FB: Empire 8

[frank uible]

Age old formula: If one has a program which is ready to move up, first, schedule the toughest opponents you can find, second, play them on their home turf, third - here comes the hard part - beat them or at least play them close and fourth, keep doing it until you are the top dog then you can schedule to play them on your home turf. Easier said than done.

[Jonny Utah]

Awesome video I had to share:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urvdPutOThY&feature=related

[voice]

UWW lost to Mount Union 44-21 (2002 at Whitewater) and 40-17 (2003 at MU). Following the home and home series the UWW coaching staff came to the realization that they must develop more team speed would be needed to challenge the national  elite. Following a 7 & 3 season in 2004 (WIAC Co-Championship).  The 2004 success was followed by the first of 7 consecutive conference titles and 7 straight trips to the Stagg Bowl for a game vs. Mount Union.

On the heels four National Titles in the past five years, lessons learned in that early 2000's home and home series were well-learned!

I'm sure Buffalo State hopes to learn similar lessons vs. UWW later this year.
Bleedpurple agrees with Dlip (hey, this is kind of fun).  UW-W took the same approach, scheduling Mount Union in both 2002 and 2003.  Many people around UW-W talk about scheduling Mount Union as one of the key components of the current Stagg Bowl run that began in 2007.

To dlip, there is no question that this is a good thing. If you have a coach who is completely focused on bring ing the program up to respectability this is one way to do it. Dlip feels this can help with recruiting and overall interest in the program. It also puts to rest any talk of ducking anyone and can give players pride and confidence. People always say to be the best you must beat the best, this type of scheduling may just get the Bengals to where they want to be. Of course not this year, and/or the next, but in the future. With that being said: U-Dub: 56 Bengals: 9

Bleedpurple agrees with Dlip (hey, this is kind of fun).  UW-W took the same approach, scheduling Mount Union in both 2002 and 2003.  Many people around UW-W talk about scheduling Mount Union as one of the key components of the current Stagg Bowl run that began in 2007.

[aufootballfan]

Have any Ithaca players eve had an nfl tryout ,look or interest in the last 20-30 years?

[AUKaz00]

Have any Ithaca players eve had an nfl tryout ,look or interest in the last 20-30 years?

With the national prominence that Bomber football has had for so long, I'd imagine that quite a few Ithaca players were given a look over the past 20-30 years.  Perhaps one of our Ithaca posters could provide some names.

[jdex]

Ex-qb and current Buff St. coach Jerry Boyes quickly comes to mind .........recall a DB tryout with Browns ......

[Bombers798891]

Have any Ithaca players eve had an nfl tryout ,look or interest in the last 20-30 years?

With the national prominence that Bomber football has had for so long, I'd imagine that quite a few Ithaca players were given a look over the past 20-30 years.  Perhaps one of our Ithaca posters could provide some names.

Dan Juvan got a tryout with the Buffalo Bills in 2009.

This still blows my mind. Juvan had the weirdest career I can recall. Cannon for an arm, great junior season. But battled some hand injury for most of 2008. Never won a tough road game in his career. Probably the most physically gifted IC quarterback ever, yet, the team never won an NCAA playoff game with him—which was not his fault, but I just keep thinking, how do they have that kind of ability for three years and never get enough around him to win more than nine games in a season?

[fisheralum91]

Congrats to Troy Sant of Fisher getting the Pre-Season All America First Team nod!!!
Congrats also to Mike Raplee of AU and Christian Emezie of SU.
Nice representation for the E8!

[AlfredSaxon8]

Have any Ithaca players eve had an nfl tryout ,look or interest in the last 20-30 years?

With the national prominence that Bomber football has had for so long, I'd imagine that quite a few Ithaca players were given a look over the past 20-30 years.  Perhaps one of our Ithaca posters could provide some names.

Dan Juvan got a tryout with the Buffalo Bills in 2009.

This still blows my mind. Juvan had the weirdest career I can recall. Cannon for an arm, great junior season. But battled some hand injury for most of 2008. Never won a tough road game in his career. Probably the most physically gifted IC quarterback ever, yet, the team never won an NCAA playoff game with him—which was not his fault, but I just keep thinking, how do they have that kind of ability for three years and never get enough around him to win more than nine games in a season?

He honestly never won a road game? I recall us beating him at Merril in 08 but didnt realize he had such a poor (to say the least) record on the road. When he was on, he was unstoppable. I remember the AU game in 07 where he was spot-on. Then a year later he missed open receivers all over the place.

Sounds like he could fit right in with the Cowboys and a certain #9...

[AlfredSaxon8]

Have any Ithaca players eve had an nfl tryout ,look or interest in the last 20-30 years?

