FB: Empire 8

[boobyhasgameyo]

Look, credit the Wick defense for limiting big plays, making a ton of their own, and being the only team to not get killed by Ithaca's punt return unit. But Ithaca's a mediocre to below-average offensive team. They're not going to march down the field on you.

Fair enough.  My point is really just that SJF had to work awfully hard to get by a Frostburg State team that also only has one potent side of the ball.  SJF's 38 points and 349 yards against Frostburg are actually quite poor considering what Frostburg has yielded to their other opponents, and SJF's 4-0 is not quite as good as it looks on paper since Otterbein has been merely okay, W & J has too for that matter, and we're not quite sure how good Cortland is yet.  Admittedly, this week actually might be a better matchup for SJF than Frostburg since Wick's offense may not be quite as good as Frostburg's, but still...this has to be the biggest game Wick has played since the Boltus era, and they're at home, who knows?

I was under the impression most people thought Otterbein was going to lose to Baldwin Wallace last week.  Turns out they won.  If Fisher is a good team then you can't really knock Otterbein for losing to them.  Their other loss on the year was to John Carroll who defeated them by the same exact score of 28-0.  John Carroll is 4-0 and has allowed 7 points total this season.  They have blown everyone out.  To me Otterbein hasn't under-performed or is a poor team.  They look like a team in the top 26-40 range who lost to two arguably top 25 teams. 

[ExTartanPlayer]

Look, credit the Wick defense for limiting big plays, making a ton of their own, and being the only team to not get killed by Ithaca's punt return unit. But Ithaca's a mediocre to below-average offensive team. They're not going to march down the field on you.

Fair enough.  My point is really just that SJF had to work awfully hard to get by a Frostburg State team that also only has one potent side of the ball.  SJF's 38 points and 349 yards against Frostburg are actually quite poor considering what Frostburg has yielded to their other opponents, and SJF's 4-0 is not quite as good as it looks on paper since Otterbein has been merely okay, W & J has too for that matter, and we're not quite sure how good Cortland is yet.  Admittedly, this week actually might be a better matchup for SJF than Frostburg since Wick's offense may not be quite as good as Frostburg's, but still...this has to be the biggest game Wick has played since the Boltus era, and they're at home, who knows?

I was under the impression most people thought Otterbein was going to lose to Baldwin Wallace last week.  Turns out they won.  If Fisher is a good team then you can't really knock Otterbein for losing to them.  Their other loss on the year was to John Carroll who defeated them by the same exact score of 28-0.  John Carroll is 4-0 and has allowed 7 points total this season.  They have blown everyone out.  To me Otterbein hasn't under-performed or is a poor team.  They look like a team in the top 26-40 range who lost to two arguably top 25 teams.

First: yes, John Carroll has been very impressive thus far, and I am bullish on their prospects...but they won't play the two best teams in the OAC until the last two weeks.  They are likely to reach 8-0, but I still don't know what that tells us about Otterbein.  I think it's debatable whether Otterbein is a team in the 26-40 range.  It'd be one thing if they'd lost two close games to those top-25-caliber teams, but they lost both 28-0 and weren't especially competitive in either game, and their two wins are pretty blah as well (for example, they won 30-14 against Wilmington, the worst or second-worst team in the OAC, and they were tied at halftime). 

We're getting our wires a bit crossed though.  My point is that Fisher has a 28-0 win over Otterbein, a 21-point win over a decent W & J team that clearly is not as good as they were last year (they lost to Bethany), an eight-point win over Cortland (who also lost to Buffalo State), and a three-point win over Frostburg State.  I'm not penalizing Fisher for their opponents not being that great, but I am penalizing them for not really thrashing those not-that-great opponents (although the W & J result is pretty solid).  If you looked at this schedule in the preseason and heard Fisher was 4-0 with those scores, it would sound great because Otterbein, W & J, and Cortland are all good programs coming off good seasons; but when you look at the opponents' other games this season, right now it's debatable whether any of them are up to their usual standard.

