Rhode Island Preview

UMass game notes for Rhode Island here (html) and here (pdf)

Rhody's game note for UMass are here (html) and here (pdf)

Rhode Island's 2008 stats here .

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The Providence Journal has an article about Rhode Island native Liam Coen here .

Matty Vautour has an article about the Minutemen's last two losses in Rhode Island .

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The Rams are 2-7 so far in 2008. Their wins:

• Monmouth 27-24 (note the Hawks are 5-3 and undefeated in the NEC conference)
• Brown 37-13

Losses:

• Fordham 0-16
• UNH 43-51 (Note the Rams had 517 yards of offense)
• Boston College 0-42
• Hofstra 20-23 (lost on a field goal with three seconds left)
  
• Towson 32-37
• Villanova 7-44
• William & Mary 24-34

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This year the Rams under new head Coach Darren Rizzi have switched from a option attack to a mostly passing spread offense.

Leading the way is QB Derek Cassidy; he's 217-363 2289 yards 59.8% 15 TDs 254.3 yards/game with 12 INTs, which knock his EFF down to 119.77.

The Rams are in trouble with their rushing game All-American FB Joe Casey compounded his leg early in the season. Rhody's leading rusher is Jimmy Hughes who's 89-267 3.0 yards/carry 2TD's and 29.7 yards/game average. The Rams are only averaging 61.6 yards a game rushing.

Defensively, Matt Hansen is having a great year for the Rams. He has 49 UT 32 AT 82 TT 7.0-32 TFL 3 sacks 2 INT 4 FF and 2 blocked kicks. Whew!

The Rams are 9th and 10th in CAA scoring offense and total offense respectively.

They are 11th in both scoring and total defense . CAA stats here .

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Actually, the Rams are, in my opinion, farther along than I thought they'd be in the transition from a option running team to a spread option passing offense. Usually it take about three years to switch over. Even the mighty Georgia Southern Eagles had a difficult transition when they made the switch.

Losing Joe Casey really hurt the Rams. With no significant running game, opponents have been loading up against the pass.

They can generate offense as their 517 yards against UNH shows. UMass will need to get some offensive production against one of the weaker defenses in the CAA. If the offense clicks, then the Minutemen defense can tee off against Cassidy.

The weather is expected to be good. The Blog will be there as usual and is looking for UMass to have a big day.

Matt Lawrence joins Ravens

According to this article former UMass RB Matt Lawrence has been signed to the Baltimore Ravens practice squad.

Special thanks to the UMass Football Blog reader who brought this to my attention!

Neither the Jets' (Brad Listorti) or the Ravens' (Matt) roster pages have been updated yet.

Thursday-before-the-Rhode-Island game wanderings

The UMass Daily Collegian has a pair of UMass-Rams articles here and here .

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Former UMass Safety James Ihedigbo has been signed to the NY Jets active roster. Matty Vautour has an article here .

Article from the Jets website here .

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Bruce Dowd has a long article about the JMU-Villanova game and wonders if JMU is a team of destiny.

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We're still tied for 6th in the Lambert Cup standings. Since we've lost to both JMU and Richmond, it would take an earthquake for us to win the Lambert Cup this year.

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"T" Brower making an impact at Central HS

I've blogged before on how former UMass All-American defensive end Valdamar Brower was hired as head coach at Springfield's Central High School.

This article says that he's making a difference in the lives of his players .

Temple vs. Navy: Eight Men in a Box

A typical '8 men in box' alignment (left)

By Mike Gibson
Eight Men Out was a movie about the White Sox scandal, starring John Cusack.
Eight Men In is what Temple's football braintrust should be considering for the game at Navy this Saturday (3:30 p.m.).
As in "Eight Men in a Box."

Temple at Navy
Saturday 3:30
Navy-Marine Corps Stadium
Annapolis, Md.
TV: CBS College Sports Network
(Channel 274 on Comcast Phila.)
Radio: 1210 AM WPHT

There's no denying Temple University's football defense, when healthy, has 11 superb athletes manning those positions.
The evidence is pretty convincing. Allowing only 6 regulation points to a UConn team that put up 45 on Virginia, 7 to a good Western Michigan team, 10 to Ohio, 10 to Miami, seven to an Army team that scored 44 on Tulane, etc., etc.
This week, the Owls are relatively healthy.
I respect Navy because it beat Wake Forest and Rutgers.
I don't fear them because they got hammered by a Pitt team that lost to Bowling Green.
Last week, Navy ran for like 11 miles worth of yardage in a 33-7 win over Southern Methodist University and they didn't even try a pass once.
Not complete a pass, mind you.
Attempt a pass.
The week before, Pitt's defense played eight men in a box and "held" Navy to 197 rushing yards.
The Panthers dared Navy to pass. It could not, at least not effectively, and Pitt won, 42-21.

