FB: Liberty League

[Bartman]

I like to think his handling of the "Whittfoot" moment was a valuable learning experience.   

I don't think that was actually Marpet.

Correct.  It was the roommate of the cousin of one of the players who had a relative at Whittenberger.

Exactly.  I mean, those posts had the textbook markings of a sockpuppet account.  Hobart.edu account, "random person" from another area who could not be traced to Hobart, knowledge of the actual game/school Hobart played, Hype of a person in the form of a question "did you see what this guy did?".

There is no way that was someone else.

Well, it certainly could have been a roommate or a teammate trying to mess with him.

I'd say it's doubtful.  First it's not really funny and doesn't make much sense as a joke, secondly, would a friend coincidently find his way into the d3footbsll.com message boards to ask a question like that? And then why would the friend even care about deleting it after getting called out?

I say Marpet wanted to see what people were saying about him so he did what he did.  I actually had a chance to ask a kid who played for hobart last year, but I figured it was too silly to even bring up.  It's over.

Good-bye forever Whittfoot, you were amusing 

[ITH radio]

Marpet pro day on 3/13

Coleman invited to AZ NFL combine

Audino staying at Union

Mighty Mikey still fighting

John Cena '99 goes into SC HOF (but you can't see him, BC his time is now)

Franks still pursuing NFL kicking job

SLU spring practices in full swing per @slu_football

[Bartman]

Eight NFL teams at Hobart Today. Marpet and D'andre Smith look good.in workouts. Will miss these guys. Marpet handling the exposure and challenge well. He already acts like a pro and will represent D3 really well somewhere in the NFL.

[D3viewer]

Here is the D and C article about Marpet's pro day.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/2015/03/13/ali-marpet-takes-another-step-toward-nfl/70300860/

[Pat Coleman]

Three teams are leaving the Liberty League in 2017. Here's how it all shakes out:
http://www.d3football.com/notables/2015/04/newmac-adds-football

[Frank Rossi]

Three teams are leaving the Liberty League in 2017. Here's how it all shakes out:
http://www.d3football.com/notables/2015/04/newmac-adds-football

It's an interesting development that we've been predicting for a while in terms of MMA and WPI finally breaking off from the LL.  We are now left with the original UCAA.  One of two things will happen here:

1) The LL looks for two replacement teams.  Ithaca alumni have had some level of consternation with the number of state schools in the E8 for football.  There had been a level of interest in the past from Ithaca in moving to the LL, but it didn't happen at that time.  Other potential candidates would be Alfred and WNEU from the E8 and NEFC.  I doubt that the LL would go after Hartwick, Utica, or SJF, but if a seventh team is still needed in 2017, it could be reassessed.

2) The LL teams seek other conferences.  This would be very tough for SLU (probably only the ECFC would be plausible).  Rochester has always dipped into the old UAA batch and could rejoin the old UAA teams.  RPI could still be considering a D1 move with the administrative changes we've seen recently.  Union is located such that the school could be attractive to New England conferences.  I have no plausible strategy for Hobart in this scenario, however.  If one more team decides to leave, then I think the LL dissolves as a modern football conference.

It is mathematically possible for the E8, ECFC, LL, MASCAC, NEFC, and NEWMAC to all have 7 or more teams by 2019.  If that happens, then the AQ mess gets even deeper nationally (I think we reach 28 out of 32, which I believe is the most the national base would swallow since it allows an average of only one Pool C bid per region).  The only way for this to happen, though, would be to forge unlikely alliances.  That said, what was more unlikely than Salisbury and Frostburg joining the E8?  At least geography suggests no alliance here is impossible.  Yet, the LL needs to swiftly decide what they want to do here.  2017 is not that far away.

[Jonny Utah]

Three teams are leaving the Liberty League in 2017. Here's how it all shakes out:
http://www.d3football.com/notables/2015/04/newmac-adds-football

It's an interesting development that we've been predicting for a while in terms of MMA and WPI finally breaking off from the LL.  We are now left with the original UCAA.  One of two things will happen here:

1) The LL looks for two replacement teams.  Ithaca alumni have had some level of consternation with the number of state schools in the E8 for football.  There had been a level of interest in the past from Ithaca in moving to the LL, but it didn't happen at that time.  Other potential candidates would be Alfred and WNEU from the E8 and NEFC.  I doubt that the LL would go after Hartwick, Utica, or SJF, but if a seventh team is still needed in 2017, it could be reassessed.

