Peter McCarty

The Bangor Daily New has a story about former UMass player Peter McCarty being inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame.

McCarty was a four year letter winner (74,75,76,77) and was Co-Captain in 1977. He was one of the twelve UMass players to be named first team All-Yankee Conference that year. That was long enough ago so that the UMass press guide does not have tackling statistics for that era :)

I have an image of him in the my UMass history section of the blog.

His Western Michigan bio is here .

Kick time for UMass-Kansas State announced

This article has the kick-off time for the first game of the 2009 season.

Key Quote"MANHATTAN, Kan. � The Kansas State Athletics Department has announced that the Wildcats� 2009 football season opener against Massachusetts at Bill Snyder Family Stadium will kick at 6:10 p.m. CT, while the final out of league contest against Tennessee Tech will begin at 1:10 p.m. CT."

K-State -UMass tickets go on sale July 14th.

It's official! Michigan in 2010

Before we talk about the Wolverines, FYI this is the 2,500th post here at the UMass football blog.

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The UMass Athletic Dept story here .

The Michigan Athletic Dept notice here.

Springfield Republican here .

Nearly all the various newspaper articles just copy the schools press releases, except of course for Matty Vautour, who has a number of details.

According to Matty's story, future UMass I-A opponents look like this:

• 2010 Michigan
• 2011 Boston College
  
• 2012 UConn (in negotiation stage)
• 2013 Syracuse (in negotiation stage)

Returning to Michigan, this article explains the Wolverines scheduling dilemma. Relevant quote:

"The opportunity to have both schools play for a one-year guarantee with no return trip makes it appealing for Michigan, which has been reluctant to schedule home-and-home series because that would mean a one less revenue-producing game in Ann Arbor in the road year of a contract. That is also a reason U-M has hesitated on scheduling neutral-site games."

Michigan makes so much money on home games they would play all 11 games in Michigan Stadium if they could. Nearly all I-A teams want a home-and-home contract. That's not a good deal for Michigan as they have to pay a higher guarantee to a FBS team and loose a highly lucrative home date to boot. Playing FCS/I-AA teams counts towards bowl eligibility, so playing UMass is both a financial and on-the-field win for the Wolverines in 2010.

UMass could do alright on the game also. The Minutemen get a $550,000 guarantee and 5,000 tickets. I paid $40/seat in Texas Tech. If UMass could sell a couple thousand of those seats at Michigan prices to current fans and Mid-west alums, it should push UMass' take past the $600,000 mark.

Thursday News --- 05/28/09

The New Hampshire Football report has two posts with some UMass Football news in them. The first has the Athlon preseason FCS ranking (with UMass as #15).

The second post has Mike Zhe's (who covers UNH for the Portsmouth Herald) ballot for the 2009 CAA preseason poll. He has four UMass players on the All-star team and rates UMass second in the CAA North.

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E-Bay has a 1998 UMass National Championship XL t-shirt in excellent condition for $18.98

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College Football News.com has a multi-page review of Kansas State. It's as good as, or better than, anything you'll get in the college football magazines.

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2008 CAA FOOTBALL NON-CONFERENCE RECORD*

(Since 2002)

-------------- Overall -------------- ----Playoffs-----

Year Games W-L Pct. W-L Pct.

2002 36 24-12 .667 3-3 .500

2003 36 24-12 .667 4-1 .800

2004 47 32-15 .681 8-3 .727

2005 40 25-15 .625 2-2 .500

2006 39 24-15 .615 4-3 .571

2007 47 30-17 .638 6-5 .545

2008 54 34-20 .630 8-4 .667

TOTALS 299 193-106 .645 35-21 .625

From the 2009 CAA Press Guide.

Wednesday News ---- 05/27/09

The Boston patriots released former UMass TE Brad Listorti yesterday.

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Matty Vautour has a mention of Rene Ingoglia's joining the UMass Broadcast team here.


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UMass Football's participation in the Bone Marrow Drive helped set a record for new registrants in 2009.

The Wall Street Journal has one of their excellent general interest articles on how Bone-Marrow Registries are trying to build diversity into their programs.


