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Post by beaven302 on Jun 5, 2017 11:50:44 GMT -5
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Post by sader1970 on Jun 5, 2017 12:50:45 GMT -5
Interesting article and not exactly sure how to take it. OK, they are in a power conferences but are the weak sister there so should not be sniffing how much greater they are than UMass.
As I recall, not too many years ago a much better Michigan team lost to a I-AA team.
Basically, I read this as looking his nose down on all Massachusetts football. They better pray they don't play Harvard as they might get their butts kicked.
So, with the list, since BC was lower than HC, should we be flattered or insulted?
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Post by beaven302 on Jun 5, 2017 13:43:53 GMT -5
Interesting article and not exactly sure how to take it. OK, they are in a power conferences but are the weak sister there so should not be sniffing how much greater they are than UMass. Sorry, but this view of Northwestern football is out of date. Check last year's standings. The bottom of the Big Ten is now occupied by Indiana, Maryland, Illinois, and Purdue. NU, which lost by only four points to Ohio State in Columbus last season, is currently a middle of the pack team. In 2015, they beat Notre Dame in South Bend, went 10-3, and tied for second in the Big Ten West. As for the article itself, it's likely to be an expression of dissatisfaction with the Wildcats scheduling a poor FCS team that nobody in Evanston wants to see. I also suspect that HC made the list because of the Carmody connection. If anyone should be offended by the article it's UMass whose FBS aspirations have led to disaster. |
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Post by sader1970 on Jun 5, 2017 14:16:45 GMT -5
While I see in 2015, they were 10-3 and certainly a leader, in 2016, they were back to earth with a 5-4 league record and 7-6 overall and finished 5th of 7 teams in the western division. Granted, they were not dead last as they often were in the past. My only point is they are not now, and never have been, Big 10 royalty in football and should not be looking their noses down at anyone. They are a great school academically and I give them credit for that. Let's see how the Minutemen do against them. P.S. They obviously don't know how to count in the Big 10, with 14 teams!  |
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jun 5, 2017 14:36:24 GMT -5
Here's how Sagarin has the two teams ranked and rated over the past five years (since UMass went FBS)
2012= NU # 21 with 81.72 rating....UMass #178 with 46.83 Rating implying Northwestern would be favored by 35 points on neutral field
2013= NU #65 & 72.54...UMass #193 & 41.45 so Northwestern favored by 31 points
2014= NU #66 & 69.34...UMass #154 & 51.72 so Northwestern favored by 18 points
2015= NU #44 & 76.35...UMass #138 & 51.29 so Northwestern favored by 25 points
2016= NU #35 & 78.72 ...UMass #142 & 51.48 so Northwestern favored by 27 points
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Post by A Clock Tower Purple on Jun 5, 2017 14:48:48 GMT -5
UMass is 9-47 (with I believe 4 total wins vs 1A competition: 3 MAC stiffs and FL Atlantic) since going 1A. This is not a misprint.
There isn't a 1A school in the country they can legitimately look down at. To say Northwestern shouldn't throw stones is laughable.
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Post by timholycross on Jun 5, 2017 23:01:07 GMT -5
The only value the article brought was the photo of Harry Agganis throwing a pass at Fenway Park (wonder why they didn't play at Braves Field that year?) And from the sign above the bleachers in front of the Green Monster, BU was clearly the home team; they weren't playing BC.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jun 6, 2017 7:25:41 GMT -5
"7. Boston College
This is the obvious answer, as Boston College is better (okay, slightly) than UMass and is in a real football conference. They have also finished 7-6 in three of the past four years, which means the game might actually be competitive, even if Northwestern would be favored. The Golden Eagles have also played Northwestern before, which means there is historical precedent. In fact, the Wildcats are also up 4-1 historically?
This may be the only other legitimate opponent, but why should we bother taking this seriously?"
I didn't realize that bc had added "Golden" to the team's name.........
