FB: Liberty League

[ITH radio]

Hobart's updated roster is up. Camp opens on 8/15.

Gohobart.blogspot.com has some info if interested or check hwsathletics.com

[D3pc]

No doubt Hobart is getting a weapon in transfer QB Sweeney which is probably an upgrade at QB minus experience. They still do lose a tremoundous amount of talent including something like 6 all east region players (including Coleman, Marpet). I still think they go undefeated or have 1 loss, all coming down to the St Lawrence game.

To my next point, I think this may be the year SLU passes Hobart as league champ. They return 9 starters on offense and 10 on defense. Co-POY QB Mike Leffelbine is returning as a graduate student which has me giving them the slight edge over Hobart. 1st team TE Mitch Galagher returns but another year with virtually all freshman WRs last year will have another year to develop with their QB. In addition, the defense will boast the best secondary in the league as well as an athletic LB crew and the top D lineman in CBW. With another year of experience and looking to avenge two losses (Norwich !?!?) and obviously the Hobart game, this could be the year. Coach Raymond is known to be a defensive genius, and he know has the tools to implement what he wants to do.

Back to Hobart, you have to expect some kind of dropoff with the losses of both OC and DC, 9 all-LL players (6 first 3 second), which includes d3football.com Defensive player of the year and LT who is now on the Tampa Bay Bucs. Now the question is, was the gap large enough where this years dropoff still puts them in front. They return 3 of 4 LBs in what may be the best LB crew in D3 football. The secondary will be lead by junior Collier who, from what i saw, was a fast and hard hitting player especially for his size. And obviously as mentioned in posts above, a transfer Qb from Albany and Stonewall will be battling it out. RB Hartigan also returns to help solid the backfield. All-in-all, maybe not so much a huge drop, but changes to this years hobart team are inevitable. Look for recently promoted OC Drach to throw the ball more.

Last year's RPI team showed promise out of the gate starting 4-1 with their only loss to a good Alfred team by three points (who they outplayed). But, 3 consecutive loses including one to Rochester really sunk this team. They did appear in a bowl game against 9-1 Framingham State and pushed them to OT but were unable to prevail. They lose some key cogs on defense, ATH Colas, as well as their 4 year weapon in K Andrew Franks who is currently on the Dolphins roster. Always a solid squad, but still can't seem to put it all together.

I look at Rochester to be the third team this year in the LL. They picked it up late in the season to finish 5-4 (3-4) and will return a lot on both sides of the ball. Rookie QB ended up winning ROY honors and their RB was first team all league as a sophomore.

WPI and Springfield will round out the next two spots for me. WPI still continues to make small strides, but it just won't be enough to get them over the hump. And what has happened to Springfield? Yes, they can be extremely dangerous especially if you do not gameplay well for the triple option, but they used to be a power house.

Always root for USMMA, but lets face it, they just don't have the guns to compete with the top this year.

And last but not least, Union. Coach Audino will be back (for now?), and they always have some extremely talented players. Based on some recent posts, doesn't seem to happy over in Schenectady. Time will tell.

[dlippiel]

+k D3pc for the LL write up. Hopefully we'll get some consistent chatter in here this season. As of right now and looking back at the last couple years dlip has no clue what to expect from this years Dutchmen. There is some talent here for sure.

Dlip is high on Soph QB Dante Cioffi and an experienced junior dominated O-line. At RB we have an undersized but very quick Soph Connor Kinzelman and three excellent receivers in seniors Joe Vito, AJ Baker, and local product Josh Callahan.

On D we lost a lot on the line but return a talented tandem of senior ILB in Jake La Rovera and Thomas Hayes. Also look for senior OLB's Tyler Valenti and Nick Littas to have a strong season. For dlip, his defensive concerns (as usual) sit with Union's struggles defending the pass.

All in all dlip is extremely excited for another Union Football season and is really looking forward to checking out camp a bit this August.

[lewdogg11]

Dlip, my man.  I'll make it easy for you:

Union College 2015 Outlook

My sources indicate that once again, Union will suck.  If Audino would have left, they may have won 4 games, but with Audino, they will win 2 max.  In either case, they would still suck.

[D3pc]

Could be fun to guess East Region Playoff seedings. Ofcourse, There is a good chance these could be all wrong, but hey, its the beginning of August and college football hype videos have my excited for the fall.

