Friday of the Bye Week--- 10/02/09

UMass has a new Photo Store with lots of UMass Football images.

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The UMass Athletic Dept website has a photo gallery of Pop Warner night at McGuirk.

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JB Scouting predicts that Vladimir Ducasse will be one of the "Small School" players invited to the NFL combine this year.

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The CAA football standings are here.

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Dave Coulson's "Around FCS" column discusses the Villanova-William & Mary game .

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TV and web video links for this week's FCS games are listed here.

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The University of Florida is prepared (pdf download).

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Recruiting 2010--Matt Campbell & Mike Delaney

UMass is interested in 6-4 215 pd Mike Delaney from Foxboro and Matt Campbell a 6-0 215 pd FB from Attleboro.

Youtube Highlights on Delany here. His Rivals page here.

ESPN writeup and highlights on Campbell here. Matt's Rivals page here.

Article mentioning both Delany and Campbell here.

Besides UMass, both have been receiving interest from the Northeast FBS schools Boston College, Rutgers, UConn and Syracuse.

Thursday of the Bye Week---10/01/09

The CAA has six teams ranked in the top 25 and five of the top seven.

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New Hampshire's QB R.J. Tolman has "turf toe" and is uncertain for the Towson game.

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UMass' once, and probably future opponent, Bryant is making strides with their program.

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The Sports Network's Brett Kahn previews the FCS Top-25 games this week.

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Interesting article about Richmond's HC Mike London.

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UMass Tailgate for Delaware

A UMass alum (not me) is considering hosting a tail gate party for the Delaware game down in Newark.

He is thinking of a $5.00 donation and he will supply the goodies.

All members of the UMass family would be welcome.

If you are interested, please email me (my email address is in the "About me" section of the blog sidebar) and I'll send you his email address. He'll want a commitment (so he won't get stuck with the food) and a head count.

Should be great fun!

Wednesday of the Bye Week--09/30/09

The UMass athletic dept site has Coach Morris' weekly CAA teleconference transcript posted.

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Armando Cuko is 9-11 on field goals and has gone 4-5 in attempts over forty yards. Cucko leads the CAA in scoring with 13.3 points/game. CAA stats through last Saturday here.

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The CAA's season gets going this week with eight league teams having a conference game.

The Big Game is #5 William & Mary visiting #2 Villanova. The game will be on national TV on the Versus network.

Keepers' college football rankings site has Villanova by 7.64 over the Tribe.

Hofstra already has two D-I losses (Richmond and Western Michigan), a loss to JMU would mean the Pride would probably have to run the table to make the playoffs. Despite this, DNR Online says there is not much buzz for the game.

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David Coulson of the Sports Network has his weekly "Around FCS" column up.

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Recruiting 2010 -- Irvin Scott

Visiting UMass during the Rhode Island game (page two) was Irvin Scott, a QB/SS from Brookline, MA

Scott is 6-3 195 and runs a 4.6 forty. His Rivals page is here. He's a Rivals two-star recruit.

ESPN page and video here.

More video highlights here.

Another article that mentions Scott here.

He has an offer from Northeastern and interest from UMass, Rutgers, UConn and Pitt.

Tuesday of the Bye week --09/29/09

Matty Vautour has an article on UMass taking advantage of the the bye week.

He also has a link to an article about Marcel Shipp.

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UMass' Freshman DL Kevin Byrne gets a mention in the Cap Cod times.

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Two articles on WR Jeremy Horne by Matty Vautour and the Albany times.

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The consolidated FCS polls here.

Article on the Sports Network's poll here.

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Keeper's College Football rankings has UMass up to #7 after the win over Stony Brook.

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UMass-Stony Brook Web Album is up

Click on image and Blogger displays a much large view. Image is of UMass FR. LB Devin Lindsey 6-0 225 from University City, MO.

The 43-image web album is here. Nothing very great because of the low light levels, but it should give you a sense of the game.

Monday of the 2009 Bye Week--09/28/09

UPDATE: Fr. LB Perry McIntyre is the CAA Rookie-of-the-week.

Matty Vautour has a short update here.

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Matty Vautour has three stars from the Stony Brook game and they are: Jonathan Hernandez, Jeromy Horne and Chris Zardas.

He also says how good the Minutemen are is yet to be determined.

The UMass Daily Collegian has a story featuring Hernandez' big day against Stony Brook.

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From the UMass Athletic website:"

Saturday's game was the final for the scoreboard in the South end zone of McGuirk Stadium. It was installed in 1995. Pieces of the scoreboard will be auctioned on UMassAthletics.com in the coming weeks."