With the national prominence that Bomber football has had for so long, I'd imagine that quite a few Ithaca players were given a look over the past 20-30 years.  Perhaps one of our Ithaca posters could provide some names.

Dan Juvan got a tryout with the Buffalo Bills in 2009.

This still blows my mind. Juvan had the weirdest career I can recall. Cannon for an arm, great junior season. But battled some hand injury for most of 2008. Never won a tough road game in his career. Probably the most physically gifted IC quarterback ever, yet, the team never won an NCAA playoff game with him—which was not his fault, but I just keep thinking, how do they have that kind of ability for three years and never get enough around him to win more than nine games in a season?

He honestly never won a road game? I recall us beating him at Merril in 08 but didnt realize he had such a poor (to say the least) record on the road. When he was on, he was unstoppable. I remember the AU game in 07 where he was spot-on. Then a year later he missed open receivers all over the place.

Sounds like he could fit right in with the Cowboys and a certain #9...

I just realized you said "tough" game. Haha sorry about the misquote!

[Bombers798891]

Have any Ithaca players eve had an nfl tryout ,look or interest in the last 20-30 years?

With the national prominence that Bomber football has had for so long, I'd imagine that quite a few Ithaca players were given a look over the past 20-30 years.  Perhaps one of our Ithaca posters could provide some names.

Dan Juvan got a tryout with the Buffalo Bills in 2009.

This still blows my mind. Juvan had the weirdest career I can recall. Cannon for an arm, great junior season. But battled some hand injury for most of 2008. Never won a tough road game in his career. Probably the most physically gifted IC quarterback ever, yet, the team never won an NCAA playoff game with him—which was not his fault, but I just keep thinking, how do they have that kind of ability for three years and never get enough around him to win more than nine games in a season?

He honestly never won a road game? I recall us beating him at Merril in 08 but didnt realize he had such a poor (to say the least) record on the road. When he was on, he was unstoppable. I remember the AU game in 07 where he was spot-on. Then a year later he missed open receivers all over the place.

Sounds like he could fit right in with the Cowboys and a certain #9...

That bolded part was the key phrase. Here's the breakdown

EDIT: Sorry, I missed your second post. Don't want to delete this whole thing, but wanted you to know I wasn't completely oblivious

2006-
Beat: 4-6 Brockport, 2-8 Norwich
Lost to: 12-2 Fisher, 8-3 Alfred, 9-2 Cortland

2007-
Beat: 3-7 Lycoming, 4-6 Springfield, 3-7 Utica
Lost to: 8-3 Hartwick, Mount

2008-
Beat: 3-7 King's, 2-8 Norwich
Lost to: 7-4 Fisher
Incomplete: 7-4 Alfred, where he only played half the game

Were all these losses his fault? No. The 2007 Wick game he played well in. Same with Mount, in my view. Many of the games, the defense was bad in as well. No quarterback is an island, right? Maybe they beat Alfred in 2008 with him. They probably beat Cortland the next week, considering Alex Smith turned the ball over 17 times in that game. Who knows, if he's healthy, maybe they beat Curry and Cortland again, and it's all looked at differently. And obviously, road games against good teams are, by their definition, going to be hard to win.

But again, this was a guy with, apparently, at least something that appealed to a NFL team enough for him to at least get a tryout. And the best road win was what, 4-6 Springfield? No playoff wins?

Dan was a very good quarterback, don't get me wrong. But there was so much potential in the 2006-2008 teams that just never got realized, it's a shame

[AUPepBand]

Have any Ithaca players eve had an nfl tryout ,look or interest in the last 20-30 years?

With the national prominence that Bomber football has had for so long, I'd imagine that quite a few Ithaca players were given a look over the past 20-30 years.  Perhaps one of our Ithaca posters could provide some names.

Dan Juvan got a tryout with the Buffalo Bills in 2009.

This still blows my mind. Juvan had the weirdest career I can recall. Cannon for an arm, great junior season. But battled some hand injury for most of 2008. Never won a tough road game in his career. Probably the most physically gifted IC quarterback ever, yet, the team never won an NCAA playoff game with him—which was not his fault, but I just keep thinking, how do they have that kind of ability for three years and never get enough around him to win more than nine games in a season?

He honestly never won a road game? I recall us beating him at Merril in 08 but didnt realize he had such a poor (to say the least) record on the road. When he was on, he was unstoppable. I remember the AU game in 07 where he was spot-on. Then a year later he missed open receivers all over the place.

Sounds like he could fit right in with the Cowboys and a certain #9...

I just realized you said "tough" game. Haha sorry about the misquote!

