Monday--October 10, 2011

Matty V. talks about CCSU HC Jeff McInerney's decision to kick to Jesse Julmiste.

He also reports Coach Morris says Kellen Pagel is still the UMass starter at QB. He has a sub-feature on Emil Igwenagu's big night against the Blue Devils.

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CCSU's post game writeup.

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The Worcester Telegram has a CCSU game story with a nice image of Igwenagu.

BTW, if I had to bet on the UMass senior that was most likely to make an NFL team this coming spring, I'd take Igwenagu. He'd be an H-back in the NFL.

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MassLive has a seven-image photo gallery of the CCSU game by staff photographer Michael Beswick.

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UMass President Robert L. Caret is embarking on a bus tour of the State to better understand how the University can better serve Massachusetts.

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Things are not getting any better for Boston College. The Eagles announced that Montel Harris and Kaleb Ramsey are done for the season.

Rumors say BC was involved in blocking UConn's move to the ACC.

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Victory Cruz had a wonderful twisting catch against the Seahawks yesterday and was again involved in a seriously weird play.

The Seattle Post says Cruz's greatest day turned.

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The Sports Network says CAA stands for "Crazy Astonishing Agonizing".

TSN also recaps Saturday's action in FCS.

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THIS WOULD SO WORK IN BOSTON

City hires mimes to reprimand bad drivers.

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Sunday---October 9, 2011

Click on image for a larger view

Some good things happened at McGuirk last night as well as some "OK" things and a couple of bad things.

A really good thing was Jesse Julmiste. If you havn't yet seen him in person, make it a point to come out to McGuirk to see him play. Julmiste was leaving contrails in the cool October night. He had four returns for 148 yards and one 90 yard TD. Julmiste took the kickoff then went to Mach 2 and was still accelerating when hit the endzone. His two kick return TD's this year ties an all-time UMass record held by Phil DeRose and Dennis Dent. He also had a 31-yard run on a reverse.

The UMMB seemed to get its mojo back as the band and the visiting HS bands put on a show that the band, new director Tim Anderson ------and George Parks would have been proud of.

The offense did not have a single turnover. Brandon Hill not only did not throw any INT's, he didn't come close to throwing one.

Darren Thellen had two INT's including an 85-yard return for a TD. Emil Igwenagu caught a sideline pass and the 245 pound TE out ran the CCSU defenders for a 58 yard TD.

Oh, and I heard Shane Viveiros will be back for the next game. Since UMass has not announced the reason for his absence, I won't either. However, I hope to God that the previous scheme of moving him to LB will be scrapped and he will be back at safety.

Some OK things: I was mentally writing good things about the UMass kicking game. Brendon Leavengood thumped a 35 yard field goal that would have been good ten yards further. Jeff Strait made a nice play fielding a high snap----then Leavengood missed a extra point and Ray Pendagast hit a worm burner of a punt.

And some bad things: the offensive line seemed to be having an off night as the CCSU defense shut down Jonathan Hernandez and the UMass rushing game in the second half.

UMass had only 14 first downs...

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Jeff Thomas says UMass used big plays to defeat CCSU.

Matty V. said Jesse Julmiste sparked UMass to a win.

He also has three stars from the CCSU game.

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All the CAA results here. If you missed it, Maine (!?), Towson (!???) and UNH are leading the league.

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Boston College was in a "Death Valley Downer" as the Herald put it.

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UMass Football News--September 22nd, 2024

 Well, a win is a win. Again, some special teams lapses made it closer than it should be. CCSU's recovery of an on-side kick gave them a short field as did a 35-yard INT return to the Minutemen two yard line.

However, UMass did some good things. The defense held CCSU to 2-of-11 on third downs and 11 total first downs. The defense added an INT and held the Blue Devils to three points in the fourth quarter.

The UMass rushing game showed some life as Jalen John averaged 5.0 yards/carry and Jackson Paradis gained 54 yards running between the tackles. The Minuteman offense had 450 total yards of offense and 27 first downs. Taisun Phommachanh had a better game, passing for 287 yards and gained 43 on the ground. He did throw one bad interception that ended up as an easy CCSU TD.

UMass write-up here. 

CCSU write-up here.

The Hampshire Gazette says UMass broke through.

The Daily Collegian said the UMass passing game led the way.

