FB: Liberty League

[labart96]

By the way some LL talk: dlip is feeling that with Union (of course he has to talk about the U) bringing some very athletic and and talented football players on the offensive side of the ball (Coney, Gallo) this may just be Andrew Connelly's year. dlip gives this kid a ton of credit for his maturity and leadership through some of his growing pains at the helm and has a gut feeling it may all pay off here in 2010.

Union is the team to beat in the LL this season - hands-down.  They have the most returning starters in key positions across the board.  Anything less than a LL championship would be a let down IMO....

[Garnet]

Anything less than a LL championship would be a let down IMO....

TGP,
I would say that Union, RPI  and Hobart feel this way every year

[PBR...]

2010 preseason All-American list is released with only five young men representing the East region. Good luck to those players here in 2010. We are getting closer...

By the way some LL talk: dlip is feeling that with Union (of course he has to talk about the U) bringing some very athletic and and talented football players on the offensive side of the ball (Coney, Gallo) this may just be Andrew Connelly's year. dlip gives this kid a ton of credit for his maturity and leadership through some of his growing pains at the helm and has a gut feeling it may all pay off here in 2010.

need some flavor on that list... the E8/LL need to kick it up a notch in recruiting

The costs, distances, and in some cases, the academic requirements of E8/LL generally will prevent these schools from getting these midwestern / southern kids.

That said, to have 5 players from the East isn't too shabby - especially in light of our generally quick, and occassionally lopsided, departures in the play-offs...

that is definetly part of it, other is just working your rear end off to get good talent in the classroom and on the field. dunno maybe its cyclical as well but seemed like for years when naming top teams in the east union/bart/rpi at least 1 of them was always mentioned, now pbr doesnt  see them being mentioned as much...

[labart96]

Anything less than a LL championship would be a let down IMO....

TGP,
I would say that Union, RPI  and Hobart feel this way every year

Good point but TGP assumes you referred to the team's perspective (in which case all three aforementioned teams, if not more, have that as their goal every season) whereas TGP was speaking from a fan's perspective.

This Hobart fan would be (happily) surprised if Hobart rebounded from last season's 6-3 mark and won the LL.  That said, there are sufficient questions regarding this Statesmen team that TGP can't - even with his bias - pick them to win the LL - especially over a pretty loaded Union team that beat them by 11 last year.....

[AUPepBand]

Susquehanna won't be around to defend its LL crown. Pep thought that run through the LL was somewhat of a shocker last year.

[labart96]

Susquehanna won't be around to defend its LL crown. Pep thought that run through the LL was somewhat of a shocker last year.

TGP thought it was too but FR did call it early on in the year...

[dlippiel]

Susquehanna won't be around to defend its LL crown. Pep thought that run through the LL was somewhat of a shocker last year.

Rossi just has a sense when it comes to calling **** like that. Damn on ITH last year Rossi even predicted the Susquehanna victory over the U in the championship game at Frank Bailey while dlip (trying to be objective  ) picked the U.

Sus wanted it real bad and they deserved it. To dlip they were the better team that day and seemed to walk onto Frank Bailey with a purpose and a HUGE chip on their shoulder. Overall dlip thinks the U had more talent they just couldn't get the consistency down on O. Hopefully this year with Connelly's maturation and some nasty talent they will put it together.

[dlippiel]

There is no question that recruiting serious talent at the D3 level has gotten very challenging indeed. Many of our coaches in the LL as well as other schools face many obstacles when recruiting. At least from a Union/LL school perspective dlip feels one must find kids who:

-are very smart and successful academically
-passionate about academics
-can AFFORD to go to a school like Union, RPI, Bart, ...etc
-are very talented football players (yet not to talented because then they have aspirations and/or the realistic opportunity to play at a higher level)
-are coach-able
-are willing to put academics/athletics before their social lives (when dlip was getting recruited to play D3 hockey at the age of 22 he wasn't ready to put anything before his social life)
-will play for teams that have not made profound runs in the NCAA tourney on any consistent basis as of late
-are good people
-are interested in living in the areas of these schools and attending "small" schools that are ****ing expensive

Taking all of this into account dlip finds it very challenging for our beloved coaches to recruit and complete on a very high level year in and year out. As dlip gets closer to the Union program he sees just how "special" these young men are who chose to play football at Union (this applies to all players in the LL as well). They are nothing short of excellent student athletes and deserve tons of credit. With that said though dlip has always bled garnet and always wants to have high expectations for the team on the field.

