FB: Empire 8

[Yanks 99]

Rochester D&C getting in on the Fisher AU hype

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20101021/SPORTS09/10210346/1007/SPORTS/Fisher-vs.-Alfred-in-big-game?GID=yaFbdq4zyLgb4gj4mkQk9tbXmCeD4Ey7BnkUESIK/IY%3D

"Maybe they thought they were invincible before this, because they made the (NCAA) playoffs last year. This is a reality check for them."


Seems a little off key to me... I think Fisher is the one seemingly tabbed "invincible" this year...

If you take the whole quote:

"I think they'll be extra pumped coming off a loss,'' Fisher quarterback Tim Bailey said. "Maybe they thought they were invincible before this, because they made the (NCAA) playoffs last year. This is a reality check for them."

Bailey's basically saying that he thinks they overlooked RPI..

I agree with Upstate...I took it as Bailey being asked to comment about Alfred's loss to RPI...not about what he thinks of the Alfred program this year.  Bailey has been around far too long and is way too smart to give a potential bulletin board quote like that off hand.  Plus, I completely agree with what he (Bailey) said. 

[fisheralum91]

If you need bulliten board fodder to get up for this game then you dont have a pulse

[Bombers798891]

Remember too that Fisher wins the conference with a win and an Ithaca win

In that scenario, the worst Fisher could go is 4-1 in conference, everyone would have two losses except for IC and Alfred, both of whom Fisher beat. Am I missing anything?

I really can't wait for the addition of some new blood in this conference. I hate that, as far as the playoffs are concerned, the season is almost certainly over for the entire conference with three games to play if Fisher beats Alfred and IC wins. (Even though Fisher is clearly the best team in the conference anyway) It'll just be nice to have a couple of more conference games to be able to say, "Well, you never know" when it comes to the intra-conference stuff. Makes me almost hope that either Alfred of Springfield wins. It'd be nice to have some playoff talk beyond ECAC's and Fisher's #1 potential

[theoriginalupstate]

Remember too that Fisher wins the conference with a win and an Ithaca win

In that scenario, the worst Fisher could go is 4-1 in conference, everyone would have two losses except for IC and Alfred, both of whom Fisher beat. Am I missing anything?

I really can't wait for the addition of some new blood in this conference. I hate that, as far as the playoffs are concerned, the season is almost certainly over for the entire conference with three games to play if Fisher beats Alfred and IC wins. (Even though Fisher is clearly the best team in the conference anyway) It'll just be nice to have a couple of more conference games to be able to say, "Well, you never know" when it comes to the intra-conference stuff. Makes me almost hope that either Alfred of Springfield wins. It'd be nice to have some playoff talk beyond ECAC's and Fisher's #1 potential

What would the posters here want more?

MUC not coming to the "east" or the E8 getting two bids?

[Yanks 99]

Remember too that Fisher wins the conference with a win and an Ithaca win

In that scenario, the worst Fisher could go is 4-1 in conference, everyone would have two losses except for IC and Alfred, both of whom Fisher beat. Am I missing anything?

I really can't wait for the addition of some new blood in this conference. I hate that, as far as the playoffs are concerned, the season is almost certainly over for the entire conference with three games to play if Fisher beats Alfred and IC wins. (Even though Fisher is clearly the best team in the conference anyway) It'll just be nice to have a couple of more conference games to be able to say, "Well, you never know" when it comes to the intra-conference stuff. Makes me almost hope that either Alfred of Springfield wins. It'd be nice to have some playoff talk beyond ECAC's and Fisher's #1 potential

What would the posters here want more?

MUC not coming to the "east" or the E8 getting two bids?

Personally...MUC not coming to the East.

[Bombers798891]

Remember too that Fisher wins the conference with a win and an Ithaca win

In that scenario, the worst Fisher could go is 4-1 in conference, everyone would have two losses except for IC and Alfred, both of whom Fisher beat. Am I missing anything?

