MassFootball.net College Football Blog 2005

Please Note: as of June, the football blog has been consolidated to the newsletter section. Keep in mind that most of this football info is not date sensitive so it is informative beyond the dates.

6/1 - for all you parents (and a few players) freaking out about the new rule banning college coaches from attending off campus combines in the future, this article will help put it in perspective. Read Article. Note: This is an ESPN insider article and you need a membership. I think if you are a college minded student or parent of such, it is worth the small price.

Good quotes on recruiting from one of the Top 1-AA coaches in the country, Al Bagnoli at Penn. You can see clearly how team need dictates recruiting class make-up. This was a year Penn needed skill players, in fact they brought in 8 Dbacks or receivers this year. Also of note is how the Ivy League has forced teams to recruit nationally, instead of regionally, to stay competitive.

5/17 - if you want to keep track of the top stories in Division III, d3football.com posts a running list of press releases. A lot of coaching change announcements.
...a relatively new site that seems to have some distinction is d2football.com, although I guess in web terms, 5 years makes you middle age to approaching retirement!
...Top 5 NFL pick OT D'Brickshaw Ferguson (NY JETS) was 260 lbs in high school and not on any top 100 recruiting list, apparently he liked the food at UVa...as much as I am not a fan of Boston College in general, I do have to tip my cap to their ability to find big athletic players and mold them into top notch linemen. BC rarely, if ever gets a Top 10 linemen prospect. But they churn out NFL players like they grew them at the lab. I am waiting for Nick Rossi to develop. He was a regional recruit with strong 1-AA interest. 6'6 240, TE/DE in HS. BC comes in at the 11th hour and offers him a scholarship. I watched him play a few times and while he was athletic, he far from dominated in a state not know for football powers (MA). Right now is at DE as a red-shirt freshmen. Let's see if BC continues their streak of uncovering diamonds in the rough.

5/6 - crazy story about a West Virginia coach...count your blessing while you have them and don't hold back your sneezes...

I see where my friend Scott Glanz at Velocity of Tulsa ran a SPARQ combine, free of charge for area players...apparently Velocity is the only certified SPARQ testing center in the country...the two best things you can get from this testing is the ability to compare your athletic ability to other players around the country and to also see where you need to focus training...

Bruce Feldman's Blog on ESPN.com had a great "Where are they now?" look at the 2002 ARMY High School All American game roster Unfortunately you have to be an Insider subscriber (cheap, do it) to see this link. To summarize, there are a lot more guys who barely did a thing in college than there are draft picks.

...I remember my college coach buddy West telling me that the thing linemen lacked the most coming out of HS was footwork and the ability to use their hands effectively. The rooks would all get spun around and rag dolled the first few days or weeks of camp....These days, they are plenty strong coming in, they just have not mastered the intricate footwork need to play on the line or the handwork that wins the battle at the LOS. If I was a HS linemen I'd play indoor soccer or basketball this off season and take some marital arts classes to work on balance and hand to hand combat. I see a lot of fat linemen in high school..drop a few pounds, get quicker, improve the feet and you will be better off. You all can't be 6'7 335 lbs!

5/1/06 - "with the final pick of the 2006 NFL Draft, the Oakland Raiders take WR Kevin McMahan from the University of Maine...nice to see a I-AA program get the last pick, it again shows you that even the small program players get looked at...McMahan is from Rochester NY and was no doubt overlooked by Syracuse, Penn State, etc...he had 59 catches and 13 touchdowns as a senior...would he have played much at a big name program, or had the chance to develop and play right away? Doubtful.

While it is possible to be drafted from small programs, the last three years have been a shutout at the Division III level. Any D-III players will be free agents. So if the NFL is your goal as a player, D-I and D-1AA are the best bets to get there - just make sure you have a shot at some playing time.

4/30 - How many of the NFL draft picks were Rivals 100 or Tom Lemming Top 50 players in high school? I'm not sure, but you know there are a lot of guys drafted from non BSC schools and the players that go to those schools are rarely, if ever, ranked as the top 5 or 10 in their position on a national level. If you are a player who is highly ranked by a national recruiting media company, and you end up at a non BCS school, usually your ranking drops so the people ranking you don't look bad. Those players who seemingly come out of nowhere and end up as a top recruit at the bigger schools? Their ratings seem to rise late in the game. Sounds like the stock market. Vernon Davis, arguably the 2nd or 3rd best athlete in the draft behind Bush and Williams was a local recruit for Maryland who blossomed in college.

The players viewed as the best in the country right now, might or might not be that way in 4 years. Leinhardt was ranked pretty high nationally coming out of HS as was Reggie Bush who might have been the top player in the country at the time. Jay Cutler, drafted with the 11th pick, one behind Leinhardt, was All State in Indiana. 3rd pick Vince Young was a legendary high school player, even for Texas, but 5th pick AJ Hawk was a guy who Ohio State had to think about before offering if you believe the stories.

