FB: Liberty League

[Oline89]

Roch 7 Brock 35   Bport takes out some frustrations on the Yellow Jackets
Ithaca 28 Alfred 6  Alfred still trying to get offense going
Hobart 24 SJF 14 Homecoming crowd for SJF gives Statesmen O the jitters
Buff State 14 Cortland 42 top team in E8 rolls
RPI 21 WPI 24 First upset of the year
Springfield 14 Union 42  This offense is for real
SLU 28 MVille 7  MVille offense not great

[Bartman]

Roch 7 Brock 35   Bport takes out some frustrations on the Yellow Jackets
Ithaca 28 Alfred 6  Alfred still trying to get offense going
Hobart 24 SJF 14 Homecoming crowd for SJF gives Statesmen O the jitters
Buff State 14 Cortland 42 top team in E8 rolls
RPI 21 WPI 24 First upset of the year
Springfield 14 Union 42  This offense is for real
SLU 28 MVille 7  MVille offense not great

Oline+ k on a perfect pick week last week. I only differ with your RPI-WPI pick this week, although I can see it either way.

[unionpalooza]

Interesting to see that 2 of the 5 D3football.com expects picked Springfield over Union as upset of the week.  I certainly agree this is a classic trap game for Union - Springfield ran all over Rowan last week, and we still don't know how good Union is or isn't given the level of competition so far.  It looks like all Springfield's success last week came at fullback, which runs into the strength of the Union d-line, but Union is starting first-years at both corners, where there'll be a lot of pressure.  (Though one those corners, Dialin Clements, looks to be immensely talented.) At last Union has to tools on offense if this becomes a track meet.  My guess is a Union win in the 34-24 neighborhood, grinding one out after an early Springfield lead.

Elsewhere, MoVille clobbers SLU (the Stangs are much better than the score of their first two games), Ithaca, Hobart, and Cortland win big, Brockport wins small, and RPI's dark magic ends when someone leaves their secret voodoo doll behind in Troy and it's WPI that pulls off the last second win. 

[Pat Coleman]

Interesting to see that 2 of the 5 D3football.com expects picked Springfield over Union as upset of the week.

With such caveats as:

"The upset pickings are slim this week."

"In a week where there aren't too many good options, I'll try my luck with ..."

[UfanBill]

Interesting to see that 2 of the 5 D3football.com expects picked Springfield over Union as upset of the week.

With such caveats as:

"The upset pickings are slim this week."

"In a week where there aren't too many good options, I'll try my luck with ..."

I'm OK with it. Nothing like some good bulletin board material to increase incentive and focus the Dutchmen. I have a ton of respect for Springfield and their option offense but I'm believing coach Behrman and DC coach Flanders have had many discussions and a few nightmares about the last time Union faced an option team. I think they'll be ready for the challenge.

I feel the need to add...My bigger issue with the "experts" is their comments about who'll win the 5 LL vs. E8 games this weekend. Four of the five outcomes are pretty cut and dried with St. Lawrence at Moorisville being the tossup. While I believe the Larries are a more talented team and will take this one, Mooville is tough at home. The issue is that the experts allude to a E8 edge over the LL without pointing  out that so far this season the LL is 4-1 against their NY state rivals and were 10-6 against them in 2019. Just the facts.

[Ice Bear]

Ice Bear says hello.

[Ice Bear]

Ice Bear believes this evening will present some challenges for Union. In the past, and recently, Union has done well against the Pride's triple option offense defeating them the last two times the teams met.

Ice Bear is a closet Pride fan and loves to watch a good triple option team play at the collegiate level. He is impressed with the way in which the Pride ran "all the **** over" the Profs last week.

Ice Bear believes and hopes his Dutch will prevail this evening. He expects the usual "break out of a crazy scrum" 70 yard rushing TD from the Pride and some frustrating drives where the Dutch D may just scratch their heads as the Pride picks up first down after first down.

Ice Bear says that the Union O will be too much in the end. Ice hopes for an exciting injury free game.

Ice Bear says Let's Go Union

[unionpalooza]

The gurus were on to something as union barely hanging on to a 16-14 lead at halftime, with Springfield having all the momentum.  But for two Springfield fumbles, theyd be up.

