Monday--September 26, 2011

Matty V has three stars from the Boston College game.

He also reports UMass-BC have signed a three game series. The games will be played 2014, 2016 and 2018. 

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The Boston Herald said the Eagles brought UMass up to speed.

The Enterprise News said BC had little trouble with UMass.

The UMass Daily Collegian has two articles on the BC game here and here.

The Collegian also said the Eagles preyed on Pagel.

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The University of New Mexico fired their coach after a loss to an FCS team. This writer mentions Mark Whipple as a possible replacement.

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Image Credit unknown

Victor Cruz had a breakout game against the Eagles.

The New York Daily News says Cruz shined.

Victor Cruz' post game video.

Cruz's totals are 5-127 25.43 (leads the Giants) and 2 TD's (also leads Giants).

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TSN reports three FCS teams had upsets against FBS teams on Saturday.

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UMass-Rhode Island Photo Album

Lot's of stuff going on here during our first week back from our trip. Over the weekend I finally got to post some of the images from the UMass-Rhody game. I was seriously time-zone lagged and grabbed my super-zoom lens , which is pretty slow. Under the lights that means slow shutter speeds even with the camera's ISO cranked to the max. The result is there are not many images from the second half. I left a couple of blurred pictures as they somewhat give the impression of speed.

The full set is here if any of the people who did not get a chance to go to the game want to look at them.

First 2011 UMass home game

Johnathan Hernandez and O-line

Hernandez scores

Recruiting 2012--Nathaniel Feliz

BeRecruited image

This article states UMass is interested in Nathaniel Feliz a 6-1 220 pd MLB from JFK HS in NY.

YouTube highlight video here .

Feliz gets a mention in this article.

Sunday--September 25, 2011

Well, that wasn't fun. In our good showings against Kansas State and Michigan we played efficient offense. UMass didn't do that yesterday.

We needed to have our QB go something like 14-18 even if it wasn't for a lot of yardage and no turnovers. Pagel ended up 18-37 .486 AVE and two INT. The offense gave up 14 points on two fumbles.

That never allowed the UMass running game to get going.

The UMass defense played pretty good. We only gave up 31 points with the Eagles offense starting on the UMass side of the field four times. We forced five punts.

Jesse Julmiste had a record-setting day in kickoff returns. He had seven returns for 252 yards including a 102-yard TD. He made the BC kick coverage team look like they were running in mud all day. Julmiste broke Tim Berra's 1973 record of 200 yards at Maine. He also tied Dennis Dent's 102 yard return against Morgan State in 1978 and Noel Reebenacker's 102 yard run against Springfield in 1951.

Boston College got perfect bounces on the two fumbles. That's the way it is sometimes. The bad guys get the bounces. So make it a point read all the stories about the Eagles victory. We'll be back with 22 more scholarships and an experienced quarterback.

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The Washington Post says UMass' poor start and two fumbles doomed the Minutemen.

The Globe said BC routs UMass.

The Boston Globe said the jump up is quite a hurtle.

The Herald says the Eagles were in a better state.

"BC Interruption" looks at the game.

Matty V. said turnovers plagued UMass.

He also has a story about Julmiste's record setting day as well as injuries to UMass DB's Mike Lee and Ed Saint-Vil.

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Results on all the CAA games here.

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In the MAC, Temple took apart Maryland and Ball State beat Army.

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Game Day--Boston College 2011

Matty V. Looks at Saturday's game and the history of UMass-BC.

Jeff Thomas says UMass goes to BC searching victory.

The Nashua Telegraph says Eagle players see the UMass game as a must win.

An SB Nation blog looks at the Minutemen-Eagles game. Relevant quote from the post: 

Kuechly has proven himself to be one of the best - if not the best - linebackers in the country, and stopping a back like Hernandez, who is good but is still an FCS-leve talent, should be relatively simple."

The Boston Herald says Montel Harris will be just what the doctor ordered for BC.

The Boston Globe says Harris will step in.

The Milford Daily News says reinforcements are on the way for BC.

CSN's "CAA Today" column is back in operation and it reviews the UMass-Rhode Island game last week and looks at today's game with Boston College.

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Matty V interviews UMass AD John McCutcheon and found he was noncommittal about conference realignments.