For all you "Big Time" or bust guys out there. Remember, it's not where you go to school - but how you play the game - that counts with scouts and coaches. In fact, the "projection schools" have to work harder at evaluating potential in recruits than some of the bigger "selection" schools who summon the very best to their campus. The athlete's being projected are often the under recognized, the under dog and the one who works so hard that he ends up going into the "how did we miss this kid" category in 3 or 4 years.

Consume yourself with being the best player you can be, not with what others think of you. The great thing about football is that eventually, reputations have to be left on the field when it's time to strap it up. The film never lies!

4.27 - I was in Tulsa Oklahoma a few weeks ago for my day job and I spent time doing a training in a complex that also housed a Velocity Sports Performance Training Center. Velocity of Tulsa OK is the biggest in the country, about 35,000 SF. Tulsa is football country and if you follow HS football at all you know that Tulsa Union, Jenks and Broken Arrow are the powers and send a lot of kids to college. They take it seriously down there. For example, Broken Arrow pays for the entire football team (about 130 players) to train twice a week at Velocity for speed and agility work. They take up the entire place. The players are bussed over and are all dressed in Broken Arrow gear - as a team. Impressive site.

Over at Tulsa Union the facilities put a lot of colleges to shame, amazing!

Union just replaced their legendary head coach and caused a major stir when they went out of state to Warren Central HS in Indianapolis IN and hired an outsider. The papers were full of articles about the whole deal - sour on the school passing over a 14 year assistant for the job. Having won 5 of 6 big school titles, this coach has nowhere to go but down or status quo. Tough. Again, it is just high school! (Say that quietly if you pass through Tulsa!)

4/26 -all my recruiting buddies are on the road, so they of course call in between visits and during car trips. The long April/May stretch is really about evaluating film on Juniors and meeting with high school coaches. A lot of "accidental bumps" happen at this time of the year. The stud prospect happens to wander into the coaches office when a college coach is visiting.

Sort of along those lines, did you see that Notre Dame landed a verbal from the Top QB in next years class, Jimmy Clausen? Plucked from Pete Carrol's back yard. Clever Charlie Weiss. Knowing he had Brady Quinn in house for two years, the first day college coaches could visit players this year was the day Weiss went to Clausen's high school. Remember he was still a Junior. Apparently that sold him - along with Weiss track record of developing QBs.

Word from Harvard is that second year DT Matt Curtis is every bit as good as Sr. All American Mike Berg - which should make running the ball against Harvard an exercise in futility. It was tough enough in 2005 - but they return 3 starters and have Des Bryant back full time at the D-end. Seriously, this will be the best D-line in all of I-AA next year, scholarship level or not. Go watch them if you live locally.

To put it in perspective the best a running back did last year against them was the 115 yards on 29 carries first team All American Nick Hartigan had in an overtime battle. 3.9 yard a carry, not bad - but 2 carries accounted from 44 yards. Other than those he was averaged 2.6 yard a carry. For the year he averaged 5.5 yards a carry and 172 YPG.

4/8 10:36 AM - not football but relating to HS students was this sting appropriate? Need more details to understand the approach the cop took and if any of these 9 boys were asked by the cute little blonde to get her dope, but parents are shouting entrapment.

..did you know that some programs chart everything at practice? For example, BYU charted every pass thrown this spring and have reported that the QB is completed 80% of his passes.

4/7 10:40 PM - this is pretty ugly, but in light of the Duke scandal, being part of a team and the team mentality has limits. Read Sportsline's story on Central Michigan Football

4/6 8:54 PM - Division III Macalester (MN) College football in full turnaround mode...when the new president of the college says "�In athletics and recreation, as in so many other areas, we need both to celebrate our successes and remain passionately determined to do more and better for our students,� ...after suffering 14 losses in a row, a new coach was needed, 90 applied and the 1 out of 90 who hand delivered his resume got the job (he drive 350 miles.) ...

in 2005-2005 I wrote several newsletters for CompuSports Media called Coaches Advisor and many of them featured interviews and stories on how coaches successfully turned around programs...one of the best is GA Mangus at Delaware Valley - he can't be there much longer - I should check!

4:33 PMSpring Football Games are everywhere...just go to Google News and type Spring Football and see what happens. You should go to a few this spring if you can (college minded players!)

Interesting stuff out of USC camp this weekend. No, not that Brad Walker -- the walk-on blocking wideout who was the intended target of Reggie Bush's Rose Bowl lateral -- was the Trojans' leading receiver in a Saturday night scrimmage with eight catches, but because it was the school's pro day yesterday.

