James Taylor performs national anthem before Battle of Bridge HS game in Lewiston, Maine

James Taylor performed the anthem before Lewiston HS returned to the football field

The annual Battle of the Bridge football game took place in Lewiston, ME, on Wednesday. The game features cross-river rivals Lewiston High School and Edward Little High School of Auburn.

It was postponed from last Friday after the tragic and senseless mass killing of 18 people in the city.

Before the game took place, famed singer James Taylor performed the national anthem.

Experience backcountry adventure within Maine’s Katahdin Woods

Immerse yourself in nature.

In 2016, Maine’s Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument officially became part of the National Park Service. The region’s 87,000 acres of forests, rivers, and more beckon backcountry explorers for a visit. Give into your curiosity, and discover what this destination has in store.

If you’ve ever wanted to challenge yourself on a survivalist camping trip, this might just be the place to do it. As you journey into the Maine wilderness, expect to lose service and encounter few amenities. Guests are warned to bring plenty of fuel, food, and water. In exchange for giving up the comforts of modern life, visitors can enjoy outdoor adventures and natural wonders they’ll never forget. Start planning your visit with this list of the seven best things to do and see at Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.

Why you should visit Maine’s Old Orchard Beach, explained in 7 photos

Explore the coast.

Are you looking to shake up your summer vacation plans? This year, find a new place to kick back and relax in the sun. In the United States, beaches throughout California and Florida experience huge crowds looking to make the most of the sun and surf. While many of these destinations offer gorgeous views, packed beaches and busy streets aren’t ideal vacationing conditions. Avoid these annoyances and experience a one-of-a-kind trip by spending your summer holiday at Old Orchard Beach, Maine.

Why Old Orchard Beach? If the serene, sandy beaches and charming local shops aren’t enough to entice you, the beachfront amusement park and scenic hiking trails will. Here are some of the sights and attractions awaiting you in this coastal Maine town.

JD Davison and Boston Celtics agree to a two-way contract

Former Alabama PG, JD Davison, signs NBA two-way contract with Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics and former second-round pick out of Alabama, JD Davison, have agreed to a new two-way contract. The 20-year-old was selected No. 53 overall in the 2022 NBA draft and is still getting his feet wet in the league.

In 2022, Davison appeared in 12 games with the Celtics but played primarily with their G-League affiliate the Maine Celtics. Davison appeared in 26 games for Maine but only started one. Despite that, he still went on to average 12.5 PPG, 4.2 APG, and 8.7 APG. Very remarkable numbers for a guy who is bound to crack the NBA roster soon.

A two-way contract means that an NBA team is allowed to carry three extra players, in addition to the 15 they are allowed on the roster, to bounce back and forth between the G League team and the NBA franchise. Essentially, Boston wants to be able to have him available in case he starts to really look NBA-ready, but he can also get significant minutes to grow in the G League. It’s a good sign that the Celtics have been impressed with what they have seen from the former Crimson Tide star to date.

The Celtics have made the Eastern Conference Finals in five of the past seven years and just traded away starting PG Marcus Smart. There may be a role for Davison on a Celtics team that appear to be in the midst of their championship window.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow former Alabama basketball players now in the NBA.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1]

[lawrence-auto-related count=1]

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.

What we learned about Ohio State’s rout of Maine

The Buckeyes get back in the win column and there was plenty we learned about their rout #GoBucks

The Ohio Sate basketball team got back in the win column tonight against [autotag]Maine[/autotag], as they led the game from start to finish, culminating in a 95-61 win for [autotag]the Buckeyes hoopsters[/autotag].

Even though the competition wasn’t has high as some of their previous opponents, there was plenty to learn about how [autotag]Chris Holtmann[/autotag] and his team would respond after the loss to North Carolina.

There were plenty of positives from this win and there were more than a few encouraging aspects of the Buckeyes’ play as they moved their record to 8-3 on the season, with Big Ten play right around the corner.

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Michael Chen on Twitter.

Let us know your thoughts, and comment on this story below. Join the conversation today

Boston College vs Maine Prediction, Game Preview

Boston College vs Maine game preview, prediction, and breakdown for the Week 3 game on Saturday, September 17

Boston College vs Maine prediction, game preview, how to watch. Week 3, Saturday, September 17


Boston College vs Maine How To Watch

Date: Saturday, September 17
Game Time: 7:30 ET
Venue: Alumni Stadium, Chestnut Hill, MA
How To Watch: ESPN3
Record: Boston College (0-2), Maine (0-2)
Sign up and live stream college football on ESPN+

[mm-video type=playlist id=01f1343a1wt7q817p7 player_id=none image=https://collegefootballnews.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

CFN 1-131 Rankings | Bowl Projections
CFN Week 3 Expert Picks | Week 3 Schedule
NFL Expert Predictions | NFL Predictions
What 12-Team Playoff Would Look Like
Top 10 Coach Hot Seat List: After Week 2
Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

Boston College vs Maine Game Preview

Why Maine Will Win

It’s been a tough start for the Black Bears, but the secondary has been solid. – allowing just 116 yards per game – with the bigger problem coming against the run.

