Al Golden needs to build some walls of trust, too

By Mike Gibson
After his fliratation with UCLA, I don't know if I will ever look at Al Golden quite the same way again.
I never thought Al would be here forever, but I definitely bought into his commitment to build the university a house of brick, not straw.
That was the way Greg Schiano built the program at Rutgers, not going the quick fix like grabbing five or six JUCO All-Americans to make a quick impression.
It was, in my mind, the right way to build the program at Temple.
When he turned down Boston College last year, I thought, 'Way to go, Al, that's the way to get it done. We can't build that brick house if you listen to every Tom, Dick and Harry on the street asking you to build them one, too.' "
Ty Pennington doesn't listen to other sob stories when he's committed to helping one down-and-out family. He builds the damn house first, then goes on to the next sob story.
I was stunned beyond belief that he would go after a UCLA job when only one wall was up at Temple. I don't begrudge Golden a chance at bettering his status in life, it's just that he not only signed at Temple to do a job but he gave his solemn promise that he would get it done.
Then I thought of something John Chaney once said.
"Once you tell me you don't love me, it's over," Chaney said on March 24, 1992, talking about Rick Brunson when he transferred to Boston College for two months, took a job there, before having a change of heart and transferring back to Temple.
It ended well for the Owls then.
Hopefully, this story will end that way, too.
The way I feel about Temple football is that if you tell Temple football you don't love it, then it's over. It's that important to me this house gets fixed.
I know exactly where John Chaney was coming from.
Well, it wasn't over for Chaney and Brunson then and it probably won't be over for Al Golden and all of his current disenfranchised fans, either.
But he's going to have to show me a lot in the next month or so.
Eric Reynolds was, at least in my mind, a three-star running back that got away.
It would be nice to replace him with a three-star running back, say, an Albert Gray of Florida.
Keeping 99 percent of the current recruits, guys like Steve Caputo of Unionville, also would be another step.
When Kobe Bryant betrayed from his wife, he regained her "trust" with a $14 million ring.
I don't need the ring.
I need a running back, a kicker and no decommits to feel the Al Golden love again.

1980 UMass Football Historical Scans

The following eight images are scans from several 1980 game programs.

I've included the 1980 team photo, 1980 coaches, 1980 roster and several other scans from various programs.
Also included are three scans from the 10/04/80 UMass-Rhode Island game program at Meade Stadium. It has the offensive and defensive starters for both clubs.

In 2005, when I went to Meade Stadium, I talked with several members of the Rhody Band and fans. No one remembered "That Ram Band", which was a long time Rhode Island thing. That Ram band wore blue and white colonial costumes and did a leg swing. Vanished into the maw of history now, I guess.

In 1980 the UMass Captains were Bob Manning, Fred Read and Frank DiTommaso. UMass went 7-3 that year and were 4-1 in the Yankee Conference (2nd).

Bob Manning was First Team All-American that year!

Of the two games shown, UMass lost to Delaware 17-21 and beat the Rams 26-8.

Click on the image and Blogger displays a larger view.

I'll add the images to the "UMass historical scans" section in the sidebar after I finish digging out from the latest snow storm...

The Elephant in the Room

By Mike Gibson
There's been an Elephant in the room for the past few days.
Elephant with a capital E.
Seems like no one in either Vivacqua Hall or the Edberg-Olson Football Complex wants to look at it, but it is an unwelcome visitor right there in the living room, unexpectedly coming through the sliding glass doors and destroying the brand new furniture and eating all of the peanuts on the dining room table.
Not even the media seems to be addressing it, other than superficially.
Well, today, Dave "Fizzy" Weinraub saw the Elephant, pointed to it and tried to get the trainer to take it out of the living room in an excellent letter to the editor in the sports section of today's Philadelphia Inquirer.
I was privileged to be introduced to Fizzy and have known him from the pre-game tailgating scene at every Temple football game.
He is a terrific storyteller (ask him about Bill Cosby some day), very funny and an all-around great guy.
He shows up at every Temple home game and probably has gone to some long before I started to be a fan as a 10-year-old kid.
If every Temple alumnus did what Fizzy has done, we'd have 250,000 at our games. We only need 69,999 more Fizzies to never have any problems.
His support of the program should never be questioned.

I believe if I tell you
I'm going to build
you a brick house
and sign a contract
to build that house,
I'm not going to leave
when one wall is up
and say, well, the guy down
the street gave
me a better offer

I appreciate everyone who supports Temple football, whether it be the big spenders in the Club Box level or those in section 101 like Fizzy, Cap Poklemba and myself.
Temple invested a lot of money in its current head coach, money it probably couldn't afford to pay because it wanted a taste of what other schools had on the football field for a change.
People like Fizzy, Cap Poklemba and other very hungry supporters deserve that taste.
All they've gotten so far is 1-11 and 4-8 and promises.
That's not tasting. That's not even sniffing.

