Notes and Thoughts on College Football Every Day: College Football Teams in New England

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October 26th:

  • Harvard impressively beat Princeton yesterday for their 50th win all-time in this series that began in 1877, but they still trail in the overall series results 60-50-7.

  • UMaine quietly won their fourth game in a row after easily beating Elon 35-17 in Orono. The Black Bears now find themselves in fourth place in the CAA standings, with two very winnable games before they face Rhode Island and UNH.

  • Yale has bounced back nicely after their last second loss to Dartmouth two weeks ago with an easy win over Penn. If they continue down this track, their home game with Harvard on 11/22 will be for all the marbles - conference title and playoff berth.

  • Holy Cross had their hopes taken away for a seventh straight Patriot League title after losing to Colgate 29-28. The Crusaders have had a tough season, as they are 1-5 in one possession games this fall.

October 25th:

  • One of the great traditions in NCAA Division III football continues on Saturday at noon in New London, Connecticut with 1-5 Norwich facing 5-1 Coast Guard in the Little Army-Navy game. It has been a tough year for the Cadets who are coming off a 42-0 loss to SUNY Maritime and beating Coast Guard would be perhaps the greatest upset in the history of this storied series. Meanwhile, the Bears have been on fire. They have reeled off five straight victories after losing the opener, a 56-49 shootout to the University of New England.

October 24th:

  • After last week’s win over Richmond, Holy Cross has kept alive their slim hope of getting at least a share of their seventh straight Patriot League title. With a 1-6 record on the season, the Crusaders obviously need to win their last five games.

  • UConn has a chance this weekend to clinch their third bowl bid in four seasons with a win over Rice. Last week’s win over Boston College was their second victory over the Eagles in the last four years after having been winless since the series began in 1908.

  • The transition to D1 has gone okay for New Haven, as they are coming off a bye week with a 4-3 record. Now they play an opponent that they are familiar with from their Division II days - LIU. The former Pioneers did get the best of the Chargers in their NE-10 days, winning 8 of their 10 matchups between 1983 and 2018.

  • Brown has beaten both Rhode Island and Bryant this season, so the Bulldog and Ram game is a battle for second place in Rhode Island. I’m thinking that the Rams are more concerned with getting a CAA win to go 5-0 in conference play.

October 23rd:

  • Last week, for the first time in 50 years, Maine Maritime played a team from Maine. Unfortunately for the Mariners, UNE came to Castine and laid a licking on the home team - beating them 77-14!

  • The last team from Maine that MMA played: Colby. On October 20, 1975 the Mules beat the Mariners in Waterville, 17-0.

  • With the NESCAC participating in the Division III Football Championship next year, maybe the league will add a non-conference game or two. The most appealing one that I can think of: Middlebury vs. Norwich. Their next meeting would be the 100th time they get together on the gridiron.

  • This week’s New England pillow fight: Maine Maritime at New England College. The Mariners and Pilgrims are meeting for the first time since 1972. MMA leads the all-time series 4-0.

  • What will Curry’s Montie Quinn do for an encore this weekend against Western New England? Quinn only rushed for 522 yards last week against Nichols - on only 20 carries! With four games left, he has a chance to hit 2,000 yards rushing for the season in just ten games, as he currently sits at 1,450 yards (on 123 rushes).

September 20th:

  • After Assumption’s surprisingly easy win over St. Anselm last night at home, I’m wondering if the NE10 title will come down to the Assumption/Bentley winner when they meet on November 8th.

September 4th:

  • The Pilgrims of New England College will restart their varsity football team after 52 years when they host Plymouth State. How exciting for them that it is a home game!

  • I will be up in Castine this weekend, but unfortunately Maine Maritime opens their first full season since 2019 on the road against Hartwick College. The Mariners are looking to end a 22-game losing streak.

  • The Engineers of WPI will be hosting the Engineers of RPI in Worcester this weekend. These rivals have played 117 times (RPI leads 64-48-5) since 1894, and they have played for the Transit Trophy since 1980 - RPI leads the trophy series 30-13-1.

  • New England’s pillow fight of the week: Dean at Fitchburg State. These two MASCAC conference opponents are predicted to finish at the bottom of the conference according the the Preseason Coaches Poll.

September 2nd:

  • Rhode Island won their conference opener over Campbell, but had to score the last 17 points in the game to secure the victory. The Rams will have to play better to beat their next two opponents, Stony Brook and Holy Cross, both of which are on the road.

  • UConn and Central Connecticut State had a great turnout at Rentschler Stadium as the crowd was close to 38k strong. Funny thing - it was a home game for the Huskies, but the Blue Devils had to travel only half the distance to Hartford.

  • I was feeling pretty good about seeing a new and improved UMass team under Joe Harasymiak, but Temple came to Amherst and crushed the Minutemen, 42-10. They should bounce back against Bryant though…I hope.