FB: Liberty League

[Bartman]

LL Predictions this week(2-0 last week, 27-6 on year)


Hobart  42         Springfield  28 (2 weeks to watch last year's film of the Springfield "embarrassment" will motivate a healthy Statesmen team to finally play a full game)
SLU      35         MMA           24 (MMA meets a real Defensive Line but still moves on the Larries, but not enough to win)
WPI      21         RPI             23  (3 FGs win it for the men from Troy)
Union   35         Rochester    28  ( this could go either way, but running/ clock control favors the Dutchmen and limits Bronson possessions)

Despite the prediction , I will be rooting for the Mariners to prove me wrong this week....this could be an amazing upset

OK, we are getting down to crunch time. Went 3-1 last week and 30-7 on the year. The Mariners almost pulled off the upset of the season, Hobart found their Defense on a windy day only to be bailed out by Sweeney to Shed again(and what if Springfield came up with the onside kick at 1:40 remaining at midfield???...Cragg the gambler often scares the s*** out of me), WPI looked strong against the men of Troy and Union got in the LL win column.                                                 

Only 2 games scheduled this week:

Hobart    35          WPI       21  Hobart has got to win this game to have the SLU game mean something, Wooster weather 64 and sunny 15 mph winds...Sweeney to Shed 
                                               weather and the Hobart db's get 3 picks to take the slide out of the Engineer's sliderules

SLU         21          Union    24  I promised Dlip that I would predict an upset at the beginning of the season ...the Union team that showed up in Geneva and almost won         
                                              travels to Canton and breaks the Larries hearts with a last minute field goal...undlippin believable Oh and NedM the post following this
                                              win by Dlip will be a classic.....with lots of ****************************************

+K to Dlip for the history lesson on the Klompen game and to NedM for the next 4 years of anticipated comments

[dlippiel]

The Liberty League is an excellent Division III football league consisting of some incredible academic and athletic institutions like, Hobart, RPI, Rochester, Merchant Marine Academy, WPI, and St. Lawrence. Springfield is also in the league (not trying to be a dick here but IDHO Springfield is simply not on the academic level of the other schools) but will be departing next year, with MMA and WPI for the newly formed NEWMAC league.

Ithaca College will be bringing their tradition of football and academic excellence to the league starting next season replacing Springfield, WPI, and MMA. The LL will be searching hard for another three members to make 8 teams and meet the NCAA's guidelines for an automatic bid to the NCAA tourney. dlip believes they have until 2019 to fill the three spots before being denied an auto bid. dlip will certainly miss MMA and WPI because of the character that both of those schools possess.

[dlippiel]

LL Predictions this week(2-0 last week, 27-6 on year)


Hobart  42         Springfield  28 (2 weeks to watch last year's film of the Springfield "embarrassment" will motivate a healthy Statesmen team to finally play a full game)
SLU      35         MMA           24 (MMA meets a real Defensive Line but still moves on the Larries, but not enough to win)
WPI      21         RPI             23  (3 FGs win it for the men from Troy)
Union   35         Rochester    28  ( this could go either way, but running/ clock control favors the Dutchmen and limits Bronson possessions)

Despite the prediction , I will be rooting for the Mariners to prove me wrong this week....this could be an amazing upset

OK, we are getting down to crunch time. Went 3-1 last week and 30-7 on the year. The Mariners almost pulled off the upset of the season, Hobart found their Defense on a windy day only to be bailed out by Sweeney to Shed again(and what if Springfield came up with the onside kick at 1:40 remaining at midfield???...Cragg the gambler often scares the s*** out of me), WPI looked strong against the men of Troy and Union got in the LL win column.                                                 

Only 2 games scheduled this week:

Hobart    35          WPI       21  Hobart has got to win this game to have the SLU game mean something, Wooster weather 64 and sunny 15 mph winds...Sweeney to Shed 
                                               weather and the Hobart db's get 3 picks to take the slide out of the Engineer's sliderules

SLU         21          Union    24  I promised Dlip that I would predict an upset at the beginning of the season ...the Union team that showed up in Geneva and almost won         
                                              travels to Canton and breaks the Larries hearts with a last minute field goal...undlippin believable Oh and NedM the post following this
                                              win by Dlip will be a classic.....with lots of ****************************************

+K to Dlip for the history lesson on the Klompen game and to NedM for the next 4 years of anticipated comments

Bartman you ****ing rock! Maybe we can meet and BS one of these years and enjoy an good Hobart/Union game together. dlip would dig on that. +k pal!

