UMass Football News--November 20th, 2017

Matty Vautour reports UMass coaches will add recruiting duties to the FIU trip.

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Athlon Sports covers the UMass-FIU game and predicts UMass will beat the spread.

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Wicked Local Swampscott features former UMass and Patriot player Ed Toner. Ed played for the Minutemen in 1965 and 1966. He was one of five Toner brothers (John, Mark, Paul and William) to play for UMass.

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The UMass Daily Collegian says UMass prepares to close out its season against FIU.

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Sports Chat Place picks FIU to cover the spread.

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Former UMass QB James Sosinski, currently a TE with Kansas, may join the Jayhawks hoops practice squad.

Sosinski's Kansas bio.

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247Sports has a post on the new December 20th to 22nd early signing period.

USA Today says the early signing period is creating a lot of uncertainty.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Bryon Robinson

Robinson #5/Twitter image

Bryan Robinson, a 5-11 190 pound CB from McKinney, TX has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

UMass is the first FBS offer for Robinson.

UMass Football News--November 29th, 2017

Matty Vautour reports Andrew Ford will play his senior year at UMass. That's good news for Minutemen fans!

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Adam Breneman, Logan Laurent and Da'Sean Downey were named to the All-New England Team

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Keepers College football ratings has UMass a 8.59 point favorite over FIU.

He has the Minutemen as #103 in college football.

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FIU has their game notes for UMass up.

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Off Shore gaming says take UMass to beat the point spread.

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SB Nation predicts bowl games for Mississippi State, Ohio, FIU, Appalachian State and Temple.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Lakiem Williams

Twitter image

Lakiem Williams, a 6-2 240 pound LB/RB from Butte College in CA has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Williams has seven FBS offers including UMass and Syracuse from the Northeast.

UMass Football News--November 28th, 2017

UMass has its game notes for FIU up.

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College TV schedules (note. The times listed on the site are Central Time) says the game will be on C-USA TV.

It's $6.95 for a one-day subscription.

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Andy Isabella needs 75 yards receiving to break 1000 yards for the season. He needs 1 yard to pass Jason Peebler 48-976 (2004). On the single season record list, 101 yards Saturday would put him 5th.

8. Jason Peebler (50-1003) 2003
7. Rasheed Rancher (49-1007) 2007
6. Victor Cruz (71-1064) 2008

Herald image

Andrew Ford has gone 193-303 2575 18 TD's 62.5 % 257.5 AVE/Game.

Ford needs one completion to pass Tim Day (194-341-17) 2004 for 10th place in single season pass completions.

9. 206 Liam Coen 2008
8. 217 Liam Coen 2006
7. 219 Kyle Havens 2010

He's already 10th in single season passing yards. Next up:

9. 2692 Kyle Havens 2010
8. 2749 Liam Coen 2008

Ford is tied for 10th in single season TD's. Next up is:

8. 20 Noel Reebenacker 1952
8. 20 Kyle Havens 2010

Ford #6 in passing completion %. Next in line is:

4. 63.5 Todd Bankhead 1995
4. 63.5 Kyle Havens 2010

Ford is #4 in passing EFF.

3. 156.3 Liam Coen 2007.

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Being a football coach is not easy or fair. Ty Detmer was stuck with a fifth-string true freshman quarterback and gets fired.

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A couple of Knoxville businesses weight in on Tennessee's coaching controversy. Mentions UMass.

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UMass Recruiting 2018--Vonte Davis

Blinn College image

Vonte Davis, a 6-1 180 pound CB from Blinn College has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Blinn College bio here.

Davis was first-team all-conference in 2017.

Besides UMass, Davis has offers from Utah State and New Mexico.

UMass Football News--November 27th, 2017

FIU opens as a 1.5 point favorite over UMass. Interesting line. Usually, the home team has a 3-point edge for just not having to travel. So Vegas thinks the teams are pretty evenly matched.

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UMass-FIU will kickoff at noon.

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Patriot LB Karl Van Noy lost a bet about the UMass-BYU game and had to pose with a Minutemen uniform on.

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Sports Chat Place thinks FIU will cover the spread against UMass.

