Coach Brown nearly took the head off Matt Goldstein in the post-game interviews. He said there were no moral victories at UMass. He was right. We had the horses to play with Boston College.
We did not make some plays we needed to make.
Never the less, I was happy with:
The defensive tenacity. We kept playing UMass defense and we knocked down Ryan multiple times. The defense was on the field the whole first half and did not fold. BC did not run against us and we had lots of hurries.
I liked the running of Matt Lawrence and Tony Nelson. Lawrence in particular had a good game in my option. In I-AA, you can juke and make someone wiff. In the pros, you have to hit the hole and run up field. I thought Lawrence and Nelson played very well against a top 15 defense.
Scott Woodard played well in relief of Liam Coen. He looked composed and mobile.
I don't usually complain about the officiating, but I don't know what the guy in the booth was thinking. The BC receiver started to loose control of that overturned fumble as soon as the UMass defender put his hat on the ball.
Jamie Silva needs to hit people from the front.
I would not trade injuries to Liam Coen and Nick Diana for a win over the Eagles. Hopefully, with a week off, they will be able to return for Villanova.
Go UMass!
UPDATE:
Boston College write-up here .
UMass write-up here .
Associate Press story here .