Hurrah!

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CSN has all the FCS scores from Saturday's games here.

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Josh Buchanan has Vladimir Ducasse as the #2 ranked "Small School" NFL prospect.

He also has Jeromy Miles ranked #30 in the top 50. Josh evidently has not seen some tape of Miles' play this year.

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The CAA stats inclusive of the Sept 26th games are up. UMass is #1 in pass offense, #1 in total offense, #1 in punting. The Minutemen are #2 in scoring offense and #2 in scoring defense.

There is a big improvement in UMass penalties. the Minutemen are #6 in the league and one team ranked ahead of them has only played three games.

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Kansas State crushed FCS/I-AA Tennessee Tech 49-7.

Albany won its 14th consecutive NEC league game over Sacred Heart 22-9.

Rhody lost to UConn 52-10.

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UMass 44-17

UMass overcame some errors to crush the Sea Wolves 44-17 last night.

UMass Athletic Dept has notes, quotes and a picture gallery here.

Stony Brook Athletic Dept article here.

The Boston Globe said "UMass banded together".

The Boston Herald said "UMass was in tune."

The Springfield Republican has UMass rushing for five TD's.

WWLP has UMass with a big second half.

Matty Vautour said UMass and Jonathan Hernandez ran over the Sea Wolves.

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Besides Jonathan Hernandez, who had 140 yards, three TD's and a 4.8 average, Cedric Gonnet dragged the whole Sea Wolf defense fifteen yards on one carry. Chris Zardas had two TD's and a 4.8 yard average.

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The CAA re-cap of all the league games is here. There were some interesting results. Maine and Syracuse combined for 27 penalties in a harder than expected win for the Orange.

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I'll be back with a web album of the game, perhaps this evening.

The UMass Marching Band is superb this Year!

Click on the image and Blogger displays a much large view.

I don't know who is the governing body for the Sudler Trophy, but the UMass Marching Band has be bringing in a bunch of first place votes.

The Band has just been superb this year. The sound just knocks me out.

Last night's UMass band day was a tour de force. The assembled bands rocked out with "Won't you come home Bill Bailey" and closed with "America the Beautiful". This Blog thinks it was one of the best Band Days ever.

It's just a vintage year for the Band. If anyone deserves a second Sudler Trophy, it is the wonderful UMass Marching Band.

Parking Rant!

I tell you UMass fans have to be a hardy breed. I see the same people every year for decades.

Sometimes it seems as if the UMass administration goes out of their way to piss off the season ticket holders.

What is the use of having a "Yellow Lot" if all but one entrance to the lot are closed. Funneling all traffic into one congested entrance certainly raises my blood pressure. Apparently it did so for other people as several fans came up to me and said "You should put that in your Blog!".

Having a half a dozen UMass cops standing with their arms folded watching the traffic jam just put the icing on the cake...

Game Day Stony Brook -- 09/26/09

UPDATE: Channelsurfing.net is listing streaming video for the UMass-Stony Brook game. As I have said before, I've had mixed results with the Channelsurfing site, but if you are part of the UMass nation not in New England, it's worth a try.

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WWLP has a video interview with Coach Morris on not letting down against Stony Brook.

Matty Vautour says UMass can't afford to look past Stony Brook.

Kyle Havens talks about his receivers at UMass. He mentions Victor Cruz, Jullian Talley and Joe Sanford. Tony Nelson can catch the ball out of the backfield and hopefully Jeremy Horne will be recovered from his concussion. The article mentions his former favorite WR John Hendershott, now at Sacramento State.

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Stony Brook has a run heavy offense. Last year the Sea Wolves had TWO runners pass the 1,000 yard mark. Senior Conte Cuttino did it, as well as super Soph Ed Gowins who rang up 1,310 yards and a 9.4 yards/carry average. Gowins was Sporting News National Freshman-of-the-Year.

This is the first year Stony Brook has reached the 63 scholarship level, which is the maximum for FCS/I-AA football.

The Sea Wolves last second win over Brown was their first ever win over a Ivy League program.


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Although it's still September, there are a couple of big games in the CAA this week. James Madison ranked #6 visits #24 ranked Liberty. The Big South does not have an auto-bid, so Liberty needs to beat the Dukes and then run the table in the Big South to make the playoffs. Liberty played well against West Virginia and beat Lafayette last week.