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FIU is one win away from a school record.

You remember the fake punt that ended in disaster for WKU? Well, FIU excuted a fake punt in the same game that resulted in a TD.

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BYU football looks forward to the 2018 season.

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The Hartford Courant looks at the UConn Huskies 2018 season, which includes UMass and Rhode Island at home.

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Mississippi State's HC Dan Mullen leaves to coach at Florida.

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Tennessee backed off hiring Greg Schiano after campus protests.

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UMass Football News--November 26th, 2017

Sorry no post yesterday, family emergency.

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I was surfing on Comcast Sports Friday evening had it turned out they had the FIU-Western Kentucky game.

The Panthers dominated Western Kentucky 41-17. It was actually worse than that because FIU had pick-six negated by a very questionable roughing the passer call. Western Kentucky, you remember has a high-octane offense. FIU had five sacks and held WKU to 46 yards rushing. They had pressure on WKU's QB all game.

The C-USA announcers were raving about FIU QB Alex McGough who went 17-26 227 1 TD. McGough has been close to 70% completion rate over his last four games. He repeatedly ran out of WKU pressure. McGough did all this without his top-two receivers. He completed at least one pass to ten different FIU receivers.

The game featured this amazin' fake punt by Western Kentucky.

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BYU dominated Hawaii 30-20. Note the Cougars rushed for 285 yards against Hawaii. BYU's rushing total for their last three games was UNLV 263, UMass 46, Hawaii 285.

Coastal Carolina had a BYE

Old Dominion's bowl hopes were crushed by Middle Tennessee State 41-10.

Temple, on the other hand, became bowl eligible with a 43-22 win over Tulsa.

Vanderbilt beat Tennessee. This was the first time since the SEC began in 1933 that the Vols went 0-8 in league play.

Ohio was upset by Buffalo 31-24.

South Florida lost to unbeaten UCF 49-42.

Georgia Southern won their second in a row defeating Louisiana Lafayette 34-24.

In the first round of the FCS playoffs, two of the three CAA teams advanced. New Hampshire beat Central Connecticut and Stony Brook beat Lehigh. Elon lost to Furman.

UMass Football News--November 24th, 2017

One benefit of being an Independent is not being stuck with a MAC afternoon Black Friday game. Many people still have to work and many of the rest have orders from their spouse to do shopping or tag Christmas trees or the like.

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Da'Sean Downey has gone 10-10 GP-GS 34 UT 22 AT 56 TT 19.0-74 TFL 6.0-30 SACKS 3 BRUP 3 QBH.

The Ted Hendricks foundation is here. The final 2017 watch list is here (they even call us UMass, not Massachusetts).

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Mississippi State QB Nick Fitzgerald suffered a severe ankle injury in last night's loss to Mississippi.

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FIU and Western Kentucky play tonight at 7:00 pm.

The Panthers will be without their first and second leading receivers.

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Thanksgiving Day--2017

I'm thankful for my family and friends, my country---and my football team.

"Perhaps today will be the day when we experience happiness or wisdom. Don't try to grab that moment and hold on to it with all your might. It's not under your control how long it lasts. Enjoy it, recognize it, remember it. Having it for the moment is the same as having it forever."

                                                      Entry for 11/21 "The Daily Stoic" by Holiday and Hanselman

We'll always have Appalachian State, BYU and four-out-of-five win streak. I wish a happy Thanksgiving to all the blog readers.

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UMass Football News--November 22nd, 2017

The Salt Lake Tribune wonders if BYU OC Ty Detmer is on the hot seat after the Cougars only scored 10 points on UMass.

The Deseret News says BYU needs a quarterback.

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FIU HC Butch Davis has rediscovered the joy of coaching. I'll bet the UMass coaching staff feels the same thing.

FIU Sports has a first look at the Panthers game against WKU.

The C-USA site also previews the FIU-WKU game. Over the last three games, FIU QB Alex McGough has a 70% completion rate...

McGough has gone 194-303-2269 7 INT's 13 TD's 226.9 yards/game 135.5 EFF

Injured WR Thomas Owens leads C-USA in receptions/game. His status for the UMass game is unknown.