I'm not a great guy like Fizzy, just a good one who, like him, is perplexed by the sight of an Elephant in any place other than a Zoo.
I'm a guy who gets to work on time every day.
I keep my appointments.
People who know me know that when I say I'm going to meet them at a certain place and a certain time, I'm always there.
I believe your word is your bond and that no amount of money can change that.
I believe if I say I'm going to do a certain job by a certain time, I'm going to get it done.
Only then will I move on to the next task.
I believe if I demand integrity, honesty and commitment from my colleagues that I should give no less in return.
I believe if I tell you I'm going to build you a brick house and sign a contract to build that house, I'm not going to leave when just one wall is up and say, well, the guy down the street gave me a better offer.
That doesn't make me better than anybody else. It's just the way I was raised.
Temple should hold its football coach, both current and next, to that same minimum standard.

The mother of all sideline warnings

I attended all the UMass games this year except for three: Boston College, Hofstra and SIU. It's hard to remember a game I attended without the refs throwing a sideline warning flag. Maybe two or three.

Guess that rule does not apply to BCS/I-A teams. Watch this video "The mother of all sideline infractions" Even if the guy doesn't touch the ball, look at how many of the Texas staff are on the field...

Thorr Bjorn continues to make an impact at Rhode Island

Former UMass assistant AD (and former UMass football player) Thorr Bjorn continues to make an impact in the Rhode Island AD job. See this article about Ram football that is as much about Thorr as it is about new Rhody Head Coach Darren Rizzi. Looks like he is going to inject some life into Rhode Island football.

Also Q&A with the new Rhode Island football coach here .

A professional Athletic Director is a big component of a winning and successful athletic dept. In the past, many New England land grant universities (including UMass) have used the position as a dumping ground for political appointees...

Recruiting 2008---DB/WR Darren Thellen

Looks like UMass will be getting its first verbal shortly. The Boston Herald reports that Darren Thellen a 6-2 195 DB/WR from Brockton, MA is interested in signing with UMass.

Thellen's MaxPreps page is here .

Image is by Marc Vasconcellos from a site called Wicked Local Photos.

Darren, you made the right choice!

Recruiting 2008 RB Keith Robinson

UMass is recruiting Keith Robinson a 5-9 175 pd RB from Winslow township HS NJ.

His Scout.com profile is here.

He also has a interview about his recruiting and talks about his visiting the UMass team during the William & Mary game .

Keith, UMass is a great place to play football!

KAEO Kicker Michael Torres

Former UMass Kicker Michael Torres is doing well for Central Florida. Story here .

Someone you should know---- Guy Racine

Local bus driver adopts UMass Sports teams. Story here .

2008 Recruiting --- OG/DT Reshannon Stanley

UMass is recruiting 6-2 285 pd OG/DT Reshannon Stanley from Weaver HS in Hartford, CT. He is the Hartford Courant State Defensive Player-of-the-Year.

As a defensive tackle, he had 78 tackles and 8 sacks in 2007.

His MaxPreps page is here .

Also being recruited by Hofstra and Central Connecticut .

Raheem, UMass has the best defense in the Northeast!

Merry Christmas to All!

The UMass Football Blog would like, on its third Christmas to extend to all the UMass Football community, on-line and off, a very merry Christmas.

"Running to the window, he opened it, and put out his head. No fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold; cold, piping for the blood to dance to; Golden sunlight; Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh, glorious! Glorious!

'What's to-day?' cried Scrooge, calling downward to a boy in Sunday clothes, who perhaps had loitered in to look about him.

'Eh?' returned the boy, with all his might of wonder.

'What's to-day, my fine fellow?' said Scrooge.

'To-day?' replied the boy. 'Why, Christmas Day.' "

Dickens, "A Christmas Carol"

Recruiting 2008---Josh Kniceley OG

UMass is recruiting Josh Kniceley a 6-3 280 pd OG from Bridgeport, WV. His Scout.com page is here . Kniceley was All-Area, All-Conference and All-State.

Also interested are Army, Marshall and West Virginia.

Josh, UMass is a great place to play college football!

Monday Morning Odds & Ends

I don't think I published the link to Bruce Dowd's last "CAA Today" column of the year. It's here .

We ended up sixth in the final SME poll.

The FCS Academic All-America list is here .

Maine signs a JUCO DL from Dean Junior College (UMass has two players from Dean)

UMass Coach Tree---Jerry Azzinaro Marshall

Former UMass assistant coach Jerry Azzinaro has been hired by Marshall as Defensive Line Coach. He spent last year with New Hampshire.

