FB: Liberty League

[Bartman]

Logan Hansen(on X) has an incredibly complex system that has been fairly successful in predicting D3 football results . His current LL ranking(National Ranking):

Ithaca(41)
RPI(43)
Hobart(72)
Union(89)
Rochester(104)
SLU(138)
Bengals(164)

[Jersey42]

I still think there are a lot of question marks for all of the top 5 teams.  Hansen's rankings are reasonable in my opinion based on what we know.  Rochester needs to beat one of the LL teams not named St Lawrence or Buffalo State before they move up in the opinion poll.  A 4-0 non conference schedule doesn't do it.  If the top 4 teams had Rochester's schedule, they would probably all go 4-0.

I'm still not sure what to make of RPI. They got whopped by an excellent team at home and they beat the Landmark's pre-season number two on the road.  I did not see the Wilkes game (FloSports) so my thoughts are based on what I have heard and read.

• RPI could not run the ball against Wilkes in the first half, but Kayden White wore them down in the second half.
• Defense was suspect as they gave up some big plays, but they also made a lot of stops. Definitely a work in progress.
• If not for penalties, RPI would have won big. They had 12 for 133 yards and Wilkes got 6 first downs via penalty.  RPI is traditionally much more disciplined.
• I think the offense will be fine. Kazanowsky, White and Faraday are three of the best in the Liberty League. They lost two starting linemen and two of the other three have switched positions.  So there is still a learning curve.
• I will be surprised if RPI does not easily beat WPI at home this week.  RPI's first two opponents have big tests this week on the road.  La Crosse plays Grand Valley State who is the number 2 team in D2.  Wilkes visits Brockport. I am curious to see how both teams do.  Unfortunately the La Crosse game is on FloSports 

[Bartman]

Congrats to the weekly Football Performers:

Offensive Performer of the Week: Amir Cameron, Buffalo State
Co-Defensive Performer of the Week: Anthony Romano, Hobart
Co-Defensive Performer of the Week: Daniel Santos, Rochester
Special Teams Performer of the Week: Vicente Lyon, Hobart
Rookie of the Week: Billy Brosko, Hobart
Honor Roll: Oskar Baldwin, St. Lawrence; Jordan Black, Union; Isaiah Couser, Ithaca; Jake Connolly, Ithaca; Clayton Fogler, St. Lawrence; Sincere Green, Buffalo State; Miles Lafferty, RPI; Thomas Our, St. Lawrence; Aidan Papantonis, Rochester; Ethan Vanderbrink, Union; Kayden White, RPI

Billy Brosko, Hobart D Lineman , wins Rookie award for second week by clogging up the middle against Randolph Macon, he has made an awesome transition from Drexel's wrestling program

[UfanBill]

Union travels to play Springfield this Friday at 7:00. The Pride have their option rushing attack rolling having racked up 362 yards rushing in a 38-32 win over crosstown rival WNE. and 557 yards in steamrolling Husson 76-7. Union has fared well against Springfield in the past, winning the last 5 match-ups. Last year the Garnet held the Pride to 150 yards rushing. They'll have to crank up the offense because with new coaching comes new schemes and I think they'll have trouble stopping Springfield's option this time.

Alas the game is being streamed on the NEWMAC Network which uses FLO Sports which is $99.99 yearly or $14.99/month.   
It appears that next week's game at Montclair St. is also a paid subscription broadcast. 

[Pat Coleman]

Union travels to play Springfield this Friday at 7:00. The Pride have their option rushing attack rolling having racked up 362 yards rushing in a 38-32 win over crosstown rival WNE. and 557 yards in steamrolling Husson 76-7. Union has fared well against Springfield in the past, winning the last 5 match-ups. Last year the Garnet held the Pride to 150 yards rushing. They'll have to crank up the offense because with new coaching comes new schemes and I think they'll have trouble stopping Springfield's option this time.

Alas the game is being streamed on the NEWMAC Network which uses FLO Sports which is $99.99 yearly or $14.99/month.   
It appears that next week's game at Montclair St. is also a paid subscription broadcast. 

Union at Montclair should be free:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaFDVsfa4d4

[tony/troy]

Union travels to play Springfield this Friday at 7:00. The Pride have their option rushing attack rolling having racked up 362 yards rushing in a 38-32 win over crosstown rival WNE. and 557 yards in steamrolling Husson 76-7. Union has fared well against Springfield in the past, winning the last 5 match-ups. Last year the Garnet held the Pride to 150 yards rushing. They'll have to crank up the offense because with new coaching comes new schemes and I think they'll have trouble stopping Springfield's option this time.

Alas the game is being streamed on the NEWMAC Network which uses FLO Sports which is $99.99 yearly or $14.99/month. 
It appears that next week's game at Montclair St. is also a paid subscription broadcast.

