East Region Fan Poll

[lewdogg11]

More Importantly, the #'s everyone has been waiting for...HARTWICK...

Away  18-26   0.409090909
Home 23-13   0.638888889
   22.980%   Delta

That is just plain stoopid.

[theoriginalupstate]

Upstate no likey all these numbers...

Upstate tiny brain hurted now...

Upstate angry...

[union89]

You cannot call RPI's OOC schedule anything but weak year in and year out. This year being a bit of an exception because of Utica coming in as a much improved team then in the past. Dlip believes that Utica will continue to improve year in and year out which will help with RPI's SOS. Yet the question seems to be does this schedule help or hurt them? Seemingly dlip feels it has done a little bit of both. Overall though RPI is undefeated in 09 with W's over pitifull Endicott, pulling one out of their arse against Utica, and an impressive W on the road at WPI. For dlip, if RPI wins on Sat they will definitely be in his top 2 in his week #6 poll, with heavy consideration for #1.

If RPI knew in advance that Utica was going to be this good in '09....probably wouldn't have scheduled them years ago.

[JQV]

This discussion inadvertently raises an interesting question.  Does scheduling in D3 work like scheduling in D1?

What incentive do Endicott or Mount Ida have to play a road game against a team they can never beat?  Do they get some cash like Florida's first two opponents?  I cannot imagine that is the case.  So if it isn't money, why don't they just stay away?  That would force RPI, Utica, and everyone else to schedule OOC opponents on their level.  Right?

[theoriginalupstate]

You cannot call RPI's OOC schedule anything but weak year in and year out. This year being a bit of an exception because of Utica coming in as a much improved team then in the past. Dlip believes that Utica will continue to improve year in and year out which will help with RPI's SOS. Yet the question seems to be does this schedule help or hurt them? Seemingly dlip feels it has done a little bit of both. Overall though RPI is undefeated in 09 with W's over pitifull Endicott, pulling one out of their arse against Utica, and an impressive W on the road at WPI. For dlip, if RPI wins on Sat they will definitely be in his top 2 in his week #6 poll, with heavy consideration for #1.

If RPI knew in advance that Utica was going to be this good in '09....probably wouldn't have scheduled them years ago.

Just like RPI figured out that after the 2003 SJF would go on to be a pretty good team and decided to drop them....

yes i know it was due to the LL

They have a formula for it, they just miscalculated when it came to Utica...

Apparently the Faggiano factor wasn't supposed to go into effect until 2010...

Look for RPI to replace them next year...

[theoriginalupstate]

This discussion inadvertently raises an interesting question.  Does scheduling in D3 work like scheduling in D1?

What incentive do Endicott or Mount Ida have to play a road game against a team they can never beat?  Do they get some cash like Florida's first two opponents?  I cannot imagine that is the case.  So if it isn't money, why don't they just stay away?  That would force RPI, Utica, and everyone else to schedule OOC opponents on their level.  Right?

God I hope SJF got paid in some way, shape or form for the MUC home and home...

[dlippiel]

This discussion inadvertently raises an interesting question.  Does scheduling in D3 work like scheduling in D1?

What incentive do Endicott or Mount Ida have to play a road game against a team they can never beat?  Do they get some cash like Florida's first two opponents?  I cannot imagine that is the case.  So if it isn't money, why don't they just stay away?  That would force RPI, Utica, and everyone else to schedule OOC opponents on their level.  Right?

dlip has never heard of this being the case in D3. Viper brings up a solid point here. Why the **** would ****ty teams want to play teams they know they just can't beat? dlip tends to think it is a choice of direction for each program. If you are not a strong program (ex. Endicott) you possibly look at the RPI game in a couple ways. Playing tougher competition OOC will make you stronger in conference during the year. Many teams (ex. Union) live by this rule and to dlip, it does, many times, make them better. You gain exposure for recruiting as a result of scheduling teams that are popular (historically storied) and successful. Yet looking at RPI dlip feels King has a method to his madness. dlip bets King looks at his scheduling as a preparation for league play in regards to a type of warm-up and growth where players gain confidence through success and prepare for tougher competition in league by building up to it. This to, can be beneficial by building a teams winning percentage, reputation, and overall success. D3 is not an everyone has a shot at winning the national Championship type level. Success is measured in so many different ways here. Hence,as much as dlip loves to give RPI **** for their weak ass bitch schedule but in reality, he clearly understands why they do it, he just feels they shoudl never bitch if they do not recieve an at-large bid to the show or a lack of respect from voters. dlip feels Union's way is better for exposure, recruiting, and overall strength and respect of the program. Yet when injuries happen, early season loses, and overall deflating performances, tough OOC scheduling can not always be the most beneficial. Overall tough scheduling is very beneficial for some and weak ass bitch scheduling is beneficial for others. If dlip was Endicoot he would sever relations with the Engineers starting immediately until they feel they have a chance to win.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Re: scheduling 'unwinnable' games:

Why a perennially bad team, with no serious aspirations for improvement, would do this is beyond me.  But it is a very good strategy for some teams.  Hope, for example, has not won a non-con game since 2004, but by playing tougher opponents, they are well-prepared for the MIAA.  From 2005-07, they went 0-10 non-con, but 18-3 in the MIAA, including two titles.  This year they again went 0-4, but played all four opponents tightly (their worst defeat was still by only 12 at #4 Wheaton); barring a rash of injuries, I'll predict AT LEAST a 4-2 conference record (and 5-1 or even 6-0 would not surprise me).

