FB: Liberty League

[BomberJeff]

A lot of it is always in how the teams get stacked by the committees.  I must confess, when I went over it myself this week, I wasn't sure how Muhlenberg was considered below Hardin-Simmons in the South.  I'm sure there's a reason but I couldn't spot it off the bat.  Now, with Thomas More losing and costing Muhlenberg their RR win, that is a lot tighter than it was.

EDIT: and to add to that how it gets stacked by the committee part of the conversation, with Merchant Marine, Salisbury and Cortland all losing today, I could see a scenario where Union is regionally ranked tomorrow.  That would give Ithaca an RR win to add to their secondary criteria.

[Ice Bear]

Great win by U today.

Best of luck to RPI next week. dlip will be rooting for you.

[Bartman]

A lot of it is always in how the teams get stacked by the committees.  I must confess, when I went over it myself this week, I wasn't sure how Muhlenberg was considered below Hardin-Simmons in the South.  I'm sure there's a reason but I couldn't spot it off the bat.  Now, with Thomas More losing and costing Muhlenberg their RR win, that is a lot tighter than it was.

EDIT: and to add to that how it gets stacked by the committee part of the conversation, with Merchant Marine, Salisbury and Cortland all losing today, I could see a scenario where Union is regionally ranked tomorrow.  That would give Ithaca an RR win to add to their secondary criteria.

All good observations. We will know tomorrow

[UfanBill]

Congratulations to ALL of the Union football nation for today's Shoes victory. The 7-2 Union Dutchmen will probably not be rewarded with a post season game (more about that Monday) but they played like it was a national championship today. Jack Reilly made me look good by playing a phenomenal game after I singled him out for a big effort pregame. Look for him and/or DL Dan Gioioso to get league if not national recognition. The threesome of QB Will Bellamy, WR Andre Ross Jr.and RB Ike Irabor were big trouble for the Engineers ALL DAY. This is a deep, talented, young team that has taken yet another step up.

Good luck to RPI, Ithaca and hopefully Hobart in the post season.

[Bartman]

Congratulations to ALL of the Union football nation for today's Shoes victory. The 7-2 Union Dutchmen will probably not be rewarded with a post season game (more about that Monday) but they played like it was a national championship today. Jack Reilly made me look good by playing a phenomenal game after I singled him out for a big effort pregame. Look for him and/or DE Vincent DiCaterino to get league if not national recognition. The threesome of QB Will Bellamy, WR Andre Ross Jr.and RB Ike Irabor were big trouble for the Engineers ALL DAY. This is a deep, talented, young team that has taken yet another step up.

Good luck to RPI, Ithaca and hopefully Hobart in the post season.

UFan and Union fans, Congratulations on a great win. The LL had some great games this year, and I think the league will have some top regional teams in 2019 with much of the young talent that is returning. Respect to the Dutchmen for the improvement the last two years and I think it will be a total dogfight for the title in 2019.

[BomberJeff]

As expected, no spot for Ithaca in the D3 playoffs.  Expect they'll confirm their ECAC spot late tonight.

RPI will face Husson in the first round, with a trip to Brockport likely awaiting them.

[UfanBill]

I tried to watch the selection show but it would not load. Anyone else have that problem? Yearn for the days when it was covered by the ESPN family.

[BomberJeff]

I tried to watch the selection show but it would not load. Anyone else have that problem? Yearn for the days when it was covered by the ESPN family.

I have... a lot of thoughts about how the NCAA handles the selection show.  It's not even live, its a pre-taped video, how do you not have a link for it?

[redswarm81]

I tried to watch the selection show but it would not load. Anyone else have that problem? Yearn for the days when it was covered by the ESPN family.

I have... a lot of thoughts about how the NCAA handles the selection show.  It's not even live, its a pre-taped video, how do you not have a link for it?

I had same impossibility to load selection show.  Continually got "video not available" message, then DIII Women's Volleball would attempt to load - same message; then DIII Softball - same message; then ...

D1 Cross Country loaded at one point, though.

[unionpalooza]

As expected, no spot for Ithaca in the D3 playoffs.  Expect they'll confirm their ECAC spot late tonight.

RPI will face Husson in the first round, with a trip to Brockport likely awaiting them.

RPI match up is an interesting one.  I wouldn't expect a cake walk - watching them both play Union, neither stands out as a tougher out than the other. (Pretty similar games, in fact.)

[Pat Coleman]

I tried to watch the selection show but it would not load. Anyone else have that problem? Yearn for the days when it was covered by the ESPN family.

I have... a lot of thoughts about how the NCAA handles the selection show.  It's not even live, its a pre-taped video, how do you not have a link for it?

I had same impossibility to load selection show.  Continually got "video not available" message, then DIII Women's Volleball would attempt to load - same message; then DIII Softball - same message; then ...

D1 Cross Country loaded at one point, though.

This makes me wonder what page you were on. The page on our website and the one we tweeted out only had the Division III football selection show and nothing else.

[UfanBill]

I tried to watch the selection show but it would not load. Anyone else have that problem? Yearn for the days when it was covered by the ESPN family.

I have... a lot of thoughts about how the NCAA handles the selection show.  It's not even live, its a pre-taped video, how do you not have a link for it?

