FB: Liberty League

[Caz Bombers]

tip of the cap to the Larries for yanking RPI off stage and setting up the winner take all LL championship game next week in Ithaca.

[stlawus]

Most impressive win for SLU in about 3 years.  I was very surprised.   Offense is meshing more with every week.   Team is still pretty young with most of the offense returning next year, so things are looking up after a few bleak seasons.

[unionpalooza]

Most impressive win for SLU in about 3 years.  I was very surprised.   Offense is meshing more with every week.   Team is still pretty young with most of the offense returning next year, so things are looking up after a few bleak seasons.

Congrats.  Definitely seems like good things to come. 

[Machiavelli]

tip of the cap to the Larries for yanking RPI off stage and setting up the winner take all LL championship game next week in Ithaca.

RPI's offense has been a total disappointment all year. I didn't think much of the offense last year to be honest. Yesterday, both sides of the ball stunk. SLU is definitely a team on the up and up. RPI is going in the other direction and is looking 4-6/5-5 right in the face. I know they lost from last year but I expected better. I hope they can revamp their offense a bit to end the year. They have the players but their philosophy and play calling leaves a lot to be desired. Get better and get some momentum for 2020.

[Oline89]

Safe to say that the SLU over RPI is the first real upset of LL 2019?

[Ithaca798891]

Safe to say that the SLU over RPI is the first real upset of LL 2019?

Actually, looking at the remaining schedules, I think both St. Lawrence and RPI end up at 5-5 (2-4). So they're pretty evenly matched, to me.

[Ithaca798891]

Well, this week is the kind of week I love. Winner-take-all between two good teams.

I think Ithaca's the favorite at home, based largely on the results against common opponents. Early in the 4th quarter, Union was up 24-17 on St. Lawrence and 21-14 to Buffalo State, while the Bombers had both games salted away by halftime. The Bombers also had a bigger win over Hobart.

I've been impressed all year with Union's defense, which has established itself as the top in the conference by, I think, a healthy margin.

The offense, I think it all comes down to Ike Irabor's status. Union's offense looked excellent against the Bengals (The 7.1 YPP figure is more important to me than the somewhat low 28 points), but as good as Ferreria is, Irabor's still the guy who gives you something no other team in the LL has. There's a reason he had 50 more carries and twice the YPG heading into last week's game.

Union's a very efficient passing team (15 TD/2 INT, 70.9% completion), so I would not expect mistakes from them. The question I have, whenever I see a team like Union (Undefeated, great running game, efficient but not high volume passing) is if it's good enough to get them back into a game they're trailing a a couple of scores. I'm thinking about a team like Fisher, that has, several times, turned a potential blowout to a potential win on the strength of their passing game.

We saw Alfred give IC some trouble with their running game in the first half. Even Hobart had some success early. A Union team with a healthy Irabor has an even better rushing attack.

We know what we're going to see with Ithaca's offense. It will be interesting to see how Union handles it. They gave up 350 yards passing to St. Lawrence, which is the only team that even remotely compares to IC. But, it took St. Lawrence 55 dropbacks to get those yards, which is actually a pretty good number, from Union's perspective.

As I said, I like IC in this game at home. But I expect a great one, particularly if Irabor plays.

[Machiavelli]

Safe to say that the SLU over RPI is the first real upset of LL 2019?

Actually, looking at the remaining schedules, I think both St. Lawrence and RPI end up at 5-5 (2-4). So they're pretty evenly matched, to me.

Agreed, but it is definitely a perception upset. I think a pretty decent one too based on last year and the pre-season outlook for RPI. But a lot of people thought RPI would be down and that proved to be true.

[UfanBill]

Barring any setback I expect Irabor to play. He made the trip to Buffalo with the team (a good sign) but did not dress and had a soft boot on his foot as clearly seen in video of the players hand shake line post game. It's reported as a strain.

Not sure if any other injuries may have been sustained by the Dutchmen. Junior LG Chris Katchadurian, a three year starter, did come out of the game early. I'm not sure if he returned. Star WR Andre Ross Jr. did not play in the 2nd half.  One thing about these Dutchmen though...they have depth. Ferreira is very capable, runs hard and does not fumble. WR Will Sirmon, a Holy Cross transfer, has worked his way into the starting line-up and caught a TD Saturday...And they still have WR Griffin Beal.(1st team LL in 2017, 2nd team 2018)  On defense they're healthy with the exception of Sr. DT Tim Guinee who started early but has been out for the last few games. His back-up Jimaar Edwards has played great and may very well be the starter even if Guinee returns.

I'm extremely excited that the Dutchmen have made it unscathed to this pivotal game. When coach Behrman was hired 4 years ago there was much debate about whether Union had done the right thing, firing a very successful coach Audino and going in a totally new direction. So far it's been all that any Union fan could ask for.
                                     LET'S GO U

[UfanBill]

A photo today of a member of the Ithaca Bombers grounds crew trying to locate the sidelines at Butterfield in preparation for this week's game.

[Oline89]

Safe to say that the SLU over RPI is the first real upset of LL 2019?

Actually, looking at the remaining schedules, I think both St. Lawrence and RPI end up at 5-5 (2-4). So they're pretty evenly matched, to me.

So pre game you thought it was an even matchup?  Seemed to be a pretty big surprise (ie upset) that SLU dominated.

[MRMIKESMITH]

A photo today of a member of the Ithaca Bombers grounds crew trying to locate the sidelines at Butterfield in preparation for this week's game.

Had to chuckle at that... that field in combination with their defense always and still haunts Salisbury. If things play out according to current rankings,  we may end up there in Round 3, maybe.

[Oline89]

After watching both IC and Union play Hobart, IMO Union has to be at max strength (no Irabor injury!) to make this a game.  They have to rush Germ from different angles, get him out of the pocket, establish a run game early and stick with it.  Keeping Germ and the rest of the offense on the sideline, with long sustained time eating drives, is essential.  If Union plays a perfect game, Ithaca is beatable.  If Germ is given any time in the backfield, or coverage is broken and Gladney is given 1/2 a step, it is TD city.

[Machiavelli]

After watching both IC and Union play Hobart, IMO Union has to be at max strength (no Irabor injury!) to make this a game.  They have to rush Germ from different angles, get him out of the pocket, establish a run game early and stick with it.  Keeping Germ and the rest of the offense on the sideline, with long sustained time eating drives, is essential.  If Union plays a perfect game, Ithaca is beatable.  If Germ is given any time in the backfield, or coverage is broken and Gladney is given 1/2 a step, it is TD city.

I'll give my prediction, no matter who is healthy from Union...

First half, kinda close. Second half, not so much. Not a ton of flare from Ithaca, but a Patriots-esque win where you didn't realize it was a blowout until it is over. Ithaca grinds and is too much for Union.

IC - 35
Union - 17

[Ithaca798891]

So pre game you thought it was an even matchup?  Seemed to be a pretty big surprise (ie upset) that SLU dominated.

No, but the way games go change things. At this point, RPI has no-showed against every conference opponent except for Rochester. But we've seen St. Lawrence hang tough with Union, who has established themselves as the #2 in the conference. I see no reason to think the Engineers can expect better results against Union and IC (unless Irabor is really hurt).

Certainly, I wasn't expecting 35-0, but again, if two teams finish the season with the same record in the same conference, I'm not sure there's all that much differentiating them