FB: Liberty League

[Caz Bombers]

And why  do you suggest that, Caz Bombers?

because it sounded funny and made Caz laugh to himself

[Oline89]

Ithaca gets stuffed on the goal line and loses 20-17 to W&J. I continue not to understand why we play these Who Cares Bowls put on by an ECAC that has long since failed to justify its own existence. The season couldn't have ended after the Jug win...why, exactly?

Well I know why Hobart wanted to play one more game, because it is f***ing awesome to win a post season game.  It rewards a team with a great record (but not good enough to make the NCAA's), the team can see how they measure up against top competition, and it certainly helps with recruiting.  However, I agree, in IC's case, ending on a win an Metlife couldn't have gotten better.

[Machiavelli]

I have to give credit where it is due. In the first half of the Union game yesterday, I was witnessing Union doing stereotypical Union stuff. They looked soft, scared, unprepared. When they had a very good opportunity to get a TD they couldn't follow through. CWR was a little better than I expected right out the gates, but they still weren't world beaters. I think maybe they were better than Union expected early on.

It was a story of 2 halves though. Union came out in the 3rd and looked like the far superior team. The concern then wasn't if they could come back, it was if they could do it before time ran out. I wasn't a huge fan of the back to back to back run calls with a RB not named Ike on their last scoring drive, but they were able to convert and eventually score.

I was also weary of the 4th down shovel pass loss of 5 yards when trying to milk the clock. They could've tried to punt in a short field and make CWR have a monster drive. But they were on like the 33 or 34 and I agreed with going for it, but they really should've thrown the ball there IMHO. Instead, they gave a few yards back to CWR. Not optimal. However, the defense came up huge and never let CWR even get anything going with their last chance. Huge defensive performance in the 2nd half.

The way to beat Salisbury is to get a lead early. If Union starts the same next week, the chances of a comeback are slim to none. Hopefully they will come out firing. 83-0 shouldn't be intimidating. Rochester would probably beat SUNY-Maritime 35-0 so do the math.

Congrats to Union. Showed a lot of heart and grit. But in Round 2, there's no room for a slow start, so they need to come out swinging having a 'nothing to lose' mentality. Salisbury is the favorite, probably by a bit, so there's no advantage in playing not to lose. Good luck.

[Bartman]

+k to Mach for the game summary. Bartman was at The MegaBowl victory, but watched the Union  score and was hoping the Dutchmen would come back. Salisbury is a challenge but getting up early is always a healthy philosophy. 
  I was predicting a LL sweep yesterday and the Engineers disappointed by losing to GC, and Ithaca lost a 17-0 lead.....so much for LL homer predictions. At least we have the coveted Bowl in LL hands and Union moves on and Bartman hopes they have a run even better than RPI had last year.

[jam40jeff]

It was a story of 2 halves though. Union came out in the 3rd and looked like the far superior team.

That's not exactly accurate.  Union did nothing for a bit of the 3rd quarter as well.  The turning point was when Saxton went down midway through the 3rd quarter.  For whatever reason, as they're prone to do, CWRU went conservative with their "prevent the win" offense/defense.  Union may have won regardless, but I'm just pointing out that it wasn't so much a halftime adjustment that changed the face of the game as that single play where Saxton was injured.

[Machiavelli]

It was a story of 2 halves though. Union came out in the 3rd and looked like the far superior team.

That's not exactly accurate.  Union did nothing for a bit of the 3rd quarter as well.  The turning point was when Saxton went down midway through the 3rd quarter.  For whatever reason, as they're prone to do, CWRU went conservative with their "prevent the win" offense/defense.  Union may have won regardless, but I'm just pointing out that it wasn't so much a halftime adjustment that changed the face of the game as that single play where Saxton was injured.

How many points did CWR score in the 2nd half?

[Machiavelli]

And I don't mean to sound snippy but injury or not, there was a different feel to the game right away in the 2nd half. I'm no Union fan(trust me), but you could feel they were gonna come back.

[Bartman]

It was a story of 2 halves though. Union came out in the 3rd and looked like the far superior team.

That's not exactly accurate.  Union did nothing for a bit of the 3rd quarter as well.  The turning point was when Saxton went down midway through the 3rd quarter.  For whatever reason, as they're prone to do, CWRU went conservative with their "prevent the win" offense/defense.  Union may have won regardless, but I'm just pointing out that it wasn't so much a halftime adjustment that changed the face of the game as that single play where Saxton was injured.

Jam 40,
      Losing sucks, but CWRU program has the respect of the Bartman for yesterday's battle, for sure,
especially any chemistry majors  on the roster;D

[UfanBill]

I have to give credit where it is due. In the first half of the Union game yesterday, I was witnessing Union doing stereotypical Union stuff. They looked soft, scared, unprepared. When they had a very good opportunity to get a TD they couldn't follow through. CWR was a little better than I expected right out the gates, but they still weren't world beaters. I think maybe they were better than Union expected early on.

