FB: Empire 8

XREDDRAGON77 · October 15, 2017, 01:58:46 PM

Pleasant surprise by my Dragons yesterday! The past two weekends had me worried. Hopefully the team stays focused down the stretch and Alfred takes care of business as well. A 3 way tie seems par for the course here. I'm an Alfred fan for the rest of the season!

AUPepBand · October 15, 2017, 02:22:02 PM

Quote from: XREDDRAGON77 on October 15, 2017, 01:58:46 PM
Pleasant surprise by my Dragons yesterday! The past two weekends had me worried. Hopefully the team stays focused down the stretch and Alfred takes care of business as well. A 3 way tie seems par for the course here. I'm an Alfred fan for the rest of the season!

We could have used you as an Alfred fan yesterday! But as it was, with both schools on Mid-Semester break, there were probably as many Alfred fans as Cortland fans at the game. It certainly was disappointing to lose, but Cortland, with a talented experienced QB, came to play and, quite frankly, Alfred lost to a darn good team. AU defense's play was stellar but we needed one or two more big plays from our offense to make the difference. The loss snapped AU's 15-game regular season winning streak. Alfred had a 15-game regular season win streak in 1955 and 1956 but the longest AU win streak in AU football history (which began in 1895) was 16 games from 1970 to 1972.

AU will have its hands full this week with a resurgent RPI team that rallied to beat Ithaca, 27-14, thus making a mess of the Liberty League. Meanwhile, Cortland has been the greatest challenge to date to Brockport, which humbled Pep's alma mater, 48-7, on Saterday. Will Hartwick or Buffalo State be able to stay with the Golden Eagles?

On Saxon Warriors!

Bengalsrule · October 18, 2017, 11:19:20 PM

Quote from: AUPepBand on October 15, 2017, 02:22:02 PM
Quote from: XREDDRAGON77 on October 15, 2017, 01:58:46 PM
Pleasant surprise by my Dragons yesterday! The past two weekends had me worried. Hopefully the team stays focused down the stretch and Alfred takes care of business as well. A 3 way tie seems par for the course here. I'm an Alfred fan for the rest of the season!

Will Hartwick or Buffalo State be able to stay with the Golden Eagles?

On Saxon Warriors!

That's a question that was posed yesterday by one of our basketball coaches to a member of the BENGALS D. His response was.............. " we play at Utica this Saturday, but boy can Brockport put up some points!" Glad our kids are focused on Utica especially after that hail biter last Saturday at St Lawrence. Hoping that none of them are looking past Utica to homecoming versus the Golden Eagles.

I for 1 am hoping for the best this Saturday... and next Saturday!

Love the fight in these kids.

Go BENGALS!

Bartman · October 19, 2017, 08:21:08 AM

I am very interested to see how Brockport makes it through the back end of the E8 schedule and whether they stub their toe (possible with Bengals and Alfred, not so sure about Hartwick) or beat everyone by 21+ points. Having watched them against Hobart and Ithaca to start the season, I think this could be a special eastern region team with an explosive offense led by Germinerio and a top defense ( although Cortland was a challenge ). Not to jinx their upcoming opponents but I am rooting for the Golden Eagles to be that eastern team that can go deep into the playoffs this year....I think they have the talent, but we will see if they earn it.

Upstate · October 19, 2017, 08:50:30 AM

I have a feeling that this might be a Team Boltus special....

70-68 Team Boltus in 4 OTs!!!

Bombers798891 · October 19, 2017, 09:23:14 AM

K+

XREDDRAGON77 · October 19, 2017, 10:14:47 AM

As much as an undefeated Brockport may help the East, as a Dragon alum I'm hoping for an Alfred or Buff State upset to trigger some E8 drama of years past. Pool A is the only path for Cortland as that Framingham St loss will haunt them.

Bombers798891 · October 19, 2017, 10:36:23 AM

I guess I've come around to the idea that Brockport being 10-0 isn't really relevant.

It used to be that we needed that 10-0 team to have an East team host a region for the playoffs. Well, we had that last season, and it didn't matter. Brockport is either good enough or they aren't. Lest we forget, Fisher's 2006 team which finished the season ranked 4th and threw a scare into Mount Union not only didn't host a regional; they weren't even a Pool A bid.

Upstate · October 19, 2017, 11:00:28 AM

Quote from: Bombers798891 on October 19, 2017, 10:36:23 AM
I guess I've come around to the idea that Brockport being 10-0 isn't really relevant.

It used to be that we needed that 10-0 team to have an East team host a region for the playoffs. Well, we had that last season, and it didn't matter. Brockport is either good enough or they aren't. Lest we forget, Fisher's 2006 team which finished the season ranked 4th and threw a scare into Mount Union not only didn't host a regional; they weren't even a Pool A bid.

Fisher's first playoff appearance in 2004 was the only time they've ever been a pool A.

They've won 9 games in the playoffs in 4 Pool C appearances.

Bombers798891 · October 19, 2017, 11:02:41 AM

Truly one of the more odd runs in an odd conference

AUPepBand · October 19, 2017, 12:19:59 PM

Quote from: Bombers798891 on October 19, 2017, 10:36:23 AM
I guess I've come around to the idea that Brockport being 10-0 isn't really relevant.

It used to be that we needed that 10-0 team to have an East team host a region for the playoffs. Well, we had that last season, and it didn't matter.

Yeah, you're probably right. Although Pep is still of the mind that Johns Hopkins was the true #1 seed in the bracket that included the (less beastly than normal) beast in 2016.

While Brockport looks to be the real deal (and, thanks to their defensive coordinator, the Eagles are now strong on both sides of the ball where they hadn't been so much in years past), Pep is still hopeful that the AU offense finds itself in the next couple weeks and the stellar Saxon D is up to the task for their Nov. 4 meeting, while Cortland stumbles at Morris"Let's go Mustangs!"ville or Fisher or vs. Utica.

The question remains, "How good is Brockport?" Are the Eagles "hang around and challenge the Purple Machine" good, or, "go a typical round or two in the playoffs" good?

Time will tell.

Stay tuned.

On Saxon Warriors!

XREDDRAGON77 · October 19, 2017, 08:39:49 PM

Cortland was beating Port well into the 3rd, then either Port woke up, or the wheels fell off the Dragon Wagon. I wouldn't rule Alfred out just yet. Could be a great game. Now those Dragons need to close out the rest of the schedule.

Upstate · October 21, 2017, 04:14:54 PM

Man this is just a horrible season...

This team can do nothing well...

That punt at midfield down 25 with 1:00 left was pathetic...

Bombers798891 · October 21, 2017, 06:33:52 PM

I have to confess, that punt was strange and a little sad. I mean, what's the point?

There's just nothing there on offense for the Cardinals.

Brockport running away with the conference, and almost assuredly will go 10-0. It's clear Alfred just doesn't have the offense to hang with the Golden Eagles

Jonny Utah · October 22, 2017, 08:10:07 AM

Quote from: Upstate on October 21, 2017, 04:14:54 PM
Man this is just a horrible season...

This team can do nothing well...

That punt at midfield down 25 with 1:00 left was pathetic...

I think it was clear that SJF doesn't have the skill or speed to do much on offense. They had some nice timing patterns and fade stop type stuff, but teams catch onto that stuff after a while. Every 3rd play was a simple inside zone which told me they are just trying to keep teams honest and run some clock and hope to surprise them at some point.