Thursday, March 03, 2011

Thursday---March 3, 2011

There are multiple articles like this one referencing a Sports Network story that Villanova will accept a Big East bid.The original article from the Sports Network seems less definitive.

Craig Haley looks at the CAA for 2011. Is it just my imagination, or do the CAA North teams get a lot fewer words than the South teams in that article?

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Meanwhile:

The MAC releases its combined 2011 football schedule.

Central Michigan continues to lobby for an additional team to be added to the league because the odd number of MAC teams create scheduling difficulties.

One MAC schedule I'd like to point out is Buffalo's. The Bulls have exactly the type of schedule that would be great for UMass.

Besides its MAC schedule, Buffalo plays two Big East teams. UConn at home and Pittsburgh on the road. They also have a money game with Tennessee.

You can't tell me that a UMass schedule with two Big East teams along with Temple and Buffalo would not be a more interesting slate than the Minutemen's current opponents. I'd love to be making plans to visit Heinz Stadium and Neyland Stadium.

Several comments in the Blog have been disparaging of Buffalo. It is true that we dominated them back in Whipple era. However, UMass' overall record against the Bulls is only 5-4 . Things have changed since 1998.

Check out Buffalo's 2011 recruiting list. They recruited twice as many starred players as did UMass.

Take Buffalo's 31-0 win over Rhode Island and note that we lost to the same team.

For college football fans, a UMass-Buffalo game would have a lot more football talent on display than during our current schedule.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that I would love to see this Buffalo recruit play.

I addition, from what I'm hearing, UMass' access to Gillette Stadium could be parlayed into an even better schedule.

Playing in MAC would be a good deal for UMass and UMass football fans.

Plus, as I keep saying, we could WIN in the MAC, which would give UMass future options...