FB: Liberty League

[Tlm]

I appreciate that fact that evaluating and ranking 238 - D3 football teams is a daunting task.  After reading through this year's "Kickoff" coverage from D3.com, with a particular focus on the LL, I point out a couple of glaring inconsistencies:

-  Kickoff ranks RPI 38th, UofR 40th, Bart 45th and Union 48th which is certainly plausible given who is returning and who has graduated at each of the respective schools.

-  In the breakdown of overall and in-league records, Kickoff predicts the following for each team:  RPI - 8-1 (6-1), Bart - 8-2 (6-1), Union - 7-2 (5-2), UofR - 6-4 (4-3).  These records are also plausible given the talent and history of the respective schools.

However, the prediction of the individual school records for 2007 does not square with the national ranking and implies that the two were done independently of one another.

One other point on the LL.  StL is shown with a league record of 3-3, and I am certain that like everyone else in the LL, the Larries have 7 league games.

I respectfully submit the following suggestion.....When you charge $8.95 for an online publication, or any price for that matter, you should do everything you can to check the final product for consistency prior to publication.

[PBR...]

when you do a publication that large you strive for perfection but chances are a few things will be missed. so you may want to cut the people who worked on that a little slack it is a huge project and overall very well done with a ton of good information. yes they charge for it and do everything they can to make it perfect format, spelling, accuracy but sometimes things are missed.

[JT]

I appreciate that fact that evaluating and ranking 238 - D3 football teams is a daunting task.  After reading through this year's "Kickoff" coverage from D3.com, with a particular focus on the LL, I point out a couple of glaring inconsistencies:

-  Kickoff ranks RPI 38th, UofR 40th, Bart 45th and Union 48th which is certainly plausible given who is returning and who has graduated at each of the respective schools.

-  In the breakdown of overall and in-league records, Kickoff predicts the following for each team:  RPI - 8-1 (6-1), Bart - 8-2 (6-1), Union - 7-2 (5-2), UofR - 6-4 (4-3).  These records are also plausible given the talent and history of the respective schools.

However, the prediction of the individual school records for 2007 does not square with the national ranking and implies that the two were done independently of one another.

One other point on the LL.  StL is shown with a league record of 3-3, and I am certain that like everyone else in the LL, the Larries have 7 league games.

I respectfully submit the following suggestion.....When you charge $8.95 for an online publication, or any price for that matter, you should do everything you can to check the final product for consistency prior to publication.

This is probably due to the fact that writers are doing the individual capsules and D3 editors are doing the rankings.  I thought the rankings were pretty good.  I think the product improves each year.  Obviously they'll be a few "errors" in compliation this big.

[JT]

RT is skeptical of # 20

http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/rankings/rankingDetailspr07.asp?categoryID=3&topicID=26

Although the #16 spot explains quite a bit about certain PP posters:

http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/rankings/rankingDetailspr07.asp?categoryID=3&topicID=28

[JT]

RT ....pbr will say 1 thing about IBM....they can stick those IBM Blades right up their arse...pbr has never worked on a bigger piece of ish than those things...pbr used to think ibm were bright people but after having numerous engineers and their qc/testing teams etc around pbr and bleeding companies for every penny pbr is amazed anything gets done at that company

Are there independent consulting firms available?  JT's been out of the consulting game for a while, but typically the best programmers, designers, and consultants leave the IBM's, Sun's, etc and set up their own shingle.  They are sometimes also the best trainers and teachers.

sorry to hear that. You sound like a disgruntled customer who got bad support b/c the reality is that it's, by far, the best product in it's field. You don't have RT as your rep....either that or you don't know what you're doing w/ the product

dood these blades are so bad we have bought numerous parts of everykind from ibm and are storing them in warehouses since drives/frames etc break constantly this way we dont have to wait for the chowderheads to take 3 days to send replacements,  hp is almost just as bad only they cant deliver any kind of product but promise you the world (like most salesman....) sun is it still (unfortunately their customer service still sux) but their product is still tops and very good. unfortunately we dont want to be reliant on only 1 platform but d@mn we cant 1 other competititor to step up with any kind of product. (plus we got tired of paying for ibm reps to fly in from all over the country and  pay for their flights/hotel/meals/dry cleaning/ toilet paper etc)...when they had reps living in the area who could commute here everyday yet ibm refused to allow us to use them. u can tell pbr has more than a bone to pick w/ ibm they rank right up there w/ microsoft in pbr's shizzleville...

[Knightstalker]

RT is skeptical of # 20

http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/rankings/rankingDetailspr07.asp?categoryID=3&topicID=26

Although the #16 spot explains quite a bit about certain PP posters:

http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/rankings/rankingDetailspr07.asp?categoryID=3&topicID=28

I always figured NJCU belonged on that list but the students were too fried to reply to surveys.