[D3MAFAN]

Pat while I understand that due to the results of this years games the Fisher OOC schedule is good not great,
the decision to schedule these teams was made last year under the assumption that they would have similar levels of success.
IE top three in conference, 9-1 record, and Conf Champ.
What other criteria would you have them check?

Cross purposes here. Nobody is knocking SJF's attempt to schedule good teams, but sometimes it just doesn't work out.

Thank you. At least somebody is reading what I'm actually talking about.

Yeah this has happened to Fisher before, they scheduled a series with a team coming off back to back playoff appearances in Kings. Kings then went in the tank and turned out to be dog meat during their entire series (and still are)...

Fisher gets an A for effort in scheduling but so far it didn't turn out the way many people had hoped. Still plenty of time in the year for those teams to make a turnaround though...

I see your point, but at the beginning of the year, I expected Cortland to be 1-2 at this time, W&J to be 3-1 and Otterbein to be 1-2 based on preseason talk. So, to say that these teams aren't what we thought they were is kind of contradicting what we thought earlier. Yes, some may have had Cortland beating Buff State, but Buff State beat them last year and then Otterbein losing to John Carroll was expected by some, I guess that with them not putting up a fight in their two losses is the blame. Nevertheless, it is only been 4 weeks into the season and we have a long way to go.

Again see above.  Also, note that W&J only beat Bethany by 2 points in the prior year and Bethany is a solid team this year, they have been competitivie in all their games other than a bad forth quarter against Geneva. Cortland is the same team from last year.  So to say that W&J and Cortland State are not as good or up to standard as they were last year is kind hard to fathom.

[boobyhasgameyo]

Look, credit the Wick defense for limiting big plays, making a ton of their own, and being the only team to not get killed by Ithaca's punt return unit. But Ithaca's a mediocre to below-average offensive team. They're not going to march down the field on you.

Fair enough.  My point is really just that SJF had to work awfully hard to get by a Frostburg State team that also only has one potent side of the ball.  SJF's 38 points and 349 yards against Frostburg are actually quite poor considering what Frostburg has yielded to their other opponents, and SJF's 4-0 is not quite as good as it looks on paper since Otterbein has been merely okay, W & J has too for that matter, and we're not quite sure how good Cortland is yet.  Admittedly, this week actually might be a better matchup for SJF than Frostburg since Wick's offense may not be quite as good as Frostburg's, but still...this has to be the biggest game Wick has played since the Boltus era, and they're at home, who knows?

I was under the impression most people thought Otterbein was going to lose to Baldwin Wallace last week.  Turns out they won.  If Fisher is a good team then you can't really knock Otterbein for losing to them.  Their other loss on the year was to John Carroll who defeated them by the same exact score of 28-0.  John Carroll is 4-0 and has allowed 7 points total this season.  They have blown everyone out.  To me Otterbein hasn't under-performed or is a poor team.  They look like a team in the top 26-40 range who lost to two arguably top 25 teams.

First: yes, John Carroll has been very impressive thus far, and I am bullish on their prospects...but they won't play the two best teams in the OAC until the last two weeks.  They are likely to reach 8-0, but I still don't know what that tells us about Otterbein.  I think it's debatable whether Otterbein is a team in the 26-40 range.  It'd be one thing if they'd lost two close games to those top-25-caliber teams, but they lost both 28-0 and weren't especially competitive in either game, and their two wins are pretty blah as well (for example, they won 30-14 against Wilmington, the worst or second-worst team in the OAC, and they were tied at halftime). 

We're getting our wires a bit crossed though.  My point is that Fisher has a 28-0 win over Otterbein, a 21-point win over a decent W & J team that clearly is not as good as they were last year (they lost to Bethany), an eight-point win over Cortland (who also lost to Buffalo State), and a three-point win over Frostburg State.  I'm not penalizing Fisher for their opponents not being that great, but I am penalizing them for not really thrashing those not-that-great opponents (although the W & J result is pretty solid).  If you looked at this schedule in the preseason and heard Fisher was 4-0 with those scores, it would sound great because Otterbein, W & J, and Cortland are all good programs coming off good seasons; but when you look at the opponents' other games this season, right now it's debatable whether any of them are up to their usual standard.

