FB: Liberty League

[Frank Rossi]

Thanks to Lew for getting the LL talk started and hopefully more will join in shortly. In dlip's mind it is going to be a very interesting year in the LL. dlip has the league looking like this:

Hobart OOC:3-0 LL: 6-1 Overall: 9-1

Springfield OOC: 3-0 LL: 6-1 Overall: 9-1

Union OOC: 3-0 LL: 6-1 Overall: 9-1

So who receives the automatic bid, how does the LL decide if there is a three-way tie?

It would be a head to head and if each teams loss were to one of the other top 3 teams(i.e. - Union beats Springfield, Hobart beats Union, Springfield beats Hobart), i'm not sure.  Maybe goes overall record, then in-region record, then coin flip?  Can't find it anywhere.

It goes to record vs. Teams that finish .500+ on the teams' overall schedules, then record vs. Teams that finish <.500 on the teams' overall schedules.  After that, I believe it's a coin toss.

[EDIT:  I just dusted this off from my old emails (circa 2004).  #2 is a nullity in such a situation since no team would have lost to the untied teams inside the Liberty League.  Jump to #3 in a 1-loss merry-go-round three-way tiebreaker:

"In the sport of football, the league shall use the following tie-breaking formula to determine the automatic qualifier.  Prior to using the formula to determine the automatic qualifier, co-champions would be declared.

    1.    Head-to-head results.

    2.    Comparison of records between tied institutions beginning with the lowest conference finisher and continuing through the highest conference finisher.  If more than two teams are tied, at the point one team has been eliminated, revert back to step 1 (head-to-head results).

    3.    Comparison of final winning percentage against all opponents with a record of .500 or above.  At the point when one team has been eliminated, revert back to step 1 (head-to-head results).

    4.    Comparison of final winning percentage against all opponents with a record below .500.  At the point when one team has been eliminated, revert back to step 1 (head-to-head results).

    5.    Coin flip."]

[dlippiel]

+k Mr. Rossi, thanks for the clarification and nice to see ya on here to start the year.

[mattvsmith]

Dlip, upon further consideration, I think Hobart will defy your prediction and beat Springfield soundly.
On the other hand, Hobart will totally bone a game that should be an easy win and--owing to the fact that my time zone is 13 hours ahead, forcing me to stay awake until 4 or 5 in the morning to listen to the game--I will absolutely lose my mind and vent my spleen on-line until Frank pulls me back from the edge. You know, just like I do at least once a season since I joined the LLPP in 2005.

Anyway, the rev is going to go out on a limb and predict that Hobart will have its best season yet and make it to at least the same playoff round it made last year.

[SUADC]

Thanks to Lew for getting the LL talk started and hopefully more will join in shortly. In dlip's mind it is going to be a very interesting year in the LL. dlip has the league looking like this:

Hobart OOC:3-0 LL: 6-1 Overall: 9-1

Springfield OOC: 3-0 LL: 6-1 Overall: 9-1

Union OOC: 3-0 LL: 6-1 Overall: 9-1

So who receives the automatic bid, how does the LL decide if there is a three-way tie?

It would be a head to head and if each teams loss were to one of the other top 3 teams(i.e. - Union beats Springfield, Hobart beats Union, Springfield beats Hobart), i'm not sure.  Maybe goes overall record, then in-region record, then coin flip?  Can't find it anywhere.

It goes to record vs. Teams that finish .500+ on the teams' overall schedules, then record vs. Teams that finish <.500 on the teams' overall schedules.  After that, I believe it's a coin toss.

[EDIT:  I just dusted this off from my old emails (circa 2004).  #2 is a nullity in such a situation since no team would have lost to the untied teams inside the Liberty League.  Jump to #3 in a 1-loss merry-go-round three-way tiebreaker:

"In the sport of football, the league shall use the following tie-breaking formula to determine the automatic qualifier.  Prior to using the formula to determine the automatic qualifier, co-champions would be declared.

