FB: Empire 8

[SJFF82]

Prediction:

FISHER 41

rochester 21

dlip concurrs with this prediciton. U of R just won't be able to hang with the Cardinals in 09. Of course to be honest dlip is pulling for UR here but knows that does not mean ****.

dlip likes the underdog....that is respected.  8)

[AUPepBand]

So K-Mack, have you settled on an itinerary?

[sjfcards]

Friday night and the beer has already started flowing. There is nothing like celebrating Camp Good Days with a few cold ones.
I'll take Fisher 41-10 tomorrow.

Lets go CARDS!!!!

[Bombers798891]

Injuries mount for the Bombers...Drescher, Ruggerio, Rodovick and Scalice all out...not good times on the South Hill

[realistic]

Ugh.  That's not what I wanted to see to start the day.  798891 - Do you know how serious they are?  Really don't like to see Scalice on that list.

[Bombers798891]

Bombers once again struggle to run the ball effectively as Bergerstock manages only 65 yards on 18 carries. Simply not going to get the job done against tougher opponents

[sjfcards]

well Fisher won, but that was not a impresive win. U of R really built off of a few turnovers in the last 15 minutes. Two fumbles and a an interception in the fourth quarter and oh my did they make it a game.

Oh boy. A win is a win I guess. But Fisher needs to do better than that.

[tecmobowler]

Went to the Bombers game yesterday, and will share a number of thoughts on the day....

Starting with the Ithaca offense.... Grastorf was really a lot of fun to watch.  The best way to describe him is a poor-man's Felicetti... Brian has glimpses of what was Felicetti's greatest strength in my opinion.... his incredible touch.  The fourth or fifth touchdown was on a 15-20 yard out pattern to the corner of the endzone.  Grastorf placed it beautifully before Ruffrage had even broken, and really it was a thing of beauty. The inept red-zone years of the Juvan era seem to be nearing an end.  Grastorf is also extremely calm and patient in the pocket... perhaps even too calm at times, but no evidence of the "happy feet" that plagues many quarterbacks.  He doesn't have the touch ont he deep ball that Felicetti did, but I think this can be a solid team with Grastorf at the helm... and I can't help but wonder if the staff wishes they had gone to him a couple years back..

The offensive line looks great in the pass blocking, and medicore with run blocking.  They gave Grastorf all the time in the world when he dropped back, but the holes were Bergerstock were few and tight.  As JU mentioned last week, they seem to be intent on pounding it up the middle, but found more success in the second havlf when they started bouncing things outside towards Queener.

Grastorf himself explained the wideout situation pretty well in the paper last week, when he said there's not really a "go to guy" since they're all pretty equal.  I'd call Vossler, Hannon, and Ruffrage solid receivers, though none of them strike you as outstanding.... more PJ Canestrari's than Esposito's if that makes sense.  That speedy deep threat we've had in the past (Gordon, Crandall) is missing, thought the short, west-coast style worked just fine yesterday.

[tecmobowler]

On the defensive side, I thought the D-Line played a really solid game considering the loss of Drescher.  As I mentioned a while back, the recruiting class this year looks really good, and it's starting to show.  Owen Kugler (from the Chicago area... pretty highly touted) got the start on the line and played a superb game.  He had pressure on the QB a number of times, which we haven't seen consistently from a defensive end at ithaca in quite some time.  Widener also tried to run a fake draw out of the shotgun, that turned into a QB sneak around the end, which he stayed at home on very nicely. 

Many of Widener's completions were right over the middle where Scalice is typically roaming...

[Bombers798891]

Went to the Bombers game yesterday, and will share a number of thoughts on the day....

