The Top 10 Eastern Region teams of the D3football.com Era

[Jonny Utah]

Of course not......that would be REDICULAS!!!!

Speaking of RPI football....


_{RB Tina Waters prepares for Smith College's opening game vs. RPI}

[Knightstalker]

I think RPI better watch out for her.  Of course KS has already told the stalkerette that she could play football if she wanted to.

[lewdogg11]

Nah seriously guys, why you gotta be like that? 

Word on the street is that RPI dropped the Hudson Valley scrimmage this year, and penciled in Troy High to get more 'week-one-like' experience. 

[Tags]

Nah seriously guys, why you gotta be like that? 

Word on the street is that RPI dropped the Hudson Valley scrimmage this year, and penciled in Troy High to get more 'week-one-like' experience. 

Now that's funny.

[superman57]

Is Troy any good anymore...they used to be real dominant in the area...it was always a big rival with them LaSalle Insitute and Amsterdam football....some good players came from those teams

[Jonny Utah]

Is Troy any good anymore...they used to be real dominant in the area...it was always a big rival with them LaSalle Insitute and Amsterdam football....some good players came from those teams

Ever heard of Justice Smith?

[superman57]

are you kidding me.... I Grew up in Amsterdam...as a kid I idolized Justice Smith...I had a copy of the SI issue he was on a long time ago......

[Jonny Utah]

are you kidding me.... I Grew up in Amsterdam...as a kid I idolized Justice Smith...I had a copy of the SI issue he was on a long time ago......

He was on the cover of SI?  I worked with him for 2 years at this bar in Boston.  Great kid.  I think he was moving to Arizona or somewhere like that.  This was back around 2000 I think though.

[superman57]

you know what I just went and researched it it wasn't the cover but I recall it was either an article or something but there was a great photo of him and then he goes and f's up his knee

[Jonny Utah]

you know what I just went and researched it it wasn't the cover but I recall it was either an article or something but there was a great photo of him and then he goes and f's up his knee

Im trying to remember, he was too young to be on the BC team that beat #1 ND in 93 right?

[superman57]

no ...what I am remembering is from I wanna say '94

[pg04]

# 2: 1999 Rowan Profs

The Basics:

Overall Record:  12-2
End Result: Eliminated by Pacific Lutheran in National Finals
Key Regular Season Wins: vs. Buffalo State 43-7, @ Cortland State 30-9
Key Regular Season Losses: vs. Montclair State 24-28
Points For: 35.8
Points Against: 13.8

Key Strength:

They lost their quarterback early in the season but stayed resilient and continued strong on the arm of a Freshman quarterback, blowing away most of their opponents.  Their defense also was solid, only allowing 13 points in the 1st quarter all season up until the final game.  They were the number 1 ranked rush Defense in the country and also forced 21 turnovers.

Key Players:

Offense:

Mike Warker, QB:  The freshman QB threw 114-221 for 1861 yards and 17 touchdowns after Jeff Orihel went down with a knee injury

Justin Wright, RB:  119 rushes for 871 yards.  Was injured in the Game against Cortland State.

Jason Frabasile, RB:  Replaced Wright and had 131 rushes for 610 yards and 7 touchdowns. 

Scott Lipford, WR:  56 receptions for 904 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Defense: 

Tim Watson: 10 sacks, 50 tackles, 1 interception and 2 fumble recoveries.

Cornelius White: 10 sacks, 49 tackles and 2 interception

Eventual cause of demise (because let's face it, the Eastern teams always have a demise) :

The team on this list that came closest to not having a demise, eventually fell in the national final 41-13 to Pacific Lutheran.  The profs were coming in off a high, defeating Mount Union in Alliance the week before, ending their 54  game winning streak.  In the playoffs they had also avenged their regular season loss to Montclair State.  It looked that FINALLY, Rowan was going to get over the hump and win a national title.  This was not the case as the problems started from the first play of the game when Warker fumbled and the Lutes recovered on the Profs 31.  It was really all downhill from there as they would be down 27-7 at halftime.  In an astounding stat, the profs ran for a Stagg Bowl Record  -63 yards rushing (yes that's a negative). 



Why did they make the list?:

As the only team in the era to make the National Final, they are certainly deserving of the position, and many will say deserving of the first slot for this very reason (and also that they ended the Purple Raiders Streak).  However, The next team, the 2001 team, appeared to me statistic wise and also as an overall team to be better than the 1999 one. 


