The images below were taken by me of the UMass-New Hampshire game on
UMass finished 3-8 in 1983. Head Coach was Bob Picket. Future UMass head Coach Mike Hodges and future UMass and Richmond Head Coach Jimmie Reid were assistant coaches.
Tri-Captains were Richard Jenkins, Gary Frecker and Grady Fuller.
The box score for the game was:
UMass UNH
11 First Downs 19
40/83 Rushes/Net 64/224
27/10/1 Passing 11/4/1
110 Passing yards 68
193 Total Offense 292
8/21.8 Punts 5/36.2
4/40 Penalties 6/63
4/3 fumbles 6/2
Four UMass turnovers and the UNH rushing game made it a long day for UMass.
One point of interest is that during the 30+ years I have been following the Minutemen, this image shows one of the very few times that the players were allowed to have their names on their uniforms.
Have you seen the NCAA�s statistics board? It�s really nicely done. Each team�s stats are linked both to other teams in its conference and to the national leaders in each category.
The stat sheets have a nearly endless number of permutations. WARNING! It�s a real work productivity buster.
A quick look at the UMass stats shows about what you might expect for a 6-5 team. We were in the middle of the pack nationally in most categories. There were 117 teams in I-AA last year. We were #54 in total offense and #61 in total defense.
As you might expect, we were the #1 team in the A10 in pass efficiency defense. UMass was eighth in the A10 in total offense and ninth in scoring offense. We were eighth in the A10 in rushing defense. Looks like the conventional wisdom that in 2005 UMass needs better run defense and more output from the offense.
One surprise: we were last in the A10 in punt returns. Most of the punt returns were handled by Nathanael Hasselbeck, Jr. (5-11 196) a transfer from
UMass Football will be on TV four times this fall (2005).The entire official schedule is available here.
Three games will be on Comcast�s CN8
Team Location Time
CN8 has a page detailing its sports offerings (including I-AA games) here.
CN8 offers a live video feed via the internet from this page. I have Verizon DSL and it works great, with the cravat that you have the choice of small and sharp or full screen and fuzzy. CN8 sometimes blacks out local games. Last year I tried to use it to see the UMass-Northeastern game and the game was blacked out. If you live in the Mid-Atlantic area and you have a fat data pipe, you might want to watch the game via CN8�
The ESPN game may be another story. I have the Dish Network Sports package, which includes ESPN, ESPN2 and the Fox Sports regional networks. ESPNU seems to be "vaporware" as it is impossible to find.
There has been a lot of comment about UMass landing a number of transfers. There has been less talk about UMass players who transferred out.
Since last year at least four members of the 2004 Minutemen have left.
Backup TB Lorenzo Perry (So. 5-6 182 transferred to Bryant
Backup DB Julius Walker (So. 5-10 176) transferred to AIC
Redshirt Freshman DT Desmond Lymon (6-2 290) transferred who-knows-where.
Starting K Michael Torres (So. 5-9 185) transferred to an I-A university in
He was 2-5 in field goals (longest 38). Torres kicked off 44 times for 2647 yards with 5 TB�s and kicked out-of-bounds 4 times.
With the graduation of backup kicker Matt Goldstein, Torres� transfer leaves UMass without a kicker. The handout given out at the spring game did not list a kicker. Nor does the current roster on the UMass website. At the spring game UMass ran about three field goal attempts. It was major ugly.
So that means 2005 recruit Armando Cuko (5-11 180) from Beverly MA will be the only true freshman to start for UMass. Cuko was born in Armenia and is a former soccer player. He had an excellent career for Beverly High.His bio is here.
Armando, do lots of leg lifts or whatever it is that kickers do, because you�ll be the starting K and kickoff man under the lights at
UMass FanZone readers should check out the Colgate Blog "The 13 Yard Line"
Colgate13 is a knowledgeable fan of Colgate football and the Patriot League. Seeing that UMass and Colgate will play the second of a scheduled four game series on
I've added a permanent link to the Colgate Blog. I'll add other 1-AA sites if possible.
The UMass FanZone knows you like to read all you can about your team. You like to read write-ups by "enemy" newspapers, especially when your team won.
If you haven�t switched to FireFox then you should give it a try. FireFox is fast, safe and has a number of cool features.
Not the least of which is an "add on" that invokes Bugmenot.com. This site fills in the "registration" fields on most newspapers.
The add-on works with FireFox to complete the necessary registration with just a right click------no need to go to Bugmenot separately. Find it here.
Only 86 days until UMass opens under the lights at City Stadium in
Welcome to the UMass Football FanZone. The blog will be my thoughts on UMass football and related topics.
The FanZone will contain positive articles on UMass Athletics and UMass Football in particular. Comments are welcome with the following cravat: the UMass FanZone does not talk smack about other programs. ASFAIC, smack has zero informational value. If that�s your thing, 1-AA.org has an excellent smack board. Visit it here.
If you�re a UMass fan and know something you would like to share about UMass football, then post a comment or send me an e-mail.