Azzinaro was formerly Defensive Coordinator and Recruiting Coordinator at UMass. He was an assistant coach 1992-94 and 1997.

UMass Coaching Tree---Neal Brown Troy State

I've blogged several times about former UMass WR Neal Brown becoming a coach. Brown is currently an assistant coach at Troy.

This article talks about him being ready to become Offensive Coordinator at Troy. He seems to be a fast rising star in coaching.

2008 Football Schedule Ver 1.1

Last Tuesday I blogged about the three confirmed dates for the 2008 schedule .

Now another date has been established:

• 09/13/08 @ JMU
• 09/20/08 @ Texas Tech
• 10/04/08 DELAWARE
• 10/11/08 @ Northeastern (Their entire 2008 schedule is here )
  

Saturday Morning Odds & Ends

OK, that's quite enough snow, thank you. The UMass Football Blog has been marooned in Maine for the last two days. Then I had to shovel out after I got back.

Meanwhile, Jason Hatchell was named one of the "FCS Nifty Fifty". This is a nice honor for Hatchell who has put a lot of effort into UMass football. Of course, this blog thinks about five other UMass seniors could have been included.

UMass finished seventh in the final Sports Network poll.

Down in Rhode Island, new Rhody Head Coach Darren Rizzi says the Rams will win.

Joining Rizzi as Defensive Coordinator in Rhode Island is the former head coach of Millersville .

And Maine Head Coach Dave Cosgrove who, you will remember, used the Rhody job as leverage, has agreed to a contract extension in Maine.

UPDATE: I meant to publish a link to this story back before the National Championship game. It's about the CAA sticking together (and has some UMass quotes).

Owlified's impassioned plea to Al Golden

"This university has made a commitment to me and my commitment to it is that I will build a house of brick, not straw" _ Al Golden ..... ............

UMass Football Blog Publishing Schedule

The UMass Football Blog will not be published tomorrow, Dec. 20th. It may not be published the the 21st either. I will be away with no internet connection.

The Blog will be back up and running, God willing, by the 22nd at the latest.

Final Polls

Keeper's College rankings had us ending up 5th in FCS.

The AGS, Coaches Poll and Sporting News Polls are here .

The UMass athletic dept article about the Coaches Poll is here .

UPDATE: Article about the Rhode Island coaching change here .

2008 UMass football schedule

There are three confirmed dates for the the 2008 schedule.

• 9/13/2008 @ JMU
• 9/20/2008@ Texas Tech 6:00 pm. Texas Tech's 2008 schedule is here (pdf). This year they beat FCS team Northwestern State 75-7. The Red Raiders play Virginia in the Gator Bowl on 01/01/08, if you want to check them out early.
• 10/04/2008 Delaware at McGuirk. Delaware's 2008 schedule here .

That's two FCS playoff teams and a BCS bowl team and we still have nine games to go...

Rhode Island will announce its new Coach today

Rhode Island will announce its new head football coach today.

It's down to Rutgers assistant Darren Rizzi and former UMass assistant coach and current Stonehill head coach Robert Talley.

UPDATE: Maine coach Dave Cosgrove's applying for the job may have been a negotiation tactic.

UPDATE II: Another Rhody article here . The Providence Journal thinks it's Rizzi.

UPDATE III: It is Rizzi. Story here.

Chicago-area players go unrecruited

This article states that there are a number of Chicago-area players that are not getting a lot of looks from DI colleges.

Recruiting 2008-----QB Tanner Boucher

UMass is interested in Tanner Boucher a 6-4 220 pd QB from Keene, NH. Boucher threw for 1,500 yards and 25 TD's in 2007. Runs a 4.56 40 and benches 275.

His Scout.com page is here .

Boucher also made the All-State team .

Also interested are Albany, Army, BC, Duke, UNH, and Syracuse.

Recruiting 2008---Boston Herald All-Scholastics

The Boston Herald has it's fall 2007 football All Scholastics article up.

From the Article:

"MICHAEL ABANY

MANSFIELD The Defensive Player of the Year in the Hockomock League, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound senior linebacker led the Hornets in tackles with 52. He also was a factor in the offensive backfield, carrying the ball 77 times for 630 yards and 10 touchdowns, while catching 10 passes for 75 yards. An honors student, Abany is looking at Bryant, Stonehill and UMass.

JULIAN COLARUSSO

CATHOLIC MEMORIAL A two-time Catholic Conference All-Star, the 6-foot-4, 195-pound senior wide receiver caught 51 passes for 1,300 yards and 13 touchdowns. A two-sport standout, Colarusso averaged 15 points and 10 rebounds a game for a Knights team that played for the Division 2 state title last year. He is looking at Penn State, UConn, UMass, Hofstra, Maine, Buffalo and UNH.