I really can't wait for the addition of some new blood in this conference. I hate that, as far as the playoffs are concerned, the season is almost certainly over for the entire conference with three games to play if Fisher beats Alfred and IC wins. (Even though Fisher is clearly the best team in the conference anyway) It'll just be nice to have a couple of more conference games to be able to say, "Well, you never know" when it comes to the intra-conference stuff. Makes me almost hope that either Alfred of Springfield wins. It'd be nice to have some playoff talk beyond ECAC's and Fisher's #1 potential

What would the posters here want more?

MUC not coming to the "east" or the E8 getting two bids?

MUC not coming totally. But it's not even a second bid. It's that there won't even be any hypothetical scenarios to discuss. It just seems odd that with three weeks to go we may not have any playoff berth talk. If Springfield beats IC, that could give us a couple weeks of Springfield/Fisher debate. Or next season, with an additional team (or 2011 with two) there's just more conference scenarios available.

[SJFF82]

this board lay dormant minus sax 8 and myself for a better part of the day and you guys actually make me read......Sheesh.
Two days....
I havent been this antsy in a while.
Should be a good one!

havent been this antsy since....Ithaca was good....HI---OOOOH

[theoriginalupstate]

this board lay dormant minus sax 8 and myself for a better part of the day and you guys actually make me read......Sheesh.
Two days....
I havent been this antsy in a while.
Should be a good one!

havent been this antsy since....Ithaca was good....HI---OOOOH

Yeah I remember all the hype leading up to the Bill Struzzi game...

PC said that there was no way the game lives up to the hype, but it did and then some...

It's not as heated as it was going into that game since there is no big controversy that happened last year vs AU (like Stepnicks' "INT")  but there is definitely a buzz around this weeks game...

[SJFF82]

Remember too that Fisher wins the conference with a win and an Ithaca win

In that scenario, the worst Fisher could go is 4-1 in conference, everyone would have two losses except for IC and Alfred, both of whom Fisher beat. Am I missing anything?

I really can't wait for the addition of some new blood in this conference. I hate that, as far as the playoffs are concerned, the season is almost certainly over for the entire conference with three games to play if Fisher beats Alfred and IC wins. (Even though Fisher is clearly the best team in the conference anyway) It'll just be nice to have a couple of more conference games to be able to say, "Well, you never know" when it comes to the intra-conference stuff. Makes me almost hope that either Alfred of Springfield wins. It'd be nice to have some playoff talk beyond ECAC's and Fisher's #1 potential

What would the posters here want more?

MUC not coming to the "east" or the E8 getting two bids?

...is this assuming that AU beats SJF, AU wins the E8 and SJF still gets in?

[SJFF82]

I'm late to this...but here is my $.02 for the greatest E8 players...

1) Boltus - hand down the best player I have personally ever seen at the D3 level.  Does that seem biased?  Maybe...but I remember seeing him play for the first time at Wick his freshman season against Ithaca (2nd game ever at Wick I believe).  Ithaca won by a lot (59-41, I believe, or something like that)...but Boltus was easily the best player on the field.  He made a throw in the 3rd quarter where he rolled to the right towards the IC sideline looked across the field and threw a bullet to one of his receivers on the left side of the field...about 50 yards downfield running just inside the numbers on the left hash.  I turned to a friend right there and said "he is going to break every one of (Dan) Pinchelli's passing records here."  Pinchelli's (a great, great player in his own right) all time passing record was just under 10,000 yards.  12,000+ yards later, Boltus proved me right.

2) Garcon - if he had more time in the E8, he would probably be ahead of Boltus.  Clearly a man among boys, that didn't belong on the D3 stage.  Throw in the "Hail Katherine" pass against Fisher, along with the rest of his stats, and he could probably be moved to the top of this list.  Plus...did anyone see that one handed catch against the Redskins on Sunday night?  Nasty...and is currently one of two E8 alumni that are playing professional football (Boltus is the other), and the only one in the NFL.

