FB: Empire 8

[fisheralum91]

cuse gets beat by the zips---yes i said the zips

it really has gotten this bad..

absolute shame.

fire robinson now

any news from the fisher crew--besides the score did they come thu without any injury?
shake it off and look to next week!

[Bombers798891]

Bomber report...

Juvan, Good.   Wetherberg. Really good.

Running backs.... well.... tbd

O-Line.  big...learning

WR's... time to put chier on both sides of the ball.

Chier.  Really good....saved the game for us, TWICE!

CB's can tackle.  D-line is quick.  LB's.... Scalice, 'nough said.

Kicking game...good, even when we were at our #2 kicker.  #1 looked like he broke his leg on a horrible roughing the kicker penalty by lyco.

FDC.... growing.

Retired Reserve section.... comfortable with great views.... Looking forward to being inducted into Sweet Lou's Tailgate Crew.

Dubbz

Dubbz--

Have to respectfully disagree on a few things. Juvan looked shaky to me. He never seemed to get into a groove until the final drive. Most of his longer passes were poorly thrown and didn't allow his recievers to do much after the catch. He was 8-20, 104 before the final drive. That's simply not good

The line looked ok, but three sacks (and one that would have been had Juvan not managed to stay on his feet) are too much to give up.

The CB's can tackle, but Lycoming didn't really do anything exotic with their passing game. I don't know if they have the talent to stop Hartwick's guys.

You can't put Chier on offense. He'll never last. If he's on offense, he's never going to get off the field.  

This was a gutsy win by the team, and you have to give them credit for playing hard. But I have serious concerns about the talent level on offense. The skill positions (With the exception of TE) look to be pretty average, and I can't see them scoring enough points to compete with the big boys--unless Crandall really makes an impact upon his return.

[Yanks 99]

Bomber report...

Juvan, Good.   Wetherberg. Really good.

Running backs.... well.... tbd

O-Line.  big...learning

WR's... time to put chier on both sides of the ball.

Chier.  Really good....saved the game for us, TWICE!

CB's can tackle.  D-line is quick.  LB's.... Scalice, 'nough said.

Kicking game...good, even when we were at our #2 kicker.  #1 looked like he broke his leg on a horrible roughing the kicker penalty by lyco.

FDC.... growing.

Retired Reserve section.... comfortable with great views.... Looking forward to being inducted into Sweet Lou's Tailgate Crew.

Dubbz

Dubbz--

Have to respectfully disagree on a few things. Juvan looked shaky to me. He never seemed to get into a groove until the final drive. Most of his longer passes were poorly thrown and didn't allow his recievers to do much after the catch. He was 8-20, 104 before the final drive. That's simply not good

The line looked ok, but three sacks (and one that would have been had Juvan not managed to stay on his feet) are too much to give up.

The CB's can tackle, but Lycoming didn't really do anything exotic with their passing game. I don't know if they have the talent to stop Hartwick's guys.

You can't put Chier on offense. He'll never last. If he's on offense, he's never going to get off the field.  

This was a gutsy win by the team, and you have to give them credit for playing hard. But I have serious concerns about the talent level on offense. The skill positions (With the exception of TE) look to be pretty average, and I can't see them scoring enough points to compete with the big boys--unless Crandall really makes an impact upon his return.

I think you guys will be fine.  First game jitters can get a hold of the best of teams.  Once Juvan gets his timing down he will be fine.  Crandall will open things up a bit...the kid has pretty good wheels.

[Bombers798891]

I'm not trying to rain on the Bombers parade, I just think that having to come from behind to beat a Lycoming team that was 3-7 last season (And who the Bombers beat, on the road, by 25) is cause for concern.

Last year, they outgained Lycoming 407-90.

This year, they were outgained 322-266.

I'm sorry if I sound rude, but that doesn't seem to me to be a team that's--offensively especially, poised for the big time.

[AUKaz00]

Just reading the Alfred box score and apparently the Saxons committed 8 turnovers - 4 fumbles, 4 Int.  And only 34 yds rushing.  I have to believe that number would have been much higher if the Purple Haze was healthy.  And Alfred only lost by 7 with a -6 turnover ratio.  I know, I know, ifs and buts... but I don't think this game is going to be representative of how Alfred plays the rest of the season.  Hopefully we'll be looking back on it akin to Hartwick's loss to WNE last year.  There's a lot to be exited about in Mayberry looking ahead to next Saterday, but as for tonight I'll have to take my solace in watch our MNT take it to the Cubans in Havana.

