up 3 points last week?

bomber3 this is a great place to watch a game.  Kind of wierd playing there as their isn't much rooms for the teams, but this is a cool stadium.

Thanks to all, +k.  I just don't want to drive three hours and end up watching field level from the endzone like people have to do in Utica. 

[bomber3]

Obviously, Ithaca is favored but what are the odds of an upset here?  The weather is expected to be rainy, windy, and 45 degrees Saturday so hello, fall.  From what I hear Hartwick blitzes a good amount, which I don't think will affect Ithaca very much.  Given the QB situation, Ithaca doesn't do a lot of drop back passing or run many deep routes so I wouldn't think it would have much impact.  I have a feeling Ithaca is going to feast off turnovers - Hartwick has 11 already through 3 games.  The offense needs to continue to progress and build on the moderate success they experienced against Union - they will be needed a lot more in the coming weeks.

The biggest thing Hartwick has going for it against IC is The Cage. IC's struggles on the road have been well-documented over the years, and their last few trips to Oneonta haven't been great. The '07 team was stunned there by Boltus and Company, and the '09 squad got a really good game from the Hawks where 'Wick had a chance to tie it on the last drive of the game but threw a pick.

On paper, IC should roll, but they need to put their past adventures in The Cage behind them to do so.

I just can't see IC losing this game* and I'm cynical, so believe me, I looked, if for no other reason than to get Bomber3 all riled up .

The Bombers have struggled in the Cage, and I think there is some merit to teams struggling in certain places. But the Wick's only good offensive performance came against Norwich. In their other two games--neither of which came against great teams, frankly, they had 17 points and 9 turnovers. IC's defense--especially if Will Carter is back--is good enough to shut down the Wick. Corbett was certainly bad last week, but Brainard (22-50, 2 TD, 2 INT) wasn't exactly Boltus 2.0 either.

The Bombers still have offensive issues, but they are finally settled on a quarterback (I would guess), as Hendel has clearly outplayed Neumann. And they've had an extra week to get him ready for this game. To be fair, Hendel's career to this point was summed up to me as follows: "He might be a really good quarterback but he turns it over every four plays in practice", but so far, one pick in 58 attempts this season is an excellent start.

Unless Hendel goes turnover crazy, I concur with Dlip. Hartwick's offense seems too inconsistent and turnover prone to mount much of a threat, and I think IC will have a lot of short fields. Even if your defense plays admirably, as Union's did against IC two weeks ago, it's really hard to keep points off the board in that situation

*"Any Given Saturday" issues aside

You can't find anything to worry about?  Heck, Hartwick is still 2-1, playing at home, and Ithaca is coming off a bye with an unproven QB.  That combination spells trouble. 

There, now I'm playing your part of devil's advocate and preaching Bomber doom!

[AUPepBand]

Utes I disagree.  Hard to get to, unfriendly,  confining and cold.  Last visit we were booed, tripped had mud thrown at us and had major issues parking.  The drive there is gorgeous...the cage...not so much. Bomber3 it is only one mans opinion so please don't cancel a trip because of it......

Yea parking is tight on that campus but I've never had a problem with the fans.

This one time at The Cage, it was AU's Mid-Semester Break, so we could muster only three guys on drums and one on kazoo. Once we had climbed onto the campus, Pep recalls driving and driving and driving to find a place to park. Once settled into the stands at the far end of the home stands, the "band" beat on drums. Meanwhile, the 'wick 25-piece nicely outfitted Pep Band played a few tunes before the game and at halftime. Following the game, while walking out with all our drums in front of the Hartwick fans, Pep recalls an older woman addressing us as we walked by, saying "I really enjoyed your drums!"

Another time, the "band" was late entering the cage and, while going single-file through the narrow entry, had to pause as the announcer introduced a young lady who was to sing the National Anthem. In what amounted to be an embarrassing moment for everyone, the gal began, "Oh, say can you see....and then lost all composure and began laughing." The mic was then turned off and after an awkward pause, a recording of the National Anthem was played over the PA system. Once again Mid-Semester Break, the Pep Band was nothing more than a trumpet, a weak trombone, a drum and a kazoo. Pep will admit that the band didn't sound great, but was peppy and made a lot of noise. During a timeout, the "band" struggled through "Louie, Louie." A Hartwick fan turned and said to his friend something to the tune of "Get a load of that band!" A Saxon fan sitting directly in front of the Hartwick fan, right on cue, turned and said, "Did you happen to catch the National Anthem?" Ba Dum Tssshhh!