FIU is 10th in conference scoring and 8th in scoring defense.

Vegas has WKU over FIU by 2.5.

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The Valley News looks at coaching vacancies in 2017, which includes two teams UMass played Tennessee and Georgia Southern.

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SB Nation has a post on the first round of the FCS playoffs. James Madison is rated #1. Stony Brook and New Hampshire play in the first round.

New Hampshire has made the FCS playoffs for 14 consecutive years.

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UMass Football News--November 21st, 2017

Coach Walker is UMass' recruiting coordinator and linebackers coach.

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Adam Breneman has accepted his invite to the Senior Bowl.

Breneman did not make the three finalists for the Mackey Award. Breneman is currently 2nd in receiving yards by TE and 2nd in receptions per game by a TE.

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The Deseret News says even in a down year, we can be grateful for football.

The Herald reports BYU is not treating the trip to Hawaii as a vacation.

247Sports ranks the Cougars #56 in 2018 recruiting with 12 three-star recruits and one four-star.

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ESPN predicts Temple, Appalachian State, Ohio, Mississippi State and FIU will be a bowl.

Old Dominion is currently 5-6 and needs a win over Middle Tennessee to become bowl eligible. If UMass had beaten Hawaii (3-8) or Coastal Carolina (2-9) we'd be playing for a bowl invite ourselves.

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UMass Football 2019 recruiting ---LLoyd Summerall

Twitter image

Lloyd Summerall, a 6-6 210 pound DE from Auburndale, FL has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

Hudl.com has video.

247Sports page here.

MaxPreps has stats.

Just received an offer from Pitt.

Summerall holds eight offers including a number of Power Five teams. UMass and Pitt are the only offers from the Northeast.

UMass Football News--November 20th, 2017

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" recaps the BYU game.

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The BYU website has a pretty awesome image gallery from Saturday's game.

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SB Nation has a FBS ranking after the November 18th games that has UMass as #81. A win at FIU could push UMass into the top 50%.

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Keepers College Football rankings has UMass as #101.

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BYU looks to rebound against Hawaii after a loss to "lowly" UMass.

KSL.com says the Cougars were outclassed by UMass.

The Deseret News says BYU-Hawaii will be a de facto bowl game for the two teams involved. The same reasoning could hold for UMass-FIU. It'll be in warm weather and the game will be in December. Except for the FCS playoffs, UMass has not played in December in a long while.

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FIU tries to shake off a pair of losses in one week in order to get ready for Western Kentucky. The Panthers lost star WR Thomas Owens to a knee injury. He could miss the UMass game.

The Sports Chat Place picks WKU to cover the spread against FIU.

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UMass Football News--November 19th, 2017

UMass defeated BYU in Provo in a defensive gem by the Minutemen defense. Before the game the BYU press was saying the Cougar offensive line was the best unit in the team. BYU had run for over 260 yards the game before against UNLV. The UMass defense held BYU to 42 yards after subtracting sack yardage. The Minutemen defense had seven sacks and eight tackles for loss. The UMass corners played great all game. Everyone flew to the ball. The defensive linemen had three batted balls.

The offense did just enough to win. I think we went into a shell a little too early, but the defense held and we beat a Power Five team for the first time.

Congrats to the team and all the blog readers who stayed positive.

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UMass write-up here.

BYU write-up here.

Matty Vautour says it was a milestone win.

The Deseret News says BYU hit historic lows.

The News reports the BYU loss mirrored the whole 2017 season.

Dick Harmon reports BYU knew the UMass blitz was coming but still couldn't handle it.

The Herald says it was a UMass deconstruction.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports it was a embarrassing loss for the Cougars.

SB Nation says BYU hit rock bottom.

It was a bad day for Cougar fans as the BYU hoops team was blown out on their home court by UT Arlington.

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FIU was crushed by FAU 52-24 to guarantee the December 2nd game with UMass will happen.

Hawaii lost to Utah State 38-0.

Coastal Carolina beat Idaho for their first ever Sun Belt conference win.