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Jacksonville State's Continuing Education office is offering a three-credit course in tailgating.

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Keeper's College Football Ratings is one of the few stat sites that covers FCS football. In this post he ranks FBS and FCS teams likely to improve or decline based on the stats of returning players.

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Rene Ingoglia returns as color analyst for UMass Football broadcasts

The UMass Athletic Dept has announced Rene Ingoglia will return to UMass in 2009 as the co-color analyst on UMass football broadcasts.

Ingoglia's UMass Hall-of-Fame biography is here.

I've blogged a number of times about Ingoglia. In this post, blog readers voted him third place in all-time UMass running backs.

Back i n 2007, I did a blog post about Ingoglia's election to the UMass Hall-of-Fame.

Tuesday New 05/29/09

Oregon's Justin Roper, 6-6 205 Junior QB has decided to leave the Ducks. His Oregon bio here.

Key quote from Draft Daddy:Could be a better N.F.L. prospect, with good coaching, than former Penn State quarterback Pat Devlin, who went to Delaware hoping to be the "next Joe Flacco" -- Big Joe was a Pitt transfer.

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UMass was ranked #18 in the AGS 2009 preseason poll.

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BTW at Kansas State, our 2009 FBS opponent, students have to buy football tickets.

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Top CAA Tackling games 2008

16-OR-MORE TACKLES

Jeromy Miles (Massachusetts, Junior) 19 vs. Maine (11/8)
Andrew Downy (Maine, Senior) 19 vs. Hofstra (10/18)
Jeromy Miles (Massachusetts, Junior) 18 vs. New Hampshire (11/15)
Cornelius Bunch (Northeastern, Senior) 18 vs. Maine (10/25)
Sean Wasson (Maine, Senior) 17 vs. New Hampshire (11/22)
Phil Higgins (Northeastern, Junior) 16 vs. Hofstra (11/15)
Michael Pigram (William and Mary, Senior) 16 vs. James Madison (11/15)
Jovan Belcher (Maine, Senior) 16 vs. Hofstra (10/18)
Michael Ireland (Richmond, Junior) 16 vs. James Madison (10/11)
Josh Jennings (Massachusetts, Junior) 16 vs. Delaware (10/4)

Recruiting 2010 --- Curtis Weatherspoon

A Paul Dailey/Valdosta Daily Times Image.

UMass has offered a scholarship to Curtis Weatherspoon a 6-1 205 pd Safety from Dean Junior College. He's originally from Valdosta, GA

His Rivals page is here. He had 52 TT and 8 TFL in 2008 for Dean. The rest of Weatherspoon's stats here .

He's mentioned here . Weatherspoon was All-State in Georgia in 2007.

Weatherspoon holds an offer from Marshall and is receiving interest from Georgia, Maryland, Memphis, USF and Tennessee.

Saturday News --- 05/23/09

CAA Special Teams Player-of-the-Year Scotty McGee ran a 4.31 and 4.39 before Pro Scouts at JMU's spring timing day.

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Matty Vautour has an article about UMass graduating seniors---- including Liam Coen and Courtney Robinson.

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Yet more fallout from our 2009 OOC opponent Kansas State's double secret coaching contract.

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The Baltimore Ravens have added Jason Brooks to their staff as an offensive assistant. He's the son of former UMass great Clarence Brooks who is defensive line coach for the same Ravens.

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You always knew it was true. GMAC Insurance "States-with-worst-drivers" list has Massachusetts in the bottom seven.

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Top CAA Receiving performances 2008 *

200 - YARD RECEIVERS

Victor Cruz (Massachusetts, Junior) 262 vs. James Madison (9/13)

100 - YARD RECEIVERS
Jeremy Horne (Massachusetts, Junior) 182 vs. Bryant (10/25)
Jeremy Horne (Massachusetts, Junior) 172 vs. Holy Cross (9/6)
Jimmy Hughes (Rhode Island, Senior) 153 vs. New Hampshire (9/13)
Mike Boyle (New Hampshire, Senior) 147 vs. Massachusetts (11/15)
Jeremy Horne (Massachusetts, Junior) 141 vs. Maine (11/8)
Victor Cruz (Massachusetts, Junior) 139 vs. Northeastern (10/11)
Jordan Mitchell (Richmond, Junior) 139 vs. Maine (9/20)
Aaron Weaver (Hofstra, Sophomore) 132 vs. Richmond (11/8)
Mike Boyle (New Hampshire, Senior) 132 vs. Rhode Island (9/13)
Mike Boyle (New Hampshire, Senior) 131 vs. Southern Illinois (11/29)
Victor Cruz (Massachusetts, Junior) 129 vs. Rhode Island (11/1)

Data from the 2009 CAA Press Guide.