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Post by hchoops on Jun 6, 2017 8:03:06 GMT -5
Anything to try to improve the reputation of losing football and hoops teams
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Post by beaven302 on Jun 6, 2017 12:20:44 GMT -5
A final note on the Northwestern article. It really wasn't all that different from some posts on this board lamenting that the HC football team was playing teams from the NEC. Wildcat fans believe that their team in moving up -- numerous wins over Big Ten teams, better talent being recruited, and a multi-million-dollar athletic facility being built on the shores of Lake Michigan. They want OOC games that will result in a splash like the recent ones over Stanford and Notre Dame. A game against a bottom-feeder like UMass is a no-win situation. An upset loss would be more than embarrassing and an expected win is much less than a big deal.
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Post by sader1970 on Jun 6, 2017 12:25:20 GMT -5
I took it as an attempt at sarcasm, rather than ignorance, on the part of the author.
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Post by timholycross on Jun 6, 2017 20:28:24 GMT -5
"7. Boston College
This is the obvious answer, as Boston College is better (okay, slightly) than UMass and is in a real football conference. They have also finished 7-6 in three of the past four years, which means the game might actually be competitive, even if Northwestern would be favored. The Golden Eagles have also played Northwestern before, which means there is historical precedent. In fact, the Wildcats are also up 4-1 historically?
This may be the only other legitimate opponent, but why should we bother taking this seriously?"
I didn't realize that bc had added "Golden" to the team's name......... IIRC one of those wins over BC was due to a missed easy fg at the end of the game...missed by the very same guy that beat ND at the buzzer later that season. Ended up being a big loss for BC when all was said and done, I think they only lost 1 or maybe 2 other games. |
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Post by rgs318 on Jun 7, 2017 8:42:35 GMT -5
I took it as an attempt at sarcasm, rather than ignorance, on the part of the author. Perhaps it was making a connection between the BC Eagles and the "golden sombrero" in baseball. |
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Post by matunuck on Jun 7, 2017 9:32:54 GMT -5
I actually found it complementary of HC --
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Post by steve81 on Jul 12, 2017 19:09:24 GMT -5
UMass is 9-47 (with I believe 4 total wins vs 1A competition: 3 MAC stiffs and FL Atlantic) since going 1A. This is not a misprint. There isn't a 1A school in the country they can legitimately look down at. To say Northwestern shouldn't throw stones is laughable. 8-45 against 1A or 8-28 verses G5. Not good, but hopeful for improvement this year. Last year was the first decent recruiting class and those guys are now sophomores. The real question is will HC have interest in playing UMass in the future. Granted you guys can earn a bigger pay check with other FBS teams. Plus playing BC and Army every 4th years would only leave 2 games. |
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Post by hcgrad94 on Jul 12, 2017 19:25:06 GMT -5
I think the real question is how long will UMass continue with this fruitless pursuit of playing BCS football.
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Post by steve81 on Jul 12, 2017 19:37:51 GMT -5
I think the real question is how long will UMass continue with this fruitless pursuit of playing BCS football. There is no such thing as BCS football with the College Football Playoffs. Even as an independent, we receive a little over 610k from the CFP, much like NCAA basketball credits. Will be successful as a G5 team and joining a conference in the next 5 years will be good. Currently we are making up for that lost revenue with an additional buy game at 1.3 Mil. Love your stadium and FCS is a great place to be if going FBS is not feasible due to enrollments and other aspects. For us, almost all our institutional peers have FBS football and the goal is not to loss more money long term as FBS as FCS. You can see from the above 1.3 and .610 million it would cover the extra 44 scholarships along with cost of attendance. Did not come here to throw stones, but to correct mis-information and would love playing you, but worded it in a way there is an easy out as only having a few games every four years to make it work. link CFP Revenue |
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Post by A Clock Tower Purple on Jul 12, 2017 20:07:15 GMT -5
Unless your name is ND or BYU you have zero shot of surviving as an independent. The Big East's implosion as a FB conference destroyed any shot that UMass had of ever being relevant in 1A FB.
UM's problem as an indy is that they must either play squads they have no shot of beating or total stiffs that fans couldn't care less about watching.
