FB: Empire 8

[AUPepBand]

Interesting stats for sure. What makes SLU's percentage so high? Do they have more sports than others, or less students?

They have 2187 students but if you have visited their campus, you'll find a resort-type atmosphere with the finest of athletic facilities....a must to attract students to the North Country, Pep surmises!

But here's the list of sports offered at St. Lawrence:
Baseball
Basketball MW
Crew MW
Cross Country MW
Field Hockey W
Football
Golf MW
Ice Hockey MW
Lacrosse MW
Riding
Alpine Skiing MW
Nordic Skiing MW
Soccer MW
Softball
Squash MW
Swimming MW
Tennis MW
Track and field MW
Volleyball

The SLU campus looks like a country club!

[sjfcards]

Always fun to have the Jets here in Cortland. Mark Sanchez said he liked my dog when I was on our walk today...awesome!

[dlippiel]

Always fun to have the Jets here in Cortland. Mark Sanchez said he liked my dog when I was on our walk today...awesome!

Congrats to Coach Kramer getting hired as the O.C. at Utica College. I see him doing a nice job for the Pioneers.

[fisheralum91]

Great family, and good coaches!
All the best to the whole Kramer Clan!

[MooseKnuckles]

   Alfred has a nice new face as well.  Looks like Dom Scavo of Hornell has left Ithaca and decided to become a Saxon.  Best of luck to him!

[D3MAFAN]

   Alfred has a nice new face as well.  Looks like Dom Scavo of Hornell has left Ithaca and decided to become a Saxon.  Best of luck to him!

Yes,

That is a good addition for Alfred...should help and definitely best of luck to him.

[AUKaz00]

   Alfred has a nice new face as well.  Looks like Dom Scavo of Hornell has left Ithaca and decided to become a Saxon.  Best of luck to him!

Yes,

That is a good addition for Alfred...should help and definitely best of luck to him.

Since he transferred last semester, he was able to participate in spring ball while still having 4 years of elibility.  It's an intriguing possibility; now we'll see if he can win the starting QB gig.

[sjfcards]

   Alfred has a nice new face as well.  Looks like Dom Scavo of Hornell has left Ithaca and decided to become a Saxon.  Best of luck to him!

Yes,

That is a good addition for Alfred...should help and definitely best of luck to him.

Since he transferred last semester, he was able to participate in spring ball while still having 4 years of elibility.  It's an intriguing possibility; now we'll see if he can win the starting QB gig.

I have not seen him play but the numbers abandoned everything I have heard would suggest he will be really good for AU. What was AU's QB situation before Scavo?

[D3viewer]

   Alfred has a nice new face as well.  Looks like Dom Scavo of Hornell has left Ithaca and decided to become a Saxon.  Best of luck to him!

Yes,

That is a good addition for Alfred...should help and definitely best of luck to him.

Since he transferred last semester, he was able to participate in spring ball while still having 4 years of elibility.  It's an intriguing possibility; now we'll see if he can win the starting QB gig.

I have not seen him play but the numbers abandoned everything I have heard would suggest he will be really good for AU. What was AU's QB situation before Scavo?

Alfred achieved their 6-4 record mainly through defense and running the ball. They are always tough on D as Murray is a good defensive coach. (Most of those top kids on D are gone though)
They didn't pass the ball very well last season. Their TE was their leading receiver (graduated). Looks like 2 QB's (who are both back) split time last year and were smallish and average (stats wise).  Reading their press release on their recruits : they bring in Scavo and another transfer from AIC (D2). So ..2 transfers plus another FR kid they tout from Michigan. And the QB from Avon (who was 1st AGR). Looks like a ton of good competition.

QB position needed to be upgraded.

[AUKaz00]

Keeley:Fisher, Scavo:Ithaca

The band sure hopes so.  On Saxon Warriors!

[bomber23]

New poster here... Frequent to the board over the last year to follow the Bombers when I couldnt make it to games... but looking forward to this year optimistically (as are most teams before the season starts). Quick breakdown on the bombers for this year..

Offensively:

QB: Neumann's (Captain) Senior year. Will he take the next step and progress into a possible all conference QB? Last year he seemed to get more comfortable and trusting of his recievers as the season went along but his strength will remain not turning the ball over and being smart with it.  Would like to see him get a little more aggressive when needed though. Hopefully the Bombers have been developing younger talent at this position/ have some good young recruits coming in because the Bombers really struggled even to get a single first down when Neumann went down vs HARTWICK last year.  Big question mark on the future of the position after Scavo went to Alfred (although the Bombers only had him for 2 days)
RB: After losing 2 senior RBs in Naiden and Ardoin the Bombers I believe will depend more on last years newcomer and Ithaca native Rakim Jones. Saw him a little in limited action and he looked like he could be a solid back.  Also any word on Sal Sulla? Last I heard he was supposed to be returning to the Bombers but I havent heard. He would be a welcomed sight as 2 back systems seem to have worked pretty well in the past for the bombers. 
OL: O-Line will be the biggest strength for the bombers offensively.  Returning starters of Benvenuto (G), Rampa (T), and Senior Captain Pat Stevenson (T/G) Should allow the bombers to be a better run team than recent years.  Also some younger talent should help fill in the spots to provide a pretty solid line, probably the best for the bombers since the 08-09 mostronsity of a line.
WR: With Ingrao gone the WR's are somewhat of a question mark for the bombers... Joel Lynch will be their biggest threat. Can he step up and become the #1 Wideout for the bombers.  Look for lesser known juniors such as Matt Pinzka/Chris Bauer to possibly be a number 2 threat. Also slot recievers Vito Boffoli and Josh Oliver could make an impact if they can get the ball in their hands.
TE: Returning Seniors Steve DelMoro and Jared Prugar should be assets for the bombers in the passing and running games. Look for the bombers to use a lot of 2 TE sets again with these 2 back.

