Thursday -- March 31, 2011

Spring football practice starts today. The 2011 football year really starts with Spring practice.

UMass' Just-a-Minute blog says there will be an update on the UMass website later today.

NCAA Spring Practice rules here.

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Ryan Welsh of WWLP.com says what I've been telling you here. Villanova's decision may effect UMass' move to FBS.

Relevant quote: "Villanova is expected to announce on April 12th if it is joining the Big East in football. If it does, then Temple likely stays in the MAC and UMass could go with it, if officially invited.

If Villanova does not move up, the Big East may invite another team, possibly from Conference USA to join.  If that happens, it would open up a spot for Temple and possibly UMass in Conference USA, since TCU is already leaving the conference to join the Big East. "

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More  on the UMass football team's bone marrow registration drive.

UPDATE: the UMass website has some video from the bone marrow event.

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You've probably heard about schools taking a financial loss from appearing in bowls. Most of the loss comes from the schools being required to purchase and then re-sell a block of tickets. Case in point is UConn's bath in Fiesta Bowl. Part of that is the current corrupt structure of the Bowls.

Check out the perks Fiesta Bowl officials paid themselves.

Should UMass go FBS and then be invited to a bowl, Minutemen administrators should carefully consider the cost structure of the bowl invitation and not just swallow the hook because it would be our first bowl appearance in modern times.