MARK GILSON

MANSFIELD Gilson turned in his second consecutive outstanding season in leading the Hornets to the Hockomock League title. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound senior threw for 1,419 yards and 14 touchdowns, giving him career totals of 3,035 yards and 31 touchdowns. Gilson is being recruited by schools such as New Hampshire, Delaware, UMass and Maine.

TIMMY MORRISON

BILLERICA The senior quarterback threw for 2,400 yards and 23 touchdowns, while rushing for 320 yards and two more scores. Morrison threw for a career-high 340 yards and five touchdowns against Andover. A member of the National Honor Society, Morrison would like to play either football or baseball in college with UMass, Bryant and Bentley at the head of the pack.

CHRIS SMART

CHELMSFORD The 6-foot-2, 215-pound senior tight end saved his best for last, kicking field goals in the final minute to win both playoff games, giving the Lions the Division 1A Super Bowl title. Smart led the Lions with 47 catches for 800 yards, giving him a career total of 85 catches for 1,300 yards. A three-sport athlete, Smart is looking at Delaware, UMass and Maine."

Hey, I got the header image back.

Thanks to the Blogger community, I've got my header image back.

While I can program (some) in html, I'm not very good with CSS style sheets.

Turns out I needed:

#header-inner {

background-position:center

width: 660px;
height: 233px;

}

However, before Blogger broke the process, I could add and remove header images with a couple of clicks. Now I have to edit the image with PhotoShop and then edit my template code to match the image size.

Light day for football news

A blog named "TV Tanlines" has a post on the chaos that went on during the last five minutes of the the National Championship game. WARNING, WARNING WARNING---THE BLOG IS NOT WORK SAFE UNLESS YOU WORK FOR THE OSBOURNES.

The college Sporting News has another article on the Payton and Buchanan awards .

This year's redshirts

While watching Appalachian State pull the legs off Delaware last night, I spent some time looking at the UMass roster.

If I didn't miss anyone, and I'm sure someone will point it out if I did , it looks like UMass had 15 red-shirts in 2007.

1. Scott Wallace QB
2. Octavious Hawking QB
3. Shane Viveiros DB
4. Emil Igwenagu LB/RB
5. Jonathan Hernandez RB
6. Josh Samuda C
7. Johnny Evans LB
8. Tim Nolan OL
9. Michael Binkoski OL
10. Brian Ostaszewki OL
11. Justin Sawicki OL
12. Tom Gilson WR
13. Julian Talley WR
14. Courtney Jackson DE
15. Jonathan Emond WR

The players with no bio information are probably walk-ons. We also will have Chauncey Incarnato OL a transfer who was not eligible this year.

Barring any academic problems or players leaving the team, I looks like we are do not have heavy needs at OL and QB.

During later posts, we will look at what we do need in recruits this year.

Appalachian state repeats

Applachian State repeats as National Champions. The Hens had no answer for the Mountaineers in a game that was marked by several instances of bad sportsmanship by both teams.

And yes, the Appy fans were still obnoxious.

A typical Delaware story here .

An Appalachian State story here .

David Coulson covers the National Championship game here .

The Sporting News has a game recap here .

Blogger acting up again

Looks like Blogger is acting up again. I checked the header image in my template and it's OK.

Hopefully, we'll get it back soon.

Nice work to UMass Soccer & Basketball

As you know, I bleed Maroon & White for UMass football.

However, I did have UMass basketball season tickets for a number of years. Since moving to New Hampshire, Mrs. Blog and I have been doing weekend games.

Congratulations to UMass basketball for their big wins over Syracuse and Boston

Looks like someone finally figured out the college basketball is guard oriented.

Also kudos to UMass Soccer for their trip the the Final Four.

Be sure to check out the UMass All-Sports Blog by Bob McGovern. Despite the fact that I have snow tires older than he is, McGovern does an outstanding job covering all UMass sports.

Now if only he would explain what "offsides" is in hockey ?????????

Championship Day Reading

Charles Burton looks at the Championship Game .

So does Eric Gemunder , Click on the "weekly preview"

Georgia Southern's Jayson Foster won the Walter Payton Award (Liam Coen finished 16th)

A Montana DE won the Buck Buchanan award (UMass had two players receiving votes)

The coach that almost lost to UNH in the first round won the Eddie Robinson Award.

And the Saluki's coach jumped ship to Northern Illinois in the MAC.

Wake me up when September begins

Al Golden argues holding call against Alex Derenthal versus Penn State.

