FB: Empire 8

[Pat Coleman]

Delvento made five field goals which were longer than any Rogowski made.

Delvento was 8-of-15 from beyond 30 yards. Rogowski was 9-of-10.

Retwisting the math, though, Delvento was 5-for-10 from beyond 35 yards. Rogowski was 0-for-1.

Remember it's not the player who chooses when he kicks. We don't know the situation or the coach's mindset.

[AUKaz00]

You didn't mention the length of field goals. That's always what I go to first. I won't vote for a kid, even on a regional team, that hasn't made a field goal longer than the longest one I ever made. (35 yards, thanks for asking. And no, not in a game.)

So you wouldn't have voted for Starzell either, huh? 

35 yards is impressive however

Our three All-East Region kickers were Rushe, Long Ding of Norwich and Jake Delvento of Montclair State. Not sure why Long Ding was passed over by the ECAC, and Delvento probably would not have been in the ECAC North.

Ding absolutely was a better choice and it's mind boggling he wasn't picked. Delvento no way over Rogowski. 14-of-22 vs. 13-of-15? Delvento was 8-of-15 from beyond 30 yards. Rogowski was 9-of-10. What's the point of having slightly more range if you can't hit the kicks nearly as consistently?

I can't believe it took me until mid-January to realize there was a kicker named Long Ding playing D3 football!!!  Too bad he didn't play with Seaman and Shorts...

[maxpower]

1) Long Ding is amazing.

2) I came here today, saw you were talking kickers, and figured "Oh, DIII talk spurred by the Ravens game yesterday," only to find out it came up independently? Way to represent, boys.

[Bombers798891]

Delvento made five field goals which were longer than any Rogowski made.

Delvento was 8-of-15 from beyond 30 yards. Rogowski was 9-of-10.

Retwisting the math, though, Delvento was 5-for-10 from beyond 35 yards. Rogowski was 0-for-1.

Right, except that both your statements are factually incorrect. You must not be looking at the right season for Rogowski, or something

http://bombers.ithaca.edu/custompages/football/2011/teamcume.htm

1. Rogowski was 5-for-6 from beyond 35 yards this season.

2. Delvento made ONE kick longer than Rogowski's longest kick, which was 43 yards.

[AUPepBand]

1) Long Ding is amazing.

2) I came here today, saw you were talking kickers, and figured "Oh, DIII talk spurred by the Ravens game yesterday," only to find out it came up independently? Way to represent, boys.

Eh, max....it was Pep. Talking to himself about the just announced ECAC North All-Stars and was dumbfounded that an E8 kicker didn't at least make the second team. Pep would bet money that any one of the SJF-IC-AU kickers would have nailed Cundiff's 32-yard field goal. Were Pep a rich man, he'd also bet money that Pat Coleman could have nailed it. 

On Saxon Warriors!

[Pat Coleman]

Delvento made five field goals which were longer than any Rogowski made.

Delvento was 8-of-15 from beyond 30 yards. Rogowski was 9-of-10.

Retwisting the math, though, Delvento was 5-for-10 from beyond 35 yards. Rogowski was 0-for-1.

Right, except that both your statements are factually incorrect. You must not be looking at the right season for Rogowski, or something

http://bombers.ithaca.edu/custompages/football/2011/teamcume.htm

1. Rogowski was 5-for-6 from beyond 35 yards this season.

2. Delvento made ONE kick longer than Rogowski's longest kick, which was 43 yards.

Sorry. I wasn't even looking at the right kicker. I was looking at Westfield State's kicker.

[Bombers798891]

Delvento made five field goals which were longer than any Rogowski made.

Delvento was 8-of-15 from beyond 30 yards. Rogowski was 9-of-10.

Retwisting the math, though, Delvento was 5-for-10 from beyond 35 yards. Rogowski was 0-for-1.

Right, except that both your statements are factually incorrect. You must not be looking at the right season for Rogowski, or something

http://bombers.ithaca.edu/custompages/football/2011/teamcume.htm

1. Rogowski was 5-for-6 from beyond 35 yards this season.

2. Delvento made ONE kick longer than Rogowski's longest kick, which was 43 yards.

Sorry. I wasn't even looking at the right kicker. I was looking at Westfield State's kicker.

No worries. Yeah, Starzell really didn't kick many from any long distances

[fisheralum91]

http://www.uticaod.com/m/sports/x767706299/Oneidas-Rob-Kramer-takes-over-St-John-Fisher-football-offense

Nice article about Fisher's new OC.