That drew a crowd of some 150 NFL personnel types, according to NFL.com. (The most I've ever heard was around 200 NFL men three years ago when Miami had six soon-to-be first-rounders working out.) The Trojans also drew a few hundred high school prospects to take in the scene. This also is a shrewd move by elite programs, turning their pro day into a de facto junior day just so the coaches can point to some chiseled first-rounder and say, "See that! When he first arrived on campus, he was smaller than you!"

are you tired of surfing the Rivals and Scout and not wanting to pay for the content? Don't forget that a great source of news about your local program of choice is the local paper in the market...all are online. as examples check the Orlando Sun Sentinel College section or the Syracuse Post College Section or the Idaho Statement covering all things played on or off the Blue Smurf Turf

4/4/06- I kidded my buddy Herb about WVU playing Eastern Washington next year. They had a team back out and were scrambling for a 7th home game. "i want USC, Oklahoma, Florida! No creme puffs!" His reply? "It seems not a lot of people are interested in coming here right now." Catch 22 for the a team like WVU - Big East gets no love as a conference- so they need a few big time games out of conference right? Well they go 11-1 and beat UGA in the Sugar Bowl and all of a sudden your name on the schedule is not so popular...unfortunately a lot of teams schedule with the BCS in mind, and truthfully who wouldn't consider it with so much cash on the line. One loss usually KO's a team from the BCS title game...

Spring games are a great event to take your aspiring college football player to watch...gives you a good idea of the talent level...

4/2/06 - I took march off to watch March Madness and was not disappointed with the great games and balanced playing fields...you know basketball is an under-dog sport when you think about the chances George Mason football would have against perennial top-10 programs - they have no chance. In basketball they obviously do. GM aside, the other three men's final four teams are National Athletic Powers - not just basketball - these teams feature Top 25 programs in most sports. To me, it is no surprise to see three teams with so much money invested in athletics have this success. LSU had a final four team in women's hoop as well. Every heard of Duke, UNC and Maryland? Those ladies enjoyed the trip to the Boston Tea Party at the Garden as well...

College football coaches love it when the hoops team runs deep into the March Madness Night - it only helps their cause on the recruiting front - we are successful, we have a successful program in total, we are committed to winning...etc. Last year when WVU ran to the final 8, my buddy Herb the RC for WVU was happier than a pig in a mud pie!

...Harvard named Sean Ryan the new running backs coach...Ryan was previously at Columbia where he was plucked from BC by former Columbia D-Coordinator Tim Weaver who was previously the same at Harvard..the new staff at Columbia failed at the impossible and was dismantled...Weaver is now the head coach at Bethany College in Bethany, WV...Weaver used Coach at West Virginia Wesleyan with WVU RC Herb Hand who introduced Weaver to former Harvard D-Line Coach Eric Westerfield who is now at the Citadel...So what is my point to this merry go round? Every coaching staff in the country has somebody on the staff who coaches somebody at another school in some way...In recruiting the world is small, what you say or do will get around one way or another.

File this under "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" ...Harvard named former Yale Offensive Coordinator Joel Lamb to the same position with the Crimson...Harvard, which happens to be the college Lamb played for, has found every way to break Yale's heart in the last 4 years, including the epic game this past season...

What has happened at Trinity CT now that Priore has moved on? Jeff Devaney named head coach...Chris Rorke named new O-Coordinator, the position he held at Lehigh...Mark Melitsky named new O-Line coach, coming from Fordham...Melitsky brings the total number of coaches on this page who went to my alma mater Hamilton College to four..Ryan, Hand and Westerfield being the others...for a program that has been a mess lately, they have produced some very good coaches...every time a head coach leaves there is a big shake-up across the board, happens every year and is not surprising - you just need to know that there is a good chance your college staff will have turnover...

Did Josh Booty make the right choice leaving HS with a year of eligibility remaining to enroll at USC? After three years of not playing (1 RS, 2 years eligible) the poor guy has back surgery and could lose the job to Mark Sanchez...of course Booty might never play and still get drafted by the Patriots...who knew Matt Leinhardt was going to be so good. Not Booty...Leinhardt's High School nemesis, Matt Guttieriez, who QB'd De La Salle HS, (a team Leinhardt never beat while in HS, pulled a Wally Pip in 2004 and lost his Michigan starting job to Chad Henne for good! He is not at Idaho State in search of PT. You just never know. ( in fairness to Trojan Matt, nobody beat De La Salle for a very long time).

-some good articles on off season conditioning on ESPN.com - don't think for a second that college football is not a year round commitment!

Bruce Feldman - College Workout Freaks (#1 is trained by one of my favorite college football strength coaches Mike Barwis).

1/24/06 - congrats to my buddy Eric Westerfield for his new job as the Defensive line coach at the Citadel. Eric was a key part of Harvard's defensive line and recruiting success over the past four years. The Citadel is a jump up to coaching and recruiting scholarship players in the most competitive 1-AA conference in the country. Westerfield leaves behind what should easily be the most dominant d-line in the Ivy league and possibly all of Division 1-AA. Keep an eye on Mike Berg, Desmond and Brenton Bryant, Matt Curtis, Brad Bagdis and friends next year.

1/20/06 - Recruiting math. A division I recruiting coordinator told me that his program makes about six scholarship offers for every one commitment they get. So in a class of 25 scholarship players, the school made about 150 offers. Some player receive an offer letter the very first day possible which is September 1st of their Junior year. Others happen later in the process.

Why so many?

