FB: Empire 8

[AUPepBand]

A nice story about the Saxon football team reaching out and spending some time with youth from the area...

http://www.eveningtribune.com/article/20150821/NEWS

On Saxon Warriors!

[pg04]

I have definitely been turned off by the domination as well. But that turn off only occurs with me during the final two weeks of the playoffs. I still enjoy watching what happens during the season. All 246 teams give their all and it's fun to see how the conference races turn out, especially now in the Empire 8, where the conference is strong and you never know if perhaps one of the middle of the road teams will become a surprise champion. And then, to see how far the champ can go and if they challenge one of the powers, how well do they stack up?

As the crew describes in kickoff, which you should all purchase, the E8 will be something akin to a demolition derby.

Pep loves demolition derbies. Have never driven in a demolition derby (although Pep certainly drives cars worthy of such honor), but the Cedar Point bumper cars are called "Dodge 'Em". When driving in said bumper cars, Pep aims to be the one car that no one hits. The Saxons accomplished that feat back in 2010...avoided being hit in conference games, although they somehow managed to drop non-leaguers to RPI and UR.

It will take extreme defensive driving skills to avoid being hit in the Empire 8 in 2015. Too many of the nine teams have viable weapons. Much will be determined by injuries, team depth, coaching wisdom...but Pep still believes the Empire 8 is Fisher's to lose.

You know it's almost football season when pg04 is on the boards! Glad to have you on board in a meaningful way! +K

Stay tuned....

Thanks Pep! Glad to be here. Grad school has kept me away but I really want to balance writing and college football this year (both my Bulldogs and my Golden Eagles). Maybe next year I'll have a job at a D3 school. That would go full circle. Haha.

[sjfcards]

I made it out to the Fisher scrimmage tonight, and I have to say I was not impressed. I walked into the stadium and looked at the two teams and figured Fisher would dominate all over the field. They were bigger than U of R at every position, and seemed to be much more athletic. They did a bunch of offense vs defense stuff for the "1st half" and Fisher looked good, and then they played a real half of Football.

During the half of live football, I would describe Fisher as sloppy. They won 7-6 but there was issues with tackling and keeping contain on defense. The offense moved the ball well, but took a lot of penalties and REALLY struggled with simply converting a snap. I counted 4 times the ball was on the turf from a bad snap, and several more whoever was at QB had to make a pretty athletic move to catch the snap. Fisher even looked just so/so in the running game (Chambers and Fusco had limited carries, but didn't do much with them).

The good news is Naton looked good passing the ball when he was taking snaps with the first team, and Nigolian and Collichio looked good as always.

I don't want to put too much on a scrimmage in August, but it was underwhelming at best from my vantage point.

[dlippiel]

How did U of R look? Their QB?

[sjfcards]

How did U of R look? Their QB?

I was impressed with U of R's offense. The QB was the best player on that side of the ball. Made a lot of plays with his legs when Fisher got into the backfield. They also had one big running back who looked good but had limited carries (trying to keep him healthy I would guess).

The Defense hung in there against Fisher, but holding Fisher to one touchdown was more about Fisher's mistakes than U of R's defense.

All in all I think Fisher was the better team, but U of R was impressive.

[ITH radio]

Good news re the Jackets.

Hobart supposedly came out flat and lost 7-0 to Buff State on Thursday, 7-0. Players took it in stride and I think the Statesmen have "lost" in prior years and have had undefeated seasons so no need for any concern in Geneva.

IC and SLU scrimmage today in Camden, NY. Would love to see that one. 1 more week!

[AUPepBand]

Pep was encouraged with a turnout of 15 at Band Camp yesterday. With more assistance from the University's band director, there should be an improved sound to the "Sound of the Saxons" this season. Get the fight song ready!

[fisheralum91]

Getting amped for the upcoming season and Family FA91 is ready to pack the Jeep and hit at least 2 Fisher games this year!
Since we live in the Utica area- we will catch 3 UC games too- the fam is excited for some D3 Football!!!