I wish him all the best- great to see a local guy doing well!

Great family to boot!

[Upstate]

Also noticed this in the SJF press release:

Kramer, will also be the program's recruiting coordinator.

This is going to be interesting!

[fisheralum91]

Was Parks doing the recruiting?
This is a big plate for Kramer to handle.
I hope he is up for the challenge!

[Cardinal Pride]

Was Parks doing the recruiting?
This is a big plate for Kramer to handle.
I hope he is up for the challenge!

Parks was the head of recruiting and I think Mike Fox is taking a more active role in recruiting now.

[AUPepBand]

Pep is pumped the band will gather tomorrow and play just prior to the AU football banquet. Pep needs a pep band fix!

On Saxon Warriors!

[Jonny Utah]

I see Ithaca has their 2012 schedule up on the website. 

Springfield and Brockport gone from the schedule and Moravian and Buff St are added.

Ithaca and Springfield had played every year since 1973.

[Bombers798891]

I see Ithaca has their 2012 schedule up on the website. 

Springfield and Brockport gone from the schedule and Moravian and Buff St are added.

Ithaca and Springfield had played every year since 1973.

Thoughts: Overall, this is a better schedule. While Ithaca was way short on talent last year, I think they were also hurt by playing five road games in a six-game span. Sure, they closed with three straight at home, but by that point, the season had already gone down the drain. This season, the Bombers have zero instances of back to back road games.

Moravian looks like they're more than ready to replace Springfield: Their last four seasons they have won 2, 7, 2, and 8 games. Just like those old Pride teams . I'm shocked to see how bad Moravian was offensively last season, though.

As far as the Pride being gone, it's disappointing, but I wonder if the addition of Salisbury played a role. Defensively, having two triple option teams on the schedule can be tough to prepare for, and I wonder if maybe there was concern about needing to recruit more players who can defend the option and the difficulty in finding them. Also, despite playing every year, I feel like nothing ever really developed between the two schools.

The Bombers are always trying to get into PA. Some of their other OOC opponents in recent years have included Lycoming, Widener, and Kings. They've gotten a lot of good players from PA in recent years (not that they didn't get lots from the NE area) Maybe they feel that they can still recruit the New England area without going to Springfield, but that a game in PA can really help. Maybe the road teams just got tired of losing every year.

[ExTartanPlayer]

Random side thought:

D-III teams kick too many field goals. Take Starzell. Six of his kicks came with the ball at the 10 yard line or closer. I don't know what the distance for a first was on those kicks, but man, I would think a team might be better off going for it. Suppose Westfield goes for it on all those. A 50% conversion rate gives them 21 points, three points better than they got on the kicks.

And even if you don't get it, think long term. If you pin your opponent inside the five, you've got a shot at a safety (Ithaca did this against Utica) and if you force a punt quickly, you've got a good chance of starting in plus territory.

Personally, unless it were a situation where a team absolutely needs three points (down 14-13 with a minute to go, for example) I'd go for it a lot more.

Random reply to random side thought:  I completely agree. 

A field goal attempted from inside the 10-yard line is often a "safe" decision that's not worth giving up a) the chance of scoring a touchdown and b) the 30+ yards of field position.  The opponent's chance of scoring is virtually nil when starting at their own 5-yard line, but it goes up quite substantially when starting at the 35.

Coaches often ignore this piece of the equation, instead just focusing on the opportunity to put some points on the board themselves.  But what's the point of kicking the FG yourself if it gives your opponent much better odds of returning the favor?  Why not go for the touchdown, which carries a bigger potential payoff?  Even if your attempt fails, you leave the opponent in a very difficult position, and you stand a decent chance of getting the ball back on the plus side of midfield.

As you point out, Bombers, if your success rate in those fourth-and-goal situations is 50%, you've surpassed the # of points that you'd score by kicking all short FG's (and that assumes that your kicker, holder, and snapper are perfect on short FG's and don't botch any of them).  And that's BEFORE we even consider the field-position element discussed above.

There are certainly situations where kicking the short FG is the right decision (end-of-half situations, where the field-position is essentially negated and you give yourself a "free" 3 points, and end-of-game situations where the FG represents tying or go-ahead points).  However, IMHO, coaches should be much more liberal in their decisions to go for it on fourth-and-goal in all other situations.  And that goes for all levels of football, not just Division III.