Bring violence
to the football.
Disrupt plays,
put a helmet
on the ball,
get turnovers.

That got me to thinking about what should happen on Saturday afternoon.
Move eight of the Owls superb athletes inside this week. Assign two the pitch man, two more the quarterback. Don't allow them to think. Just tell them to react.
Tell everybody else to flow to the ball. Bring violence to the football. Disrupt plays, put a helmet on the ball, get turnovers.
Making plays. That's what it should be all about this week for Temple's football team, defense, offense and special teams.
On offense, it would be nice to block for quarterback Adam DiMichele and future superstar running back Kee-Ayre Griffin (Kee-Ayre, the future is Saturday). It would be nice to find Bruce Francis more often to open up the running game.
But, on Saturday, it's really all about defense from Temple's perspective.
Leave Dominique Harris, Jamal Schulters and Jaiquawn Jarrett back to break up the trick plays (i.e., forward passes).
Everyone else should be playing the run.
If Al Golden and Mark D'Onofrio are the defensive geniuses I think they are, they'll figure this out long before me and the Owls will have been working on this for 10 days.
Eight in a Box.
If they come out lined up that way at, say, 3:31 p.m., you will know the Owls are ready to win.

Sean Smalls lost for the season

Sean Smalls is probably lost for the season .

Jeff Thomas has a another story about his injury here .

Matty Vautour has another story about Smalls here . He states Michael Hansen and Tony Nelson will be available for the Rhode Island game.

The UMass Blog and all UMass fans hope Sean completely recovers soon. Sean, drink lots of milk and get ready to crush the Combine tests. We appreciate all your work for the program over the last four years.

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Recruiting 2008 ----- Brandon Flanagan OL

I thought I had done a post about Brandon Flanagan the 6-2 300 pd RS Sophomore transfer from Buffalo, but apparently not.

His ESPN page from his recruiting days here . Rivals page here .

The 2005 Boston Globe All-Scholastics article here (also has a bio on Reshaude Goodwin).

Welcome to UMass Brandon. Hope you have a great career with the Minutemen!

Tuesday-before-the-Rhode-Island-game news

UMass ended up #15 in a number of polls. The Sports Network has a week #9 poll article here.

All the polls here .

UMass is #6 in the latest Lambert Cup poll. This blog has an article on the history of the Lambert Trophy that gets quite a few hits from Google.

Matty Vautour of the Hampshire Gazette has an update on Sean Small's injury.

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David Coulson is calling the James Madison Dukes "Destiny's Darlings"

Another article about Villanova's last second loss to JMU.

The week #9 FCS bracketology website is up.

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Bulletin, bulletin, bulletin: The FCS Championship game may be moved in 2010 to the eve of the BCS Championship game . This would be an improvement IMHO. The students (and the team) would not be in the middle of exams. It would greatly simplify travel plans for fans. I know it was a real hassle getting airline flights and accommodations on one week's notice when UMass went to Chattanooga in 2006.

UMass-Bryant Picasa Web Album

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

I've posted a 50+ image of the UMass-Bryant game in a web album here . There is some bonus photography by UMass fan and ace photographer Peter Miller .

Monday morning musings

The UMass Daily Collegian has a Bryant game article here .

Matty Vautour discusses the injuries to Sean Smalls and Tony Nelson .

Brandon London caught his first career NFL pass according to the Miami game notes .

Keepers college football rankings have us at #8 . And we're a 13+ point favorite over Rhode Island.

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As you know, JMU lost to Appalachian State in the playoffs last year with a fumble at the end of the game. The football gods have been smiling on the Dukes this year by way of compensation. If you have not seen their Hail Mary pass with 0:00 left to beat Vilanova, here it is .

David Coulson calls it The Great Escape .

BTW, Texas Tech is still undefeated and routed Kansas Saturday 63-21 .

Recaps of all the CAA games are here .

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UMass dominates Bryant 42-7

I liked the new uniform look. Click on the image and Blogger displays a larger view.

UMass Athletic Dept write-up here .

Bryant University Athletic Dept here .

The Boston Glove says UMass wore out Bryant .

The Worcester Telegram talks about Liam Coen's record setting day .

Jeff Thomas of the Springfield Republican says UMass aired it out .

The Springfield Republican talked about how UMass rocked on Band Day.

Matty Vautoru talks about Jeremy Horne's birthday party .

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Matty states that UMass was without two starters OL Bob Getek had a suspension and Brandon Collier was out with an injury. Collier dressed for the game. They lost Sean Smalls and Tony Nelson to injuries.

Tony Nelson only had three carries. He looked OK to me on the sidelines. The same was not true of Sean Smalls who was on crutches. He did come out in the second half, but was not dressed.

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UMass put the subs in with ten minutes to go in the third quarter. The Minutemen played rotating quarterbacks for the rest of the game. Scott Woodward, Scott Wallace and Spencer Whipple all got at least one series.

