FB: Liberty League

[Ice Bear]

Union vs. Springfield: I feel the Garnet Chargers are very fortunate this game is home, on a Friday night under the lights. I wholeheartedly believe Union will need all the help they can get this week as they take a step back into reality against a team that made it into the second round of the NCAA's last season. Never mind facing my favorite offense in the triple option, the Garnet Chargers will see athleticism and physicality that they haven't seen so far this season. With that said Union's defensive strength and experience is a combination their defensive line and their physical LB core. I predict the Union O comes out shaky, struggles with timing, and won't mesh until the second quarter. Of course the Pride will get at least one passing TD and an 85 yard running TD out of what appears to be a scrum...still Union 21-20 in a squeaker.

Icebear...A little Springfield vs Union history here...The last time the Dutchmen faced Springfield under the lights was in their opener in 2007 on a Saturday at Frank Bailey. That would be the day that solidified your MANCRUSH on Pride QB Chris Sharpe. That night Sharpe rushed for 224 yards with TD runs of 40 and 36 as the Pride option attack was unstoppable.  One thing that WAS stoppable was the game itself as there was a 1:32 weather delay. My memories of that game aren't as sharp as yours and  Springfield no longer has anyone quite as great in their backfield. This is going to be a close game and my fear is that Union lets Springfield hang around and a late field goal by Pride All American Christian Hutra decides it. Hutra is a great kicker as evidenced by last season's stats...53 of 53 on extra points and 13/14 on FGs.

Impressive to say the least Bill and can certainly have a huge impact on the game. I'm with you, like I had previously stated, I think this game will be a close one. This could be the difference. Hopefully Pacatte and co. has enough success on offense to take Hutra's contributions out of the mix.

[Bartman]

Following Unionpalooza's perfect pick week, I humbly point out my perfect 7-0 in week 2 ,which included the only pick of the Shipbuilder Apprentice team over Buffalo St. . WEEK THREE:

Ithaca 35..................Alfred         10.    Alfred has some talent but Ithaca slightly outperforms Hobart's earlier win over the Saxons(One of the D3.com contributors picked this as an upset of the week )

Union      24.................Springfield   27    Not enough Charge to stuff the Springfield Offense

Rochester 27............Salve Regina 24   Yellowjackets become legit with this upset

SLU.       10.............WNE.           24.      Larries just can't compete , the offense sputters

RPI.       30.............WPI.             17       RPI continues to show some offensive production

Dean.    17.............Buff State      20       Finally, a win

Hobart........remains undefeated and prepares to attack Keystone next week and the  Bomber's  Airfield in WEEK 5.   

[CNU85]

A good week for the LL going 6-1 with the lone loss by Buffalo State to Apprentice the Shipbuilders from Newport News(FYI the Builders beat Christopher Newport last year , and CNU barely lost to JHU yesterday .....how good is JHU??)

Alternatively, how good are the Builders at NNA? Take a look at that coaching staff. An assistant who was drafted in the 3rd round. A HC with significant experience. Couple the solid coaching group with the fact that these kids are TOUGH. They are in class and/or working on the docks during the day. Practice after hours and play football on weekends. These are guys that feel more comfortable working with their hands and learning trades/skills not found in a normal 4 year academic institutions. All of them can play at the D3 level, some even higher. They just choose the more blue collar route. I love the fact that these guys compete every weekend and during the week they are learning how to build nuclear powered aircraft carriers and submarines!

I like how the roster lists their trade

https://gobuilders.com/sports/football/roster?view=2

Good luck to all and may your team win this weekend!!

[Bartman]

A good week for the LL going 6-1 with the lone loss by Buffalo State to Apprentice the Shipbuilders from Newport News(FYI the Builders beat Christopher Newport last year , and CNU barely lost to JHU yesterday .....how good is JHU??)

