By Ryan Barry NEFJ Staff AMHERST – A frigid November evening in Amherst welcomed a national audience on ESPNU for yet another program defining loss for the UMass Minutemen. At least this highly anticipated midweek MACtion affair had few in-person spectators to witness this 45-3 drubbing from the Northern Illinois Huskies. Before entering tonight’s game, NIU (3-7, 2-4) hadn’t scored more than 21 points in a single game, whereas tonight,…
Bjorn brings championship pedigree and administrative success to UMass Football
Last week, UMass introduced former Rhode Island Athletic Director Thorr Bjorn as Senior Deputy Athletic Director and Chief Administrative Officer. A move that sent shockwaves around the New England College Football landscape.
Gronk weighs in on current Patriots during one-day contract ceremony
FOXBOROUGH – Inside a jam-packed media workroom at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday afternoon, Rob Gronkowski officially retired as a New England Patriot. Gronk signed a one-day contract alongside Patriots owner Robert Kraft with Camille Kostek, Rob Ninkovich, David Andrews and Brian Hoyer looking on. The lovable character that is Gronk spoke for about 20 minutes after thanking the Krafts and Patriots Nation. He also spoke about his friend Susan Hurley,…
UMass Four Down Preview: Northern Illinois Huskies (2-7, 1-4) at UMass Minutemen (0-9, 0-5)
Image courtesy of ESPN By Ryan Barry NEFJ Staff Kickoff: The UMass Minutemen host the Northern Illinois Huskies in their first MACtion home game since 2014. UMass enters this game reeling from a 44-10 loss at Akron hoping to salvage their season and give head coach Joe Harasymiak his first program win. 1st Down: Last week’s loss in Akron wasn’t just viewed by the normal lot of UMass fans, as a national…
NEPSAC Top 10 Poll – Week 9
It is bowl week in the NEPSAC, one of the best times of the year. With the regular season over, we now focus on the upcoming bowl games this weekend. Eight bowl games will be played to determine the best teams in the NEPSAC.
Vrabel making sure Pats stay locked in as national spotlight gets brighter
FOXBOROUGH – All weekend long and into this week, the Patriots are the darlings of the national media. Just a few years after being the hated villain, New England’s resurgence back to relevance is now everyone’s favorite story when it comes to national attention. That attention only gets increased this week with the Pats hosting the hated Jets in prime time on Thursday night, looking to win an eighth straight…
New England Chaos Poll – Week 10
A lot of movement once again this week in the Chaos Poll. With the NEPSAC bowls here and the Public and Catholic school playoffs in high gear, there will be plenty of movement to come. Here’s this week’s Chaos Poll. Tabor Academy (MA) 8-0 Avon Old Farms (CT) 9-0 New Canaan (CT) 8-0 St. John’s Prep (MA) 9-0 King Philip (MA) 9-0 Springfield Central (MA) 8-1 Killingly (CT) 8-0 Tewksbury…
MIAA Top 25 – Playoff edition
By Tyler Amaral NEFJ Staff Home teams mostly held serve during the opening round of the playoffs. Three exceptions were Marshfield, Methuen, and Bedford who all dropped out of this week’s top 25 after losses to Malden Catholic, Lowell, and Walpole, respectively. Those three teams are replaced by Lowell – who is making its season debut – and Bridgewater-Raynham and Andover – two teams who have volleyed in and out…
Boston College needs to keep up in fast-paced world of college football before program becomes irrelevant
Boston Globe writer Dan Shaughnessy said it years ago: Boston College wants to be Harvard Monday to Friday and Texas on Saturdays. It has been the case for years and a big reason why the program has been a perennially fringe bowl program the past decade plus. The climate in college football has changed dramatically with the advent of NIL and the transfer portal. You need to spend money in…
Lowell’s Boyle named Patriots Coach of the Week
Lowell Head Football Coach Scott Boyle was named Patriots Coach of the Week after the Red Raiders 29-21 win over Methuen in the first round of the MIAA Playoffs.