FB: Empire 8

[Bill McCabe]

joseqviper, how long have they been running the veer?  Any place where I can go on the internet to see highlights?

[JQV]

hahaha - come on, part of you misses Ithaca weather.....

nah, I drank until that part of me died.  It didn't take long.

joseqviper, how long have they been running the veer?  Any place where I can go on the internet to see highlights?

I am not sure.  But Coach DeLong took over in 1984 and I am going to guess they have been running it since then.  Maybe Youtube has some highlights.  It really is prett incredible to watch.  I used to sit in the press box and laugh to myself while various broadcast teams guessed at who had the ball.  (I had the luxury of laughing because I could wait until the end of the play).  I thin realistic and McGraw could testify to this problem. 

[realistic]

This is very true....worse yet was being on the sidelines with a handheld camera.  At Springfield in 1999 I had some major trouble....luckily when Springfield plays you get plenty of chances at highlights.  I think both IC and Springfield put up 50+ that game.  Unfortunately, I almost died that game when Ron Amato basically threw the Springfield QB (Silvia?) out of bounds, into me.  Not fun.

[JQV]

This is very true....worse yet was being on the sidelines with a handheld camera.  At Springfield in 1999 I had some major trouble....luckily when Springfield plays you get plenty of chances at highlights.  I think both IC and Springfield put up 50+ that game.  Unfortunately, I almost died that game when Ron Amato basically threw the Springfield QB (Silvia?) out of bounds, into me.  Not fun.

That 1999 game was a classic.  Old Touchdown Tommy must have scored about 10 touchdowns that day. 



Best media-related sideline incident came in 2002.  Can't remember the opponent but we kicked off and about 10 of our guys drove the returner out of bands and over Nikolai Busko from ICB.  Busko was already one of the funniest sideline reporters ever and then, he gets on the air to say that he is ok but, the hit ripped the seat of his pants.  I don't think I have ever laughed so hard.

[realistic]

This is very true....worse yet was being on the sidelines with a handheld camera.  At Springfield in 1999 I had some major trouble....luckily when Springfield plays you get plenty of chances at highlights.  I think both IC and Springfield put up 50+ that game.  Unfortunately, I almost died that game when Ron Amato basically threw the Springfield QB (Silvia?) out of bounds, into me.  Not fun.

That 1999 game was a classic.  Old Touchdown Tommy must have scored about 10 touchdowns that day. 



Best media-related sideline incident came in 2002.  Can't remember the opponent but we kicked off and about 10 of our guys drove the returner out of bands and over Nikolai Busko from ICB.  Busko was already one of the funniest sideline reporters ever and then, he gets on the air to say that he is ok but, the hit ripped the seat of his pants.  I don't think I have ever laughed so hard.

OHHHH - that sucks.  1 year after me (I was covering St Johns at this point) but we used to hope and pray for Busko incidents.  They were always classic.

I can't remember exactly (bombsaway can maybe clarify) but I think there was a similar incident at Cortaca in '01.

[JQV]

Through private message I have been set straight and am willing to eat a little crow.  Sylvia and Judge (apparently I couldn't even spell the one guy's name right) were really good QB's at SC but, the measuring stick is apparently Kevin Cahill who left around 1998 or 1999.  I am always calling people out for a lack of perspective on what occurred before they arrived in college and now I have fallen victim to the same mistake (My first d3 season was 1999).  I stand corrected.  More evidence though that IC has beaten a number of good SC QBs I suppose.

Another interesting point has also recently been revealed to me.  Two former Bombers return to South Hill on the SC Coaching staff.  Former OLB Brett Campbell and former WR (and maybe for 7 days former son of a certain head coach) Jeff Welch come back on the Pride's defensive staff.  Off the top of my head, previous Bombers that have returned as SC coaches have not fared very well.  (Abe Ceesay in 2000 and Mark McDonough in 2002).

[realistic]

Cahill was the name I couldn't remember either.  I believe he gave a rough day to Sansone, Pasquale, et al in '98....that was followed by the barn burner in Mass in '99.

[John McGraw]

Since I have nothing better to do other than clean and pack, figured I'd take out the Ithaca and Springfield media guides.

