FB: Liberty League

[jmcozenlaw]

https://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/2019/11/case-western-reserve-football-winning-is-big-a-relief-from-tests-and-labs-for-playoff-bound-spartans.html

Article that E.115 posted on the PAC board. This is one of the best student/athlete articles Ice Bear has read. SOunds like CWRU would fit right into the LL. Great ****ing article about some awesome student athletes!

Ice Bear, nice article. This will not be an easy game for the Dutchmen. CWRU is legit in both football and academics. CWRU(#40 Nationl Universities) is very similar to Uof R(#27 National Universities) but with a good D3 football team. No wonder they have some great student athletes. Good luck tomorrow. Bartman is looking for a LL sweep in all post season games.....Go Dutchmen, Statesmen, Bombers and Engineers!

CWRU and Rochester are actually in the same conference for sports not named football, the UAA.  It is referred to as the "D3 Ivies".  I believe all 8 schools are ranked in the top 50 in the country in any division for academics.

There were only 5 member schools with football programs, but Rochester always played in the LL for football, so only 4 were official football playing members.  (Carnegie Mellon, WUStL, CWRU, and UofChicago...Brandeis, Emory, and NYU do not have teams.). Wanting an automatic qualifier, the 4 teams split, with 2 going to the PAC and the other 2 going somewhere else west (yeah I'm too lazy to look it up).

And that concludes my "more information than you cared about" post for the day.

That "D3 Ivies" (which I've never heard.........and I went to Swarthmore) comment is going to make those on the NESCAC board cringe.

[jam40jeff]

They can still have "Little Ivies."

Either way, pretty much any list of the top academic institutions in D3 will include mostly UAA and NESCAC schools.

[Oline89]

They can still have "Little Ivies."

Either way, pretty much any list of the top academic institutions in D3 will include mostly UAA and NESCAC schools.

Bad place to post that one, plenty of LL teams will argue to be in top academic institutions (see RPI, Union, Hobart, SLU)

[E.115]

^ These colleges are all pumping out some smart kids.  I don't think any of them / us have to worry.

Bringing it back to football, Coach Debs has seen enough film I'm thinking:

[Ike Irabor] is really good. He's their conference MVP. He had a great year as a freshman. He's one of the best players in the country." —— Coach Greg Debeljak, Case Western Reserve


https://www.cleveland.com/sports/2019/11/a-familiar-face-greets-case-as-spartans-mount-union-and-notre-dame-college-prepare-for-ncaa-playoffs.html

[UfanBill]

I'm very wary of Union's opponent CWRU. The Spartans have a very capable QB in Drew Saxton and excellent receivers in Colt Morgan, Michael Wojkowski and Mario Robaina. They can strike deep and are also tough in the redzone with their height. The Union DBs will have their hands full.

I'm reminded of a similar scenario back in 2000. The Dutchmen were LL champs and hosted a 1st round playoff game against Widener. Also a team they had never seen before. That year the Pride had an excellent QB and two 1200 yard receivers. They came into Frank Bailey and jumped all over the Dutchmen quickly with 2 long TD passes. Union fought back late and had a possession to tie but Widener prevailed 33-26.

Against CWRU the Dutchmen cannot afford to fall two scores down and I don't believe they will. Union has only been behind in a game 3 times all season (10-7 to Rochester and 14-10 to both St.Lawrence and Ithaca) In all three instances the Dutchmen responded with a go ahead TD within 2 minutes.. That's the character of this team. If the defense gives up points the offense gets them right back.

There will be points scored in this game. CWRU has an excellent offense but I believe Union has the better defense. The Dutchmen D will rule the day. 33-26 Union.

*interesting note- The Union defense was 52 seconds away from being perfect in the 3rd quarter! The only 3rd period points given up by Union all season was a Utica TD with 52 seconds left.

[jam40jeff]

Geez, I'm digging myself a hole.  I didn't mean to imply anything about other schools other than the conference CWRU is in for other sports is highly regarded as that seemed to not be common knowledge.  I apologize for offending the LL if I did, as I'm sure it can lay claim to being an upper tier conference as well.

As far as the game goes, what is the forecast?  This CWRU team seems to play better in nice weather.  In the cold, windy, rainy weather they haven't looked as sharp.  There's also a question mark about whether Saxton is 100%, as he hasn't really looked himself the last 4 games.  All that being said, CWRU still generally fares well in the passing game.  The running game is the difference maker for them.  In their big wins, they ran the ball effectively, but in their close wins over bad teams they haven't been able to move the ball on the ground.

Also, that stat about points given up (or lack thereof) by Union in the 3rd quarter this season is amazing.

[E.115]

GREAT ARTICLE: https://dailygazette.com/article/2019/11/22/union-football-ready-for-case-western-reserve-in-ncaa-tournament

[Ice Bear]

Ice Bear wishes all the LL teams today the very best. Tough postseason games across the board.

[Doid23]

I apologize for offending the LL if I did, as I'm sure it can lay claim to being an upper tier conference as well.

Well, if your comments offended the board,, then we've become soft. That said, they probably ARE considered better schools than the LL by most rating sites. Now let's play some football! ( or watch it sitting on my couch he, while eating Cheetos, same thing)

[unionpalooza]

Best of luck to all the LL teams today.  As for Union, well, it's time to throw the records and stats out and play our best ball.  Case Western brings a strong team into town, with a great air game and relentless D-line, and I'm hoping the Dutchmen can recover focus from finals week and get the win.  I expect we remain pretty banged up on both sides of the ball, but U managed to overcome that last week, so hopefully they bring the same mentality.  I think this will all come down to which team can achieve balance by running the ball.  May the best team win. Go U!

[unionpalooza]

Union getting housed 21-3 heading into halftime.  Can't stop CWRU's offense, and not able to execute on O.  Not pretty at all.

[Jonny Utah]

Union getting housed 21-3 heading into halftime.  Can't stop CWRU's offense, and not able to execute on O.  Not pretty at all.

Yea that playcall down on the CWRU 5 with the wildcat looked sloppy.  Coaches need to step up at the half and settle the team down.

[Ice Bear]

Ice Bear says congrats to CWRU on a dominating and excellent first half. The Spartans are dominating all aspects of this football game and they clearly are the better team right now. Ice says obviously in this game of football you never know what can happen but unless the Dutchmen come out full ****ing, "Mr. Hyde," their excellent season will end at 10-1 with an LL title and NCAA first round loss.

Hats off to CWRU so far. Ice is very impressed with their ability to completely bottle up the Dutchmen O and exploit the Dutchmen D's weakness, the short pass.

[Jonny Utah]

Salisbury up 63-0 at the half.

Love how during the halftime on the video feed Salisbury basically replays the first half in slow motion.  Much better than showing an empty field like every LL team I've seen this year.

[Jonny Utah]

If Union stalls this drive.  I'd put in John G.