One QB who did not play was Octavius Hawkins, who dropped a wide open swing pass right in front of the UMass bench.

None of the backup quarterbacks looked that good, but they were working with the second string offense and it was obvious some of those players had not had a lot of reps.

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I know it was Bryant and I know both sides were trying to get the game over with, but I was impressed with the second team UMass defense. They were flying around and were doing some crisp hitting. They looked excited to be playing.

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The rain held off until the last three minutes of the game. the UMass band day was awesome as usual.

I'll be back later with a web album.

Open Game Day Thread

If you are part of the UMass Football Dispora and are listening to Josh or watching the game (if it's truly on) one of the links below, here's a spot to comment if you wish.

Game Day Bryant

Jeff Thomas has a game day story here .

Today is Band Day, one of the great events in the FCS/I-AA division.

Matty Vautour of the Hampshire Gazette has a game day post here .

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Bruce Dowd has his weekly CAA preview column here .

David Coulson has his weekly FCS column here .

The Sports network has the FCS week nine preview here .

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The UMass game notes states that there is no TV for the UMass-Bryant game, but http://channelsurfing.net/, lists the game. The game is also listed here as being on CSTV XXL, which may be the feed for the above link. If you are not local, try it.


Towson @ UNH is on CSNMA/CSNE/CSS if you want to set your VCR.

The big game in the CAA is JMU @ Villanova, which will be on CN8 live internet video feed .

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Scoreboard watching: A primer for Owl fans

By Mike Gibson
Not much to do this weekend between the downpour about to start Saturday morning at 4 and end just about World Series gametime but watch the scoreboard.
For the first time in years, there are meaningful Temple football games NOT involving Temple this weekend.
Huh?
The Owls currently rest at 1/2 game behind the leader in the Mid-American Conference Eastern Division standings.
So who to root for this weekend?
Well, the Kent State at Miami (Ohio) game has a slight importance, so you'd root for the Kent Staters there to get their first league W.
Slight, because Temple holds the all-important tie-breaker against Miami so it's no sweat if the Redhawks win this one.
The more important game is Bowling Green at Northern Illinois.
You've got to root like hell for the Huskies.
And, if you are inclined to bet, I like these games (my pick in caps):
REGULAR PICKS
NORTHWESTERN (giving 8) at Indiana _ Hoosiers got hammered by Ball State and Northwestern is very good and a good value as less than a double-digit favorite. Northwestern, 21-7.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS (giviing 7 1/2) against visiting Bowling Green _ Hey, if you are going to root for these guys anyway, root for them to cover. Huskies defense gave up only 13 at Tennessee. I'm thinking less to visiting BGSU. Huskies, 24-10.
PENN STATE (giving 2 1/2) at Ohio State _ My guess is that Tom Bradley has a defense designed to confound freshman quarterback Terrell Pryor. PSU, 31-21.
STONE COLD LOCK OF THE WEEK:
SOUTH FLORIDA (giving 4) at Louisville _ This is a gift for you by the bookies. Take it. South Florida, 25-17.
My record against the spread this season:
Regular picks: 6-1
Stone cold locks: 2-2

Recruiting 2009--- RB Martin Hyppolite

UMass is interested in Wakefield RB Martin Hyppolite 6-1 215 . Boston Herald story here .

His Rivals.com page is here . ESPN page, with writeup here .

He holds scholarship offers from Army, Bryant, Stony Brook and Navy. Getting interest from BC, Oregon, Maryland and UMass.

Boston Herald image by Patrick Whittemor.

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!

Thursday Blog notes

UMass and Bryant are soul mates-----both teams blitz like crazy .

This is the first ever game between the Minutemen and the Bulldogs .

Matty Vautour says that Liam Coen expects to be back for the Bryant game .

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Bruce Dowd of CAA Today attended the UMass-Richmond game and has a long article with loads of UMass pictures here .

The Sports Network has its FCS Week 9 preview up . Could we be into the ninth week of the season already?

David Coulson has his "Around FCS" column posted .

Keyshawn Johnson has been working with the Dolphins' receivers including Brandon London .

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The latest interation of the FCS bracket prediction blog is up .

Richmond Web Album 2.0

Peter Miller, a UMass fan, blog reader, and photography enthusiast sent us this image he took of Liam Coen's TD toss against Richmond.

Click on the image and blogger displays a larger view. I've added it to the web album.

Temple 14, Ohio 10: The Aftermath

John Haley, Alex Joseph bring violence to the football.
Daily News photo

By Mike Gibson
Often you, get a better perspective on Temple games by reading the out-of-town papers.
Here's one take, out of The Post.
My take on the game:
Just an incredibly courageous performance by quarterback Adam DiMichele, who Eagles' announcer Merrill Reese called the best quarterback in college football.

