FB: Empire 8

[Bombers798891]

Sure, the Bombers just had their second 4-6 season in the past five years, and have lost roughly 87 straight games to Cortland, but we got this going for us, which is nice:

[url]http://herosports.com/news/the-best-college-football-team-in-every-state-regardless-of-division#32[url]

Hey, we Bomber fans have to take what we can get at this point

[AUPepBand]

Sure, the Bombers just had their second 4-6 season in the past five years, and have lost roughly 87 straight games to Cortland, but we got this going for us, which is nice:

[url]http://herosports.com/news/the-best-college-football-team-in-every-state-regardless-of-division#32[url]

Hey, we Bomber fans have to take what we can get at this point

Congratulations on that distinction in a "down" year when your Bombers nevertheless found it in themselves to beat up on Pep's Saxons! Bombers are 36-27 since 2010, Saxons are 45-21 since 2010. Nice of HERO Sports to go back to Butterfield's days on South Hill.

Pep's only argument is that had they gone back further in time, Alfred might have been a consideration (thanks to the "legendary" Coach Alex Yunevich)...or even Hobart! Yunie had six undefeated seasons at AU, a mythical "national championship" in 1956. But most of the posters on here were no more than a gleam in their daddy's eye when Alex was in his heydey.

On Saxon Warriors!

[Bombers798891]

Sure, the Bombers just had their second 4-6 season in the past five years, and have lost roughly 87 straight games to Cortland, but we got this going for us, which is nice:

[url]http://herosports.com/news/the-best-college-football-team-in-every-state-regardless-of-division#32[url]

Hey, we Bomber fans have to take what we can get at this point

Congratulations on that distinction in a "down" year when your Bombers nevertheless found it in themselves to beat up on Pep's Saxons! Bombers are 36-27 since 2010, Saxons are 45-21 since 2010. Nice of HERO Sports to go back to Butterfield's days on South Hill.

Pep's only argument is that had they gone back further in time, Alfred might have been a consideration (thanks to the "legendary" Coach Alex Yunevich)...or even Hobart! Yunie had six undefeated seasons at AU, a mythical "national championship" in 1956. But most of the posters on here were no more than a gleam in their daddy's eye when Alex was in his heydey.

On Saxon Warriors!

The methodology was really strange. Every single metric has a different start date:

Winning %: Since 2010
Conference Titles: Since 2000
POY Awards: Since 1993 (for D-III)
National Titles: Since 1960

It's interesting how these can impact the final vote. Ithaca gets hurt by the POY awards, compared to say, Army, as the Black Knights get heisman winners, but Ithaca gets nothing, since their heyday didn't really have them (Would it have mattered had they gone say, with AA?). Of course, Army doesn't get any of their national titles, while Ithaca does and the Black Knights get killed for the winning % being terrible recently.

It doesn't mean anything, of course, but it's fun to think about. And since Ithaca won, it's even cooler!

[pg04]

I'm not surprised given the criteria that Ithaca was number 1. There are very few football national titles in NY.

Even Syracuse's lone title came a year before the cutoff (how unfortunate). Army's happened in the 40's, and of course Cornell Pre-1940. Ithaca might be a runaway.

[Bombers798891]

So, taking a look at what Ithaca returns on the South Hill:

At QB, Wolfgang Shafer returns. Shafer tossed 11 touchdowns in the Bombers' first five games, and one the rest of the season. He struggled with interceptions, throwing three or more picks in three games last season—and these did not all occur post the rapture that decimated the receiving core. Adam Fron would appear to be the other option.

Tristan Brown returns at running back. At times in his career, he's shown he can be a dominant back. But he also averaged just 4.2 yards a carry last season, and topped 80 yards just twice. I really like Brown, and hope he can show more consistency next season.

WR/TE will be interesting. Brian Balsamo had a nice start to the season, with 17 catches for 199 yards in four games prior to his injury. Andrew Tabbert's kind of an unknown. After 32-486-3 in 2014, he managed just 15-161-0 in six games last year (It's like he's Joel Lynch 2.0) Jared Bauer came on late last year, posting 5-89 against Cortland. None of these guys played more than 6 games last season. Myles LaFrance played in one game against Cortland and caught 6-64

OL: Only one returner from last year's season opening unit, though Jake Bernstien and Geoff Bell saw action as well.