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Heather Dinich picks Boston College over UMass 14-13.

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The CAA's Game Day page has all the details on today's league games.

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Rutgers HC Greg Schiano says the MAC has closed the gap.

Penn State at Temple drew the third largest crowd in Owl history last week.

If I counted right, ESPN3 has seven games with MAC teams available today.

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Friday---September 23, 2011

Matty V. remarks a win at BC would be a boost for the whole program.

The Boston Globe says UMass will give its level best gainst Boston College.

ESPN says the Eagles know nothing's easy .

The Worcester Telegram says the Minutemen would love to add to  the Eagles misery.

The Boston herald has a feature on BC's Spencer Rositano who is making an impact with the Eagles.

The Brockton Enterprise remarks UMass' Darren Thellen and BC's Dominique Williams and Al Louis-Jean will be holding a reunion this Saturday.

Jeff Thomas of MassLive.com has a feature on senior WR Jesse Julmiste.

This article says BC's Montel Harris will probably be a game day decision.

Matty V. Says UMass is preparing for Harris anyway.

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Rhode Island LB Doug Johnson leads the CAA in TFL. He had five against UMass.

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The Jury is still out on UNH's defense. BTW, the New Hampshire-Richmond is available on Comcast Sport NE Saturday.

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TSN's "In the FCs Huddle" previews this week's games including UMass-BC.

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We've talked a little about UMass players having names on their jerseys. During last night's coaches show someone asked about that. Coach Morris replied that he made a pact with the team if they met a collective GPA goal, then they could have names on the jerseys. The team delivered.

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Question and Answer with "Eagle in Atlanta"

Wow! it's been four years since "Eagle in Atlanta" and I swapped questions and answers prior to the last BC-UMass game back in 2007.

Anyone who would write a blog about their team for that long would have to be seriously disturbed a real fan of their team.

On September 29, 2007 Boston college defeated UMass 24-14. The Eagles had 323 yards of total offense and UMass managed 277. The UMass running game was held to 69 yards. The UMass writeup on the 2007 game. The Eagles led by future NFL QB Matt Ryan had one of their best teams in recent memory. If I remember right, Don Brown's defense held BC to their second lowest point total of that season.

This year "Eagle in Atlanta" answers six questions about Saturday's game and the state of BC football.

1. BC's 0-3 start is obviously not where Eagle fans hoped to be at this stage of your season. What has gone wrong?

"Short answer: everything! While things haven't gone as planned, there are a variety of issues. The big obvious ones are injuries. They've sidelined our leading rusher, our Senior Captain WR, had us shuffling the offensive line and led to a very thing defensive line. But the injuries alone don't explain the winless start. There have been numerous issues in game management and adjusting to the other team's plans. Plus we are still very young on offense and at times it shows.

Oh and did I mention we changed offensive coordinators after two weeks? At this point a loss to UMass (no offense to the Minutemen) is almost expected."



2. Even in bad seasons, a team usually has someone playing well. Who looks like a future star for BC or who is playing well and not getting a lot of credit because of the team's results?

 "The two shining stars of BC's season have been linebackers Luke Kuechly and Kevin Pierre-Louis. They are really carrying the load on defense. They seem to make every tackle and every big play. And in a season where at times it feels like guys have given up, these two go all out, every play."

3. Can BC turn the season around? If so, what would it take?

" I actually think BC is close to breaking through. I think the hole is deep enough now, that a true turnaround (i.e. winning season) won't happen, but I still think they can win four or five games. The key will be both sides of the ball getting a little better. The offense is almost there -- they just need to convert more drives in the redzone into TDs.

On the defensive side, they've been keeping scoring down for the most part. They just need to stop drives or force a few more turnovers."

4. In our last blog-swap a couple of years ago, I said I was somewhat surprised at BC's success in the ACC given the Eagles high academic standards. Do you think Boston College's football and basketball programs are in a downward trend? 

 "Football is not trending the right way. But I think it has to do with coaching, not academics. Put the right guy in charge and we can be a successful program.

Basketball has a young team and will have a rough go this year, but I think they will trend in the right way too. I like what I've seen from Steve Donahue and think he will rebuild quickly at BC."

