FB: Liberty League

[JacketsPride]

Defense playing great and the combination of Wise and Tre Johnson on offense looks awesome.  Another half to play but no doubt the Jackets came to play. 🤞

[Bartman]

Yellowjackets up 16-7 at half, shocking Brockport. Gaining over 200 yards in first half. Huge statement for LL if Jackets win.

[Ice Bear]

Let's go Rochester!!!!

[Bartman]

Oh well, good effort by the Yellowjackets. The talent of Brockport woke up and took over the second half. By putting a scare into Brockport, Rochester showed they have made a nice leap this year. Congrats

[JacketsPride]

Thanks Bartman and Ice Bear.  We played great for 3 quarters but as you said they have more talent and wore us down. 

Simmons is the best back we have seen all year and Gocella at QB didn't help. 

Regardless this was a step in the right direction for the Jackets. 

Good luck Hobart and hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

[Machiavelli]

Weekend went pretty much as anticipated outside of Alfred getting throttled by WesConn. That was a little surprising and sucky for the E8. Looks like Rochester came out swinging or Brockport came out limping, but 35 points for Brockport in the 2nd half is pretty wild. I looked in the 3rd and Brockport looked to be coming back, then it felt like 10 minutes later it was out of hand. Overall decent showing by Rochester, at least for a half.

Endicott looks to have also started out really slow. Wonder if they were playing it safe or were just flat, but the final was in-line with what we all expected. That said, I have a feeling Cortland puts a hurting on them now.

Look forward to the Hobart game. Go get 'em pumpkin heads!

[Bartman]

NCAA Playoff week for the LL Statesmen. Tough matchup with Susquehanna but not impossible. The Top D3 Scoring Defense versus a top 10 offense that runs and passes with ease. Something has got to give. On the other side, when the average Hobart offense plays an average Sasquatch defense there will be points scored, for sure, but will it be enough? Could the Hobart kicking game be the difference? We'll see after the Turkey settles.

[IC798891]

Endicott looks to have also started out really slow. Wonder if they were playing it safe or were just flat, but the final was in-line with what we all expected. That said, I have a feeling Cortland puts a hurting on them now.

Endicott won 44-0 in a game where they had two touchdowns from first and goal called back due to a hold before then missing FGs.

I'm sure they hoped to be up by more than 16-0 late in the 3rd, but it honestly reads like they were just not focused and looking ahead to Cortland.

[Bartman]

Wow, Susquehanna Offense has some crazy stats for QB, RB and WR.

Josh Ehrlich (QB): Started all ten games this season... completed 163 passes on 232 attempts for 2403 passing yards, 28 touchdown passes and four interceptions... rushed for 496 yards on 83 attempts and eight rushing touchdowns

Rahshan La Mons (RB/RET): Appeared in all ten games this season... made his collegiate debut vs. Bridgewater (09/06/2024) in a breakout performance that earned him Landmark Offensive Athlete of the Week... has 145 carries for 1,156 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns, 27 catches for 337 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns, and 11 punt returns for 360 return yards and three touchdowns...

Kyle Howes (WR): Has appeared in all ten games this season with 56 receptions for 965 receiving yards and 14 receiving touchdowns...carried the ball five times for 22 yards and two rushing touchdowns... returned three kickoffs for 139 yards with one touchdown, scoring on a 90-yard return against Juniata on Oct. 19, securing him Landmark Special Teams Athlete of the Week...

The Hobart Defense will have their biggest challenge of the season against this very talented Sasquatch team that averages 48.5 points per game. On the other side of the ball their defense yield 19 points per game , which gives the Hobart offense some optimism .

Common Oppoents :
Susquehanna 49.  Moravian  34
Hobart 27.      Moravian 12

Susquehanna 79.  Keystone. 8
Hobart 52    Keystone   9

The team with a similar profile to Hobart is Brockport, and the Golden Eagles , while losing 27=21 to Susquehanna, played a very competitive game. Hobart also averages one net turnover per game over SU, so if Hobart can force a turnover advantage , that could be a game changer.

Bartman has total respect for Susquehanna, but he can see the Statesmen coming back from Pennsylvania with a 31=28 win , as Tobias Wefering makes the game winning FG on the last play of the game erasing the disappointment from the miss against Randolph Macon earlier in the season.

IF Hobart can win this Saturday (Hansen gives this an18% chance) AND Wis Lacrosse can beat #1 ranked St.
Johns ( Hansen gives this a 32% chance) that would set up a home playoff game at the BOZ in December with snow in the forecast.....a long shot for sure, but hey, you never know. The last time Hobart was in the playoffs,  we hosted Mt. Union at the Boz in the first round and had the game tied late in the third quarter until Mt.Union's RB decided to score a few TDs..

[Ice Bear]

I think this is going to be a very tall order for the Statesmen. With that said, I can see them making some noise in this game. I'd give the Pumpkins maybe a 30-35% chance.

This Susquehanna offense is a good one. They bring some nasty numbers to the table. I believe for Hobart to win they will need to play the best game of their season and get some bounces. This is doable.

