Well, we had the biggest turnout of votes (92) so far for the offensive line. The OL will be a critical unit in the success of the 2008 Minutemen.
We will have three new starters as Matt Austin, Nick Diana and Chris Hopkins have graduated.
Looking at the 2007 player participation page, only Ben Coblyn (played 9 [...]
Entries from June 2008
June 30, 2008
The Wisdom of the Blog—Part IV Offensive line
June 28, 2008
Coulson looks at FCS quarterbacks in 2008
Sporting News columnist David Coulson takes a look at the state of quarterbacking in FCS/I-AA for 2008 in his latest article.
He mentions eight QB’s that UMass will see in this year’s schedule or reside in the CAA.
National Rankings:
#3 Dominic Randolph. UMass jumps right into the stack with a second game meeting with the Crusaders. Randolph [...]
June 27, 2008
NFL Draft Scout tracks 16 UMass players
NFL Draft Scout’s “UMass Players to watch” page has sixteen players plus detailed biographies of Sean Smalls, Liam Coen and Courtney Robinson.
Each player has a link page with varying amounts of information.
Let’s parse the list by class. Eight UMass seniors, seven juniors and one Sophomore. My links are to the UMass athletic dept bios.
Seniors:
Sean Smalls
Liam [...]
June 26, 2008
Changes in FCS in 2008
Making the FCS/I-AA playoffs is one of the most difficult tasks in college sports. With only 16 teams out of 104 (2008) making the cut, it’s one of the highest barriers in college play.
Two teams that may make life more difficult for established FCS/IAA teams are North Dakota State (10-1 in 2007) and South Dakota [...]
June 25, 2008
As others see us
This year’s FBS/I-A opponent Texas Tech has an excellent fan blog called “Double T Nation“.
In today’s post he has a link to a video recap of the Texas Tech-Northwestern State game from last year. The Red Raiders won 75-7.
Key quote from clueless local reporter “The Northwestern State Demons are not from the Big [...]
June 25, 2008
Signs of Football
The Wizard of Odds has a post on the first appearance of odds on the August 28th and 30th college football games. He never misses a chance to dis FCS/I-AA football, but I thought the odds were interesting.
Remember, betting odds are not an indication of the relative strength of the two teams. The odds are [...]
June 24, 2008
FBS to FCS transfers
So far, we have not heard any news about UMass getting any FBS/I-A transfers in the spring semester.
Lots of activity elsewhere in in the Division.
Towson gets a QB from New Mexico
Delaware gets a QB from Ohio State.
Georgia Southern gets three I-A transfers.
Hampton has six transfers.
Howard has an inspiring transfer.
Norfolk State has a Penn State transfer.
UPDATE: [...]
June 23, 2008
Wisdom of the Blog Part III — DL
Well, that poll reeked. One day after I set up the defensive linemen poll, UMass published a revised roster that pretty much made the poll meaningless.
First, two members of the poll were not on the revised roster list. Gone were Corey Eason and Jonathan Richard. Eason got the most votes (56) in the poll. Andrew [...]
June 22, 2008
Consolidated Preseason Poll
College Sporting News has a “master’ poll, which averages the rankings of other FCS/I-AA polls.
UMass currently has a consolidated poll rank of 8th in the Division. That may change when more polls come out.
