FB: Liberty League

[HSCTiger74]

RIP Earl Scruggs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkRkGCm4atE

For those of us who like a good banjo tune the loss of Earl makes for a pretty sad day. I'm terrible at links, but you should check out "Flint Hill Special" on youtube.

[mattvsmith]

Coach Cragg at Hobart has managed to recruit a kid who was going to go to a D-1AA school.
The Great Pumpkin has the story on his Hobart sports blog.

http://gohobart.blogspot.com/2012/03/croton-harmon-dl-dennis-oconnell-to.html

[mattvsmith]

The Great Pumpkin has another good recruit story on his blog.

http://gohobart.blogspot.com/

[PBR...]

PBR checking in with a little Petrino humor....LSUFreek is incredible once again....LOL just nails it

http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1037911/Pork_Chop.gif

[mattvsmith]

Saw the link to schedules on D3's Facebook page. Saw Hobart's schedule. The Rev is looking forward to a good year. Our OOC rivals are Dickinson (of course), Geneva College, and Utica College. Full schedule this year. Now big gaps.

The Great Pumpkin tells me that Coach Cragg has recruited a couple guys that could have been viable D1AA players. If that's true, it seems as if many years of suppressing our potential, someone at Hobart has given the go ahead to make us national contenders.

(Someone may ask, "Rev, aren't you being your usual wacky conspiracy theory self when you say success was suppressed at Hobart?" why, no, not at all. The Rev was there when football sucked. The professors and the nerdy administrators loved it that way. Many people said it was just because of lacrosse's prominence, football suffered benign neglect. I disagree. When coach maxwell came over from SU and turned the program around, professors, nerds (i.e. the Deans) and women were up in arms. We were turning back the clock and letting the Neanderthals loose on campus! Whatever. Seriously, for years football was a put upon program. It makes The Rev proud to see the Statesmen do as well as they have, and I hope and pray that President Gearon has told the nerds to stuff their pieholes and is dedicated to making Hobart a genuine national contender.)

[Frank Rossi]

Saw the link to schedules on D3's Facebook page. Saw Hobart's schedule. The Rev is looking forward to a good year. Our OOC rivals are Dickinson (of course), Geneva College, and Utica College. Full schedule this year. Now big gaps.

The Great Pumpkin tells me that Coach Cragg has recruited a couple guys that could have been viable D1AA players. If that's true, it seems as if many years of suppressing our potential, someone at Hobart has given the go ahead to make us national contenders.

I was speaking with TGP about this the other day.  Historically, I-AA transfers or players that had interest from I-AA schools have seemed to be a 50/50 proposition.  I think a lot depends on whether or not the players forewent scholarship program opportunities or just forewent the I-AA school for the academic profile and/or playing time.  There are a lot of D3 players that could've played at I-AA schools and vice-versa, especially non-scholarship schools.

That stated, I doubt the players diverged greatly from the schools' normal student-athlete GPA/Indexing profile.  If they did, then that would be an odd approach by a school that prides itself on its academic character.  Likely, these players were looking for academic fits in a school at which they'd see playing time on the field.  I don't see how you can read into it much deeper than that without leaning on an idea that academic standards/protocols were breached internally to allow the players entry without more information being available concerning the students' own statements and analyses.  Hobart and Union and the rest of the LL schools will tend to be sought by a certain profile of student academically, and the schools tend to cater to that academic profile even when athletics are involved.

When it comes to I-AA transfers, I've seen it be a great situation and a crappy one at different times when Union's had such players come through.  Some players just didn't fit the mentality of D3 and never assimilated into the team chemistry.  Others did a great job assimilating.  It's a crapshoot.

If I'm a Hobart fan, I'd be more excited about he schedule improvement, to be honest.  THAT'S going to be where experience builds, especially bouncing off that big Wesley game last season.  Plus, there's a common opponent now between Union and Hobart (Utica), which will be interesting to watch in terms of whether or not Utica gains early momentum again (and whether or not it will stick this time in the E8).  Springfield also adds an interesting layer into the schedules of all schools except for Union (since Union has generally played Springfield over the past decade already).

[mattvsmith]

Always good analysis and commentary, Frank. I think you are right: the schedule change is more important than just two or three players. I am really excited about the three new rivals. I hope this leads to an ever-growing competitiveness.