5. What's your take on the pending  ACC "Super Conference"?

"The Super Conference is inevitable. My only concern throughout the process was that BC kept access to the BCS and stayed in the same ballpark as other programs financially. It looks as though the expanded ACC will accomplish that. So I am content with that for now."

 6. What's your prediction on the UMass-BC game?

 "I want to believe that BC finally puts it together. I respect UMass but don't think the will be able to stop BC's passing. I think the Eagles win by at least 14."

Thursday ---Sept 22, 2010

The Boston Herald says its showtime for the Minutemen.

The Herald also says the Eagles are desperate for a win.

"The Heights" says BC can't afford to overlook UMass.

The UMass Daily Collegian looks at the BC game and also says UMass has been balanced in its victories.

BC offensive lineman Nate Richman says  "We’re going to win the game and everything is going to build off of that.’’

The official BC site has a Q & A session with BC LB Kevin Pierre-Lewis.
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Bleacher Report has Boston College in an article titled "11 teams whose season has already fallen apart"
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Matty V. says the UMass offensive line has been a big part of the Minutemen's strong start.

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Wednesday--Septemeber 21, 2011

UMass is #11 in Keepers College football rankings.

Keepers prediction page has Boston College over UMass by 6.40.

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Sports Memo looks at UMass-BC from a Vegas prospective.

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With the crazyness of the conference realignement going on, you can just about find any rumor you want. This one says the Big East basketball schools want to hook up with the bigger name basketball schools of the A10 (inluding UMass)  and form a new conference.

The Boston Herald says the remaining Big East schools are sticking together.

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Villanova applied to join the ACC and it took the conference about 30 seconds to turn them down.

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The Richmond Times-Dispatch has some CAA football notes.

The CAA website has the weekly press release with details on all of this week's league games.

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I ran the College Football predictor and Boston College won 91 of 100 simulated games by an average margin of victory of 12 points.

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Tuesday--September 20, 2011

UMass moved to #17 in TSN's FCS poll.

The Minutemen ranked #19 in the FCS Coaches poll.

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Kirk Nelms was named TSN's FCS Rookie-of-the-week.

He was also the CAA's choice for Rookie-of-the-week.

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The UMass website's latest version of the UMass depth chart (.pdf) looks like the closest version to reality yet.

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Jonathan Hernandez is leading the CAA in rushing by a substantial margin:

RUSHING                 Team Cl  G  Att  Yds   Avg TD Long Yds/G
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 1. Jonathan Hernandez.. UMAS SR  2   61  318   5.2  2   22 159.0
 2. Andrew Pierce....... DELA SO  3   60  348   5.8  6   44 116.0
 3. Pushaun Brown....... MAIN SR  3   55  289   5.3  3   39  96.3
 4. Dae'Quan Scott...... JMU  SO  3   61  286   4.7  4   32  95.3
 5. Jonathan Grimes..... W&M  SR  3   59  235   4.0  1   21  78.3
 6. Kendall Gaskins..... RICH JR  3   59  232   3.9  3   39  77.3
 7. Angus Harper........ ODU  FR  3   41  206   5.0  3   39  68.7
 8. Garrett Turner...... RICH SR  3   44  167   3.8  1   21  55.7
 9. Grant Enders........ TOWS SO  2   13  109   8.4  1   52  54.5
 10.David Hayes......... DELA JR  3   25  152   6.1  0   21  50.7

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UMass is also leading the CAA in rushing defense

RUSHING DEFENSE          G  Rushes  Yards  Avg.  TD  Yds/G
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1. Massachusetts.......  2      47    131   2.8   1   65.5
2. Old Dominion........  3     117    272   2.3   5   90.7
3. Maine...............  3     111    331   3.0   7  110.3
4. Richmond............  3      92    340   3.7   3  113.3
5. Towson..............  2      57    229   4.0   0  114.5
6. Rhode Island........  2      70    237   3.4   3  118.5
7. William and Mary....  3     103    358   3.5   4  119.3
8. James Madison.......  3     100    404   4.0   6  134.7
9. Delaware............  3     101    448   4.4   5  149.3
10.New Hampshire.......  2      77    392   5.1   2  196.0
11.Villanova...........  3     125    603   4.8   8  201.0

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The Portland Press-Herald says Maine is having success with a balanced attack. The article spends a lot of time talking about UMass.