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Eastern Michigan beat St. Francis 36-0.

A week after they destroyed Mississippi State, Toledo lost to Western Kentucky.

Two weeks after beating Notre Dame, Northern Illinois lost to Buffalo, after out-gaining the  Bulls by 359-184 yards.

Miami (Ohio) gave Notre Dame a hard time, but lost 28-3. 

Missouri dodged a Vanderbilt upset, winning in double overtime.

Wagner lost to Robert Morris 21-14. 

Florida beat Mississippi State 45-28. 

Liberty scored 28 points in the second half to beat East Carolina 35-28.

Georgia had a bye.

UConn pasted Florida Atlantic 48-14.  

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Game Day--CCSU 2024

 

Today we play a non-scholarship FCS team in CCSU. The Minutemen offense needs to show some life. My scalp will not tingle with a 24-17 win. The Blue Devils lost 66-10 to Central Michigan, a team that is not likely to challenge for the MAC championship. They did handle Fordham, a decent Patriot league team.

UMass is #129 in scoring offense. We need to move the ball. If the starting QB can not do that, then we need to give someone else a chance.

I'll be cheering for the Minutemen. Go UMass!

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Hustle Belt previews the CCSU-UMass game.

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The Hampshire Gazette says UMass eyes its first win. 

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CCSU's game notes for UMass. 

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The 3-0 Toledo Rockets play 2-1 Western Kentucky in Bowling Green.   

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Undefeated Liberty tangles with 2-1 East Carolina at home.

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Looking at Colgate's Defense

Next week’s opponent Colgate has a veteran defense.

My friend and fellow blogger Colgate13 has a write-up on Colgate here (scroll down)

Their entire defense line consists of seniors:
• Tom Cassano DE 6-1 230
• Josh Wurst DT 6-5 255
• Chris Petrone NT 6-3 280
• Jeff Galletly DE 5-10 265

One of the three linebackers is senior:

• Zach Dollar ILB 6-1 212

One of the DB’s is a Senior

• Chris Williams CB 5-10 190

The two best players on Colgate’s defense are:

• Jared Nepa ILB 6-0 229 Co-Captain, 2nd team All-Patriot League, 5 career INT’s
• Geoff Bean SS 6-0 200 2nd team All-Patriot League, All-Atlantic 6 INT’s in 2004

The results from the CCSU game were mixed. They held CCSU to only 9 completions. CCSU was 1-11 on third down conversions. The Blue Devils only had 13 first downs for the whole game and only 325 yards of total offense.

OTOH, The Blue Devls offense averaged 6.0 yards/play (54-325). They were 3-3 in the Red Zone. And CCSU lead most of the game. Colgate’s defense also gave up a long pass play on the next-to-last play of the game---- which cost them the game.

Most of the Raider’s woes originated with the offense, but I’m sure they would like to pick up their defensive performance against Umass next Saturday.

Holy Crap! UMass' next opponent Colgate upset by CCSU

Holy Crap! CCSU lead by former Umass Defensive Coordinator Tom Masella upset Colgate today 24-22.

The CCSU writeup is here. Colgate’s is here. The stats are here.

I’ve spoken a number of times with Coach Masella and he is just an outstanding coach. I’ve already done a blog on him here (scroll down I can't point blogger at a past blog).

Colgate outgained CCSU in most stats including 24-13 in first downs. But Colgate QB Mike Saraceno in his first varsity start threw 5 interception and fumbled once. Ray Lamonica added another fumble.

Turn the ball over seven times and you’ll loose the game.

Not sure how to regard this. It’s sure going to make Colgate mad. We need to bring our “A” game next week, or we could be upset next.

Former UMass coach leads CCSU to success

Speaking of former UMass coaches; have you seen what a good job former UMass Defensive Coordination Tom Masella is doing at Central Conn. State University?

CCSU went 8-3 last year. Masella led them to their 1st conference championship ever. It was also their first winning record in 17 years!

Masella spent two years at UMass (2002-2003) as Defensive Coordinator under Whipple. He was not hired when Coach Brown brought his entire coaching staff from Northeastern.

Also on the CCSU staff is Frank Forcucci. He spent five years with UMass working with the defense. He is now Defensive Coordinator for the Blue Devils.

