FB: Liberty League

[Bartman]

I think I watched this game on the computer now, or at least imagined it..... RPI is obviously a  bad weather team...so luckily the weather is 80% rain for Baltimore on Saturday...let the Mudders run,

I was thinking about hitting the game until I saw the forecast.  Hopkins has a turf field so the rain should not be an issue.  Hoping for a good game.

Brockport was a turf field as well, slipping and sliding occurs on turf fields .....just no mud...so forget the Mudder reference....go Engineers

[Oline89]

How about Hopkins spends a little of that endowment on painting  a football field end zone.  Watching football on a field painted for lacrosse is tough.

[Ice Bear]

dlip thinks JHU is the better team after the first half but hats off to RPI for the fight and decent play on both sides of the ball. They are fighting and proving so far to be quite the worthy opponent. don't know if there has been an Engineer team dlip respects more. These kids are tough and they play hard. They MUST stop JHU on their first possession after the half. Keep it up RPI. Once again, IDLHO you are representing the LL well.

[Pat Coleman]

How about Hopkins spends a little of that endowment on painting  a football field end zone.  Watching football on a field painted for lacrosse is tough.

Lacrosse is the most important sport at JHU. They're not changing that.

[Ralph Turner]

How about Hopkins spends a little of that endowment on painting  a football field end zone.  Watching football on a field painted for lacrosse is tough.

Lacrosse is the most important sport at JHU. They're not changing that.

A friend of mine attended Johns Hopkins for Medical School and Residency in the 1950's and early 1960's.

Hopkins was playing Syracuse in lacrosse and Syracuse had this big black guy who was mean, fast, and adept at the sport.

His name was Jim Brown.

[The Mole]

JB was a better lax than football player if that is even fathomable.....

[edward de vere]

Hence "the Jim Brown rule."

[Machiavelli]

RPI represented the East and, particularly, the LL well this year. I don't know what I was expecting Saturday, but I expected more out of Hopkins for some reason. To me, they were definitely beatable for RPI. Don't get me wrong, they are very very good. I was just expecting to be blown away by their talent and I wasn't. The key to the game, as someone has already mentioned, is Hopkins is very solid, very well coached, and they don't make many, if any, mistakes. RPI never really had a chance to capitalize on mistakes, because there weren't any, and RPI's offense just couldn't keep up. The defense had a bit of trouble with the misdirection and speed which didn't help. But I still think if they played 10 times, RPI might win 3 or 4 of them.

After hearing so much and seeing the stats of the Hopkins QB, again, I don't know what I was expecting, but he wasn't quite as good as I expected. He was a very effective runner, an effective passer, but for some reason he just didn't pass the eye test for me. It's weird, and I know I might take heat for it, but he just wasn't what I expected. Germinerio has this presence in the way he carries himself and moves, throws, etc, and Tammaro seemed just like a really good D3 quarterback, not a superstar. The RB #5 on the other hand, he was phenomenal. I didn't expect Hopkins to run all over RPI but that kid was a brick sh!thouse. He was really fast, really strong, and very impressive. Every time he touched the ball, it felt like he could break one open.

With all of this said, I think Mount Union is going to have it's hands full with Hopkins. If they run some effective option with the QB and pound Walters all day, it could certainly be a shootout. I think Mount Union will put up some points though. Hopkins' Defense was good, but not stellar, so if Hopkins is to win, there could be close to 100 points scored in the game.

Congrats to Hopkins, good luck next week, give em hell.

Big Congrats to RPI. This definitely wasn't the strongest RPI team of all time, but they were 1 win away from tying the best season ever, and they surprised a lot of people. Hopefully they've brought a little respect back to the East and the LL.

'I smoked pot with Johnny Hopkins. It was Johnny Hopkins and Sloan Kettering. And they were blazing that **** up every day.'  -Brennan Huff

[Bartman]

Congratulations to RPI on a very successful season(well, except for the shoes game). Your coaching staff and players did what we all strive for...they gave it their best effort all season. This was a good team but not the best and most athletic team talent wise, but it played as a team in the playoffs. They were capable of beating Hopkins but Hopkins is very similar, just slightly better athletes. Both teams were very disciplined....as evidenced by zero turnovers in the game, heck RPI only had one 5 yard penalty. The difference was RPI could not run yesterday and it surprised me how strong the Hopkins Dline and LBs were.The Engineers needed a sub par performance from Hopkins, but they didn't get what Brockport  gave them ...bad execution in sloppy weather. RPI took advantage of Brockport's panic that they were "in a game" with solid line play and holding on to the ball. Yesterday they met a team that was equally disciplined, which will serve Hopkins well in the next round. RPI represented the LL very well, but Hopkins represented the CC even better.
      I think Hopkins should give Mount Union a scare next week especially if Mount Union makes mistakes and turnovers because this Hopkins team will take advantage  and will give it their best effort....which is all you can ask from our D3 athletes.

