FB: Empire 8

[AUPepBand]

Ehhhh Bombers!

http://catdomealumni.blogspot.com/2010/06/save-your-money-on-those-college.html

... unique perspective on the Top 25.

Bob Napoleon, if you're out there... get @ Rowdy!  We're gonna need some shirts!

What? First Down Club on the rebound?

[pumkinattack]

Hope you guys are all getting ready for LL domination. 

Seriously though, I'm going to miss the SJF - Bart game under the lights at the new Boz and thinking it's going to be televised soemwhere upstate.  If that's the case, is there any kind soul who might consider taping said clash of the titans and I can forward some coin to have it mailed to me (down south)? 

thanks,

PA
Managing Director of E8 Agitation

[Bombers798891]

Any word on when camps get going?
heard good things about Fisher's returning/transfer players.
looking forward to good things this year!

This isn't so much directed at this specific comment, but I sort of feel like, if we went around and collected the info on teams, we'd walk away thinking 98% were going to get better. I've never really put a lot of stock in reports of "Well, the coaches really like the new additions and think they'll have a great impact on the team" unless we're talking about a position of absolute, total disaster. (And I realize that I'm guilty of saying things about incoming Bombers as well, so yes, I'm a hypocrite )

But honestly, don't all coaches like the players they recruit? I know sometimes coaches are, in general disappointed with the overall haul and players they missed out on, but isn't it sort of self-explanatory that coaches like players they actively recruit?

And even if they didn't, would they really say otherwise? I personally would love it if a coach said something like "Yeah, we got some wide receivers, but honestly, they're not really that talented, and [insert name of current best WR] has really hit his ceiling and probably isn't going to be any better than he was last year," or "Sure, we brought in some new defensive lineman, but we're probably still going to be pretty bad against the run and struggle to rush the passer." But that's not going to happen.

I sort of feel like, at every school every year, there's always stories of "New attitudes/philosophies", "half the team is in the best shape of their careers," "872 seniors providing leadership to the 12 freshman", and "incoming recruits better than 90% of current roster" this time of year.

Which always turns into the same type of story "The new defensive tackles (who the coaches love) will control the run, freeing up the two senior defensive ends (who are taking on a massive new leadership role on and off the field) to have their best seasons rushing the passer, which will free the linebackers (who are really benefiting from a new defensive philosophy) and take pressure off the secondary (who are all in the best shape of their life)"

I'm not saying those stories are without merit, or not worth writing/discussing. It's simply that the talk seems to blend into one big ball of "Great things are going to happen". I will admit to feeling overly cynical today and welcome any karma assassination attempts

[fisheralum91]

I was merely trying to get a feel or hear if there was a buzz on campus--and while i agree that coaches will always say they are excited about the season---year to year there is a difinitive difference in expectations based on incoming personell

[SJFF82]

Any word on when camps get going?
heard good things about Fisher's returning/transfer players.
looking forward to good things this year!

This isn't so much directed at this specific comment, but I sort of feel like, if we went around and collected the info on teams, we'd walk away thinking 98% were going to get better. I've never really put a lot of stock in reports of "Well, the coaches really like the new additions and think they'll have a great impact on the team" unless we're talking about a position of absolute, total disaster. (And I realize that I'm guilty of saying things about incoming Bombers as well, so yes, I'm a hypocrite )

But honestly, don't all coaches like the players they recruit? I know sometimes coaches are, in general disappointed with the overall haul and players they missed out on, but isn't it sort of self-explanatory that coaches like players they actively recruit?

And even if they didn't, would they really say otherwise? I personally would love it if a coach said something like "Yeah, we got some wide receivers, but honestly, they're not really that talented, and [insert name of current best WR] has really hit his ceiling and probably isn't going to be any better than he was last year," or "Sure, we brought in some new defensive lineman, but we're probably still going to be pretty bad against the run and struggle to rush the passer." But that's not going to happen.

I sort of feel like, at every school every year, there's always stories of "New attitudes/philosophies", "half the team is in the best shape of their careers," "872 seniors providing leadership to the 12 freshman", and "incoming recruits better than 90% of current roster" this time of year.

Which always turns into the same type of story "The new defensive tackles (who the coaches love) will control the run, freeing up the two senior defensive ends (who are taking on a massive new leadership role on and off the field) to have their best seasons rushing the passer, which will free the linebackers (who are really benefiting from a new defensive philosophy) and take pressure off the secondary (who are all in the best shape of their life)"

I'm not saying those stories are without merit, or not worth writing/discussing. It's simply that the talk seems to blend into one big ball of "Great things are going to happen". I will admit to feeling overly cynical today and welcome any karma assassination attempts

Fine.... Ithaca's recruiting class, Sophomore class, Junior class, Senior class and coaching staff all suck this year....heck, even their fans and their posters suck.   

