2006 Schedule

The A10 Football League actually has 12 members. In order to leave some room for OOC (out-of-conference games) A10 members usually schedule nine conference opponents and three OOC games.

The general rule is that a team plays all the other teams in their division plus three teams from the other division.

In order to play all the teams in the A10 the three out-of-division game rotate every four years. 2006 is a rotation year for UMass.

In 2006 UMass will play Villanova, Towson and William & Mary instead of Delaware, JMU and Richmond.

That should be a help for UMass next year.

• In 2005 Towson, W&M and Villanova were 8-16 in the A10 (33%) and 15-18 overall (45%)
• In 2005 Delaware, JMU and Richmond were 15-9 (62%) in the A10 and 22-12 (64% * includes Richmond's playoff victory over Hampton)

Coach Brown has also said that there will be six home games next year. So the schedule looks like this for now:

Home:

• AIC
• Colgate
• Maine
• Hofstra
  
• And two of these three: Towson, William & Mary or Villanova

Away:

• Navy 09/09/06 (opening game for UMass)
• Rhode Island
• Northeastern
• New Hampshire
• and one of the Towson, William & Mary or Villanova trio
  

This is an easier schedule on the face of it. However, the AIC game, which is Division II, does not count towards the seven DI wins necessary for eligibility for the playoffs. That means two of the 2006 games (Navy & AIC) do not count towards the playoffs(Note: Navy would count if we should win, which is unlikely). So effectively, UMass is playing a nine game schedule. To be guaranteed a home playoff game, we will have to win all the remaining games(i.e. go 9-0). To get an "at-large" game (unless we happen to win the A10 title) we need to go 7-2 against the rest of the games. That's not going to be easy folks!