    1.    Head-to-head results.

    2.    Comparison of records between tied institutions beginning with the lowest conference finisher and continuing through the highest conference finisher.  If more than two teams are tied, at the point one team has been eliminated, revert back to step 1 (head-to-head results).

    3.    Comparison of final winning percentage against all opponents with a record of .500 or above.  At the point when one team has been eliminated, revert back to step 1 (head-to-head results).

    4.    Comparison of final winning percentage against all opponents with a record below .500.  At the point when one team has been eliminated, revert back to step 1 (head-to-head results).

    5.    Coin flip."]

The envious "Coin Flip," many people have a Love Hate Relationship regarding Coin Flips. However, I think the opponents w/ a recored of .500 or below will solve it, if it ever gets to that point.

[dlippiel]

Dlip, upon further consideration, I think Hobart will defy your prediction and beat Springfield soundly.
On the other hand, Hobart will totally bone a game that should be an easy win and--owing to the fact that my time zone is 13 hours ahead, forcing me to stay awake until 4 or 5 in the morning to listen to the game--I will absolutely lose my mind and vent my spleen on-line until Frank pulls me back from the edge. You know, just like I do at least once a season since I joined the LLPP in 2005.

Anyway, the rev is going to go out on a limb and predict that Hobart will have its best season yet and make it to at least the same playoff round it made last year.

Very possible Rev. dlip is high on Hobart in 2012 but just thinks their unfamiliarity with Springfields O, on top of some long clock wasting Pride drives may be enough to pressure the Bart O to press and turn the ball over. Basically, if Bart does slip up this year, dlip thinks it may come against the Pride. Honestly, dlip hopes he's wrong about Bart and especially about Union's predictied loss to Hobart. Again, it is going to be a great year in the LL.

[mattvsmith]

Dlip, upon further consideration, I think Hobart will defy your prediction and beat Springfield soundly.
On the other hand, Hobart will totally bone a game that should be an easy win and--owing to the fact that my time zone is 13 hours ahead, forcing me to stay awake until 4 or 5 in the morning to listen to the game--I will absolutely lose my mind and vent my spleen on-line until Frank pulls me back from the edge. You know, just like I do at least once a season since I joined the LLPP in 2005.

Anyway, the rev is going to go out on a limb and predict that Hobart will have its best season yet and make it to at least the same playoff round it made last year.

Very possible Rev. dlip is high on Hobart in 2012 but just thinks their unfamiliarity with Springfields O, on top of some long clock wasting Pride drives may be enough to pressure the Bart O to press and turn the ball over. Basically, if Bart does slip up this year, dlip thinks it may come against the Pride. Honestly, dlip hopes he's wrong about Bart and especially about Union's predictied loss to Hobart. Again, it is going to be a great year in the LL.

Hobart defense has always (at least in The Reb's lifetime) been better than Hobart Offense. I don't ink they will give Springfield the chance to waste clock.  With Hobart D you have score and score quickly or else lose possession. Granted, I have a very small sample of games watched since 2005, and an even poorer memory, but it seems to me that the teams that have beaten Hobart did so with quick and merciless drives down the field. I'm thinking specifically of the last few RPI and Union games I've been able to attend. One year RPI beat Hobart with two strategies: 1) Hobart when to Prevent Defense, which in our family we say is the best way to prevent Hobart from winning. That is, Hobart f-ed up and should never ever use prevent defense. 2) RPI had this one play where they continuously kept making short- to medium-range passes to a receiver near the sideline and the Hobart defensive backs were helpless to stop it. There was no time wasting, but bam bam bam bam TD. I also seem to remember that game as being one in which Hobart O had the ball in the red zone several times and couldn't seal the deal.
I can remember that game better than others because it's a hell of a bitter experience to fly 8,000 miles to see your team and watch them get owned at home. Anyway, the moral of the story is that Springfield had better come up with an RPI-like play that Hobart D just can't seem to mentally grasp and run it all day. Otherwise, I think Hobart D will eat them for lunch.
The one Hobart loss this year will be to a team far inferior, and that's what will make me positively apoplectic.

