FB: Liberty League

[redswarm81]

As usual, RPI is who we thought they were.  They are the same team every year.  Can't win the big game, and not because they aren't good enough.  They dominated the game today.

JU asked, if they scheduled Cortland and lost, they'd have no shot at Pool C...correct, but 1, we'd know how good they were before today, and with that game under their belt, they may have won today. 

Instead, we are back to where we are every year.  If anyone who watched that game today has any doubt of who SHOULD have won, you are crazy.  All the respect in the world to Hobart.  They seem to find a way to win just about every year.  Kudos to their coaching staff.  Even when the they aren't nearly as good talent wise, they put a better effort in and win the game. 

However, if I have 1 piece of advice for Hobart for the playoffs...stick with that QB who played the second half.  That kid can play ball.

Rumor is Savlasi broke his collarbone supposedly.

Can't argue with LD's assessment.

What did they do with the real Jimmy Robertson?  At least half his passes today were 5 or more yards from his receivers.  He didn't run up a 150+ passing efficiency throwing that inaccurately in games 1 through 7.

For that matter, where did the special teams that won the Shoes go?

If it's any consolation, RPI lost to Hobart in 2003, in the last game of the season, at '86 Field.

[dlippiel]

As usual, RPI is who we thought they were.  They are the same team every year.  Can't win the big game, and not because they aren't good enough.  They dominated the game today.

JU asked, if they scheduled Cortland and lost, they'd have no shot at Pool C...correct, but 1, we'd know how good they were before today, and with that game under their belt, they may have won today. 

Instead, we are back to where we are every year.  If anyone who watched that game today has any doubt of who SHOULD have won, you are crazy.  All the respect in the world to Hobart.  They seem to find a way to win just about every year.  Kudos to their coaching staff.  Even when the they aren't nearly as good talent wise, they put a better effort in and win the game. 

However, if I have 1 piece of advice for Hobart for the playoffs...stick with that QB who played the second half.  That kid can play ball.

Rumor is Savlasi broke his collarbone supposedly.

Can't argue with LD's assessment.

What did they do with the real Jimmy Robertson?  At least half his passes today were 5 or more yards from his receivers.  He didn't run up a 150+ passing efficiency throwing that inaccurately in games 1 through 7.

For that matter, where did the special teams that won the Shoes go?

If it's any consolation, RPI lost to Hobart in 2003, in the last game of the season, at '86 Field.

Like I said  I feel bad for Robertson. I just think he is an awesome player and even breaking Cole's record today he deserves more than the loss. Hobarts back-up QB sounded like he was an animal when I was listening to the game on the radio. Anyone think he should start next week? Next week is a must win for Bart to get the automatic bid. Was he that good today where you would take the chance of rocking the boat and possibly losing to Rochester? If you stay with the starter Doyle? you can always bring the other kid in. I don't know. Weird today Hartwick actually lost to someone outside of the NEFC.

[Frank Rossi]

ECAC Northeast/Northwest Declared Teams (Final - pending late entries):

                 Conf Div
School           W-L  W-L
------------------------- 
Husson           0-0  7-0 (B)
Curry            6-1  9-1
Plymouth State   7-0  8-1 A
Ithaca           5-1  8-1 (A)
Hobart           5-1  7-1 A
RPI              5-1  7-1 (A)
Hartwick         3-2  6-2
St. John Fisher  4-1  6-3 A
Alfred           3-2  6-3
Worcester Poly.  3-3  6-3
Union            3-3  4-4
MIT              3-4  5-5
SUNY-Maritime    0-0  4-5

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

[pumkinattack]

First of all, great game.  I have had problems with DeWall's playcalling all year and I thought they'd have trouble between that and missing a couple of starters (particularly Duliba) on offense.  All year they've been running out of shotgun in predictable patterns (see the Marlier fumble in the 4th vs. WPI for a perfect example), but they did enough in the second half to win.  I still think that they go away from the run too quickly, particularly when they attempt only a couple of runs with the QB under center, they did the same thing vs. Union and just started throwing every play. 

I also thought the defense played very well notwithstanding the statistics.  RPI had a big drive, where they moved the ball with tremendous efficiency right out of the gate, but the bulk of the first half and third quarter Bart's D handled it pretty well.  They just didn't get any rest with all the 3 and outs on offense, constantly coming back on the field (the O should do the D's Sunday running for them this week for their efforts).  Basically, RPI put up half their yards on the first drive and the last two, which required a fake punt on 4th and 14 and another 4th and 10 completion. 

People who've seen RPI more can confirm this or not, but I think the passing game is heavily timing dependent.  Bart got very good pressure on Robertson picking up a couple of sacks and getting a number of hits on him where he was throwing early often (it seemed).  That may explain his passing.  The DB's who've been excellent all year, also had the WR's locked down pretty well.  I didn't see too many completions or attempts that weren't contested.  Having those guys perform well helped allow Bart to blitz much more than I thought they would.  I thought the middle of the field was open more, behind the ILB's, but he kept going to the outside. 

I don't know if Doyle will be an option next week.  I believe he injured his throwing hand.  Vella is a freshman from Chaminade (somewhere in Long Island I believe - I should know this living in NYC) in the mold of Strom.  We'd like you to meet our QB through 2011.  Actually, this year has been a disappointment in some ways and yet Bart will win the league if they take care of business next week (with all the injuries, that's no given).  I can't be happier given that.  A lot of younger guys have made an impact this year in important situations which is great for the future and they'll even have a strong ILB coming back in OLaughlin who was LL Rookie of the Year last year in place of Sanders when he went down.  Imagine a Bart - Montclair State playoff game.  Might end up 3 - 2. 