Alternatively, how good are the Builders at NNA? Take a look at that coaching staff. An assistant who was drafted in the 3rd round. A HC with significant experience. Couple the solid coaching group with the fact that these kids are TOUGH. They are in class and/or working on the docks during the day. Practice after hours and play football on weekends. These are guys that feel more comfortable working with their hands and learning trades/skills not found in a normal 4 year academic institutions. All of them can play at the D3 level, some even higher. They just choose the more blue collar route. I love the fact that these guys compete every weekend and during the week they are learning how to build nuclear powered aircraft carriers and submarines!

I like how the roster lists their trade

https://gobuilders.com/sports/football/roster?view=2

Good luck to all and may your team win this weekend!!

CNU85,
     Thanks for the comments on the Builders/NNA program. I love the majors and appreciate the institution's mission. The football/sports program is a great experience for these students before they embark on their hands on careers. Best of luck to Christopher Newport this season.

[IC798891]

Predictions:

Ithaca 37, Alfred 7. Talent is too much for Alfred to overcome
RPI 41, WPI 17. The new look Engineers go to 3-0
Buff State 34, Dean 17. Bengals break their streak
Union 27, Springfield 20. Dutchmen take it late
Rochester 31, Salve 20. Sure.
St. Lawrence 23, WNE 20

[Ice Bear]

Union vs. Springfield: I feel the Garnet Chargers are very fortunate this game is home, on a Friday night under the lights. I wholeheartedly believe Union will need all the help they can get this week as they take a step back into reality against a team that made it into the second round of the NCAA's last season. Never mind facing my favorite offense in the triple option, the Garnet Chargers will see athleticism and physicality that they haven't seen so far this season. With that said Union's defensive strength and experience is a combination their defensive line and their physical LB core. I predict the Union O comes out shaky, struggles with timing, and won't mesh until the second quarter. Of course the Pride will get at least one passing TD and an 85 yard running TD out of what appears to be a scrum...still Union 21-20 in a squeaker.

Icebear...A little Springfield vs Union history here...The last time the Dutchmen faced Springfield under the lights was in their opener in 2007 on a Saturday at Frank Bailey. That would be the day that solidified your MANCRUSH on Pride QB Chris Sharpe. That night Sharpe rushed for 224 yards with TD runs of 40 and 36 as the Pride option attack was unstoppable.  One thing that WAS stoppable was the game itself as there was a 1:32 weather delay. My memories of that game aren't as sharp as yours and  Springfield no longer has anyone quite as great in their backfield. This is going to be a close game and my fear is that Union lets Springfield hang around and a late field goal by Pride All American Christian Hutra decides it. Hutra is a great kicker as evidenced by last season's stats...53 of 53 on extra points and 13/14 on FGs.

Ahh the days of Chris Sharpe. What an incredible athlete and player within that system. His ability to read, react, and explode was unmatched at that time. I've never seen a triple option QB like him at the D3 level.

I won't be there tonight Bill. I'll hopefully get to watch pieces of the game from home. I just have too much going on with the kids and wife tonight to get away. Hoping for a big night for Union against what looks to be a solid Pride team that's carrying over the momentum they built from last year's successful season. We shall see.

[Bartman]

 RPI and Union kick butt tonight, as both teams look legit this year.Early LL title favorite Ithaca, will be in for some tough battles. Let's see how they handle the Saxon Warriors tomorrow.

[Ice Bear]

A nice W for Union tonight. I was able to watch the entire game and I was very pleased with what I saw on both sides of the ball from Union. Springfield really struggled after the first quarter on O. Union took a bit to adjust on O but found their groove and didn't look back.

This is an impressive win by a good football team. Good as in better than IC, RPI, and Hobart? I don't think there is any way to tell. I think Union has some weapons that will allow them to compete with anyone in the LL. As positive as I feel about this W and as happy as I am with how they played tonight, as of right now, I sit them in a very close fourth spot. Glad to see RPI take care of business. It's going to be a fun year in the LL.

[Pat Coleman]

Agree there's no way to tell, but tonight showed Union is worthy of our attention.

