FB: Liberty League

[Bartman]

Congratulations to Vincente Lyon, Hobart's Punter, for being named to the AP All America, First Team.

[UfanBill]

Great effort by John's Hopkins today against Mt. Union. They just couldn't get enough stops...Meanwhile Sasquatch is taking a total monkey stomping.

Cortland H/C Curt Fitzpatrick is reportedly leaving for Colgate.

[Pat Coleman]

Great effort by John's Hopkins today against Mt. Union. They just couldn't get enough stops...Meanwhile Sasquatch is taking a total monkey stomping.

Cortland H/C Curt Fitzpatrick is reportedly leaving for Colgate.

It's legit and has been on the front page of D3football.com since halftime of the Mount Union game.

[Bartman]

I know NCC is a great team , but the monkey stomp they put on Sasquatch was crazy and unfortunately it taints any judgement that compares relative strength of the regions despite the Cortland win last year.

[Caz Bombers]

I know NCC is a great team , but the monkey stomp they put on Sasquatch was crazy and unfortunately it taints any judgement that compares relative strength of the regions despite the Cortland win last year.

I honestly don't think it's got anything to do with regions. North Central is just that damn good. Built different, as the kids say. They're pretty far beyond anyone else in D3.

[Jonny Utah]

I know NCC is a great team , but the monkey stomp they put on Sasquatch was crazy and unfortunately it taints any judgement that compares relative strength of the regions despite the Cortland win last year.

Meh I don't like the way everyone looks at college football like this these days.  Same for the d1 playoffs.  Indiana, Tenn, SMU had good football teams.  Even Alabama's loss vs the "bad" Oklahoma team kinda pisses me off because playing at Oklahoma is tough.  D1 FBS is seeing what we have seen at the d3/d2/FCS level for a long time now.  You are going to have some blowouts, especially home teams blowing out away teams. 

That being said, we also have to take in account the JHU and Springfield seasons, which basically tell me the d3 landscape is different than it was from 1995 to 2020.  The east has competed the past two years despite a few hiccups like this Sasquatch game.   Plus NCC is the best team in the country and is smoking everyone from every region. 

[Bartman]

I know NCC is a great team , but the monkey stomp they put on Sasquatch was crazy and unfortunately it taints any judgement that compares relative strength of the regions despite the Cortland win last year.

Meh I don't like the way everyone looks at college football like this these days.  Same for the d1 playoffs.  Indiana, Tenn, SMU had good football teams.  Even Alabama's loss vs the "bad" Oklahoma team kinda pisses me off because playing at Oklahoma is tough.  D1 FBS is seeing what we have seen at the d3/d2/FCS level for a long time now.  You are going to have some blowouts, especially home teams blowing out away teams. 

That being said, we also have to take in account the JHU and Springfield seasons, which basically tell me the d3 landscape is different than it was from 1995 to 2020.  The east has competed the past two years despite a few hiccups like this Sasquatch game.   Plus NCC is the best team in the country and is smoking everyone from every region. 

Yeah, I hear what you're saying. I was trying to justify the "hey , Hobart's loss wasn't so bad to Susquehanna" since we were the only team to hold an explosive offense to under 400 yards all season. Then  NCC holds them to 135 yards, and shows how big the gap , at least for that game, really is. NCC smothered a decent SU Oline on every play and Ehrlich, a young QB that is impressive,  couldn't do anything. Big tip of the hat to a dominant NCC team that was also extremely well prepared. I was hoping that Sasquatch would have a bigger footprint in Naperville.
   

[Bartman]

The SU loss also solidifies my feeling that Hobart's only goal should be the best team in the Liberty League and be part of a competitive conference that allows Hobart to provide a great student athlete experience. Our NCAA Championships will need to come from Hockey and women's soccer where the reputation has created a natural pipeline of interested student athletes.