1 - Wesley

2 - Johns Hopkins

3 - St Lawrence

4 - St John Fisher

5 - Ithaca/Salisbury

6 - Rowan/Hobart

7 - Husson

8 - Salve Regina

I don't think there will be much debate as to putting Wesley up top. I think JHU still romps through their league undefeated and primed for 1/2 playoff wins. I still think SLU beats Hobart this year and I have them ahead of Fisher because Fisher will undoubtedly have a worse record because of a stronger E8. The next two are interesting...I believe it will be some sort of mix between conference runner-ups Rowan/Hobart/Ithaca/Salisbury. Interested to see how it will play out. Montclair, Cortland could also be in the mix. And based on SOS and overall talent the conference winners from the ECFC and NEFC i predict will be repeat champion Husson and new champion Salve Regina, respectively. Both of which will boast solid squads, just not as good as the teams above them.

To dlip, have to root for Union to improve for the sake of the LL.

Also, with three teams leaving the LL, would LOVE to see a New York State Football League with an Empire division and a Liberty division. Wishful thinking, but could be very cool.

[dlippiel]

Couple things:

Lew, dlip can tell you are as excited for Union Football as he is. He appreciates your outlook and got a nice laugh from it...of course he admits it may just be true.

D3pc, the strength (or lack there of) of the LL has been discussed here for quite sometime. It seems as if we have had two possible thoughts.

The first being that the level of play has decreased considerably in the past five years or so. That the league, once anchored by the nationally respected three-headed monster of Union, RPI, and Hobart has been (may dlip say) watered down and has just gone down hill. To many the LL has become closer to the likes of the NEFC than that of the E8.

Others have argued that there has been parity throughout the LL and that the traditional bottom feeders have improved.

To dlip the answer is somewhere in the middle. There is however no doubt (in dlip's mind) that the recent lack of success for the Dutchmen has hurt the national reputation of the LL.

Dlip would f#%^ing love to see a D3 NYS football conference! What a great conference that would be. Pride would beem from all of our faces through the fall and rivalries would become a weekly occurrence! However with the mix of private/public schools this may just never happen.

Dlip would like to hear some thoughts/specifics on RPI. By the way one of the biggest conference games for dlip is SLU/Norwich. If SLU does not win this motherf%#^ing game...😡

[AUPepBand]

Could be fun to guess East Region Playoff seedings. Ofcourse, There is a good chance these could be all wrong, but hey, its the beginning of August and college football hype videos have my excited for the fall.

1 - Wesley

2 - Johns Hopkins

3 - St Lawrence

4 - St John Fisher

5 - Ithaca/Salisbury

6 - Rowan/Hobart

7 - Husson

8 - Salve Regina

I don't think there will be much debate as to putting Wesley up top. I think JHU still romps through their league undefeated and primed for 1/2 playoff wins. I still think SLU beats Hobart this year and I have them ahead of Fisher because Fisher will undoubtedly have a worse record because of a stronger E8. The next two are interesting...I believe it will be some sort of mix between conference runner-ups Rowan/Hobart/Ithaca/Salisbury. Interested to see how it will play out. Montclair, Cortland could also be in the mix. And based on SOS and overall talent the conference winners from the ECFC and NEFC i predict will be repeat champion Husson and new champion Salve Regina, respectively. Both of which will boast solid squads, just not as good as the teams above them.

To dlip, have to root for Union to improve for the sake of the LL.

Also, with three teams leaving the LL, would LOVE to see a New York State Football League with an Empire division and a Liberty division. Wishful thinking, but could be very cool.

"East Region Playoff Seedings" is a misnomer. No such thing. NCAA does not set up the tournament based on regions. But you probably knew that. If there were, Johns Hopkins wouldn't be included because the Blue Jays are in the South Region.

Surprised by your placement of Hobart, a program that has gone three straight years with unbeaten regular seasons. St. Lawrence has improved under Mark Raymond, as expected, but the Larries haven't beaten Hobart since 2010 when SLU finished 5-6 and lost a first round NCAA game to UMU.

And what about MIT?.....Pep would think based on last year's scores, that MIT would be ahead of both Salve and Husson.

Just some thoughts as Pep has just realized that 90 football recruits along with X-number of returners will be arriving in Mayberry next week to start another season. Time to get the pep band tuned up for another season!

On Saxon Warriors!

[rams1102]

Could be fun to guess East Region Playoff seedings. Ofcourse, There is a good chance these could be all wrong, but hey, its the beginning of August and college football hype videos have my excited for the fall.