I'll be rooting for RPI too next week from Geneva and hope they can pick up a Pool C (assuming my boys win - necessitating this).  Also good to see four team tied at 3-3 right now.  I think SU can play a real role in this league in the near future and that's probably good for everyone as it would generate some excitement in PA for all of our programs. 

[Frank Rossi]

Some good news for RPI:

First, their OWP and OOWP saw a nice jump today, courtesy their game against Hobart and their former opponents picking up some wins along the way.  They started the day around 0.423 in OWP -- and ended at a nice 0.495.  Their OOWP is relatively strong at 0.526.  Naturally, these numbers will take a hit next week when RPI faces MMA, but they should hold above the levels they were at when we started the weekend.

Second, there are now just 14 undefeated teams and 22 one-loss teams (based on regional standings) left in Division III.  While there are just 32 slots available, and some of those slots will go to Pool A teams with more than one regional loss, there will be matchups next weekend against two one-loss teams that will make some more room for a team like RPI.  I'll do some math on this during the week, but the point is that even if Ithaca were to win against Cortland, all is not lost yet for RPI.

[Edit:  There are currently 3 Pool A leaders who have more than one loss.  Therefore, at least seven current one-loss teams (and/or Husson) will be left out of the NCAA Playoffs.]

['gro]

If RPI wins next week, they'll be Co-Champions of the LL... Woo!

/sarcasm

[labart96]

TGP celebrated yesterday's Hobart win with a trip to the CAL-USC game.

Needless to say TGP woke up this morning happy that Bart and USC won, but is:

HUNG.

OVER.

[Frank Rossi]

TGP celebrated yesterday's Hobart win with a trip to the CAL-USC game.

Needless to say TGP woke up this morning happy that Bart and USC won, but is:

HUNG.

OVER.

For some strange reason, FR thinks that many fans and participants from said LL game are waking up in a similar state today.

[muledaddy]

TGP,
Congrats on a great win in the CTB, although not frozen this year.I can see the Mule droppings in the Bart end zone now, if we get imported to the east.It would be a nice payback by proxy for the early season Bart over CC stalwart Dickinson debacle.

['gro]

Man RPI could use a 10th game win vs a team like Wick, Kean, or Lyco right now... even Curry!!

[union89]

Frank and dllip I usually agree with you guys but I think Hobart is better than RPI. The only way I see RPI winning is with Special Teams. Its a down year for Hobart Special Teams wise and RPI is exceptional.
It took a superhuman effort by Coney for Union to beat Hobart....by 3 points. Hobarts Pass defense is exceptional. and RPI has no running game to brag about. I really think RPI is going to struggle to score points. Unions pass defense has been awful and they really made RPI work (held Robertson 70 yards under his season average). Hobart put up 35 on Union like it was nothing. In fact they missed 3 FG's, so it could have been 44! And the only reason it was that little was because there was only because the game stops after 60 minutes when 1 team has a lead!

Reno -- Name one game this season in which Hobart looked extremely strong, like a team that could go out and beat any opponent with such a performance.  I'll help you out here -- I haven't really seen one.  Even the WPI win had plenty of mistakes for Hobart, making it more of a battle of turnovers and short fields for Hobart more than it was a pure offensive/defensive victory.

As I said, and you didn't address, the Hobart defense is a mismatch against the RPI offense.  The reason Union thrived was because the 3-5-3 they ran allowed more outside penetration so that when Robertson couldn't find a target, his backside was easily exposed for a sack.  Hobart's defense either needs to add some outside power or they're going to be bitten by Robertson all day.

I think Hobart will defend the pass well. They have all year. I dont see why that will change. They have 1 of the top pass defenses in the country. I do not think RPI can run the ball well this year. I mean Robertson is their leading rusher every week with 30 something yards on scrambles. I just dont feel it.
RPI special teams is the X-Factor. RPI Special Teams could very well win this game.

I just dont see it happening.

Defending the spread is a whole 'nother issue.  You're missing my points.  The linebacker-based defense is a tough defense in which to defend the spread -- it's more geared to a balanced offense, especially one with a run.  Therefore, there is a mismatch here that we'll see play out when the spread is in effect at '86.  RPI by 30.

You should stick to playing with numbers and percentages.......

[Jonny Utah]

Thats it, we are going to need a steel-cage/tag-team match at the end of this summer:

U "the cougar hunter"89 and Al "the legend" Bagnoli

              VS

Frank "the calculator" Rossi and John "Rudy's backup" Audino

['gro]

Most of RPI's passing was downfield, past the LB's... didn't see them trying to play mis matches in the short passing game.

so is that a tie between Frank and U89?

[pumkinattack]

Yeah, like I was saying earlier, the biggest weakness in Bart's pass D is always 15 - 18 yards in the middle of the field, but I don't think Robertson threw there at all.  Does RPI have a pass catching TE/SE that they utilize?  Branche killed Bart almost every year - although they had company from the rest of the league in that category. 

I also found it interesting that RPI's DB's played so soft all game.  I guess since the Bart running game was not working and they started commiting more pressure on the QB as the game progressed they had to protect against something over the top. 

One more thing for DeWall:  If Doyle comes back, please don't ever allow him to pitch the ball again.  Ever. 

[Frank Rossi]

You should grow a sack and tell him what you think of him.....

I think he's a nice guy, to be honest.  Horrible AD, but nice guy.