By Mike Gibson
Green Day had a song not too long ago with a chorus that included the line "wake me up when September ends."
Well, I'm going to take a nap now.
Wake me up when September begins.
Nah, not really but there's real evidence, empirical evidence, evidence based on the science of mathmatics that September could be a very special month for Temple football fans.
Heck, throw in October, November and December and, hell, maybe even January.
That's January, 2009.
Temple football is on the upswing.
It's not because I say so, or because I author a blog dedicated to it.
It's just nice to offer some empirical evidence in support of the claim. Evidence based on real, not imagined, numbers.
Here are just some, in no particular order:
1. One-hundred and seven (107) _ That represents points gained in games against teams Temple lost by more than a touchdown to a year ago. Included in that figure is is 21-point gain against Kent State, a 16-point gain against Penn State, a 23-point gain against Navy and a 24-point gain against Western Michigan _ and that's only a sample. Al Golden's Owls are closing the gap on teams that reappear on the schedule. Next year, the gap could very well be on the other side.
2. Eighty-two, 71 and 60 _ Where Scout.com has rated the first three Al Golden recruiting classes, in order. Note every single one of those classes were ranked No. 1 among MAC teams. Independent recruiting services who rank players are beginning to take notice of the Owls. One of the reasons the Owls are getting players who have been offered by BCS schools. One such player, Unionville's Steve Caputo (see quote of the day) turned down Syracuse to take Temple. Another, Central Bucks South's Eric Reynolds, could turn down Boston College to take Temple. It's all about being a hero in your hometown, which both Caputo and Reynolds would be. It's all about helping to write the biggest story in sports history, the resurgence of Temple football. It's all about being part of something special, about filling up Lincoln Financial Field with 250,000 alumni starving to support a Temple winner. An Erey signing at Boston College would evoke a yawn, maybe at best a curled up smile. Here, it would be greeted with bells and whistles and fireworks. Huge stories in the Bucks County and Philly papers. Mentions by Gara Papa on Action News. We know Erey here. We love him here. Plus, due to injuries and such, there's an opening for running back here that doesn't exist elsewhere.
3. Four (4) _ Number of touchdowns the Owls left on the field against Penn State. I reviewed the tape twice. This is what I found. There was no holding (but there was a call) against Alex Derenthal, a call that negated a great touchdown catch by D'yonne Crudup. There is a photo of Al Golden arguing that call accompanying this story and he didn't even need to see the tape twice. Alex Joseph and Omar McDonough-Hales dropped interceptions with no one in front of them except non-athletic Penn State quarterback Anthony Morelli. And who knows what would have happened if the Owls went for a touchdown on their first drive of the game, instead of a 23-yard shanked field goal. It was 31-0, but could have easily been closer. A lot closer. Golden is taking all of those Owls to State College with one Mantra: Making those plays this time.
4. Twenty-three and twenty-two _ That's what the score of the Temple vs. UConn game should have been. Temple 23, UConn 22. Even the few UConn fans living in Egypt along the DENIAL river know that. I'm getting a T-Shirt made up with that score and a photo of the Temple touchdown made up for sale on this website in the coming months.
5. Twenty-nine thousand _ Actually, 28,859, the average home attendance at a Temple game this season, the top figure among MAC schools. That's for a 4-8 team. Imagine what it would be like for an 8-4 team or better?
The numbers suggest Temple fans won't have to imagine for much longer. While recruiting season is nice and spring practice is better, September can't come soon enough.

UMass NFL Prospects

Draft Daddy has a list of "Juniors to watch" Sean Smalls is on it here .

They also have a list of "Sophmores to watch" Jeromy Miles is on this one.

NFL Draft Scout follows 17 UMass players (including this year's seniors).

I don't remember UMass ever having a sophomore on the Draft Daddy watch list before.

UMass-Southern Illinois Picassa Web Album

Courtesy of UMass kicker Chris Koepplin's family I have set up a 26 image Picassa Web Album here .

I've also added a sidebar link in the "2007 UMass Images" section.

A big thanks to the Koepplin family for sharing their images with us!

Wednesday morning reading

Sporting News columnist David Coulson has a look at the National Championship game.

Bruce Dowd has a look at the game from a CAA perspective .

Bruce Schmidt has a look at Chattanooga hosting the National Championship game and approves .

UPDATE: Two football players from Colgate were arrested on burglary charges yesterday . One of the players was their featured RB Jordan Scott.

UPDATE II: This Colgate-area paper has an update. Pretty depressing. :(

More FCS Champiohship stuff

Delaware Online has an article here .

Another Hens-Mountaineers article here .

The College Sporting News has an article here .