1) Players are receiving multiple offers themselves and will choose another school in all likely hood, those are just the odds.

2)Selection school vs. a projection school. The top 10 programs select the players they want and usually get them. Notre Dame, USC, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Miami, etc will make less offers because a higher percentage of players accept them.

A projection school has to work a little harder to find player that project into the type of player they hope will make an impact. These schools are not so popular that almost every player they make an offer to will accept it.

3) Wording on the offer letter. Read it carefully, in some language the letter will tell the player that this letter is based on scholarship availability. This means that at any time, your scholarship offer might be unavailable - at least until you have signed a letter of intent.

Why - a number of reasons really. But usually it means that at your position, a higher rated player has accepted a scholarship offer and they don't need you anymore.

Scholarships are all about supply and demand. If there is a small supply of interested Tight Ends for a school that needs them, there is a good chance your offer will stick if you make the commitment to them in return. If there is a high supply of interested RB's for a team that is only taking two RB's this year, they can be choosey and wait- regardless of what you tell them. This assuming that you are not one of their top 1 or 2 players. If you are number 3, and the school feels that getting #1 is real long shot, they might pressure #3 for a commitment to at least lock down one player, taking their chances on also landing 1 or 2.

A balancing act - and a dance that is not always spoken of. Too often the college coach leads the dance and the athlete is blindly following. This is the reason why my friend John Papas is a busy man.

1/15/06 - Listen to the latest Football Recruiting Audio Blog with John Papas, Director of New England Elite Camps.

In two different places on the internet, columns by ESPN.com Joe Schad (1/11)and Bruce Feldmen (Jan 12th blog), that at the AFCA conference this year the hot topic in the Assistant Coaches Meetings was banning coaches from attending Football Combines. If this happens, a lot of these events will go under and only the big, corporately backed events like the Nike Camps will survive. It will make college camps even more popular as DeFacto Combines and place more pressure on the player/family to attend as many camps as possible.

Interesting and pointed quote from Schad's column:

By 2007, we will be out of the combine business," said Notre Dame assistant coach Rob Ianello, who is a Stepinac High grad (a rival of my St. Francis Prep) I must point out and is greatly respected as the leader of the assistant coaches organization.

The truth is that combines are really about face time - the college coach showing up so that the recruits see them and think they are being shown "the love and respect" they somehow deserve as the big fish in a small pond they currently are. No wonder so many Blue Chip recruits these days have a rude awakening when the hit campus and are just another player on the team.

1/4/06 - A lot of coaching staff changes this time of year, and that of course changes a lot of the recruiting landscape. Verbal commitments by players are changed, new coaches don't always want the old coaches recruits for many reasons. This is a big time of uncertainty in some households.

Football recruiting is an endurance contest. The Sugar Bowl ended at about 1 AM the other night and I know for a fact that the WVU staff was visiting recruits the next day. The same for Georgia coaches. Who do you think felt better?

Can you imagine being a recruit who watches a game 1,000 miles away from where it is played and has the coach at his house the next evening. This is where bowl teams can make up for lost ground in recruiting - the splash effect of showing up right after a bowl game (hopefully a victory).

As players the bottom line still has to be about feeling comfortable with the school, the players and the program. Take your visits before you commit. Step back from the emotion of seeing the coach at your house after a big bowl win and realize it is all part of the game. Once you are on campus, the love affair is over. They own you. You chose that route, but it is still true. There will be very little choice about when you go to class, when you study and at times even when you eat.

12/26 - Hamilton named former head coach Steve Stetson as their new head coach.... Trinity hired Jeff Devanney, their D-coordinator to take over for Chuck Priore. Devanney is a 1993 Trinity grad...Columbia hired UConn offensive coordinator Norries Wilson as their new head coach (first black head coach in Ivy History) and UCONN replaced Norries with staff member Rob Ambrose. Wilson was also the UConn o-line coach and the Huskies lured Mike Foley away from Colgate for that job...from the Columbia fall out, D-coordinator, Tim Weaver is now the head man at Bethany College (WV). Weaver was also a former Harvard D-coordinator. Bethany is a high academic school so this seems to be a good match for them.

I get strange phone calls from time to time, this week was from a father of a player in Florida who was calling to get my opinion on which football program was better, Bowdoin or Colby. From where I sit, not a lot about this makes sense.

First point is that unless there is a very specific academic program you want, the schools are virtually the same. You could change the signs at the front gate of one school with the other's and an outsider would not know the difference. Both are great schools with a lot of tradition and respect in the academic and business community. Remember, NESCAC schools play eight games and do not have spring practice. The father was very concerned about his sons opportunity for playing time, which program was headed in the right direction, which team was most likely to recruit good kids to be around him, etc.

No matter where you are coming from, Florida or Maine, choose the school based on all factors - not just one. I told the man that my advice was to go with your gut about where you are most comfortable, especially since you are moving from warm Florida. If the football disappoints you, and there is a good chance that playing in front of 1,500 in 25 degrees will (again, from Florida), and you chose the school for football - your son will be calling pretty quickly to leave.