Springfield at Ithaca, modern era
*prior to 1990, the rivalry is more one-sided in favor of Ithaca

1990: Ithaca 23 Springfield 14
1992: Ithaca 31 Springfield 7
1994: Springfield 27 Ithaca 3
1996: Ithaca 33 Springfield 25
1998: Springfield 29 Ithaca 24
2000: Springfield 55 Ithaca 34
2002: Ithaca 44 Springfield 20
2004: Ithaca 31 Springfield 7

Ithaca at Springfield, modern era
1991: Springfield 14 Ithaca 10
1993: Ithaca 30 Springfield 6
1995: Springfield 27 Ithaca 24
1997: Ithaca 42 Springfield 15
1999: Ithaca 45 Springfield 42
2001: Ithaca 17 Springfield 16
2003: Springfield 51 Ithaca 22
2005: Ithaca 35 Springfield 28

Other stuff...
-Chris Sharpe's only two losses as a starter last season were to St. John Fisher and Ithaca in back-to-back weeks at home.
-Sharpe scored one touchdown against Ithaca last year in the fourth quarter but was mostly held in check on the ground
-Springfield's Andre Clayton (75yds) and Aland Joseph (72yds) each scored one touchdown and were the Pride's top rushers in the game
-Josh Felicetti threw for 248 yards and three touchdowns. He tied Mike O'Donovan for the school record in touchdown passes thrown during one season.
-Ithaca racked up 434 yards of total offense; Alex Baez scored twice and rushed for 63 yards, James Davis ran for 66 yards and scored the eventual game-winning touchdown, Jamie Donovan had 62 yards rushing
-Springfield totaled 328 yards of total offense

[Bill McCabe]

John,  I read on the website that Ithaca was the preseason choice to win the conference.

[JQV]

John,  I read on the website that Ithaca was the preseason choice to win the conference.

That isn't surprising given that IC has won every E8 title.  Not sure how that is relevant now though.

[dewcrew88]

Since I have nothing better to do other than clean and pack, figured I'd take out the Ithaca and Springfield media guides.

Springfield at Ithaca, modern era
*prior to 1990, the rivalry is more one-sided in favor of Ithaca

1990: Ithaca 23 Springfield 14
1992: Ithaca 31 Springfield 7
1994: Springfield 27 Ithaca 3
1996: Ithaca 33 Springfield 25
1998: Springfield 29 Ithaca 24
2000: Springfield 55 Ithaca 34
2002: Ithaca 44 Springfield 20
2004: Ithaca 31 Springfield 7

Ithaca at Springfield, modern era
1991: Springfield 14 Ithaca 10
1993: Ithaca 30 Springfield 6
1995: Springfield 27 Ithaca 24
1997: Ithaca 42 Springfield 15
1999: Ithaca 45 Springfield 42
2001: Ithaca 17 Springfield 16
2003: Springfield 51 Ithaca 22
2005: Ithaca 35 Springfield 28

Other stuff...
-Chris Sharpe's only two losses as a starter last season were to St. John Fisher and Ithaca in back-to-back weeks at home.
-Sharpe scored one touchdown against Ithaca last year in the fourth quarter but was mostly held in check on the ground
-Springfield's Andre Clayton (75yds) and Aland Joseph (72yds) each scored one touchdown and were the Pride's top rushers in the game
-Josh Felicetti threw for 248 yards and three touchdowns. He tied Mike O'Donovan for the school record in touchdown passes thrown during one season.
-Ithaca racked up 434 yards of total offense; Alex Baez scored twice and rushed for 63 yards, James Davis ran for 66 yards and scored the eventual game-winning touchdown, Jamie Donovan had 62 yards rushing
-Springfield totaled 328 yards of total offense

John, I listened to the archived broadcast today for the game you covered, and I have to admit I really hadn't listened to your call before, save one time against Hobart in the playoffs last year. I thought you did a fine job in your commentary, the only thing that would be good is if you had a color guy to help you out, but it was a great job

[fisheralum91]

crew-goin this week?

[Tlm]

There is always a danger in comparing teams or players from one year to the next.  A couple of comments about Chris Sharpe in 2005 vs 2006:

-  Mike Delong struggled through the first halve of 2005 to find the right QB to run his wing-bone offense at Springfield.  He played musical QB's for the first 5-6 games, and Springfield was headed nowhere when he finally decided to put in a sophomore QB (Sharpe) and take his lumps while the kid got his sea-legs.

-  Sharpe's first few games were inconsistent.  In one game he had 5 fumbles.  In another game he had 2 INT's on 5 throws.  As a coach, what you hope to accomplish with a young QB, particularly when you are running a triple option attack, is to give him enough reps so he starts to process information faster, make better decisions and execute the offense.

-  Sharpe started to come around in the Ithaca game last year.  He continued to improve during the last two games of 2005.  Right now he is in the zone.

Ithaca is certainly capable of beating Springfield at home on Saturday, but this is not the same QB that the Bombers faced last year at Springfield.

[gobombers15]

Yeah, that '99 game was great. I didn't get to Ithaca until 2000, but I had to listen to the game in order to make a highlights package for the WICB pregame show that looked back to that year's game. There's no way those play-by-play guys had a voice after that game. Cahill and Giorgio were just dueling.

[realistic]

random note.

SUNY Cortland got a shout out on 30 Rock (the new SNL based show)

Alec  Balwin is introducing Tracey Morgan to the staff and introduces one writer as "__(name)__ got a 760 on his SAT's, he graduated from SUNY Cortland."

Anyway - got a kick out of it.