And for lack of anyplace else to put it, the College Sporting News has an article covering the All-Conference teams of all 15 FCS conferences here .

Former UMass Coach Robert Talley interviews for Rhody job

The search for a new coach at Rhode Island has narrowed to four candidates. Including former UMass assistant coach Robert Talley.

I've blogged about Talley before .

Also in contention is Maine Head Coach Jack Cosgrove, Rutgers assistant Coach Darren Rizzi, and Norfork State Head Coach Pete Adrian .

My prediction: Darren Rizzi .

UMass and the Rams have played each other 81 times, more than any other football opponent.

Recruiting 2008-- WR/TE Richard Rossi

UMass is recruiting Richard Rossi, a 6-2 210 pd WR/TE from Milford Academy, NY.

Rossi is a Scout.com three star player. He is a Rivals Top-50 Prep player.

Other schools interested in Rossi are Eastern Michigan and Syracuse.

His Milford Academy page is here .

Rich, UMass has a better football program than either Eastern Michigan or Syracuse ! (just ask all the Orange players who transferred to UMass)

KAEO Paul Gorham

Former UMass Coach Paul Gorham (1999-2003) is now head Coach at Sacred Heart.

His Sacred Heart bio is here . The Pioneers went 3-8 this year in the NEC.

DiMichele named team MVP at football banquet

In this great Daryl Rule photo, Adam DiMichele going back to pass on the final play of his football season against Miami of Ohio; in hindsight, looks like a shovel pass to Daryl Robinson would have worked quite nicely instead of the deeper drop but, as they say, hindsight is always 20/20.
By Mike Gibson
To no one's surprise, Adam DiMichele was named team MVP at last night's Temple football banquet.
There is a terrific recap of the banquet available on the school's official website, Owlsports.com.
One of the curiosities coming out of the banquet was junior center Alex Derenthal being named offensive MVP, even though DiMichele also plays offense. Last year, though, Derenthal was named Team MVP so the move was seen as honoring what have been clearly the two offensive leaders so far for head coach Al Golden.
Another was that Golden spoke for only five minutes, presumably because there were so few seniors to talk about.
The banquet, sold out a month ago, featured a terrific video by Temple student Fran Duffy, not to be confused with head basketball coach Fran Dunphy.
Hopefully, the university will make that video available online soon.

Sunday Morning Digest

Well, Delaware defeated the Salukis to go the the National Championship against Appalachian State. SIU-centric articles here and here and here .

And we told Delaware not to kick to Craig Turner .

Woah! The Hens and the Mountaineers in the National Championship. Not two of my favorite teams. Ben Albert is Associate Head Coach for Delaware, so I've got to go with the Hens .

Under the "How-did-I-miss-that-information" category is that fact that former UMass guy Chet Gladchuk is Athletic Director at Navy. Paul Johnson, the Navy Coach left to become Head Coach at Georgia Tech.

UPDATE: David Coulson has an SIU-Delaware article here .

One from the Delaware side here .

More UMass and Playoff articles

The Salem News has an article on UMass Fullback Chris Zardas' injury. It's a stark reminder of how much football players put their body on the line. Zardas certainly looked like he was becoming a real asset to UMass when he was injured.


The UMass football Blog wishes Chris and all the other Minutemen injured this season a quick and complete recovery.

Around the playoffs:

Delaware plays the Salukis in Carbondale at 4:00 pm today.

A Delaware writer looks at the playoffs .

A story from the Saluki side here .

Hens-Saluki matchups here .

If you missed last night's Richmond-Appalachian State game, you missed Amanti Edwards going off on the Spiders .

This article gives some the records set by Edwards and the Mountaineers .

Dave Coulson has a write-up on the Richmond-Appalachian State game here .

Austin and Hatchell Walter Camp All-Americans

Matt Austin and Jason Hatchell have been named Walter Camp All-Americans.

Walter Camp Foundation press release here .

UMass press release here .

Coach Brown and AD John McCutcheon honored

Last night Coach Brown and UMass AD John McCutcheon were honored by the All-American Football Foundation. Coach Brown was awarded the Johnny Vaught Coach of the Year Award.

Coach Brown's wife Debe Brown also received an award.

AD John McCutcheon received the Robert R Neyland Outstanding AD Award.

Note that Coach Brown currently leads all UMass Football Coaches in winning percentage. The following lists UMass coaches in total games coached, then wins and then shows winning percentage

• Vic Fusia --93 games--59 wins--.645
• Mark Whipple--75 games--49 wins--.629
• Dick McPherson--73 games--45 wins--.623
• Jim Reid--67 games--36 wins--.552
• Bob Pickett-64 games--36 wins--.563
• Don Brown--50 games--36 wins--.720

Great work by Coach Brown. And kudos to Mrs. Brown for being a cool hand with an IV drip. As a person who has had more than my share of IVs, I appreciate good nursing.