[IC798891]

Hopkins punched with Mount for 60 minutes. I don't know why that wouldn't be looked at as a barometer for out of region strength

[Jonny Utah]

I think we have seen enough past two years to conclude that the "east" has caught up with the rest of the country in terms of competing with the top teams.  We don't need to look up box scores of playoff games to justify which team looks better because in round 1 there was a close game between team a and team b. 

I think it is natural to use SOS and the like to rank teams, but I also think many of these playoff games can take drastic turns for the home team in all rounds.  This seems to be consistent in many college playoff games across divisions.

I'm not shocked that JHU played MU tough.  I am shocked that Sus got hammered just like I was shocked last year as to how Ithaca got smoked by RM.  But those games happen and again, there are enough games the last two years where east teams have proven they not only belong, but are even/past the rest of the country except for the top team this year. 

[Jonny Utah]

Congratulations to Vincente Lyon, Hobart's Punter, for being named to the AP All America, First Team.

Not surprised.  Hopefully the right thing happens and he gets 1st team d3football.com!

Kid is a stud. 

[unionpalooza]

I think we have seen enough past two years to conclude that the "east" has caught up with the rest of the country in terms of competing with the top teams.  We don't need to look up box scores of playoff games to justify which team looks better because in round 1 there was a close game between team a and team b. 

I think it is natural to use SOS and the like to rank teams, but I also think many of these playoff games can take drastic turns for the home team in all rounds.  This seems to be consistent in many college playoff games across divisions.

I'm not shocked that JHU played MU tough.  I am shocked that Sus got hammered just like I was shocked last year as to how Ithaca got smoked by RM.  But those games happen and again, there are enough games the last two years where east teams have proven they not only belong, but are even/past the rest of the country except for the top team this year. 

Yeah, I'd agree that this year was further evidence that the East has caught up, and also that there is just more parity across D3 football than at any point since the early 90s, before the rise of the Evil Empire.  I think JHU wins 4 of 5 games v. Mount Union - that could have gone any way.  The Squatch beat-down was staggering, but I tend to chalk that up to (1) NCC is just way better than everyone else this year and (2) every that could go wrong for the River Hawks, did.  I mean, just the prior week we saw NCC win comfortably at Springfield, but NCC looked much more human - put up only a total of 328 yards against the Springfield defense, and Luke Lehman was a not terribly impressive 10-20 for 96 yards.

My hunch is that this NCC team wins the Stagg by 40.  Time will tell whether they can keep bringing in the kind of players they are currently dominating with - I believe they graduate 4 out of their 5 OL, which is absolutely the heart of that team.  And they lose Lehnen, Sacco, and about half their receiving.  We should find out next year whether they are just going to keep reloading in the style of 1990s/2000/2010s Mt. Union, or whether they take a step back.  If the latter, next year seems to be completely wide open. Which would so, so fun.

[Pat Coleman]

Congratulations to Vincente Lyon, Hobart's Punter, for being named to the AP All America, First Team.

Not surprised.  Hopefully the right thing happens and he gets 1st team d3football.com!

Kid is a stud. 

We haven't made this decision yet -- will be done over the holiday -- but I don't think people here will be disappointed.

[Bartman]

Congratulations to the Liberty League D3Football.com All Americans:

Jordy Tawa, Yellowjackets, First Team Defense CB
Jake Connolly, Bombers, First Team Defense Safety
Jaimen Bliss, Statesmen, Third Team Defense, LB
Vicente Lyon, Statesmen, Third Team Punter
Trey Johnson, Yellowjackets, Fourth Team Returner

This is the most AA selections since 2013 when 5 LL players were selected (All Hobart ). Ithaca also had a player on the 2013 team, but they were E8 members at the time.

[Bartman]

Final Poll has Hobart unranked but receiving votes to place them at a theoretical #28, which is the first time the LL is unranked since 2017. Lots of comparisons that could justify Hobart getting into the top 25, but no use wasting time doing so. Susquehanna, Springfield,Salisbury and Cortland all finish in the top 10 , so East certainly made progress.
Moving on to Hockey(undefeated and #1) and Basketball( picked to win LL). Hoping Football recruiting goes well to bolster the 2025 team.