======================================================================


# 1: 2001 Rowan Profs

The Basics:

Overall Record:  11-2
End Result: Eliminated by Bridgewater in National SemiFinals
Key Regular Season Wins: vs. New Jersey 28-27, vs. Montclair State 53-21
Key Regular Season Losses: @ Cortland State 31-32
Points For: 46.9
Points Against: 18.4

Key Strength:

This one in my mind was easy.  The ability for them to just blow out their opponents and score at will was undeniable.  As an example, Just look at the winning scores in the playoffs :  vs. Brockport 40-17, vs. Western Connecticut 43-14, and vs. Ithaca 48-0.  This combined with some regular season scores like 67-17, 63-14, and the Montclair state win mentioned above made them appear virtually unstoppable (of course they were stoppable).

Key Players:

Offense:

Tony Racioppi 166-283 for 2600 yards and 37 touchdowns.

Scott Lipford: 47 receptions for 969 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Paul Northern:         42 rushes for 392 yards and 4 touchdowns     
Antwine Simmons:    61 rushes for 427 yards and 3 touchdowns       
Creg Bethea:            61 rushes for 359 yards and 2  touchdowns   


Eventual cause of demise (because let's face it, the Eastern teams always have a demise) :

The clock.  In a game that one second took like 5 seconds to elapse,  Bridgewater defeated Rowan 29-24/ 
you can see the footage here:  http://youtube.com/watch?v=hYpYCOS4WyE.  Before this game, as described above, the Profs absolutely had no trouble with the eastern region.  This game was back and forth, but in the end, the Profs should absolutely have won and gone on to play Mount Union in the National Final (That national final, Mount Union won 30-27).



Why did they make the list?:

This question should probably be why are they number 1?  Well, I believe that this was absolutely the most dominant team in the Eastern Region of this era.  They rolled over opponents with relative ease and although they did lose in the regular season, they are hard to deny.  Racioppi had an awesome year and the team really deserved better, as I have discussed.   Not only did they have the explosive offense but a very nice defense as well making them the #1 Team in the Eastern Region of the D3football.com era!!!

[pg04]

And that's it folks!!    Thanks for the discussions and have at it on the first two picks...

Thanks for D3football.com for most of the stats!

Honorable Mention Teams:

Trinity 2003   8-0
Trinity 2004   8-0
Trinity 2005   8-0
Ithaca 2003   10-3
Springfield 2000   11-2
Springfield 2006   10-2
Union 2005   11-1
Rowan 2004   10-3
Montclair 2003 9-2
RPI 2001 8-1

As For the Trinity Teams, they were considered but as people have recently mentioned, I don't think it would be fair to put them in the top 10 without playing anyone in the east or being in the playoffs.

As For Widener, if they were included, probably would have been in the top 5.  However, I had already started this and had my teams set before they were brought into the discussion. 

Overall, I hope you enjoyed all this and continue discussions.

I am currently thinking about possibly doing another Top 10 topic soon (Not Right away, However). 

[Trin9-0]

And that's it folks!!    Thanks for the discussions and have at it on the first two picks...

Thanks for D3football.com for most of the stats!

Honorable Mention Teams:

Trinity 2003   8-0
Trinity 2004   8-0
Trinity 2005   8-0
Ithaca 2003   10-3
Springfield 2000   11-2
Springfield 2006   10-2
Union 2005   11-1
Rowan 2004   10-3
Montclair 2003 9-2
RPI 2001 8-1

As For the Trinity Teams, they were considered but as people have recently mentioned, I don't think it would be fair to put them in the top 10 without playing anyone in the east or being in the playoffs.

Appreciate the honorable mention for Trinity, especially having the '03 Bantams on top  .  Though as several have mentioned, if Trin is included then a few of the undefeated Williams teams should get a nod as well (most notably '01, 06).

Great work on the Top Ten!

[tecmobowler]

While they're not going to make these sorts of lists due to missing the playoffs, the best Ithaca team I have seen (since 1999 when I arrived at the school) by far was the 2004 version.  The offense was simply electric at a time when Ithaca's defense was still the main attraction.

A tough one point loss on the road to Brockport, and a controversial double overtime loss to Fisher on the road.  Seems it should have been enough to get in, as there were a couple two loss teams that squeaked into the tournament.  I really thought that squad could have gone a long, long way.