Richmond plays Appalachian State tonight

Remember that CAA team Richmond plays Appalachian State tonight at 8:00 pm on ESPN.

Friday FCS articles

The UMass Daily Collegian looks at the SIU game .

David Coulson picks against the CAA again .

Bruce Dowd looks at the CAA's run in the playoffs .

Eric Gemunder looks at this week's games (a pdf download) .

And the Salukis finally think they have the attention of the Carbondale fans .

UMass Football Blog update

I've used my time up here in the Maine woods to to some housekeeping on the Blog now that the playoffs are over for UMass.

I've updated the links section and deleted all the dead ones. Several links have been added. I have a policy of linking to sites that link here. If you find any links that need to be worked on add a comment or e-mail me.

The auto-login feature is still a pain in the butt, but I've figured out how to get the image back in the header.

Thursday morning reading

Charles Burton of the College Sporting New looks at the latest round of FCS playoffs.

BTW, check out UMass' final stats.

Meanwhile, the Saluki's are the only seeded FCS playoff team still standing.

If the Hens win the National Championship, K.C. Keeler may be on the move .

Richmond and Applachian State play Friday.

It's a long way to the Spring Game and College Basketball has lost it's bounce for college students. I've noticed in the BB games I've watched on TV there are a lot of empty seats around the nation.

More playoff stuff

The Daily Collegian covers the players that made UMass football a success in 2007.

It's a Golden Era for the Salukis.

Keeper has both CAA teams as underdogs in the next round.

On the other hand, we're still rated higher than the Hens .

I always read Matty Vautour's Hampshire Gazette Sports Blog. There, I found a link to this story about Marcel Shipp and Steve Baylark helping underprivileged kids .

Kent Schmidt of the College Sporting News has a semi-final playoff article here.

Six UMass Players named All-New England

The UMass website has an article about six UMass players being named All-New England.

Seniors:

• David Burris
• Charles Walker
• Jason Hatchell
• Matt Austin

Juniors:

• Sean Smalls
• Courtney Robinson

Congrats to the six players. There will be more post-season honors coming.

Tuesday Morning reading

Jeff Thomas of the Springfield Republican has an article with Coach Brown discussing the SIU game and he also looks at UMass' recruiting needs in 2008.

Despite its strong showing so far, the Salukis are still searching for fans. Coach Kill was diplomatic about the showing. The student newspaper categorized the turnout as "pathetic".

Delaware gets SIU next. And the Hens are smiling.

Thoughts on SIU

Well, at first I was pretty disappointed. As evidenced by this Blog I pretty much bleed Maroon & White. However, after a day�s reflection, I have to be thankful for a great 2007 season. We won the CAA in its first ever season. Since 1998, UMass has won the league championship four times (99, 03, 06 and 07). Four championships in nine years. That�s pretty damm good. One flaw in the playoff system is that 15 of the top 16 teams in the nation end their season with loss. Undefeated McNeese State and Montana didn�t even make it out of the first round. The Pundits favorite team UNI, barely escaped New Hampshire ----- a team we dominated. Delaware put an end to them in next round. We are still one of the top eight teams in the nation and we went down swinging.

The roots of the SIU loss are complex. It just was not as easy this year. Different team, different players with different skills and personalities. Different coaches. While I believe this team was very talented, it just did not all fit together easily as it did in 2006. This year, it was a struggle.

One reason for the loss and the struggle was we were playing a pro schedule with a FCS team. If coach Brown was a pro coach he would have placed a number of players on the IR and the team would have been picking up players from the waver wire. Even in training camp, the O-line struggled with injuries. We rarely kept the same line intact for more than a game or two. We had injuries at TE with Brad Listorti essentially out for the season and both Matt Silver and Ian Jorgensen battled injuries. So did fullback E.J. Barthel.

I think Liam Coen�s knee was considerably more than �tweaked�. He did not look comfortable most of the season.

Losing Tony Nelson and Chris Zardas in the Fordham game really hurt. In the close SIU game, they could have made a difference. By December 1st , we were running out of bodies.

Defense:

I thought the defense looked gassed. Remember they had just come off three big efforts against Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Hofstra. To me, it looked like they just went to the well and it was dry. The proof of the effort they made was the hitting. The SIU game was one of the most physical games I�ve seen. We needed some turnovers and except for Sean Small�s interception, we did not get any.

Offense:

The offense�s trouble was more complex. Despite the personal losses, we were more than competitive. Our wide receivers Rasheed Rancher, J.J. Moore, Mike Omar and Jeremy Horne romped.

