D-I talk, B.C., and a partridge in a pear tree

The Boston Herald ran an Associated Press article in regards to UMass’ potential move to Division I-A football. A lot of “we-already-knew-this” stuff, but one thing stuck out to me:

School spokesman Bob Connolly said playing in the top division would bring UMass more money, as well as help with image branding. He said such a move would mean expanding McGuirk Stadium and adding scholarships.

Anyway, here’s the article. I’m sure a big win at Boston College would bode well for UMass’ D-I momentum — and would severely damage my party tab.

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The Daily Collegian had a couple of good sidebars for the B.C. game. One in regards to Liam Coen and how he wanted to play for the Eagles, and the other is about the history between the two teams — a very strange history that I hope the Collegian’ Eli Rosenswaike gets into again.

Here’s the Coen article, and here’s the history article.

I like this quote from Coen:

“[BC] was a spot I was looking at, and they were looking at me for a while,” Coen said. “But I ended up coming here, and that was a great thing for me. It’s good for me to be able to go back there and play them.”

It has been a great thing for UMass as well Liam.

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The B.C./UMass game was mentioned in USA Today:

The Minutemen might be more of a challenge for the Eagles than Army was last week. UMass is ranked second in I-AA and were beaten in the title game last year by … Appalachian State. Boston College 38, Massachusetts 10.

Here’s the whole Top 25 breakdown.

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Apparently Ben Roethlisberger is still close with Mark Whipple — Ben’s first quarterback coach:

He hasn’t spoken with Whisenhunt since he took the head coaching position in Arizona. In contrast, Roethlisberger said Wednesday he and former quarterbacks coach Mark Whipple — whom Tomlin chose not to retain — still speak a couple of times per week.

Here’s the rest of the article.

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Tyler Granelli, who apparently had UMass in his sites, has opted to sign with the Syracuse lacrosse team:

Granelli opted for the Orange over Stony Brook. He also visited Towson and UMass.

Here’s the rest of the article.