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A Cleveland newspaper looks at the current conference realignments and considers the impact on the the MAC.

Matty V. Looks at conference realignments as they relate to UMass.

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Chancellor Holub address setbacks and financial gains at UMass.

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Monday--September 19, 2011

Matty V. has three stars from the UMass-Rhode Island game.

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The Boston Globe says BC likes the addition of Syracuse and Pitt to the ACC and also says Montel Harris will return to the Eagle lineup for the UMass game.

The Enterprise News says the Eagles have put their losses in the past.

BC Blog "Eagle in Atlanta"  looks at the Eagles' Duke loss.

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Several commenters have asked what I think about the breakup of the Big East and how it will affect UMass' move to FBS and the MAC.

Obviously, the Big East was a league UMass would be interested in as Syracuse, Pitt and UConn would be a good fit for UMass football.

Their jumping to the ACC does not change the basic dynamic for UMass. We need a functioning FBS/I-A program to be included in any league. No one is going to reach out to a FCS team. It's just not going to happen ----- ever. Playing Michigan, UConn and Vanderbilt next year will pay the costs of the upgrade and move UMass into at least a break-even financial posture. That's a big improvement from where we now stand. We still bring a large media market (bigger than BC, I believe).

We need to win in the MAC. If we do that, other opportunities will happen.

BTW, the Catholic basketball schools are toast.

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The UMass Daily Collegian has an article about Jonathan Hernandez' career high number against Rhode Island.

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Former UMass WR Dan Sheeran is the focus of an article on the hard ball world of college football recruiting.

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This article looks at life after football for 345 pound offensive linemen and the health costs of not dropping all that weight.

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I watched a DVD copy of the UMass-Rhody game last night an had the following impressions:

• Jonathan Hernandez' game was even more impressive on tape. He had two good offensive series that were stymied by the two interceptions.
• Even the announcers could not figure out who blew the assignment on the first Ram TD.
• Two of Rhody's long TD passes were completed against UMass rookie DB's Gary Correia and true freshman Quayshun Smith.
• I was wrong on yesterday's comment on Smith's going for the ball in the endzone. He just got out leaped by the wide receiver.
• The Minutemen front seven on defense look very impressive this year.
• The defensive backfield is a work in progress.

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Sunday--September 18, 2011

Worcester Telegram image

Matty V says Jonathan Hernandez and Kirk Nelms led the Minutemen to a win over the Rams.

Matty V also has some news and notes from the game.

Nate Owen of MassLive has more plus a photo gallery.

Providence Journal says the Rams faded in the fourth quarter.

The Worcester Telegram says Jonathan Hernandez ran past the Rams.

The Boston Globe says UMass had the finishing touch.

The Boston Herald says UMass ran past the Rams.

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The UMass strength-of-schedule continued to improve as Holy Cross beat Harvard. Ryan Taggart passed for 324 yards against the Crimson.

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CCSU won over Wagner to run their record to 2-1.

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A couple of UMass 2011 opponents are having ugly seasons.

Monmouth recorded a "historic" victory over Villanova.

And things went from bad to worse as Boston College lost to Duke. The Boston Globe says BC is feeling blue.

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Thoughts about UMass' game last night.

• FBS baby! UMass's jerseys had the players names on them for the first time since the seventies.
• Kellen Pagel, who was starting his first game, had a rough first half and then seemed to get a handle on the game in the second.
• Two of the long bombs that the Rams scored on were correctable. The first was a totally blown assignment on Rhody's initial TD. Then when the Rams scored their third touchdown the UMass DB had the coverage and then appeared to miss-time his leap in going for the interception. If you're defending in your own endzone go for the pass breakup first.
• Jonathan Hernandez, right now, is playing as well as any running back we've had here.
• The UMass defense held the Rams to 57 yards rushing.
• The Minutemen kicking game was seriously not good as the Minutemen missed an extra point, Brandon Yelovich shanked a kickoff out-of-bounds, Jeff Strait averaged 28 yards/punt and the holder muffed a snap on a field goal attempt.
• Antoine Tharpe would've helped in the UMass secondary.
• The UMass band didn't have quite the snap it did before. The 1812 Overture without the cannons?