However, despite the 25 first downs, 7.5 yards/play and the record setting passing day, I doubt that the O-line were very happy with their play. We are a blitzing team and we struggled with SIU�s blitzes. When Liam had time, he was effective. I also doubt that despite his numbers, he was happy with the three interceptions.

Overall impression:

I feel that despite the UMass manta of taking it one game at a time, we sometimes felt that all that talent was going to prevail no matter what. It felt as if we lost concentration sometimes. The first half of Colgate, the first 40 minutes of William & Mary, the first quarter of SIU. The whole season it seemed as if we felt we could step on the gas and pull away from anyone. But against Rhody and SIU the spurt never came.

And we made some mistakes. That holding call in the first quarter that stopped a drive and we had to settle for a field goal. Liam�s interception in the end zone that cost us at least three points. That�s seven points and an overtime game right there.

To bring this to a full circle, it�s a pretty good year when we go 10-3, win the CAA Championship, advance to the quarterfinals, lose by seven points on the road and feel dissatisfied with the ending...

IMHO UMass still has tons of talent. I look forward to Coach Brown crafting a new team for 2008 and I can�t wait to see all our players play in the new year. I'm still proud of them. Wanna bet that we�ll have some terrific recruits on Feb 8th? When is the Spring Game this year? I�m ready..... :)

Yet more SIU articles

Still more articles on the Minutemen's loss to SIU.

The Boston Herald has an article in which Coach Brown thinks we'll be back.

The Daily Collegian has an article here .

Three articles from the Saluki side here and here and here .

The Sports Network has a FCS article by Charles Burton.

The College Sporting News has look at the weekend's game .

UPDATE: Matty Vautour remembers that it was still a great season. He has another SIU game article here .

AROUND THE PLAYOFFS:

And the Delaware Hens were all over undefeated UNI.

Matty Vautour will have some insights in about a hour or so, but the Gazette is not up yet.

I'm also working on my own SIU article, which I hope to have up probably this evening.

Road connection works

It seems as if I have a good wi-fi connection. So, if nothing else goes bad, the UMass Football Blog will be up all week.

About a week before the SIU game Blogger lost the "remember me" function for log-in. And just two days ago, Blogger lost the ability to post an image in the header. So far, I've not been able to recover either function.

Blogger does not really have any customer support.

I'm thinking seriously about moving the Blog to a private web host. Now that the season is over, I'll have time to look into moving.

Aftermath

Well, it's 5:17 am and I'll be leaving in an hour or so. Remember, if I have an internet connection, I will continue to make posts this week. However, if I can't connect, the UMass Football Blog will be up and running again on Friday, Dec 7th after I return.

Not a lot of good stuff up so far on the wires. Mostly game recaps.

The Boston Globe has a game article here.

The Chicago Tribune has an article here .

The Boston Herald has two articles here and here .

The Springfield Republican has an article here .

The Southern has two Saluki articles here and here .

UPDATE: The CAA site has a good update on all three CAA teams. Both Delaware and Richmond won.

UMass Football Blog Publishing Schedule

Regular UMass Football Blog readers should be advised that the Blog and Mrs Blog have to make an unscheduled trip so that Mrs. Blog can help out with a family situation.

We are supposed to have internet connection, but as was proved several times on road trips, that may not happen.

So, it I do have internet access, I will continue to publish the blog, but the hours may be different than my normal 8:00 am update.

If I do not have internet access, I be back up and blogging by Friday morning (Dec 7th).

Thanks to the UMass Football team for a great season and a gutsy effort all year long!

Go UMass!

Congratulations to SIU

Congratulations to SIU.

The Saluki's played a fine game to win a trip to the semi-finals. Good luck and I hope you win the national Championship.

UMass writeup here .

ESPN360 will carry the game

If for some reason, you don't get NESN with your TV package, there is another way to get the UMass-SIU game if you have broadband internet.

ESPN360 will be carrying the game. It works with Verizon DSL and a host of local providers.

My setup did did not work with FireFox, but it did work with Internet Explorer. Other people did get the connection to work with their Firefox browser.

Saluki Saturday

Before I start, may I say-----"Go UMass!"

The Chicago Trib has a story about the big day in Carbondale.

The Boston Globe has a story about the road test for UMass .

The Boston Herald has a SIU game article here .

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

The Southern has a Saluki-centric article here .

The Boston Globe has an article about UMass offensive lineman Sean Callichio.

FCS long timer Eric Gerymunder has his weekly FCS newsletter here (click on "weekly preview")

The Springfield Republican has an article on the fact that it's a good season to be a Minutemen Fan .

And it my be a bad season for the Northeastern Huskies .