FB: Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference

[D3MAFAN]

Very curious to see how MIT fares this weekend. I am rooting for the Engineers b/c Coach Chad is a former teammate, but I guess I wouldn't be surprised if the Gulls won.

Might argue SC is better than Husson, but I wouldn't rank them higher than WNE since they lost the H2H (eventho I think if they played this wkd SC would win).

It is always good to see new teams emerge, but I think I would rather see a team that schedules strong and plays well regardless if they win or lose represent the conference. In addition, if MIT does win out, they are essentially knocking off another good team in that of Framingham State, which would continue to hurt the North East region in trying to improve itself. Nevertheless, if MIT wins out and wins a game or two (unlikely), that would be great for the region and DIII.

[ECoastFootball]

It is always good to see new teams emerge, but I think I would rather see a team that schedules strong and plays well regardless if they win or lose represent the conference. In addition, if MIT does win out, they are essentially knocking off another good team in that of Framingham State, which would continue to hurt the North East region in trying to improve itself. Nevertheless, if MIT wins out and wins a game or two (unlikely), that would be great for the region and DIII.

Agreed. I'll definitely be pulling for Endicott. 1, I think they should be rewarded for scheduling tough teams OOC, and 2. I obvioulsy would like to see Framingham in the playoffs at 9-1. If MIT knocks Endicott down to 7-3 (6-4 maybe with WNEU looming) and Rowan takes another L, Fram will be in trouble.

That being said, I'm not worried because I think Endicott is the best team of the bunch.

[GoTech73]

It is always good to see new teams emerge, but I think I would rather see a team that schedules strong and plays well regardless if they win or lose represent the conference. In addition, if MIT does win out, they are essentially knocking off another good team in that of Framingham State, which would continue to hurt the North East region in trying to improve itself. Nevertheless, if MIT wins out and wins a game or two (unlikely), that would be great for the region and DIII.

Agreed. I'll definitely be pulling for Endicott. 1, I think they should be rewarded for scheduling tough teams OOC, and 2. I obvioulsy would like to see Framingham in the playoffs at 9-1. If MIT knocks Endicott down to 7-3 (6-4 maybe with WNEU looming) and Rowan takes another L, Fram will be in trouble.

That being said, I'm not worried because I think Endicott is the best team of the bunch.

FWIW, MIT is working to line up WPI and possibly RPI next year. OOC the past few years has indeed been poor, but Coach Chad was still getting his feet under him.

Regardless of OOC, this weekend will say a lot about who deserves to be where. Looking to be a cold and rainy mess, but should be a great game nonetheless.

[Boxer7806]

Wpi stinks. Rpi will be a step in the right direction. Endicott might be in trouble. Weather for saturday favors a team who can run the ball. I think mit does it better. Going to be fun to watch.

[ECoastFootball]

Wpi stinks. Rpi will be a step in the right direction. Endicott might be in trouble. Weather for saturday favors a team who can run the ball. I think mit does it better. Going to be fun to watch.

WPI has lost four in a row to Worcester State. One of those Worcester States was a 3-7 MASCAC team. RPI is definitely a good game though.

[ITH radio]

Yeah those Woo State losses don't help but WPI has quitely started to turn things around. They've won 2 straight and have the 3rd best defense in the LL. What hurts them is their offense. Dead last in scoring. If that improves, they will become more competitive.

[ECoastFootball]

Week 8 Projections for the MASCAC
(Apparently I know nothing about the MASCAC. Went 1-3 this past week, which brings my MASCAC record in-conference to 20-4 on the year. 31-10 or 0.756 for the year counting OOC games.)

All games this week are Saturday, November 1st

UMass Dartmouth (3-5, 2-4) - 14
@ 8. WEST CONN (5-3, 4-2) - 48
West Conn may shut down UMD, the Corsairs will probably get around 14 points off explosive plays. Offensively look for both Mack and Nicol to have big days rushing. West Conn has outscored opponents 211-46 in their last four games coming off of losses.

1. Framingham State (6-1, 4-0) - 45
@ Mass Maritime (2-5, 1-4) - 21

Maritime has played the better teams in conference tough, and got in the win column last week, but Framingham is a different animal. I wouldn't be surprised if this game was close at first as Framingham starts slow and Bennett maybe rips one off. I expect the Rams to distance themselves in the second half and for Beckerman to have a big day.

Westfield State (4-3, 3-2) - 10
@ 9. FITCHBURG STATE (5-2, 3-2) - 14
I think that the Owl defense will definitely give the Falcons fits. They'll force Dellechiaie to make mistakes and throw a pick or two, and he won't be able to turn to his running game against Westfield's front seven. The issue will be the Owl O v Falcon D. If Mercadante struggled against BWater, he is in for a really rough one against a much better D tomorrow.

