FB: Liberty League

[Jonny Utah]

JU drank the Kool-Aid and jumped on the Obama Bandwagon!  Show me the your money!


_{Oh, Yeaaaah!}

[Senor RedTackle]

http://imrichbiatchhonkhonk.ytmnd.com/

['gro]

In all honesty, U89 did not sleep last night.....

Were you up re-living the celebration at the end of Return of the Jedi?

BAAAAAAH!!! that made me bust out laughing so hard...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np6vAuS0KNs

[redswarm81]

JU, I didn't realize your name was Peggy Joseph...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P36x8rTb3jI&feature=related

Well hell, if this is the case, then RT is stoked because our new pres is goint to help RT pay for a few things then!!!
...share the wealth, baby!!




maybe RPI can even cash in w/ some ducketts for the new stadium!!!

So if FR's wealth is shared and thus becomes RT's wealth, when does that wealth of RT's get shared and thus become LD's wealth?

Be simplistic and show your work.

LD is not going to be happy being called a 'bottom feeder'.....

. . . the simplistic notion that people with happiness are entitled to keep (or define) it. . . . .

[Senor RedTackle]

In all honesty, U89 did not sleep last night.....

Were you up re-living the celebration at the end of Return of the Jedi?

BAAAAAAH!!! that made me bust out laughing so hard...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np6vAuS0KNs

damn...lol...RT forgot about that scene

[lewdogg11]

In all honesty, U89 did not sleep last night.....

Were you up re-living the celebration at the end of Return of the Jedi?

BAAAAAAH!!! that made me bust out laughing so hard...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np6vAuS0KNs

That was perfect.

[Senor RedTackle]

RT stumbled on this....need to tie this guy's into to PP

www.libertyleague.com



...and on a sadder note, CNN is breaking the story that best-selling author Michael Crichton has passed away from cancer

[union89]

JU drank the Kool-Aid and jumped on the Obama Bandwagon!  Show me the your money!


_{Oh, Yeaaaah!}

Everybody loves a winner....

U89 saw JU running across the railroad tracks across the street from his house this morning screaming, "My man Obama won!!!!  My man Obama won....let's share the wealth."

[labart96]

TGP's LL CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW:
Hobart College vs. #20 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

The defending co-champions of the Liberty League, Hobart (6-1, 4-1) and Rensselaer (7-0, 5-0), will meet this Saturday in a winner-take-all game in New York's Capitol District! 

On the line is the undisputed league championship and the accompanying Pool A bid for the NCAA D3 football tournament.  This game takes on added significance (especially to the RPI players, alums and fans) in that Saturday will be the final regular season contest ever played at the fabled '86 Field.  Next season, RPI's football and other athletic teams will move into their newly built multi million dollar "East Campus Athletic Village".  

Last season, Hobart rallied from a 21-7 fourth quarter deficit to take a 31-28 lead with 48 seconds remaining.  The Hobart defense failed to secure the win as Rensselaer drove 67 yards in 35 seconds on three consecutive pass completions by RPI QB Jimmy Robertson (impressive offensive poise vs unbelievably poor "prevent" defense) to score the game-winning touchdown with nine seconds remaining to earn a 35-31 win at Boswell Field.  The victory snapped RPI's previous five-game losing streak to the Statesmen.  Both teams put up an impressive 813 yards of total offense, scoring on all but one chance inside the red zone.

This season RPI sits atop the league as the only undefeated team, boasting league's #1 QB and offense; among other impressive statistics.  RPI is currently ranked #20 in the country according to the D3Football.com Top 25.  Hobart earned sole possession of second place in the Liberty League last week after dispatching another group of Engineers from Worcester Polytech (6-2, 3-2).

Although RPI leads the overall series 26-24-1, as mentioned to above, Hobart has won the majority of the contests (six out of the last eight) in the past several years and has not lost a game at '86 Field since 2001 (when RPI used two late touchdowns, including a 14-yard return of blocked FG, to come from behind and beat Hobart by a score of 35-29).

Tale of the Tape:

RPI leads the league (#1 positions highlighted in BOLD) in 10 key categories.  Among other key assets, RPI possesses the best offense and scoring defense in the league.  Hobart leads the league in total defense and is rated fourth in the NCAA in Pass Defense and Pass Defense Efficiency.  It's a good thing for the Statesmen that they do, because SR RPI QB Jimmy Robertson is the #1 QB in the league in passing yards and pass efficiency.  He averages almost 260 passing yards a game and has thrown for a league leading 15 touchdowns and only two interceptions. 