3) Brady - absolute beast.  To me, no question the best defensive E8 player...ever.  Constantly fought double and triple teams, and was always around the ball.  Throwing in the short yardage TD's when you knew he was getting the ball just adds to how good he was.  Still shocked that someone missed the boat with this guy at the D1 level.

4) Robinson - best RB in the E8 by far.  Fast, strong, with moves, and could carry the ball 30 times a game and would look just as strong on carry #30 as carry #1.  Total workhorse that took Fisher from being a great region team, to a great national team.  Forget just the E8...he is one of the top 3 RB's I have ever seen play at the D3 level (the others are McGovern and Gilmore from RPI...how did they ever lose in the mid-late 90's by the way???).

There are plenty of honorable mentions that people have already named (Sharpe, Manzer, Stepnik, Fox, etc.).  I had a hard time picking out one IC player for the list.  They have always seemed have a bunch of great players at every position...so that makes it hard to focus on one guy.  I never thought Ceasay was an all-time player.  He had all the physical tools...but had a lot of drops, and often disappeared for long stretches.  I don't think I would even rank him as the top WR that IC has had in the past 15 years (Buddenhagen, Esposito, etc.).

Honestly, I think I agree with the 100 %...

I would still consider Manzer one of the best playmakers in the E8 but I'm probably a little biased as well.  I think those picks sum it up at each position very well.  Good summary Yanks!!

....one minor correction...."Hail Katherine" was Cardinal's Hail Mary victory on an unbelievable 50 yd catch that Ferhenbach made against Brockport...(Fisher President Katherine Keogh, instrumental in building the new stadium, had just passed away that week.  It was the very next week, at 6-0, that SJF lost to Norwich on "Hail Mary 1.5 yd line" that Garcon crawled to the 1.5 yd line, stood up and raised his hands, and the Ref, said "Close enough...TD!".

[SJFF82]

any Fisher posters going to the game? 

Pep..or anyone else that knows...what kind of renovations did they do to Merrill?  Is it still Merrill?  Do I still need to bring my rappelling gear to get to my seat?

Man... I cannot wait...I have always loved going to watch Fisher play at AU!

Last trip there though was in 2004....that was awesome...'we' clinched our first trip to NCAA'S...what a feeling that was.  Can only hope I leave there feeling 'good' on Saterday!

[AUPepBand]

Plus Brady the one man wrecking crew isn't going to be playing defense for Alfred this weekend.

NEWS FLASH!!!     NEWS FLASH!!!     NEWS FLASH!!!     NEWS FLASH!!!     NEWS FLASH!!!
This just in from Mayberry: It has been reported that the Bioengineering Department at Alfred University had experimented with a Brenton Brady blood sample this summer and, most remarkably, concocted a gamma globulin that, when injected into the bloodstream of another individual, results in transformation of the recipient into a nearly perfect derivative.  It is further reported that the supply of 100 doses of the gamma globulin are missing.

On Saxon Warriors!

I thought AU was just a ceramic school...

I figured the only thing the knew how to derive from another subject was ceramic gnomes...

Note: this picture was taken in Saxon Tads living room...

Alfred truly is much more than meets the eye.

http://engineering.alfred.edu/undergrad/bmes/

[Yanks 99]

I'm late to this...but here is my $.02 for the greatest E8 players...

1) Boltus - hand down the best player I have personally ever seen at the D3 level.  Does that seem biased?  Maybe...but I remember seeing him play for the first time at Wick his freshman season against Ithaca (2nd game ever at Wick I believe).  Ithaca won by a lot (59-41, I believe, or something like that)...but Boltus was easily the best player on the field.  He made a throw in the 3rd quarter where he rolled to the right towards the IC sideline looked across the field and threw a bullet to one of his receivers on the left side of the field...about 50 yards downfield running just inside the numbers on the left hash.  I turned to a friend right there and said "he is going to break every one of (Dan) Pinchelli's passing records here."  Pinchelli's (a great, great player in his own right) all time passing record was just under 10,000 yards.  12,000+ yards later, Boltus proved me right.