[lewdogg11]

I'm going to make an early prediction and just say that Springfield has a pretty good chance of winning the LL in their first year. 

[dlippiel]

dlip, the ever orgasmic triple option fan would concurr, except for the fact that he heard the Pride may have some issues on D (yes, again). dlip understands they have a young QB whose athleticism and ability parallels Josh Carter's (last year's impresive starter) so that may be something to build on. dlip has a pal who works on campus in Springfield and hinted to dlip about some possible offseason player discipline issues as well. So, we shall see. dlip does not know the validity of this but suspects there may be some truth behind it. With this (obviously dlip not being very specific here) the Pride's first season in the LL seems a bit of a toss up. Bottom line, if the Pride can't play D they will struggle and not get over the hump once again.

[Frank Rossi]

Since fully moving to D3 in 1995 in football, Springfield has seen some reall win/loss inconsistency.  Here's a rundown:

1995 8-2 (ECAC Win)
1996 6-4
1997 4-5
1998 9-2 (1st Round)
1999 4-6
2000 11-2 (3rd Round - Region Final)
2001 4-5
2002 8-2 (1st Round)
2003 10-1 (2nd Round)
2004 8-2 (ECAC Win)
2005 4-6
2006 10-2 (2nd Round)
2007 4-6
2008 4-6
2009 8-2
2010 9-2 (ECAC Win)
2011 6-4

The team has never fully crapped out (no less than 4 wins in any season), but the number of 4-win seasons represents 6 out of their 17 D3 seasons.  Aside from that 2002-2003 stretch, the team has not had much success going to the playoffs in back-to-back years -- this being their longest drought in terms of number of years without a playoff appearance.  I think LD is right that we'll see an uptick in Springfield, especially looking at their OOC schedule this year (that should be 3-0 pretty easily).  I think we'll see Springfield win 5 out of 7 games in the LL (8-2 overall).  I doubt that wins the League, but it will be in the running.  I'm actually most interested to see how Hobart plays against Springfield.  The teams have never played, and with the exception of King's Point the last couple seasons (a team that is undersized up front in their attempt to play the triple-option), Hobart has never played true triple-option teams since I've been involved with the LL (i.e., Salisbury and Springfield).  That might be the most powerful game on the LL schedule this season (10/6/12), since the loser will lack an edge in the W/L early, assuming the teams win their respective first games.  For Hobart, the three-game stretch starts with Springfield, moves to RPI two weeks later and ends home vs. Union -- a brutal stretch, even with a bye week.

[Bombers798891]

How many LL teams play on turf?

Honestly, that's the breakdown I'd like to see for the Pride. They'd have good teams come up to IC and their offense did a whole bunch of nothing, and the only thing that seemed to change from year to year was that the game was on turf vs. grass.

[Frank Rossi]

How many LL teams play on turf?

Honestly, that's the breakdown I'd like to see for the Pride. They'd have good teams come up to IC and their offense did a whole bunch of nothing, and the only thing that seemed to change from year to year was that the game was on turf vs. grass.

Only SLU is on real grass.

[mattvsmith]

How many LL teams play on turf?

Honestly, that's the breakdown I'd like to see for the Pride. They'd have good teams come up to IC and their offense did a whole bunch of nothing, and the only thing that seemed to change from year to year was that the game was on turf vs. grass.

Only SLU is on real grass.

Nearly all of Hobart is on real grass. Not a single student smokes turf. It gives a terrible headache.

[Frank Rossi]

How many LL teams play on turf?

Honestly, that's the breakdown I'd like to see for the Pride. They'd have good teams come up to IC and their offense did a whole bunch of nothing, and the only thing that seemed to change from year to year was that the game was on turf vs. grass.

Only SLU is on real grass.

Nearly all of Hobart is on real grass. Not a single student smokes turf. It gives a terrible headache.

Teach your children well, then, Rev...

[mattvsmith]

Only SLU is on real grass.

Nearly all of Hobart is on real grass. Not a single student smokes turf. It gives a terrible headache.

Teach your children well, then, Rev...

We'll have to get back to you later, Frank. Lil' Rev is busy watching a video from the Philippines of a group called the "Sex Bomb Dancers". It's better than Barney.