FB: Empire 8

[dewcrew88]

To all Empire 8 players and fans, we bicker and we argue but it was a great year to be apart of this confrence.  We saw Utica come with there first? winning record.  We saw Alfred play like champions, and we saw IC and SJF battle it out to the end.  All of you should be proud to be a part whether you a fan, family or former player.  My hat goes off to the empire 8. 

Union, go represent the east.  You have the fire power.  We are rooting for you till we play again.  Im gonna miss the verbal donnybrooks we had on here.  Till next year boys

Yes, b27, it was our first winning season, in fact we almost matched the total of wins in our first four years (7) this year (6).
Kudos to all E8 and LL teams.

[AUPepBand]

I believe AU also won "pep Band of the Year" obviously doing a great job inspiring the team.

Thanks, Saxon73, but this team didn't need AUPepBand--they brought their "AU" game every week. They were well-prepared for every battle. Probably one of the hardest-hitting Saxon squads I've seen in some time. And a young outfit, too. A good number of freshmen having immediate impact...Bork, Fuentes on O, Nitsche, Syracuse on D. Saxons should be solid again next year. Now if we can only find a trombone to replace our senior and Pep Band MVP! Pep Band will be rebuilding next year.

[AUPepBand]

Hey, good to see the Saxons thump someone today.

Maybe next year the committee will have a bit more sense, and not favor a crap (Wilkes) team over an upstate team simply b/c they are a non-conference champ in upstate NY.

AU does not like to run up a score. Fact is, Maine Maritime couldn't stop AU attack. Keeley was 16-for-17 for 219 yards and 3 TDs. Newsome got 145 yards on 20 carries. AU had 548 yards total offense. Murray pulled the starters mid-way through the third when it was 56-6. Maine Maritime finished a fine 7-3 season, including a 28-21 win over Curry, the NE conference's NCAA rep that actually gave Del Valley a decent game.

NCAA needs to stick to its criteria on Selection Sunday, not changing to balance regional representation--or whatever the heck they did in giving AU the shaft.
And the D3Football.Com Top 25 is a joke. AU (8-2) beats #12 Fisher (8-2) and Fisher still in at #25 with 84 votes while Alfred gets......4? What's that about?

[Pat Coleman]

How many votes did Washington & Lee get?

[Saxon73]

Yes, it apparently is a joke.  Isn't the voting supposed to reflect the team at a point in time?  i.e. 11th week, etc.

[Pat Coleman]

Yes, it apparently is a joke.  Isn't the voting supposed to reflect the team at a point in time?  i.e. 11th week, etc.

Sure. But also you have to remember where St. John Fisher was coming from (#12) and where Alfred was coming from (nowhere).

Perhaps if Alfred had taken Ithaca to overtime the way SJF did, it might not have dropped all the way off the map in Week 10.

[Saxon73]

Perhaps is a convenient word.  Alfred lost their first game yes, perhaps the game was played in Alfred instead of traveling to Virginia AU perhaps would have won.  Fact is Alfred only thereafter lost to Ithaca, who beat SJF.  Alfred beat SJF head to head ,with SJF having a week off, in the last game of the regular season.

[Pat Coleman]

Yes. And SJF performed much more closely to Ithaca than Alfred did. I believe all 10 games should be taken into account, not just the ones convenient to your case.

[Saxon73]

All 10 games, 8-2,8-2: who won head onhead?

[Pat Coleman]

All 10 games, 8-2,8-2: who won head onhead?

Yeah, thanks, got that. By the way, did it take you a whole week to figure that out? That poll is from last Sunday.

Maybe thrashing hapless Maine Maritime will help you out but I think more likely Fisher's loss to RPI puts you both in the same boat, a handful of votes or fewer.

[Saxon73]

Dear Sir:

I did not bring up the subject of "taking all 10 games into account.  Maybe we have strayed from the initial point.As a proud Alfred fan, having see our team improve throughout the year, it is just difficult to understand the logic used in the voting. Alfred held Ithaca to 28 points when Ithaca was averaging 41 points per game.  As stated they went on to beat 12th ranked SJF whom Ithaca scored 41 points against. 

I have been sincere and respectful in this discussion and am just trying to learn and rationalize the aforementioned results.  To answer your question, no it did not take me a week to figure that out.  Thank you 

[TNBomberDad]

Geez Pat, lighten up!  Sax was just being a strong supporter of his team. Every year someone is not happy with their ranking or being left out of the dance. If you don't want people to have a different opinion, tell us that is a requirement of posting!  This is a great website and I appreciate the opportunity to banter on the boards...hopefully offering my disagreement with you won't cause me too much harm!

[Pat Coleman]

TN:

I didn't realize that I was not allowed to respond to the original post declaring our poll a joke. Considering our poll is BY FAR the more accurate of the two major Division III football polls, I was just being a strong supporter of my poll.

Perhaps you see the parallel between your post and mine.

[TNBomberDad]

Responding once is one thing big guy, keeping a running battle going is different.Like I said, every year someone is going to gripe, why feed it.

[TheICdubbz]

well I have finally began to speak without a horse tone.  My family thinks I am an idiot because I am so crazy for our Bombers.  But, like Will Smith says "parents just dont understand."  I appreciated all the support from the Bomber faithful in the stands as they followed the FDC.  Thank you to the Bomber Players who sat in the FDC section at Union.  I felt much much much more comfortable asking Doug Davis questions while you sat with me.  

What an Idiot he and #91 were.  I have no respect for players who feel the need to talk to the opposing fans.  I have always been a believer that, as a player, you send your messages on the field.  Not on the bench with the flip of a finger.  Three guys in yellow should not draw your attention away from the game.

The Union fans were very nice folks.  Except for the man with the mullet.  

It was a fun game yesterday though.  I think for the most part every Bomber fan is requesting Defensive recruits for next year.  Possibly some freshman to step in and make an impact from the get go.  

THANK YOU!!! To all the Bomber faithful that allowed me and my fellow FDC members to tailgate with you.  You welcomed us with open arms and I feel i have my own Fall family.  Its nice.   Thank you very much.

Well. The season has concluded.  The voices rang true throughout.  And we appreciate our Bombers.  See you in 2006.