Friday Football ---- 05/22/09

Josh Buchanan has another iteration of his "Top 40 Small Schools 2010 NFL Draft List". Two UMass players are on it: Vladimir Ducasse and Jeromy Miles. He has Ducasse as a 7th round draft pick. If Ducasse were to be picked, it would the first UMass NFL draft pick since Khari Samuel in 1999 (5th round Chicago Bears, #144).

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Our FBS OOC opponent Kansas State is being roiled by a double secret contract with its former coach Ron Prince.

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Top CAA Rushing games 2008

200 - YARD RUSHERS

Josh Vaughan (Richmond, Senior) 240 vs. Hofstra (11/8)
Rodney Landers (James Madison, Senior) 206 vs. Massachusetts (9/13)
Tony Nelson (Massachusetts, Junior) 204 vs. Hofstra (11/22)

100 - YARD RUSHERS
Rodney Landers (James Madison, Senior) 185 vs. Delaware (11/1)
Terrance Riggins (William and Mary, Sophomore) 180 vs. VMI (9/13)
Tony Nelson (Massachusetts, Junior) 175 vs. Northeastern (10/11)
Tony Nelson (Massachusetts, Junior) 171 vs. Albany (8/30)
Brock Jackolski (Hofstra, Freshman) 170 vs. Bucknell (10/11)
Alex Broomfield (Northeastern, Senior) 169 vs. Massachusetts (10/11)
Rodney Landers (James Madison, Senior) 166 vs. Wofford (11/29)
Chad Kackert (New Hampshire, Junior) 164 vs. Rhode Island (9/13)
Tony Nelson (Massachusetts, Junior) 163 vs. Delaware (10/4)
Josh Vaughan (Richmond, Senior) 162 vs. Montana (12/19)

Thursday News ---- 05/21/09

As you know, it seems likely that UMass will play Michigan in 2010. This year, Delaware State is going to receive $550,000 for playing in the Big House.

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New CAA football member Old Dominion may lead the CAA in season tickets sold in its first year of playing football.

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The Spring CAA Press Guide is now available in pdf format at the league's website. According to the CAA Office of Communications, the info is current to 04/29/09.

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If we ever get a video scoreboard, the CAA is going to have some restrictions on replays.

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Top Passing games 2008 in the CAA*

400 - YARD PASSERS
Derek Cassidy (Rhode Island, Senior) 436 vs. New Hampshire (9/13)

300 - YARD PASSERS
Liam Coen (Massachusetts, Senior) 395 vs. Holy Cross (9/6)
Liam Cone (Massachusetts, Senior) 389 vs. Bryant (10/25)
Sean Schaefer (Towson, Senior) 373 vs. Rhode Island (10/11)
Sean Schaefer (Towson, Senior) 358 vs. Northeastern (10/4)
Robby Schoenhoft (Delaware, Junior) 344 vs. Maine (10/11)
Liam Coen (Massachusetts, Senior) 339 vs. James Madison (9/13)
Jake Phillips (William and Mary, Senior) 338 vs. Delaware (10/18)
Sean Schaefer (Towson, Senior) 330 vs. Navy (8/30)
Sean Schaefer (Towson, Senior) 326 vs. Villanova (11/15)
Sean Schaefer (Towson, Senior) 315 vs. James Madison (11/22)

* from the 2009 CAA Spring Press Guide.

Wednesday wanderings --- 05/20/09

If you missed it, the UMass website has the 2009 Football "Quick Facts" up. (pdf). UMass returns 15 starters for 2009 including 8 on offense and 6 on defense. Fifty-three lettermen will return this year.