Plymouth State (1-6, 0-5) - 7
@ 7. Worcester State (5-2, 3-2) - 41
The worst defense in the league against the second best offense? This one should get ugly fast. Doesn't matter who plays Q in this one, the Lancers can play the young kid (who played well enough against West Conn) to get him experience and let Viencek rest for trips to Westfield and Framingham to close the season.


Thoughts?

[Pat Coleman]

We broke the news today that indeed, the MASCAC does not have an automatic bid this year. The NCAA folks had them with an AQ in the handbook, but we knew that to be incorrect:
http://www.d3football.com/notables/2014/10/ncaa-reverses-course-no-bid-for-saa-mascac

[Boxer7806]

Yeah those Woo State losses don't help but WPI has quitely started to turn things around. They've won 2 straight and have the 3rd best defense in the LL. What hurts them is their offense. Dead last in scoring. If that improves, they will become more competitive.

Hasn't WPI had good defenses in the past as well? I feel like the only beat up the bottom feeders in the NEFC/MASCAC, and even that hasn't happened recently. I rather see RPI in here playing these 2 New England conferences. On another note, I have a sneaky feeling Bridgewater is going to give Framingham a reallllllll good game. I'm not predicting a win, but having Green back changes everything. He completely changed the dynamic of that Westfield game and is just a flat burner. Now I know Fram. has the best D in the league it terms of points and pass yards, but they have given up some big games to St.Juste from Fitch. and Aborishade from Umass D this year and I think Green is just as good if not better then both those guys. Higgins has some mobility and could extend plays and find Green open for some big plays down the field. No offense to Plymouth St and Mass Maritime, the past two teams the Rams have shut out and dismantled, the Bears are more talented on both sides of the ball and have done a good job containing that offense in the past.

[ECoastFootball]

MASCAC POWER RANKINGS FOLLOWING WEEK 9
I apologize for my tardiness to all of those anxiously awaiting my power rankings. Drumroll please............ Framingham is 1, West Conn is 2, Plymouth is 9, a bunch of other teams are ranked 3-8.

1.   (LW 1) Framingham State Rams (7-1, 6-0)
Framingham absolutely steamrolled Maritime. They have Bridgewater this week, which should be a better game, but not by much. This will be the most talented secondary Green has seen, a DLine that will give the Bears problem, and a WR core that has 2 different kids who rival Green in ability. Rams should roll.

2.   (LW 2) Western Connecticut State Colonials (6-3, 5-2)
Nice character win by the colonials. 14-14 in the fourth against a scrappy UMD team and their defense picked up the pressure while their offense figured out the Corsairs. The game was close, but nothing is easy in the MASCAC (except a trip to New Hampshire). WCSU keeps their hopes for an ECAC birth alive.

3.    (LW 6) Westfield State Owls (5-3, 4-2)
Big win for the Owls who are my sleeper for an ECAC game (although I don't think they would fare well with an E8 team, I think they would do well against a LL or NEFC opponent). With Worcester and West Conn ahead of them, they control their destiny for the #2 spot. Led by a stout defense and good running game, I like their formula.

4.  (LW 4) Worcester State Lancers (6-2, 4-2)
Nice easy win for the Lancers. Viencek was back and played well, which is big for their stretch run. They will be tested for real now, as they finish up with a trip to Westfield before heading to Framingham. Worcester has been tough throughout the year, but I would not be shocked at a 6-4 finish. I think Westfield will be able to run on them and will give the Lancer O troubles, and Framingham...

5.   (LW 3) Fitchburg State Falcons (5-3, 3-3)
Tough loss for the Falcons as Dellechiaie was bottled up (10-28 with 1 TD and 4 picks). Trailing 28-7 heading into the fourth is not where the Falcons expected to be. Merc averaged 6 yards per on his 28 carries, and you're not going to beat anyone doing that. With UMass and Plymouth left, they should still finish 7-3, but I don't know if that gets them an ECAC game with losses to Westfield and West Conn. We shall see.

6.   (LW 5) Bridgewater State Bears (4-4, 3-3)
Bears used a bye to get ready for Framingham. The Bears haven't beaten Framingham since 2009, and were even shut out by the Rams the year they went to the playoffs and lost to Widener. This may be the best Rams team in the last 5 years, it will be interesting to see if BSU can give them a test.

7.    (LW 7) Massachusetts Maritime Buccaneers (2-6, 1-5)
Welp, that one hurt and wasn't close. On the bright side, Maritime finishes up with Plymouth and Bridgewater, so they have a shot at 4-6. I didn't watch the Framingham game, but Rosano and Bennett combining for 3 catches and 5 yards isn't awesome. Their production will definitely be up for Plymouth, but it better be up for the Bears too for them to have shot in that one.

