FB: Liberty League

[Oline89]

The Hobart coaches did make a few changes to the O-Line, and it seemed to make some big differences on opening holes and protecting our QB.  Big #65 (6'10", 295) started and played the whole game at RT.  He did a great job of sealing off on run plays and pass protection.  I think Bart rotated the guard position in the first half as well.  The defense really stepped it up as well, no jumping offsides by the D Line.  The DT's jammed up the middle, and the DE's didn't give up the outside.  Couple of spectacular plays by Sr DE Brandon Ball.
Great progress this week, can't wait for the next game! 

[wesleydad]

The Hobart coaches did make a few changes to the O-Line, and it seemed to make some big differences on opening holes and protecting our QB.  Big #65 (6'10", 295) started and played the whole game at RT.  He did a great job of sealing off on run plays and pass protection.  I think Bart rotated the guard position in the first half as well.  The defense really stepped it up as well, no jumping offsides by the D Line.  The DT's jammed up the middle, and the DE's didn't give up the outside.  Couple of spectacular plays by Sr DE Brandon Ball.
Great progress this week, can't wait for the next game!

Agree, they looked much better than last week.  They have a very interesting game this week against Shenandoah who put up 60+ on NCW.  The ODAC has played well in OOC so far this year with the big win by Bridgewater over Thomas More on Saturday.  I will be watching again this week since I dont have any good games to go see within reasonable driving distance.

[ITH radio]

Yeah, Holloway is 65 and the coaches have been high on him for a while. Good to see him in the game and doing well.

They moved Van Housen, who's been their starting RT all last season to LG and it worked well. The FY Lanzana (sp?) saw time as well, and he did better than Wk 1.

[Bartman]

Last week:
SJF                  35(3)  Hobart               42(31)...................A desperate game for both teams, score may be higher than this...I have to admit this may be wishful thinking on my part
Coast Guard       10(13)  Union                24(28)...................The weaker part of Union's schedule kicks in
YellowJax           7 (14) Carnegie Mellon  35(42)................... U of R woes continue
RPI                  28(36)  WPI                   17(14)................... RPI could be on a roll
SLU                 21(17)  Norwich              10(10)...................Larries get back on track
Ithaca              17(0) Brockport            28(31)....................Ithaca D looks better than Hobart and puts a scare in overconfident Brockport but Germinerio is too much in the end.
This Week
OK, easier week to pick last week(6-0 and 9-2 year to date). Only surprises IMO were the actual spreads in the Hobart and Ithaca games, Hobart SEEMS to be back on track and Brockport looks legit . Liberty League is 5-6 OOC so far with plenty of OOC games to go. This week OOC record goes to 9-6:

Hobart               35                Shenandoah          17       Hobart alum Scott Yoder HC of SU will throw a scare but Shed and Sweeny hook up for a couple in 4th
RPI                    28                WNE                      17       RPI goes to 3-0
Rochester           35                Alfred State           14       Smart scheduling by the Yellowjackets for first win and .500 record
Union                 28                Gallaudet               14       Union is getting its act together and goes to 2-1
SLU                   13                 Ithaca                   10       First LL game, winner in 1st place. A classic defensive battle with the Saints winning in OT.

[ITH radio]

Think you meant RPI beats WNE in Wk 3...

Shenandoah is hard to gauge bc their stats are inflated bc of who they played. I'll have a run down on CA blog tmw am.

[Bartman]

ITH......Thanks for the edit +k

[ITH radio]

Np - posted the Shen preview and Frank, Matt Noonan and I posted our Wk 3 preview yesterday.

Games I really like this weekend are:

Fram St. vs. Bridgewater St
RPI vs. WNE
Frosty vs. CNU
SUNY M vs USMMA
BP vs. SJF in the Courage Bowl

[Bartman]

Congratulations to Mike Hanna, Hobart'68 and Athletic Director for the last 37 years, on his retirement announced today .While a student athlete, Mike was captain of both his Hobart football and lacrosse teams. As AD, he has been responsible for 11 of Hobart's 16 National Championships in lacrosse and 2 in Hobart Sailing as well as 49 League Championships and a ton of All Americans( recent Footballers include an NFL starter , Ali Marpet and the D3.com Defensive Player of the year, Tyre Coleman). More Importantly,  the GPA average of the Hobart athletes is slightly in excess of 3.0 and is actually higher than the median of all Hobart students. A great legacy not only in sports but also in preparing men for life. Mike will remain through the calendar year and support President Greg Vincent(one of his ex-Statesman athletes) as special assistant through the academic year. Thanks Mike, and Hip Hobart Forever!

[UfanBill]

A week ago I commented on Union's published Game Notes, specifically that there were no changes in the two-deep. For this week's game at Gallaudet there are two changes, one is yet another First Year starting on the O-Line ( this makes 3). The other is a back-up at LB. So far Union has kept relatively injury free. Obviously something they would like to remain through the OOC schedule....https://www.unionathletics.com/documents/2017/9/13//Game_3_Notes_2017.pdf?id=7706 ... After I got lucky and predicted last weeks final score on the numbers 28-13, I feel obligated to try it again. Hopefully the Dutchman will have gained from their long opening week road trip and will be functioning well for Gallaudet. The Union defense continues its strong play and the offense scores in each quarter. The Dutchman are building. Union 34- 12. Lets GO U.

[dlippiel]

Been a busy week at work...late congrats to Union Sophmore Vincent DiCaterino on being named to last week's D3.com defensive first team!