If you look closely at the stats you'll see that both teams are actually fairly evenly matched with three outliers that merit additional discussion, namely:

1. RPI's Pass Offense vs. Hobart's Pass Defense - Hobart's FY DB Drake Woodard leads the nation in interceptions, but a key to RPI's success is that their QB doesn't turn the ball over.  Hobart's defensive line and linebackers will need to pressure Robertson into rushing his throws, while the secondary will need to work hard to shut down the league's leading receivers SR Eren Savasli (805 receiving yards, nine TDs) and SO Patrick McCarthy (583 receiving yards, five TDs).  Not a simple task - especially since this RPI passing attack will be the best these Statesmen have faced to date.

2.  Turnover Ratio - RPI has a big advantage in this category and the Engineer "no-name" (only one player - JR DB Joe Albano being the only Engineer defensive player ranked in the top 25 in number of tackles by the league) defense's ability to create turnovers may be the primary point that leads them over Hobart's offense, which tends to turnover the ball a two to three times a game on average.

3.  Red Zone Offense/Defense - RPI has been extremely effective on both sides of the ball inside their opponent's, as well as defending, inside the 20 yard line.  Hobart has improved a great deal in the past few weeks in both of these categories, but the Statesmen defense is going to need to find a way to have RPI settle for field goals whenever possible.  On the flip side, Hobart will need to come away with points each and every opportunity they can.  I don't think Hobart can win a shoot out in this one.  The Statesmen have only scored over 30 points twice (in the loss to Union and last week in the win over WPI) all season.

Key stats - Team   HOB      RPI
Scoring Offense   26   PPG   32.3
Scoring Defense   16.1   PPG   12.7
Pass Offense   200.4   YPG   264.4
Pass Defense   128.3   YPG   187.7
Kickoff Returns   22.4   AYR   28.1
Punting   33.1   NET/P   29.8
Turnover Margin   4   NET/G   12
Rushing Offense   151.4   YPG   113.3
Rushing Defense   141.7   YPG   112.9
Total Offense   351.9   YPG   377.7
Total Defense   270   YPG   300.6
Punt Returns   10.9   NET/P   14.6
Pass Efficiency   124.5   Rating   158.3
Pass Def Efficiency   86.7   Rating   97.7
First Downs   143   Total   135
Sacks By/Against   2   Net   4
Penalties   46.1   AVG   64
Red Zone Offense   68.6   %   85.2
Red Zone Defense   77.8   %   55
3rd DN Conversion   41.8   %   35.7
Possession   32:17:00   AVG   29:19:00
Kickoff Coverage   14   AVG   15.5

All of these factors taken into consideration, here are TGP's "Keys to the Game" for Hobart:

1.  Get to Robertson early and often - Jimmy Robertson has had an incredible season to date racking up 1816 passing yards in seven games.  His completion percentage is an incredible 68.6% and passing efficiency is an impressive 156.8 rating.  Even last week's game against Union in which most pundits would have admitted that the RPI offense was very well challenged by the Union defense, Robertson still threw for almost 200 yards and was 21 of 29 (72.4%) with two touchdowns and one interception.  Not only that, Robertson rushed for a net 37 yards including a long of 15, proving he is a mobile QB and not just a pocket passer.  Hobart has tallied 10 sacks over the past seven games and the RPI OL has allowed nine.  Needless to say, the battle up front between the Statesmen DL and Engineer OL will dictate the pace of the game.  Either way, it should be very entertaining to see how the #1 Pass Offense competes against the #1 Pass Defense.

