Nov. 18, 2007

AMHERST, Mass. - The UMass football team will be hosting Fordham this Saturday at Noon in McGuirk Stadium for the first round of the NCAA FCS Playoffs. The game will be televised on ESPNU. The Minutemen have earned back-to-back league championships while Fordham at 8-3 overall and 5-1 in the Patriot League won its conference title this season. The winner of the UMass-Fordham game will play the winner of No. 4 seed Southern Illinois-Eastern Illinois the following weekend.

Tickets will go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. with all seats reserved. Adult tickets are $15, under 18 are $6 and UMass students are $5.

It will be UMass' eighth NCAA Tournament appearance and second in a row as the Minutemen reached the NCAA title game last year before falling to champion Appalachian State. UMass has made the NCAAs in three of the last five years.

Prior to last season's NCAA berth, the last appearance came in 2003, when Fordham's head coach Tom Masella was the UMass defensive coordinator.

UMass and Fordham have never played in football. They are of course rivals in the Atlantic 10 in most other sports.

"We are playing our best football down the stretch in the last two games," said head coach Don Brown. "Against two top-25 teams, one of which is in the tournament (New Hampshire) in the last two games we were playing our best football. We need to focus on Fordham and go back to work. Hopefully the execution down the stretch will be a springboard for us in the playoffs.

"Fordham has a big quarterback and has really good numbers. The tailback will present some quickness challenges. They have a spread offense, which we have seen so many times, so there will be no surprises. They have played solid defense under Coach Masella,. They wrapped up the playoff berth early so we know we have a top team coming to McGuirk."

Here is the complete release from the NCAA

INDIANAPOLIS--The field of 16 teams competing for the 2007 Division I Football Championship was announced today by the NCAA Division I Football Championship Committee.

University of Northern Iowa University (11-0) tops the bracket as the top seed after capturing the automatic qualifying berth from the Gateway Football Conference. The Panthers are making their 13th tournament appearance.

Second-seeded McNeese State University (11-0) is making its 13th appearance. The Cowboys captured the Southland Conference automatic berth.

The University of Montana (11-0), which is making its 18th tournament appearance, is the number-three seed. The 2007 title marks the 10th straight year that the Grizzlies have either won the Big Sky Conference championship outright or shared the title.

Rounding out this year's seeded teams is Southern Illinois University (10-1) with the number- four seed. The Salukis, who won the 1983 national championship, is making their sixth appearance

Other first-round hosts include two-time defending national champion Appalachian St. (9-2), Delaware (8-3), Colonial Athletic Association automatic qualifier Massachusetts (9-2) and Richmond (9-2).

Other automatic qualifiers in the tournament include first-time participant Delaware State University (10-1), which earned the automatic bid from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Eastern Kentucky University (9-2) was the automatic qualifier from the Ohio Valley Conference. Fordham University (8-3) earned the Patriot League's automatic bid and Wofford College (8-3) was the automatic qualifier from the Southern Conference.

Other teams in the field are Eastern Illinois University (8-3), Eastern Washington University (8-3), James Madison University (8-3) and the University of New Hampshire (7-4).

Eight conferences received automatic-qualifying berths: the Big Sky Conference, Colonial Athletic Association, Gateway Football Conference, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Ohio Valley Conference, Patriot League, Southern Conference and Southland Conference.

ESPN's family of networks will televise two first round games live. ESPN will show Delaware State at Delaware at 1:30 p.m. ET, Friday, November 23. ESPNU will broadcast the Fordham at Massachusetts game at Noon ET, Saturday, November 24.

The 2007 NCAA Division I Football Championship game is slated for 8 p.m. Eastern time Friday, December 14, at W. Max Finley Stadium/Davenport Field in Chattanooga, Tennessee. ESPN2HD will televise the championship game.

More games may possibly be televised in the first round as well as additional rounds. Television schedules and games times for all rounds of the 2007 championship will be updated daily at the NCAA Sports web site ( www.ncaasports.com).

November 23 at Newark, Delaware (ESPN at 1:30 p.m. ET) Delaware St. (10-1) at Delaware (8-3)

November 24 at Amherst, Massachusetts (ESPNU at Noon ET) Fordham (8-3) at Massachusetts (9-2)

November 24 at Boone, North Carolina James Madison (8-3) at Appalachian St. (9-2)

November 24 at Cedar Falls, Iowa New Hampshire (7-4) at No. 1 UNI (11-0)

November 24 at Carbondale, Illinois Eastern Ill. (8-3) at No. 4 Southern Ill. (10-1)

November 24 at Lake Charles, Louisiana Eastern Wash. (8-3) at No. 2 McNeese St. (11-0)

November 24 at Missoula, Montana Wofford (8-3) at No. 3 Montana (11-0)

November 24 at Richmond, Virginia Eastern Ky. (9-2) at Richmond (9-2)

The 2007 championship field consists of eight automatic qualifiers and eight at-large qualifiers.

AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS (8)

Montana: Big Sky Conference Massachusetts: Colonial Athletic Association Northern Iowa: Gateway Football Conference Delaware State: Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Eastern Kentucky: Ohio Valley Conference Fordham: Patriot League Wofford: Southern Conference McNeese State: Southland Conference

AT-LARGE QUALIFERS (8)

Eastern Washington: Big Sky Conference Delaware: Colonial Athletic Association James Madison: Colonial Athletic Association New Hampshire: Colonial Athletic Association Richmond: Colonial Athletic Association Southern Illinois: Gateway Football Conference Eastern Illinois: Ohio Valley Conference Appalachian State: Southern Conference