Read this one

Bruce Dowd of College Sporting News (formerly I-AA.org) writes a weekly column covering the A10.

In my Sunday blog (scroll down) I wrote how another CSN writer Charles Burton wrote an anti-UMass smack post .

Well, Bruce Dowd keeps the anti-UMass trend going on CSN with his latest article.

Relevant quote "We have talked all year about emotions and how much that impacts a game, and I just think the emotions favor UNH in this game. I also believe they have the best coaching staff in the league.

One final reason, and in a weird way, it is because UNH is on the road. Now, you might say that doesn�t make any sense because the advantage should go to the home team. That isn�t always the case. Pressure is a funny thing. UMass is the favorite and they are expected to win, so they have more pressure on them, especially at home.

I may regret this pick, it certainly wouldn�t be the first time, but that is my call. UNH gets the upset and moves on to the semis. This pick will shock many of my readers and it may seem contrary to what I have been saying for the last part of the season about UMass. So, to make sure there are no misunderstandings, I still think UMass has the best overall personnel of any team in the Championship Division, but the best personnel doesn�t always win, and I think this is one of those games. Heart, fire, determination and coaching win out."

So the national media believes that New Hampshire has more heart, fire and determination---as well as better coaching....

New Hampshire game stuff

UMass has its game notes up in html and pdf .

Matt Dougherty reports teams that beat a rival in the regular season lost nine of the last 11 rematches in the postseason . Gulp!

The Odds Guy keeper has the game just about dead even .

Matt Vautour reports that some of the UMass and UNH players are friends .

UNH game notes are here in html and here in pdf. They're still planning to white out our stadium .

UPDATE: The A10 has a UMass-UNH game article here .

Six UMass players named All-New England

The UMass Athletic Dept has an article here about six UMass players being named the the New England Football Writers All-Star Team.

2006 New England Football Writers Division I-AA All-Star Team

DEFENSE
DL Mike Berg, Harvard Sr.
DL Brandt Hollander, Yale Jr.
DL Matt King, Maine Sr.
DL Matt Campopiano, Northeastern Sr.
LB Zak DeOssie, Brown Jr.
LB Bobby Abare, Yale So.
LB Ryan Tully, Harvard Sr.
LB Jon Corto, Sacred Heart Sr.
LB Jason Hatchell, Massachusetts Jr.
DB James Ihedigbo, Massachusetts Sr.
DB Manauris Arias, Maine Sr.
DB Tracy Belton, Massachusetts Sr.
DB Virgil Gray , Rhode Island Sr.
P Steve Morgan, Brown Jr.

OFFENSE
QB Ricky Santos, New Hampshire Jr.
RB Steve Baylark, Massachusetts Sr.
RB Clifton Dawson, Harvard Sr.
RB Justice Hairston , Central Conn. Sr.
WR David Ball, New Hampshire Sr.
WR Ryan Maher, Holy Cross Sr.
WR Ryan Fuselier, Dartmouth Sr.
TE Kendrick Ballantyne Northeastern Sr.
OL Ed McCarthy, Yale Sr.
OL Matt Austin, Massachusetts Jr.
OL Tucker Peterson, New Hampshire Sr.
OL Andrew Schoepfer, Holy Cross Sr.
OL Alex Miller, Massachusetts Sr.
RS Raji El-Amin, Rhode Island Jr.

Brad Listori

Matt Vautour has a story about UMass TE Brad Listori here .

Listori has been an impact player for UMass this year. After being a special teams player at Rutgers, he transferred to UMass and has just been outstanding.

He has played in 12 games 29 catches 457 yards 15.8 ave 2 TD and 38 yards/game.

He's 6-4 245. He's a mismatch against linebackers because of his speed. Let's hope he has a big game against UNH to keep our season goin'

John Hatchell will play despite injury

I've blogged before about UMass DE John Hatchell's playing in the Lafayette game.

Turns out he has a torn ACL. Matt Vautour has an article here about his determination to play again against UNH.

David Burris

Image by J. Anthony Robert

This article in the Boston Globe features UMass DE David Burris . Burris is a former walk-on who has had a monster year. He was named second team All-A10.

Burris is the 4th leading tackler on the defense. He has started 12 games, 24 UT 39 AT 63 TT 13.0 - 57 TFL/yards 6.5 sacks-44yards 2 FR 1 FF.

Congratulations to David and lets hope he gets to start three more games this season.

Lights for the game.

This article from the Springfield Republican talks about Saturdays' game.

UMass will rent the lights, but ESPN will foot the bill.

The Wildcats are coming!

The Wildcats are coming!

And they're planning to White out our stadium!

The New Hampshire game notes are here in html and here in pdf .

This article tells how the Wildcats used a fake punt to beat Hampton .

Chris Koepplin has been a kick for UMass

It was a long strange journey for UMass kicker Chris Koepplin, but we're glad he ended up at UMass. The Boston Globe has the details here .

Lots of Playoff articles

A quick Google News search shows 34 articles relating the UMass' win over Lafayette. A similar search picked up 38 hits on UNH.

Matt Dougherty recaps the CS Division playoffs here . David Coulson does the same here .

The Union Leader recaps UNH's win over Hampton here .

The Boston Herald looks at the upcoming UMass-UNH game here . The Union Leader describes the Minutemen-Wildcats rivalry as being at a fevered pitch .