[Tlm]

I appreciate that fact that evaluating and ranking 238 - D3 football teams is a daunting task.  After reading through this year's "Kickoff" coverage from D3.com, with a particular focus on the LL, I point out a couple of glaring inconsistencies:

-  Kickoff ranks RPI 38th, UofR 40th, Bart 45th and Union 48th which is certainly plausible given who is returning and who has graduated at each of the respective schools.

-  In the breakdown of overall and in-league records, Kickoff predicts the following for each team:  RPI - 8-1 (6-1), Bart - 8-2 (6-1), Union - 7-2 (5-2), UofR - 6-4 (4-3).  These records are also plausible given the talent and history of the respective schools.

However, the prediction of the individual school records for 2007 does not square with the national ranking and implies that the two were done independently of one another.

One other point on the LL.  StL is shown with a league record of 3-3, and I am certain that like everyone else in the LL, the Larries have 7 league games.

I respectfully submit the following suggestion.....When you charge $8.95 for an online publication, or any price for that matter, you should do everything you can to check the final product for consistency prior to publication.

This is probably due to the fact that writers are doing the individual capsules and D3 editors are doing the rankings.  I thought the rankings were pretty good.  I think the product improves each year.  Obviously they'll be a few "errors" in compliation this big.

I realize that a lot of work goes into Kickoff, but here is my point, if you were to submit a report at work, the last thing you should do is proof read it one more time and then hit spell check.  It can be the difference between the report being taken seriously or being summarily dismissed.

I just looked closely at the LL and found several discrepancies.  I don't know if there are other discrepancies for other teams and conferences, but I suspect that there may be more than a few.

[JT]

I appreciate that fact that evaluating and ranking 238 - D3 football teams is a daunting task.  After reading through this year's "Kickoff" coverage from D3.com, with a particular focus on the LL, I point out a couple of glaring inconsistencies:

-  Kickoff ranks RPI 38th, UofR 40th, Bart 45th and Union 48th which is certainly plausible given who is returning and who has graduated at each of the respective schools.

-  In the breakdown of overall and in-league records, Kickoff predicts the following for each team:  RPI - 8-1 (6-1), Bart - 8-2 (6-1), Union - 7-2 (5-2), UofR - 6-4 (4-3).  These records are also plausible given the talent and history of the respective schools.

However, the prediction of the individual school records for 2007 does not square with the national ranking and implies that the two were done independently of one another.

One other point on the LL.  StL is shown with a league record of 3-3, and I am certain that like everyone else in the LL, the Larries have 7 league games.

I respectfully submit the following suggestion.....When you charge $8.95 for an online publication, or any price for that matter, you should do everything you can to check the final product for consistency prior to publication.

This is probably due to the fact that writers are doing the individual capsules and D3 editors are doing the rankings.  I thought the rankings were pretty good.  I think the product improves each year.  Obviously they'll be a few "errors" in compliation this big.

I realize that a lot of work goes into Kickoff, but here is my point, if you were to submit a report at work, the last thing you should do is proof read it one more time and hit spell check.  It can be the difference between the report being taken seriously or being summarily dismissed.

I just looked closely at the LL and found several discrepancies.  I don't know if there are other discrepancies for other teams and conferences, but I suspect that there may be more than a few.

Then I'll take part of the blame.  My capsule was late (fact checking, getting more info, etc) putting more stress on the editors.

[JQV]

I think you are way out of line here Tlm.

Those are some pretty nit picky discrepancies for a publication of that size.  Plus, it only cost $8.95.  That certainly doesn't seem to reflect the amount of work that went into the Kickoff.

[realistic]

agreed...

[PBR...]

tlm is buckin' for a refund....dood cut the guys some slack

[Frank Rossi]

I'm going to put together a capsule of can't-miss LL games for each week of the season soon, but there's one week that absolutely leaps off the calendar -- the first league play weekend on 9/22.  Every game is crucial:

  1:00 pm RPI   at Hobart       

An elimination game this early in the season?  A loss to one of these teams, both filling tough slots this season, could have a domino effect that leads to a second and/or third league loss sooner rather than later.  The winner starts out with a huge boost, counting down the number of league games they need to win -- likely only five more for a guarantee for the LL AQ.  This game this year proves more important than most other years.

  1:00 pm Susquehanna   at St. Lawrence       

Oh, Susquehanna.  Don't we cry for thee?  You come from Pennsylvania to play the Larries.  (Yes, hum it to "Oh, Susannah!").  This is a huge test for the new kid on the block -- not so much because of their opponent (although SLU will definitely be a force to be reckoned with this season), but the travel related to this game for the S-Q (my new shorthand for Susquehanna) is horrendous (352 miles -- 6 1/4 hours by legal driving means).  For S-Q, it's a statement game.  For SLU, they play favorite for the first time in a long time in a league game.  This game has a lot of early implications, no doubt.