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The Eagles have done a great job with Courtney Robinson's bio page. Check it out!

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The Jaguars like William & Mary rookie CB Derek Cox.

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UMass Football has been something special the last 10 years. The following information is from the not-yet-published 2009 CAA football press guide.

CAA Football Record
Last 10 Seasons -- 1999-2008
(All Games)

Team Wins Losses Ties Pct. Titles

Massachusetts 80 42 0 .656 4
Delaware 79 46 0 .632 3
James Madison 76 46 0 .623 3
Villanova 71 45 0 .612 1
New Hampshire 70 50 0 .583 1
Maine 63 53 0 .543 2
Richmond 65 56 0 .537 3
William and Mary58 53 0 .523 2
**Hofstra 42 50 0 .457 1
Northeastern 46 67 0 .407 1
*Towson 22 34 0 .393 0
Rhode Island 37 75 0 .330 0

* - Began league membership in 2004
** - Began league membership in 2001

Special thanks to CAA Director of Communications Scott Meyer for sending me the info.

Tuesday Tales ------ 05/19/09

Woah! Frost last night in Jaffey on late in May! The heat had kicked on at 5:00 am when Mrs Blog got up.

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Matty Vautour lists his five most exciting UMass games he's reported on. I should re-blog a list of most exciting UMass football games I've attended.

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Delaware adds a transfer from WVU.

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This year's FBS OOC opponent Kansas State adds a FCS/I-AA team for 2012.

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UMass played the fifth-toughest schedule in FCS/I-AA in 2008. (pdf)

For 2009, UMass opponents were 75-64 .539 last year.

Kansas State 5-7
JMU 12-2
Albany 9-3
Richmond 13-3
UNH 10-3
Maine 8-5
Stony Brook 5-6
Delaware 4-8
Hofstra 4-8
Rhode Island 3-9
Northeastern 2-10

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Recruiting 2010 --Tenero Davis

UMass is interested in Tenero Davis a 6-0 210 pd OLB from Dean College. Davis is originally from Southwest Dekalb HS/Decatur, GA.

His Rivals page is here.

Davis was a Scout.com two-star player out of high school. He drew interest from Georgia Tech, Georgia, Miami, Auburn and Florida. Apparently received an offer from Mississippi State.

At Dean, he is also receiving interest from Rhode Island.

Recruiting 2010 --- Asim Hicks

UMass is interested in Asim Hicks a 6-1 218 pd MLB from Dean College. Hicks is originally from North Star HS in Newark, NJ. He runs a 4.61 40.

His Rival page is here.

Youtube highlight film of him at a New Jersey All-star game here. 2008 Stats at Dean here.

Also interested are Rhode Island and Northeastern.

Friday Follies --- 05/15/09

Don Brown's defense at Maryland kicked the crap out of the Terp's offense in the Spring Game. Brown's squad racked up 8 sacks, 7 PBU, 5 INTs and the first team offense had 8 three-and-outs and zero points. Story here.

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David Coulson of The Sports Network looks at the fact that only 11 FCS players are in the College Football Hall of fame. The Hall of Fame's website is here if you've never visited.

UMass' Milt Morin is in and Coach MacPherson joined this year.

Greg Landry is not.

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The National Champion Richmond Spiders get five televised games in 2009. The UMass coaches should have plenty of film to work review by October 24th.

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Five walk-ons have been awarded scholarships at Delaware this spring.

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The Maine Black Bears get three televised games in 2009.

Rhode Island gets two.

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ESPN's spring write-up for Kansas State here.

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UMass 2009 Football Game times up

The UMass Athletic Dept has announced game times for most of the 2009 Season.