Pep is glad to see #8 on the boards again! How long has it been? And when will you get your #8 back to Mayberry for a visit?

Get the fight song ready!

[AlfredSaxon8]

Have any Ithaca players eve had an nfl tryout ,look or interest in the last 20-30 years?

With the national prominence that Bomber football has had for so long, I'd imagine that quite a few Ithaca players were given a look over the past 20-30 years.  Perhaps one of our Ithaca posters could provide some names.

Dan Juvan got a tryout with the Buffalo Bills in 2009.

This still blows my mind. Juvan had the weirdest career I can recall. Cannon for an arm, great junior season. But battled some hand injury for most of 2008. Never won a tough road game in his career. Probably the most physically gifted IC quarterback ever, yet, the team never won an NCAA playoff game with him—which was not his fault, but I just keep thinking, how do they have that kind of ability for three years and never get enough around him to win more than nine games in a season?

He honestly never won a road game? I recall us beating him at Merril in 08 but didnt realize he had such a poor (to say the least) record on the road. When he was on, he was unstoppable. I remember the AU game in 07 where he was spot-on. Then a year later he missed open receivers all over the place.

Sounds like he could fit right in with the Cowboys and a certain #9...

I just realized you said "tough" game. Haha sorry about the misquote!

Pep is glad to see #8 on the boards again! How long has it been? And when will you get your #8 back to Mayberry for a visit?

Get the fight song ready!

Far too long!!! Well over a year for sure, maybe longer. Its a tough commute from Arizona to NY and unfortunetly Mayberry still doesnt have their own airport for some reason. Got to see Pecoraro get married and met up with Sarge too. But we are hoping to make it up to NY at somepoint soon.

Hope all is well in Mayberry and looking forward to seeing your posts about the incoming freshman.

Ive gotten to play in some law enforcement based flag football tourneys which is always nice. Actually played with a guy that was a starter on the OL for Cortland and another guy from Buff State. Even busted out the old purple and gold one day which was entertaining.

But im actually going to try and stay up with the boards this season and post consistently.

Anyways, hope all is well to those on the boards!! Go Saxons!!

[AUPepBand]

Far too long!!! Well over a year for sure, maybe longer. Its a tough commute from Arizona to NY and unfortunetly Mayberry still doesnt have their own airport for some reason. Got to see Pecoraro get married and met up with Sarge too. But we are hoping to make it up to NY at somepoint soon.

Hope all is well in Mayberry and looking forward to seeing your posts about the incoming freshman.

Ive gotten to play in some law enforcement based flag football tourneys which is always nice. Actually played with a guy that was a starter on the OL for Cortland and another guy from Buff State. Even busted out the old purple and gold one day which was entertaining.

But im actually going to try and stay up with the boards this season and post consistently.

Anyways, hope all is well to those on the boards!! Go Saxons!!

Well, since you mentioned the "incoming freshmen," as a matter of fact, AU has just released that Coach Murray has a group of 90 recruits coming to Mayberry in mid-August.

A couple of the recruits merit mention:

First of all, Pep was pleased to see one Maleke Fuentes (5-6, 160), running back/defensive back from Olean (NY) High School (New York State, Section VI) on the list. Fuentes is the younger brother of AU's Julio Fuentes and was named a Section VI Class B South First Team all-star and a Big 30 all-star as a senior in 2011. Fisher fans may want to forget how Julio danced through the Cardinal defense back in 2005 when the Saxons upset SJFC at Growney, 13-7. AU fans may want to forget how Julio's promising career at AU came to a screeching halt in the 2006 season opener against Thiel. (But we won't forget Julio.)

Second, is one Kirby DarDar Jr. (6-2, 175), wide receiver from Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse (New York State, Section III). DarDar, son of former Syracuse University running back and Miami Dolphins wide receiver Kirby DarDar, was a Section III Class AA and league all-star as a senior last fall. Kaz00, a long-time 'Phin Fan (along with Pep Jr.), is particularly pleased with that recruit.

Get the fight song ready!

[AUKaz00]

Second, is one Kirby DarDar Jr. (6-2, 175), wide receiver from Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse (New York State, Section III). DarDar, son of former Syracuse University running back and Miami Dolphins wide receiver Kirby DarDar, was a Section III Class AA and league all-star as a senior last fall. Kaz00, a long-time 'Phin Fan (along with Pep Jr.), is particularly pleased with that recruit.

Get the fight song ready!

Not only is he the son of a former Dolphin, but also a former NY/NJ Hitman!  Saw him play on a really cold night in the Meadowlands on the day Dale Earnhardt died as the Hitmen tried to rally past the Orlando Rage...