Big day for the U tomorrow! Hoping for a great game! Let's go U!!

[Bartman]

Good luck to the Liberty League today...I am expecting a clean sweep with your OOC opponents . Two things for ex Statesman player and HC of Shenandoah Scott Yoder ...Good luck tonight ....... But we will show you no mercy after the whistle blows   

[Bartman]

Congrats to Ithaca for getting their first official LL  Conference win and standing in first place. Saw a beautiful TD pass for the second score.Ithaca, you are now officially the hunted. Congrats to the rest of the LL on gaining a 4-0 OOC recored yesterday bringing the season OOC to 8-5. RPI looked very strong against WNE and is 3-0 and may be in a great position to win the LL since they are in Hobart's head as the only LL team to have beaten the Statesman the last 2 years. This sets up a crucial game on October 7 in Geneva. Hobart running game got lots of practice yesterday against Shenandoah but  the Defense was challenged by a decent SU passing game. Still looks like the Hobart offense will need to win games despite the defensive performance against Fisher.  SLU is not out of it but they need to hope for a one loss tie scenario and start to pick it up on offense. Rochester had to come back to beat Alfred State, not an encouraging sign for getting a win in the league. Union is 2-1 and getting their confidence up. With the exception of U of R(unfortunately for the Yellow Jackets) we should have some great LL games this year!

[dlippiel]

Congrats to Ithaca for getting their first official LL  Conference win and standing in first place. Saw a beautiful TD pass for the second score.Ithaca, you are now officially the hunted. Congrats to the rest of the LL on gaining a 4-0 OOC recored yesterday bringing the season OOC to 8-5. RPI looked very strong against WNE and is 3-0 and may be in a great position to win the LL since they are in Hobart's head as the only LL team to have beaten the Statesman the last 2 years. This sets up a crucial game on October 7 in Geneva. Hobart running game got lots of practice yesterday against Shenandoah but  the Defense was challenged by a decent SU passing game. Still looks like the Hobart offense will need to win games despite the defensive performance against Fisher.  SLU is not out of it but they need to hope for a one loss tie scenario and start to pick it up on offense. Rochester had to come back to beat Alfred State, not an encouraging sign for getting a win in the league. Union is 2-1 and getting their confidence up. With the exception of U of R(unfortunately for the Yellow Jackets) we should have some great LL games this year!

Dlip agrees Bartman. He too thinks the LL will be entertaining this season. He was pleased with the OOC record yesterday, especially with RPI defeating WNE. The Hobart offense seemed to gel and put up 50 points which is great to see. Dlip is wondering what's up in Rochester??? They seem like they will be quite down again. With that said he certainly breathed a sigh of relief with the victory over Alfred State.

Dlip also enjoyed seeing local Shaker product getting the nod at QB for the Bombers. Seems like the kid played well yesterday. Dlip wishes him and the Bombers the best on the season! Congrats on the new coaching staff's first victory!

Right now here is how dlip thinks the LL will shake out:

1. RPI
2. Hobart
3. Ithaca
4. Union
5. SLU
6. Rochester

With that being said he thinks 3 and 4 could flip, as could 4 and 5. Union/SLU looks like a crap shoot right now. Dlip could also see RPI faltering against Bart but thinks it's quite unlikely this season as it looks to be RPI's year. While the LL as a whole is not to heavy in comparison to the rest of the nation we have two solid teams in RPI/Bart that at least one of which should receive some consistent top ten ERFP poll love. The league will be a battle to see who comes out on top.

Exciting season!

[Bartman]

LAST WEEK:

Hobart               35(56)          Shenandoah       17(30) Hobart alum Scott Yoder HC of SU will throw a scare but Shed and Sweeny hook up for a couple
RPI                    28 (31)         WNE                  17(14) RPI goes to 3-0
Rochester           35(14)          Alfred State        14(7)    Smart scheduling by the Yellowjackets for first win and .500 record
Union                 28(31)          Gallaudet           14(21) Union is getting its act together and goes to 2-1
SLU                   13 (13)          Ithaca               10(24) First LL game, winner in 1st place. A classic defensive battle with the Saints winning in OT.

PICKS LAST WEEK: 4-1(Almost picked IC, but didn't), YTD 13-3....LL/OOC, This Week: 4-0 and  9-6 YTD

THIS WEEK:

Hobart               42                        Endicott            17      Another alum HC , Kevin DeWall returns and is rebuffed...no ESPN highlight this week
RPI                   28                         Buff St              21      A real battle with the Engineers toughing it out
Rochester           7                          Alfred               42      Alfred would have scored more but uses 2nd, 3rd stringers
Union                21                         Curry                14      Curry puts up a fight but Dutchman go to 3-1 and are ready for the LL

OOC will go 3-1 for week and 12-7 YTD

[IC-Films]

Dlip also enjoyed seeing local Shaker product getting the nod at QB for the Bombers. Seems like the kid played well yesterday. Dlip wishes him and the Bombers the best on the season! Congrats on the new coaching staff's first victory!

Yesterday's win for Ithaca really was a testament to what new HC Dan Swanstrom's two strengths were thought to be coming in to the season: recruiting and offensive scheming.

You had a freshman in Wahid Nabi getting the nod at QB, and throwing a TD pass to a freshman playing WR (Andrew Vito, look for big things from him in the future). And the first TD pass of the game came on the 4th play from scrimmage, on a beautifully designed drag that left the entire left side of the field wide open.

If anyone is interested in seeing the kid in action, here is a highlight package I shot from Saturday's game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4ob7TtqLVk