FB: Liberty League

[dlippiel]

As I was reading dlip's post above, I was thinking I should reply with this question, " Why don't you ask U89 what he thinks?"

I was pleasantly surprised as I scrolled down to see the others have not forgotten.

There are many differing perspectives regarding the reasons around Union's woes and all of them have a certain amount of validity (to an extent). It would be interesting to hear U89's take on this, especially after last weekend's result. As a matter of fact the more discussion around this the better as far as dlip is concerened.

Regarding the above comments dlip feels it only fair others question the coaching situation in Schenectady. The coach is the top dog and basically the buck stops with him. Yet from dlip's perspective and experience around the program the head coaching is not the main problem here. To dlip Audino has a ton left in him. His dedication to the players and the game of football is amazing. He is a fearless leader and has an excellent football mind. The level of class he carries himself with is nothing short of top notch to dlip and he leads that football team the way dlip would want it lead if his own son (he has two daughters) played for the Dutchmen.

Again, dlip does understand and feel it is fair to always look at and question the coaching when teams struggle. Especially when they fall from the type of grace the Dutchmen earned and enjoyed for so long. There are situations around the country that both support and don't support the idea of a coaching change. It's obviously begun to work for Florida State right? Yet how has it worked for RPI so far? dlip would say King and Audino had/have somewhat similar situations. Yet when King was forced out, which in dlip's opinion he was, what has happened in Troy since? Not good and definitely not fair to the players.

So it's easy to blame the coaching staff and demand change. dlip will say this. In his opinion that is not even close to the case at Union. Audino is an amazing coach and for Union and it's fans to even go down this road, to dlip, would be a mistake. dlip backs Audino wholeheartedly. And remember everyone with the onset of division 1 hockey success at Union College, and a renewed focus on that program over the past 15 years, one would have to be dumb, deaf, and blind to not see how the priorities and focus of the athletic administration have changed. Think long and hard about that one before being so quick to point the finger in any directions.

[pumkinattack]

I think ITH's case might be stronger that the "descent" if you want to call it that, really happened more around the turn of the millennia than more recently and we just remember them manhandling everyone in the 80's - 90's.  There's only like three years of 7 wins or better in the last 10-12.  6-4 is what it's been for a while.  You can break down the quality of the schedule over that period to see if it's apples to apples, but this all sort of started with the question of what happened to Union and if you look at it, the short answer is not much in the past 10-15yrs.  When I played, they were far better than us.  We were close in 97 (or 98, my memory is sketchy these days) after we jumped out to a quick lead, but IC and Union were different programs back then.

[lewdogg11]

Yo DLIP, where you AT?

[bman]

Of course, Hobart has the best school colors, which makes the asinine  tuition worth it.

With all due respect Rev, we (Widener) played you in 2000 and my eyes still hurt from those ugly @ss uni's your boys wore that day.
I remember thinking "please let this torture end'...

[gordonmann]

I don't know why, but I thought you guys would enjoy this.  It's really cool.

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/slate_labs/2013/10/six_degrees_of_kevin_garnett_connect_any_two_athletes_who_ve_ever_played.html

You can plug in Division III alums across sports and see how connected they are.

[mattvsmith]

Of course, Hobart has the best school colors, which makes the asinine  tuition worth it.

With all due respect Rev, we (Widener) played you in 2000 and my eyes still hurt from those ugly @ss uni's your boys wore that day.
I remember thinking "please let this torture end'...

You wound me, sir.
Were the uniforms blue and orange or purple and orange?
If blue, 'tis only a flesh wound. If purple, you cut me to the core.

[bman]

Of course, Hobart has the best school colors, which makes the asinine  tuition worth it.

With all due respect Rev, we (Widener) played you in 2000 and my eyes still hurt from those ugly @ss uni's your boys wore that day.
I remember thinking "please let this torture end'...

You wound me, sir.
Were the uniforms blue and orange or purple and orange?
If blue, 'tis only a flesh wound. If purple, you cut me to the core.

Rev...I can see your love for Orange goes deep 
Honestly, I can't remember...
I KNOW it was not Orange and Purple
I seem to remember it as Orange on Orange, I don't remember any Blue in the scheme as well, although, it was 13 years ago, and I could be wrong...
I'm going to ask FormerWu, as he was there with me...he may remember more clearly.

[AUPepBand]

Of course, Hobart has the best school colors, which makes the asinine  tuition worth it.

With all due respect Rev, we (Widener) played you in 2000 and my eyes still hurt from those ugly @ss uni's your boys wore that day.
I remember thinking "please let this torture end'...

You wound me, sir.
Were the uniforms blue and orange or purple and orange?
If blue, 'tis only a flesh wound. If purple, you cut me to the core.

Pep remembers when the Statesmen wore their school colors....and AU wore their school colors...and neither team had much white on their uni's. Imagine the confusion with one team wearing purple pants and gold jerseys, the other team wearing purple jerseys and gold (orange?) pants...And, playing on real grass that's taken a season's beating, adding brown mud to the mix, fighting over a brown football.