[XREDDRAGON77]

Any other Dragon fans lurking around? I haven't heard anything on them yet!  I have my fingers crossed this season, but feel the E8 packs bigger, harder punches than the NCJAC did. Hoping for above .500!

[sjfcards]

Any other Dragon fans lurking around? I haven't heard anything on them yet!  I have my fingers crossed this season, but feel the E8 packs bigger, harder punches than the NCJAC did. Hoping for above .500!

I wouldn't call myself a fan, but Cortland is a local team for me and I tend to pull for them in every game but one. The local paper had a write up on C-State and it sounds like they will be young but talented. I am sure they will go through the adjustment to the E8 as it is a step up from previous versions of the NJAC, but Cortland will be able to compete I bet. Maybe not for the AQ, but they will be above .500.

[Bengalsrule]

Good news re the Jackets.

Hobart supposedly came out flat and lost 7-0 to Buff State on Thursday, 7-0. Players took it in stride and I think the Statesmen have "lost" in prior years and have had undefeated seasons so no need for any concern in Geneva.

IC and SLU scrimmage today in Camden, NY. Would love to see that one. 1 more week!

   I was at that scrimmage. The scrimmage wasn't as close as the score indicates. Yes I am a BENGALS fan, however I too was surprised by how Buff State dominated a quarter finalist from last years D3 playoffs. Defense was outstanding!!! Coach Boyes has something special going on, however I'm not gonna get excited (too much) about a scrimmage. Saturday at Otterbein is season opener! That's the time to get excited.

Go BENGALS!!!!!

[D3viewer]

That's the thing about Buff Sts defense. Last year ( I think "Bombers" or "SJFcards" or someone else pointed this out at the end of last season)..they placed 3 players on the 1st team E8 defense (includes E8 Def Player of the year Marquis Artis) and 2 on the second (both huge Def linemen..6-5 290 and 6-3 320 respectively).
The paradox of their D is that it was pretty much a below average unit in 2014 with all that talent. 7th  in the E8 in total D and scoring D..8th in pass D (but ironically led the conf in interceptions "big play.big mistakes ?").
Can't see who their coordinator is..(I hate when websites don't list what positions the coaches coach).thought it was Bitka..but his 2015 bio says he will be just the Dline coach this year. Any way.."hopefully" the staff used the offseason to figure out how to use all that talent ..looks like they got outschemed last year

[D3pc]

Good news re the Jackets.

Hobart supposedly came out flat and lost 7-0 to Buff State on Thursday, 7-0. Players took it in stride and I think the Statesmen have "lost" in prior years and have had undefeated seasons so no need for any concern in Geneva.

IC and SLU scrimmage today in Camden, NY. Would love to see that one. 1 more week!

   I was at that scrimmage. The scrimmage wasn't as close as the score indicates. Yes I am a BENGALS fan, however I too was surprised by how Buff State dominated a quarter finalist from last years D3 playoffs. Defense was outstanding!!! Coach Boyes has something special going on, however I'm not gonna get excited (too much) about a scrimmage. Saturday at Otterbein is season opener! That's the time to get excited.

Go BENGALS!!!!!

Any thoughts on Hobarts new QB? Allegedly a great player who transferred from UAlabany.

[AUPepBand]

Any other Dragon fans lurking around? I haven't heard anything on them yet!  I have my fingers crossed this season, but feel the E8 packs bigger, harder punches than the NCJAC did. Hoping for above .500!

Gosh, it's nice to have a nice variety of posters on the E8 boards now...Bengalsrule has been around but it's nice to have Cortland in the mix. Just wondering whether there are any Morrisville fans reading the forum who need a special invitation from Pep to join in the fun.

Can't wait for the Demolition Derby to begin!

On Saxon Warriors!

[sjfcards]

Does anyone know if Thomas More will have video of the game ever this SatERday?