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Mrs blog and I didn't get in from Hawaii/the West Coast until 9:30 Friday night and then didn't return from Amherst until 11:30 last night. We're pretty time-zoned out. I'll be back tomorrow with some images from the game.

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Recruiting 2012--Rodney Mills III

Jeff Thomas reports that Rodney Mills has re-verbaled to UMass after taking a year in prep school.

I've blogged about Mills before.

Game Day--Rhode Island--September `17, 2011

Good Morning from Jaffrey.

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"Ben" posted this in the comments section of yesterday's post, but it's important enough for the main blog.

"Forgive me if this was already posted. The UMass Library is hosting an exhibit, "Saturday’s Rivals: Football Memories from the ‘Aggie Eleven of 1879’ to the MAC of 2011" from Sept 15-Jan 3 on the Lower Level of the Du Bois Library.

Press Release"

Thanks for the heads up!
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Jeff Thomas has an article on today's game against Rhode Island.

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Matty V Vs. Matty G. in week #3

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Matty looks at the game as UMass and the Rams butt heads for one last time.

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UMass-Rhody will be on CSN-New England, which is Dish Network's channel 435. Set your DVR.

CAA GameDay has all the details for the league games.

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Hope to see everyone at the game tonight. Go UMass!!!

Friday--September 16, 2011

Click for a larger view

The UMass "sports insider" has a game preview w/video of the Rhode Island game.

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Matty V has two stories: Liam Coen returns to UMass wearing powder blue and white. And UMass is motivated by last year's loss to the Rams.

Matty also has Liam's thoughts on the UMass upgrade to FBS.

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Stories from the Rhode Island student paper.

From the UMass Daily Collegian.

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This article says the Rams made some noise at Syracuse last week.

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OLU's Ronnie Cameron almost ended up at UMass.

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The Worcester Telegram has an article that mentions Don Brown and UMass.

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The Sun-Chronicle mentions UMass RFR LB Matt Campbell.

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Thursdat--September 15, 2011

Good Morning from San Francisco.

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Two articles about Kellen Pagel being named starting QB for the Rhode Island game: Matty V. here and Jeff Thomas here.

The UMass Daily Collegian has an article on Pagel's promotion here.

Matty also reports that LB Stanley Andre is injured, but the rest of the Minutemen roster will be available for the Rams game.

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Rhody has their game notes up for the UMass game: html here and .pdf here.

BTW, the Rams have a three game win streak against the Minutemen in Kingston. Rhode Island has not won in Amherst since 10/12/91 when they topped UMass 17-14.

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Keepers College Football ratings has UMass a 1 point favorite over Rhode Island.

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TSN has two stories about FCS football:

Gordie Lockbaum talks about his days as a two way player for Holy Cross.

Sean Shapiro previews week #3 in FCS and predicts a Minuteman victory.

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Victor Cruz had a critical drop during his last game for the Giants.

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Some big games for MAC teams this week. Temple is at Penn State and Toledo plays #4 Boise State at the Glass Bowl. MAC report online has a capsule for all the MAC games this week.

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Wednesday--September 14, 2011

The Vanderbilt Insider says the details for  a four game series between UMass and Vandy has been completed. The Commodores will appear at Gillette on 09/21/13 and 10/29/15.

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The Rhody Rams say they're disappointed, but confident.

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The CAA has its weekly release on all of this week's league games up.

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UMass moved from "others receiving votes" to #25 in this week's FCS coaches Poll.

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"BC Interruption" scouts the Eagles opponents after week #2 of the season.

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Brandon London caught his first career CFL TD in the Larks win over the Tigercats.

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Alan Moore, at 61, became the oldest player to play for a college team last week.

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Tuesday--September 13, 2011

Both Matty V. and Jeff Thomas have stories about the 1:00 PM start time for the Boston College game. Interesting news is that the game will be televised on ESPN3 allowing out-of-state Minutemen fans to view the game.

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Sad article on CBS reporter Brooke Collins who was widowed after 10 days of marrage to her husband. She was on the sidelines for the UMass-Holy Cross game.

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The 2011 season keeps getting more challenging for Boston college. The Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Rogers has left the team on medical leave.