[dlippiel]

Dlips likes these thoughts rev and they do make sense to him. If Bart loses this season dlip would hope it would be to a team like Springfield, Union (obviously), or RPI. A loss to a team of lower stature would really question the legitimacy of Bart as one of the top east region teams this year.

[mattvsmith]

The poster formerly known as The Great Pumpkin has his preseason summary on his blog Comin' Atcha.

gohobart.blogspot.com

Good stuff.

[dlippiel]

dlip's Union College Season Preview is up on his blog:

www.dlipthedutchman.blogspot.com.

[mattvsmith]

Is it true that the boys report to training camp tomorrow? If so, The Rev expects to hear more chatter.
Looking forward to this season. The Rev has high hopes for Hobart, and wishes sincerely that every team in the LL has an injury free season.

[mattvsmith]

The Rev just had a flashback to training camp freshman year. The Rev was a sickly kid in high school and early college. I was 5'10 and weighed 120 pounds due to a mystery intestinal disorder. I'll spare you the details but to set a background of why I was a trainer instead of a player. Anyway...
One day in camp two big meatheads started going at each other. The smaller of the two got too mouthy and the bigger one punched him in the face mask. The mask popped of the helmet and into his mouth breaking out one of his teeth. The called me over to find the tooth. I did, and I took the golf cart, meathead #1 and his tooth down to the dining hall. I got a glass of milk, popped the tooth in it and then took him to the dentist. The tooth was saved. The milk kept the roots moist a d alive. Up to that point most of the team looked at me like Buzz Buzzard looks at Woody Woodpecker. My nickname was Auschwitz due to my build. However, the tooth episode established my credibility. Four years of being a trainer. Greatest experience a kid could ask for other than playing. One of my very few retreats in life is that my senior year I was finally healthy and. It enough to play. I didn't. I regret that. Even if I had ridden the bench being a player would have been the best. No matter I was part of the team, played my part as best I could, and that's what matters.
Lifelong Hobart fan.

[dlippiel]

+k rev great training camp story 

[AUPepBand]

The Rev just had a flashback to training camp freshman year. The Rev was a sickly kid in high school and early college. I was 5'10 and weighed 120 pounds due to a mystery intestinal disorder. I'll spare you the details but to set a background of why I was a trainer instead of a player. Anyway...
One day in camp two big meatheads started going at each other. The smaller of the two got too mouthy and the bigger one punched him in the face mask. The mask popped of the helmet and into his mouth breaking out one of his teeth. The called me over to find the tooth. I did, and I took the golf cart, meathead #1 and his tooth down to the dining hall. I got a glass of milk, popped the tooth in it and then took him to the dentist. The tooth was saved. The milk kept the roots moist a d alive. Up to that point most of the team looked at me like Buzz Buzzard looks at Woody Woodpecker. My nickname was Auschwitz due to my build. However, the tooth episode established my credibility. Four years of being a trainer. Greatest experience a kid could ask for other than playing. One of my very few retreats in life is that my senior year I was finally healthy and. It enough to play. I didn't. I regret that. Even if I had ridden the bench being a player would have been the best. No matter I was part of the team, played my part as best I could, and that's what matters.
Lifelong Hobart fan.

Nice story, Auschwitz! +K Go 'bart...until the Statesmen meet the Saxons again...

[mattvsmith]

I need to stop posting using my iPhone. I just noticed a couple wrong words and weird sentence breaks. I hate autocorrect.

[dlippiel]

Dlip is curious if anyone knows if/when/where/who Union will be scrimmaging during camp this year? Dlip knows he'll find out this week but is curious if anyone knows now. Once dlip finds out (if it is before someone replies here) he'll post it.