Saturday, October 05, 2013

Game Day--Bowling Green

UPDATE: After one quarter, another great effort by the UMass defense. Three sacks and four punts forced.

UPDATE II: Only Jamal Wilson is playing offense for UMass. He has 91 yards rushing. Outside of Wilson, not much. UMass is 0-6 on third downs. Doyle is 3-13 for 14 yards. A big drop by Tajae Sharpe. The Minutemen defense was on the field for 19.40 of the first half...

UPDATE III: The Minutemen defense still battling. Wegzyn is in and is supplying some spark. He just threw a TD to Sharpe.

UPDATE IV: I'll have more to say tomorrow, but another game where the defense did all you could ask. Our fourth string RB rang up 119 yards rushing (6.0 yards per carry). Again, it was the Minutemen QB's who did not produce. Doyle and Wegzyn went collectively 11-25-96 3.8 yards/attempt 1 TD 1 INT.

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Well, the Minutemen's schedule does not get appreciably easier in the first MAC game. Bowling Green is 4-1 with wins over Tulsa, Murray State, Kent State and Akron. The Falcons did give up 609 total yards of offense to Indiana. The Hoosiers held Bowling Green to 3 offensive points.

Bowling Green's impressive opening win against Tulsa is hard to interpret as the Hurricanes are 1-3 so far in 2013, but Tulsa's other losses have been to Oklahoma and Iowa State.

The game will be available on ESPN3.

As I said Thursday, the UMass defense played Bowling Green strong last year. This year we hope to see some progress from the Minutemen offense. UMass had just 6 first downs and two of those were by penalty. Better quarterback play and an ability to throw the ball would make for a better contest.

After today, UMass should be competitive in six of the final seven games. A good showing today would help jump start the rest of the conference schedule.

Come 3:30, I'll be in front of the computer wearing my UMass gear.

Go UMass!!!

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Dan Malone has more on the various media options to watch or listen to the game.

Dan Malone has six questions with the Toledo Blade.

Mark Chiarelli of the Gazette has UMass opens MAC conference play against Bowling Green.

The Gazette has an editorial about the "Combatives" video.

Matt Daily of Hustle belt has a UMass-Bowling Green preview.

50% chance of thunder storms in Bowling Green.

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Cleveland.com previews today's MAC conference games.

NIU takes on Kent State in a rematch of last year's MAC title game.

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Wisconsin has a bye week.

Vanderbilt gets Missouri.

Kansas State plays Oklahoma State.

Maine hosts Delaware.

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