[UfanBill]

So how good is this Union team? Coming into this season on the line of scrimmage both sides of the ball are tough and strong and Union has a stable of capable running backs. No worries there. However I was concerned about two aspects of this season and they both concerned the pass game. After losing their entire defensive backfield how would the Garnet fare on pass defense and needing to replace two star receivers would anyone step up to catch the ball from the strong accurate arm of QB Donovan Paccatte? Well the defensive backs have not been tested yet but I like what I've seen in coverage and they certainly can bring it to support the run. A check-mark for that so far...And tonight the receivers really showed up. Robbie Tolbert, who showed flashes in the past before being slowed by injury, looks like he's back to form . His route running was excellent and he caught everything thrown his way. Landers Green and Tommy Leonard, who both played very sparingly in the past, have stepped up and shown excellence and Kevin Rabacs, a 5th year who was mostly a punt returner, has shown leadership in his new starting role at WR...Conclusion - These guys showed they're going to be alright. I'm satisfied and I'm happy. Union will be big dog in the fight this year for sure.   

[Bartman]

Agree there's no way to tell, but tonight showed Union is worthy of our attention.

Could this be a signal for a Top 25 vote ......hmm, 3-0, trouncing a prior year's playoff team seems to offset the low SOS generated by the first 2 opponents.......so, what has been the inspirational change?.....I think it must be the new futuristic makeover to POPPE'S GARNET CHARGERS......gone is the sleepy and antiquated reference to clog wearing ,tulip sniffing, windmilling migrants from Holland .....Union faithful ......embrace it i_z_l

[Jersey42]

RPI shut out WPI for the second year in a row to retain the Transit Trophy.  WPI was never really close to scoring. The large majority of WPI's offensive plays were in the WPI half of the field.  WPI twice reached the RPI 35 in the first half, but ensuing sacks on both of those drives pushed WPI back further.  WPI only had three possessions in the second half.  Their final drive reached the RPI 31 where they turned the ball over on downs against RPI's second and third team defense.

RPI's offense was good once again and Kazanowsky continued to impress with several long throws and no interceptions. They did miss Sterling Walker-Sutton who was at the game, but did not suit up.  RPI's biggest downside was they had three excellent drives that bolstered their stats but only netted three points.

   
• Began drive at RPI 26. Settled for FG after 52 yard pass to WPI 22.
• Began drive at RPI 13. Blocked FG. Could not score after 44 yard pass to WPI 10.   
• Began 8 minute drive at RPI 20. Could not score with 2nd and 3 from the WPI 4. Could not gain one foot on 3rd and 4th down from the 1 yard line.

RPI should have a breather next week playing Dean at home.  Then they get a week off to prepare for Ithaca at home, while Ithaca will have a tough game with Hobart.  It will be interesting. 

[Ice Bear]

Buffalo State taking Dean to the woodshed. The Bengals players must be ecstatic. Good for them. Hopefully they don't let down and see this all the way through.

[unionpalooza]

Can anyone tell me what they hell just happened in the Ithaca-Alfred game?  Alfred appeared to run a trick fake FG for a conversion and then apparently got a live ball unsportsmanlike for running a trick play?

D3 refereeing is just a clown show these days.

In other news, I thought Ithaca was going to run away with this one, but nice to see Alfred stiffen up and hang in there a bit.  They just don't seem to have the offense horses to consistently move the ball and really make a game of it.

Ithaca offense has clicked nicely, but man, watching them play offense is like watching paint dry.  Everything is swing passes, WR screens, dinks and dunks.  I don't think Wingfield has thrown the ball more than 5 yards downfield more than a half dozen times.  It works against a defense like Alfred's but it is so boring to watch.

EDIT:  Alfred just getting hosed by the refs now.  Big fourth down stop on the Bombers and they throw the world's weakest flag for roughing the passer.

[ICAlum16]

A sloppy win for the Bombers. I am as big of a homer as there is but I think this team is in serious trouble starting in two weeks when Hobart comes to town. They seem to just lack an spark or explosiveness. AJ Wingfield continues to be terrible trying to push the ball vertically down the field. The offense will only go as far as the QB and right now that is looking like no better than 4th in the conference. Hard to be excited about this team 3 weeks into the season. I think with this infusion of offense this is RPIs conference to lose this year.