1 - Wesley

2 - Johns Hopkins

3 - St Lawrence

4 - St John Fisher

5 - Ithaca/Salisbury

6 - Rowan/Hobart

7 - Husson

8 - Salve Regina

I don't think there will be much debate as to putting Wesley up top. I think JHU still romps through their league undefeated and primed for 1/2 playoff wins. I still think SLU beats Hobart this year and I have them ahead of Fisher because Fisher will undoubtedly have a worse record because of a stronger E8. The next two are interesting...I believe it will be some sort of mix between conference runner-ups Rowan/Hobart/Ithaca/Salisbury. Interested to see how it will play out. Montclair, Cortland could also be in the mix. And based on SOS and overall talent the conference winners from the ECFC and NEFC i predict will be repeat champion Husson and new champion Salve Regina, respectively. Both of which will boast solid squads, just not as good as the teams above them.

To dlip, have to root for Union to improve for the sake of the LL.

Also, with three teams leaving the LL, would LOVE to see a New York State Football League with an Empire division and a Liberty division. Wishful thinking, but could be very cool.

"East Region Playoff Seedings" is a misnomer. No such thing. NCAA does not set up the tournament based on regions. But you probably knew that. If there were, Johns Hopkins wouldn't be included because the Blue Jays are in the South Region.

Surprised by your placement of Hobart, a program that has gone three straight years with unbeaten regular seasons. St. Lawrence has improved under Mark Raymond, as expected, but the Larries haven't beaten Hobart since 2010 when SLU finished 5-6 and lost a first round NCAA game to UMU.

And what about MIT?.....Pep would think based on last year's scores, that MIT would be ahead of both Salve and Husson.

Just some thoughts as Pep has just realized that 90 football recruits along with X-number of returners will be arriving in Mayberry next week to start another season. Time to get the pep band tuned up for another season!

On Saxon Warriors!

What about my Red Hawks?

[D3MAFAN]

Couple things:

Lew, dlip can tell you are as excited for Union Football as he is. He appreciates your outlook and got a nice laugh from it...of course he admits it may just be true.

D3pc, the strength (or lack there of) of the LL has been discussed here for quite sometime. It seems as if we have had two possible thoughts.

The first being that the level of play has decreased considerably in the past five years or so. That the league, once anchored by the nationally respected three-headed monster of Union, RPI, and Hobart has been (may dlip say) watered down and has just gone down hill. To many the LL has become closer to the likes of the NEFC than that of the E8.

Others have argued that there has been parity throughout the LL and that the traditional bottom feeders have improved.

To dlip the answer is somewhere in the middle. There is however no doubt (in dlip's mind) that the recent lack of success for the Dutchmen has hurt the national reputation of the LL.

Dlip would f#%^ing love to see a D3 NYS football conference! What a great conference that would be. Pride would beem from all of our faces through the fall and rivalries would become a weekly occurrence! However with the mix of private/public schools this may just never happen.

Dlip would like to hear some thoughts/specifics on RPI. By the way one of the biggest conference games for dlip is SLU/Norwich. If SLU does not win this motherf%#^ing game...😡

Would you be in favor of that NYS football conference playing 16 games amongst themselves? Similar to what the NESCAC does   

[D3pc]

Could be fun to guess East Region Playoff seedings. Ofcourse, There is a good chance these could be all wrong, but hey, its the beginning of August and college football hype videos have my excited for the fall.

1 - Wesley

2 - Johns Hopkins

3 - St Lawrence

4 - St John Fisher

5 - Ithaca/Salisbury

6 - Rowan/Hobart

7 - Husson

8 - Salve Regina

I don't think there will be much debate as to putting Wesley up top. I think JHU still romps through their league undefeated and primed for 1/2 playoff wins. I still think SLU beats Hobart this year and I have them ahead of Fisher because Fisher will undoubtedly have a worse record because of a stronger E8. The next two are interesting...I believe it will be some sort of mix between conference runner-ups Rowan/Hobart/Ithaca/Salisbury. Interested to see how it will play out. Montclair, Cortland could also be in the mix. And based on SOS and overall talent the conference winners from the ECFC and NEFC i predict will be repeat champion Husson and new champion Salve Regina, respectively. Both of which will boast solid squads, just not as good as the teams above them.

To dlip, have to root for Union to improve for the sake of the LL.

Also, with three teams leaving the LL, would LOVE to see a New York State Football League with an Empire division and a Liberty division. Wishful thinking, but could be very cool.