[Ice Bear]

RPI represented the East and, particularly, the LL well this year. I don't know what I was expecting Saturday, but I expected more out of Hopkins for some reason. To me, they were definitely beatable for RPI. Don't get me wrong, they are very very good. I was just expecting to be blown away by their talent and I wasn't. The key to the game, as someone has already mentioned, is Hopkins is very solid, very well coached, and they don't make many, if any, mistakes. RPI never really had a chance to capitalize on mistakes, because there weren't any, and RPI's offense just couldn't keep up. The defense had a bit of trouble with the misdirection and speed which didn't help. But I still think if they played 10 times, RPI might win 3 or 4 of them.

After hearing so much and seeing the stats of the Hopkins QB, again, I don't know what I was expecting, but he wasn't quite as good as I expected. He was a very effective runner, an effective passer, but for some reason he just didn't pass the eye test for me. It's weird, and I know I might take heat for it, but he just wasn't what I expected. Germinerio has this presence in the way he carries himself and moves, throws, etc, and Tammaro seemed just like a really good D3 quarterback, not a superstar. The RB #5 on the other hand, he was phenomenal. I didn't expect Hopkins to run all over RPI but that kid was a brick sh!thouse. He was really fast, really strong, and very impressive. Every time he touched the ball, it felt like he could break one open.

With all of this said, I think Mount Union is going to have it's hands full with Hopkins. If they run some effective option with the QB and pound Walters all day, it could certainly be a shootout. I think Mount Union will put up some points though. Hopkins' Defense was good, but not stellar, so if Hopkins is to win, there could be close to 100 points scored in the game.

Congrats to Hopkins, good luck next week, give em hell.

Big Congrats to RPI. This definitely wasn't the strongest RPI team of all time, but they were 1 win away from tying the best season ever, and they surprised a lot of people. Hopefully they've brought a little respect back to the East and the LL.

'I smoked pot with Johnny Hopkins. It was Johnny Hopkins and Sloan Kettering. And they were blazing that **** up every day.'  -Brennan Huff

This is a ****ing solid post Mach (Bartman as well below). dlip feels similar on many levels, and also with absolutely no disrespect to Hopkins at all. dlip is a ****ing Blue Jay this week!

Inside dlip's head, when reflecting he guesses he was expecting JH to just go ****ing bananas on O. They certainly have some excellent athletes (love that athletic small receiver Ryan Hubley. Kid was all over the place, he reminds dlip of Edelman on the Patriots) and did what they had to do to win the game. #5 is a ****ing beast and if JH has a chance against Mount he must be in full mother****ing beast mode.

He too was a bit "underwhelmed" with the play of their QB. Who knows, maybe the weather and RPI's D played a role in that. Like you said there is no question the kid is damn good but dlip was expecting more.

As far as next week goes dlip really feels JHU is going to lose by at least three scores. Mount really had a ****ty game (from what dlip saw) on Saturday. Now there is no questions that dlip's perspective and expectations of Mount can be/could be off. He was impressed with the Mules defense and too dlip the teams looked much closer than dlip expected. With that said dlip gives Mount the benefit of the doubt here and chalks up the competitiveness of the Mules to their tough defense, ****ty weather, and over confidence on Mount's side. ON the OAC one poster mentioned he thought Mount looked like they were simply going through the motions and didn't even want to be out there. dlip got that impression as well and figures Mount to come correct this weekend.

While JHU comes into Alliance with a better offense than the Mules dlip believes their D will get ****ing pounded and the O just won't be able to keep up. RPI's O looked pretty decent against the Jays and like Mach said, good enough to win maybe 3 or 4 times out of 10. Mount is going to be a completely different animal. LK will have them on point and ready to go. dlip hopes he's wrong but...he thinks he's correct here.

