Category: Central Connecticut State Blue Devils
CCSU Alone in First after Topping Danes
NEW BRITAIN — The irony wasn’t lost on Central’s football team. A year ago at Albany, the Blue Devils staged a stirring comeback, only to miss the would-be-tying two-point conversion with 55 seconds left. Saturday, Albany needed a two-point conversion to tie the game with 59 ticks on the clock.
This time, the Great Danes missed and Central had a great win.
An offensive pass interference call wiped out Albany’s first try at the conversion, and Central’s Ray Saunders tackled quarterback Vinny Esposito to stop the Danes’ second try as Central hung on for a 31-29 win before 3,698 raucous fans at Arute Field.
“The tables turn fast,” CCSU quarterback Aubrey Norris said. “We had to get this win.”
Mountain Hawks Regroup After Rough Start to Season
It wasn’t supposed to start this way.
Not after all of the optimistic talk and positive vibes through the offseason. Not with a clear-cut choice and the reigning Lehigh-Lafayette MVP back at quarterback. Not with a gorgeous late-summer Saturday that eliminated bad weather as a potential obstacle.
Maybe Central Connecticut State is so good it will roll to the Northeast Conference title and qualify for the FCS playoffs.
Maybe Lehigh will look back on its disappointing opener and say it was just the kick in the pants needed to jump-start the season.
But for now, what happened Saturday at Goodman Stadium has to be alarming to anyone who cares about the program.
Lehigh Offense Listless in 28-21 Defeat to Central Connecticut State
Central Connecticut State, coached by a Lehigh Valley native, dominates play.
Saturday ended much better than it started for Jeff McInerney.
The Central Connecticut State football coach torn a quadriceps muscle in the morning when he slipped in his hotel shower.
It forced him to get around on crutches the rest of the day.
That was about the only thing preventing him from jumping for joy as he watched his Blue Devils dominate on the ground and in other areas in posting a stunning 28-21 win over Lehigh before 6,140 mostly disappointed fans at Goodman Stadium.
Lehigh Has Tough Task of Stopping CCSU's Potent Rushing Attack
The Lehigh University Mountain Hawks are going to have to do some adjusting to deal with Central Connecticut State’s offense in Saturday’s season opener at Goodman Stadium.
After an offseason of scrimmaging against the same players and schemes, the Mountain Hawks have to deal with an option-oriented Blue Devils team with featured running back James Mallory coming off a 1,520-yard season.
Lehigh coach Andy Coen said CCSU will look to establish the run early and often with its preseason All-American back.
Albany Favored in the NEC, All-Conference Team Named
UAlbany stands as the unanimous favorite to capture the 2009 Northeast Conference football crown, which would be its third straight. The Great Danes received eight first-place votes to finish atop an annual survey of league’s head coaches for a fourth consecutive season. Monmouth, the 2008 NEC runner-up, garnered the lone remaining first-place nod to finish second in the preseason poll, the results of which were announced during a media teleconference Tuesday morning. The Conference also unveiled its Preseason All-NEC Team during the media session, which served as a prelude to the NEC’s 14th season on the gridiron.
- 2485 words - Northeast Conference, Monmouth Hawks, Albany Great Danes, Central Connecticut State Blue Devils, Wagner Seahawks, Duquesne Dukes, Robert Morris Colonials, Saint Francis (PA) Red Flash, Sacred Heart Pioneers Northeast Conference Announces 2009 Television Slate
Set to commence its 14th football season, the Northeast Conference (NEC) today announced plans to televise four games in 2009.
- 437 words - Northeast Conference, Monmouth Hawks, Albany Great Danes, Central Connecticut State Blue Devils, Wagner Seahawks, Duquesne Dukes, Robert Morris Colonials, Saint Francis (PA) Red Flash, Sacred Heart Pioneers Spring Practice Here for CCSU
Let the battle begin.
Again.
While the start of Central Connecticut’s spring football season will bring little more than practices and occasional scrimmages to begin the road towards this fall’s season, rabid football fans tend to read things into every move a team makes, particularly at the college level.
So while head coach Jeff McInerney tries to install his systems and get some players into new roles, all most people will watch is the quarterbacks.
Fordham Football Announces New Assistant Coaches
Bronx, N.Y. - Fordham University head football coach Tom Masella announced the addition of three assistant coaches to his staff with the hiring of Malik Hall, Ed Morrissey and John Wholley. Hall will direct the defensive line and serve as the special teams coordinator while Morrissey will be in charge of the offensive line and will be the recruiting coordinator and Wholley will coach the running backs and slot receivers. Additionally, Masella announced that assistant coach Patrick Moore has been elevated to defensive coordinator while assistant Bryan Volk has been promoted to offensive coordinator.
- 839 words - Patriot League, Massachusetts Minutemen, Hofstra Pride, Brown Bears, Central Connecticut State Blue Devils, Fordham Rams Northeast Conference Announces Recent NCAA Appointments
Four athletic administrators from the Northeast Conference (NEC) have been appointed to various positions within the NCAA governance structure. Central Connecticut State Director of Athletics C.J. Jones was reappointed to the Division I Football Championship Committee.
- 442 words - Northeast Conference, Central Connecticut State Blue Devils, Robert Morris Colonials Northeast Conference Announces 2008 Fall Scholar-Athlete Winners & Academic Honor Roll
Robert Morris junior linebacker Adam Lawrence (Big Run, PA/Dubois Area) is the recipient of the NEC scholar-athlete award in football.
- 269 words - Northeast Conference, Central Connecticut State Blue Devils, Robert Morris Colonials, Sacred Heart Pioneers RMU's Russ Gains 163 Yards in NEC Win
With one senior on the starting defense and three on offense, the future looks bright for Robert Morris, which has experienced tough times in recent years.
