Good morning!
All you need to know about Tuesday’s UMass football game at Akron is what happened on the first play from scrimmage, a flea flicker. Quarterback A.J. Hairston took the snap and handed the ball to tailback Rocko Griffin who slipped and fell as he turned to toss it back to Hairston. The ball bounced off Hairston’s foot over to an Akron player who recovered it at the UMass 19 yard line.
“The young man did not get the flicker back to the quarterback,” CBS analyst Rick Neuheisel joked at halftime.
“Disastrous!” exclaimed broadcaster Jordan Kent.
“Absolutely catastrophic!” said color man Logan Ryan.
The Zips scored in three plays and the rout was on, 44-10.
UMass fell to 0-9 but has a chance against NIU (2-7) at McGuirk on Wednesday. The Huskies are winless on the road and their lone MAC win was 21-7 against Ball State. Their other win was 19-17 against Holy Cross in the season opener.
One other bit of football news this week was that Thorr Bjorn— an oft’-injured offensive lineman at UMass from 1987-89 — is coming to Amherst to look over football coach Joe Harasymiak’s shoulder. Or is he looking over AD Ryan Bamford’s shoulder? Or both shoulders?
According to various sources, Bjorn will be making $395,000 annually for five years which is $27,000 more than he was making as URI’s longtime athletic director.
The news broke on ESPN — Bamford regularly disregards giving breaking news to the local media, unaware the rest of the country couldn’t care less. “What possibly can Thorr do for the UMass football program?” asked our Providence contact Paul White.
Well Paul, he does have one year of eligibility left.
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Amherst College (4-4) hosts Williams today in “The biggest little game in America.” The rivalry began in 1884, and Williams leads the all-time series, 76-57-5
Unlike the 3-1/2 hour slogfests at UMass, D-III football is played crisply and quickly. When Amherst beat Williams in front of 2,318 fans two years ago, the game kicked off at noon and ended at 2:12 p.m. Pratt Field at Lehrman Stadium is located off of Rte. 9 midway up the hill toward the Amherst town common. Admission is free and there’s no charge to park.
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Pity the poor Jays fans who had to see both Games 6 and 7 end on double plays. On Friday, Andres Gimenez hit a soft line drive caught by left fielder Enrique Hernandez who doubled off Addison Barger at second base. Thanks for coming, and please drive home safely.
The lightning-like turn of events reminded me of when Cardinals pinch runner Kolten Wong was picked off first base by Red Sox reliever Koji Uehara to end Game 4 of the 2013 World Series. Joe Buck’s sidekick Tim McCarver audibly groaned. McCarver played for the Cardinals and couldn’t help showing his colors.
On Saturday, Mookie Betts fielded Alejandro Kirk’s ground ball, stepped on second base and with the demeanor of a matador moving in for the kill, threw to first baseman Freddie Freeman to end the fall classic.
Jays fans must’ve been feeling the same way as Earl Weaver did after one of his Orioles hit into a double play. “You could’ve at least had the decency to strike out,” said Weaver.
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UMass Hoops Loops: There’s no excitement quite like a UMass basketball season opener, as attested by the 7,237 empty seats in the Mullins Center for Monday’s tip-off against Marshall. The season began much like last season ended — a 78-72 loss to Marshall compared to a 78-71 loss to LaSalle.
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Swampscott’s Will Bush, who was named a Boston Globe Division 5 Player of the Week for his four touchdowns against Salem, has local connections. “Will’s grandfather Bill Bush played at GHS and was head coach at Swampscott,” said Bob Dobias. “His great grandfather “Bullet” Lou Bush was an All American running back at UMass, and Lou’s brother George still lives in Turners Falls.”
The Big Blue played undefeated Archbishop Williams last night in the first round of the D-5 Super Bowl.
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SQUIBBERS: Kudos to Joe Harasymiak for sending cornerback Brennen Bailey to the showers after he was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct against Akron. Harasymiak is working to get the stench out from the Don Brown regime. Pioneer Athletic Director Nick Adams announced this week that PVRS alumnus Seth Kratz has been named the new coach of the Panthers boys basketball team. … The Springfield Thunderbirds signed former Bruin Milan Lucic to a professional tryout contract this week, similar to how the Whalers signed Bobby Hull in the waning days of his career. … BSJ’s Greg Bedard lauded the Patriots for not trading draft picks for players at Tuesday’s deadline. “Mike Vrabel says they’ve got a long term plan and I agree. They need their picks, they need to build up the team depth. You want a sustainable winner, not a one year flash-in-the-pan [like Washington].” … Mac Jones was 19 of 24 with two touchdowns and no interceptions in last week’s win against the Giants. “I can’t believe how much football I didn’t know,” said Jones, who was much maligned while he was with the Patriots. … The announced attendance at InfoCision Stadium on Tuesday was 5,004. When UMass first got into the FBS, the NCAA warned them that teams had to average 15,000 fans or else. Or else what? The Minutemen have averaged 10,132 this season. … Every now and then a play-by-play announcer eschews a garden variety word for something better. On Friday during the UMass-Cornell game, Nathan Strauss said an injured player was “holding his neck, as if to suggest some malfeasance.” Nice job Nathan, now just tone down the volume whenever UMass tweaks the twine. …. Shame on UMass winger Cam O’Neill for flopping like he’d been hit by a Gordie Howe slapshot after he was bumped by a Cornell player. … Terry Kennedy on Friday’s 2-1 win against Cornell: “Both were from net presence — tip in and rebound. Always good to see success on another Valleeeeee Solar power play.” … Don’t think less of Mookie for wearing that gaudy chain around his neck. It’s plastic, and he’s worn it for luck ever since a young fan gave it to him when he was still with the Red Sox. … Mookie needs 57 more games to reach 794, the same number he played for the Red Sox. … Handicappers got their first glimpse at the early Kentucky Derby favorite last weekend when Ted Noffey won the Breeders Cup Juvenile at 4-to-5 odds. … Worth noting: Rafael Devers was ninth in the majors with a .372 on-base percentage; Randy Arozarena’s .334 OBP was aided by an MLB-leading 27 HBP’s. … Blue Jays center fielder Daulton Barshow is named for the late Darren Daulton who was a three-time All-Star with the Phillies. … Dolphins owner Stephen Ross was caught throwing a fit in Atlanta when his limo wasn’t parked close enough to his private jet. Yeah, it must be rough. … During the Islanders-Panthers game on Halloween, a cameraman zoomed in on a fan who was wearing sunglasses and dressed in a ref’s jersey. … The Dodgers are 7/2 to three-peat as World Series champs. The Yankees are +750, the Mets are 14/1, and the Red Sox are 16/1. The Jays are 20/1. … Mickey Mantle hit 536 home runs. I’ll bet you didn’t know 80 of his hits were bunts. … Before a game against Boston, Yankees pitcher Bobby Shantz was told how to pitch to Ted Williams: “It was great advice, very encouraging. They said he had no weakness, won’t swing at a bad ball, has the best eyes in the business, and can kill you with one swing. He won’t hit anything bad, but don’t give him anything good.”