Old Dominion edged Rice 24-21 to keep their bowl hopes alive.

UCF rolled over Temple 45-19.

Tennessee lost to LSU and fell to 4-7.

Ohio lost to Akron on Tuesday. The Bobcats are still 8-3 for the year.

Georgia Southern beat Southern Alabama 52-0. What!?

Appalachian State had a bye.

Mississippi State moved to 8-3 with a win over Arkansas.

Maine gave up a Hail Mary TD pass with six seconds left to lose to Stony Brook.

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Game Day--BYU

UPDATE 6:30 PM

How sweet it is!

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UMass has a chance for a historic win today. The relative strengths of the two programs are far closer than we expected before the season. UMass has scored points all year. The defense is playing better. Since Logan Laurant's Renaissance, the kicking game has improved mightily. When the kicking game got better, so did UMass.

Last year we killed ourselves with turnovers. The Minutemen's defense has been getting some of their own over the last four games. We need to stop the BYU running game and make a third-string QB try to beat us passing.

Nevertheless, beating what is essentially a Power Five team on their home field is a tall order. The altitude in Provo is another challenge. Last year the Minutemen were cramping up all over.

I'll be watching and hoping for a big Minutemen win.

Go UMass!

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Matty Vautour says UMass is hunting a potential huge win.

The Boston Herald reports UMass is looking for a road win over fellow Independent BYU.

The Deseret News has how to watch, stream or attend the game. The game will also be available on ESPN3.

Athlon Sports predicts BYU 27 UMass 21.

The Salt Lake Tribune says surging UMass looks capable of handing BYU its first November home loss since 2005.

Cougar Blue has five true facts about the Minutemen.

The Deseret News predicts BYU 31 UMass 28.

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UMass Football News--November 17th, 2017

A quick look at BYU:

Last year the Cougars went 9-4 with victories over Arizona and Michigan State. They beat Wyoming 24-21 in the Poinsettia Bowl. This year, BYU is having a once-in-a-generation bad year for them. The Cougars are 3-8 with wins over FCS Portland State, San Jose State and UNLV. BYU is down to their third-string QB Joe Critchlow. However, their struggles started with starter Tanner Mangum. The Cougars are #120 in the nation in total offense. They are #61 in scoring defense allowing only 25.9 points a game.

BYU will want to run the ball with all-name team Squally Canada (5-11 217). He's gone 92-546 5.9 AVE 4 TD's. Canada ran for 213 yards and a 8.5 yards/carry against UNLV. Stopping Canada will be a priority for the UMass defense. BYU probably won't win a passing contest with UMass' offense.

A chance like this won't come very often. BYU has Power Five fan base and program. They should be in the Big 12 or PAC Ten. A win over the Cougars (even during this year) would be a major milestone for the Minutemen.

Go UMass!

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Matty Vautour says BYU presents another chance for revenge. I was there last year in Provo. The Minutemen played the Cougars even for the first half, then fell apart in the second ---really fell apart. Ford threw a INT for pick-six. We had a punt blocked to give BYU a short field. We fumbled two kick returns to give BYU more field position and we had a running-into-the-punter penalty that allowed another BYU scoring drive to continue. UMass gave away 28 points in second half.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" previews the BYU game.

Cougar Blue ranks UMass #9 in BYU opponent power rankings.

The Deseret News reports the Minutemen's complex offense will poise problems for BYU's defense.

Saturday's game will be Senior Day for the Cougars.

BYU wants to send the seniors off with a win.

BYU QB "Big Critch" is taking his new celebrity status in stride.

SB Nation picks UMass 26 BYU 25.

Bleacher Report predicts UMass 38 BYU 35.

Athlon Sports predicts UMass 24 BYU 21.

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UMass Football News--November 16th, 2017

Andy Isabella has gone 10-10 GP-GS 51-841 16.5 AVE 8 TD's 69 LONG 84.1 yards/game so far in 2017. Isabella's 8 TD's tie him with Jeremy Horne (2008) and Adrian Zullo (1998) for #10 in the UMass single season pass-reception touchdowns history. He needs 10 receptions more to break into the single season top ten in that category and 81 more reception yards make the top ten in single season receiving yards.