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Winless Villanova probably lost two players for the season during their loss to Towson. One player, Joe Price, suffered two broken ribs and a punctured lung.

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Speaking of Towson: YouTube video of Tiger fans storming the field after the Villanova win.

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The football simulator has been updated. I ran the model for UMass-Rhode Island and the Minutemen won 73 times out of 100. The average margin of victory was 6 points.

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Recruiting 2012--Aaron Berardino

Rivals image

The Hartford Courant says UMass is recruiting Aaron Berardino, a 5-10 180 pd WR from Windsor, CT.

Article here.

Rivals page here.

YouTube highlight video here.

Berardino's 2010 stats here.

Berardino holds an offer from CCSU. Besides UMass he is receiving interest from FCS schools BC, UConn, East Carolina and Temple.

Monday--Sept 12, 2011

UMass is #21 in the latest TSN poll.

UMass is #22 in Keeper's ranking.


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The Boston Herald reports on Saturday's  FCS games of New England.

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The CAA is undefeated so far in 2011 against FCS teams.

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Matt Evans and Joey Orlando of New Hampshire were two of the four CAA Players-of-the-Week.

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Syracuse.com says Rhody QB Steve Probst almost led the Rams to a upset of Syracuse.

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As Top UMass Fan pointed out in the comments section yesterday, Boston College had a dismal day at UCF.

The score of 30-3 does not tell the whole story as the Eagles managed only 141 yards of total offense and were out rushed 57-235. I believe that BC returned something like 9 defensive starters in 2011, so those rushing numbers have to be a major concern for BC fans.

The Boston Globe reports confidence is still high at the Heights.

The BC blog "BC Interruption" looks at how "Everything went wrong".

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Sunday--September 11, 2011

Ten years ago Mrs. Blog and I were in Lancaster County PA. We drove to Bird-in-Hand and she went shopping. I was waiting outside and then she came out and said "Everyone in that store is crying". We were camping and didn't have a radio except the one in our truck. We drove to a Wal-Mart and bought a little clock radio and went back to our campsite and sat in the dark and listened to the world change.

Matty V. runs a 9/11 look back.

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UMass fans may not have given Holy Cross enough credit. The Crusaders crushed Colgate in their league opener 37-7.

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Our next opponent Rhode Island held Syracuse to 36 net yards rushing and barely missed upsetting the Orange 21-14.

A Syracuse blogger was upset.

Meanwhile, Maine was giving Pitt a real hard time as the Black Bears rang up 334 yards passing on the Pitt defense and lost 35-29.

A Pitt blogger asks "Really?". When we go FBS, let's not forget out roots and be respectful of FCS teams.

Times may be changing in the CAA. Towson crushed Villanova 31-10.

UNH just got by Lehigh in overtime.

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The Sports Network looks at Saturday's results from FCS.

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Toledo had some penalties and that prevented maybe the biggest win in MAC history.

All the MAC score and recaps here.

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Saturday--September 10, 2011

The Worcester Telegraph has an article mentioning UMass alums in the NFL. It has some quotes by James Ihedigbo.

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Syracuse.com interviews UMass HC Kevin Morris to get the scoop on the Orange's opponent Rhode Island.

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The Hartford Courant has an interesting story about former UMass assistant coach Sean Spencer.

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VanDelay sports picks the MAC games in week E#2.

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CAA Game Day has all the information up for today's league games.

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I'll have the weekly point poll for the Rhody game up shortly. Last week the blog hive mind nailed UMass' winning margin over Holy Cross.

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Recruiting 2012--Zack Camp II

I've blogged about Zack Camp, a 5-11 170 athlete from Yulee, FL before.

This article mentions he will be playing playing on a HS game televised on ESPNU tonight.

Friday --September 9, 2011

The Rhode Island website looks at Rhody's defense and recalls their win over UMass last year.

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Former UMass assistant coach Jim Bradley gets more ink as the new HC at Monsignor Farrell HS in NY.

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Holy Cross HC tom Gilmore says Crusader DT Jack Maliska played the best game of his career during last week's UMass game.

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The Gazette has week two of the Matty V Vs Matty G in football picking contest.

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The CAA website has this week's "Game Day Central" with all the details of this week's league games up.