While the student athlete experience might be great in the NESCAC, it is not a total football immersion that somebody might want. NESCAC power Trinity is the class of the league. To put it in perspective I asked a former coach from the league Mt Union plays in where Trinity would fall if they moved to the Ohio Athletic Conference. "About middle of the pack. They'd win some games, but it would be a battle every week."

Maybe this whole thing is a master plan to end up at Notre Dame or an Ivy League, I have no idea. The point is, don't make your decision based on football at an academic school if you don't care about the academics. There is a good chance you will be disappointed. Just my opinion.

12/22 - I am please to announce the first installment of our weekly Recruiting Talk with John Papas of New England Elite Recruiting and Camps. This week John talks about where the schools are right now in terms of scholarship offers, ED 1 and ED 2 status and official visit offers. More importantly how does this impact the player, especially those who are on the outside looking in.

Trinity College saw head coach Chuck Priore leave to take on the rebuilding job at Stony Brook. This will result in some fall out around the NESCAC and may even impact the Hamilton job.
A call to the Hamilton Athletic department told today told me that they might announce the new coach as early as today! Also told that there was only one coach left, Paul Adey the 20 year vet of the staff. Not sure what that does for Gene McCabe, an assistant football coach and Head Varsity Lacrosse coach (and a very good lax coach I might add, who knows what his plans are in the future). Time will tell.

12/11 - Playoff time...for the true college football fan, the sub 1-A playoffs are always a great time of the year...lots of games, unknown schools, the occasional, former D-1 big timer starring where the light does not shine so bright (Ingle Martin, Brett Elliott)...

Division II - Grand Valley State solidified themselves are one of the great programs in Division II history by winning their 2nd title in the last three years and finishing a perfect 13-0. With only a few transfers from the MAC and Big Ten conference, this is had less D-I transfer than I anticipated. The senior class won 51 games in four years and the school now is one of three schools to have 3 or more NCAA titles...the team that beat NW Missouri State, seemed to have more Junior College talent and a few former D-I guys...almost every D-II and D-! AA has a former D-1 player...the realities of D-I are harsh, the competition is fierce and those last four of five scholarship guys each year in the MAC or most any conference don't make it at this level about as often as those who do.

To show you far apart some programs are at this level, look at what Grand Valley did in the semi finals to East Stroudsburg (PA) - 55-20 dismantling to a team from the best D-II conference top to bottom (arguably) and also home to Harlen Hill Trophy winner Jim Terwilliger. This is the semi finals. Remember the beating East Stroudsburg put on New England power Bentley College in the first game of the year? 77-17? I know, this kind of exercise can have LSU losing to Buffalo State, but it always strikes me how bad some teams get beat late in the playoffs.

Division 1-AA - Northern Iowa is meeting Appalachian State next week to crown the national champs. Appalachian state edged Furman, a school led by a Ingle Martin who left Gator Country after Chris Leak arrived. Interesting story on the App State Roster, 26 year old with 2 tours of duty in Iraq under his belt is on the team. They also have a few former Wake Forest and East Carolina guys on the squad. These are big time programs with some real talent many of the players could be on a D-I roster someplace else.

Northern Iowa won an overtime thriller over N. Texas (why did they take a knee at the end?) to advance to the big game. While they field a mostly local team (IA, MO, Neb, Wisc) they also have some PA, FL and OK kids. What nationally ranked team does not have at least one player from TX, PA or FL?

The better programs recruit nationally, even if it is just for a few select positions. Video is the key to college football coaches and it makes evaluating kids a bit easier than some other sports, at least talent wise. Character is another challenge.

D-III - Talk about a lopsided semi final game, Wisconsin Whitewater, a public university, took a sledgehammer to tiny (and private) Wesley College of Delaware 58-6. How does this happen. I have heard more than one person argue that D-III should be divided up a bit more based on academic requirements (I guess to prevent stuff like this). Mount Union righted the universe and is returning to the finals after missing it last your for the first time in a LONG time. Their game was much closer, a hard fought 19-7 win over traditional power Rowan College of NJ.

12/5-
time for some kudos...Advisor gives his first props to buddy Herb Hand and the rest of the players and staff at West Virginia for getting the job done and earning a BCS birth in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia. While they are certainly not in the same league as USC and Texas, WVU has the talent, toughness, speed and conditioning to compete with any team in the country. The media has torched the Big East all year and I have seen only a few come around late in the season and admit that WVU is a legit team. The Sugar bowl (an unfortunate home game for WVU opponent and SEC champ UGA) will go a long way in determining the BSC's opinion of the Big East in 2007 when they re-cast BCS chips to the conferences...

props to another buddy, Harvard's d-line coach Eric Westerfield and the rest of the Harvard staff for a 7-3 record and Ivy League runner up position...despite suffering devastating injuries to the WR position, Harvard managed to hang in there in close with 4 consecutive wins. With a defense that was almost impossible to run on returning virtually in tact, and an offense that returns all skill weapons, they will contend for the title again...that said, Brown deserves a big plug for their first Ivy Title in a long time and a 9-1 mark that was only blemished by blowing a late lead to Harvard before falling in 2 OT.