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UMass starting MLB Bryton Barr is contemplating his seventh season of college football.

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The Salt Lake Tribune reports Joe Critchlow has gone from missionary to fifth-stringer to starting QB for BYU.

Former NFL QB Brad Sorensen is cautiously optimistic about Joe Critchlow as the Cougars starting QB.

Former BYU starter Koy Detmer, is trying to be a player-coach for the Cougar's QB's.

Cougar offensive coordinator Ty Detmer's job may be in Joe Critchlow's hands.

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Idaho has three victories in 2017 and is dealing with QB injury problems as they host one-win Coastal Carolina.

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Mississippi State is #16 in the college football playoff rankings.

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UMass Football recruiting 2018--DJ Williams

Hudl.com image

DJ Willimas, 5-9 185 pound DB from Independence Community College has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

This article from May 2017 features Williams.

His bio at Independence has some stats.

Williams has fourteen offers including Buffalo and UMass from the Northeast.

UMass Football News--November 15th, 2017

Adam Breneman has been selected as one of eight Mackey Award Finalists.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" reports the second game in the Maine series has been rescheduled to 2021.

Another master move by AD Ryan Bamford which allows UMass to play Rutgers in 2019. The Scarlet Knights are a Northeast FBS team (and there is not a lot of them), plus they are beatable. Rutgers is 4-6 this year with a loss to Eastern Michigan. This is better than another trip to Penn State or West Virginia who is currently tied for second in the Big Twelve.

Future UMass schedules here.

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The UMass Daily Collegian reports UMass sets its sights on BYU.

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The Lawless Republic relates three things to know about the UMass Minutemen.

One of the three things is Andrew Ford.

Another is RB Marquis Young.

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SB Nation ranks all 130 teams and has UMass out of the bottom third of FBS.

The Herald Extra reports the Cougars defensive backfield is working to improve.

The Deseret News says the BYU defense is benefiting from the recent success of the offense.

According to the Deseret News Cougar players watched to UMass-Mississippi State game.

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UMass Football News--November 14th, 2017

Snow on the ground here in Milford...

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The UMass top five in career passing yards:

1. Liam Coan 11,031 2004-08
2. Todd Bankhead 7018 1998-99
3. Blake Fronapfel 6264 2014-16
4. Dave Palazzi 5461 1985-88
5. Andrew Ford 5010 2016-17

Matty Vautour reports Andrew Ford is glad to be back after a scary injury.

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Matty also reports the UMass AD Ryan Bamford will make a decision Whipple's contract after the season.

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BYU has its game notes for UMass up.

BYU will try to avoid it's first home losing season in 50 years against UMass this Saturday.

The Cougars lost another QB for the season against UNLV.

"Vanquish the Foe" comments.

The Herald recounts BYU's string of QB injuries.

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FIU and FAU prep for the Shula Bowl.

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UMass Football recruiting 2018--Sterling Palmer

Hudl.com image

Sterling Palmer, a 6-7 230 pound TE from Fork Union Military Academy has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Bleacher Report has Fork Union---last chance high. The Minutemen have recruited a number of players from Fork Union in the past.

Palmer also holds an offer from FIU

UMass Football News--November 13th, 2017

BYU opens as a 3.5 point favorite in Vegas.

Keepers College football rankings has UMass by 3.91.

Keepers also has UMass #109 in power rankings.

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BYU fans are celebrating their first road win in a year.

BYU backup QB Joe Critchlow was steady in his first start.

The Herald Extra reports the Cougars improved at UNLV.

KSL.com says a freshman QB, improved running offense and a good effort on defense gave BYU a night to remember at UNLV.

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Tennessee fired Butch Jones after the Vols were blown out by Missouri. That's the second HC on UMass' 2017 schedule that has been fired.

Six FBS coaches have been fired so far in 2017.

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Elijah Wilkinson is playing for the Broncos. His bio.