DL: Rob Barberi is the only returning player of note I'm aware of on the line. 32 tackles, 4 TFL, 1 sack.

LB: Kenny Bradley (70 Tckls, 5.5 TFL, 1 sack, 3 INT) returns. As does Dan Loizos (94 tckls, 11 TFL), which makes this Ithaca's strongest unit. They've got a good track record of developing talent here, so I'd expect someone else to emerge as well.

DB: Some solid experience here, with Jordan Schemm (33 tackles, 2 INT), Skyler Kauf (37 tackles, INT), Jimmy Sullivan (23 tckls, INT) and Anthony Skretny (40 tackles) all returning, though I'm not sure any of them play corner. Ithaca loses both starting corners from last season.

Special Teams: Max Rottenecker is gone, so who knows who kicks. Schemm will likely be the return guy, and he broke a few last year.

Overall: Kind of meh. Offense is a total mystery, and could struggle if people don't get better. The defense should be okay if they can get a corner, though I suspect the Bombers will continue their decade-long search for a pass rush.

[Jonny Utah]

A few weeks ago, one of the bomber greats, Jason Nichols died in a tragic construction accident down in long island.  Jason was one of the Captains of the 1994 Ithaca team that made the national semi-finals.  One of the toughest players I ever had the chance to play with or against, he was easily one of the best linebackers I have ever seen live at the d3 level.  Thought I would post his gofundme page here, as he left a wife and 3 children behind. 

https://www.gofundme.com/JCN28

Another bomber great (Joe Palumbo) posted a video of Nichols punting a ball in a Cortland game where one of the Cortland players got a penalty for wearing a jacket during the play!!  The best part is the audio which was taken from an interview with Jim Butterfield who questioned whether or not the Cortland player got the jacket from his "high school" or "some bar somewhere".  Anyway I'm tyring to figure out someway to get the video on this page and FB is not giving me any options.  I'll try to post a link to Joe's page, but I'm not sure if you will be able to view it without logging on or being a friend.

https://www.facebook.com/500040588/videos/10153790647380589/

[Bombers798891]

A few weeks ago, one of the bomber greats, Jason Nichols died in a tragic construction accident down in long island.  Jason was one of the Captains of the 1994 Ithaca team that made the national semi-finals.  One of the toughest players I ever had the chance to play with or against, he was easily one of the best linebackers I have ever seen live at the d3 level.  Thought I would post his gofundme page here, as he left a wife and 3 children behind. 

https://www.gofundme.com/JCN28

Another bomber great (Joe Palumbo) posted a video of Nichols punting a ball in a Cortland game where one of the Cortland players got a penalty for wearing a jacket during the play!!  The best part is the audio which was taken from an interview with Jim Butterfield who questioned whether or not the Cortland player got the jacket from his "high school" or "some bar somewhere".  Anyway I'm tyring to figure out someway to get the video on this page and FB is not giving me any options.  I'll try to post a link to Joe's page, but I'm not sure if you will be able to view it without logging on or being a friend.

https://www.facebook.com/500040588/videos/10153790647380589/

So sorry to hear that

[Jonny Utah]

A few weeks ago, one of the bomber greats, Jason Nichols died in a tragic construction accident down in long island.  Jason was one of the Captains of the 1994 Ithaca team that made the national semi-finals.  One of the toughest players I ever had the chance to play with or against, he was easily one of the best linebackers I have ever seen live at the d3 level.  Thought I would post his gofundme page here, as he left a wife and 3 children behind. 

https://www.gofundme.com/JCN28

Another bomber great (Joe Palumbo) posted a video of Nichols punting a ball in a Cortland game where one of the Cortland players got a penalty for wearing a jacket during the play!!  The best part is the audio which was taken from an interview with Jim Butterfield who questioned whether or not the Cortland player got the jacket from his "high school" or "some bar somewhere".  Anyway I'm tyring to figure out someway to get the video on this page and FB is not giving me any options.  I'll try to post a link to Joe's page, but I'm not sure if you will be able to view it without logging on or being a friend.

https://www.facebook.com/500040588/videos/10153790647380589/

So sorry to hear that

Yea he really was a great guy, and I'm sure you remember him bombers.  He was #28 and was a 3 year starter.  He had to punt in that Cortland game because Ed Mahoney (All-American punter the next year) was hurt.

