FB: Empire 8

[fisheralum91]

Fisher stays at number 9 in this weeks poll, Sals drops a spot to 7 after losing to Wesley.

[sjfcards]

Fisher stays at number 9 in this weeks poll, Sals drops a spot to 7 after losing to Wesley.

That seems fair to me. No one in front of Fisher lost except Salisbury, and Fisher wasn't exactly dominant in their win. Salisbury lost to one of the best teams in the country as well.

[fisheralum91]

was thinking the same thing cards.
now we look forward to U of R.
Focus.....never lose focus

[sjfcards]

Going back to the discussion on Utica over the weekend, this week should present a litmus test for how impressive the UC wins were, with Alfred playing St. Lawrence and Ithaca playing Union.

I am interested to see how AU and IC match up against two teams that UC took behind the woodshed. You can't draw too much from scores vs like opponents, but it will probably give us an idea as to how impressive UC has been thus far.

[SJFF82]

82's take on the SJFF 2-0 start:

Thomas More and W&J are a combined 211-66 (.762%) since 1999....

any questions?

[SJFF82]

and in other statistical news....SJFF82 AND SJFCARDS have virtually identical karma pts per post at almost exactly double the posts for Cards*

SJFF82: 0.0365
sjfcards: 0.0368

ok...I should get back to work now....

*this does not include this post

[Yanks 99]

Going back to the discussion on Utica over the weekend, this week should present a litmus test for how impressive the UC wins were, with Alfred playing St. Lawrence and Ithaca playing Union.

I am interested to see how AU and IC match up against two teams that UC took behind the woodshed. You can't draw too much from scores vs like opponents, but it will probably give us an idea as to how impressive UC has been thus far.

Wow...looks like we are starting up the "Utica has arrived" conversation early this year!  Usually, we wait until after week 4...

[fisheralum91]

Yanks- that is true.
I think that the Hobart game will say a lot, and as a few posters said- other head to head games will give us a feel of the quality of wins.

[SJFF82]

FA91...you are prohibited from pretending you are unbiased on the topic of Fisher and Utica Club Football    Perhaps if you would like to offer an objective analysis of Ithaca.....

[sjfcards]

and in other statistical news....SJFF82 AND SJFCARDS have virtually identical karma pts per post at almost exactly double the posts for Cards*

SJFF82: 0.0365
sjfcards: 0.0368

ok...I should get back to work now....

*this does not include this post

I don't know if I ever would have noticed that, but that is The type of in depth analysis this board provides...+k

[dlippiel]

Going back to the discussion on Utica over the weekend, this week should present a litmus test for how impressive the UC wins were, with Alfred playing St. Lawrence and Ithaca playing Union.

I am interested to see how AU and IC match up against two teams that UC took behind the woodshed. You can't draw too much from scores vs like opponents, but it will probably give us an idea as to how impressive UC has been thus far.

From seeing the Utica/Union game first hand dlip feels he can offer some insight. dlip was very very impressed with the play of Andrew Benkwitt. The kid was composed as hell and threw ****ing bullets all night. Utica's back (can't recall name right now and not looking it up) was pretty decent and ran the ball well. Initially Union's young offense really moved the ball on Utica's D. Union's QB played well (to dlip) but is just really learning on the fly. A more seasoned QB could have done some damage to Utica. Union's defense, well, it was ****ing awful, just awful. dlip hates to say it but it is the truth. The kids played their hearts out but were just all over the place. Benkwitt did what he wanted when he wanted pretty much all night. To dlip, Utica's offensive output could have been doubled if they didn't take their foot off the gas.

With all that being said dlip agrees that the upcoming game where the Moose heads face off against the Pumpkin heads will tell us a lot about Uitca. Hobart is a very good team on both sides of the football. dlip favors Bart here but a Utica win would really make them a legit player in the East this year.

[Frank Rossi]

To dlip, Utica's offensive output could have been doubled if they didn't take their foot off the gas.

I'd disagree with this part.  When up by 45-17 late in the 4th, all first-team offense remained in the game for Utica.  There were some odd calls being made coaching-wise on that sideline all night that still confound me, including a re-kick after an out-of-bounds kickoff that exited the boundary at the 2 (that automatically would have gone to the 40 -- and the rekick led to a lost fumble to Union).  Accepting a 5-yard penalty on an incomplete 1st and 10 pass when the opponent is in obvious 4-down territory (1st and 15 instead of 2nd and 10 around the Utica 35) was yet another, "Huh?" moment.

Anyway, there was no reason for the first-team offense to be in the game past the first drive of the 4th quarter, with Utica up by 25.  They have an excellent team (it might have been good to give some experience to the second teamers while they had a chance to do so), and Union never has embarrassed Utica like other teams had to warrant some sort of "message."  Maybe the mouthing off before the Union/SJF playoff game in 2006 somehow made Blaise a Union-hater -- but it doesn't warrant risking your top players to injury unnecessarily, especially in Week 2.

[dlippiel]

To dlip, Utica's offensive output could have been doubled if they didn't take their foot off the gas.

I'd disagree with this part.  When up by 45-17 late in the 4th, all first-team offense remained in the game for Utica.  There were some odd calls being made coaching-wise on that sideline all night that still confound me, including a re-kick after an out-of-bounds kickoff that exited the boundary at the 2 (that automatically would have gone to the 40 -- and the rekick led to a lost fumble to Union).  Accepting a 5-yard penalty on an incomplete 1st and 10 pass when the opponent is in obvious 4-down territory (1st and 15 instead of 2nd and 10 around the Utica 35) was yet another, "Huh?" moment.

Anyway, there was no reason for the first-team offense to be in the game past the first drive of the 4th quarter, with Utica up by 25.  They have an excellent team (it might have been good to give some experience to the second teamers while they had a chance to do so), and Union never has embarrassed Utica like other teams had to warrant some sort of "message."  Maybe the mouthing off before the Union/SJF playoff game in 2006 somehow made Blaise a Union-hater -- but it doesn't warrant risking your top players to injury unnecessarily, especially in Week 2.

Fair enough Frank, dlip will step back on the "doubling" part...a bit. To dlip, when that offense was playcalling in a manner where the run was setting up the pass to the point where either was very effective; if Utica kept that up and let Benkwitt go, it would have gotton even more ugly than it was. To dlip, he felt the gas was let up somwhere early to mid third quarter. dlip is also not trying to be negative just realistic. That's the way the game looked to him. By the way, nice ITH this week. Listened to the replay this afternoon while kids were at art. You guys are really doing a nice job and it is seeming even more polished this season.

[drt]

Utica is in uncharted waters as a program
and some of their coaches are quite young.
I think that, win or lose, we will be doing a
lot more head scratching over coaching calls
this year.

[sjfcards]

  Maybe the mouthing off before the Union/SJF playoff game in 2006 somehow made Blaise a Union-hater -- but it doesn't warrant risking your top players to injury unnecessarily, especially in Week 2.

Can you give me a little background on what went down before the playoff game in 06? I don't remember any pre-game talk, but I am not always in the loop on things like that.