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UMass Football News--November 12th, 2017

 Well, this game felt like the game against Stony Brook back in 2010. You remember UMass went out to Michigan and gave the Wolverines all they could handle. However, the next week we played new FCS team Stony Brook and managed a 26-21 win over a team we were clearly superior to. UMass looked a little washed out after the big effort against Mississippi State. In addition, Ford was clearly not 100%. Comis was not dressed. Ray Thomas-Ishman Sr was not dressed due to an apparent one-game suspension (he was on the sidelines encouraging his teammates, so all is well with that).

It was a win and three wins ties our best record since joining FBS. We have two games left; wining one or both would show a clear improvement.

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UMass write-up here.

Maine write-up here.

MassLive reports UMass pulls out a big win.

Matty Vautour says UMass held on to beat Maine.

He also reports the Minutemen soaked up the Fenway experience.

The Kennebec Journal reports UMass held Maine to 1-13 in third down conversions.

The UMass Daily Collegian says Isabella and Ford dazzled in a win over Maine.

The Boston Herald reports Ford and Isabella lifted UMass to a victory over the Black Bears.

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Fresno State beat Hawaii to eliminate the Warriors from bowl contention.

Coastal Carolina was blown out by Troy to run their losing streak to nine games.

Old Dominion upset Florida International in a game that has UMass implications. That puts the Panthers two games out a first place in C-USA East. If FIU does not make the conference championships, then the UMass-FIU game will be played on 12/02.

Temple kept their bowl hopes alive with a 35-24 win over Cincinnati.

Missouri ran up 649 yards of offense in a rout of Tennessee.

The Athens Post says the Bobcats proved themselves the class of the MAC conference with a win over Toledo.

Appalachian State gained bowl eligibility with a win over Georgia Southern on Thursday.

Mississippi State almost upset Alabama.

BYU's coach thinks Joe Critchlow will start against UMass.

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Game Day--Maine

UMass goes looking for the third win of the 2017 season. The Black Bears are a team we should beat. The Minutemen offense has averaged 29.1 points/game for the season and over 38 points for the last four games. Let's score early and work from the lead. The UMass defense has also played well recently. Some turnovers would help the Minutemen offense.

Although I won't be at Fenway due to my recent move, I'll be watching and cheering for the Minutemen.

Go UMass!

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Medal of Honor winner Thomas G. Kelley will serve as a honorary game captain for today's game. During my life, I've met three Medal of Honor winners. All of them were ordinary men who rose to the situation in a truly amazing manner. Better men than I.

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Matty Vautour reports UMass is not overlooking Maine. The QB situation is still up in the air.

Your guide to football at Fenway Park.

The Press Herald previews the UMass-Maine game.

SBNation predicts UMass 40 Maine 18.

Athlon Sports predicts UMass 38 Maine 13.

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The wonderfully named BYU RB Squally Canada ran for a career high of 213 yards to lead BYU over UNLV 31-21.

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UMass Football News--November 10th, 2017

OK, after many adventures, the blog is back up.

A quick look at the Black Bears:

Maine is 4-4 in 2017. They're #5 in scoring offense and #6 in scoring defense in the CAA. Maine is in the middle of the pack in most league statistics.

The Black Bears beat UMass in 2011 and went 9-4 overall. Maine had another good year in 2013 going 10-3. They've gone 9-13 over the last two years. Maine lost to BC 24-3 in '15 and 45-3 to Toledo in 2016

Maine has always been a big, physical FCS team. They tend to surprise FBS teams who have never played them before. UMass has plenty of experience with them and should know what to expect. Unlike 2011, UMass should have more talent and speed. The Minutemen need to get on top early and not let Maine get going. It'll be a bowl game for the Black Bears, so they'll be motivated.

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MassLive reports Fenway Park wants to be an "alternative" home site for the Minutemen.

MassLive also reports UMass and Maine are set to battle.

Matty Vautour says Minutemen players are excited to play in Fenway.

He also has a featured on Liam Coan who is the Black Bears offensive coordinator. Maine run game coordinator Brian Picucci spent eleven years coaching at UMass.

The UMass Daily Collegian says UMass is trying for its third win in the last four games.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" previews the Maine game.

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BYU is a 4.5 underdog to UNLV.