Let's go Pumpkins! Hoping we see a very physical and swarming Pumpkin D come Saturday!

[unionpalooza]

I think this is going to be a very tall order for the Statesmen. With that said, I can see them making some noise in this game. I'd give the Pumpkins maybe a 30-35% chance.

This Susquehanna offense is a good one. They bring some nasty numbers to the table. I believe for Hobart to win they will need to play the best game of their season and get some bounces. This is doable.

Let's go Pumpkins! Hoping we see a very physical and swarming Pumpkin D come Saturday!

I actually like Hobart in this one.  Perhaps an unpopular view, but I don't think there is much separation between Susquehanna, Cortland, Brockport, Hobart, Endicott, etc.; I think this is an any given Saturday type game.  The blueprint is the Susq-Brockport game, where Brockport shut down the run and made Susq one-dimensional, but ultimately couldn't score enough points to get over the hump.  With its special teams I think Hobart will win the field position battle, and if they can get a timely turnover or two and avoid the same, they'll move on.

[Ice Bear]

I love this take palooza and am hoping you are correct. It certainly makes sense.

Here is a nice article a friend shared with me about Columbia (who earned a share of the Ivy League title in Poppe's first season) and Al Bagnoli's (the coach who made Union football relevant) work there to help revitalize a program that was a coaches graveyard and one of the worst D1 football programs for decades upon decades. I think you'll enjoy this fellas.

https://wapo.st/4g1KLAV

[unionpalooza]

I love this take palooza and am hoping you are correct. It certainly makes sense.

Here is a nice article a friend shared with me about Columbia (who earned a share of the Ivy League title in Poppe's first season) and Al Bagnoli's (the coach who made Union football relevant) work there to help revitalize a program that was a coaches graveyard and one of the worst D1 football programs for decades upon decades. I think you'll enjoy this fellas.

https://wapo.st/4g1KLAV

Great piece - Jon Poppe looks like he is setting up to have a great run at Columbia.  The cherry on top was they clinched their share of the title with a win over Cornell in a battle of former Liberty League HCs, beating former Ithaca coach Dan Swanstrom's Big Red.  Lots of D3 connection in the Ivy League today. Pen's HC Drew Priore got his start at SUNY Albany back in the Bob Ford days, and Princeton's Bob Surace was HC of West Conn back in their heyday.  Even Yale's HC did a sting at DC at Worcester St.

If anyone ever wrote a book about Northeast college football coaching trees, I'd definitely read it.  Speaking of, I know there are big Bob Ford and Al Bagnoli coaching trees, but what about Jim Butterfield?  Does he have a similar coaching true?  (Given all his success, I have to imagine he does!)

I've also noticed in recent years that Utica has been marketing the "Blaise Faggiano coaching tree" pretty hard.  (For example: https://www.utica.edu/college-community/utica-stories/longtime-coach-blaise-faggianos-coaching-tree-growing.) I confess I'm a little skeptical of that, but he has certainly carved out a nice little legacy at Utica.

[Machiavelli]

Alrighty, it's just about time to start prepping for Thanksgiving, but I'll throw in some quick picks:

Mach's Thanksgiving Eve Playoff Predictions

Endicott - 24
Cortland - 42
I think Endicott keeps this close in the first half and Cortland runs away with it in the last 2 quarters. While last year's game was really close, I don't think Endicott is as good(nor is Cortland), but Cortland has a knack of winning and will keep it rolling until they get to North Central.


Hobart - 21
Susquehanna - 31
I'll be pulling hard for Hobart. If I were betting on the game, I'd take Sasquatch. Though I think it has the makings to be a really good one. My heart says pumpkins, but my brain leans 'Squatch.

UMass-Dartmouth - 35
Springfield - 42
UMD looks like they might have a pretty high-powered offense. Everyone has known for decades, to beat Springfield, you have to stop the run and drain the clock. I don't think UMD will be able to do that. They gave up 42 to Plymouth State. I think it's a scorefest and Springfield hangs on after having a 3 TD lead.

Everyone have a great Thanksgiving!

[Bartman]

I love this take palooza and am hoping you are correct. It certainly makes sense.

Here is a nice article a friend shared with me about Columbia (who earned a share of the Ivy League title in Poppe's first season) and Al Bagnoli's (the coach who made Union football relevant) work there to help revitalize a program that was a coaches graveyard and one of the worst D1 football programs for decades upon decades. I think you'll enjoy this fellas.

https://wapo.st/4g1KLAV

I grew up around Ivy League football when Yale, Princeton, Cornell and Dartmouth had nationally ranked teams(Calvin Hill at Yale and Ed Marinaro at Cornell good examples)....and Columbia was always a joke.Nice to see the coaching tree at Union getting Columbia out of the ditch. That said , the Ivies in the new world of NIL, etc are really an elevated D3 league with no scholarships and no interest in the pay to play world. So, successful D3 coaches would seem a nice pool of coaching candidates to fish from.