To give another example, UWW played a home-and-home against the Mount back in 2002-03 (when they were a middle-of-the-pack WIAC team).  While they lost both games fairly badly, there are many who feel this was the springboard for their recent string of Stagg Bowl appearances.

[redswarm81]

Gro will not deny that [RPI's] OOC schedule is weak, and they don't play a 10th game i.e. a 3rd OOC game.  But like Gro said before besides Cortland IC's schedule isn't all that great... Dr. Lew does a good explanation of that. Union is "Meh" because they beat Ithaca (no longer as grand an accomplishment as they like to think) then lose to the Mules, then pull a win against U of R out of their arse.  And U of R hung with SJF the week before, but no one knows how good SJF is this year either.

I guess "Meh" means "can't tell a god damn thing about this team"

Union & Widener are still much better than Endicott & Utica on a consistent basis.  Most years, I would say that St. Lawrence is better than RPI's two opponents as well.

I totally agree with Utah, even for an RPI guy........to compare these two OOC schedules over the past few years is very 'homerish'.

The concept of D3 teams being better "on a consistent basis" is worth considering.  For a decade or so, I've wished that RPI would schedule a 10th game, and make it a marquee opponent, like . . . Springfield.  How does Springfield's marquee value compare to Utica's this year?  This turns out to be a more complicated question than I originally thought.

Even the gurus are talking quite a bit about Utica's upsurge, while the Statistical Spotlight points out that "Alfred senior Vinson Hendrix ran for 175 yards and three touchdowns in Alfred's 49-28 win over Springfield, which came into the game with the nation's top-ranked run defense statistically (10 yards per game)."

2-1 Springfield has an Opponents' Winning Percentage of .750; while
2-2 Utica has an  Opponents' Winning Percentage of .556, yet Utica seems to be getting more attention.  Part of that is due, I suspect, to the fact that Utica is in New York, while Springfield's MA location makes them somewhat easier to overlook in Empire 8 discussions.
For comparison purposes, with its historically weak OOC schedule completed, 3-0 RPI has an Opponents' Winning Percentage of .778.

At the same time, Alfred's win over Springfield rated a mention on Game Day as a battle of unbeatens, while RPI's win over previously unbeaten WPI was not mentioned.

UPDATE: Corrected Utica's OWP

[AUKaz00]

Alfred's win over Springfield rated a mention on Game Day as a battle of unbeatens, while RPI's win over previously unbeaten WPI was not mentioned.

That's simple.  After the battery for K-Mack's recorder died, Pep took him on a tour of the town and snapped some particularly damaging photos of the guru.  Safe to say, the D3sports staff is now firmly in Alfred's corner.  As the LLPP regulars are fond of saying, "Norm!"  I mean, "It's science."

[Jonny Utah]

This stuff has been talked about before.  RPIs schedule can hurt or help them. 

Lets say Hobart and SJF win the LL and E8.  Union and Ithaca are both 8-2 and looking for a pool C bid.  Union is probably going to get the pool C bid because they beat Ithaca.  Union also knows going into the season that they scheduled a potential playoff team for 2009, and that is one of the advantages of making that schedule.

No lets say Ithaca is 8-2 and RPI is 8-2 are looking for the same pool c bid and RPI lost to Union, (or didn't lose to them).  RPI might not get the nod because they didnt play the same non league schedule that Ithaca did. 

[JT]

This discussion inadvertently raises an interesting question.  Does scheduling in D3 work like scheduling in D1?

What incentive do Endicott or Mount Ida have to play a road game against a team they can never beat?  Do they get some cash like Florida's first two opponents?  I cannot imagine that is the case.  So if it isn't money, why don't they just stay away?  That would force RPI, Utica, and everyone else to schedule OOC opponents on their level.  Right?

Rowan used to occasionally get paid to play up.  Last time was a few years ago at DII Virginia State University in front of 15,000 for homecoming.  VSU had an opponent back out. 

[maxpower]

It's Tuesday! PG, where's the poll?

[lewdogg11]

It's Tuesday! PG, where's the poll?

He said last week he was out of town or something and it would be late this week.  Cut the dude a little slack.

[maxpower]

It's Tuesday! PG, where's the poll?

He said last week he was out of town or something and it would be late this week.  Cut the dude a little slack.

just askin.....