The question here lyes for teams in the LL, E8, MAC, NJAC, NEFC, ECFC, (**** the NESCAC ) what do we need to do to "get better" to improve the level of football being played here in the east? To compete with MUC and UDubDubDUbDub? Thoughts anyone?

[union89]

Susquehanna won't be around to defend its LL crown. Pep thought that run through the LL was somewhat of a shocker last year.

Rossi just has a sense when it comes to calling **** like that. Damn on ITH last year Rossi even predicted the Susquehanna victory over the U in the championship game at Frank Bailey while dlip (trying to be objective  ) picked the U.

Sus wanted it real bad and they deserved it. To dlip they were the better team that day and seemed to walk onto Frank Bailey with a purpose and a HUGE chip on their shoulder. Overall dlip thinks the U had more talent they just couldn't get the consistency down on O. Hopefully this year with Connelly's maturation and some nasty talent they will put it together.

Rossi later stated that he made that pick before the game....entirely to motivate the Union team.....made little sense to U89, but he actually thought Union would win.

[labart96]

Susquehanna won't be around to defend its LL crown. Pep thought that run through the LL was somewhat of a shocker last year.

Rossi just has a sense when it comes to calling **** like that. Damn on ITH last year Rossi even predicted the Susquehanna victory over the U in the championship game at Frank Bailey while dlip (trying to be objective  ) picked the U.

Sus wanted it real bad and they deserved it. To dlip they were the better team that day and seemed to walk onto Frank Bailey with a purpose and a HUGE chip on their shoulder. Overall dlip thinks the U had more talent they just couldn't get the consistency down on O. Hopefully this year with Connelly's maturation and some nasty talent they will put it together.

Rossi later stated that he made that pick before the game....entirely to motivate the Union team.....made little sense to U89, but he actually thought Union would win.

True but he did also make a SU pick as his "dark house" in our pre-season show too.

[Frank Rossi]

Susquehanna won't be around to defend its LL crown. Pep thought that run through the LL was somewhat of a shocker last year.

Rossi just has a sense when it comes to calling **** like that. Damn on ITH last year Rossi even predicted the Susquehanna victory over the U in the championship game at Frank Bailey while dlip (trying to be objective  ) picked the U.

Sus wanted it real bad and they deserved it. To dlip they were the better team that day and seemed to walk onto Frank Bailey with a purpose and a HUGE chip on their shoulder. Overall dlip thinks the U had more talent they just couldn't get the consistency down on O. Hopefully this year with Connelly's maturation and some nasty talent they will put it together.

Rossi later stated that he made that pick before the game....entirely to motivate the Union team.....made little sense to U89, but he actually thought Union would win.

True but he did also make a SU pick as his "dark house" in our pre-season show too.

You're all at least partially right -- I think the only dispute I have is with U89 in that it wasn't the ONLY reason I picked SU in that game.  I knew that SU's strength in both the run and pass games was going to pose an issue for Union unlike most of the teams faced in '09.  I also knew that the defense for SU was a much-improved squad from preseason interviews I had done and from their body of work to that point.  That game really could've gone either way -- in normal circumstances, I would've given the nod to Union as the home team.  My fear was that the game had a "letdown" smell all over it.  In reality, Palazzi and Paveletz were relatively well-contained throughout the game until the 4th quarter.  About a total of two or three bad plays from Union on both sides of the ball made the difference (although, Coney's knee injury definitely took the wind out of the Dutchmen's sails in the second half).