It was a story of 2 halves though. Union came out in the 3rd and looked like the far superior team. The concern then wasn't if they could come back, it was if they could do it before time ran out. I wasn't a huge fan of the back to back to back run calls with a RB not named Ike on their last scoring drive, but they were able to convert and eventually score.

I was also weary of the 4th down shovel pass loss of 5 yards when trying to milk the clock. They could've tried to punt in a short field and make CWR have a monster drive. But they were on like the 33 or 34 and I agreed with going for it, but they really should've thrown the ball there IMHO. Instead, they gave a few yards back to CWR. Not optimal. However, the defense came up huge and never let CWR even get anything going with their last chance. Huge defensive performance in the 2nd half.

The way to beat Salisbury is to get a lead early. If Union starts the same next week, the chances of a comeback are slim to none. Hopefully they will come out firing. 83-0 shouldn't be intimidating. Rochester would probably beat SUNY-Maritime 35-0 so do the math.

Congrats to Union. Showed a lot of heart and grit. But in Round 2, there's no room for a slow start, so they need to come out swinging having a 'nothing to lose' mentality. Salisbury is the favorite, probably by a bit, so there's no advantage in playing not to lose. Good luck.

Thank you Mach but I have to take exception to part of your "game summary." That  "RB not named Ike" was Joe Ferreira. The same Joe Ferreira who has scored 11 TDs and gained 620 yards rushing for the Dutchmen this season. The same Joe Ferreira who was named LL 2nd team running back last week. I guess you weren't paying attention. Irabor has been playing with a lower leg injury for half of the season which he aggravated and needed treatment. Ferreira came in and actually ran the ball four plays in a row before a refreshed Irabor came back in and broke a 15 yarder.  The play after that Ross Jr. caught the go ahead touchdown.

I do agree about the "shovel pass." Curious call to say the least but a play they have used effectively in the past. I would not have used it there though since penetration blows up a play like that and on 4th and 4 you know the D is coming hard. Nice play by CWRU's All American DE Cameron Brown. I would have caught them completely off guard by throwing to the TE.

I give your analysis a C+... and while that doesn't merit a -k,  I give Bartman one for giving +k to you. 

[Machiavelli]

I have to give credit where it is due. In the first half of the Union game yesterday, I was witnessing Union doing stereotypical Union stuff. They looked soft, scared, unprepared. When they had a very good opportunity to get a TD they couldn't follow through. CWR was a little better than I expected right out the gates, but they still weren't world beaters. I think maybe they were better than Union expected early on.

It was a story of 2 halves though. Union came out in the 3rd and looked like the far superior team. The concern then wasn't if they could come back, it was if they could do it before time ran out. I wasn't a huge fan of the back to back to back run calls with a RB not named Ike on their last scoring drive, but they were able to convert and eventually score.

I was also weary of the 4th down shovel pass loss of 5 yards when trying to milk the clock. They could've tried to punt in a short field and make CWR have a monster drive. But they were on like the 33 or 34 and I agreed with going for it, but they really should've thrown the ball there IMHO. Instead, they gave a few yards back to CWR. Not optimal. However, the defense came up huge and never let CWR even get anything going with their last chance. Huge defensive performance in the 2nd half.

The way to beat Salisbury is to get a lead early. If Union starts the same next week, the chances of a comeback are slim to none. Hopefully they will come out firing. 83-0 shouldn't be intimidating. Rochester would probably beat SUNY-Maritime 35-0 so do the math.

Congrats to Union. Showed a lot of heart and grit. But in Round 2, there's no room for a slow start, so they need to come out swinging having a 'nothing to lose' mentality. Salisbury is the favorite, probably by a bit, so there's no advantage in playing not to lose. Good luck.

Thank you Mach but I have to take exception to part of your "game summary." That  "RB not named Ike" was Joe Ferreira. The same Joe Ferreira who has scored 11 TDs and gained 620 yards rushing for the Dutchmen this season. The same Joe Ferreira who was named LL 2nd team running back last week. I guess you weren't paying attention. Irabor has been playing with a lower leg injury for half of the season which he aggravated and needed treatment. Ferreira came in and actually ran the ball four plays in a row before a refreshed Irabor came back in and broke a 15 yarder.  The play after that Ross Jr. caught the go ahead touchdown.

I do agree about the "shovel pass." Curious call to say the least but a play they have used effectively in the past. I would not have used it there though since penetration blows up a play like that and on 4th and 4 you know the D is coming hard. Nice play by CWRU's All American DE Cameron Brown. I would have caught them completely off guard by throwing to the TE.