2009 UMass Football Schedule

Day Date Opponent Location Time

Sat. Sept. 5 at Kansas State Manhattan, Kansas TBA
Sat. Sept. 12 ALBANY McGUIRK STADIUM 6:00 p.m,
Sat. Sept. 19 RHODE ISLAND* (CSN) McGUIRK STADIUM 3:30 p.m.
Sat. Sept. 26 STONY BROOK McGUIRK STADIUM 6:00 p.m.
Sat. Oct. 3 Open Date
Sat. Oct. 10 at Delaware* Newark, Del. 6:00 p.m.
Sat. Oct. 17 NEW HAMPSHIRE* (CSN) McGUIRK STADIUM 3:30 p.m.
Sat. Oct. 24 at Richmond* Richmond, Va. 3:00 p.m.
Sat. Oct. 31 at Maine* (CSN) Orono, Maine 3:30 p.m.
Sat. Nov. 7 NORTHEASTERN* McGUIRK STADIUM 12:00 p.m.
Sat. Nov. 14 JAMES MADISON* (CSN) McGUIRK STADIUM 12:00 p.m.
Sat. Nov. 21 at Hofstra* Hempstead, N.Y. TBA

HOME GAMES IN BOLD CAPS; CAA Games denoted with asterisk.
All dates subject to change; Times to be announced.
CSN- Comcast SportsNet New England Television, list of systems broadcasting Comcast Sports New England here. Also available on Dish Network channel 435.

I checked the Kansas State website and their opening game last year was at 6:00pm. That's the time I used for the countdown clock.

The New Hampshire and James Madison should be among the top games in FCS/I-AA in 2009.

It would not surprise me if Delaware, Richmond or JMU games were picked up by another network.

Wednesday wonders ---- 05/13/09

Draft Scout has their list it top 750 2009 seniors with 40 times here. It includes UMass' Safety Jeromy Miles and WR Jeremy Horne.

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I blogged earlier about the on-again-off-again saga of sports betting in the State of Delaware. Right now, it looks likely that sports betting will become law.

The NCAA has threatened to ban college tournament and playoff games held in the state of Delaware if the law passes. If the Delaware Blue Hens are banned from hosting FCS/I-AA playoff games, it would make a huge impact in the CAA and in the FCS playoffs. Historically, home teams win about 75% of the time.

If the NCAA does institute the ban, expect a class 5 infestation of lawyers.
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The Lehigh Football Blog talks about the movement of Georgetown's AD to Delaware and speculates about a Big East Breakup along basketball-football lines.

With the economic climate the way it is, I doubt anything will happen right away. The money continues to flow strongly to football and I'm sure the Big East would love to dump DePaul, Seton Hall and Providence. The old Catholic school athletic model of big time basketball and nothing else is fading fast.

Staying off topic, former UMass coaches John Calipari and Travis Ford had the #1 and #11 ranked 2009 basketball recruiting classes.

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The Bleacher Report is running a series on the greatest college football upsets. Near the top of any one's list is Appalachian State over Michigan.

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Tuesday News ----- 05/12/09

Not much UMass or FCS football news on the wires today.

Over on one of the Kansas State boards, they have a link to this YouTube video tribute to the once-and-again Wildcats coach Bill Snyder. Nicely done. Snyder was the miracle man at K-State. Without him they averaged .243 winning average (137-445-18). With him the Wildcats went to eleven straight bowl games.

I went to the 2003 UMass-Kansas State game back in 2003. The crowd of 46,102 was the third largest to ever watch a UMass football game.

UMass led 7-3 after the first quarter on 63 yard TD pass to from Jeff Krohn to Jason Peebler.

The Wildcats primarily ran their star RB Darren Sproles. He ended up 28-152-3 TD's. We actually did a pretty good job on him. If I remember right, he got loose for a 30+ yard game once and another for about 18 yards. The other 26 carries averaged about three yards each.

Image from the K-State athletic dept site.

Outside of the long gain to Peebler, we only had ten first downs. After every K-State first down the stadium announcer would say "That's another Wildcat"--- and the crowd would roar "First Down!" By the fourth quarter, the UMass fans were doing the same thing for UMass first downs. We were a small but fiesty bunch.

I had a good time at the game and I'll always remember dodging pronghorn antelope on Interstate 70 on the drive back to Kansas City.

Monday musings -- 05/11/09

New London HS had a good year in 2008. Fourteen of sixteen seniors will be playing football in college (article has quotes from UMass recruit Tyler Major).

