FB: Liberty League

[dlippiel]

A tough loss for the Dutchmen today in Rochester. Mistakes at key times again. A holding penalty on a punt leads to a replay of down and a bad center kicker exchange on the second attempt leads to a turn over and U of R ball inside the Union 10. First play TD and it's all tied.

Union's then takes a penalty on their very next offensive series to give them a 1st and 25 which basically ended the drive before it started.

Congrats to U of R though on the win and good luck on the rest of the season. Dlip will have a quick write up of the game and thoughts on the remainder of Union's season.

[pumkinattack]

I'm sure there's some scenarios where someone else can win the league, but the SLU loss to Springfield seems to more or less lock up the league for Hobart.  They'd probably have to lose two of their last three plus some other things happen and I don't see that being the case.  That being said, any loss by Hobart and they may be shipped to a Linfield, MUC or UMHB in the first round.  While they will hopefully face one of them at some point, I'd prefer it be after a couple of rounds of playoff opponents personally.

[mattvsmith]

It will be interesting to compare and contrast Dave's union football blog and James's Hobart football blog this week. Are you guys going to coordinate your predictions?

No offense to Dlip and to Union, and no offense especially to our solicitor, Frank, but this year poor Union isn't the Union that I have feared in the past.

The Rev's pre-blog reading prediction: Hobart 42-10. Completely pulling these numbers from my gluteal "crevice" if you catch my drift.

[mattvsmith]

I'll add that I am shamelessly a member of the USMMA bandwagon this season. They are dear to me, as I am a professor at a maritime university (we send an exchange student to USMMA every year or so). But this year they are no longer loveable losers, they are having a real go of it.
I'm very much looking forward to the USMMA v SLU game on Nov 16. It has the potential to be one of the best  games in the LL this season

[pumkinattack]

Here's a question.  If MMA finishes 8-1, loses one game to this govt idiocy, and only has a loss to an undefeated Hobart, can they get a Pool C?

I'm not sure they are quite that level, but having watched all the hobart games I can say they are the best team Hobart has faced this season and I think hey can beat everyone else in the league.

[D3MAFAN]

Here's a question.  If MMA finishes 8-1, loses one game to this govt idiocy, and only has a loss to an undefeated Hobart, can they get a Pool C?

I'm not sure they are quite that level, but having watched all the hobart games I can say they are the best team Hobart has faced this season and I think hey can beat everyone else in the league.

I was literally thinking the same thing. In all honesty, I feel they should get in.

[Frank Rossi]

Here's a question.  If MMA finishes 8-1, loses one game to this govt idiocy, and only has a loss to an undefeated Hobart, can they get a Pool C?

I'm not sure they are quite that level, but having watched all the hobart games I can say they are the best team Hobart has faced this season and I think hey can beat everyone else in the league.

They can't finish at 8-1 for playoff purposes, as the ninth game (any make-up game played vs. Springfield) would be a week after the regular season.  That said, at 7-1, they could be sitting on top of the Pool C board as the East Region's top remaining team at that time if chaos continues to ensue going forward in the MAC, NJAC, E8, ECFC and NEFC.  Unfortunately, though, there are so many one-loss teams that will have nine or eight wins and better SOS numbers, that I think it would be a huge longshot.  The story might capture some Committee members' attentions, and the ordinal system they use now actually helps a team like MMA that might be on the board for three or four picks without being chosen since generally, people move up an ordinal as a team that was ahead of them is chosen off the board.  So, I wouldn't say it's impossible, but it would be a huge longshot.

[CarvedKenoFin]

Any word on how the USMMA games will be applied in the standings?

More specifically for Rochester since it doesn't seem that game will be made up.

[Frank Rossi]

Any word on how the USMMA games will be applied in the standings?

More specifically for Rochester since it doesn't seem that game will be made up.

In any situation in which teams are being compared for potential tiebreaker purposes and do not have an even number of league games played because of the MMA situation, the MMA game result(s) will be removed.  For example, if Rochester wins out and Hobart wins out except against Rochester, Rochester will be 5-1 in the LL and Hobart will be 6-1.  Despite the uneven records, Rochester wins the LL since the MMA result would be removed from Hobart to evaluate the comparison -- making Hobart 5-1.  Rochester wins based on the first tiebreaker (head-to-head).

[D3MAFAN]

I think the committe will look at the sitaution as a special case. However, I think the committee will look at SOS as its main priority when comparing against other teams with one loss, not teams who have an extra game, I think if the committee is presented with TEAM X @ 8/9-1 verses Merchant Marine @ 7-1, the number of wins Team X won't really be the main factor, it would have to be SOS.

[dlippiel]

Dlip's write up on Union's 21-7 loss to Rochester on Saturday@ www.dlipthedutchman.blogspot.com

[Pat Coleman]

I think the committe will look at the sitaution as a special case. However, I think the committee will look at SOS as its main priority when comparing against other teams with one loss, not teams who have an extra game, I think if the committee is presented with TEAM X @ 8/9-1 verses Merchant Marine @ 7-1, the number of wins Team X won't really be the main factor, it would have to be SOS.

Merchant Marine's SOS isn't very strong right now:
http://www.d3football.com/seasons/2013/schedule?tmpl=sos-template

It isn't likely to significantly improve based on the final three games, although if Coast Guard, SUNY-Maritime and Susquehanna win out it could help a little.

[mattvsmith]

James and Frank. I listened to ITH today. You start at 8:30 am Monday, Korea time. ITH has become my "morning drive".
Did you get my SMS? I tried to send one through Skype. I also tried to call in but got cut off.

[Frank Rossi]

James and Frank. I listened to ITH today. You start at 8:30 am Monday, Korea time. ITH has become my "morning drive".
Did you get my SMS? I tried to send one through Skype. I also tried to call in but got cut off.

No, but definitely try again next week.  We'd love to have you on the show -- thanks for the listen!  Hope you enjoyed it -- I think it was one of our best shows of the season.  Replay is already up at http://inthehuddlle.com

[pumkinattack]

I guess it all is going to depend on how they want to weight primary vs secondary or tertiary criteria.  If a Fitchburg or somebody from New England gets one because they overweight SOS blindly then you can make the case for an MMA who's only loss is to a top 15 Hobart .  If the pool Cs end up going to stronger candidates where other criteria push them ahead I'm ok with MMA not getting one.  Even the fact that were talking about if MMAs OOC opponents from the New England leagues and the CC win out sort of proves that just simply laying it all of a numerical OOC is problematic, but as I said, I don't really know if they're playoff caliber, but there resume would be to win against everyone except a very good and highly regarded nationally team.  Sort of fits the mold of what pool C is supposed to be about I guess.  One where you could make the case that without a semi elite(Im using my words about Hobart carefully) they would win their league.