[Bartman]

LL Predictions this week(2-0 last week, 27-6 on year)


Hobart  42         Springfield  28 (2 weeks to watch last year's film of the Springfield "embarrassment" will motivate a healthy Statesmen team to finally play a full game)
SLU      35         MMA           24 (MMA meets a real Defensive Line but still moves on the Larries, but not enough to win)
WPI      21         RPI             23  (3 FGs win it for the men from Troy)
Union   35         Rochester    28  ( this could go either way, but running/ clock control favors the Dutchmen and limits Bronson possessions)

Despite the prediction , I will be rooting for the Mariners to prove me wrong this week....this could be an amazing upset

OK, we are getting down to crunch time. Went 3-1 last week and 30-7 on the year. The Mariners almost pulled off the upset of the season, Hobart found their Defense on a windy day only to be bailed out by Sweeney to Shed again(and what if Springfield came up with the onside kick at 1:40 remaining at midfield???...Cragg the gambler often scares the s*** out of me), WPI looked strong against the men of Troy and Union got in the LL win column.                                                 

Only 2 games scheduled this week:

Hobart    35          WPI       21  Hobart has got to win this game to have the SLU game mean something, Wooster weather 64 and sunny 15 mph winds...Sweeney to Shed 
                                               weather and the Hobart db's get 3 picks to take the slide out of the Engineer's sliderules

SLU         21          Union    24  I promised Dlip that I would predict an upset at the beginning of the season ...the Union team that showed up in Geneva and almost won         
                                              travels to Canton and breaks the Larries hearts with a last minute field goal...undlippin believable Oh and NedM the post following this
                                              win by Dlip will be a classic.....with lots of ****************************************

+K to Dlip for the history lesson on the Klompen game and to NedM for the next 4 years of anticipated comments

Bartman you ****ing rock! Maybe we can meet and BS one of these years and enjoy an good Hobart/Union game together. dlip would dig on that. +k pal!

Could be time to return to Bailey next year for some BS(Branden Shed....scores )

[NedM]

I appreciate the welcomes and the information.

As to hockey: one grandson (we have 11 grandchildren) is very much involved in that sport as a goalie. He lives in NJ and we have noted Union is at Princeton on December 2nd so we have hopes of attending that contest.

Ned

[ITH radio]

The Liberty League is an excellent Division III football league consisting of some incredible academic and athletic institutions like, Hobart, RPI, Rochester, Merchant Marine Academy, WPI, and St. Lawrence. Springfield is also in the league (not trying to be a dick here but IDHO Springfield is simply not on the academic level of the other schools) but will be departing next year, with MMA and WPI for the newly formed NEWMAC league.

Ithaca College will be bringing their tradition of football and academic excellence to the league starting next season replacing Springfield, WPI, and MMA. The LL will be searching hard for another three members to make 8 teams and meet the NCAA's guidelines for an automatic bid to the NCAA tourney. dlip believes they have until 2019 to fill the three spots before being denied an auto bid. dlip will certainly miss MMA and WPI because of the character that both of those schools possess.

Actually LL only needs 1 more school to retain the AQ (min is 7). You have the 5 original UCAA schools (HOB, SLU, UC, ROC & RPI) plus IC to make 6. Hopefully Alfred or someone will take the plunge soon. Planning on Pool B access down the road would be a bad idea for the LL.

[D3MAFAN]

The Liberty League is an excellent Division III football league consisting of some incredible academic and athletic institutions like, Hobart, RPI, Rochester, Merchant Marine Academy, WPI, and St. Lawrence. Springfield is also in the league (not trying to be a dick here but IDHO Springfield is simply not on the academic level of the other schools) but will be departing next year, with MMA and WPI for the newly formed NEWMAC league.

Ithaca College will be bringing their tradition of football and academic excellence to the league starting next season replacing Springfield, WPI, and MMA. The LL will be searching hard for another three members to make 8 teams and meet the NCAA's guidelines for an automatic bid to the NCAA tourney. dlip believes they have until 2019 to fill the three spots before being denied an auto bid. dlip will certainly miss MMA and WPI because of the character that both of those schools possess.

Actually LL only needs 1 more school to retain the AQ (min is 7). You have the 4 original UCAA schools (HOB, SLU, UC & RPI) plus UofR and IC to make 6. Hopefully Alfred or someone will take the plunge soon. Planning on Pool B access down the road would be a bad idea for the LL.