2.  Grind out possessions - Although I originally thought that Hobart QB Rich Doyle had not put up the same kind of offensive numbers as his predecessors (such as Andy Strom '08 and Shawn Mizro '07, etc), I found out I was mistaken.  The SR from Staten Island, NY has quietly put together the second best total offense per game (206.9 yard average), sixth best completion (55.6%) percentage, fourth best passing yards/game totals (198 yards  average - actually even better than Mizro's career best 194.8), and seventh best touchdowns scored (16) in one season in the 100+ year history of the program!  Although Robertson is the star QB in this match up, Rich Doyle has the opportunity to steal his thunder by keeping the Hobart offense on the field by moving the chains and controlling the clock.  Perhaps with this game in mind, Offensive Coordinator Kevin Dewall '00 debuted several new offensive looks for the Statesmen last Saturday against WPI.  Although there were a couple of mistakes (the most notable being a trick play that netted Hobart a 22 yard loss), this creativity on offense will definitely keep the RPI defense on their toes.  Thus, Hobart will likely look to mix things up on offense, using short passes and the tandem of SR RB Anthony Hobaica and SO RB Andrew Marlier.  The Statesmen should also have SR WR Zach Schultz (third on the team in all purpose yards with 478) back to compliment JR WR Tyler Vincent (who had the big three touchdown receiving game against WPI).  Unfortunately, both Hobaica and SR TE/Co-Capt Matt Duliba were injured in the fourth quarter of Saturday's game against WPI.  If Hobaica's unable to go, expect to see Marlier receive the bulk of the carries with possibly more hand-offs to SR FB Tony Siravo.  In the absence of Duliba, expect FY TE Matt Marsh (6' 1" 230) to get the start.  Regardless of who plays in the skill positions, Hobart will lean on their experienced and big (averaging 270 lbs across the board) OL to open holes and move the chains.  RPI has outscored opponents by an incredible 109-44 points in the first half this season.  Hobart will need to work hard to control the clock, earn hard fought yards and scoring chances in order to avoid having to play from behind in this one.

3.  Limit Mistakes on Offense - The RPI defense leads the league in scoring defense, allowing less than two touchdowns a game.  This is compounded by the fact that they often play with a big lead and have been very successful (+12) in creating turnovers to give the offense the ball right back.  Needless to say, Hobart cannot shoot themselves in the foot by having three and out possessions and/or turning the ball over to Jimmy Robertson and the high scoring RPI offense.  Rich Doyle has thrown eight interceptions on the year, but five of those came in the first two games of the season while Rich was settling in as the full-time starting QB (not to mention having to play against Dickinson and CMU defenses that were both NCAA tournament teams from the season before).  Since then, Doyle has only thrown three (two in the WPI game - one I'd argue wasn't his fault given the call from WEOS' Ted Baker indicating that the WR had stopped running his route) in the last five games.  Championship games are often about momentum, and nothing kills momentum for one team, while energizing the other, more than turnovers.

4.  Lean on Tradition - Hobart has not lost two league games since 2001 (back when the Liberty League was the UCAA).  The Statesmen have won six of eight against the RPI Engineers.  Hobart has accomplished a record twelve winning seasons and won the league seven times, including five out of the past six seasons.  Every single Statesmen on the roster (save for the freshmen) have played on NCAA tournament squads.  A win Saturday would secure Hobart's fifth consecutive trip to the NCAAs.  Hobart not only possesses a great track record, but also the added incentive of avenging last year's defeat and playing the role of spoiler in the '86 Field finale.

So here we go again.  Although WPI made things interesting for a while, the championship for the league will once again comes down to Hobart vs. RPI.  In my opinion, all the pressure is on RPI in this game - they are the favorites, it's the final game at '86, and they are undefeated.  Hobart will need to come out fired up, take the Engineers and home crowd out of the game early and play grind it out, ball-control Statesmen football if they want to win.

To conclude, I'd like to quote Hobart Head Coach Cragg who was interviewed after the WPI game by the Finger Lakes Times:

"Earlier, I would have said we’re going to have a real tough time with RPI.  Now, we have a shot," Cragg concluded.  "We've gone down there and won before. I don't have any problem thinking we can go down there and beat them on their field."

Although the odds are not in favor of it, TGP is going to have faith and go out on a limb to predict a 27-25 Hobart victory.

Note the HWS has a new sports website: www.hwsathletics.com

Links for both the online radio and webcasts can be found on the schedule page under the "Details" tab.

GO BART!

[Senor RedTackle]

JU drank the Kool-Aid and jumped on the Obama Bandwagon!  Show me the your money!


_{Oh, Yeaaaah!}

Everybody loves a winner....

U89 saw JU running across the railroad tracks across the street from his house this morning screaming, "My man Obama won!!!!  My man Obama won....let's share the wealth."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-GkwIRbLw8

[Frank Rossi]

TGP's LL CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW:
Hobart College vs. #20 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

The defending co-champions of the Liberty League, Hobart (6-1, 4-1) and Rensselaer (7-0, 5-0), will meet this Saturday in a winner-take-all game in New York's Capitol District! 