CCSU opens with Colgate on 09/03/05 (the week before we go to Hamilton).

Tuesday---October 4, 2011

Matty V. says Kellen Pagel should be available for the CCSU game.

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UMass fell into the "others receiving votes" section of the FCS Coaches Poll.

The CAA put eight teams in TSN's top-25 Polls. UMass was not one of them.

ODU's win over UMass pushed them to #21.

The Minutemen fell all the way to #53 in Keepers College football rankings.

He has UMass by 18+ over CCSU.

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James Madison's Dae-Quon Scott has a separated shoulder.

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CCSU turned the ball over five times and lost to Sacred heart in their homecoming game.

The Hartford Courant says the Blue Devils are on a two-game skid.

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The Vanderbilt Insider talks with Vice Chancellor David Williams about Vandy football and the series with UMass.

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MassLive. com looks at Victor Cruz' controversial play against the Cardinals.

The Trentonian has a feature on Cruz.

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UMass Football News--September 16th, 2024

 I love Taisun Phommachanh. He led UMass to a win over CUSA champ New Mexico State and was electric. He played a flawless game against Army. In his one drive against the Auburn defense, he was the best player on the field.

This year, however he has not shown the spark he had in 2023. UMass has only scored four TD's in three games. Against Buffalo, our longest pass play was 24 yards. Our longest pass play for the season is 39 yards. Phommachanh has not looked quick this year. He holds the ball a long time in passing situations. His running game looks a step slower and he goes into a slide three steps earlier than last year. 

I know the coaching staff will want to use the CCSU game to work on the running game, but I'd give Ahmad Haston at least one quarter to see if he could add some life to the UMass offense. The season is rapidly evaporating.

I'd like to see more reps for Brandon Campbell too. I know he probably does not have all the offense yet, but he leads the RB's in yards/carry (abet by not much), however he did have 5 yards/carry at Buffalo.

We need to beat CCSU 40-17 not 24-10. The Minutemen offense needs to show some life or it's going to be another season in purgatory for UMass fans...

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Mass Live says UMass suffered a heavy loss against Buffalo.

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Sports Business Journal says being an Independent in college football is becoming harder and harder. 

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There is no Vegas line for UMass vs CCSU. Pick Dawgs says if there was one, they'd pick the Blue Devils.

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UMass Football News--September 18th, 2024

 The latest college football polls have Texas overtaking Georgia for #1 in the AP poll and Missouri tied for #8 in both polls. Northern Illinois, Liberty and Toledo receive votes.

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UMass adds New Mexico State and Wagner to its 2028 schedule.

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The Hampshire Gazette talks to UMass AD Ryan Bamford about this year's and future football schedules.

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Hustle Belt recaps Buffalo's dominate win over UMass.

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Hustle Belt also covers Toledo's win over Mississippi State. If you've got nothing to do, the game is probably available on YouTube or somewhere. It's worth watching. The Rockets just dominated on both sides of the ball. The announcers said "Did the teams switch uniforms?".

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CCSU beat St. Francis who beat Kent State the week before. If we beat CCSU, does that give us an honorary win over a MAC team?

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UMass Football News--September 17th, 2024

 UMass has its game notes for CCSU up. The bottom of the page has Don Brown's video Monday press conference.

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Several CCSU Blue Devils players earned national FCS and league weekly awards for the win over St. Francis.

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The Hampshire Gazette reports Coach Brown thinks UMass needs to finish the game. 

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The UMass-Miami (Ohio) game will kickoff at 3:30 pm and be carried on ESPN+.

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UMass Homecoming events. 

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I was watching a replay of the Memphis-Florida State game on the treadmill yesterday afternoon. The Tigers beat the Seminoles 20-12 to send Florida State to 0-3 for the season.

Also watched former UMass RB Greg Desrosiers run the ball for the Tigers. He has the leading yards/carry stat for Memphis RB's at 5.9 yards/carry, abet with only 16 carries for the season.

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A look as Stony Brook

UMass has some HTML game notes up here. Full pdf notes are here .

Stony Brook, as you know has committed to upgrading their program to a full 63 scholarships and leaving the NEC Conference to go independent.

