Albany @ UMass Friday, September 11, 2009

Tomorrow night is the home opener for the Massachusetts Minutemen. For the second consecutive year and the third time since 2005, the opponent is the Albany Great Danes.

My junior year the Great Danes came and UMass rented lights for to make it a night game. The Minutemen proceeded to give the Great Danes a beating they'll never forget, 40-0. The game was significant because UMass set an FCS record by recording 3 safeties. The UMass game notes say "Ironically UMass tied their own mark with three safeties in Rhode Island in 2007." How is that ironic? Back to the point, the funny part is, at least 2 (maybe all three) safeties were recorded because Albany's long snapper kept snapping the ball 20 yards over the punter's head through the end zone. It was pretty hysterical. He kept coming back to the bench and after getting screamed at by the coaches, he'd practice snapping the ball and he'd do awesome. Then he'd go back onto the field and snap the ball 20 yards over the punter's head and the process would repeat.

Last year, I missed the game but I hear it was a lot more competitive. I mean, Albany scored, so it had to be. UMass still won, 30-15. I don't know much about Albany. They're 0-1 after losing to Georgia Southern 29-26. They have a senior quarterback in Vinny Esposito who was 14-28 with an INT and 110 yards last week. I'm assuming they run some kind of crazy Miami Dolphin-esque Wild Cat Option thing, as another quarterback named Andrew Smith had 8 carries for 99 yards and a touch down. Weird thing is he didn't throw a pass. He's not the featured back either. That's David McCarty who had 24 carries for 66 yards. Maybe they wanna switch that? Smith also apparently returns kicks for them. He returned all 6 Albany received last week for 140 yards. That's not a bad day for the back up quarterback. I'll have to keep my eye on him.

Oh yeah... I'm also going to the first half of BC vs Kent State. I just hope it's no where near as terrible as the Northeastern game was last week. I never want to see anything like that again as long as I live.

Predictions: Before the Kansas State game, I would have went with UMass over Albay 24-21. My logic would have been "UMass has been on the decline since 2006. Albany seems like a team on the rise. I just think that the declining UMass is still better than a rising Albany, but not by a lot." Then by all reports Havens looked awesome and the defense was tremendous. Receivers just need to start catching balls and this teams poised to make a run at the playoffs. (Yeah, we got playoffs in FCS, and we talk about the playoffs). Now I'm drinking the Kool-Aide and expecting UMass to win this game easily, 28-14.

I got nothing for BC-Kent State. Let's go with 24-21. I don't know who will win.

Lastly rooting for Ohio State over USC because I still haven't forgiven Pete Carrol for doing his best to ruin the Patriots.

EDIT: Here's a write up on the Albany back up quarterback. Note the championships won by Esposito referred to in the coach's comments must be conference championships. I don't think Albany's made the playoffs ever, and their conference, the North East Conference, doesn't have an auto bid yet...but I think they will in a year or two.

Massachusetts Football Report Thursday, September 3, 2009

- UMass opens it's season Saturday @ Kansas State, and that means one thing: It's a bad week to be a Wildcat. Junior College Transfer Kyle Havens was named the starting quarterback. I feel bad for senior Scott Woodward. Whenever he came in for an injured Liam Coen, I always thought he did well. I think a lot of times during games, the coaching staff never trusted him though. I remember one game in particular against Boston College where Coen got hurt early in the third quarter. UMass stopped passing the ball completely unless it was third and long in their own territory. If memory serves correct he made something good happen more often than not, but I still wonder to this day why they didn't open the play book for him. Must be something they saw with him in practice. Most times a FCS team upsets and FBS team, it's with a scrambling quarterback who runs the option. As a result, some UMass fans speculated that Octavious Hawkins would start the season opener. I like the idea in theory, but I think Head Coach Kevin Morris is doing the right thing. You're probably not gonna win anyway, so you might as well treat this like a practice and try to work out all the kinks with the first team offense your gonna go with the rest of the season. By the way, the best thing about Havens being named the starter is he wears #12. That means my Liam Coen jersey (which doesn't say Coen on the back) can now become a Kyle Havens jersey. Sweet!

- I'm going to my first football game tonight to see the New England Patriots take on the New Jersey... I mean New York Giants. As no one is gonna play besides third and fourth stringers, the most exciting thing this blog will observe is what jersey I'll wear tonight. I have at my disposal good looking home blue Adam Vinatieri and Drew Bledsoe Patriot jerseys, a good looking silver Richard Seymour jersey, a fake looking blue Laurence Marony jersey (no numbers on the sleeves, no stripes on the shoulder, no gray on the collar...it's terrible) and a really nice blue Tom Brady I've never worn. The Tom Brady is the best jersey cause the name and number are actually sewn on whereas the others look machine painted. I decided to go with the Drew Bledsoe jersey, as he is undeniably the most important man in New England Patriot history, and I feel like since Brady wont play anyway it's the perfect time to honor Drew. Julian Edelman is also honoring Drew Bledsoe tonight, and if he makes the team he will probably continue to honor Bledsoe the entire season.

-I'm also going to a football game Saturday- Northeastern vs Boston College. It's a bit of a dilemma as UMass fans are suppose to hate Boston College whereas Northeastern is the poster child for schools that think they're better than you only because they're a private school. My hatred for Northeastern runs deep. On the other hand, I taught a few of the BC football players and some of them work their butts off and are good people, plus I got a degree from there, so I'm rooting for BC.