The young Colonials (4-5, 3-2 Northeast Conference) seem to be on the upswing after an impressive 27-14 victory against Central Connecticut at Robert Morris’ Moon Township campus yesterday. It was Robert Morris’ third consecutive NEC victory after a 1-4 start.
“We’re starting to recruit a little better kid the last couple of years and a lot of them are playing,” said Robert Morris coach Joe Walton, whose program appeared headed for a third losing season in four years after a heartbreaking, 31-28 loss at Sacred Heart Oct. 4.
Monmouth Wins Fifth Straight Contest
The Monmouth University football team continues to make its 0-3 start to the season a distant memory. The Hawks overcame a shaky start on Saturday to defeat Northeast Conference rival Central Connecticut State, 30-20, on Homecoming at Kessler Field on Saturday afternoon.
With its fifth win in a row, the Hawks (5-3, 4-0 in NEC play) assured that this coming weekend’s showdown at Albany (also 4-0 in NEC play) would determine the top team in the NEC. While MU will walk into Saturday’s game as the underdog, it is a role the Hawks have embraced this year. And based on their strong showing against a good CCSU team this past weekend, head coach Kevin Callahan’s team seems ready to prove themselves in the season’s biggest game to date.
Pride on the Line for Senior Blue Devils
NEW BRITAIN — When the Central Connecticut State football team gathered for practice on Tuesday, the ingredients were in place for a flat day. The Blue Devils were coming off a loss at Monmouth that crippled their hopes of winning the Northeast Conference. The injury bug had bitten Central. Worse yet, the weather was unforgiving. Its hard enough to get ready for a football practice in nice weather. It’s much tougher in the cold rain that fell on Tuesday.
Head coach Jeff McInerney, by his own admission, entered that practice feeling down. By the end of the week, his spirits were lifted and he was back to being his usual jovial self.
The Blue Devils were anything but flat.
2-Point Try Fails, UAlbany Prevails
Danes eke out victory in long-awaited home debut.
ALBANY — When Central Connecticut brought out the swinging gate, the University at Albany football team slammed it shut.
The Great Danes stopped the Blue Devils’ 2-point conversion attempt out of the swinging gate formation with 55 seconds left to preserve UAlbany’s 24-22 victory in a key Northeast Conference game on Saturday afternoon.
Senior linebacker Justin Brancaccio broke up the pass intended for Central Connecticut’s Nick Colagiovanni to secure the win in UAlbany’s long-awaited home opener before 2,436 fans at University Field.
For Danes, Home is Tough Test
Team plays 1st game on own field vs. hungry foe.
ALBANY — There’s a sign colored in University at Albany purple and gold that’s pinned to a bulletin board outside the Central Connecticut weight room.
It reads, “49-14,'’ the embarrassing score of UAlbany’s rout of the Blue Devils in New Britain last season with the Northeast Conference title at stake.
That memory stuck with Central Connecticut throughout the off-season and into Saturday’s rematch at 1 p.m. on University Field.
Great Danes Relieved to be Home
University at Albany’s road warriors finally get the opportunity to play at home today when the Great Danes host Central Connecticut State University in a Northeast Conference game at University Field at 1 p.m.
The 1-0, 2-3 Great Danes opened the season with five consecutive road games, and have played eight straight on the road over the last two seasons. CCSU is also 1-0 in the NEC and 4-1 overall.
Four of UAlbany’s first five games were against teams ranked among the top 25 in preseason polls.
Central Connecticut Beats Wagner, 35-10
NEW BRITAIN - The tip of the football was inches from the Wagner goal line and it was fourth down. Central Connecticut had a four-point lead and it was deep into the third quarter.
For some coaches, this is a situation that requires deliberation. Central Connecticut coach Jeff McInerney isn’t one of them.
McInerney called timeout not to debate whether to kick or go, but to make sure the play call was right. The call was ripped from the belly series, the most basic in football, and fullback Josh Vargas walked into the end zone untouched.
NDSU Game About CCSU, Not Old Friends
One thing about these Division I football coaches: they’re all thieves.
It’s legal theft, mind you, because they all steal their coaching styles from somebody else, or a combination of others, in the profession.
We know North Dakota State’s Craig Bohl has modeled his approach after former Nebraska coach Tom Osborne. There’s so much Dr. Tom in Bohl that sometimes I feel like I’m interviewing Dr. Tom.
Tonight, A Bohl protégé comes to the Fargodome when Jeff McInerney leads his Central Connecticut State team on the turf. He’s a former Bison assistant coach who has known Bohl for years.
CCSU Motivated By Poor 2007 Finish
NEW BRITAIN - — Shortly after Central Connecticut’s chance at a share of the Northeast Conference title went awry in a dispiriting, season-ending loss to Albany in November, coach Jeff McInerney gathered his players at Arute Field and asked one thing of them.
“Look at that score,” he said.
And they have been looking at it ever since, first on the scoreboard, then in the weight room, where it was posted shortly after that loss, then in various spots around the football facilities.
Yes, “49-14″ is all over the place.
Patenaude Working His Way Up FCS Coaching Chain
Growing up in Taftville, Dave Patenaude had big football dreams. You know, the kind that take you far away and filled with success.
Today, Patenaude returns home to Connecticut as the offensive coordinator for Hofstra as the Pride opens its season against the UConn Huskies at Rentschler Field.
In just his second year at Hofstra, the St. Bernard High School product said this homecoming of sorts is special to him. He expects nearly “a couple dozen” family and friends, including his father, to be in attendance at the game.
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