2) The LL teams seek other conferences.  This would be very tough for SLU (probably only the ECFC would be plausible).  Rochester has always dipped into the old UAA batch and could rejoin the old UAA teams.  RPI could still be considering a D1 move with the administrative changes we've seen recently.  Union is located such that the school could be attractive to New England conferences.  I have no plausible strategy for Hobart in this scenario, however.  If one more team decides to leave, then I think the LL dissolves as a modern football conference.

It is mathematically possible for the E8, ECFC, LL, MASCAC, NEFC, and NEWMAC to all have 7 or more teams by 2019.  If that happens, then the AQ mess gets even deeper nationally (I think we reach 28 out of 32, which I believe is the most the national base would swallow since it allows an average of only one Pool C bid per region).  The only way for this to happen, though, would be to forge unlikely alliances.  That said, what was more unlikely than Salisbury and Frostburg joining the E8?  At least geography suggests no alliance here is impossible.  Yet, the LL needs to swiftly decide what they want to do here.  2017 is not that far away.

Yea a quick glance shows me that the remaining E8 and LL teams add up to 14, which would give you two 7 teams leagues, or the NY "super conference" that we used to talk about. 

Or Ithaca and Alfred leaving the E8 to the LL might be the most probable solution.  This keeps the E8 with an automatic bid, and keeps the LL as an all upstate private school conference.

[dlippiel]

That sounds good to dlip Utah/Rossi. He would love to see Ithaca and Alfred join the LL. Dlip frankly will not miss WPI AT ALL, he liked the addition of Springfield but feels the school doesn't really fit the league's make-up, he'll miss MMA and all the class they bring to the table each season, and did dlippiel mention he WON'T MISS WPI AT ALL? Change within our beloved conference just keeps happening. Maybe after all this hullabaloo is over things will settle better than ever? With that said Dlip shares lew's playoff concerns and the AQ set-up may need to be revisited...if that is even possible?

[jackson5]

I don't think any NEFC school would move to the LL on their own. If the two leagues merged into a 10 team league I could see them moving. Not saying that the LL would want that though. But the NEFC is down to 5 members who are all in the CCC together. A 6th CCC team UNE is adding football soon to. I think its more likely they stick together and pick up a former CCC member like Anna Maria than one school coming over especially just for one sport. If the Liberty League is looking at adding a school for all sports then that might change this.

[Frank Rossi]

I don't think any NEFC school would move to the LL on their own. If the two leagues merged into a 10 team league I could see them moving. Not saying that the LL would want that though. But the NEFC is down to 5 members who are all in the CCC together. A 6th CCC team UNE is adding football soon to. I think its more likely they stick together and pick up a former CCC member like Anna Maria than one school coming over especially just for one sport. If the Liberty League is looking at adding a school for all sports then that might change this.

Here's the possible scenario that could work:

NEFC (5 --> 7) -

Loses WNEU
Gains UNE, Mass-Maritime, One ECFC team

MASCAC (8 --> 7) -

Loses Mass-Maritime

LL (5 --> 7) -

Gains Ithaca, WNEU

E8 (9 --> 7) -

Loses Ithaca, Hartwick

ECFC (7 --> 7) -

Loses a team to the NEFC
Gains Hartwick

That's how AQ hell could become a reality by these conferences all trying to survive in this move.

[ExTartanPlayer]

I like to think his handling of the "Whittfoot" moment was a valuable learning experience.   

I don't think that was actually Marpet.

Correct.  It was the roommate of the cousin of one of the players who had a relative at Whittenberger.

Exactly.  I mean, those posts had the textbook markings of a sockpuppet account.  Hobart.edu account, "random person" from another area who could not be traced to Hobart, knowledge of the actual game/school Hobart played, Hype of a person in the form of a question "did you see what this guy did?".

There is no way that was someone else.

I'm late to the party here, but...whoever it was led with something like:

"Been hearing a lot about Ali Marpet..."

As though the barrooms in rural Ohio are full of chatter about D3 football schools in upstate New York.