The Seawolves may want to reconsider leaving the Northeast Conference as fellow members Albany and CCSU have been tearing up I-AA lately. Albany beat A10 power Delaware before 22,000 stunned Hens fans at the Tub last week. CCSU beat I-AA power Georgia Southern and earned its first ever top 25 ranking last week.

Stony Brook has a killer schedule this year. They play three A10 teams. Albany, #1 UNH and #9 UMass.
The results so far:

1. L 17-8 Hofstra
2. L 7-0 Georgetown
3. L 62-7 New Hampshire

The results are not unexpected with the Seawolves only up to 27 scholarships. The Seawolves defense has been stout, holding Hofstra scoreless in the first half. Georgetown only managed one score. The UNH offense, the best in I-AA, ran over them last week.

It is the Seawolf offense that is not yet competitive at this level. The offense line features four new starters. The Seawolves have only managed 231 yards/game and have only scored 15 points in three games. Their QB Josh Dudash is 28-49-0 261 yards 1 TD with a poor 108.62 efficiency rating. The season Seawolf stats are here .

Matt Dougherty of the Sports Network has UMass by 38-6.

The odds guy Keeper has UMass by 41.

UMass Football News--November 25th, 2024

 Georgia's head coach Kirby Smart said "UMass wanted it more the we did".

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Dog Nation give final grades for Georgia's win over UMass.

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247Sports has a bunch of images from the UMass-Georgia game.

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UGA Wire has takeaways from the Bulldogs-Minutemen game. 

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CCSU made the FCS playoffs! They'll meet Rhode Island in the first round of the playoffs.

This is Rhody's first trip to the playoffs since 1985. UMass lost to the Rams 7-3 at McGuirk on October 5th 1985. Only 6871 UMass fans attended. I was surely one of them, but I don't recall the game. That was Bob Stull's second (and last) year with UMass. Jimmie Reid would be named UMass coach in 1986.

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UConn opens as a 10.5 point favorite over UMass.

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UMass Football News--September 20th, 2024

 Mike Trani of "Fight Massachusetts" thinks changes in the athletic dept are needed.

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Hustle Belt previews another chance for a MAC-Power Four upset when Bowling Green meets Texas A&M. The Falcons hung with Penn State , so they're not likely intimidated by the Aggies.

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Two of the Minutemen's 2024 opponents meet when Buffalo travels to Northern Illinois.

The Huskies are on a roll generating 700 yards of offense against FCS Western Illinois and upsetting Notre Dame in South Bend.

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Notre Dame gets another chance at a MAC victory this week playing Miami (Ohio) The Redhawks are UMass' next game after CCSU.

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Saturday--July 9, 2011

The UMass website has the preview page for October 8th's game with Central Conn State.

CCSU tied for the NEC championship in 2010. Article on their recruiting here.

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UMass preferred walk-on Ryan Phillips will play in the Hall of Fame Football Classic in West Haven, CT.

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Andrea Adelson of ESPN's Big East Mailbag answers a question about UMass joining the Big East. As she says, we need to win in the MAC if we want to think about Big East in the future.

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Delaware's Andrew Pierce makes ESPN's Top 10 non-FBS-players list.

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Former UMass WR Jeremy Horne gets a mention in this article on the Kansas City Chiefs.

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Motivation.

Model Larissa Roquelmie says she will strip naked if Paraguay wins the COPA America Tournament. As Radar O'Riley would say ,"I don't think nekkidity is a stranger to Ms. Roquelimie."

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.

Bryant Preview

UMass game notes here and pdf here .

Bryant's game notes here and pdf here .

Bulldogs Rivals.com page here .

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Bryant is 4-3 in the their first year as a Division I team. They are the only FCS/I-AA independent with a winning record.

Wins:

• Beat Southern Conn State 39-36
• Beat Merrimack 20-7
• Beat Wagner 24-14
• Beat Robert Wagner 20-7

Losses:

• Lost to Central Conn State 35-42
• Lost to Monmouth 17-30
• Lost to Marist 7-34

Monmouth is currently tied with Albany for the NEC Conference lead. CCSU has a overall 5-2 record. Bryant's only poor performance is the loss to 2-5 Marist.

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Former UMass TB Lorenzo Perry transferred to Bryant and was a 2006 Harlon Hill Throphy contender.

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The Providence Journal has a UMass-Bryant game article here .

Jeff Thomas of the Springfield Republican says Coen is sore, but ready to go .