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The other game with playoff implications is Delaware's visit to #5 William & Mary. The Hens already have one FCS loss against Richmond. Two losses in September in the CAA will give Delaware an uphill battle to make the playoffs. Two losses in the CAA South will also put the Hens on the wrong side of several tie-breakers.

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CSN has a couple of articles up. Bruce Dowd has his weekly "Dowd's Den" and Chuck Burton has "The FCS Way".

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The Day before Stony Brook

Stony Brook finally has its game notes up for UMass. Html here and pdf here.

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Matty Vautour has a nice story about Senior starting OL Jared Chivers. Vautour reports Chivers has a secret weapon ---- Hamburger Helper.

The Berkshire Eagle has another story about Chivers here.

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It's going to UMass Band Day!


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Terence Thomas, Sr. does his weekly "CAA Today" column here.

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Dave Coulson of The Sports Network offers some "Deep Thoughts".

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The 2009 season just got a little tougher for the Maine Black Bears; their top running back Jared Turcotte is gone for the season.

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Mark Whipple continues to gather ink because of the resurgence of the Miami Hurricanes. Articles here and here.

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Thursday before Stony Brook-- 09/24/09

UMass QB Kyle Havens---in only his third start-- has won the New England Gold Helmet award.

Matty Vautour has a post on Havens' win here.

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The UMass Collegian has a story about Ke'Mon Bailey's transition to cornerback. Bailey has been a pleasant surprise as a defensive back. He is always around the ball and has played aggressively. Bailey certainly looks as if he has found his position.

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Still no game notes available from Stony Brook, but this article by the Seawolves head coach Priore indicates that Stony Brook has some injury problems.

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Interesting article about James Madison's senior TE Mike Causin.

Who'd have thunk it---- New Hampshire is leading the CAA in defense.

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Lates press release from the CAA about the league's holding six of the top 15 slots in the polls.

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The Sports Network's Brett Kahn previews the top twenty-five FCS games this week.

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Keepers college football ratings have UMass by 23 points and change over the Seawolves.

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Half way to Stony Brook -- 09/23/09

Matt Lawrence and Joe flacco walk out of the tunnel. Sent to me by a member of the Lawrence family.

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Christian Koegel still has NFL dreams.


















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UMass game notes for Stony Brook in html. And here in pdf.

Stony Brook game notes are not up yet.

The CAA has its weekly football article up here.

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Matty Vautour has his "Path to the Post Season-IV" up here.

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Kansas State's game notes for the Tennessee Tech (1-1) here. The Golden Eagles lost to #22 Eastern Kentucky in their OVC opener last week.

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Tuesday before Stony Brook--09/22/09

Coach Morris' CAA teleconference transcription here.

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It looks like first string Stony Brook QB Dayne Hoffman is gone for the season. Backup QB Michael Coulter will play against UMass.

Two Seas Wolves players won Big South conference honors last week.

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The Springfield Republican has a story on UMass WR Victor Cruz, who is now on track to graduate.

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The URI student newspaper has a story on the Rams-Minutemen game.

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UMass gets one #16 and two #15 places in the latest FCS polls.

Keepers FCS rankings has UMass up to #7

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The CAA will have its first ever nationally televised game on Oct 3rd when William & Mary plays Villanova.

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The Sports Network's David Coulson looks at last weekend's games including Albany's comeback win over Maine.

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It looks like UNH is losing its historic series with Dartmouth.

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UMass-Rhode Island Web Album

Click on the image and Blogger displays a much larger view.

I have 41 images of the UMass-Rhode Island game in a Picassa Web Albumn here. Note that the images will also enlarge if you click on the tiny magnifying glass symbol in the upper right corner of the display.

Recruiting 2010 -- Brian Bozek

UMass is interested in Brian Bozek a 5-11 195 pd LB/DB from Laconia, NH. The New Hampshire football report has news about him here.

Bozek's Rivals page here.

Also interested are UNH, Boston College, Duke, Syracuse and Vanderbilt.

He plans on attending the UMass-Stony Brook game.

Image by the Laconia Citizen.

Five Days before Stony Brook-- 09/21/09

UPDATE: Kyle Havens is the CAA Offensive Player-of-the-week. Not bad for his third start.

UPDATE II: More from UMass about Havens' award.

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CSN has all the FCS scores from Saturday's games here. The only FCS over FBS win was Central Arkansas over Western Kentucky, which is not saying much.

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The Sports Network on the first ever regular season game between the Hens and the Hornets.

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There is no joy in Orno, ME.

Or in Manhattan, Kansas.

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Slow news day so far, so we'll do some recruiting in the next post.