Yeah, I'm gonna say that was him.  And I don't really blame him, when you're an offensive lineman for a D3 team, you're about as anonymous as it gets, even if you're driving your guy 25 yards through the endzone on every play.  He fished for some compliments, probably hoping that a few Bart fans would chime in with comments about how great he was, realized (a bit late) that it was easy to figure out it was just him.  Kid's mistake.

[jhughes98]

How about Carnegie Mellon?  They are only affiliate members of the PAC.

[jackson5]

I don't think any NEFC school would move to the LL on their own. If the two leagues merged into a 10 team league I could see them moving. Not saying that the LL would want that though. But the NEFC is down to 5 members who are all in the CCC together. A 6th CCC team UNE is adding football soon to. I think its more likely they stick together and pick up a former CCC member like Anna Maria than one school coming over especially just for one sport. If the Liberty League is looking at adding a school for all sports then that might change this.

Here's the possible scenario that could work:

NEFC (5 --> 7) -

Loses WNEU
Gains UNE, Mass-Maritime, One ECFC team

MASCAC (8 --> 7) -

Loses Mass-Maritime

LL (5 --> 7) -

Gains Ithaca, WNEU

E8 (9 --> 7) -

Loses Ithaca, Hartwick

ECFC (7 --> 7) -

Loses a team to the NEFC
Gains Hartwick

That's how AQ hell could become a reality by these conferences all trying to survive in this move.

I don't think any of the CCC teams would leave the rest of the group for football. And I don't think WNEU would want to spend the budget to have multiple overnight road trips a year for football. With Maine Maritime leaving they are back to having everyone be within a 2.5 hour drive. Having to go out to Rochester or St lawrence every year would cause issues for their budget, and Hobart is pushing the limits for distance you can travel the day of a game.


Plus with AQ's being the only way to the tournament now a days I don't think that they'd leave having to only beat Endicott and Salve to having to take on Hobart and possibly Ithaca.

[Jonny Utah]

I don't think any NEFC school would move to the LL on their own. If the two leagues merged into a 10 team league I could see them moving. Not saying that the LL would want that though. But the NEFC is down to 5 members who are all in the CCC together. A 6th CCC team UNE is adding football soon to. I think its more likely they stick together and pick up a former CCC member like Anna Maria than one school coming over especially just for one sport. If the Liberty League is looking at adding a school for all sports then that might change this.

Here's the possible scenario that could work:

NEFC (5 --> 7) -

Loses WNEU
Gains UNE, Mass-Maritime, One ECFC team

MASCAC (8 --> 7) -

Loses Mass-Maritime

LL (5 --> 7) -

Gains Ithaca, WNEU

E8 (9 --> 7) -

Loses Ithaca, Hartwick

ECFC (7 --> 7) -

Loses a team to the NEFC
Gains Hartwick

That's how AQ hell could become a reality by these conferences all trying to survive in this move.

I don't think any of the CCC teams would leave the rest of the group for football. And I don't think WNEU would want to spend the budget to have multiple overnight road trips a year for football. With Maine Maritime leaving they are back to having everyone be within a 2.5 hour drive. Having to go out to Rochester or St lawrence every year would cause issues for their budget, and Hobart is pushing the limits for distance you can travel the day of a game.


Plus with AQ's being the only way to the tournament now a days I don't think that they'd leave having to only beat Endicott and Salve to having to take on Hobart and possibly Ithaca.

Jackson, under the new alignment, the NEFC and WNEU would be losing their AQ.  It's going to force their hand (along with the LL) to find some sort of temporary solution.  If they did go to the LL, they would have 2 day trips still (Union and RPI) and possibly Rochester.  That would leave 4 teams (if Ithaca or Alfred joined) as overnight trips.  That would possibly mean 2 overnight trips a year which I assume isn't out of the ballpark for that school.

EDIT: Rochester is farther than I thought, that's an overnight trip for them.

[Frank Rossi]

In addition, if the LL teams end up in Pool A by either the LL or absorption in other conferences, there is a risk that no Pool B bid would exist if there aren't 7 independent teams (perhaps 8) when the fallout stops.  In other words, any conference that doesn't get absorbed risks only vying for a Pool C bid.