UPDATE: Nobody covers UMass Football like Matt Vautour and he has two articles here and here .

KAEO Spencer Whipple

Mark Whipple was a record setting QB for Brown University. Now his son Spencer Whipple is the starting QB for his high School team. Spencer has kept in touch with his Western Mass roots.

Could there be another Whipple in UMass' future?

UMass-Lafayette game Articles

Image of James Ihedigbo by Associated Press.

The Boston herald looks at the game and Steve Baylark . Another game article by the Herald here .

The Springfield Republican has an article here . They have another article about UMass' QB reaction by a cheapshot by the Leopards .

From the Lafayette side there is an article here .

The Boston Globe has an article here .

The Worcester Telegram covers the game here .

Charles Burton of College Sporting News give an almost even writeup of the game here . Somewhat surprising as he ran an anti-UMass smack post here . Still, it's nice to know where the media is coming from...

UMass-Lafayette Playoff game images 2006

As usual, right click on an image and Blogger displays a larger view .

I've included one blurry image, but it was of a UMass TD, so you'll have to forgive me.

UMass pre-game drills

At the UMass gate

Lafayette Pre-game

Captains Meet

It could not have been a more beautiful day!

Kickoff team

2006 Playoffs underway

Defense held Patriot League O-Player-of-the-year to 41 yards

Home Side was packed!

Offense opened strong

Visiting side was mostly full

O-line leads the way

Koepplin was flawless again

Mike Omar #15 caught a TD pass

The Band got the crowd goin'

Off the hads of Joe Russo

UMass Band!

90% of the UMass band was at the game, even though there was no housing for them on the off week.

Half Time

Jorgensen scored on this play

I know this is blurry. It takes my camera a long time to cycle. But it was the only TD play I captured, so I'm including it anyway :)

Cheerleaders

Tim Washington runs

Defense had 'em covered

The Leopards could not run

Final Score

UMass defeats Lafayette 35-14

Great first playoff game. Big crowd of about 12,000 to 13,000. Wonderful weather. Hard blue sky.

UMass dominated except for two turnovers late in the second quarter. We held the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year to 41 yards.

I'll be back tomorrow morning with images and articles from the various media outlets.

Go UMass!

Playoff Game Day Articles

The Boston Globe looks at the UMass-Lafayette game here .

The Springfield Republican has a game day article here .

A New Jersey paper has a Leopards-Centric article here .

The Naples News (FL) covers former local player George Byrd in an article here .

In the national media, David Coulson looks at todays playoff game here (lots of UMass stuff)

Lots of background Championship Division playoff stuff here .

Daryl Robinson: Your word is your bond

"I could not have been happier after Daryl told me he picked Temple. Coach Golden is a great guy and a great coach and he is on the verge of achieving some really incredible things at Temple and I'm glad Daryl is going to be a big part of that."
_ North Catholic head coach Chalie Szydlik

By Mike Gibson
We can only guess what went on during the most recent phone call between Temple head coach Al Golden and North Catholic superstar Daryl Robinson, who verbally committed to Temple in July.

...let's hope Robinson follows
the same heart that led him to Temple
... in July and not the lowlife
slimeballs who are trying
to get him to change his mind ...

Robinson de-committed from an oral to West Virginia, then said when committing to Temple that "my recruiting is over. I'm done."
Yesterday, in a Ted Silary story, Silary quoted Robinson as saying "some schools want me on offense and some on defense."
Without asking Robinson point-blank, Silary took it upon himself to interpret that Robinson's commitment to Temple was waning, too.

We can only guess how this made Golden feel. Maybe the conversation went something like this:
Golden: Daryl, what's this, 'Some schools want me' quote all about?
Robinson: I guess I misspoke coach. I'm still firm. In fact, last week, I talked to (Northeast High superstar) Sean Evans and tried to get him to join me at Temple.
Golden: That's what I like to hear. Just wanted to clear that up. We can't wait to show you around. I just wanted to remind you that over 90 percent of Division I guys never make it to the pros, but a lot of them do go on to have great careers in business. In business, Daryl, your word is your bond and it doesn't look good to go back on your word twice in such a public way. You are going to be big in this area long after your NFL career is over, if you are lucky enough to have one. You've got to establish your trustworthiness now. This would be a good way to prove to people in your hometown you've grown up.
Robinson: I know, coach. My word is good. See you next week, coach.
Golden: We can't wait to show you around. See you next week, Daryl.
Robinson: Bye, coach.
Golden: Bye, Daryl.
We can only hope that's the way things went down. There are all sorts of lowlifes out there in the college football world trying to put a bad bug in Robinson's ear.
Let's hope he follows the same heart that led him to Temple in July and not the lowlife slimeballs who are trying to get him to change his mind.

UMass-Hofstra game images

These images were taken on 11/18/06. UMass finished undefeated in I-AA and in the A10.

As usual, right click on the image and Blogger displays a larger view. If your cursor displays a "+" sign, you can click again for yet larger view.

UMass-Hofstra

Seniors Day!

Seniors and family

Seniors and family

Captains Meet

Kickoff retrun team

Lawrence & Robinson wait for the kickoff

Coen looks down field

Baylark had another 100 yard game

The defense held the Pride to -1 yards rushing

Coen hangs in the pocket

Koepplin was outstanding again

Nice crowd of 9,200 on a vacation week