The surging Rebels are relishing a chance to knock off the Cougars.

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UMass Blog Bulletin

I won't be doing any blog posts for a couple of days. Mrs Blog and I are moving to Milford, NH and my internet service won't be back up until at least Thursday.

Hope to be back Friday. Go UMass.

UMass Football Recruiting 2018--UMass verbals Jaret Pallotta and Josiah Johnson II

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" reports UMass QB verbals Jaret Pallotta and Josiah Johnson have been rated three stars by 247Sports.

That doubles the number of three-star recruits on the UMass commitment list.

I blogged about Pallotta's verbal to UMass here and Johnson's commit here.

UMass Football News--November 7th, 2017

Matty Vautour reports both Andrew Ford and Ross Comis will be available for Saturday's game with Maine. That's good news for UMass fans and for Ford and Comis.

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Thomas Kendall image

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on the military appreciation uniforms UMass will wear Saturday.

I like 'em. I'll probably bid on one when they're auctioned off.

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Meanwhile, Mississippi State fans are blaming State's scare against UMass on their black uniforms.

The Bulldogs are a 14.5 underdog to Alabama.

This article says Mississippi State will also have patriotic uniforms for the 'Bama game. The article also has a nice image of Marquis Young running through State defenders.

Regelio Solis image.

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Sports Illustrated power ranks SEC teams and says maybe SEC teams should avoid UMass.

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The Deseret News says it'll be an open competition to see who will start at QB after Tanner Mangum goes down with a season ending injury.

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FIU Football reports the Panthers are bowl eligible and still in the hunt for the C-USA championship.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--PJ Johnson

Twitter image

PJ Johnson, a 6-5 315 pound DT from College of San Francisco has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Video here.

College of San Francisco bio here.

Johnson has five FBS offers.

UMass Football News--November 6th, 2017

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" recaps the Mississippi State game.

The UMass Daily Collegian says UMass made it interesting.

The Clarion-Ledger reports Bulldog fans wanted a four-quarter game and they got one.

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Mississippis State moved up to #18 in AP poll.

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Keepers College Football ratings has UMass a 10 point favorite over Maine.

He has UMass ranked #115 nationally.

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BYU lost their starting QB Tanner Mangum with a season-ending Achilles tendon injury.

More on Mangum's injury.

UMass will be facing Cougar backup QB Beau Hoge or freshman Joe Critchlow.

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If FIU wins the next two games, the Panthers will be C-USA champions and the December 2nd game against UMass is canceled.

The Panthers are also bowl-eligible after Saturday's win against Texas San-Antonio.

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UMass Football News--November 5th, 2017

Wow! Another great effort against an SEC team. The UMass defense just keeps getting better and better. We held State to 23 points and had two INT's. The Minutemen run defense was stout repeatedly held the Bulldogs to short gains. Fitzgerald did run effectively, but he does that to everyone. The defense did all this against a much bigger Mississippi State offense.

The offense too played well. Isabella was better than anyone State had. I though the O-line played well against a team with a five-star defensive lineman and very good team speed (when was the last time you saw someone catch Marquis Young from behind?). Mississippi State had only given up 24 points for the season at home.

I also liked the intensity of play by the Minutemen. UMass went right at 'em all game. Quote from Marquis Young:

“We don’t want moral victories. We don’t want ‘we almost had them,’ we want the win. We
come out here and work hard every week at practice and we respect our opponent we respect
who we’re playing. We respect the SEC.”

Keep up that attitude and we could win our final three games of 2017.

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The UMass website says it was a near upset.

The Mississippi State site says the Bulldogs held on. Read the quotes by Dan Mullen about UMass.

The Hampshire Gazette says UMass put a scare into Mississippi State.

The Clarion-Ledger reports the Bulldogs avoided disaster.

The Starksville Daily News says Mississippi State survived a UMass scare.

The Boston Herald reports UMass put up a fight.

Dan Mullen said he didn't think the Mississippi State player who was ejected for targeting was trying to hurt Comis.

247Sports reports Mississippi State survived a UMass scare.