Matty Vautour states that Coen will play through the pain .

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Bryant has performed creditably in their first DI season. The Bulldogs defense has given up 341.31 yards a game, which would have placed them #41 in FCS. They've been averaging 23.57 points a game, which would have put them around #68 in FCS and ahead of Rhode Island, Albany and Fordham.

Bryant's best player is probably Jerell Smith (good name) he has 142 carries for 844 yards 5.7 yards/carry 4 TD and 116 yards/game.

QB Jay Garber is 105-190 8 INTs 55% 1151 total yards and 10 TDs. His eight INTs drop his efficiency rating to 115.1.

LB Paul Polomski does it all for the Bulldogs with 45 TT 3.5 TFL 3 sacks and 2 INT.

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UMass should win this one comfortably, but the Minutemen need to pay attention and work on some of the stuff that has gone wrong so far this season. If Liam is not ready to go, it could be even closer.

The UMass defense has been battling lately and this would be a good time to shut down the Bulldogs and reduce our points scored against us total.

Go UMass!

UMass Football News--December 1st, 2024

 

The Minutemen played another spirited game and again came up short. What probably doomed UMass was three consecutive three-and-outs in the third quarter. UMass was deep in their own territory and tried three passes on first down on each position. UMass was  forced to punt and the Huskies got the ball at midfield. Overall UMass punted seven times compared to UConn who punted three times.

UMass did score the most points since November 17th, 2018 when they beat Liberty 62-58 at home.

All in all, not a great year for UMass. Zero FBS wins is not optimal. Hopefully the new coach and the new conference will right the ship and I won't have to trudge to my computer every Sunday morning to try to put a good spin on defeat.

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UMass write-up here.

UConn write-up here.

Hampshire Gazette reports UConn held on to win.

Chad Chatlos (good name) of Turnkey ZRG talks about the Minutemen's coaching search. 

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Eastern Michigan lost to Western Michigan. The loss probably knocked to Eagles out of a bowl bid.

Toledo lost to Akron on 11/26. At 7-5 the Rockets will get a bowl bid.

Buffalo blew out Kent State on 11/27 to go 8-4 and a bowl bid.

CCSU lost to Rhode Island in the first round of the FCS playoffs.

Miami (Ohio) beat Bowling Green to punch a ticket to the MAC Championship game.

NIU beat Central Michigan to go 7-5 and a probable bowl bid.

Wagner's season is over.

Mississippi State lost to Mississippi to finish 2-9.

Liberty lost to Sam Houston State to finish 8-3. The loss knocked the Flames out of the CUSA championship, but they will get a bowl bid.

I already reported on Georgia's four overtime win over Georgia Tech.

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Bonus coverage

How much would it cost West Virginia to fire Neal Brown?

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Saturday--August 27, 2011

Matty V. has a story about the new 3-4 defense.

He states the defensive starters for 2011 will be:


Defensive line- Kevin Byrne DT, Chas Thompson NT, Galen Clemons DT

Linebackers-Courtney Jackson OLB, Tyler Holmes ILB, Perry McIntyre ILB, Shane Viveiros OLB.

Cornerbacks-Mike Lee, Antoine Tharpe

Safeties- Christian Birt SS, Darren Thellen FS

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The UMass Football "Together We are One" outreach will continue on September 8th in the Merrimack Valey.

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Football Game Plan has a 13 minute video preview of the CAA.

The CAA will have  live streaming video of the weekly CAA coaches conference this year.

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TSN previews the Northeast Conference and picks UMass' opponent CCSU to be NEC champs.

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Busman's holiday. While I was in Eugene, I managed to watch a little of the Ducks' practice. Click on the image for a larger view.

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UMass Football News--August 8th, 2024

 

UMass athletic dept image

The Hampshire Gazette has a post on new Minutemen offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery settling in at UMass.

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Lately UMass has been playing teams out of the NEC for our FCS game. This year Merrimack and Sacred Heart left the MAC for the non-football MAAC, so both teams will play as independents this year.

UMass' 2024 opponents Wagner and CCSU are picked #6 and #7 in the NEC preseason rankings.

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Four QB's are in contention to start for UConn.

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Meanwhile in Starkville, confidence in Mississippi State's offense is high. 

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