Sunday, September 18, 2011

Sunday--September 18, 2011

Worcester Telegram image
Matty V says Jonathan Hernandez and Kirk Nelms led the Minutemen to a win over the Rams.

Matty V also has some news and notes from the game.

Nate Owen of MassLive has more plus a photo gallery.

Providence Journal says the Rams faded in the fourth quarter.

The Worcester Telegram says Jonathan Hernandez ran past the Rams.

The Boston Globe says UMass had the finishing touch.

The Boston Herald says UMass ran past the Rams.

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The UMass strength-of-schedule continued to improve as Holy Cross beat Harvard. Ryan Taggart passed for 324 yards against the Crimson.

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CCSU won over Wagner to run their record to 2-1.

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A couple of UMass 2011 opponents are having ugly seasons.

Monmouth recorded a "historic" victory over Villanova.

And things went from bad to worse as Boston College lost to Duke. The Boston Globe says BC is feeling blue.

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Thoughts about UMass' game last night.
  • FBS baby! UMass's jerseys had the players names on them for the first time since the seventies.
  • Kellen Pagel, who was starting his first game, had a rough first half and then seemed to get a handle on the game in the second.
  • Two of the long bombs that the Rams scored on were correctable. The first was a totally blown assignment on Rhody's initial TD. Then when the Rams scored their third touchdown the UMass DB had the coverage and then appeared to miss-time his leap in going for the interception. If you're defending in your own endzone go for the pass breakup first.
  • Jonathan Hernandez, right now, is playing as well as any running back we've had here.
  • The UMass defense held the Rams to 57 yards rushing.
  • The Minutemen kicking game was seriously not good as the Minutemen missed an extra point, Brandon Yelovich shanked a kickoff out-of-bounds, Jeff Strait averaged 28 yards/punt and the holder muffed a snap on a field goal attempt.
  • Antoine Tharpe would've helped in the UMass secondary.
  • The UMass band didn't have quite the snap it did before. The 1812 Overture without the cannons?
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Mrs blog and I didn't get in from Hawaii/the West Coast until 9:30 Friday night and then didn't return from Amherst until 11:30 last night. We're pretty time-zoned out. I'll be back tomorrow with some images from the game.

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