I agree on Fisher not beating Frostburg State by a larger margin.  That wasn't really excusable.  I mean there were two plays in particular that had it been ever so slightly different than Fisher would have won by 17...but a lot of teams can say that and the final score is the final score.  I would say however that you thought the W&J result is pretty solid - well I would argue the 28-0 score was a bit of a thrashing.  Otterbein barely had over 100 yards of offense in that game.  The Cortland game was another one in which we made our fair share of mistakes...but the best teams don't make those kinds of mistakes I suppose.  Although if Cortland finishes 8-2 it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world that Fisher stumbled and bumbled but still managed to beat a team that otherwise would have finished 8-1. 

[Bombers798891]

  Although if Cortland finishes 8-2 it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world that Fisher stumbled and bumbled but still managed to beat a team that otherwise would have finished 8-1. 

I could see Cortland going 8-2, but only because the NJAC isn't very good and neither is Ithaca.

[sjfcards]

  Although if Cortland finishes 8-2 it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world that Fisher stumbled and bumbled but still managed to beat a team that otherwise would have finished 8-1. 

I could see Cortland going 8-2, but only because the NJAC isn't very good and neither is Ithaca.

Maybe it was me, but I thought Cortland looked much better than their 2-2 record against Fisher. They defense played well, and they took advantage of Fisher mistakes on offense. Fisher struggled with them into the 4th quarter as well.

It is easy to say that Fisher only won by 8, but they were up 33-17 with about 2 minutes left. If they don't give up the late td and 2pt conversion that win looks much more impressive.

[Bombers798891]

  Although if Cortland finishes 8-2 it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world that Fisher stumbled and bumbled but still managed to beat a team that otherwise would have finished 8-1. 

I could see Cortland going 8-2, but only because the NJAC isn't very good and neither is Ithaca.

Maybe it was me, but I thought Cortland looked much better than their 2-2 record against Fisher. They defense played well, and they took advantage of Fisher mistakes on offense. Fisher struggled with them into the 4th quarter as well.

It is easy to say that Fisher only won by 8, but they were up 33-17 with about 2 minutes left. If they don't give up the late td and 2pt conversion that win looks much more impressive.

I guess. I just look at a semi close win over a mediocre WP team, and a game against Kean that was 7-7 in the 4th, and think "Eh." They're playing two QB's, and that's usually a sign neither is a world-beater. And they're 0-2 against a better conference.

[Saxon73]

Does anyone have any info on video or audio media for today's game in Ithaca ?

[dahlby]

Go directly to the Ithaca football web site, click on schedule, and you will see the links.
Good luck to your Saxons.

[Saxon73]

Thanks dahlby, I almost made it there - just needed the schedule click.

[drt]

Utica bounces back nicely with a solid road win and record-setting
performances by Butkiewicz, Acevedo and Larson

[sjfcards]

Just getting back from the game in Oneonta. Big win for Fisher. That sets up a huge game next week with SU. Can't wait.

[boobyhasgameyo]

It was a nice day overall for Fisher.  Not only did they win in impressive fashion against a previously undefeated Hartwick but all three of their out of conference opponents won again as well.  Including Washington & Jefferson who absolutely beat down the #23 team in the country. 

Salisbury has been very impressive these past few weeks.  I still contend that they are being undervalued and it looks like they have improved nearly every week of the season.  I would love to say Fisher is going to go to Maryland next week and roll them...but I am going to give Salisbury the nod every single time until we actually beat them. 

[AlfredSaxon8]

Rough one for AU. Averaging 30+ pts a game and held to single digits.

Didn't catch all of the game but the Saxons only holding the ball for 22 minutes reflects a stingy defensive effort and a very efficient, well controlled offensive performance by a new Bombers QB. Kudos to IC for a well rounded victory.

[sjfcards]

I can't seem to get my head around this season in the E8. I really thought Frostburg would build off last week and stick with Utica, I thought AU would beat IC, and this Salisbury team that I thought was down this year looks like they are the Salisbury we have come to know in years past. Last week went the same way for me with the Hartwick IC game, and Buff State AU. I think it speaks to the depth and balance of the conference for sure. No week is an easy week.