  1:00 pm Union   at Rochester       

By this point, we'll know if Union is for real this season, as their pre-league-season schedule is pretty lofty (Springfield and Muhlenberg).  Rochester very likely comes into this game as a touchdown favorite even before a snap in the 2007 season has been taken.  Again, it's another reversal of normal anticipation, and like RPI/Hobart above, we could have a domino effect for the loser, while the winner is that much closer to being in the playoffs.  Don't underestimate this game -- the result will make the difference of me spending $100 at the Waterloo Outlets or $1,000 (based on depression). 

  5:00 pm Merchant Marine   at Worcester Polytech     

Elimination game?  Most likely.  WPI last year had so many near misses, that it needs a good jump start to 2007 -- remember the Union game at WPI's Homecoming?  "Zaloom is gonna go for two and the win!"  Doug Davis intercepts the conversion and Union sneaks away victorious.  Likewise, USMMA is trying to look like a contender for the first time since joining the LL a couple years back.  It's tough to call games must-win games this early, but for these two teams, after disappointing 2006 seasons, I really would apply that label here.


So, yes I seem to have a flair for the dramatic even in Week 1 games, but one month from today will answer a lot of questions related to the teams we all follow -- and it's more because of the suitable matchups the league calendar presents us this year.

- Frank

[Pat Coleman]

However, the prediction of the individual school records for 2007 does not square with the national ranking and implies that the two were done independently of one another.

It's not implied, it's specifically stated.

[Pat Coleman]

I realize that a lot of work goes into Kickoff, but here is my point, if you were to submit a report at work, the last thing you should do is proof read it one more time and then hit spell check.  It can be the difference between the report being taken seriously or being summarily dismissed.

Let's ask this -- if you have a 36,000-word report with pieces from 20 different employees (some of whom file late, as JT notes) and three editors, what are you getting?

We specifically state who ranks the teams 1-238 and specifically state who ranks the teams in the capsules. I think that's responsible.

[PBR...]

I'm going to put together a capsule of can't-miss LL games for each week of the season soon, but there's one week that absolutely leaps off the calendar -- the first league play weekend on 9/22.  Every game is crucial:

  1:00 pm RPI   at Hobart       

An elimination game this early in the season?  A loss to one of these teams, both filling tough slots this season, could have a domino effect that leads to a second and/or third league loss sooner rather than later.  The winner starts out with a huge boost, counting down the number of league games they need to win -- likely only five more for a guarantee for the LL AQ.  This game this year proves more important than most other years.

  1:00 pm Susquehanna   at St. Lawrence       

Oh, Susquehanna.  Don't we cry for thee?  You come from Pennsylvania to play the Larries.  (Yes, hum it to "Oh, Susannah!").  This is a huge test for the new kid on the block -- not so much because of their opponent (although SLU will definitely be a force to be reckoned with this season), but the travel related to this game for the S-Q (my new shorthand for Susquehanna) is horrendous (352 miles -- 6 1/4 hours by legal driving means).  For S-Q, it's a statement game.  For SLU, they play favorite for the first time in a long time in a league game.  This game has a lot of early implications, no doubt.

  1:00 pm Union   at Rochester       

By this point, we'll know if Union is for real this season, as their pre-league-season schedule is pretty lofty (Springfield and Muhlenberg).  Rochester very likely comes into this game as a touchdown favorite even before a snap in the 2007 season has been taken.  Again, it's another reversal of normal anticipation, and like RPI/Hobart above, we could have a domino effect for the loser, while the winner is that much closer to being in the playoffs.  Don't underestimate this game -- the result will make the difference of me spending $100 at the Waterloo Outlets or $1,000 (based on depression). 

  5:00 pm Merchant Marine   at Worcester Polytech     

Elimination game?  Most likely.  WPI last year had so many near misses, that it needs a good jump start to 2007 -- remember the Union game at WPI's Homecoming?  "Zaloom is gonna go for two and the win!"  Doug Davis intercepts the conversion and Union sneaks away victorious.  Likewise, USMMA is trying to look like a contender for the first time since joining the LL a couple years back.  It's tough to call games must-win games this early, but for these two teams, after disappointing 2006 seasons, I really would apply that label here.


So, yes I seem to have a flair for the dramatic even in Week 1 games, but one month from today will answer a lot of questions related to the teams we all follow -- and it's more because of the suitable matchups the league calendar presents us this year.

- Frank

hey frank are you still planning on coming down for the muhlenberg game in allentown/bethlehem? only about 30 mins from pbr