Starting with the Ithaca offense.... Grastorf was really a lot of fun to watch.  The best way to describe him is a poor-man's Felicetti... Brian has glimpses of what was Felicetti's greatest strength in my opinion.... his incredible touch.  The fourth or fifth touchdown was on a 15-20 yard out pattern to the corner of the endzone.  Grastorf placed it beautifully before Ruffrage had even broken, and really it was a thing of beauty. The inept red-zone years of the Juvan era seem to be nearing an end.  Grastorf is also extremely calm and patient in the pocket... perhaps even too calm at times, but no evidence of the "happy feet" that plagues many quarterbacks.  He doesn't have the touch ont he deep ball that Felicetti did, but I think this can be a solid team with Grastorf at the helm... and I can't help but wonder if the staff wishes they had gone to him a couple years back..

The offensive line looks great in the pass blocking, and medicore with run blocking.  They gave Grastorf all the time in the world when he dropped back, but the holes were Bergerstock were few and tight.  As JU mentioned last week, they seem to be intent on pounding it up the middle, but found more success in the second havlf when they started bouncing things outside towards Queener.

Grastorf himself explained the wideout situation pretty well in the paper last week, when he said there's not really a "go to guy" since they're all pretty equal.  I'd call Vossler, Hannon, and Ruffrage solid receivers, though none of them strike you as outstanding.... more PJ Canestrari's than Esposito's if that makes sense.  That speedy deep threat we've had in the past (Gordon, Crandall) is missing, thought the short, west-coast style worked just fine yesterday.

Tecmo-- Nice recap. I'll add my thoughts.

I thought Grastorf played an excellent game. The touch came and went, I thought. He missed Ruffrage on that timing pattern in the corner a couple of times before he hit it. But overall, with the amount Ithaca throws, I'm wondering if he may have a record-breaking season on his hands. I'm almost positive Fellicetti's 34 TD's in 2004 are a single-season school record. With 10 TD's through three games, Grastorf's made an impressive opening statement. And with the running game struggles, Ithaca may lean on him quite a bit.

I'm beginning to have concerns about the running game. Be it injuries or line play or whatever, Ithaca is not running the ball well at all. Bergerstock has only 88 yards on 30 carries and even Ruggerio's numbers are skewed by one long 59 yard run. Removing that single run pushes his numbers down to 138 yards on 32 carries, which is solid, if unspectacular. And since he's hurt, it looks like it may be Bergerstock's load anyway.

Will this team be able to grind it out in the fourth quarter of a tight game by getting consistent gains? I'm not sure.

Defensively, Ithaca looked very good, although Widener's lack of a running game makes them a bit one dimensional. There were some soft spots in coverage over the middle, but the Bombers shouldn't use Scalice's injury as an excuse, because who knows when he'll be back. He had a pretty impressive boot on, although the Bombers are being mum as to what the extent of the injury is.

I am really intrigued by this Utica match-up Becker and Castleton state aren't much to write home about, but a good friend pointed out to me: "It's one thing to beat a terrible team like Becker 20-10 or 28-8. But being up 64-0 after three quarters? That's impressive regardless of competition." And leading RPI for 50 minutes on the road is really something. I still think Ithaca's going to win,  but not in the 44-7 style they're accustomed to.

Season starts next week for Ithaca. In all likelyhood, the Bombers will need the E8 title to make the playoffs. Here's hoping.

[Bombers798891]

So where do we stand in the E8 as conference play (for some) begins? On man's take:

SJF is 2-1, with no large surprises except for (maybe) the closeness of the Rochester game. It will be interesting to see them play on the road, although Salisbury doesn't appear to be quite as good as they were the past few seasons. The Cardinals will have two weeks to prepare for Ithaca.

Alfred is 3-0, although they haven't been tested much. The offense looks like they'll be able to put up points with the best of them.

Springfield is also 2-0, and the triple option is averaging 56 points a game against some admittedly weak competition. Their game at Alfred will be interesting. The pride are always feast or famine, and this could shape up to be a feasting.

Hartwick looks like it's moved away from the Madden scores of the past, both on offense and defense. Like most teams in the conference, the Hawks best performances have come against weak teams

Utica looks like they've taken many steps forward and should be able to be a spoiler, if not a dark horse contender in the conference. I was skeptical, but their performance against RPI has me intrigued.

IC, like everyone else, has a pair of wins against not good competition, but missed a chance to make a statement against Union.