Long story short, TGP is right that I predicted that Union/SU could be the title game in the preseason and that SU had a chance to walk out of the conference with the title.  U89 is right that I publicly made my prediction in a motivational attempt (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't).  Dlip is right that, beyond just the on-air prediction, I felt the game was a pick'em on a neutral field.  Home field just didn't hold up for Union the way I thought it would.

Anecdotally, I made a public statement out of a motivational effort last in 1997 as Union prepared to face RPI.  When you spend a lot of time around the team as I have in the past, you start to realize when a team is exuding over-confidence -- and 1997 was one of those seasons.  Fearing what the result could be (because RPI had been on such a losing streak against Union at that point, losing four in a row), I remember stating publicly that I felt RPI would win that game.  The late Jim Kochan, God rest his soul, found me one day right after that in the College Center and loudly started grilling me about the pick (with other players in the vicinity chiming in).  I was kind of glad they noticed, but I also feared for my life (let's face it, whether or not I lift weights, I'm not going to break 170lbs. then or now).  Union lost that game 30-7 -- it was a game that just started to snowball since Union hadn't been tested well to that point in my opinion.  The team had some real studs on it, and yet, the result stung everyone involved.  I went into seclusion for a couple weeks after that one -- but Kochan later told me, "You were right, Frank."  My reply was, "I really didn't want to be."  That sort of sums up my feelings concerning last year's game.

That's the past, though.  We have an interesting LL this year with one less team and two new head coaches.  "In the HuddLLe" will be very interesting this season, to say the least.  There seems to be a clear favorite with the other two of the "Big Three" still posing wild card possibilities.  And what's with the 6pm kickoff for the Shoes game this year at the new ECAV?  Anyone having memories of the chicanery surrounding the last night crosstown rival Upstate NY Division III game, Union @ Albany in 1994?  Bonfires and drunkeness abound.  This is going to be a wild season, with Union playing its last league game a week early with SU's exit.

I'm getting that football taste in my mouth already -- I feel like Dlip and TGP are getting the same taste.  We're almost there boys.

[AUPepBand]

Well explained, Frank. +K

Pep assumes there is no interest this year whatsoever in what happens in the Alfred-Susquehanna scrimmage, at least from the LL standpoint. 

On Saxon Warriors!

[JT]

By the way some LL talk: dlip is feeling that with Union (of course he has to talk about the U) bringing some very athletic and and talented football players on the offensive side of the ball (Coney, Gallo) this may just be Andrew Connelly's year. dlip gives this kid a ton of credit for his maturity and leadership through some of his growing pains at the helm and has a gut feeling it may all pay off here in 2010.

Union is the team to beat in the LL this season - hands-down.  They have the most returning starters in key positions across the board. 

They also have amazing chemistry:

[dlippiel]

By the way some LL talk: dlip is feeling that with Union (of course he has to talk about the U) bringing some very athletic and and talented football players on the offensive side of the ball (Coney, Gallo) this may just be Andrew Connelly's year. dlip gives this kid a ton of credit for his maturity and leadership through some of his growing pains at the helm and has a gut feeling it may all pay off here in 2010.

Union is the team to beat in the LL this season - hands-down.  They have the most returning starters in key positions across the board. 

They also have amazing chemistry:

dlip has to hit you with a +k for that JT!

[union89]

By the way some LL talk: dlip is feeling that with Union (of course he has to talk about the U) bringing some very athletic and and talented football players on the offensive side of the ball (Coney, Gallo) this may just be Andrew Connelly's year. dlip gives this kid a ton of credit for his maturity and leadership through some of his growing pains at the helm and has a gut feeling it may all pay off here in 2010.

Union is the team to beat in the LL this season - hands-down.  They have the most returning starters in key positions across the board. 

They also have amazing chemistry:

Hate to admit it, but..........always funny.