[sjfcards]

Fisher has released their schedule for the upcoming season. One new and one sort of new team in the out of conference slate. Week 1 Fisher will host Olivet College. I know nothing about the Comets but see they were 9-1 last year. The second non-conference game is at Springfield. It will be nice to see the Pride on the schedule again.

The next section of the schedule takes care of the SUNYAC schedule; Cortland, Brockport (Courage Bowl), Buff State, and Mo'ville in that order.

Finally the legacy E8 schools to round out the schedule; Utica, IC, Hartwick, and Alfred. 

[Bombers798891]

Wanted to tell you guys that I may not be at many Bomber games this fall. Mrs. Bombers798891 is expecting our first in October, so we may have to stay close to home. It's pretty cool actually. We went to an appointment last week to hear the baby's heartbeat, and the ultrasound tech put the thing on her stomach, and it was this really cool sound. We were all so happy, and then, once we'd gone crazy with happiness, the tech put up her hand to make us be quiet. In the still of the room, we actually heard a tiny muffled voice as it said, very clearly:

"Cortland sucks."

[jknezek]

Wanted to tell you guys that I may not be at many Bomber games this fall. Mrs. Bombers798891 is expecting our first in October, so we may have to stay close to home. It's pretty cool actually. We went to an appointment last week to hear the baby's heartbeat, and the ultrasound tech put the thing on her stomach, and it was this really cool sound. We were all so happy, and then, once we'd gone crazy with happiness, the tech put up her hand to make us be quiet. In the still of the room, we actually heard a tiny muffled voice as it said, very clearly:

"Cortland sucks."

Congratulations!  Life will never be the same. Mostly better, but 5 here will be moments...  but seriously, congratulations! 

[dlippiel]

Wanted to tell you guys that I may not be at many Bomber games this fall. Mrs. Bombers798891 is expecting our first in October, so we may have to stay close to home. It's pretty cool actually. We went to an appointment last week to hear the baby's heartbeat, and the ultrasound tech put the thing on her stomach, and it was this really cool sound. We were all so happy, and then, once we'd gone crazy with happiness, the tech put up her hand to make us be quiet. In the still of the room, we actually heard a tiny muffled voice as it said, very clearly:

"Cortland sucks."

Congrats pal! Best thing in life to Dlip is being a parent. Dlip wishes you and your family all the best!

*note this is being typed while dlip sits outside of his daughter's drama class...

[fisheralum91]

Mr and Mrs. FA91 congratulate you bombers!!!

[AUPepBand]

Wanted to tell you guys that I may not be at many Bomber games this fall. Mrs. Bombers798891 is expecting our first in October, so we may have to stay close to home. It's pretty cool actually. We went to an appointment last week to hear the baby's heartbeat, and the ultrasound tech put the thing on her stomach, and it was this really cool sound. We were all so happy, and then, once we'd gone crazy with happiness, the tech put up her hand to make us be quiet. In the still of the room, we actually heard a tiny muffled voice as it said, very clearly:

"Cortland sucks."

True Bomber Blue. Congratulations! +K

[pg04]

Wanted to tell you guys that I may not be at many Bomber games this fall. Mrs. Bombers798891 is expecting our first in October, so we may have to stay close to home. It's pretty cool actually. We went to an appointment last week to hear the baby's heartbeat, and the ultrasound tech put the thing on her stomach, and it was this really cool sound. We were all so happy, and then, once we'd gone crazy with happiness, the tech put up her hand to make us be quiet. In the still of the room, we actually heard a tiny muffled voice as it said, very clearly:

"Cortland sucks."

+K. Congrats!