Dan Malone reports UMass has re-opened the kicking competition. Blake Lucas is 0-3 to start the season. Brandon Leavengood would be the other contender for the field goal duties. None of Lucas' misses have been chip shots, but there hasn't been any spark for the Minutemen's struggling offense either.
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Nick Canelas of the UMass Daily Collegian says the UMass secondary is looking to cut down on big plays.
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I watched the NIU-Purdue game on DVR last night. The Huskies blew out Purdue, but the Boilermakers didn't help their cause with five turnovers, a kick return for a TD and an INT for another TD.
NIU turns its attention to MAC play.
Cameron Stingley had a big day for the Huskies against Purdue.
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While watching I read over the UMass Press Guide's recap of last year's 24-0 loss against Bowling Green. The UMass defense did just about everything you could ask. Through three quarters, the defense held the Falcons to 156 total yards and eight first downs. For the day, Bowling Green only had 94 rushing yards (UMass had 85). The defense forced the Falcons to punt eight times.
The ugly part of the game was Bowling Green's defense against the UMass quarterbacks. The Minutemen signal callers went 13-24 for 33 yards and 4 INT's (one for a TD). There's probably an online quarterback efficiency calculator somewhere, but I didn't bother to look it up. UMass had one first down passing and averaged one yard per passing attempt...
Hopefully on Saturday, the rebuilt UMass offensive line and the Minutemen running backs can get something going. Bowling Green is probably the second best team in the MAC. We're not at their talent level yet. If the Minutemen could just get average quarterback play Saturday, I think UMass can make a game of it.
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In MAC statistics, Central Michigan is last in the league in points allowed.
The 1-4 Chippewas' beat New Hampshire on a field goal with 0:00 left on the clock.
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An 0-5 start isn't getting Western Michigan's P.J. Fleck down.
Hustle Belt's Awards status after five weeks.
The MAC Report Online's power rankings for Week #5.
The league is really broken into the "Haves" and the "Have Nots". NIU, Bowling Green, Ball State and Ohio have 15 wins between them. Akron, UMass, Miami, CMU, EM and WM have a combined total of three wins.
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Victor Cruz is putting up big numbers for the Giants.
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