Get Bruce Francis
the ball, please.
If you don't
know who he is,
he's No. 82
and he's being
single-covered
by these MAC corners.
He's wide open. ...
Nobody can cover him.
Nobody.

Adam wasn't his best, but my question is:
Would you be your best coming off what is basically a separated shoulder?
The bottom line is he won the game for Temple at crunch time. Survive and advance. That's what it's all about at this point.
Also, memo to offensive coordinator Matt Rhule and head coach Al Golden:
Get Bruce Francis the ball, please. If you don't know who he is, he's No. 82 and he's being single-covered by these MAC corners. He's wide open. A simple pitch and catch and he shakes the guy and is gone.
Nobody can cover him.
Nobody.
The guy yelling to get Bruce Francis the ball during the entire game was me.
Do me a favor. Watch the film. One guy on him, playing 15 yards off the ball 90 percent of the time.
If Navy does it, a simple pitch and catch to a guy who will be playing in the NFL next year would be the best play in the arsenal and open so much else up.

Recruiting 2009----- Daren Davis WLB

UMass is interested in Daren Davis a 6-0 190 pd WLB from South Plantation HS in Plantation FL. His scout.com page is here .

In coach Brown's never ending quest for speed, Davis runs a 4.6 forty.

He's also being recruited by Albany, Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee .

Hope Daren gives UMass a long look!

Wednesday-before-Bryant-game news

The UMass Daily Collegian has an article on the latest FCS Polls .

Marcell Shipp may get a look from the Patriots .

Brett Mauser guest blogs on Matty Vautour's Hampshire Gazette site about his trip to Chattanooga as a member of WMUA's radio team during the 1998 Championship.

The UMass athletic site has a podcast (mp3) file of interviews with the 1998 team during the homecoming game.

Information on a cold Tuesday morning

Mike Zhe of Seacoast online takes a look at the CAA's chances for playoff teams .

The UMass police officer injured during Delaware game has returned to work .

The Bryant Bulldogs have their UMass game notes up.

Matty Vautour says the loss to Richmond has lowered UMass' expectations . He also has a story about the 1998 Championship Team.

UMass is still ranked #9 in Keeper's power rankings. And we're a 32+ point favorite over Bryant .

The UMass dance team's blog has some new material .

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CSN has a recap of Saturday's FCS action here .

David Coulson looks at FCS teams struggling this here and UMass is among them .

The FCS bracketology site has been updated.

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Richmond Game Web Album

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

A Picasa web album of the UMass-Richmond game is here .

Monday Morning Media

The UMass Daily Collegian has three stories about the UMass-Richmond game: here and here and here .

Jeff Thomas says the Liam Coen's injury is day-to-day . (link fixed)

Tony Nelson and Jeromy Miles show up on Josh Buchanan's 2010 NFL "Small School" draft board.

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David Coulson has a story over on the Sports Network site on what a difference a year makes for William & Mary and the Delaware Blue Hens .

Texas Tech beat Texas A&M 43-25 to stay unbeaten .

Bryant defeated Robert Morris 20-7 Saturday .

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Owl Nation: A call to arms (and feet)

Owl Nation

By Mike Gibson
Owl Nation.
I never heard that phrase until Al Golden arrived on campus in 2005.
Al has dropped it a few times since, but the phrase is based in this reality.
The Temple community is as large as some small nations and it's time to rally around the trademark T.
No time is better than Tuesday night and no place is better than Lincoln Financial Field.
No one said it better than Scotty "Dub" in a recent post online:

"As I've said before, it all starts with Temple, gang. If the 125,000+ alums across the tri-state area, the 9,000 employees and the 34,000+ Temple students don't want to support their University at a game - let alone a national TV game (which is practically a free 3 hour commercial for YOUR university), how can we expect Joe Schmo public and his family of four kids to give a you-know-what about our team.
Thanks for your time. Go Owls and see you at the game."

If you are in any way affiliated with the university, you are needed not only to support a football team that has a realistic chance of winning the MAC East but for the even greater cause of curing cancer. Proceeds from the game benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
Plus, a big, enthusiastic Temple crowd for three hours on ESPN2 is the best advertising for the university. Better than six years of newspaper ads. Better than 10 years of one-minute television spots.
Think about it. Wouldn't it be great if just half of the 34K students, just half of the 9K employees and just half of the 125K alumni show up for the game? That would put about 100K in the stands, but you get the drift.
Just one time. Just once.
Even if you don't care about football, there are many reasons to make this walk-up crowd the best one in Temple history.
So get in your car Tuesday night after work and head to Lincoln Financial Field and walk up to the gate and purchase a ticket.
Wear pink while you are at it.
And cheer for the Owls and returning quarterback Adam DiMichele, who Eagles' announcer Merrill Reese called "pound-for-pound there is no better quarterback in college football."
For one night, make "Owl Nation" a reality.