[AUPepBand]

Any word on when camps get going?
heard good things about Fisher's returning/transfer players.
looking forward to good things this year!

This isn't so much directed at this specific comment, but I sort of feel like, if we went around and collected the info on teams, we'd walk away thinking 98% were going to get better. I've never really put a lot of stock in reports of "Well, the coaches really like the new additions and think they'll have a great impact on the team" unless we're talking about a position of absolute, total disaster. (And I realize that I'm guilty of saying things about incoming Bombers as well, so yes, I'm a hypocrite )

But honestly, don't all coaches like the players they recruit? I know sometimes coaches are, in general disappointed with the overall haul and players they missed out on, but isn't it sort of self-explanatory that coaches like players they actively recruit?

And even if they didn't, would they really say otherwise? I personally would love it if a coach said something like "Yeah, we got some wide receivers, but honestly, they're not really that talented, and [insert name of current best WR] has really hit his ceiling and probably isn't going to be any better than he was last year," or "Sure, we brought in some new defensive lineman, but we're probably still going to be pretty bad against the run and struggle to rush the passer." But that's not going to happen.

I sort of feel like, at every school every year, there's always stories of "New attitudes/philosophies", "half the team is in the best shape of their careers," "872 seniors providing leadership to the 12 freshman", and "incoming recruits better than 90% of current roster" this time of year.

Which always turns into the same type of story "The new defensive tackles (who the coaches love) will control the run, freeing up the two senior defensive ends (who are taking on a massive new leadership role on and off the field) to have their best seasons rushing the passer, which will free the linebackers (who are really benefiting from a new defensive philosophy) and take pressure off the secondary (who are all in the best shape of their life)"

I'm not saying those stories are without merit, or not worth writing/discussing. It's simply that the talk seems to blend into one big ball of "Great things are going to happen". I will admit to feeling overly cynical today and welcome any karma assassination attempts

Pep calls this common approach to the start of a new season "Public Relations." No matter what is said about who before the season, that is all forgotten as the season unfolds and we see what we've really got...either an East Region runner-up to the mighty Mount, a disappointing season...or something in between.

Here's something you can count on....whether 4-6 or 10-0, the AU Pep Band will play on! Stay tuned!

On Saxon Warriors!

[Bombers798891]

Any word on when camps get going?
heard good things about Fisher's returning/transfer players.
looking forward to good things this year!

This isn't so much directed at this specific comment, but I sort of feel like, if we went around and collected the info on teams, we'd walk away thinking 98% were going to get better. I've never really put a lot of stock in reports of "Well, the coaches really like the new additions and think they'll have a great impact on the team" unless we're talking about a position of absolute, total disaster. (And I realize that I'm guilty of saying things about incoming Bombers as well, so yes, I'm a hypocrite )

But honestly, don't all coaches like the players they recruit? I know sometimes coaches are, in general disappointed with the overall haul and players they missed out on, but isn't it sort of self-explanatory that coaches like players they actively recruit?

And even if they didn't, would they really say otherwise? I personally would love it if a coach said something like "Yeah, we got some wide receivers, but honestly, they're not really that talented, and [insert name of current best WR] has really hit his ceiling and probably isn't going to be any better than he was last year," or "Sure, we brought in some new defensive lineman, but we're probably still going to be pretty bad against the run and struggle to rush the passer." But that's not going to happen.

I sort of feel like, at every school every year, there's always stories of "New attitudes/philosophies", "half the team is in the best shape of their careers," "872 seniors providing leadership to the 12 freshman", and "incoming recruits better than 90% of current roster" this time of year.

Which always turns into the same type of story "The new defensive tackles (who the coaches love) will control the run, freeing up the two senior defensive ends (who are taking on a massive new leadership role on and off the field) to have their best seasons rushing the passer, which will free the linebackers (who are really benefiting from a new defensive philosophy) and take pressure off the secondary (who are all in the best shape of their life)"

I'm not saying those stories are without merit, or not worth writing/discussing. It's simply that the talk seems to blend into one big ball of "Great things are going to happen". I will admit to feeling overly cynical today and welcome any karma assassination attempts

Fine.... Ithaca's recruiting class, Sophomore class, Junior class, Senior class and coaching staff all suck this year....heck, even their fans and their posters suck.    

Well, we knew that already. Also, we're elitist and obsessed with history which has little to no bearing on a game today. I tells ya, we're all bums on the South Hill  

Look, all I'm saying is, in my opinion, if you look around at what gets written, you rarely hear about teams who may experience a step back (or at the very least, stay in neutral). But of course, we know sports is a zero sum game, so for every extra win one team gets, someone's going to take an extra loss, so there are going to be lots of teams who do that. But we don't really hear about those stories, unless one team gets hit really, really hard by graduation.

This wasn't meant to address a specific team...I only quoted FA91's post because it sort of lit the spark. And FA91 is right that there are levels of excitement.

