Friday, November 14, 2014

Friday--November 14th, 2014

Ron Chimelis says the turnout Wednesday shows Western Massachusetts wants its team back.

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Dan Malone has three up and three down from the Ball State game.

Dan also reports the UMass-Akron game has been pushed to ESPN3 from ESPNU. That sucks. I watched Wednesday's game yesterday on DVD. ESPNU had excellent production values. They had a shot of the Old Chapel and the pond. They even did Antonio's in downtown Amherst.


Again, kudos to the UMass fans who turned out and the Minutemen players displayed lots of energy. It was good reflection of UMass spirit. I forgot to mention there were lots of trash barrels everywhere and some excellent UMass students recycled lots of trash.

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Matty V. says Blake Frohnapfel's status is unknown for Akron. We should hear today. I don't agree that the final two games are meaningless. The conference clock is still ticking. Five and seven looks a hell of a lot better than 3-9. I'd give Austin Whipple the full package. Maybe Austin doesn't have the big arm Frohnapfel does, but I refuse to believe Tajae Sharpe can't get open against any MAC defense. Maybe fewer deep bombs that Coach Whipple loves, but other than that, let Austin play.

Andrew Verboys in the Spring Game
If Whipple goes down, then we are pretty much screwed. Punter Brian McDonald played QB in DIII. Walk-on QB Andrew Verboys would probably trade his redshirt for some playing time.

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Back in October, Akron offered an incentive for Zips students to attend a televised Akron game---a raffle for a free semester's tuition. Almost 4,000 students showed up.

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A kind blog reader sent me this link about Northbridge's football coach Ken LaChapell breaking the state record for wins. LaChapelle is a UMass grad 1970.

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A doctor at Boston's Children's hospital has a better idea on treating ACL tears.

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AND IN AMHERST, PEOPLE WERE CLUCKING BECAUSE THE STUDENTS LEFT SOME TRASH

In Miami, someone stole the NFL Network's production truck.

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