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New Hampshire's Spring Game produced a raft of articles. The Daily Democrat here. Concord Monitor here . Seacoast Online here . Frank Coppola has an article for New Hampshire Football report here . Roger Brown of New Hampshire Football report has an article on the rebuilt Wildcat offensive line.

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Nice human interest story about FCS/I-AA WR Ramses Barden from Cal Poly trying to make the NY Giants.

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Former UMass assistant Coach Frank Forcucci has joined Northeastern as their Defensive Coordinator and DB coach.

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Former UMass player Malik Hall and former UMass assistant coach Edie Morrissey have joined the football staff at Fordham .

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Saturday News ---- 05/09/09

UMass' Head Coach Kevin Morris will sponsor two football clinics June 14th and July 31st for grades 9-12.

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A UMass Collegian columnist apparently thinks the lights at McGuirk only are used one time a year.

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Former UMass TE Ian Jorgensen has another NFL tryout. This time with the New Orleans Saints.

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The New Hampshire Football Report has two articles on UNH. One covers the increase in local players for the Wildcats and the second gives a tentative two-deep for this Spring's squad.

The Wildcats may be a force to contend with in 2009 as they return eight starters on defense and the skill-player core of an offense that ranked second in the CAA last year.

New Hampshire was second in the league in 2009 in total offense (1,295 rushing 2009 yards passing 3,304 total yards 5.7 yards/play and 413 yards/game). They averaged 37.2 points/game, which was also 2nd in the league.

The UNH offense returns QB RJ Tolman, RB Chad Kackert and All-American TE Scott Sicko.

In comparison, UMass was 5th in total offense (1189 rushing 1810 passing 2999 total yards 374.9 yards/game) and the Minutemen were 6th in scoring offense (27.0 points/game).

NOTE: the figures are CAA league figures. They do not include OOC stats.

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Friday News --- 05/08/09

The first 2009 Pre-season All-American team has been published by Consensus Draft Services. the Appalachian State Web site has the list here (I couldn't find the original source material on Consensus Draft Services site). They list a number of UMass players including Vladimir Ducasse on the First Team.

Jeromy Miles is not on the list, which is probably an oversight.

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Former UMass AD Bob Marcum intends to retire when his current contract with Marshall is up.

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Former UMass punter Christian Koegel is a cast member on "Real World Cancun".

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The o5/08/09 issue of Draft Daddy's NFL Blog has Josh Buchanan's top 25 "small school" NFL prospects for 2009. Vladimir Ducasse is #5 and Jeromy Miles is #15.

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Roger Brown of New Hampshire Football Report a report on UNH football this spring.

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The CAA has published it's complete 2009 football schedule. Article here. Printable schedule here (pdf).

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Record setting Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell (34-27-0 322 yards 4 TD's against UMass) is still looking for work.

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Kansas State has a 58-page Spring Prospectus here (pdf).

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Recruiting 2010 ---- Vincent Gallo

UMass is interested in Vincent Gallo a 6-0 179 pd RB from Rotterdam, NY.

His Rivals page is here.

He was Class B 1st Team West Division in football and placed 2nd in NY in wrestling in his weight class.

Also interested are Holy Cross, Brown, Cornell, Maine and Stony Brook.

Rainy Wednesday News ---- 05/06/09

This article from the Worcester Telegram mentions UMass' 2009 TE recruit Rob Blanchflower.

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Seacoast online looks at UNH's prospects after they end their spring practice this Saturday (mentions UMass).

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Josh Buchanan looks at potential NFL "small school" draft picks for 2010. He mentions UMass players Tony Nelson, Vladimir Ducasse, Kyle Harrington and Jeromy Miles.

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North Dakota State University was the darling of pundits during their move to FCS/I-AA football. Some writers ranked them over UMass in 2006 when we went to the National Championship game. Since then they finished fourth in the Missouri Valley league and this year they've been hemorrhaging players.

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Sports betting has been turned down by Delaware, so the Hens will still able to host FCS playoff games.

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Liberty gets a great new scoreboard.

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Tuesday News --- 05/05/09

Former UMass coaches Don Brown and Mark Whipple receive favorable mentions in this USA Today article.

