FB: Conference of New England

[63Center]

OK, let's see if we can get as many folks picking this week as we did last week.  Some good games this week that should separate the men from the boys.  Here are my picks:

UMD 35 SRU 10 - UMD should have little problem with SRU

WNEC 28 MIT 14 - unless WNEC falls flat on its face they should win this one

PSU 24 Nichols 21 - Game of the week in NEFC.  I give the edge to PSU at home

BSC 35 USCGA 24 - I am just not convinced that the CGA has it all together this year and BSC has been playing good football

Worcester St 28 Fitchburg 14 - Not the same Fitchburg of the last few years

Curry 28 EC 10 - EC just doesn't have enough to take on this powerful Curry team

Framingham 21 Westfield 14 - Framingham is winnning again and Westfield is not looking so good

MMA 21 MME 7

[gullgrad]

First of all, i think i was 7-1 last week just for the record.  Now on to this week.

Westfield St.  10  Framingham St.  28: Framingham is playing well (imagine that under the old coach)   
Mass.-Dartmouth  31  Salve Regina  7: Salve is getting better, but UMD is playing for a ECAC spot   
Nichols 17  Plymouth St.  28:  Nichols is young and improving, but PSC is home.   
Maine Maritime 21  Mass. Maritime 13: I wonder if they take a boat to this game?     
MIT  14  Western New Eng.  28: WNEC always seems like they should be better.   
Fitchburg St. 42  Worcester St.  49: FSC can score, but their D is awful.  I still don't know what happened to them.  They were great a few years ago.   
Bridgewater St. 51  Coast Guard   52: Neither team can stop the other, but CGA is home, so there is your 1 point.   
Endicott  10  Curry 28: Yes EC's QB is getting better, but Curry is home and playing well enough. 

Go Gulls!!

[63Center]

Gullgrad,  You are correct you were 7-1 last week in the picks.  Sorry for my miscounting.  Good luck this week in your picks.

[Boxer7806]

Time for some picks...lets see if i can improve a little...hopefully we can get some other guys to make some picks before saturdays game

Framingham 21 Westfield 7 - Framingham has the 4th best overall D in the conference wow.

UMD 38 Salve 6 - JT run all over these guys another win for UMD

PSU 24 Nicholls 14 - Nicholls has one of the best D in the conference but i still give the upper hand to PSU...beat better opponnets and put up lots of points

Mass 14 Maine 6 - Mass has one of the best D in the leauge led by thier MLB i think they shut down the option like they did against Coast Guard, but their O actually scores this time to pick up the win

WNEC 24 MIT 14 - this could have upset written all over it... still going with WNEC Tho

Worcester 50 Fitchburg 31- Fitchburg = NO DEFENSE

Bridgewater 31 CGA- 21 - same players from last year ECAC game = same result a BSC victory

Curry 31 Endicott 12- EC is better offensively but Curry is on a roll right now

good luck to all teams this week and lets get as many posters as we can

[currygrad]

  Here are my upset specials (1) Nichols 21 Plymouth State 17, ( Better defense) (2) M.I.T. 21 WNEC 14 ( One team improving One team digressing ) (3) Coast Guard  24 BSC 14 ( BSC can not pass and scored 6 pts. against awful Salve team) (4) Endicott 31 Curry 28  (This one really scares me. Lets hope EC can not count to 11 on special teams again this week)

[D3 Fan]

Late but what the heck...PSC's program was in jeopardy a few years ago because the schools administration decided to deemphasize the program.  The program had become a revolving door for coaches trying to make it to the big time and upper administration was getting tired of the type of player being brought in.  The program was also losing a great deal of money and other sports programs were suffering.

They fought hard to get back into the NEFC and had to make promises regarding the type of program (budget, academic qualifications and such) they would have.

Castioni is a good guy who has a lot of coaching experience. He has worked hard to get his type of kids in and certainly had taken his lumps since arriving.

I've said it before...but the only people really concerned about the NEFC getting respect outside the region are the players, some coaches and people posting here.  The only teams in the NEFC to consistently try to play outside the league have been UMD, Curry and EC.