Like dlip said before he is just very taken with this RPI team. Unfortunately it tarnishes his ****ing hatred of the Engineers and replaces it with more and more respect. ****ing coaching staff and kids did a hell of a job cleaning up their turnovers and penalties against the highest level of competition they faced all season. That says something. Also to come back from a tough rivalry loss and not look back, hats off to the Engineers. They represented the East and LL very well.

[wally_wabash]

My $0.02 from seeing the Hopkins-RPI QF in person...

- I came away pretty impressed with RPI's ability to produce offense once it was 1) clear that Hopkins wasn't going to give Cella room to breathe, 2) RPI got behind by enough to be forced into one dimension due to time/score, and 3) the conditions that made vertical passing football about 100x harder than it already is.  Marinopolous made a lot of really good throws against and into some really good Blue Jay coverage.  He's going to be quite an asset for RPI over the next two years. 

- I think most people felt RPI really needed to get 2-3 takeaways here to counter the JHU offense, but JHU just didn't cooperate.  That's a team that is really executing well right now and making zero mistakes. 

- Two of the biggest spots in the game for me came on Hopkins 4th downs.  At 7-7 in the 2nd quarter, Hopkins has 3rd and 17, picks up 15 down to the RPI 13.  They go for it, pick it up on a Tammaro keeper, then punch it in a few plays later.  The killer play there was probably the 3rd and 17, but RPI had a chance to end the drive there and didn't.  Then opening the 3rd quarter, now with a 17-7 lead, Hopkins goes for it on 4th and 1 at their own 31, pick it up- barely, then finish that drive off with a TD to go up 24-7 and really put RPI in the danger zone at that point.  Stops on either of those 4th downs either give RPI a chance to take control in the game in the 2nd quarter or a chance to get right back in it using the short field there in the 3rd quarter. 

- I disagree with the meh-ness of Tammaro.  I thought he played a wicked smart game, especially recognizing and reacting to the wide open acreage RPI gave him to run through.  Six of his ten rushes resulted in either a first down (5) or a touchdown (1) and four of those came on 3rd or 4th down.  RPI did a great job, I thought, of covering up most of JHU's offense, but they ran out of dudes to cover everything plus spy the QB.  That's the stress that offense puts on teams.   

It was an absolute pleasure to watch these two teams on Saturday.  Congrats to the Engineers on a fantastic season and congrats to the LL as a whole for a very solid year overall.  Enjoy the ****ing semis this weekend.   

[NED3Guy]

How about Hopkins spends a little of that endowment on painting  a football field end zone.  Watching football on a field painted for lacrosse is tough.

Lacrosse is the most important sport at JHU. They're not changing that.

Not unlike the LL D1 Hockey Schools (Union, RPI, SLU).

I'm not sure if Hobart's D1 lacrosse team gets the same love that the other LL D1 teams get though.

[Oline89]

RPI certainly had an awesome year, and the fact that they did so well in the post season, validates how strong the teams coming from the LL are.  Losing to Union, beating Ithaca by 1 and Hobart by 7, shows how closely aligned these schools really are.  Looks to me like a the LL champ can certainly do some damage on the regional and national stages for several years to come. 

[Jonny Utah]

RPI certainly had an awesome year, and the fact that they did so well in the post season, validates how strong the teams coming from the LL are.  Losing to Union, beating Ithaca by 1 and Hobart by 7, shows how closely aligned these schools really are.  Looks to me like a the LL champ can certainly do some damage on the regional and national stages for several years to come.

Ithaca loses a ton on defense next year.  A quick glance looks like they will return 3 starters on defense, and 10 on offense.  Will be interesting. 

[Oline89]

RPI certainly had an awesome year, and the fact that they did so well in the post season, validates how strong the teams coming from the LL are.  Losing to Union, beating Ithaca by 1 and Hobart by 7, shows how closely aligned these schools really are.  Looks to me like a the LL champ can certainly do some damage on the regional and national stages for several years to come.

Ithaca loses a ton on defense next year.  A quick glance looks like they will return 3 starters on defense, and 10 on offense.  Will be interesting.

Hobart looking pretty solid for next year, 10/11 starters on offense, 9/11 on defense!  There will be a QB battle over the spring and preseason.