I had same impossibility to load selection show.  Continually got "video not available" message, then DIII Women's Volleball would attempt to load - same message; then DIII Softball - same message; then ...

D1 Cross Country loaded at one point, though.

This makes me wonder what page you were on. The page on our website and the one we tweeted out only had the Division III football selection show and nothing else.

Pat, FYI... I started on your "Guide to Selection Sunday" which linked me to your NCAA Selection Show page which said to press here if it doesn't load. That lead to the NCAA page. It wouldn't load and showed exactly as redstorm81 described it.

[Pat Coleman]

Gotcha. It worked for me but I can't promise what else happens on the NCAA.com side.

[Machiavelli]

Alright, ready for the playoffs! However, I feel I must do my due diligence and give my $.02 on the RPI/Union game since I actually made the trip out to Troy to see it. RPI is 0-1 with me in attendance this year if anyone's keeping track.

First off, lots of respect to Union. They came to play, they were fired up, and had some pretty darn good athletes. None of those things are unexpected and the first 2 certainly gave Union an advantage and you saw it right from the first whistle. The Union WR #2 is a total stud. I was very impressed by him. Needs to work on his body language a bit when things aren't going his way, but i'd say he was the best athlete on the field and will be a force for years to come. Union's QB, he was fine. I wasn't overly impressed, but it's tough to judge a QB when you are stuck thinking he looks like a D-Tackle. He threw the ball pretty well.. Made some pretty good decisions. But on a few scrambles, he was a few Doritos Locos Tacos short of some backbreaking first downs. If Union nips that in the bud for next year, they will have a pretty slick QB/WR duo. Union's Defense was tough, however, for me, it comes with a 'but' which i'll hit on below. Congrats to Union, it was a big win, and you have the shoes back after a long departure. Like I said to some of their less than stellar fans telling me to check the scoreboard...Good luck at your game next week...

So over to RPI. SO i'll openly admit, i've watched about a half of RPI football this year on stream. I've listened to every game though. I don't know if this 3-4 yard crossing route junk was their offense all year, but if it was, i'm very clear now why their offense was struggling. Union clearly was expecting this ALL day, so they did what any smart team would do and they jammed 9 guys inside the hashes and made it congested. A throw being a little off or a hand getting in there somewhere is almost an automatic INT. Felt like it happened about 6 times in the first half. So as any good coaching staff should do, they would adjust for half 2 right? Wrong. It was like that definition of 'insanity' where you do the same things over and over hoping for a different result. The deep 3rd was clearly wide open and Union was giving it away. RPI went there maybe 2-3 times and had success but that was it. By the end of the game, I was disgusted by the offensive game plan, the play calling and the coaching from the Offensive side.

The Defense was tough. Most of Unions points were on turnover scores or turnover short fields. The offense just kept giving it back and giving it back and giving it back. And then, the play of the game, with 6 and a half minutes to play, 4th and 4 on your own 6 down by 10....There is one choice...To punt and hope for a stop. Plenty of time for a 10 point deficit. But no, RPI goes for it, runs another garbage crossing route that wasn't even close and Union scores one play later. It was embarrassing and a let down.

Moving to the final touchdown, and something the artist formerly known as DLIP might have called classless a year ago if the shoes were on different feet...The RPI QB throws yet another INT with minutes to go, Union intercepts, runs it back for a TD and the dude chucked the ball up and over the field house. People in the stands were yelling and screaming and all that jazz. While I didn't like the end result(7 points and a W for Union), I smilled and said to my man Krazy Krazy, 'That sucked, but tossing the ball over the field house was pretty awesome. I woulda totally done that.'  In this rivalry, stuff like that should be expected and absorbed. In this case, well done to that dude. I hope you got a flat tire on the way back to the Schenecta-ghetto, but well done.

I've been saying for weeks that for RPI, nothing good could come from the Union game. This is a game that RPI traditionally loses this time of year and they followed suit. I hope the Offensive Coordinator was trying to hide stuff from Husson or something. There HAS to be a rhyme or reason for that right? It was atrocious. But I hope they can get it together for next week.

Last thought, I figured RPI losing to Union would hurt them for playoff seedings. Realistically, based on how the 'East' bracket played out, I don't think it would have been much different at all. RPI hosts Husson, which was the guess a week ago. Winner gets Brockport. Winner would've likely gotten Brockport or Frosty either way most likely.

After last week, Husson scares me much more and I hope RPI puts it together and takes care of business.

[Bombers798891]

First things first: Ithaca won Cortaca. Cortland did not

It was a strange game though. In the first half, Cortland played some of the worst, most undisciplined football I've ever seen. Ithaca could (and probably should) have led 31-0 at the half. But credit the Red Dragons for fighting back, and nearly pulling off the comeback. It was a messy game, filled with mistakes on both sides. Glad IC won.

Overall, the LL was kind of odd. It reminds me a lot of the 2013 E8, where IC won it, but you never really got the sense that they were the best team in the conference. Indeed, you could probably make convincing cases for IC or Union this year.

But RPI is where they want to be, in the NCAAs, and with a pretty favorable first round matchup, given what we've been told all year about NE football. Of course, the two teams have a common opponent who waxed both of them, so...