[Lyco80]

Some more food for thought from a devoted Warrior fan:

I did not hear the game or have time to read or locate a box score so my information on the game itself is limited to the final score.

Having said this, let me point out that Lycoming was on the road, with a first-year coach, playing a team with a 37 year winning record that beat them handily last year.

One other note - Lycoming's O-line is intact from last year.

It may be premature to be writing the obit for either team.  First games are like shakedown cruises in the Navy - you get the bugs out.

Perhaps we may see some interesting developments by both schools later on in the season.

While I would have been thrilled with a win - coming this close is some solace.

ATB

[HScoach]

SJF is going to be a good team.   Played hard and smart.  The INT's hurt, but only the one at the end of the 2nd was a bad decision.   The others weren't a big deal.  Overall, I was very impressed with Bailey and the secondary.  It was very clear why Bailey won the starting job.

I do have a question though.  Why did they keep trying to run QB sweeps with Robbie Brown?  He ran it 6 times for -10 yards and didn't appear to be nearly as athletic as Bailey.  And with gloves on, he obviously wasn't doing to throw it.

Good luck the rest of the year!  Hopefully we meet again come November.

Look on the bright side, Kmic won't be making the trip to SJF next year

[PA_wesleyfan]

After doing a little research it seems that Hartwick has an open date on Sept  27th and has only 9 games..

Wesley has an open date on the 27th and also only has 9 games because of todays cancellation!  Why not?? Ithaca and SJF both turned down Wesley for a game this year. Maybe Hartwick would take a crack at them?

[theoriginalupstate]

After doing a little research it seems that Hartwick has an open date on Sept  27th and has only 9 games..

Wesley has an open date on the 27th and also only has 9 games because of todays cancellation!  Why not?? Ithaca and SJF both turned down Wesley for a game this year. Maybe Hartwick would take a crack at them?

SJF and IC play each other on the 27th, the only opening for SJF to have a game with wesley would have been the October 11th and its not like the threw in Mt Ida there, they do have a game with Salisbury....

[PA_wesleyfan]

Upstate

As far back as last year at the South Finals there was talk of a game with either team. Ithaca  chose to play Frostburg st instead. Same quality in region points better chance of winning the game.

I didn't say that either should play Wesley the 27th I said Hartwick and Wesley have open dates ...and only 9 games

[theoriginalupstate]

Upstate

As far back as last year at the South Finals there was talk of a game with either team. Ithaca  chose to play Frostburg st instead. Same quality in region points better chance of winning the game.

I didn't say that either should play Wesley the 27th I said Hartwick and Wesley have open dates ...and only 9 games

So just because there were "talks" we backed away from playing wesley even though we already had MUC on the schedule...

makes sense to me 

[PA_wesleyfan]

Upstate
  Makes sense to me too...You could have played two of the top three teams in the country. What a resume.. 

Wesley would much rather  play a good JSF and Ithaca than have to travel to FLa and Lake Erie and Iona just to fill out a schedule. 

[theicdubbz]

WR's... time to put chier on both sides of the ball.

Dubbz

Dubbz--


You can't put Chier on offense. He'll never last. If he's on offense, he's never going to get off the field.  

guess i'm going to have to put sarcasm brackets () around certain things posted.

Bombers were spoiled for the last 3 years with the three headed monster.  Same as we were spoiled with felicetti. 

Its interesting that in this "west coast offense" we are running that we have no true spreads or real desisre to be in a shot gun set..... hmm.... perhaps we should switch to an option offense like Florida... Juvan has the same characteristics as Tebow....or we can run what the G-men ran with Shockey and have a lot of the passing offense have WEtherberg as the #1.

Just throwing some stuff out there. 
(I got some wicked plays on "NFL Street" that Coach WElch can use free of charge.)

[boobyhasgameyo]

SJF is going to be a good team.   Played hard and smart.  The INT's hurt, but only the one at the end of the 2nd was a bad decision.   The others weren't a big deal.  Overall, I was very impressed with Bailey and the secondary.  It was very clear why Bailey won the starting job.

I do have a question though.  Why did they keep trying to run QB sweeps with Robbie Brown?  He ran it 6 times for -10 yards and didn't appear to be nearly as athletic as Bailey.  And with gloves on, he obviously wasn't doing to throw it.