Defensively:

D-Line: Returning Joe Ricotta to the Bombers 3 man line will be key but the bombers need to fill in the other 2 spots to allow the LBs to run free and make tackles.  Look for Tijah Henderson to possibly fill one of these roles.
LBs: Typically the Bombers' strength will be no different this year.  Returning Senior Will Carter (Captain) will be big for the bombers. Also returning are Jake Santora and Chris Williams.  No shortage in depth with Duggan, Hardenberg, and others returning to help the bombers.
DBs: With both starting corners in Vulcano and Garvey returning as well as safeties Tom Scanlon and Skylar Griffenberg, the Bombers pass D should be pretty strong. Depth behind those guys as well.

Special Teams:
Returning Kicker Garrett Nicholson and Returners Sam Carney and Josh Oliver should make the Bombers dynamic as always on the specialties. 

Looking forward to this year to see if the bombers can make the next step and get back into playoff contention... Any insights on other teams in the E8? Saxons? UC? Fisher? Salisbury? Buff State?

Go Bombers!!

[D3viewer]

Ithaca 2012 was an imbalanced team.  24th in the country in total defense, but only 186th in total offense.   They broke in a new OC last season, and were pretty anemic in both passing and running. Looks like their RB was pretty big too..6-2 210. They only averaged about 3.5 yards a carry..and gave up a lot of sacks as well. Like bomber23 said..the QB will be back..but not the top RB or top receiver. He claims the OLINE will be a strength..maybe ...better be .. .because it looks like they were a big weakness last season. To be fair..I"m just going off stats..and did not see them play. What type of offensive schemes are they running these days ?

[Bombers798891]

New poster here... Frequent to the board over the last year to follow the Bombers when I couldnt make it to games... but looking forward to this year optimistically (as are most teams before the season starts). Quick breakdown on the bombers for this year..

Welcome to the board! Great to have another Bombers poster here.

I think your breakdown is solid. If the offensive line continues to improve, that will be huge

I think Neumann is that already that kind of quarterback. He was better than Kacz last season. (True story, in the eight week span between the Cortland and Fisher games, Kacz threw fewer touchdown passes than his own backup). If he's given the talent to work with, I think he puts up numbers similar to Rob Zappia in 2010

The question is, where's the talent going to be? Ithaca's always had great TE, but has any Bomber team in the last 20 season had less proven talent on the outside than this one? By my count, Ithaca returns 22 catches and 213 yards from its WR group last year. Not great. I think what makes me skeptical of some of these guys are that they really didn't show much last year, despite not exactly being blocked on the depth chart by great talent.

Jones? I don't know, he's going to be a senior and he's had all of what, five touches? I get that IC had a good back in Ardoin, but again, I feel like an Ithaca team that struggled at times to score points would have found some use for him.

However, IMO, this team will not take the next step until they improve in the red zone offensively.

IC Red Zone TD%

2008: 73
2009: 65
2010: 57
2011: 37
2012: 45

A slight improvement last season, but considering the train wreck that was the 2011 offense, (excluding the return game) that's not saying much. They need to get closer to 60-65%. That's a 5-6 TD difference if you figure on ~40 trips to the red zone.

Defensively, I think the Bombers will be stout. Eight returning starters from a very underrated unit. Secondary could be a strength, but a weak pass rush can hurt even the best back four. Ithaca's got to get a consistent pass rush from them. LB's as always will be solid, but I think it's fair to wonder if, due to injuries, Will Carter will ever be the player we hoped after a fantastic 2010 in which he had 79 Tackles, 12 TFL, 2 INT.

Special teams: Ithaca will have great punt returning and coverage. In other news, water is wet. The kick return game could use some improvements.

The kicking game should be strong [insert diatribe on D-III teams kicking FG's when they should be going for it]

[sjfcards]

Is there any news about a Fisher scrimmage this year? They have traditionally played Mo'ville, but played Alfred State last year. Any info is appreciated.

[ITH radio]

Buff State hosts Hobart on 8/31 for a scrimmage at noon (gohobart.blogspot.com)