FB: Empire 8

[dlippiel]

In looking at the brackets, some really good interesting match-ups (outside of East Region type games that is).

I think Wittenberg has a shot at MUC.

And am very curious to See Rowan does v MHB.

Would love the Profs to win but Dlip thinks they get steamrolled!

[HScoach]

In looking at the brackets, some really good interesting match-ups (outside of East Region type games that is).

I think Wittenberg has a shot at MUC.

And am very curious to See Rowan does v MHB.

Witt has a VERY good chance of beating Mount.    Not going as far to suggest Mount isn't the favorite,  but any Mount fans that are simply penceling them into Round 3 because the helmet says Raiders in for a long, stressful Saturday.   Witt is loaded and Mount is much more vulnerable than they've been since 1998.    Should be a very tightly contested game.   

If Mount wins I  honestly expect Round 3 to be easier than Round 2.   If Witt wins, their biggest hurdle will be the infamous KC Keeler post-Mount letdown.

[wesleydad]

Happy Thanksgiving to the Fisher and Ithaca fans.  Enjoy your day and good luck this weekend.  Safe travels to your games.

[boobyhasgameyo]

In looking at the brackets, some really good interesting match-ups (outside of East Region type games that is).

I think Wittenberg has a shot at MUC.

And am very curious to See Rowan does v MHB.

Witt has a VERY good chance of beating Mount.    Not going as far to suggest Mount isn't the favorite,  but any Mount fans that are simply penceling them into Round 3 because the helmet says Raiders in for a long, stressful Saturday.   Witt is loaded and Mount is much more vulnerable than they've been since 1998.    Should be a very tightly contested game.   

If Mount wins I  honestly expect Round 3 to be easier than Round 2.   If Witt wins, their biggest hurdle will be the infamous KC Keeler post-Mount letdown.

I don't have any justifications for this, it's just a feeling...but after all of this concern I'm predicting Mount Union is going to win in monkey stomp fashion.   

[Bombers798891]

Happy Thanksgiving to the Fisher and Ithaca fans.  Enjoy your day and good luck this weekend.  Safe travels to your games.

A happy thanksgiving to you too!

[bomber23]

The logic Frank provides below is a reasonable interpretation of how this might have happened, but all the confusion surrounding it is a good demonstration of why the NCAA's closed-mouth policy is a bad one.

Thanks Frank this clears it up a little but if they considered Ithaca and Wesley identical seeds, I wish they would have just left it the way the bracket was initially set up.  When they did decide to change it, I wish they would have given us an explanation as to why but as Pat said their closed mouth policy leaves a lot to interpret. I really think playing on the frozen tundra of Butterfield Stadium may have really slowed down the explosive play of Wesley. Wishful thinking.

I wouldn't call what they did "chang[ing] it" so much as not clueing us in to the idea that Framingham State didn't file to host.  We knew somebody didn't based on our conversation with Duey Naatz on "In the HuddLLe" (he referenced this idea that there was/were (a) team(s) that didn't file to host, but there were no specifics).  In reality, if they followed seeding closely, then Ithaca should've travelled to Johns Hopkins and Framingham State should've travelled to Wesley.  As such, Ithaca may have actually benefitted from the Committee's setup of that octant of the bracket because there was no other way Ithaca could have hosted.  I know Ithaca fans were upset with how the Second Round game was lined up in terms of location, but take a step back and think about what would have happened if matchup like 2/7 & 3/6 or 2/6 & 3/7 occurred last weekend.  There would have been no Butterfield and perhaps no Second Round at all.

Fair point... Just being greedy here... Happy Thanksgiving to all as well.

[boobyhasgameyo]

Had some post thanksgiving time to kill.  Just looking at Fisher's round by round record in the playoffs since 2004.  Goes a little something like this:

1st round:  5-0
2nd round:  3-1
3rd round:  1-2
4th round:  0-1

Their only loss in the second round was a last minute heartbreaker to Delaware Valley in 2004.  Other than that blemish they are pretty much money in the bank until the quarterfinals.  Excluding that tiny little team from Alliance and Fisher's record in the playoffs is 9-2 versus everyone else.  The last minute loss I alluded to earlier and the crap stomp by St. Thomas whose fans I'm sure still reference as a reason why the east is weak.  They conveniently ignore how flawed everyone knew that Fisher squad was heading into the playoffs.  Hell we didn't even have a true QB.  Plus Hobart whipped our ass by an even larger margin that year and that is without running up the score at the very end of the game, which St. Thomas did.  But I digress

Moral of the story - unless you are Mount Union then you are likely to have your hands full with Fisher in the playoffs.  I'm also sure there are some players on this squad that have been waiting a couple of years now for their chance at revenge against Hobart. 

[sjfcards]

Excluding that tiny little team from Alliance and Fisher's record in the playoffs is 9-2 versus everyone else.  The last minute loss I alluded to earlier and the crap stomp by St. Thomas whose fans I'm sure still reference as a reason why the east is weak.  They conveniently ignore how flawed everyone knew that Fisher squad was heading into the playoffs.  Hell we didn't even have a true QB.  Plus Hobart whipped our ass by an even larger margin that year and that is without running up the score at the very end of the game, which St. Thomas did.  But I digress

I also remember some STU fans arguing that they were not running up the score when they ran a fake field goal up 30+ points in the 4th quarter. With a semi-final and chance at the final left on the schedule, they apparently had to "get it on film".

[HScoach]

^  For the record, the UST coach is a Grade A douche bag.

[@d3jason]

Tell us how you really feel coach. 

[Upstate]

^  For the record, the UST coach is a Grade A douche bag.

Well he did go to Ithaca...

[Upstate]

The whole fake FG up by 3 scores is such a pussy move by any coach. Don't care what level you're at, if you don't have the balls to call it in a close game or when behind just quit your job. I gave PA a little grief about the fake punt Bart ran inside their own 20 in 2007 but I respect the hell out of a coach like Cragg for being aggressive and not hiding behind a huge lead when you make that kind of call.

[boobyhasgameyo]

Ha, I love your posts sometimes Upstate.  If I recall they got theirs the next week anyway in a shutout loss at the hands of UWW.  Lost by the same exact margin as Salisbury did the week before.  But St. Thomas was so much better than anything coming out of the East   

[Pat Coleman]

The whole fake FG up by 3 scores is such a pussy move by any coach. Don't care what level you're at, if you don't have the balls to call it in a close game or when behind just quit your job. I gave PA a little grief about the fake punt Bart ran inside their own 20 in 2007 but I respect the hell out of a coach like Cragg for being aggressive and not hiding behind a huge lead when you make that kind of call.

Bethel did it last week and I don't think anyone thinks Steve Johnson is a bad guy. Welcome to the playoffs.

[boobyhasgameyo]

Pleasure to be here!