Sunday Morning Stories

Boston Globe says the Minutemen fall to Spiders .

The boston Herald has and article that the Minutemen were caught in the Spiders Web .

The Richmond Times says Vaughn set the tone .

The Worcester Telegram has an article here .

The Salem News has an article about UMass full back Chris Zardas .

Matty Vautour has a Richmond game story here .

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Down by 21-3 to Northeastern, New Hampshire made a big comeback to win .

Life keeps getting worse for the Delaware Blue Hens as they did not score a TD in a 27-3 loss to William & Mary .

Villanova crushed Rhode Island 44-7 .

Maine beat Hofstra 41-40 in overtime .

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For UMass the crowd of 15, 953 was the 21 st largest crowd in UMass history. It would be the 16th largest crowd with McGuirk in its current configuration of 17,000 capacity.

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Richmond runs down UMass 30-15

Shaky special teams play has been the bane of the 2008 UMass team and it proved fatal today. The Minutemen missed an extra point, a field goal and had a game changing punt blocked.

That and short kickoffs and a routine 20 yard return by the Spiders made every (it seemed) Richmond possession start on the 45-yard line. Those short fields kept the run-heavy Spiders in their comfort zone. The Spiders kept the ball almost the entire first quarter.

They also kept the UMass offense bottled up as we only had 13 first downs and 236 yards of total offense. Still, it was anyone's game until the blocked punt.

Another big crowd and the fans gave a warm welcome to the 98 National Championship team. It was great to see them.

UMass writeup here .

Richmond's write-up here .

Jeff Thomas has a story about the loss here .

I'll be back tomorrow with more stuff and a web album.

As I've said before, win or lose, Go UMass!

Open Game day Thread

I've forgotten to leave an open game day thread the last two games.

If you're watching the game on CN8 or listening to Josh, you can comment here if you wish.

Go UMass!

Game Day---Richmond

Jeff Thomas of the Springfield Republican has a Richmond game article here .

The Boston Globe has an article about the London family, pater and filius.

Matty Vautour has a game day article here . He says that Ben Coblyn and Michael Hanson will be back in action for the Minutemen.

He also has a story about Marcel Shipp's visit to Amherst.

Owls a better investment than the stock market

Wear pink to the Linc for the Tuesday home game against Ohio.

By Mike Gibson
The reality is a brutal 2-5, not what any of us expected at this point.
It's disappointing and unacceptable to me and probably even moreso to Al Golden and his players. The sad truth is that the difference between 2-5 and 5-2 is probably 15-20,000 less fannies in the seats for Tuesday's Susan G. Komen Cure Owls for the Cure game against visiting Ohio University.
Disheartening is probably the best word for it from my perspective.
The perception of Temple football suffers locally seen through the prism of 2-5.
Yet the perception of Temple football is slightly better nationally, thanks to some significant covers.
It's amazing what people think of you when you put money in their pockets on a regular basis and that's just what this Temple team has done to the "Joe Plumbers" of the betting world.
Temple is 5-2 against the spread (or 4-2-1 in some books, counting the Friday 4-point spread that favored Western Michigan). On the Saturday of the game, the spread went to 4 1/2 and that's the line I'm counting, so Temple is 5-2.
In a stock market that has shown short-term losses of 20 percent just in the time Temple has played those seven games, the "Temple stock" has shown stark gains.
Not bad in a recession.

My philosophy with
the Owls, though, is that
I don't care if they cover
but I do care very deeply
_even to the point of
being pyschotic about it,
almost _ that they win
the damn game

For instance, if you bet $100 on the Owls in all seven games, you would have won $700 and lost only $110 (losses in Vegas and with the neighborhood bookie are $55 for every $50 won).
It doesn't mean anything to me because I don't bet Temple games. I will dabble in other college football games because I consider myself a little more of an "expert" on mid-majors than the Vegas bookies. My philosophy, though, with the Owls is that I don't care if they cover but I do care very deeply _ even to the point of being psychotic about it, almost _ that they win the damn game against whoever they play, even Penn State.
That said, after I lost my first "stone-cold-mortal-lock" of the season when Eastern Michigan beat Bowling Green two weeks ago, I took a break from the betting world last week to reaccess by financial portfolio.
I'm back this week.
I only bet games that I can be reasonably certain of winning, so my record is 3-1 on overall picks and 2-1 on stone-cold-mortal locks (thanks, Bowling Green).
THIS WEEK'S REGULAR PICKS:
CONNECTICUT (pick) at Rutgers _ RU is going to have a tough time stopping Donald Brown. UConn, 21-14.
GEORGIA TECH (2 1/2-favorite) at Clemson _ Line is only this close because it's in South Carolina. Paul Johnson might be the best coach in America. Georgia Tech, 23-7.
SOUTH FLORIDA (24-point favorite) over Syracuse _ When is the Big East going to kick Syracuse out for being non-competitive? South Florida, 43-10.
PITTSBURGH (3-point favorite) at Navy _ Pitt stumbled out the gate, but appears to have regained its stride since. Pitt, 24-14.
ARMY (getting 10) at Buffalo _ It took awhile, but Stan Brock's option is controlling clock and giving his defense a chance. ARMY, 17-14, in an upset.
THIS WEEK'S STONE COLD MORTAL LOCK:
WESTERN MICHIGAN (getting 2 1/2 points) at Central Michigan _ Dan LeFevour may be back, but the Broncos are the better overall team and quarterback Tim Hiller has a knack for making the big play at the right time. WMU, 27-24.

