Sorting out contenders and pretenders
|
|
In the Liberty League, however, no teams are worse than 2-2 overall, St. Lawrence and WPI. Every other team in the league has a winning record, led by Hobart at 4-0, after beating WPI 19-14 on Saturday. Union is 3-1, as is RPI, whose only loss is to Hobart. League play got underway in full force last week, and the first two weeks of November will be terrific football. RPI, Hobart, and Union all have a chance to make the NCAA's, but any team can win in the Liberty League on any given Saturday.
In the last two weeks, Union beat Rochester by three, 27-24, and squeaked by Merchant Marine 28-20. Rochester and Kings Point, both at 3-2 overall, are two teams who have been at the middle of the league since Kings Point joined the league after the breakup of the Freedom Football Conference, but they are looking to take over if one of the top three slips.
In the Empire 8, the distance between the top and the bottom of the league is more defined. St. John Fisher and Springfield (talked about in Keith McMillan's ATN column) are both undefeated with Fisher at 5-0 and Springfield at 4-0. Ithaca's only loss was to Fisher and Alfred's only loss was to Springfield.
Then there is a large drop to the bottom three in the league, Norwich, Utica and Hartwick. Norwich was beaten 48-13 at Merrill Field last week in a game that wasn't even that close at Alfred's Homecoming, and Hartwick gave up 57 in a loss to Fisher. In a game that I actually listened to (and as a Utica alum maybe I shouldn't have), Utica sounded really bad in a 41-7 loss to the Pride in a game that was 34-0 at the half.
On the message board, there is a debate between the LL posters and the E8 posters on which conference is better top to bottom. To make a choice at this point of the season, I think the Liberty League is better top to bottom between the two.
In the NJAC, Cortland State is the only undefeated team at 4-0. Cortland is ranked at No. 17 in the latest D3football.com poll and is scoring 35 points per game. Despite Rowan's No. 8 national ranking, the Red Dragons are the best team in the New Jersey Athletic Conference right now. Rowan lost to Division I-AA Robert Morris 21-0, but that is definitely not something that I would use to lower them in the rankings.
Kean, Montclair State, and Rowan are the other undefeated teams in conference play.
Thanks for the response
I've got a few e-mails on my top ten from last week and also my effort to get some national attention for Julio Fuentes, the Alfred player who injured his neck during the Saxons' opening game against Thiel.
I would like to say that the response was completely positive, and I hope that I can be a tiny piece to help by getting it out into the national eye.
Predictions, predictions, oh how I love predictions
Going back to my column last week, I picked Springfield to beat Utica 44-17, Ithaca to beat Brockport 34-21 and St. John Fisher to beat Hartwick 49-17.
In actuality, the Pride beat the Pioneers 41-7, the Bombers beat the Golden Eagles 26-7 and the Cardinals beat the Hawks 57-16.
That's 3-0 on the week for me, maybe I can do this picking games thing after all.
The three wins put me over .500 for the season, at 4-2. For three more predictions, see the bottom of this column.
Great performances
St. John Fisher had 500 total yards of offense and quarterback Rob Kramer went 15-for-17 for 203 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Alfred freshman tailback Vinson Hendrix (which may be the coolest name in all of Division III football) rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, and added a 71-yard touchdown catch in the Saxons 48-13 Homecoming win over Norwich.
RPI scored 35 points in the opening quarter on its way to a 56-6 win against Becker.
The RPI defense also held Becker to minus-11 yards rushing, which is considered to be a record in the long illustrious history of the Engineers' program.
A team peering over the edge
This column will feature two teams this week and both are in the Liberty League. Rochester and Merchant Marine are both 3-2 overall, as mentioned above, and both teams are 1-1 in conference losing close games to Union in consecutive weeks.
Both teams have the two toughest games still left against RPI and Hobart, and both take on Grove City later in the season as well, Kings Point the last game of the season.
Both teams definitely have a chance to sneak into a ECAC playoff bid, we'll have to see how the rest of the season goes to find out whether a team moves up to the top group or down into the category listed below.
A team that (may have) fallen over the edge
Brockport. I had faith last week in the Golden Eagles before playing Ithaca for Homecoming, and the Eagles laid an egg, 26-7. They have one of the toughest schedules in the entire country, but unfortunately being in a division with only five teams doesn't help, since they have no automatic qualifier in the ACFC. Last week, this team was like the old Wile E. Coyote cartoons where he's chasing the Road Runner and smashes into a wall that looks like a train tunnel. They'll have to step it up to get back into contention. One consolation is that they are still undefeated in conference play.
ATR East Region Top 10 for Week 6
1. St. John Fisher
2. Wesley
3. Springfield
4. Cortland State
5. Rowan
6. Ithaca
7. Hobart
8. Union
9. RPI
10. Alfred
Honorable mention: Brockport, Rochester, Kings Point
Three more predictions
Merchant Marine at Rochester
Rochester in a tight one, 24-17.
No. 8 Rowan at The College of New Jersey
The Friday night special ... Rowan has an easier time of it this week, 30-10 Profs.
Kean at No. 17 Cortland State
Cortland State stays undefeated 38-21 over Kean.