FB: Liberty League

[unionpalooza]

12 is too high for me personally, but I'm not losing any sleep over it the way I have with some other rankings in the past.

Ice Bear concurs. He thinks more along the lines of 15-25, with 15 being the ceiling, as of now.

Same here.  It's a little hard to get a read on Union given how gimpy they are on offense.   But it's been nice to see the defense continue to gel and come together / put that together with a healthy, clicking offense and then we'll see. 

Also, I think the LL will be brutal this year

[UfanBill]

12 is too high for me personally, but I'm not losing any sleep over it the way I have with some other rankings in the past.

Union may not be the 12th best D3 team in the country but their spot in the poll shouldn't be an issue. They did finish 2019 ranked #12 and 2021 preseason they were #15 AND they are undefeated so...

[UfanBill]

I've said the Union depth would be critical this season. Never more than today. With star RB Ike Irabor out (he should be back next week) and his 2019 backup, LL 2nd team All Star, Joseph Ferreira out for the season, today this year's surprise RB Michael Fiore also missed the game with injury.  The Dutchmen had to go into their depth chart to find a running back and today had to go 4, 5 and 6 deep. After two quick TD strikes to WR Andre Ross Jr. and Robbie Tolbert, Utica bottled up the Dutchmen run and with QB Will Bellamy struggling somewhat the Pioneers were solidly in the game at halftime trailing only 14-9. 
The Dutchmen are not just a one trick pony however and the Union defense came to play today, holding Utica 4 times on short yardage 4th down attempts and forcing two turnovers. After halftime Union found a spark in the running game from 6th string RB, freshman Jonathan Anderson, who ran for 75 2nd half yards, and Will Bellamy regained his form and hit Ross and Tolbert for 4th quarter TDs. The defense kept Utica out of the endzone and the Dutchman eased to a 30-9 victory.       

[stlawus]

I know SLU is in a tier below the likes of Union and Hobart this year but I was quite happy to see the team drop 55 points today while only allowing a field goal.  Nice to get the underclassmen some experience in the 2nd half. 

[Bartman]

I know SLU is in a tier below the likes of Union and Hobart this year but I was quite happy to see the team drop 55 points today while only allowing a field goal.  Nice to get the underclassmen some experience in the 2nd half.

i have definitely been impressed with the Saints start to the season. They are looking to upset one of the top 4, and I think if anyone thinks they can sleep on the Saints, they will be looking at a loss. Rochester has also improved this year.
    I am not really sure who is the best team in the LL yet, but I'm glad 3 LL teams are ranked(Hobart popping in at #21), and frankly RPI should be up their too..
    A huge game for the Statesmen at Ithaca, where they have never won at Butterfield. We will see how good the Hobart defense is.....hopefully our 2 best linebackers , Forde and Aquilar will be playing after sitting with injuries, as they are critical for any chance to upset the Bombers. I think the Hobart backs could be the difference, but it all depends on the Oline performance. Our passing game just takes the pressure off the run. A critical game for both teams early in the season
 

[unionpalooza]

I know SLU is in a tier below the likes of Union and Hobart this year but I was quite happy to see the team drop 55 points today while only allowing a field goal.  Nice to get the underclassmen some experience in the 2nd half.

i have definitely been impressed with the Saints start to the season. They are looking to upset one of the top 4, and I think if anyone thinks they can sleep on the Saints, they will be looking at a loss. Rochester has also improved this year.
    I am not really sure who is the best team in the LL yet, but I'm glad 3 LL teams are ranked(Hobart popping in at #21), and frankly RPI should be up their too..
    A huge game for the Statesmen at Ithaca, where they have never won at Butterfield. We will see how good the Hobart defense is.....hopefully our 2 best linebackers , Forde and Aquilar will be playing after sitting with injuries, as they are critical for any chance to upset the Bombers. I think the Hobart backs could be the difference, but it all depends on the Oline performance. Our passing game just takes the pressure off the run. A critical game for both teams early in the season

I too can't really figure out who's best in the LL.  Among the four undefeated teams, the SOSs are pretty abysmal, ranging from .230 to .454, with just two wins over a team that's over .500 (Ithaca over Brockport and Union over Utica).  And the victory margin over common opponents are pretty similar.  In this weird year, I have to think that a lot will come down to (1) who can stay healthy and (2) which team's younger players come along as the season progresses.  My hunch is that Union and Hobart are the top two, and pretty evenly matched, though if Union can put all its stars on the field at the same time (which they've really been able to do since the first few quarters of the season) they'll have the edge.

As a Union guy, the most fun surprise of the year has been fresh WR Robbie Tolbert.  Reminds me a little of Will Gladney - great hands and a great route runner, with 6 TDs in his first four games. 