Friday-Morning-before-the-Big-Game-with-Richmond articles

Jeff Thomas looks back on the 1998 team that put UMass football on the national map.

The Amherst Police office injured at the last home game is recovering .

Matty Vautour of the Hampshire Gazette looks at the Richmond game here .

Bruce Dowd has a recap of last week's CAA games and take a look at this week in his Column "The CAA Today".

The Sports Network has its weekly FCS review here .

If you are going to set your VCR to tape a game, this week's football TV schedule is here (note Northeastern Vs UNH) is on College Sports New England (Dish network 435).

Richmond Spiders Preview

UMass game notes in html here . The notes with things like the two-deep chart in .pdf here .

Richmond game notes for UMass here (in html) and here in .pdf

The game will be televised with streaming internet video from CN8 . The game will be televised on Comcast Charter Sports Southeast, which is not available on Dish Network or Direct TV.

There is a Richmond football message board here .

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Richmond is 4-3 for the season and 2-2 in the CAA.

The Spiders wins"

• 28-10 over Elon
• 44-17 over Towson
• 44-17 over Maine
• 56-16 over VMI

Richmond lost:

• 0-16 to Virginia
• 20-26 to Villanova
• 31-38 to James Madison

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Richmond Stats (from the CAA gameday site)


Rushing: Josh Vaughan (7 G, 119-570 yards, 7 TD)
Passing: Eric Ward (7 G, 110-166-2-1422 yards, 9 TD) (3rd in the CAA in eff 153.7)
Receiving: Kevin Grayson (6 G, 31-436 yards, 1 TD)
Defense
Tackles: Michael Ireland (7 G, 27 solo, 18 assisted, 45 total)
Sacks: Lawrence Sidbury, Jr. (7 G, 3.0-16 yards)
Interceptions: Justin Rogers (7 G, 4-105 yards)

The Spiders lead the CAA in Total Defense giving up only 297 yards/game (more than a 100 yards/game less than UMass). Richmond is 2nd in pass defense and 5th in rushing defense.

The Spiders are in the middle of the pack in offensive stats.

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The Spiders are a very good defensive team. This game could come down to turnovers. Their offense is nothing special and we would not want to give them a shirt field to score.

Richmond is 2nd in the league in turnover margin with a +8 turnovers with a + 1.14 turnovers/game margin.

UMass is 9th in the CAA with -3 turnovers and a -0.50 turnovers per game. The difference is that we have thrown 7 INTs with Richmond having only 2.

The UMass offense needs to not miss scoring opportunities. The UMass defense needs to continue to battle like they have done in the past several weeks. Hopefully, we can come up with a big conference win Saturday.

Go UMass!

Thursday Morning-before-the-Big-Game-with-Richmond articles

The UMass Daily Collegian has a pair of Richmond game articles here and here .

The Richmond Times has a UMass-Spiders article here .

The Harrisonburg Daily News says the New England CAA schools are the rust belt of the league .

David Coulson has his weekly "Around FCS" column here .

Bruce Dowd has a long recap of last week's Richmond-JMU contest (with images) here .

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Speaking of JMU, they may have lost two linebackers for the season during the Richmond game.

The season for the Delaware Blue Hens just keeps getting worse . And more worse .

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Matty Vautour says that more than forty members of the 1998 UMass National Championship game will attend this week's Richmond game.


This list of attending players is from the UMass website:"Here is a list of 1998 football players who have RSVP'd that they will be attending the 10 Year Anniversary at the UMass-Richmond football game. In no particular order: Head Coach Mark Whipple, Marcel Shipp, Pete Cariello, Greg Ward, Andy Maclay, Sean Higgins, Mike Wynne, Bryan King, Dan Schneider, Cliff Bolden, Bryah Gifford, Matt Murphy, Khalil Blakely, Bill Barry, Scott Shearer, David Melendez, Chris Tobiaz, Kevin Quinlan, Lance Overby, Jason Cherry, Jeremy Robinson, Aaron Parker, Christian Erhartic, Mim Hill, Mike Smith, Todd Bankhead, Kole Ayi, Eric Bross, Ed Campbell, Chris Price, Dan Healey, Kerry Taylor, Adam Quitt, Adrian Zullo, Khari Samuel, Deyate Haygood, Jamel Thomas, Saud Paul Bolden, Compton Webster, Steve Ley, Tyler Laubach, James St. Fort."