Boston College can’t and doesn’t run the ball.

It has managed a grand total of 33 net yards on the ground so far and needs to keep winging it around to have any chance of getting the O going, and even that’s not working so well.

Maine has to try opening up the offense even more, it needs the Eagles to keep sputtering and struggling on the O line – it’s giving up way, way too many plays in the backfield – and …

CFN Expert Picks, Week 3

Why Boston College Will Win

Maine isn’t scoring.

It wasn’t close in the 41-0 loss to New Mexico, and it managed just a field goal before the fourth quarter in the loss to Colgate.

There’s no running game, there’s no downfield passing game, and it hasn’t had to deal with an offense that can throw.

This is where Phil Jurkovec and the offense started to crank things up. The timing has been off, there haven’t been enough big plays down the field, and it has been way too much of a grind to get things going.

That won’t be a problem this week. However …

Week 3 Schedule, Predictions, Game Preview

What’s Going To Happen

Maine should come up with just enough of a pass rush to be annoying for the Eagles and their banged up and struggling line.

The Boston College defense hasn’t been bad – it’s been terrific against the pass – and it’ll shut down the Black Bears cold.

There won’t be any Eagle running game, but Jurkovec will be solid.

CFN Week 3 Predictions

Boston College vs Maine Prediction, Line

Boston College 43, Maine 6
Line: Boston College -31.5, o/u: 46
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2.5
Boston College vs Maine Must See Rating (out of 5): 1.5

[protected-iframe id=”361699434b6d70baf15f631ed2408ac1-97672683-92922408″ info=”https://www.googletagservices.com/tag/js/gpt.js” ]

Predictions of Every Game
Bowl Projections | Rankings
Schedules, Scores For All 131 Teams

New Mexico vs Maine Prediction, Game Preview

New Mexico vs Maine game preview, prediction, and breakdown for the Week 1 game on Saturday, September 3

New Mexico vs Maine prediction, game preview, how to watch. Week 1, Saturday, September 3


New Mexico vs Maine How To Watch

Date: Saturday, September 3
Game Time: 8:00 ET
Venue: University Stadium, Albuquerque, NM
How To Watch: Mountain West Network
Record: New Mexico (0-0), Maine (0-0)
Sign up and live stream college football on ESPN+

[mm-video type=playlist id=01f1343a1wt7q817p7 player_id=none image=https://collegefootballnews.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

CFN Preview 2021: All 131 Teams
CFN Predictions of Every Game
ACC | Big Ten | Big 12 | Pac-12 | SEC
AAC | C-USA | Ind | MAC | M-West | Sun Belt
2022 Bowl Projections | Week 0 Rankings 1-131
Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

New Mexico vs Maine Game Preview

Why Maine Will Win

A new era is starting with Jordan Stevens taking over the Black Bears gig.

He’s a defensive coach who needs to crank up the pass rush, but he’s getting a team that didn’t turn the ball over, was good in pass protection, and shouldn’t have to worry too much about New Mexico coming up with a big offensive performance.

The Lobos finished dead last in the nation in yards per game and averaged a college football-worst 12 points per outing. They should be stronger, but it shouldn’t be all that hard to stay in the game with a few early scores.

Week 1 CFN College Football Expert Picks

Why New Mexico Will Win

The offense might not be anything special, but the defense will be far stronger.

Former head coach and defensive mastermind Rocky Long has a young group to work with, but the linebacking corps should be solid and the secondary is loaded with veterans.

Maine isn’t going to come out and hang 50 on the board. It’s going to sputter and struggle to keep the chains moving, and the other side won’t have enough of a pass rush to make a big difference.

Week 1 Schedule, Predictions, Game Previews, Saturday

What’s Going To Happen

Points will come at a premium.

Maine will be good enough to keep this close, but the defense will buckle on a few strong second half Lobo scoring drives. There will be just enough Black Bear mistakes to keep the door open.

The New Mexico defense will keep the game alive, but it’ll be a battle late.