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UNLV beat Hawaii in Vegas. Hawaii drops to 3-5 for the season.

Coastal Carolina almost upset Arkansas.

In what must have been an exciting game, Old Dominion defeated Charlotte 6-0.

Temple beat a slumping Navy.

Tennessee beat Southern Mississippi to snap a four-game losing streak. Vols "fans" are trying to organize a boycott to force a coaching change.

Ohio had already beaten Miami of Ohio on Tuesday 45-28. The Bobcats are 7-2 for the season.

Georgia Southern fell to 0-8.

Appalachian State lost their first Sun Belt game in a shootout with ULM.

Delaware rallied past Maine.

FIU beat Texas San Antonio to become bowl eligible.

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Game Day---Mississippi State

Well, today we play a game that pays the bills so that we can have a team to obsess about. Mississippi State will be the strongest team we've played against his year.  Counting BYU, State will be the sixth Power Five team UMass has played in two years. When people comment on UMass' record, remind them that no other Group-of-Five team played the schedule we did.

The Minutemen need to not give up easy scores. Make State work for theirs. If the offense can string together some drives, we can make it close. UMass has played in a number of difficult environments the last two years. We can do so again. Wish I could be in Starksville today. Should be a fun atmosphere with that cowbell thing. I'll be watching and cheering for the Minutemen

Go UMass!

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Matty Vautour reports Mississippi State presents some unique challenges for UMass.

The Boston Herald say UMass faces a difficult task.

Fan Sided predicts a 54-20 Bulldog win.

The Daily journal scouts the UMass-Mississippi State game.

Fox Sports says Mississippi State expects a challenge from UMass.

FBS Schedules predicts Bulldogs 45 UMass 14.

Mississippi State hopes to handle success well against UMass.

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Michel's Stampeders bio.

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UMass Football News--November 3rd, 2017

A quick look at Mississippi State:

The Bulldogs return six starters on offense and four on defense from a team that finished 7-5 overall and 3-5 in the SEC in 2016. This year they are 6-2 and 3-2 in the SEC and are being mentioned for a major bowl. There are a couple of reasons for Mississippi State's surge this year.

One is the Bulldog defense. In 2016 State was #93 in scoring defense and #110 in total defense. This year they are #11 in scoring defense. The Bulldogs are #23 in rushing defense and #1 in first downs allowed. The UMass offensive line has played better recently, but Mississippi State will be our biggest challenge yet. The Minutemen's best thing is our passing offense, but State is #4 in passing yards allowed. Comis will have to keep the UMass offense moving with his legs (and not get killed doing so).

The other aspect of the Bulldogs renaissance is QB Nick Fitzgerald. At 6-5, 230 he takes dual-threat quarterbacking to a new level. Fitzgerald leads the Bulldogs in both rushing and passing. He averages 6.7 yards/carry and has scored 10 rushing TD's. In passing, he's gone 119-209-1320 56.9% 13 TD's 122.9 EFF, He has thrown 8 INT's. He averages 248 yards/game all by himself. The UMass defense will have to try to contain his running somewhat and play good pass defense. Make state work for their scores and not allow any easy big plays.

Mississippi State will be the best team UMass plays in 2017. I know the Minutemen will play hard and won't quit. UMass will need to generate some offense and get some turnovers to make the score respectable.

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Kevin Dillon of MassLive says UMass will face its toughest test on the road Saturday.

Matty Vautour reports Mississippi State will be the Minutemen's biggest challenge yet.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" previews the Mississippi State game.

For Whom the cowbell tolls previews the UMass game with Underdog Dynasty.

State will have a new uniform combination for the Minutemen game.

In and Around SEC Football picks Mississippi State 48 UMass 13.

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UMass Recruiting 2018--Elijah Johnson verbals to UMass

Meredith Perry image

Elijah Johnson , a 6-0 180 pound CB from East Longmeadow has Tweeted' he's verbaled to UMass.

247Sports page here.

MassLive has a post about Johnson's commitment to UMass here.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a story about Johnson's verbal to the Minutemen.

MaxPreps has some stats.

Chose UMass over an offer from Bryant.