The state of Maine made some progress at the Division III level this year with Bowdoin and Colby finishing second and third in the standings at 7-1 and 6-2 (NESCAC). Dominant Trinity College continued to roll in the league and has now won about 32 consecutive games. Hard to see that stopping any time soon.

Steve Nelson's Curry squad continues to emerge out of the New England region each year to represent in the NCAA D-III tourney. They actually showed pretty well against a very good Delaware Valley team, losing 37-22 to a team that eventually made it to the Quarterfinals and finished 12-1...

Division III New England teams have not made it out of the first or second round in quite some time..you can likely blame this on any number of things such as academics, athlete pool, high school programs and development not being as good as other parts of the country (Ohio and PA especially)...this is a good topic to ask our college expert John Papas about and we will do so in the first installment of New England Elite Football Talk.

Ramblings...while he was given a real NFL welcome this weekend against the Redskins, Harvard alum Ryan Fitzpatrick was amazing in his NFL debut against the Texans as he was NFL player of the week!...at some point I will go dig up all that I wrote about Fitzy during his Jr/Sr years and make sure it is on record that his talent did not go unmentioned in these columns...maybe I am biased b/c I have a friend who coaches at WVU...but the more I watch Marcus Vick, the more I think he has a LONG way to go as far as maturity and character. While he was being slapped around by a "play through the whistle FSU defense" (think Reynard Wilson and Peter Boulware blasting Danny Wuerffal at UF) did you see him kick Broderick Bunkley in the helmet after Bunkley recovered a Hokie fumble? He follows that classy move up with a 1 yard TD run to sort of put his team back in the picture, only to spike the ball and cost his team 15 yards off field position in the 4th quarter. Vick's numerous on and off field antics are coupled with recent documentation by ESPN Outside the Lines that Va Tech was allowing athletes on scholarship to live in free section 8 housing so they could pocket their room stipends. Something is starting to smell in Blacksburg and Beamer might want to tighten the reigns a bit.

...football is still in full swing, D-II finals next week in Florence Alabama with Grand Valley State (a perennial power from Michigan) versus NE Missouri State and the D-III semi finals with some classic games, especially Mount Union vs. Rowan (NJ)...so you have plenty do observe before the 1-A bowl schedule starts...

11/19 -
Hamilton College fired their staff after another 1-7 year, probably a worse year than the 1-7 year before in 2004. Read all about it!. To Hamilton alum are rumored to be on the short list, but it remains to be seen if either the coaches or the school is serious about that.

Curry College (MA) travels to Pennsylvania today in the NCAA D-III first round to take on a very strong Delaware Valley. Interestingly, I have interviewed both coaches for a newsletter I used to write for Compusport media. They are good reads as both articles focus on how these guys turned their program around. Maybe the new Hamilton staff should take the time to read these articles:

- Steve Nelson, Curry College

All sorts of great Rivarly games around the country today. Auburn Alabama, OSU vs. Michiagn, Harvard vs. Yale, Syracuse vs. Notre Dame (just checking if you were alive). College Football Playoffs start at Division III and the second round starts at Division II. D-I AA bids are on the line. This has to be the best weekend of College Football from top to bottom.

10/16 -yesterday was really a day when you needed every college football TV package you could get your hands on. In some parts of the country the rain turned games upside down with mud bowls and there were numerous classics. Of course USC vs. ND was the game of the week, and likely the year, but you could have hardly noticed that WVU game back from a 17-0 at the half to beat Louisville in 3 OT to take command of the Big East, for now...Trinity College of CT extended their D-III winning streak to 26 games with a 7-0 win at Tufts. Tufts is the only team that seems to give them a game and the driving rain and mud was certainly a help, but it hurt them on offense as well...Wake Forrest collapsed late in the game again, this time at the hands of BC who just proved to deep and physical for the Deacons...also, will Tom O'Brien finally figure out that Quinton Porter is not his BCS QB? It's been 5 years Tom! The team responds to Matt Ryan and he makes big plays. Do you think that deep down, the other BC players feel that Porter, who last year lost his job to 5'11 Doug Flutie flashback Paul Peterson and was red-shirted is really a 2nd team QB? None will say so, but I wonder...

another question...has USC's defense been overrated at all in the past few years because their offense is so good that they force the other teams offense to play from behind and be a little more predictable, thus allowing the defense to take more risks that they know the offense will cover for? This year, maybe they have just been exposed with all the points they have given up.

I have not talked to my buddy West at Harvard in a few weeks, but I would like to know how they have managed without their top 3 receivers and a first year QB. Since the injuries, they are 1-2, so it has been a devastating loss to their program. In yesterdays win at Lafayette, a frosh WR stepped up for a huge TD catch...depth, you can't have enough.