Pool B can be very dangerous, if you schedule weak or if the schedule doesn't appear to be as strong as predicted, you could be left home at 9-1 (see FSU 2014) and playing an ECAC game. If you do schedule tough you risk losing and not making it, you are basically in playoff mode the whole season not having that chance fall back on a conference slate. You can have a young team that doesn't click until later in the season and be left out. Playing in Pool B, you are left playing whoever would take you that week and may only get 8 or 9 games.

[ITH radio]

LL would be foolish to put themselves at mercy of Pool B exactly for the reasons you cite. While I've heard the LL has been considering it, I can't believe they'd actually think it was a good solution vs. pulling in one more institution to shore up this issue. Problem may be not all other sports would welcome it which is something other ADs & Presidents will ultimately decide.

[D3MAFAN]

LL would be foolish to put themselves at mercy of Pool B exactly for the reasons you cite. While I've heard the LL has been considering it, I can't believe they'd actually think it was a good solution vs. pulling in one more institution to shore up this issue. Problem may be not all other sports would welcome it which is something other ADs & Presidents will ultimately decide.

I think the best bet would be to allow Alfred State as a football only until they sort it out.

[ITH radio]

A State more likely to end up in E8 to backfill IC leaving IMO. I can't imagine the LL Prez's approving the Pios given all members are private.

I still say Alfred U could be the best bet given it's private and location / proximity and history with other LLs. The Saxons have 7 men's, 9 women's excluding football though so that's where it gets tricky (not to mention club stuff like skiing and equestrian).

LL only has 10 schools overall (RIT, Skidmore, Vassar, Bard and Clarkson don't offer FB) so not sure how Alfred coming over would impact scheduling of other games other than teams cancelling one OOC and adding an extra conf game?

[AUKaz00]

Alfred State - along with Dean who just started the D3 transition from NJCAA - will be joining the ECFC next year to cover the losses of Norwich and Becker.

http://d3football.com/notables/2016/01/ecfc-gains-two-members

[Bartman]

If Alfred were added to the LL , our football would be a tough conference, and we could have an E8/LL end of year bowl game for the second place teams .....Bartman would be happy....but AD's and President's need to approve for all sports....Pool B  would be a sad state for the league, probably need to be undefeated for a bid, certainly no more than one loss

[AUKaz00]

Seems like the ECAC bowls are dying off, so a 2v3 conference challenge between the E8 and LL would be fun.

[dlippiel]

The Liberty League is an excellent Division III football league consisting of some incredible academic and athletic institutions like, Hobart, RPI, Rochester, Merchant Marine Academy, WPI, and St. Lawrence. Springfield is also in the league (not trying to be a dick here but IDHO Springfield is simply not on the academic level of the other schools) but will be departing next year, with MMA and WPI for the newly formed NEWMAC league.

Ithaca College will be bringing their tradition of football and academic excellence to the league starting next season replacing Springfield, WPI, and MMA. The LL will be searching hard for another three members to make 8 teams and meet the NCAA's guidelines for an automatic bid to the NCAA tourney. dlip believes they have until 2019 to fill the three spots before being denied an auto bid. dlip will certainly miss MMA and WPI because of the character that both of those schools possess.

Actually LL only needs 1 more school to retain the AQ (min is 7). You have the 5 original UCAA schools (HOB, SLU, UC, ROC & RPI) plus IC to make 6. Hopefully Alfred or someone will take the plunge soon. Planning on Pool B access down the road would be a bad idea for the LL.

Thanks for the correction ITH! dlip apologizes for the misinformation. He too would certainly welcome the Saxons to the LL with open ****ing arms! This possible addition would certainly (to support Bartman's thought) strengthen the LL as a football conference. That would be one solid football and academic conference if you ask dlip.

dlip's ideal LL: Union, Hobart, RPI, Ithaca, Alfred, Rochester, and St. Lawrence...that's some (add Boston accent) wicked smart kids playing some quality football! Whose is going to call Alfred and let them know this is happening? ITH?

[stlawus]

Is there any possibility that schools will add football sometime in the future?  I just look at a school like Vassar who have a $1billion endowment.  They could definitely afford football, but the issue I suppose is a proper field/stadium.  I know this kind of thing is extremely unlikely but something to think about I suppose.