[Zlax45]

Photos from WPI and RPI

https://www.foley-photography.com/Football/College-Football/2021-Season/RPI-at-WPI/

[UfanBill]

Nobody said it'd be easy. The Union Dutchman certainly didn't have an easy time putting away Springfield this late afternoon even though they held the lead throughout. Springfield led by the tough running of QB David Wells and FB Tim Callahan kept grinding out 1st downs, controlling the clock, keeping the Union offense on the sidelines and helped by 2 big pass plays were still in the game in the last minute. Union went conservative late which allowed the Pride to close the gap until an interception by LB Colin Lama sealed the deal.
Union was without the services of star WR Andre Ross Jr. who did not dress and RB Ike Irabor who limped off in the 2nd quarter after being stacked up at the goal line, and without them the Dutchman could not put Springfield away. It was a challenge for the Dutchmen but they dodged the upset and may well be a better team coming out of it. Let's hope they can get healthy.

[Ice Bear]

Ice Bear says he agrees with UfanBill.

Ice Bear says Union had the Pride out of it twice, at 10-0 and 30-14. Both times the Dutch seemed to be poised to run away. Ice Bear says the Pride never gave up and battled back both times. Ice says it was not over until the final INT. Ice Bear was way too excited.

Ice Bear says that both Ike and Andre are very important to this team. Both have to find ways to stay healthy if Ice's beloved Dutch are to keep winning as the competition gets tougher.

Ice will be rooting for the Pride's success through the rest of the season. The certainly earned his respect today.

[Bartman]

Attended the Hobart-Fisher game yesterday . Great facilities at St.John Fisher, although the visitor side bleachers seem to intentionally make the visitor fans feel like Division C high school , an obvious intended  psychological advantage . The game was way too chippy and I cannot defend the Statesmen who were sloppy and lacked discipline, although the refs often seemed confused and lacked consistency. The Hobart fans felt the refs were "homers", but I can't be honest unless I see the film since the lower stands don't give you a good view to weigh in on whether the calls were fair. In any case,I think Fisher was unable to run against Hobart Dline and found some success in the air. Without Emett Forde (out with bad Shoulder) Hobart did not put enough pressure on the Fisher QB's resulting in the first points against the Statesmen this year. Hopefully Forde  will be back for the better passing teams like Ithaca and Union or there will be big pressure on our DBs.
   The Hobart Oline improves every week and opened holes big enough for what could be the best dual threat running attack that Hobart has had since the 1970s with All Americans A-Z and Rich Kowalski in the same backfield. Both Denham and Boswell are averaging more than 100 yards a game each, and are extremely talented as runners and receivers , while Denham added a 90 yard TD kickoff return to start the second half that took the air out of the Fishers.
   Looking at the rest of the LL, Union, RPI and Ithaca remain undefeated and SLU and Rochester look improved(watch out for upsets!) while Buff State  struggles. Union is still the favorite, IMO, although beatable after watching much of the Springfield game(NB, Ross and Irabor were out). It should be a great LL season .May our teams stay healthy and enjoy the best the game offers.

[Bartman]

On Sunday, I watched the Hobart JV beat the SJ Fisher JV 33-14. This is good news for the Statesmen as the starting JV line was awesome in providing crisp run blocking and pass protection. The defense also showed  depth that gives optimism to the future of Hobart Football. Congrats to the Gameday Coaching staff! Extremely impressed with the Fisher JV Team fan support as a couple hundred Cardinal fans supported their team on a beautiful day in Geneva and enthusiastically cheered on every score and positive play for their team! D3 Football is still alive and well!

[formerd3db]

To you RPI alums:

Your team is 3-0 and has had two home games with beautiful fall weather for football. However, recorded attendance was only 485 and 237 for those games. What's up with that?

[ITH radio]

RPI has not allowed fans, other than their own students, into their home stadium for games. We covered it on our show and it's been chronicled elsewhere, but RPI parents and family have to sit on a hill, outside the stadium, to see their sons play. No fans etc. from away teams allowed either. So a 5K+ capacity stadium where social distancing would be pretty easy to ensure, isn't being utilized at all by the institution.