On Saxon Warriors!

[SJFF82]

I have no issue whatsoever with anyone's opinion that IC is a step ahead of SJF.  I dont believe my post even implies I did.  I was simply curious as to why 'we' are comparing IC-SJF at this early stage...,

Why not? There's a poll on this site, there are preseason polls done by coaches. All of these polls make their rankings even though all the teams in those polls have not played each other. Why is Kean 10th and Montclair 12th? Why did Salisbury get picked ahead of Alfred? Obviously, the people involved compared the two teams and came to a decision. That's all any of us are doing. If you don't like the polls themselves, okay. But if the polls are going to exist seems like comparing the two schools is the only way to do it, even if the information we use is incomplete. So this is just another one.

But Fisher and Ithaca are not even worthy of the top 10 East Region Fan Poll...so we might as well discuss my son's t-ball team versus their competition.

I guess I kinda got the impression that 'IC poster' was trying to take advantage of the Fisher defacing by Hobart as some sort of constructive victory for them.  My response was basically that SJF has been defaced before, and in seasons where they still made it to the Final Four and in other seasons where they still managed IC easily.  I think the comparisons being made were centered around the Hobart score as opposed to just generically comparing IC v. SJF.

Certainly feel free to compare SJF-IC at this point, I just dont think that the Hobart game should be the big variable in the comparison, although its only week 3 so its hard to ignore it.

On the flip side, it was SJF's 1st OOC loss to a NY school in 17 games, so you could take that as a bigger sign of weakness than getting throttled by an in conference rival such as SC, every other year as it seems.

[SJFF82]

BTW, has it been mentioned that UR has indicated that it is backing out of the Courage Bowl and that SJF is looking for a replacement to keep the 'game' going?

[saxontad]

BTW, has it been mentioned that UR has indicated that it is backing out of the Courage Bowl and that SJF is looking for a replacement to keep the 'game' going?

Interesting.  Are they just tired of losing?

[Bombers798891]

I have no issue whatsoever with anyone's opinion that IC is a step ahead of SJF.  I dont believe my post even implies I did.  I was simply curious as to why 'we' are comparing IC-SJF at this early stage...,

Why not? There's a poll on this site, there are preseason polls done by coaches. All of these polls make their rankings even though all the teams in those polls have not played each other. Why is Kean 10th and Montclair 12th? Why did Salisbury get picked ahead of Alfred? Obviously, the people involved compared the two teams and came to a decision. That's all any of us are doing. If you don't like the polls themselves, okay. But if the polls are going to exist seems like comparing the two schools is the only way to do it, even if the information we use is incomplete. So this is just another one.

But Fisher and Ithaca are not even worthy of the top 10 East Region Fan Poll...so we might as well discuss my son's t-ball team versus their competition.

I guess I kinda got the impression that 'IC poster' was trying to take advantage of the Fisher defacing by Hobart as some sort of constructive victory for them.  My response was basically that SJF has been defaced before, and in seasons where they still made it to the Final Four and in other seasons where they still managed IC easily.  I think the comparisons being made were centered around the Hobart score as opposed to just generically comparing IC v. SJF.

Certainly feel free to compare SJF-IC at this point, I just dont think that the Hobart game should be the big variable in the comparison, although its only week 3 so its hard to ignore it.

On the flip side, it was SJF's 1st OOC loss to a NY school in 17 games, so you could take that as a bigger sign of weakness than getting throttled by an in conference rival such as SC, every other year as it seems.

If we don't discuss teams that aren't in the ERFP Top 10, it's gonna be a long, dull, season. There aren't even any Salisbury or Springfield fans who post in here. Part of the reason it's fun to debate IC-Fisher-Alfred is that probably makes up 90% of the posters in here.

Other then that, we've got one Wick guy, one Utica guy, Dlip and PG, who aren't affiliated with any E8 teams, but bring insight nonetheless. It's hard to talk about the rest of the teams because we're not around them. No-one's saying you have to partake in an IC-Fisher debate (although the more the merrier in my book), but I don't think it's terribly odd that others do so

[Bombers798891]

BTW, has it been mentioned that UR has indicated that it is backing out of the Courage Bowl and that SJF is looking for a replacement to keep the 'game' going?

That's a shame to hear. It's such a great cause. That said, it's not a surprise on some levels. Lopsided OOC rivalries are tough to keep up, geography and charities nonwithstanding.