I'm not saying don't be excited about your teams if you're a fan. As fans, that's what we do. But sometimes, as I survey the media landscape, there seems to be a mandate on the part of journalists covering teams in the preseason to focus on the best-case scenarios to the point where we say, "Sure the school's all-time leading QB graduated, and the junior starting now has never taken a regular-season snap, but don't discount the fact that the Junior's been learning from him for two years and look at this anecdote about how much film he's watched," when the reality is closer to "The junior's not as good, the passing game is going to suffer, the offense won't be as prolific and that's probably going to cost the team 1-2 wins."

I kind of understand it more in the college game, because we don't want to rip on specific kids, but when it comes to whole programs, why does it seem like journalists are afraid to say, "They went 8-2 last year, but this year, they're not as talented and the schedule's rougher so 6-4 is likely?"

It's interesting. I remember a couple years ago, asking Pat C. why, when doing playoff capsules on teams in MUC's bracket, the site never had anything more than "All roads end in Alliance", but now, I look back and appreciate that sort of direct honesty, which seems to be lacking in other places

Just an opinion, more on the state of Journalism in general than a specific fan base/paper, etc

[fisheralum91]

Im rather curious why nobody is talking about the preseason top 25...........E8 got some love with AU, SJFC, and IC getting good numbers of votes

[AUKaz00]

Im rather curious why nobody is talking about the preseason top 25...........E8 got some love with AU, SJFC, and IC getting good numbers of votes

It's only the second time that Alfred has gotten any votes in the preseason poll, so I'm excited about that.  Plus, the last time that happened was the only season in the last 15 that we beat Ithaca! Sure, Fisher stomped us the following week, but I prefer to focus on the positives.

On Saxon Warriors!

[fisheralum91]

Lindys has fisher 14th....
I really hope this is the year that Fisher regains the momentum that they built 3 years ago!

[Bombers798891]

Im rather curious why nobody is talking about the preseason top 25...........E8 got some love with AU, SJFC, and IC getting good numbers of votes

We actually had some discussion awhile back on the topic, mostly centered on the question of whether or not SJF and IC were overrated

[AUPepBand]

Pep was pleased to see none other than Paul Keeley dining on the terrace at the newly opened Collegiate "The Jet" Restaurant in downtown Alfred earlier this week. When asked what brings the former AU star QB (and "Fisher reject") back to Saxonville, his reply: "I'm coaching." Welcome back, Paul!

On Saxon Warriors!

[AUPepBand]

Im rather curious why nobody is talking about the preseason top 25...........E8 got some love with AU, SJFC, and IC getting good numbers of votes

RE-POSTED from June 24, 2010:

Wow! Nice to have some reading material on the E8 board for a change. In an unusual effort to remain "on topic" Pep opines about the lack of East teams, in general, in the [USA Today]Top 25, and, in particular, the lack of Empire 8 teams in the Top 25.

Pep believes that while, overall, the Empire 8 is becoming a stronger conference, there appears to be more parity. St. John Fisher emerged as a national contender and in doing so knocked the Bombers down a few notches in the eyes of nationwide D3 observers. Then along comes Hart(Jason Boltus)wick and grounds the high-flying Cardinals a bit. Springfield was unable to run over the E8 but certainly was a nationally acclaimed program that joined in the fracas. Then you have Alfred hanging around every year, finally emerging with the AQ in '09.

Pep is thinking the Empire 8 is looking a bit more like the WIAC in 2004 when LaCrosse, with a 5-2 conference record, represented the WIAC in the NCAAs. Whitewater, EauClaire, Stevens Point were all 4-3.

As for 2010: Fisher continues to attract top notch athletes and will be in contention; Ithaca, well, is Ithaca and hasn't had a losing season in decades; Springfield, with Josh Carter, will be on the run; Alfred seems to be building some depth in its program; Utica will continue to improve with Faggiano in charge; Hartwick can fling it around and make some contenders nervous.

From top to bottom, it appears the E8 is getting stronger every year, but other than Fisher's brief stint in the national hunt and Ithaca's heritage, what team would warrant a Top 25 appearance?

[dlippiel]

Springfield, with Josh Carter, will be on the run;

True Pep and he may jut run the Pride back into the playoffs here in 2010. dlip always gets **** hammered for talking up the Pride and probably rightfully so. Yet he has just always been a fan even when he almost lost his **** on a student behind the bleachers a couple of years ago. Something about that offense:

We are going to run the ball...you know it...we know...everyone ****ing knows it...and yet you can't stop it. Seen to many U games out there with frustration to ever put a total cabash on the Pride. With Carter having grown and really starting to grasp the system as well as a :decent" supporting cast this team may break through the E6 this season.

[Pat Coleman]

Lindys has fisher 14th....
I really hope this is the year that Fisher regains the momentum that they built 3 years ago!

I'll be interested to see Lindy's Week 1 poll.