Good luck the rest of the year!  Hopefully we meet again come November.

Look on the bright side, Kmic won't be making the trip to SJF next year

I must disagree on Bailey.  Obviously I'm not going to completely trash him since it's his first ever start and he has to go against the best team in D3 history....But outside of about 4 or 5 plays I think he had a poor showing.  His first interception was thrown to nobody in particular.  Then he fumbled an important snap and instead of falling on the ball he tried scooping it up but a Mount Union player dove on it and that led to a Mount Union score.  Then at a crucial point towards the end of the first half with a minute to go he throws what looks to be a screen pass but he did not put annnny zip on it and allowed for the Mount Union corner to jump all over it and take it back to the house.  Then during the red zone trips in the 2nd half he kept trying to fire it into a lot of traffic and the Mount Union secondary just kept batting the balls out of the air.

Also when we had the ball first and goal on the 1 yard line that was some of the worst play calling I have seen in a while.  First down we try and rush up the gut and it gets stopped...that part is fine.  2nd down they decide to bring in Hammel and big suprise he tries a keeper and loses 5 yards on the play.  Then on 3rd and goal from about the 7 Bailey throws a fade to the corner of the endzone which was just a terrible call and it was picked off for his 3rd interception.  

Bailey also completely overthrew receivers more than a few times and made some questionable decisions throughout.  However he did seem to have a nice touch when throwing the deep pass over the middle as opposed to throwing it deep down the sideline.  I think Bailey will bounce back and develop pretty nicely when he doesn't have to face a team like Mount Union.  I expect he will do very well against Buffalo State.  

After seeing the game and the chances Fisher could have had, I believe Fisher will finish the season at 8-2 and hopefully make the playoffs.  



Oh yeah and our secondary got burrrrrned by #10 all day.  He was damn good.  

[Jonny Utah]

Rowdy--

The Bombers look terrible. No pass rush. Juvan looked shaky and no-one reall goy open. The running game looks ok, although they didn't get many big plays.

Ithaca was handed their first TD after a roughing the kicker penalty and then Lycoming took a terrible personal foul after the Bombers scored to go up 17-16. Ithaca kicked off from the 40, Lycoming fumbled the kick and only got it out to the four. After that, they could never dig their way out.

Right now, with Crandall out, that offense is going to look shaky. They really only looked good on their final drive. They have to step it up or it will be a long season. If Lycoming was disciplined, they'd have won that game.

To be honest, I thought the Bombers were overrated coming into the season. Too much talk about how well they looked up in Alliance last season and not enough "Hey, do you think the offense will be affected by losing two of the best running backs in the last 20 years?"

Lets hope it was just first game jitters, and maybe a little bit of overconfidence on the part of the bombers in the first game.

Losing those running backs from last year will be a loss, but it not about losing them, it should be about who is going to step up?

I hate to be so blunt, but it's not about stepping up. It's about talent. Baez and Donovan were, simply put, excellent backs.  You can't really expect someone to step up and have that production, so it's inevitable that the offense will take a big step back. No-one seemed willing to believe that. It's not so much that the running game will be bad, just not one that can take pressure off of Juvan by making defenses commit to them. There's just not the same amount of talent on the offensive side of the ball as there was before.

No I like being blunt, which is maybe Im wondering if Lycoming focused more on the pass than the run, and like you said, IC fans might be banking too much on last years MUC game.  And in that game, Donovan and Baez did 100% nothing, and Juvan tore apart MUCs defense like I havent seen an IC qb do to any team in the past few years.

And in my 20 years or so of watching bomber football, Id rank Donovan and Baez in the middle of IC running backs.  But what both did have, is contradicting styles that I think helped the IC coaching staff in deciding which back to run against certain teams.  Donovan was not a fast back, but is maybe the 2nd or 3rd smartest runner in the past 20 years, but he cant beat teams by himself like faster running backs could have.

I guess your telling me that IC does not have any good running backs this year?

Im still hoping this game was an opening game jitters situation.  In 1994, we (IC) got destroyed by Springfield at Butterfield.   It wasnt even close.  We couldnt do anything on offense, nothing.  Then we lost at Alfred and had two losses right off the bad and were down.  But by the end of the season, our shizz was together and we were one tackle away from the national championship game......

Have faith bombers and stay positive!