On the line is the undisputed league championship and the accompanying Pool A bid for the NCAA D3 football tournament.  This game takes on added significance (especially to the RPI players, alums and fans) in that Saturday will be the final regular season contest ever played at the fabled '86 Field.  Next season, RPI's football and other athletic teams will move into their newly built multi million dollar "East Campus Athletic Village".  

TGP -- Nice preview, but I have to rain on your parade a bit.  If Hobart beats RPI -- and the next week, RPI beats MMA and ROC beats HOB, then RPI would win the LL outright (with one league loss).

[Frank Rossi]

#8, #9 and #10 are just pure fugly now in the second East Regional Poll:

1. Cortland State 8-0 8-0
2. RPI 7-0 7-0
3. Ithaca 6-1 7-1
4. Montclair State 7-1 7-1
5. Rowan 7-1 7-1
6. Hartwick 6-1 6-1
7. Hobart 6-1 6-1
8. Plymouth State 7-1 8-1
9. Husson 6-0 6-2
10. Curry 7-1 8-1

A Hobart loss would get Husson (yes, Husson) within one spots of the playoffs, as the MAC representative is not in the top 10 currently, but the Rowan/Montclair loser would drop out (only 6 of these teams will go to the NCAAs, based on 5 conference champions -- iincluding the MAC champion not shown -- and likely 2 Pool C bids).

[dlippiel]

Love almost all the dudes on here but never realized so many of you guys are ****ing conservatives. Well then its been 8 years since I celebrated, so I'll celebrate all by my lonesome. Let the stones come my way ( I know I am going to get nailed for this) but at least I've got my cup on this time! Hey George don't let the door hit your ass on the way out!" Great win Obama!

Definitely a pumpkin head this weekend! Let's go Bart! Yet if RPI does win, and I think they will by a double digit margin, then I think they really will have proved that they are the LL's best hope and I will back them for the tourney. I know last year after their loss to TCNJ I said I'd never back them again. Well I guess I am growing up.

[Frank Rossi]

ECAC Northeast/Northwest Teams One Game Below .500 or Better, cross-referenced with teams that have declared denoted by a '*' (as of Wednesday at 3pm):

                 Conf Div
School           W-L  W-L
------------------------- 
RPI              5-0  7-0 * A
Husson           0-0  6-0 * (B)
Curry            5-1  8-1 *
Plymouth State   6-0  7-1 * A
Ithaca           4-1  7-1   A
Hobart           4-1  6-1 * (A)
Hartwick         3-1  6-1 * (A)
Alfred           3-1  6-2 * (A)
Worcester Poly.  3-2  6-2 *
Bridgewater St.  5-1  6-3   (A)
Maine Maritime   5-1  6-3   (A)
St. John Fisher  4-1  6-3 * (A)
Mass-Dartmouth   4-2  6-3
MIT              3-3  5-4 *
Westfield State  3-1  5-4
Salve Regina     3-3  4-4
SUNY-Maritime    0-0  4-4 *
Fitchburg State  4-2  4-5
Union            2-3  3-4 *

A - Team leads for Pool A bid in their conference
(A) - Team still has reasonable Pool A chance
(B) - Team still has reasonable Pool B chance

Notes:  At most, only five, or at least, four of these teams will be NCAA Playoff participants.  Deadline for on-time filing is TOMORROW (Thursday) at 4pm.  Deadline for late filing (for $500 penalty) is next Friday at 4pm.  Cortland, Brockport and Buffalo St. are now part of the ECAC southern region by nature of their NJAC affiliation.

As of tomorrow, I will remove the undeclared teams from this list and any Pool A winners after Saturday.  If a team late-declares, I will add them to the list, and indicate such with a '***' indicator.

[Regulator]

Love almost all the dudes on here but never realized so many of you guys are ****ing conservatives. Well then its been 8 years since I celebrated, so I'll celebrate all by my lonesome. Let the stones come my way ( I know I am going to get nailed for this) but at least I've got my cup on this time! Hey George don't let the door hit your ass on the way out!" Great win Obama!

Definitely a pumpkin head this weekend! Let's go Bart! Yet if RPI does win, and I think they will by a double digit margin, then I think they really will have proved that they are the LL's best hope and I will back them for the tourney. I know last year after their loss to TCNJ I said I'd never back them again. Well I guess I am growing up.

Just curious, why are you celebrating....or don't you know.

Let's all celebrate in 4 years from now, when all this hype come to fruition....Make me a believer!