If Charlie Weiss is coaching USC and Pete Carroll ND - does SC win 65 -40 or something like that? It will be interesting to see what happens when Weiss plays with this own players. I see him as a 5 and out guy. I wonder if he will stay healthy given the non-stop recruiting and public eye he has to endure. Hopefully he will...

Penn State came back to earth, but they showed some stones by storming back in the 4th quarter at Michigan, to the point where Big Blue had to make a play to win the game...

Crazy times in NESCAC when Bowdoin is 4-0 for the first time in about 60 years. Good for them.

10/3...well I was right on the mark with Lehigh as they ended up thumping Harvard to end the 13 game streak...this one was not hard to predict, after all Lehigh came in ranked #11 and Harvard was without All American candidate Cory Mazza at wideout, plus a few other key players dinged up. So ends a pretty amazing run for Harvard as they won some real barn burners and comebacks during that streak. Congrats to the team and coaching staff.

My other prediction about Trinity beating Williams was true, but Williams did not put up the fight I thought they might...in other NESCAC news, Hamilton got a rare victory over a non Maine team by beating Wesleyan, good to see that program get a win.

9/30 - I was wondering how Bentley College would respond to their season opening beat down at the hands East Stroudsburg? Well they are 4-1 and look fine. This is why their coach is coaching and I sit in a chair telling stories! File this under "what fails to kill me only makes me stronger"!

Went to the Harvard vs. Brown double over time thriller last Saturday. Harvard comes from back from 0-16, drives the length of the field in the final 2 minutes, scores the tying touchdown on a run with about 15 seconds to go and then win it with a field goal after forcing Brown into a 42 yard missed 3 pointer. Observations on the game:
- these two teams do not like each other at all.
- One of the worst officiated games I have seen in a very long time.
- both teams were physically exhausted after the game and Brown players looked as dejected as any losing team can possibly look. It was a "soul sucker" loss for the Bears. Coaching staff needs to watch that.
- Brown's wide receiver Shrek is certainly not a lumbering green menace. He scorched Harvard for 200+ yards in the air.
- Harvard's run defense is stout. It took all-Ivy back Nick Hartigan 29 carries to gain 116 yards and about 40 of those came on one Harvard breakdown. He is a big back and averaged less than 3 yards a carry when you take out that one run.

You can't help but think that both teams have a legitimate shot at winning the league title. Penn looms large on both teams schedules and the other Ivy teams are getting stronger, but I don't see the Big 3 losing much the rest of the way in the league. Harvard will have a tough home game with Lehigh that will seriously challenge their 13 game win streak.

The last time Virginia Tech was undefeated, ranked in the Top 5 and went to Morgantown to play WVU, they were ambushed and beat up by the Mountaineers. I was at that game, on the sideline and Va. Tech quit mid way through the 3rd quarter. I don't expect that to happen this time but I think the game will be a little more competitive than most observers think.

...interesting NESCAC game this weekend, league powerhouse Trinity goes for a league record 23 consecutive win against former league powerhouse Williams. Look for Williams to put up a big battle but for Trinity to prevail in the end.

..my friends from Catholic Memorial travel to Hartford VT for a non-league game in the Green Mountain State. CM escaped a major upset to small school foe Arlington Catholic as D-I prospect Rashad Jordan knocked a AC runner out of bounds at the 2 with no time remaining...CM needs to gear it up before taking on the likes of SJ Prep, Xaverian, BC High and B-R...good luck to all high school teams this weekend in the greater Boston area...classic fall football weather should prevail - no humidity, crisp, clear sky.

9/19 - So BC held it's own against FSU, in fact, they really outplayed the Seminoles in all areas except the scoreboard...as much as it pains me to say it, the BC staff can coach, and I think they out schemed FSU for most of the night...it was refreshing to see the Noles change to the spread offense and take advantage of their athletic mis-match with the 4 wide, shot-gun scheme. I was at the Clemson vs. FSU game in 1992 when the staff made the decision to put Charlie Ward in the gun and run the no-huddle mid way through the 3rd quarter...it worked and the rest, as they say, was history.

UNH has climbed to #2 in the national D-I AA polls. Led by all everything QB Ricky Santos, UNH is capable of putting up huge numbers every week. It is worth noting that on paper, UNH is better than Stanford, a Pac-10 team that just lost to UC Davis - who in tern lost to UNH! 12 players on the roster are native to NH the majority come from New England, with PA, NJ, NY, CA and TX among the other states represented.

Why are average coaches recycled? Is Dave Wannstadt really a good coach just because he has been a pro guy? Look at his records with the teams he has had. Now look at him at Pitt. 0-3 with a team that returned a lot of talent from last year - now they can't buy their way to a first down on offense. Even with the loss to Michigan State, Notre Dame is a different team under Weiss and it always amazes me to when I see a guy change teams just by attitude (a little offensive genius helps!). Never been an ND fan, but Weiss is a guy who did not get overly hyped about his position, it is still football and no amount of history can win games. Winning games comes with players, game plans, good practices and execution on game day. Nothing else matters - besides belief in yourself.