All of the CFN Predictions

New Mexico vs Maine Prediction, Line

New Mexico 27, Maine 20
Line: New Mexico -10, o/u: 48
ATS Confidence out of 5: 1.5

How every college coach does against the spread

New Mexico vs Maine Must See Rating: 2

5: Gangs of London Season 2
1: Mack & Rita

[protected-iframe id=”361699434b6d70baf15f631ed2408ac1-97672683-92922408″ info=”https://www.googletagservices.com/tag/js/gpt.js” ]

Predictions of Every Game
Bowl Projections | Rankings
Schedules For All 131 Teams

These nine states have never hosted a PGA Tour event

There are still nine states that are still hoping their day in the sun is still to come.

This week the PGA Tour visits the First State for the time.

Wilmington Country Club will play host, marking the PGA Tour’s first-ever event in the state of Delaware and the 10th different venue to host the BMW Championship since the inception of the FedEx Cup in 2007.

“You’ve got to hit it as far as you can and hit a lot of fairways,” advised BMW defending champion and reigning FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay.

Delaware becomes the 41st state in the union to host a Tour event, but that means there are still nine states that are still hoping their day in the sun is still to come.

Maine is one of the nine remaining states that have never hosted a Tour event. Professional golf has been absent from northeast New England, five states within the Mountain Time Zone and Alaska. Some states barely avoided making the list. Nebraska was spared solely by the 1933 Nebraska Open, Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene hosted the 1992 Merrill Lynch Shootout and Arkansas made headlines with the Arlington Hotel Open from 1955-63.

Some of these states have hosted Nationwide, Champions and LPGA events, but the locals are waiting patiently for Rory, Tiger and Jordan to grace them with their presence.

Here’s a list of some of the golf courses that could potentially host the stars of the PGA Tour someday. (Special thanks to longtime Golfweek reader and journalist Peter Kollmann, who helped with the research.)

Former Texas star Pierceson Coody earns first Korn Ferry Tour win in just his third start

Coody didn’t take long to earn his first professional win.

Three starts into his professional career and Pierceson Coody is already a winner.

Just a month after helping lead Texas to the team title at the NCAA Championship, Coody ran away to win the Korn Ferry Tour’s 2022 Live and Work in Maine Open at 20 under, five shots clear of runner-up Jacob Bergeron. The former Longhorn shot a 5-under 66 in the final round at Falmouth Country Club for his fourth round in the 60s of the week (69-62-67).

Nelson Ledesma, Will Gordon, Fabian Gomez and amateur Cole Anderson finished T-3 at 14 under. Zach Sucher shot the low round of the day, a 7-under 64, to climb into seventh at 12 under.

Coody finished in the top five of the final 2022 PGA Tour University standings to receive Korn Ferry Tour membership for the rest of this season, starting with the BMW Charity Pro-Am earlier this month. The Plano, Texas, native missed the cut at the BMW, then finished T-4 last week at the 2022 Wichita Open.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Inside Liam Coen’s offensive background and moving up the coaching ranks from Maine

A look inside Kentucky offensive coordinator Liam Coen’s background and moving up the coaching ranks from Maine.

Tennessee (4-4, 2-3 SEC) will play at Kentucky (6-2, 4-2 SEC) Saturday in Week 10.

Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. EDT and will be televised by ESPN2.

Liam Coen is in his first season as Kentucky’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Coen was hired at Kentucky following a three-year stint as the Los Angeles Rams’ assistant wide receivers (2018-19) and assistant quarterbacks (2020) coach in the NFL.

Coen served as Maine’s offensive coordinator from 2016-17 before his time in the NFL.

At Maine, the Black Bears ran an offensive system that comes from the coaching tree of Ohio State head coach Ryan Day. Those principles and concepts are still used in Coen’s offense in the Southeastern Conference.

Nick Charlton is in his third season as Maine’s head coach. He coached alongside Coen from 2016-17, serving as the Black Bears’ wide receivers and special teams coach.

Charlton coached alongside Day from 2013-14 as a graduate assistant at Boston College. The current Ohio State head coach was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach alongside Charlton.

Day’s program operation, offensive scheme and concepts are seen in Maine’s program, as well as at Kentucky in 2021.

 

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Ryan Day’s operation, offensive concepts

Day stresses organization throughout his offensive scheme, while building a team identity through player-personnel each year.

Going into spring practices, Day starts from scratch with his offense based on adapting to his roster.

At this time, he identifies who the best players are and utilizes them. This process is also referred to as his Bucket organization. During the offseason, he wants his player-personnel to go through base plays at minimum 100 times in preparation for the season.

His offense features a tight zone where the running back is ready to follow the center going downhill. In a tight zone, there can be up to six different variations. Raider is reading the backside defensive end. Cowboy is blocking the C-gap with a tight end. Buccaneer takes place by reading a defensive end when the tight end blocks a B-gap overhang.