Overall, it's really unclear what to think. The conference doesn't really have a signature win, and missed out on two chances to land ones on the road. Most of the victories have come against nobodies.

I honestly think this season's going to be a mess. Half the teams already have an OOC loss, and really, none of them (to this point anyway) have made me think they can run the table in conference. I'm thinking a lot of 3-2/2-3 conference records and probably no-one with more than 8 wins, at best

[AUPepBand]

So where do we stand in the E8 as conference play (for some) begins? On man's take:

Overall, it's really unclear what to think. The conference doesn't really have a signature win, and missed out on two chances to land ones on the road. Most of the victories have come against nobodies.

I honestly think this season's going to be a mess. Half the teams already have an OOC loss, and really, none of them (to this point anyway) have made me think they can run the table in conference. I'm thinking a lot of 3-2/2-3 conference records and probably no-one with more than 8 wins, at best

798891's post is dead on. Pep had hoped that three weeks into the season, one could see a clear favorite in the E8 race. Yet, at this point, before conference play begins, there really aren't a lot of surprises. If anything, it appears that parity has hit the E8.

Much like the WIAC (Pep remembers a 3 or 4-way tie?) a few years before Whitewater emerged as the only team to climb the Mount, 2009 in the Empire 8 looks like a lot of 3-2 and 2-3 conference records.

For instance, Fisher and Ithaca both must travel to Springfield where they've got their second-year QB rolling with that vaunted offensive scheme. And while the Pride visits Merrill Field this Saterday, Pep is wondering whether AU can stop that attack enough to outscore the Pride. A key early season matchup.

Utica is no longer a push-over. As expected, Faggiano has the Pioneers on track and they likely could compete for E8 bragging rights. Can he make a statement against his alma mater with his young squad on the Utica turf this Saterday?

Meanwhile, looking down the road, have the Bombers circled the Fisher game on their calendar after last year's second half collapse at Growney? Can the Saxons and their young secondary keep up with the Bombers at Butterfield? Will Hartwick cage both Ithaca and Fisher as they did two years ago? Will Springfield run over everyone?

It's football season. Stay tuned.

On Saxon Warriors!

[sjfcards]

Sounds like a lot of fun in the coming weeks. Looking at the different schedules around the league it looks like there are no real easy roads to the finish line. I see a lot of trap games, and a lot of games that will be tough either home or on the road for everyone. It should be a lot of fun. I would like to see a few teams step up and really get rolling so the E8 can send a quality representative into the playoffs.

Ithaca has a tough OOC loss already. Fisher was not impressive last night, and it appears that Bailey is more injured than we may have thought. AU and Hartwick are 3-0 but some games have been closer than I would have anticipated. And who knows with Utica. They look they may be ready to start picking off some games in the conference and make life tough for teams at the top. With all of that we can not forget about Springfield, who may be, at this point, the most impressive team overall in the conference.

Now that we are ready for some conference play to start, I think predictions would be crazy, but I still think Fisher, AU, IC, and maybe Sprinfield will be there at the end. But, you could make a strong case for all of them to be the favorite.

Next week should give us some answers with IC traveling to Utica for a game that is suddenly not a walk in the park. SC and AU going head to head should make the picture a little more clear, but we have a long way to go.

[maxpower]

Ithaca 4-1
Springfield 4-1
Fisher 3-2
Alfred 2-3
Utica 1-4
Hartwick 1-4

Not sure if that's possible with the numbers, but that's my guess. I think Utica tipped their hand against RPI; no one will look past them. Springfield has hit their stride when a lot of teams (maybe all of them) are still finding their feet. Hartwick will get Boltus-ed.

[Boxer7806]

Alfred will beat at least one of three teams ranked ahead of them here. Springfield has played absolutely nobody, so we have no real idea of the team they have. Alfred matches up well with Ithaca considering their strong running game. SJF looked shaky this weekend as well. But the same can be said of Alfred who has not played anyone at all as well.

Looking forward to Alfred vs Springfield this weekend. Should answer a lot of questions.