2) Garcon - if he had more time in the E8, he would probably be ahead of Boltus.  Clearly a man among boys, that didn't belong on the D3 stage.  Throw in the "Hail Katherine" pass against Fisher, along with the rest of his stats, and he could probably be moved to the top of this list.  Plus...did anyone see that one handed catch against the Redskins on Sunday night?  Nasty...and is currently one of two E8 alumni that are playing professional football (Boltus is the other), and the only one in the NFL.

3) Brady - absolute beast.  To me, no question the best defensive E8 player...ever.  Constantly fought double and triple teams, and was always around the ball.  Throwing in the short yardage TD's when you knew he was getting the ball just adds to how good he was.  Still shocked that someone missed the boat with this guy at the D1 level.

4) Robinson - best RB in the E8 by far.  Fast, strong, with moves, and could carry the ball 30 times a game and would look just as strong on carry #30 as carry #1.  Total workhorse that took Fisher from being a great region team, to a great national team.  Forget just the E8...he is one of the top 3 RB's I have ever seen play at the D3 level (the others are McGovern and Gilmore from RPI...how did they ever lose in the mid-late 90's by the way???).

There are plenty of honorable mentions that people have already named (Sharpe, Manzer, Stepnik, Fox, etc.).  I had a hard time picking out one IC player for the list.  They have always seemed have a bunch of great players at every position...so that makes it hard to focus on one guy.  I never thought Ceasay was an all-time player.  He had all the physical tools...but had a lot of drops, and often disappeared for long stretches.  I don't think I would even rank him as the top WR that IC has had in the past 15 years (Buddenhagen, Esposito, etc.).

Honestly, I think I agree with the 100 %...

I would still consider Manzer one of the best playmakers in the E8 but I'm probably a little biased as well.  I think those picks sum it up at each position very well.  Good summary Yanks!!

....one minor correction...."Hail Katherine" was Cardinal's Hail Mary victory on an unbelievable 50 yd catch that Ferhenbach made against Brockport...(Fisher President Katherine Keogh, instrumental in building the new stadium, had just passed away that week.  It was the very next week, at 6-0, that SJF lost to Norwich on "Hail Mary 1.5 yd line" that Garcon crawled to the 1.5 yd line, stood up and raised his hands, and the Ref, said "Close enough...TD!".

Good catch on the Hail Mary vs. Hail Katherine...not sure why I wrote that...

Did Garcon even make it to the 1.5 yard line?  Either way...best...call...ever!!!

[theoriginalupstate]

It wasn't Garcon...

It was Andreas Craig that made it to the 1.5 yd line...

[AUPepBand]

any Fisher posters going to the game?  

Pep..or anyone else that knows...what kind of renovations did they do to Merrill?  Is it still Merrill?  Do I still need to bring my rappelling gear to get to my seat?

Man... I cannot wait...I have always loved going to watch Fisher play at AU!

Last trip there though was in 2004....that was awesome...'we' clinched our first trip to NCAA'S...what a feeling that was.  Can only hope I leave there feeling 'good' on Saterday!

Not sure why you had to do any rappelling to get to your seat. If you get a parking spot in the McLane Center lot, it's all handicap-accessible. Renovations to date include the new FieldTurf (nice) and new grandstand and press box on the home side. The sound system is mediocre at best and will likely be replaced. (And that's what they've been saying about the pep band after the last two weeks!)

As funds become available in the just-announced fund-raising campaign, a new ticket booth and entrance will be built both on N. Main Street (behind the home grandstand) and from the McLane Parking Lot. AU will also build a softball stadium next to the tennis courts on what is now Tucker Field and I believe a common entrance will be built for both Merrill Field and Doris Harrington Field, which together will comprise the Alex Yunevich Sports Complex.

Be sure to stop by the pep band to say helo. Pep is the ol geezer with gray hair and growing gut.

On Saxon Warriors!