Midzone is where the running back aims for the inside of the guard, providing a wide play. Day’s offense features up to six variations of midzone blocking. This is typically executed based on matchups with the opponent each week.

Outside zone is also schemed to get the ball on the field-side.

All three zones have different landmarks, but with the same identifications.

In gap zone, Day stresses a power scheme in which a guard pulls and blocks downhill. A counter scheme is also present in a gap zone.

Day’s base offense also showcases a perimeter running game with plays such as a speed sweep.

Short plays are a base concept in Day’s offense, allowing for the quarterback to get the ball out his hands in the quick game. Day stresses for an 80 percent completion percentage in the short game. Slants and hitches are executed a lot. Short plays are also consistent of the quarterback being able to get out of the pocket with naked or bootleg ability. RPO and screen plays fall under short plays, as well.

Mediums are routes that showcase five-step, high-low execution, such as outside triangles attacking the flat and a cornerback. Mirror routes provide one-on-one matchups on the outside with out-routes, comebacks and go-routes.

Crossers are used a lot when Ohio State plays a man coverage defense. Mesh plays are also seen occasionally throughout Day’s offense.

Isolation plays are when the X-receiver and the H-back are trying to become open or are in one-on-one matchups to have the ball in their hands. Floods and four verticals are used a lot, too.

Down-the-field passing attempts are also featured, and a priority in Day’s offense. Day’s importance of having a strong, physical running game can allow for the opposition to have a run fit close within the box and he will then attack downfield in the passing game.

 

“My time with him – I have certainly learned a lot. We try to model a lot of things from what they do. We watch their film every week no matter what, just to see what they are doing.” –Maine head coach Nick Charlton on “Football Two-A-Days” on Ryan Day and Ohio State

Maine’s offense

Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire

 

As Charlton took over for Coen as offensive coordinator in 2018 and as head coach from 2019-21, the offensive scheme and concepts have remained the same.

Pat Denecke is in his sixth season on Maine’s coaching staff. He served as Maine’s tight ends coach when Coen was coordinating the Black Bears’ offense, while Charlton oversaw wide receivers. Charlton has since elevated Denecke to assistant head coach, run game coordinator and offensive line coach.

“I don’t think any of us were surprised to see him take a big step when he left Maine,” Denecke said of Coen on the show “Football Two-A-Days.” “Very intelligent coach, very enthusiastic coach, really enjoyed being around him for the two seasons we were together. 

“The base of the offense is still the same. It is still within the same system, obviously it evolves year to year based on your personnel, but a lot of the terminology has stayed the same. A lot of the scheme has stayed the same. Formationally and personnel-wise we have grown a little, but more motion and things of that nature, but I would say the nuts and bolts of our offense are pretty much still intact from when Liam was here.”

 

Maine Offensive coordinator Liam Coen passes to players before an NCAA college football game at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field against Maine, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016, in East Hartford, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

 

Denecke further discussed Charlton and Maine studying Day and Ohio State to continue to evolve offensively.

“We spend a lot of time studying what they are doing on offense, as well as the Rams when Coach Coen was there,” Denecke said. “Because there are some familiarity, you can usually figure out what they are trying to do knowing the system and you can definitely see where Nick cut his teeth as a coach learning under Coach Day. Very similar in terms of trying to be creative, but still finding different ways to execute the same things by week and finding different ways to attack the weaknesses of the defense based on the strengths of the offense.

“We had a few mesh concepts, but I wouldn’t say anything derived from the Air Raid system. The majority of our offense derives from a West Coast or prostyle and has kind of evolved into 11 and 12-personnel, we’re under center a good bit, but I wouldn’t call us a true prostyle. We’re not using a fullback or anything like that. We call ourselves a hybrid. We’re not quite spread, we’re not quite pro, but we have some prostyle systems within a spread offense.”

Max Staver played quarterback at Maine under Coen and for Charlton and Denecke.

Staver also discussed his time with Coen at Maine before leaving for the NFL.

“He really knew what he was doing,” Staver said of Coen on “Football Two-A-Days.” “His offense was really diverse and what we were trying to accomplish, the threat of the run, the vertical pass game, mixed with some spread concepts, the usage of tempo. He definitely knew what he was doing. I think everybody had the understanding that Coach Coen would eventually move on from Maine.”

The entire shows with Denecke and Staver can be listened to below. Charlton also joined the show “Football Two-A-Days” in 2020 and discussed Maine football and his time with Day and Coen.

[vertical-gallery id=28916]