[Machiavelli]

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RPI

[UfanBill]

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RPI

So it takes a 4-0 start for you to turn on your Tin-Foil Hat? 

[UfanBill]

Come on Mach...I gave you +k for your Radar..can't we all just get along? Glad to see you're back. 

[Bartman]

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RPI

Mach is back....+k just for showing up.....too bad none of the off-campus Engineer fans can get anything for showing up at the home games...I'm sure even Mach would not sanction such a policy.....if Mach shows up for the battle in Geneva he can sit behind the RPI bench without even wearing a mask IF he stays 3 feet away from others(the HWS science department has interpreted the CDC guidance a little differently than RPI)... you can even bring your dog

[Machiavelli]

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RPI

Mach is back....+k just for showing up.....too bad none of the off-campus Engineer fans can get anything for showing up at the home games...I'm sure even Mach would not sanction such a policy.....if Mach shows up for the battle in Geneva he can sit behind the RPI bench without even wearing a mask IF he stays 3 feet away from others(the HWS science department has interpreted the CDC guidance a little differently than RPI)... you can even bring your dog

Personally, I think the RPI fan policy is absolute horsesh!t. 'Too many fans' at RPI has never been a major issue, especially with the new stadium. It's plenty big for students and families of home and away teams, at the very least, to attend and sit 100 feet apart from one another. I understand the issues of maybe not wanting anyone inside the ECAV building(if that was the concern). But that could be mitigated with a few porta potties or something. I think the RPI Administration was just lazy in making the decision. While many of us love D3 football, and in my case, the RPI Football program, the Administration has never really given 2 sh!ts about the program, and this is a blatant sign of that.

If you want to close it down to outsiders, fine, but if I were a parent of one of these kids, I wouldn't be a very happy camper, nor would I be quiet about it. Shoot, you could even require proof of vaccination and/or a negative PCR test within 72 hours, like so many other facilities are doing. It's not foolproof, but it could at least give some ability to allow in families. Pure laziness and shame on Shirley.

[Bartman]

Mach, I would give you another +k, but I can only give you one per day. This whole Covid thing has disrupted the college experience tremendously. Very sad. I just hope we don't get any cases that impact the players game day participation, and of course, actual health.....so far, so good in the LL.

[stlawus]

Mach, I would give you another +k, but I can only give you one per day. This whole Covid thing has disrupted the college experience tremendously. Very sad. I just hope we don't get any cases that impact the players game day participation, and of course, actual health.....so far, so good in the LL.

Kind of.  SLU was affected in their first game.   A huge chunk of the team had to miss that game because of a campus break out.   Only a handful of positives on campus now, however.

[Ice Bear]

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RPI

Mach is back....+k just for showing up.....too bad none of the off-campus Engineer fans can get anything for showing up at the home games...I'm sure even Mach would not sanction such a policy.....if Mach shows up for the battle in Geneva he can sit behind the RPI bench without even wearing a mask IF he stays 3 feet away from others(the HWS science department has interpreted the CDC guidance a little differently than RPI)... you can even bring your dog

Personally, I think the RPI fan policy is absolute horsesh!t. 'Too many fans' at RPI has never been a major issue, especially with the new stadium. It's plenty big for students and families of home and away teams, at the very least, to attend and sit 100 feet apart from one another. I understand the issues of maybe not wanting anyone inside the ECAV building(if that was the concern). But that could be mitigated with a few porta potties or something. I think the RPI Administration was just lazy in making the decision. While many of us love D3 football, and in my case, the RPI Football program, the Administration has never really given 2 sh!ts about the program, and this is a blatant sign of that.

If you want to close it down to outsiders, fine, but if I were a parent of one of these kids, I wouldn't be a very happy camper, nor would I be quiet about it. Shoot, you could even require proof of vaccination and/or a negative PCR test within 72 hours, like so many other facilities are doing. It's not foolproof, but it could at least give some ability to allow in families. Pure laziness and shame on Shirley.

Ice Bear says he agrees 100%. If Ice Bear was a parent of an RPI player (let's be honest as that would never ****ing happen) he would be irate and would also not be quiet about it. RPI's policy if ****ing shameful. With that said their win of SJF was not.

[Bartman]

WEEK 5 LL PICKS:

     Bartman is 23-2 on picks YTD and the LL is 19-6 Out of Conference:

October2;

UNION                   49           Buffalo State                 10         Union takes it easy on the Bengals

Rochester               10           RPI                               28        The Yellowjackets are real, but can't score enough

Hobart                    31           Ithaca                          30         Bombers have a hard time scoring TDs in the red zone, 
                                                                                            and Bahamonde kicks a record 10 fieldgoals as
                                                                                            Hobart ends the Bfield curse. Bartman is totally not
                                                                                            objective as he would make a deal with the devil
                                                                                            to win in Bomberville for the first time