As the old saying goes, where there there is smoke there is fire. From Wiki there is the following "observation" about Flo. Enough to keep me clear of it. It reads:

For several years their subscription model has emphasized the per-month price, while the actual subscription was billed annually.[46][47] As a consequence, in 2022 a class action lawsuit was filed against FloSports in New York federal court due to their business practices. The suit claimed that FloSports 'misleads customers into believing they are only being charged a monthly fee — rather than the full annual fee — when they first sign up for the sports streaming service.'[48] FloSports later settled this case out of court in November 2023.[49]

P.S. A second competing streaming service you sometimes come across when wishing to view these games is a subsidiary of a company that is supposedly in financial distress. Not exactly a comfortable landing spot for sensitive personal information.

Conclusion: Stay the hell away from all of them. Instead and where or when available, turn on your radio or connect to a free audio feed that does not require you to provide sensitive information (if there is one). Never heard of anyone ever having a "problem" because they listened to a radio.   

[Machiavelli]

Good info, Tony! In addition, if everyone steers clear, eventually they go away. So don't do it. Don't support it. And while it stinks to not be able to watch, I agree listening to games feels very sentimental. Love doing that when I have the option to.

On that note, I haven't gotten to my postmortem of last week yet. I went 6-1, losing the Ithaca game, which I felt was a coin flip and I think they should've won, but oh well. My score predictions were, once again, less than stellar on several.

RPI, while I was unable to watch(for the reasons previously discussed by many), they seemed to be almost bipolar, with moments where they appeared dominant, and moments where they fell flat, committed penalties, and maybe lost focus. I don't know, but the scoreboard did not seem indicative of the game at all. And Wilkes scored at the very end after a 4th and a mile unportsmanlike gave the opportunity to make the final too close on paper. I think they should rebound next week. I blew the score prediction here.

I already mentioned that I think Hobart shocked all of us. I was watching this one, was pulling for them, and it's a game I think they could have and should have won. It was a combo of being impressed by the Pumpkin D and less than impressed by RM completely. I think the end result is it meets in the middle somewhere, Hobart is better and RM is not a powerhouse. Well played by Hobart in any case, but finish the damn job!

St. Lawrence I pretty much nailed. Boring sloggish game with a Saints W. Ho hum.

Buff State proved just how pathetic Dilbert is. I had them winning, but not putting up that many points. They are awarded zero points in any case.

I know Rochester hit the races early, but a quasi-mediocre second half landed them in my score prediction ballpark.

Union on the other hand, what in the actual F? I only had a 25 point win, but I didn't expect a 3 point win. Bad look for the Douchemen and not great for the LL as a whole.

So with that, my new rankings after week 2.

1. Ithaca 0-2 - Feels weird at 0-2, but they played 2 good teams tough. Might translate positively in league play.

2. RPI 1-1 - I tinkered with putting Hobart here, but UWL also throttled a DII team in week 2(A crumby DII team, but DII nonetheless) and I think Wilkes is probably gonna make a run at the Landmark title.

3. Hobart 1-1 - I'm impressed with the RM performance, but that Alfred game is still giving me pause.

4. Rochester 2-0 - Haven't learned a thing about them yet, other than they are at least better than Buff St and St Lawrence, and probably Union. Salve should be a little tougher challenge, but UNE is garbage next week, so if they start 4-0, I don't know if we'll know what's up here for sure until the RPI game.

5. Union 1-1 - There's a chance Union drops lower this season. They may be in the same boat as SLU, but we'll see. Utica throttled them then lost to Moravian. Not a good look. And squeezing by a SUNY-Maritime is just trouble in the making.

6. St. Lawrence 1-1

7. Buff State 1-1

Week 3 predictions up next.

[Machiavelli]

Mach's Better Scores Than Last Week Predictions:

Season Record: 13-1

Week 3

RPI - 51
WPI - 20
I think RPI handles business as expected, but I still am not sure the defense is LL ready.

Union - 6
Springfield - 42
Springfield looks like they could be a beast again this year.

Salve Regina - 14
Rochester - 24
My gut tells me Salve will hang in there. I think it's a decent program. But I'll give Rochacha the nod.

Moravian - 10
Hobart - 13
This is a tough one to pick. A week ago, I would've gone with Moravian. I think Hobart's D pulls it out.

Western New England - 42
St. Lawrence - 24
WNE hung tough w/ Springfield. I don't think St. Lawrence can hang, unfortunately.

Buff State/Ithaca - Bye Week

[UfanBill]

Quotes from Mach...

"Union on the other hand, what in the actual F? I only had a 25 point win, but I didn't expect a 3 point win. Bad look for the Douchemen(sp?) and not great for the LL as a whole."

"There's a chance Union drops lower this season. They may be in the same boat as SLU, but we'll see. Utica throttled them then lost to Moravian. Not a good look. And squeezing by a SUNY-Maritime is just trouble in the making."

"Trouble in the making" indeed. A couple of weeks ago after watching Union struggle offensively in their scrimmage vs. Hartwick I said I was "concerned". I also thought Hartwick looked pretty good on defense and that they would "probably win a few more games this season". Hartwick gave up 579 yards of offense in a 51-26 thrashing by Keystone.    

Then after going to the Utica game I expounded on how impressed I was by Utica. They looked fast and aggressive. I compared them to playing like a "big gorilla". Well subsequently the gorilla gave up 418 yards of total offense to Moravian in a not so impressive second half failure that led to an 18-13 loss...My point is that it's quickly becoming apparent that this Union team may not be very good. This week much more "trouble" will be revealed. Can the Garnet even slow down the vaunted Springfield option?   