Bulletin, Bulletin, Bulletin

From Matty Vautour's blog note on today's Sports Luncheon"

At today's sports luncheon, UMass athletic director John McCutcheon said that the Minutemen were in very early discussions about with a Bowl Subdivision Team about a game that would pay UMass near "a million dollars."

They were so early in the discussions that he hadn't discussed it with coach Don Brown yet. When Brown came to the stage for his own speech. He asked McCutcheon who the team was. McCutcheon's answer was inaudible, but Brown's response was "Oooh. I like the Big House."

The Big House, of course, is Michigan's stadium.

Afterward McCutcheon downplayed the exchange and wouldn't even confirm Michigan, but said he and Not-Necessarily-Michigan had spoken."

I'm so there whenever it is.

A look at the CAA North after half of the 2008 season

The 2008 season is half over for most CAA teams. While the meat of the conference schedule is still to come for the majority of CAA teams, it's possible to get picture of who's hot and who's not in the CAA North so far.

In the CAA North:

• UMass--- Unchanged. The Minutemen were expected to be on the top of the CAA North----- and so far they are. UMass leads the North Division at 2-1 in the league and 4-2 overall. It would be hard to find another FCS team that would have had different results from two games @ JMU and @ Texas Tech. I'll have a more detailed look at UMass later.
• New Hampshire--- UP. Everybody was expecting the Wildcats to decline after the Santos/Ball era. It has not happened. UNH is 1-1 in the CAA and 4-1 overall. Note that the Wildcats have FCS' best win in their 28-10 win over Army . The Wildcat lead the CAA in Total offense and are #2 in scoring offense. They've been doing it with their top running back Chad Kackert hurt. The Wildcats should be favored over Northeastern, Towson, Hofstra and Maine. A UNH win over either Villanova or UMass should put them in the playoffs.
• Northeastern----Unchanged. The Huskies are 1-1 in the league and 2-4 overall. Every year it seems as if Northeastern has one big CAA upset. They'll get their chance with UNH and Villanova at home and William & Mary on the road.
• Maine---- Down. The Black Bears may have lost starting QB Adam Farkes during their big win over Delaware. Maine is last in scoring offense and last in total offense in the CAA. That does not bode well for the remaining 2008 season. The Black Bears should be competitive with Hofstra, Northeastern, Rhode Island and Iona. They have a chance to influence the CAA as they play UNH on the frozen tundra of Orono on November 25th.
• Hofstra--- Down. The Pride is 1-1 in the CAA and 3-3 overall. Hofstra lost starting QB Bryan Savage at the beginning of the season. The Pride lost to Albany and were pounded by James Madison . They still have to play UNH, UMass, @Maine and Richmond. Hard to see more than one or two additional wins for the Pride.
• Rhode Island---UP. It usually takes about three years for an option team to transition to a different offense. The Rams are 0-3 in the CAA and 2-5 overall. However, their offense has shown signs of life with a win over Brown and close loss to UNH . The Rams are leading the CAA in pass offense with 280 yards/game. Rhode Island should at least match their 2007 total of three wins. They seem farther along than most people believed at the start of the season and I'll say they are on the upswing.

UMass and UNH are the only two CAA North teams still in the playoff hunt. As usual, the November 18th game between UMass and UNH in Durham should decide the CAA North Championship.

Middle-of-the-Week-before-the-big-Richmond-Game Post

The UMass Daily Collegian has an article about Victor Cruz's year as the CAA's leading receiver .

The Richmond Times has an article about Sean Smalls.

Matty Vautour of the Hampshire Gazette has a story on experience helping the Minutemen .

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A new FCS website "NoBowls.com" gives a weekly prognostication of the FCS/I-AA playoff brackets.

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Keepers College football rankings has us at #5 in FCS and 4 1/2 point underdog to Richmond .

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This article on travel costs has been causing a lot of comment on the message boards. Note that the article does not really say anything definite. It also, like many newspaper articles, does not tell the whole story. The article states that Richmond's costs for Saturday's UMass trip have tripled in the last decade. That sounds bad. It does not say how much Richmond's budget has increased over the same period. Gotta make stuff look as bad a possible. Rule #1 in journalism school.

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Josh Buchanan has updated his "Small Schools" NFL prospects over on NFL Draft Bible . I found the link on the excellent NFL Blog Draft Daddy .

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A look at the CAA South after half the 2008 season

The 2008 season is half over for most CAA teams. While the meat of the conference schedule is still to come for the majority of CAA teams, it's possible to get picture of who's hot and who's not in the CAA South so far.