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Our next opponent Kansas State, unveiled it's new 4-2-5 defense during the Wildcats spring game.

More articles on K-State's spring game here and here .

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OOC opponent Stony Brook also had their spring game on Saturday. Story here.

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Over on the New Hampshire football report, there is a link to this story about UNH WR Chris Chandler's struggle to recover from a devastating knee injury.

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BTW, while at the UMass Spring Game, I got to say "Hello" to UMass recruit Kalonji Kabongo from Abington, MA. Kabongo is a 2008 Globe All-Scholastic. Abington Coach Jim Kelliner said he projected as a LB in college.

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Monday after the Spring Game

Click on the images above and Blogger displays a much larger view.

I've posted 36 more images in a Picasa Web album here.

The UMass Daily Collegian has a Spring Game story here.

Ian Jorgensen has tryout with Eagles

Former UMass TE Ian Jorgensen is attending the Philadelphia Eagle mini-camp. Mentioned in this story.

Day after the Spring game 05/03/09

Click on the image and Blogger displays a larger view.

Well, it was a great day for the Spring Game. UMass has a write-up here.

The Weather was perfect, in the high 60's and sunshine. AFAIK, no one got hurt. I would estimate about 500 UMass fans attended, which was not bad given all the competing events on campus on Saturday.

I had talks with Armando Cuko, who's on track to graduate in the fall with a double major. I don't think he missed a kick all afternoon. Cucko said he thought the team had a lot of talent and would do well in the fall.

Also talked with Scott Wallace's dad who drove up from Delaware.

I also got to say hi to David Cozzo's father. Cozzo had a nice interception in the game.

All the QB's had a lot of reps with both the first and second string offense. If I had to pick, I'd say Scott Woodward looked the best. But, as I've said before, everyone was goin' about 4/5th speed and both the offense and the defense knew what the other side was going to do.

I'll be back tomorrow with some images from the game.

Spring Game Day 2009

Matty Vautour has a story about the competition at the quarterback position this spring.

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You remember that Florida State dropped Maine for a TV game this year. The Black Bears made out all right financially, but ended up with a hole in their schedule. They had to fill it with DII St. Cloud State. Story here.

This is why the guarantee clause is holding up the Michigan contract. If Michigan bails, then UMass will very likely have to pay a guarantee of their own to get a replacement.

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Richmond Head Coach Mike London has been named the Black Coaches Association male coach of the year.

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Dave Coulson has a new "Around FCS" column up as he visits Delaware's and Towson's spring games.

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Hope to see a lot of you at the Spring Game. It rained pretty good here in Jaffrey overnight, but there's some watery sunshine right now.

Sean Smalls gets tryout with the NY Jets

UMass' Sean Smalls is part of a 16 player tryout group at the Jets mini-camp.

Friday News ----- May 1, 2009

Tom Luginbill of ESPN.com takes a look at college football recruiting at the FCS level.

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The University of Florida Gators introduces something for the ladies---- the Tim Teebow thong.

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Back in the day, Ivy League teams were happy to play the old Yankee Conference football teams. In those days, the Ivies recruited nationally and had significantly more resources than the Yankee Conference. That led to lopsided victory totals to the Ivies. UMass' record against Dartmouth is 3-20-1 and 8-12-1 against Harvard. Now the shoe is on the other foot and most of the Ivies have dropped games against the New England CAA schools. UNH-Dartmouth and URI-Brown have been the exceptions. Now, it looks like the New Hampshire-Big Green series might be gone soon.

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Former Louisville QB Tyler Wolfe is looking to transfer to a FCS school.

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This year's FBS opponent Kansas State will play its Spring Game on Saturday.

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Coach MacPherson joins College football Hall-of-Fame

Former UMass, Syracuse and Patriots coach Dick MacPherson has been elected to the College Football Hall-of-Fame.

UMass Athletic Dept story here. Syracuse Athletic Dept news release here.

The Boston Herald has the AP release here. The Post-Standard has a stories here and here.

Congrats to Coach "Mac". He is one of a kind and can tell football stories like few others.

UMass fans will always wonder what would have happened if the UMass administration had allowed him to take UMass into the Big East.