When you are considering a college and there is a new coach on board, as them what their plan is to win games and turn the program around? If they answer "out work the other guy" think twice. Everyone works hard at the college level. The answer should come in the form of a plan, getting the buy in to the plan is critical, but I'd want to know how I fit into their plans and the steps they think are needed to be a good program. Again, pro experience means nothing if they can't implement a plan.

I took in the Catholic Memorial vs. Chelmsford game last week and was impressed with the opening day aerial power of CM's Jamie Cosgrove...he stands in the pocket well and sees down field pretty well...TE Akil Chester was a mismatch all day long and might be the surprise player of the season if they can continue to find him. I've seen Chester on the basketball court and he plays hard and with passion. CM has a tough schedule with St John's Prep, BC HIgh and Xaverian on the schedule so the real tests come later.

Last week I watched WVY vs. Maryland - WVU is much more of a complete team this year in terms of effort and contribution. Last year they had some stars (Pac Man, Henry, Rasheed), but this team gets key plays from a lot of guys. Fast and athletic guys I might add. Talk about a plan, WVU coach Rich Rodriquez is now in this six season so he has all his guys. This is their most athletic group to date and it matches their plan to rebuild a team with diverse skills and athleticism at all positions. They all play hard and are one of the better conditioned groups in the nation - yeah, really - right in little ole MOrgantown. Thanks Barwis.

This week I will be at the Harvard Brown game...good matchup, a lot of All-Ivy and even All American talent on the field...DeOssie from Brown, Dawson and Berg from Harvard...Brown has a score to settle after blowing a huge lead at home last year.

9/6/05 - here we are, the first full week of college football over and I have a lot to say. First off it feels good to see ex Harvard star Ryan Fitzpatrick win the 3rd QB slot for the Rams and read Mike Martz say, "I hold him to higher expectations than everyone else, he is something special." My buddy West who coaches at Harvard used to tell me "wait until you see the other QB we have" when I would comment on how good Neil Rose looked back in West's first year on the staff. Rose got hurt a little and Fitzy came in and was dynamite. We used to bust on our buddy Herb who coaches at WVU by saying if they had Fitz, they would have been undefeated - and we will only 1/2 kidding...congrats Fitz, you have made a lot of people proud!

Bentley College (MA) showed that they should not be playing teams from the Pennsylvania Conference on a yearly basis. It was ok last year when you had Dallas Mall and Scott Edy, but in general the two schools are so different and the admissions process not even remotely similiar, that a small private school like Bentley can't compete year in and year out with those big D-II state programs. Especially in the football crazed world of PA. East Stroudsburg does not exactly have the same admissions standards of Bentley, and they are pulling kids from NJ, PA and metro NY...not saying they should back down, but why start your season losing 72 to 17 and risking injury to some key guys ? On the flip side they did bounce back with a 33-24 win over S. Conn State

As an FSU alumni I join the frustrated ranks of fans who wonder aloud, "why do the QB's at FSU never get any better, especially since Mark Richt left for Georgia? Is it any coincidence that DJ Shockley looked like a star in his first game, after sitting for 3 years behind David Green. Drew Weatherford and Kyle Wright are the same people on paper, red-shirt freshmen QB's with big time pedigrees. One looked like a JV QB in training (Weatherford) and the other looked like someone who was improving by the down (Wright). Papa Bowden can defend son Jeff all he wants, but if I am a QB, FSU is the last place I want to go and expect to get better. Witness Chris Rix and now Weatherford...

...Friday night is opening night for local HS football teams...I plan on going to see Catholic Memorial versus Chelmsford in what looks to be, on paper, a competitive season opener for both of these schools...I live a short walk from CM's turf field complex, so this should be a great way to spend a late summer evening...CM coach Alex Campea is optimistic about this years team - a nice combo of size and speed and their best ever attendance in the weight room this summer...

Did anyone notice how many early Verbal's BC has this year? Do you think their membership in the ACC has anything to do with that? I was a bit surprised by the local flavor on the team this year but I am not fully up to date on this years senior class...speaking of BC, is their a bigger offensive line in the country, at any level? We will see how good those big boys are when FSU arrives on 9/17...that should be a defensive struggle, as BC's defense is solid and FSU has not passing attack...Northeastern showed a lot of offense in their season opening loss to D-IAA powerhouse, Georgia Southern...Maine more than represented the Atlantic 10 conference with a 21-7 loss to Nebraska in Lincoln...what a trip that must have been for Maine and you can tip your cap to the Huskers for playing such a game...a lot of risk and no reward.

I have never liked Notre Dame and I have a feeling I really won't like them after this season. Pitt was overrated - I think a lot of people felt that way, but Weiss is a great offensive coach and it showed. We will see what happens, but if they beat Michigan next week, and they could given Big Blues little defense, then Weiss deserves any accolade he gets. And this brings up another point, how many average to poor head coaches get recirculated every year in the NCAA? Heck how many are floating in the NFL as well?

Big Bold Prediction for this week? Trinity College wins the NESCAC conference again! Ha Ha.