In the CAA South:

• UP---James Madison. The Dukes are 4-0 in the league and 6-1 overall. JMU is #1 in the league in both scoring offense and rushing offense. Rodney Landers is having a Stacey Tutt kinda year and Scotty McGee is the best special teams player in the counrty. With only four games to go in their regular season, the Dukes look like a lock for the playoffs and a #1 seed. An away game at Villanova seems to be their only chance for loss.
• UP---Villanova. The Wildcats are 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the league. The Wildcats lead the league in rushing defense giving up only 91 yards/game. They do have six league games left and get JMU, UNH and Towson at home. There has been a QB controversy between Anton Young and Chris Whitney. Villanova should be favored against Rhode Island, Northeastern and Delaware away. A 4-2 final and a playoff slot is certainly doable.
  
• UP--- William & Mary. The Tribe is 1-1 in the league and 3-2 overall. They should be favored over Delaware, Rhode Island, Towson and Northeastern. They probably need beat either Richmond or JMU to be considered for the playoffs. The Tribe's defense was last in the CAA in 2007 and they have moved to the middle of the pack in 2008.
• Unchanged----Richmond. The Spiders were picked by many FCS pundits to win the CAA this year. Richmond's two league losses put them in a tight spot for the playoffs. The Spiders should be favored against Georgetown, Hofstra and Towson. They do have to play at UMass and at William & Mary. Two losses would very likely mean no playoff bid. One loss could be trouble depending on how the league plays out.
• Down---Delaware. One year after going to the National Championship game, Hen fans are jumping ship in droves. The Hens are 9th in the league in scoring and total offense. Hen QB Robby Schoenhoff has been having a terrible year .The Hens managed just 41 yards rushing against Maine last Saturday. Delaware has had a lot of injuries and suspensions . At 0-2 in the league and 2-4 overall, the Hens are in big trouble. They probably will be favored only over Hofstra and Towson in their final six games.
• Down---Towson. The Tigers are 1-2 in the league and 3-4 overall. Towson should be a sold underdog to UNH, William & Mary, Delaware, Villanova and William & Mary. Sean Schaefer recently broke the 10,000 career passing yards mark. Outside of Schaefer, there's not much talent in Towson.

JMU and Villanova are looking good for playoff slots at this time. The winner of the Richmond-W&M contest on the last game of the season will probably decide if the CAA gets three playoff teams from the South.

Tuesday-before-the-big-game with Richmond Articles

Two articles from the UMass Daily Collegian here and here .

The Richmond Times has a Richmond-UMass preview here .

The GridIron Power Index has UMass as #9 and Richmond as #6 .

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Holy Cross had a nice win over Brown Saturday. Imagine what would have happened if they had lost .

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UMass-Northeastern Web Album

Click on the image and Blogger displays a larger view.

I took my point-and-shoot digital camera to the Northeastern game because I knew I would be riding the "T" and doing some walking. The Canon 30D with the big lens is a boat anchor.

Turns out that the T was doing some track repair and I had to get off the train and take a slow shuttle bus to nowhere to make it to Parsons Field.

The point-and-shoot is not a bad camera, but the battery has the lifespan of a fruit fly....

Anyway, a forty-image Picasa web album is here .

Mulling over Monday Morning

Jeff Thomas says the Minutemen are waiting for Richmond .

Matty Vautour relates UMass kept the Huskies at bay .

He also has an article about UMass fullback Chris Zardas.

Another article on how JMU kick return phenom Scotty McGee did in the Spiders on Saturday. Richmond was supposed to kick away from him.

McGee's return was the #1 play on ESPN .

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CSN has the national FCS Recap here .

The Washington Post states that the CAA towers over the FCS landscape .

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Northeastern game stuff

The Boston Globe says UMass picked the right time .

The Herald says we escaped Northeastern .

The Springfield Republican highlights Tony Nelson's 175 yards .

The Worcester Telegram said we rallied past the Huskies .

Matty Vautour has a game article here .

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One side benefit of running the UMass Football Blog is the nice people I get to meet. I got to talk with Joanne and Alex Getek (the parents of UMass OL Rob Getek) at the Northeastern game. They were in Lubbock too, but we missed connections. Joanne was kind enough to send me some images of the Texas Tech game, but they're on my laptop, and I haven't been organized enough to port them over.

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Speaking of Texas Tech, when I got back to my truck, the Red Raiders-Nebraska game was on satellite radio. I was thinking about driving back to Plainview Texas while I was making a different ride back to New Hampshire. What a difference a couple of weeks make. The Red Raiders won in overtime .

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Back in the CAA, Maine beat Delaware.

New Hampshire blew a big lead to lose to William & Mary. That knocks the Wildcats out of the undefeated column.

Towson got their first CAA win by topping Rhode Island.

Scotty McGee, who gave us fits in our game with JMU, returned a punt with 58 seconds left to beat Richmond.

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