8.    (LW  8) UMass Dartmouth Corsairs (3-5, 2-4)
Another game where UMass plays tough for a good portion and falls away late. No Aborishade is a tough break, would have been interesting to see how he matched up with West Conn's athletic secondary. After two down weeks the Defense stepped up for 3 quarters, and they'll need to do it for four this Saturday if the Corsairs want to have a shot at Fitch. Definitely a winnable game, but Fitch will clearly be the favorite.

9.    (LW 9) Plymouth State Panthers (1-7, 0-6)
The hits keep coming for the Panthers. Maritime is the first winnable game they have seen on their schedule in over a month, so I expect a lot of fight out of the Panthers. Plymouth lost a shootout 46-44 (yep the Panthers put up 44) last year, so this one may be grabbable for them at home.

[ECoastFootball]

Week 8 (11/3/14) of the New England SID Poll is out and is as follows: http://www.wesleyan.edu/athletics/football/link-resources/poll.html ... I have taken out the NESCAC teams but you can see them in the link.

Rank (Rank w.NESCAC Teams Included) Team
1 (2) MIT
2 (3) Framingham
3 (7) Husson
4 (8) Worcester State
5 (9) Western New England
6 (10) Springfield
7 (11) Endicott
8 (12) Western Connecticut
9 (13) Norwich


My New England Poll (minus the NESCAC*)
Rank  (LW) Team - Conference - (Record, Reasoning)
1(1)    Framingham State - MASCAC - (7-1, Pounded Maritime.)
2(3)    MIT - NEFC - (7-0, Huge win over Endicott. MIT to the NCAAs. Two acronyms I never thought I would see together for Football.)
3(2)    Endicott - NEFC - (5-3, Lost a tough game to MIT, may have gone the other way with bad weather, but this is New England, you should expect a game or two a year like this. With losses to Hobart and #1 and #2 on this list, I still have a lot of respect for this group.)
4(6)  Springfield - LL - (5-3, Bye week. Visit from RPI this week.)
5(5)  Husson - ECFC - (7-1, Beat up one of the 2 worst teams in the country. They play the other on Saturday)
6(7)  Worcester St - MASCAC - (6-2, Beat lowly Plymouth, head to Westfield Saturday for what should be a great game)
7(8)  West Conn - MASCAC - (6-3, pulled away from UMD late. Bye week and then Westfield)
8(4)    WNEU - NEFC - (6-2, lost to Curry. Curry is not good.)
9(NR)    Westfield State - MASCAC - (5-3, Knocked Fitch out of these rankings 28-14.)
10 The Season isn't over, but no one else has proven they belong in the top 10.


Dropped Out: Fitchburg (Lost to Westfield)

My thoughts on Norwich, who the SIDs rank 13th, or 9th w/othe NESCACs: That league is bad, I mean real bad. Norwich beat SLU, sure, but they also lost to a 4-4 RPI team. Who else have they beaten all year? No one. They only beat 0-fer Anna Maria by 8. Mt Ida is competing for the title in the ECFC with a 4-1 conference record, Mt Ida went 0-3 ooc, losing to UMD (7th or 8th in the MASCAC), Plymouth ( last in the MASCAC) and Springfield (by 31). This is their biggest win of the year outside of SLU.

Thoughts?

[ITH radio]

I think the Norwich win over SLU was a fluke. It's a shame too b/c SLU and HOB would be all that more interesting if both came into this wkd's championship game at 8-0. SLU's SOS is high and maybe could have earned a Pool C (long shot but you never know) which hasn't happened in the LL for a long time.

[ECoastFootball]

I think the Norwich win over SLU was a fluke. It's a shame too b/c SLU and HOB would be all that more interesting if both came into this wkd's championship game at 8-0. SLU's SOS is high and maybe could have earned a Pool C (long shot but you never know) which hasn't happened in the LL for a long time.

I did not watch the game, but that makes logical sense to me.

[Pat Coleman]

I think the Norwich win over SLU was a fluke. It's a shame too b/c SLU and HOB would be all that more interesting if both came into this wkd's championship game at 8-0. SLU's SOS is high and maybe could have earned a Pool C (long shot but you never know) which hasn't happened in the LL for a long time.

I did not watch the game, but that makes logical sense to me.

Honestly, if St. Lawrence is good enough to merit an at-large bid to a very small field, then it would not lose to Norwich, no matter how fluky.

[D3MAFAN]

I don't think WNEC should have dropped that far. I know Curry is not good, but I can betcha if they played 10 times, WNEC would win 90% of those games by double digits. However, it is what it is now and Curry was the better team that day.