FB: Liberty League

[Frank Rossi]

Frank,

Perhaps the rest were unpaid. I didn't have any trouble getting into Union's stadium last week, nobody asked me for a ticket or a media credential.

They cracked down a bit this weekend.  I almost couldn't park in the media lot...which is kinda backward since I couldn't have had my credentials until AFTER I parked in the first place.  Of course, I pulled the, "Don't you know who I am?" speech.  It worked when I told him I was Pat Coleman.  I might have to do that in Salem this year :-)

(kidding, Pat).

Frank

[Frank Rossi]

One thing I will point out is that in the same game-time time frame, the Liberty Lague board added in the vicinity of 31 pages of posts, whereas the E8 added about 8.  There were points at which the LL looked to be going 1-2 (around 1:30pm and before), so we can't blame the "we're beaten" mentality for that.  I think that the fan base in the LL has shown itself to be pretty much more ferocious than the E8 this year, even though games like the Cortaca Jug game garner well over 5,000 fans annually.  Anyone have any reasons for this trouncing in fan interest yesterday (and no, I will not accept the, "Everyone was at the game in the E8's case" excuse).

Frank

[cscs]

Frank...what's your early take on next weeks game....looks like it's TA and the U's O line against a great run defense....Union D did a good job against Ithaca if you exclude those 2 long KO returns

[cscs]

BTW...what's up with their defense against the KO;it seems to have been a weak spot for alot of games this season giving the opposition great field position far too many times

[Frank Rossi]

Frank...what's your early take on next weeks game....looks like it's TA and the U's O line against a great run defense....Union D did a good job against Ithaca if you exclude those 2 long KO returns

The one odd stat that kinda gets looked over yesterday is number of touchdowns scored.  Union scored 8 (one missed 2-point conversion), while Ithaca scored 5 (leading to 35 points, plus two field goals).  The defense gave up four of those, although if you factor out the first touchdown (the 23-yd line opening kickoff), really, the Union Defense allowed only three prolonged drives to end in the endzone.  While a lot of people will put down the Union Defense after the last two weeks, I think the Special Teams errors have been attributed to the Defense unfairly (agreed, though, that a change needs to be made on Special Teams coverage...it was ugly at times).

So, my point here is that you can look at Rowan's rout of Wilkes yesterday and think that Rowan could roll over the Union D.  I'm not so sure that's true.  Rowan is a strong team, injuries or no injuries.  However, if Union's Offense can get the team to a fast start and force Rowan to play catch-up for once, then the Union Defense might be able to play in a better comfort zone (something that hasn't happened much this season).  This game will be the Offensive Line's greatest challenge, so I hope they eat well on Thanksgiving Day, storing some needed energy for Saturday afternoon (we interviewed two O-Linemen these last two weeks for good reason - they've played some awesome games this season - should be obvious through the other offensive stats).

Frank

[Naked Nott Run]

Farris Bueller your my hero... I mean... FRANK ROSSI!

[zachattack22]

Does anyone remember the playoff game vs. Widener...Union made a huge comeback after falling behind and with little time left was driving for the winning score and threw for what looked like the tying or winning touchdown (can't remember exactly)....What I do remember is the Widener defender jumping so high and taking the ball away to save their win....Guess who the defender was?
It was their star offensive receiver...To preserve their win, they put in two of their star offensive players to play defense.  They were not concerned about injuries, or anything else but preserving their win....

Union has to put their best people on the field and if that means half their starting offense and half their starting defense has to be on kick offs, then so be it....Might as well kick the darn ball out of bounds every time and start on the 35...

It's playoff time and something has to be done...

[gobombers15]

Frank, my best guess as to why more posts were registered during the games on the LL board is that the people were enjoying the Dawg's updates and Gro's quoting/ranting about the RPI color guy that most didn't find the need to update games or comment. I'm not sure if that's the case or not. For what's it worth, if I didn't have to go to my girlfriend's doctorate graduation/ceremony, there may have been a few more E8 pages, though not enough to make a significant difference.

I'm not saying all the E8 posters were at the games, but the Tecmos/manin____hats/etc are First Down Club members. You are right, though, that it seems the LL posters have a greater fervor than the E8 guys.

[TNBomberDad]

Frank,

Of all the useless stats that have been quoted on these boards...the number of posts during the game must be right up there at the top! I must applaud your enthusiasm for Union's big win but come on!  I wasn't at the game but listened to the IC broadcast. If I knew we would get rated/judged based on our postes I may have doubled my total. I must admit Gro's comments on the RPI commentators were entertaining but I understand you had your moments also!

All said good luck against Rowan, I hope you carry the day!

[ACMob]

"This game will be the Offensive Line's greatest challenge, so I hope they eat well on Thanksgiving Day, storing some needed energy for Saturday afternoon (we interviewed two O-Linemen these last two weeks for good reason..."

Frank

Frank, you are correct about Union "O" line against RU "D" line as a major factor deciding next week's matchup.  Rowan will be bringing the heat and RU needs to shut down the "U"s running game early!  I still like to know why the offense can drop 50+ on IC, but barely score against the bottom feeders in previous games?? 

AC's hopeful that KO coverage won't be much of a factor!!

[Frank Rossi]

Frank,

Of all the useless stats that have been quoted on these boards...the number of posts during the game must be right up there at the top! I must applaud your enthusiasm for Union's big win but come on!  I wasn't at the game but listened to the IC broadcast. If I knew we would get rated/judged based on our postes I may have doubled my total. I must admit Gro's comments on the RPI commentators were entertaining but I understand you had your moments also!

All said good luck against Rowan, I hope you carry the day!

I was just shocked at the imbalance when I got home from the game Saturday.  Granted, those who did post on the E8 board were having a field day with me :-)  Can't blame 'em.

Frank

[maninyellowhat]

Frank,

The LL board seemed to have the updates and commentary on the Union/Ithaca game, so the majority of Ithaca fans were on here during the game. 

[union89]

"This game will be the Offensive Line's greatest challenge, so I hope they eat well on Thanksgiving Day, storing some needed energy for Saturday afternoon (we interviewed two O-Linemen these last two weeks for good reason..."

Frank

Frank, you are correct about Union "O" line against RU "D" line as a major factor deciding next week's matchup.  Rowan will be bringing the heat and RU needs to shut down the "U"s running game early!  I still like to know why the offense can drop 50+ on IC, but barely score against the bottom feeders in previous games?? 

AC's hopeful that KO coverage won't be much of a factor!!

AC ~

Great point, Union89 has been trying to figure that one out as well.......If Union's offense performed that way against 'Bart, RPI or Ithica, it would have been ugly!!

Here's to hoping those performances are totally out of thier system!!

[Frank Rossi]

I'm curious about whether any Cortland readers have any ideas about Rowan's vulnerabilities, seeing that Cortland is in their league.  Aside from injuries, how can this juggernaut be tamed (I don't count the Wm. Patterson game because of the injury circumstances at that point...although that game nearly did them in...)

Frank

[Pat Coleman]

They still have the same injury problems, to my understanding. Bond and Orihel aren't coming back, for example.

Methinks the Unionfootball.com guy and the Rowanfootball.com guy should share some info here.