Here's my picks...

Springfield 41 - Union 17...The short answer is NO.

Rochester 35 - Salve Regina 17...Close last year but the Yellowjackets are better and Salve not so much.

Western New England 31 - St. Lawrence 13...The Golden Bears just beat Salve by 18 too.
 
Hobart 24 - Moravian 22...Statesmen gain knowledge from Utica's loss to the Greyhounds and squeak this out.     Anyone else notice we've got a round robin going here?

Ithaca 27 - Curry 0...Good time for the Bombers to work on getting things right.

RPI 34 - WPI 7...The Transit Trophy easily stays at East College Stadium.

   

[Machiavelli]

Quotes from Mach...

"Union on the other hand, what in the actual F? I only had a 25 point win, but I didn't expect a 3 point win. Bad look for the Douchemen(sp?) and not great for the LL as a whole."

"There's a chance Union drops lower this season. They may be in the same boat as SLU, but we'll see. Utica throttled them then lost to Moravian. Not a good look. And squeezing by a SUNY-Maritime is just trouble in the making."

"Trouble in the making" indeed. A couple of weeks ago after watching Union struggle offensively in their scrimmage vs. Hartwick I said I was "concerned". I also thought Hartwick looked pretty good on defense and that they would "probably win a few more games this season". Hartwick gave up 579 yards of offense in a 51-26 thrashing by Keystone.    

Then after going to the Utica game I expounded on how impressed I was by Utica. They looked fast and aggressive. I compared them to playing like a "big gorilla". Well subsequently the gorilla gave up 418 yards of total offense to Moravian in a not so impressive second half failure that led to an 18-13 loss...My point is that it's quickly becoming apparent that this Union team may not be very good. This week much more "trouble" will be revealed. Can the Garnet even slow down the vaunted Springfield option?   

Here's my picks...

Springfield 41 - Union 17...The short answer is NO.

Rochester 35 - Salve Regina 17...Close last year but the Yellowjackets are better and Salve not so much.

Western New England 31 - St. Lawrence 13...The Golden Bears just beat Salve by 18 too.
 
Hobart 24 - Moravian 22...Statesmen gain knowledge from Utica's loss to the Greyhounds and squeak this out.     Anyone else notice we've got a round robin going here?

Ithaca 27 - Curry 0...Good time for the Bombers to work on getting things right.

RPI 34 - WPI 7...The Transit Trophy easily stays at East College Stadium.

WOAH! Who is this guy? LOL. We are agreeing for once! Love it. Anyway, you're a week early on Ithaca vs. Dem Spicy Boys...though I think it may get uglier than that. These ain't dem spicy boys from way back.

[Bartman]

Bartman's(11-1 so far) Week 3 Picks ( Pretty much agreeing with Mach and UFan, +Hansen ratings )

Away Team. /  Home Team     

Saints(138)    14.  WNE (68).      35.  Larries put up a fight then fade

Union(89).    17.  Springfield(33) 28  Union puts up a good fight but option prevails

WPI (149).    10.  RPI(43).        31.  Kazanowsky has a good game

Salve Reg(109) 17.  Rochester(104). 22.  Yellowjackets win again on last minute score

Moravian(116)  17.  Hobart(72).    24.  Moravian shows Utica win was no fluke as Hobart D gets 5 sacks to limit Moravian QB who exposes Hobart secondary/EJ Taylor 2 TDs and game winner


The Liberty League goes 3-2 this week, and 10-9 OOC. We is what we is.     

[Bombs away]

RPI 38 - WPI -13, best qb/wr duo in LL starts to gel and the defense limits penalties

SPRINGFIELD 34 - UNION 14, the Pride jump out to early lead and lack of passing game dooms UNION.

ITHACA 42 - CURRY 0, bomber defense doesn't bend against weaker opponent.

WNE 27 - SLU 17, weakest team in LL.

HOBART 17- MORAVIAN 10, offense is still questionable but defense is close to elite.

ROCHESTER 24 -SALVE 17, I honestly have no opinion on this game...I'm just tired of watching jackets lose.

[ICAlum16]

FYI - Ithaca has a much needed bye this week and travels to Milton to take on Curry on 9/28

[Bartman]

Yes, a few anxious Bomber fans can't wait for the piñata match with Curry to get a win. A perfect confidence game before the LL opens in Geneva against the Statesmen on 10/5.

[Ice Bear]

This Week:

Pride 52 - Garnet 10 - The Pride get five years of revenge on Union. This is not a shot or angry pick against Union, just my thoughts based on what I've seen so far.

Rochester 21 - Salve Regina 17 - Close one, Papa's are the difference.

Western New England 42 - St. Lawrence 10 - The Golden Bears are hungry.
 
Hobart 21 - Moravian 10 - It's Pumpkin season. Hobart made that clear last week.

RPI 34 - WPI 7 - WPI can't sustain being a half way decent team. RPI will remind them of that with another trophy win.