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TSN has Sean Shapiro's "In the FCS Huddle" looks at week #2 in FCS.

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NEC member Wagner brings 33 scholarships to its game with Richmond this week.

Speaking of the Spiders, it didn't take long for Georgia Tech transfer Copper Taylor to make an impact.

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Jeromy Miles could see more snaps this week against Cleveland.

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I'll be back tomorrow with more recruiting news.

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Recruiting 2012---Derek Beck III

I've blogged about Derek Beck before.

The 6-3 190 pd WR from Martinsville, NJ had signed a letter of intent to UMass this spring, but did not show up on the fall roster.

This article says Beck is taking a year of prep school. It seems to say he will still be attending UMass.

Thursday--Sept 8, 2011

Antoine McKenzie is featured in this story about BC Lions players who were affected by the 9/11 attacks.

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The Courant.com has a story about Don Brown's UConn defense against Vanderbilt.

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Matty V. has a story about freshman UMass safety Edward Saint-Vil. Sounds like Saint-Vil is in the mold of James Ihedigbo and Jeromy Miles who both parlayed a willingness to bring big hits into NFL careers.

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Speaking of safeties, I was looking at the box score for the Holy Cross game and Shane Viveiros not only did not start, he DNP. Hope he's not injured.

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MAC Report On Line gives a look at MAC football for week #2 of the season.

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Wednesday September 7, 2011

UMass will have fireworks after the Rhode Island game to open the home season.

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Matty V. has a story on UMass QB's are focusing on fundamentals.

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The UMass Daily Collegian, which is up and running now that the semester has started, reports on the Minutemen's switch to the 3-4 defense.

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The Boston College blog "BC Interruption" looks at the results of the Eagles opponents first game of the season.

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The CAA has its weekly press release about this week's league games up.

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Should you want to check out UMass' next opponent Rhode Island, their game against Syracuse is going to be televised by Cox sports and the game is also being picked up by the cable channel SNY. That's channel #438 on Dish Network.

Thanks to the reader who e-mailed me to point out the game is on Cox, not Comcast.
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Massey College Football rankings has UMass as #16.

Keepers College Football rankings has UMass #28.

The College football Coaches Poll has UMass in the "others receiving votes' section.

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Two Missouri Western football players rescued a toddler trapped in a hot car.

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Mrs blog and I are leaving for the last leg of our trip. Today we fly over to Ohau. We'll see how the wireless connection from our hotel works out.

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Tuesday--Sept 6, 2011

UMass rises to #21 in the latest TSN poll.

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Matty V. looks at conference realignments if the Big 12 collapses.

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The UMass Daily Collegian says no playoffs, no problem for Minutemen Football.

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Having lost their opening game against Northwestern, the Las Vegas odds-makers have installed the BC Eagles as a 6 1/2 point underdogs to Central Florida.

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The CAA website has recaps and video from all of Saturday's League games.

The CAA Players-of-the-week are also up.

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FoxSports Ohio says the MAC looked good in week #1 of the season.

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Labor Day September 5, 2011

Matty V. has a story about the UMass football alums in the NFL.

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SB Nation has a wrap-up of New England's major college football teams results from Week #1.

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The same writer has an article on "BC Inturruption" that's a fair and accurate description of the UMass-Holy Cross game.

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Jeromy Horne was cut by the Kansas City Chiefs, but was added to the practice squad later.

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UMass beat Holy Cross for a win over the first of their three OOC games this year.

Our remaining OOC opponents had different results on their first games. CCSU beat Southern CT 35-21 in their 15th straight home victory. Most important statistic for the Blue Devils was holding Southern CT to 284 yards of total offense.

Boston college did not do as well as the Eagles lost on their home field to Northwestern 24-17. NU's win was more impressive because their Heisman candidate QB Dan Persa DNP.

The Eagles also lost senior WR Ifeanyi Momah to a season-ending knee injury.

The loss hurts for the Eagles as the second half of their schedule promises to be harder than the first.

Recruiting 2012--Jovan Santos

Santos in air at left. Arnold Gold/Register image

The Post -Cronicle reports UMass has offered to Jovan Santos, a 6-2 230 LB from Xavier HS in CT.

Article here.

Youtube 2010 highlight video here.