UM fans shouldn't hold their breath waiting for any conference to come knocking on the door of one of the worst teams in the country either.
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Post by hcgrad94 on Jul 12, 2017 20:58:41 GMT -5
Believe me, as a Massachusetts resident who has dozens of friends and family that attended UMass, nothing would make me happier than to have them be a successful Big Time program.
However the fact that they are never going to get into a real Division 1 Football Conference makes this impossible. The Northeast is such a dicey proposition for Big Time college sports to begin with, in the lack of conference affiliation makes UMass football a non starter.
I admire them for giving this a shot, but I think we all know that it's not going to happen.
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Post by hc87 on Jul 12, 2017 22:39:38 GMT -5
FBS makes more sense than FCS for UMass imo. I know they are in a tough spot now, but they'll find a football league or a league will find them. As the flagship, public university of Massachusetts, the FBS-level just makes more sense. They will nevah be Ohio St or Bama in football but I'm sure they will find a landing spot somewhere.
I hope we play the Minutemen going forward....probably our best, most competitive rival for much of the 1960s-early 1990s.
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Post by timholycross on Jul 13, 2017 7:42:27 GMT -5
I think the real question is how long will UMass continue with this fruitless pursuit of playing BCS football. There is no such thing as BCS football with the College Football Playoffs. Even as an independent, we receive a little over 610k from the CFP, much like NCAA basketball credits. Will be successful as a G5 team and joining a conference in the next 5 years will be good. Currently we are making up for that lost revenue with an additional buy game at 1.3 Mil. Love your stadium and FCS is a great place to be if going FBS is not feasible due to enrollments and other aspects. For us, almost all our institutional peers have FBS football and the goal is not to loss more money long term as FBS as FCS. You can see from the above 1.3 and .610 million it would cover the extra 44 scholarships along with cost of attendance. Did not come here to throw stones, but to correct mis-information and would love playing you, but worded it in a way there is an easy out as only having a few games every four years to make it work. link CFP RevenueI hope you do well too...but (cue Pakachoag Phreek) aren't you paying for a lot more than just the 44 scholarships....more assistant coaches, more support staff, facilities & stadium expansion, etc.....? You have to get more $ coming in, don't see any way around that. Starting out playing at Gillette in front of 60,000 empty seats with a bad team (no way in the best of circumstances would the team be good for a while),,,then going back to Amherst (where the team belongs in the first place) seemed to play right into the naysayers hands, IMHO. |
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Post by steve81 on Jul 13, 2017 11:48:04 GMT -5
Your right, we need more money coming in. It's been gradual but ticket prices are now $20 and $25 day of the game on campus. Non season ticket holders now pay $5 in advance or $10 for parking. Donations have gone up. Personally give 2% of my gross income to UMass. Sadly our coaches are paid at the FCS level, but we do have more staff. Attendance is up, FCS average of 11k compared to close to 15k as FBS. The whole Gillette stadium issue is because nothing was done to the 50+ year old McGuirk except for FBS games did pay for lighting and field turf. The Kraft Group were shrewd negotiators and we had to do the deal, since FBS has press box requirements as separate play back room etc. McGuirk will not expand until we show demand with sell-outs. So winning at home is important.
Do you think we'll play again in the next 5 years. We did multiple home and homes as FCS and there are not many closer FBS locations for your fans. It would be great if you guys are play FBS teams to rotate between, BC, UMass, UConn, and Army.
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Post by lou on Jul 13, 2017 11:53:03 GMT -5
We haven't played Army in about 15 years, and next play them in 2023
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Post by hcpride on Jul 13, 2017 14:28:30 GMT -5
UMass is about the football level of SUNY Buffalo (another northeastern struggling FBS state school). Maine, UNH, and URI play a more appropriate (IMHO) high level (CAA) FCS. Personally, I think the smarter move for UMass is the latter. (Not saying CAA would accept them in any case).
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Post by ncaam on Jul 13, 2017 14:38:20 GMT -5
Does this belong in the HC section or buried somewhere
else
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