"East Region Playoff Seedings" is a misnomer. No such thing. NCAA does not set up the tournament based on regions. But you probably knew that. If there were, Johns Hopkins wouldn't be included because the Blue Jays are in the South Region.

Surprised by your placement of Hobart, a program that has gone three straight years with unbeaten regular seasons. St. Lawrence has improved under Mark Raymond, as expected, but the Larries haven't beaten Hobart since 2010 when SLU finished 5-6 and lost a first round NCAA game to UMU.

And what about MIT?.....Pep would think based on last year's scores, that MIT would be ahead of both Salve and Husson.

Just some thoughts as Pep has just realized that 90 football recruits along with X-number of returners will be arriving in Mayberry next week to start another season. Time to get the pep band tuned up for another season!

On Saxon Warriors!

I know. Just trying to have some fun with it.

And based on production lost for both Hobart and MIT i think they could both be unseated this year. MIT in particular considering almost all of their offensive production is gone, in addition to their LB who was far and away their best defensive player. MIT did go undefeated but had many close games plus the weakest non-conference schedule you can possible have. Combine that with the fact that a bullseye will be on them...we will see. They will return a very good Offensive line, which at any level D3 in particular, can make up for weaknesses. Wouldn't be surprised if WNEC/MIT/SALVE took the NEFC crown.

Yes, a bold statement about Hobart as they will be very good. But if you take the d3football.com defensive player of the year and a left tackle drafted in the second round of the NFL off of ANY team, have to expect some dropoff. SLU will boast a great defense and has their QB return for a grad season, it may just be me looking for a change at the top, but i think it could happen.

[dlippiel]

Couple things:

Lew, dlip can tell you are as excited for Union Football as he is. He appreciates your outlook and got a nice laugh from it...of course he admits it may just be true.

D3pc, the strength (or lack there of) of the LL has been discussed here for quite sometime. It seems as if we have had two possible thoughts.

The first being that the level of play has decreased considerably in the past five years or so. That the league, once anchored by the nationally respected three-headed monster of Union, RPI, and Hobart has been (may dlip say) watered down and has just gone down hill. To many the LL has become closer to the likes of the NEFC than that of the E8.

Others have argued that there has been parity throughout the LL and that the traditional bottom feeders have improved.

To dlip the answer is somewhere in the middle. There is however no doubt (in dlip's mind) that the recent lack of success for the Dutchmen has hurt the national reputation of the LL.

Dlip would f#%^ing love to see a D3 NYS football conference! What a great conference that would be. Pride would beem from all of our faces through the fall and rivalries would become a weekly occurrence! However with the mix of private/public schools this may just never happen.

Dlip would like to hear some thoughts/specifics on RPI. By the way one of the biggest conference games for dlip is SLU/Norwich. If SLU does not win this motherf%#^ing game...😡

Would you be in favor of that NYS football conference playing 16 games amongst themselves? Similar to what the NESCAC does   

No way man...dlip needs the NCAA's as an option. Can't handle those sweater wearing separatists in the CAC...

[ITH radio]

Coach Cragg would remind LL critics the league champ is 4-1 vs E8 teams / champs

Frank and I think the East is generally "down" in the sense that the rise of Ne conferences has made recruiting in our region the most competitive than any other basically not allowing any team to rise to the level of a Wesley or program that can compete with the South and Midwest regions.

Hobart will be interesting to track because of their departures but there's a solid core defensively that will give them a chance at another undefeated regular season. It would be nice to see SLU make a run as Wesley's joining the NJAC basically takes away a playoff spot from an east program.

Thinking SLU vs Mo State is a big Wk 1 match up for both teams / conferences as is WPI vs MIT. The Engineers came on strong the latter half of 2014 could finally crack a 5 or 6 win season if things go well for Coach Rob.

Looking forward to a fun season. Will be back for Season 8 with some new segments / format. Tentative preseason show date is 9/1.

[D O.C.]

Going to drive 871 up the Hudson Valley this week.
Any D3 schools I can duck in for a look along the way?
Headed for Quebec City.

[Jonny Utah]

Going to drive 871 up the Hudson Valley this week.
Any D3 schools I can duck in for a look along the way?
Headed for Quebec City.

87 goes through Albany so you could check out RPI and Union.  (Lake George and Saratoga are much nicer places to be this time of year though.)

[ITH radio]

Don't forget the Ruck