Santos also has an offer from Stony Brook.

Sunday--September 4, 2011

Matty V. reports Miles, Ducasse, Ihedigbo, Cain and Cruz all made NFL rosters. Links are from their NFL bios.

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Richmond beat Duke. I believe that's three straight by the Spiders over Duke.

TSN has a wrap up of FCS games in the opening week.

The CAA website has not yet been updated with league information.

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Complete MAC results for week#1 here. Note that Ball State beat UMass' 2012 opponent Indiana.

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One of the UMass football blog's vast network of spies says UMass-Michigan in 2012 is set. Vanderbilt is still being negotiated.

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Click on image for larger view

Stopping by the side of the road on Molokai.http://visitmolokai.com/

Saturday--September 3, 2011

Masslive has a story on how UMass season tickets for football are up and have a renewal rate of above 80%.

I think having the games at Gillette will provide a significant bump in attendance and season tickets. UMass could lead the MAC in attendance in our first year in the league.

Also from the article:

"Besides the MAC teams like Temple, Miami (OH), Ohio, Toledo and Northern Illinois, the Minutemen are looking to schedule nonconference games against BCS conference teams as guarantee games in which UMass travels and gets a big payday, or 1-for-1 or 2-for-1 deals that will bring big-name teams to Gillette Stadium.

UMass already as UConn and Indiana scheduled for next year and is working on a four-year deal with Vanderbilt, and McCutcheon said there are more in the works."

It's going to be nice to see UMass play some big name schools and not have to do a trip to Kansas or Texas.

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This is kinda cool. UMass is trying to get the students to be more involved in UMass Sports.

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The Berkshire Eagle says Pagel was relaxed in the Minutemen's opener.

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Matty V. has three stars from the Holy Cross game.

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This story mentions former UMass standout Kyle Harrington.

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I'll be back tomorrow with some recruiting news.


Observations on Maui:

1. There are some serious surfer dudes here
2. There are some serious babes in bikinis here.
3. Some people seriously should not be out in public in a bathing suit.
4. Native Hawaiians are not clear where New Hampshire is.

Friday--Sept 2, 2011

Worcester Telegram/Steve Lanavo image

UMass writeup on the Holy Cross game.

Holy Cross' website with the same.

Two articles from Matty V on Hernandez' return to central Mass and Kellen Pagel helps UMass win over the Cross.

Boston Globe said UMass ran past Holy Cross.

The Worcester Telegram says UMass crashed the Crusaders party. Relevant quote:

“I think they blitzed every single play of the game,” Gilmore said. “They came after us. We didn't make them pay with our run game and ultimately that kept them in that same thing (defensively). It's hard to throw the ball when you're getting blitzed every single play.".

Looks like aggressive defense has returned to UMass.

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Some feel good stats: Tom Gilson had his first catch for 17 yards. TSN reports on the game and Gilson's persistence.

Transfer Brandon Yelovich kicked off 5 times and went 321 yards 64.2 AVE and 0 out-of-bounds.

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Not-so-good stat: the UMass offense only had 314 yards against a Patriot league defense.

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True freshman Anddy Moas started at RG for the Minutemen.

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Two CAA teams faced off against the MAC and didn't do so well.

Temple crushed Villanova 44-7.

New Hampshire was run over by Toledo 58-22

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Game Day--Holy Cross

UMass has a new "Sport Insider" show run by CBS3 of Springfield. It will be available nationally on Fox Sports Atlantic.

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Matty V. has a preview of the Holy Cross game and says "Goodbye to All That". Hey, I think those UMass-Holy Cross game programs are from my UMass Historical Scans section of my blog!

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The Boston Globe comments on "Mind games at UMass".

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The Worcester Telegram says the Crusaders hope to shine against UMass.

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The Boston Herald looks at BC's season including UMass.

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A Boston College blogger over on "BC Interruption" says he "doesn't know a thing about UMass" then predicts a 30 point Eagle win.

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TSN previews Week#1 in FCS football including the UMass-Holy Cross game.

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I'll be flying to Maui today, so I'll probably not be able to listen to the game over the internet. Hope a bunch of UMass fans make the trip to Worcester to support the Minutemen. Let's start the season off right with a win!

Go UMass!
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