I give your analysis a C+... and while that doesn't merit a -k,  I give Bartman one for giving +k to you. 

Yeah I certainly wasn't putting the other kid down at all. That's not what I was meaning to say so I apologize if it came off that way. Irabor is just a beast and it was a surprise he wasn't called during the most critical plays of the game. Admittedly, I wasn't paying enough attention to know there was an injury at the time since he was back a few plays later, if not on first down.  I didn't not like the calls per se, I was just confused that you weren't feeding Ike there.

[jam40jeff]

And I don’t mean to sound snippy but injury or not, there was a different feel to the game right away in the 2nd half. I’m no Union fan(trust me), but you could feel they were gonna come back.

I disagree.  I believe Union had two 3 and outs to begin the 3rd quarter, and CWRU had moved the ball to midfield on their one possession.  I'm not saying the injury is the reason CWRU lost, but it surely seemed to be the turning point for whatever reason.

Personally, I think it gave Union hope and they started to throw the ball and be more aggressive in general, while CWRU went the opposite direction and were playing "not to lose," which nearly always backfires.

[UfanBill]

And I don't mean to sound snippy but injury or not, there was a different feel to the game right away in the 2nd half. I'm no Union fan(trust me), but you could feel they were gonna come back.

I disagree.  I believe Union had two 3 and outs to begin the 3rd quarter, and CWRU had moved the ball to midfield on their one possession.  I'm not saying the injury is the reason CWRU lost, but it surely seemed to be the turning point for whatever reason.

Personally, I think it gave Union hope and they started to throw the ball and be more aggressive in general, while CWRU went the opposite direction and were playing "not to lose," which nearly always backfires.

Jam50jeff...No doubt...Read my post from yesterday at 5:36 pm where I acknowledge that the injury to Saxton was the turning point. I was at the game. Sat right behind the CRWU bench in fact. It was not a case of the Spartans deflating. They just had what they were doing taken away by the Union defense. Something that they did all season. I would say adjustments and renewed energy. "Hope" if you will. The fumble and subsequent short field gave the Dutchmen offense a jolt. QB Will Bellamy's passes finally found their mark and they were not to be denied from there...Thanks for posting on the LL board. Good luck to the Spartans next season. You have an excellent team.   

[Machiavelli]

So in the spirit of the things that actually matter, I've found, generally speaking, when Salisbury has a tight game, they tend to dominate TOP. When they win big(SUNY-Maritime excluded) they either lose the TOP battle or it's very close.

What does this mean? Again, generally speaking, if Salisbury's offense is clicking on all cylinders and you can't stop them, they score a lot more points than you. If you can slow them down, you will have opportunities to score. And if you score more than them, and you win the TOP battle(or keep it close), there's a 60% chance that you win, every time.

[Bartman]

Ithaca gets stuffed on the goal line and loses 20-17 to W&J. I continue not to understand why we play these Who Cares Bowls put on by an ECAC that has long since failed to justify its own existence. The season couldn't have ended after the Jug win...why, exactly?

Well I know why Hobart wanted to play one more game, because it is f***ing awesome to win a post season game.  It rewards a team with a great record (but not good enough to make the NCAA's), the team can see how they measure up against top competition, and it certainly helps with recruiting.  However, I agree, in IC's case, ending on a win an Metlife couldn't have gotten better.

Oline,
      It was f***ing awesome and the Statesmen have some great mojo for the 2020 season . Plus it feels like we won the E8 this year

[jam40jeff]

And I don't mean to sound snippy but injury or not, there was a different feel to the game right away in the 2nd half. I'm no Union fan(trust me), but you could feel they were gonna come back.

I disagree.  I believe Union had two 3 and outs to begin the 3rd quarter, and CWRU had moved the ball to midfield on their one possession.  I'm not saying the injury is the reason CWRU lost, but it surely seemed to be the turning point for whatever reason.

Personally, I think it gave Union hope and they started to throw the ball and be more aggressive in general, while CWRU went the opposite direction and were playing "not to lose," which nearly always backfires.

Jam50jeff...No doubt...Read my post from yesterday at 5:36 pm where I acknowledge that the injury to Saxton was the turning point. I was at the game. Sat right behind the CRWU bench in fact. It was not a case of the Spartans deflating. They just had what they were doing taken away by the Union defense. Something that they did all season. I would say adjustments and renewed energy. "Hope" if you will. The fumble and subsequent short field gave the Dutchmen offense a jolt. QB Will Bellamy's passes finally found their mark and they were not to be denied from there...Thanks for posting on the LL board. Good luck to the Spartans next season. You have an excellent team.

Thanks, and I can't argue with any of that.  Union realized they could exploit the CWRU secondary.  I'm glad they didn't realize it sooner or they would have surely scored more than 3 points in the first half and it may not have been a close game.  Good luck against Salisbury!