[Boxer7806]

curry grad i like your optimism but Curry will handle EC easily no need to worry, Nicholls D looks better on paper but they lost to the only quality team they faced and Plymouth State is battle tested and the better team... i have to agree WNEC must be on upset alert this week... Buts BSC will be CGA becuase they have been showed a passing attack last week against Framingham and have the D to shut down Coast Guard, if BSC holds onto the ball, which they didnt against Salve and Framingham, they win easily

[Findtheball]

 I'll pick mine late tonight

[Gr8Day2BaBear]

7-1 last week, i'm going for equal or better

Framingham:  21   Westfield:  10  i'm on the  band wagon and lovin it!!!

UMass:  35   Salve Regina:  7  J.T. all day i'm guessing 175/3

Plymouth:  28   Nichols:  10 having their first good year since the loss of carven but they're not there yet

MME:  21   MMA:  7  no reasoning what so ever...who knows when these two play

WNEC:  28   MIT:  14  WNEC is just better

Worcester:  105 (42)   Fitchburg:  98 (35)  high power passing attacks without defense

Curry:  35   Endicott:  14  EC plays one half then Curry proves a point again

Bridgewater:  35   Coast Guard:  17  a few notes for the skeptics....

Clark:  last two games 19-25 for 216 yds and 2 td's (12 first downs)
Defense:  4th in scoring, 5th in total
X Factor:  Bascon still controls half the field, the reason his numbers are down is because no one will throw the ball near him  (led the nation in breakups last year)

[Boxer7806]

greatdaytobabear... good for you puttin up some stats that followed my comments about a BSC win over CGA... BSC D is good enough to shut down CGA and clark has been throwing the ball immensely better over the past two weeks, he looked sharp last week against framingham with his rollouts... im glad your on the framingham bandwagon hahah good to see them get support after this board had ripped them apart for a long time... i think maine deserves a little more respect they have had a solid program for a while and seem destined again to be over 500. and thier game agasint mass will be a good one becuase MMA d is 2nd or 3rd in total D in the conference

[Pat Coleman]

Just a reminder that this week's D3Cast Game of the Week is the Curry/Endicott game. Kickoff at 7 p.m., with free online video.

http://www.d3football.com/d3cast

[Boxer7806]

Pat thanks for the update...good to see the NEFC getting some positive coverage... Curry will win this game easily...look for a big game out of pinto their nose tackle...has put up some impressive stats over the past years on these guys

[InTheMix]

ok, let's see how my picks are for this week

UMD over SRU 35-12   Salve just can't keep up with the better teams

Westfield over Framingham  18-0   This could be a lot closer though

Plymouth State over Nichols  28-21  Two tough teams trying to get their name out there

MMA over MME  35-10 MMA Defense is too good

WNEC over MIT  40-14  brains don't win games

Worcester over Fitchburg  56-49  a good day for QBs

CGA over Bridgewater  14-10  hard to tel which team will show up

Lastly, the game of the week


Curry over EC  35-14  it's Curry's homecoming, EC can't get the offense and defense on the same page. Some close games in the past, but this one is easy for Curry.   

[Boxer7806]

in the mix...going against the grain this week and making some bold picks... MMA offense will not put up 35 against Maine..i think maine is one of the most underrated teams in the conference and will win i think Maine... not to long ago i remember they beat Curry which i dont think any other team on the bogan side has down in a very long time

[Gr8Day2BaBear]

I just wish I put the stats up yesterday like I was going to...haha...Although I'm curious why a defense that held CGA to 21 and 22 last year wouldn't be able to slow them down this year with more then half the starters back, Gullgrad?...The battle of the Bears is a new rivalry and I think the right Bridgewater team will show up, but it's going to be an awsome game.

As for Framingham you could never hate em, just kind of felt bad for em....And what everyone said now seems to be true, I guess it was the coaching staff.

Maine is solid until they get behind.  They remind me a lot of Navy, run the ball great but can't pass when they get behind.  It keeps teams close which is never a good thing.  The year they beat Curry was the year that Thibodeau was one of the top running backs in the nation, they would have done better in the league if Bridgewater and Fitchburg weren't stacked that year.