Yeah, Pep misses FOOTBALL!

[mattvsmith]

Thank goodness Hobart is playing this weekend. I was going through withdrawals.

[pumkinattack]

Of course, Hobart has the best school colors, which makes the asinine  tuition worth it.

With all due respect Rev, we (Widener) played you in 2000 and my eyes still hurt from those ugly @ss uni's your boys wore that day.
I remember thinking "please let this torture end'...

You wound me, sir.
Were the uniforms blue and orange or purple and orange?
If blue, 'tis only a flesh wound. If purple, you cut me to the core.

Rev...I can see your love for Orange goes deep 
Honestly, I can't remember...
I KNOW it was not Orange and Purple
I seem to remember it as Orange on Orange, I don't remember any Blue in the scheme as well, although, it was 13 years ago, and I could be wrong...
I'm going to ask FormerWu, as he was there with me...he may remember more clearly.

I have to doubt your memory as your great WR was running past us all day and night.  The Hobart players were chasing from 20 yards behind, so how could you have been watching any of our guys that day? 

[ITH radio]

Hobart was in road whites, eventhough technically it should have been a home game for the Statesmen.  A snafu from Athletics in not filing the appropriate paperwork or something to that effect (which would ding Hobart a few years later too).

[D3viewer]

Is Hobart's  power peaking this weekend ? As we approach All Hallows eve ? RPI will be trampled in the pumpkin patch. Faces frozen in terror.

[pumkinattack]

Hobart was in road whites, eventhough technically it should have been a home game for the Statesmen.  A snafu from Athletics in not filing the appropriate paperwork or something to that effect (which would ding Hobart a few years later too).

Why did you have to remind me of that.  Can we start the coach Cragg for AD campaign yet? 

[mattvsmith]

Ryan chose Hobart as a possible upset against RPI.
I can't say that I am offended. First of all, all publicity is good publicity. Second, wen though RPI isn't quite as good as they have been in the past, they have a special knack for getting Hobart's number and ringing it all day. I still remember very bitterly a loss about ten years ago in which RPI recognized that Hobart secondary was helpless against a pass to the receiver at the sideline. They tore us up in the second half and won the game using the same damn play. Why do anything differently if the same play works over and over again? The Rev was positively apoplectic.

Anyway, obviously I hope Hobart wins. I like and respect RPI because they always give Hobart a hell of a fight. Wins against RPI come the old fashioned way: We earn them. Having said that, I think that for the sake of its national reputation, Hobart needs to come out and not just beat RPI, but beat them so badly that even Hobart fans cringe. When you are ranked this high, the pressure is on to perform and prove that you deserve such a high slot. You can't sob that by edging out opponents; you need to beat them soundly so there is no doubt as to your ability. Again, it's nothing personal against RPI. In fact, I think my desire to beat them so badly is a sign of respect, because it is hard to beat RPI under any circumstances. Great team. Tough and smart. Most of all, they love to beat Hobart. I think it's going to be a slugfest. No one will walk away unfazed.

[pumkinattack]

Rev, I'm not going to dispute the fact that RPI is a tough one and 2011 may be the toughest one in a while, but I completely disagree with the analysis and having watched the most of the games the past few years am sure the defensive weakness isn't the rush, but rather an athletic QB getting out of the pocket and makingn throws downfield against our undersized secondary.  The rush stats against look high for two reasons:
1.  They've only played on traditional passing team this season (Utica).  Dick, WPI, MMA, Springfield are all triple option or something modified off that (Dick & WPI) that are run heavy.
2.  There's a lot of fourth quarter yardage against FR/3rd stringers where these teams still aren't passing (Springfield was getting crushed and only passed 8 times).  I think we've only seen 75 passes in five games, or 15 attempts per despite the fact that every team has played from behind.  Here's some games:
Dickinson - 107 of 204 yards in the fourth after it was 30-0.
WPI - 190 of 270 yards after it was 41-0 halfway through the 3rd
Springfield - 187 of 311 after it was 42-7 (and we had backups in by halftime I think).
Even MMA (best team we've faced to date) and Utica put up meaningful stats late.  That Larson kid for Utica wasn't getting anything against the starting D (but they threw the ball pretty effectively by rolling the QB out of the pocket).

The real strength of this D is the front 8 including the edge guys.  Nolan Titan was 1 or 2 in tackles last year opposite Worhington and no one talks about him or very unheralded Troy Johnson and Tucker gumkoski and guarino up front but they are all playing very high level.  Triple option, which is what RPI runs now actually feeds right into Hobarts D.  I think they will control RPIs O early in this one.  Anxious to see what they will do against SLU, U of R later this year as the two best passing teams in the league (sorry U, but even with Ecl, you were giving up way too many sacks - worst in the league I think-and expected either/or TC or DW to be on the u QB like me at a Chinese Buffett).