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Well, things went about as expected yesterday. Everyone knew BC was a running team with a huge and experienced OL. That meant the Eagles were going to have big rushing totals and dominate the time of possession. In addition, Don Brown has a veteran defense with the entire defensive backfield returning. So the stunting, blitzing Boston College defense was going to be tough to handle. It pretty much played out that way.
Despite the script, there were some good things and bad things for the Minutemen.
The Good:
Everyone expected the UMass defense to be over matched by the Eagles and they weren't. Despite being on the field most of the game, the smaller Minutemen defense repeatedly stopped BC in the Red Zone. The UMass defense added an interception. In addition, the defense played a lot players. It looks like we have some depth and that'll make a difference later on. You can't hold the rushing totals against the defense. That's BC's game and they'll have a large rushing edge on most teams they play.
J.T Blyden looked good running the ball. The Frohnapfel-to-Sharpe 77 yard TD is the look of things to come.
In addition, did anyone notice we had good clock management and UMass had only one penalty in the first half? UMass looked well-coached. Brian McDonald did a good job with the punts.
The Bad:
Blake Frohnapfel was starting his first game and he looked rusty. For most of the game the UMass receivers didn't get much separation from Don Brown's defense and that didn't help him.
UMass needed to make some plays in a limited window of opportunity due to BC's offense. We didn't score after the defense's interception.
The UMass D did blow one coverage that allowed a Boston College TD. I thought the fourth-and-one should have been a J.T. Blyden run or a Fronapfel keeper instead of a screen pass.. Those two plays cost us 10 points. Everybody would have been more encouraged by 20-7.
Boston College easily won the battle of students by better than two-to-one.
The Results:
We didn't beat a BCS team in the first game of the second Whipple era. We still need seniors and more recruits, but it wasn't a bad start. One good thing is we're through with BC and they can now go to Hell or Connacht, as Cromwell once said. And they can take the Globe with them.
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UMass drew 30, 479 to Gillette.
Opening home totals in the MAC:
UMass-30, 479
Kent State-22,754
Buffalo-20,329
Toledo-20, 185
Central Michigan-15,793
Northern Illinois-12-398
Ball State-9,659
Akron-9,104
Eastern Michigan-8,748
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Dan Malone says Blake Frohnapfel was inconsistent.
Nick O'Malley says the BC running game pushed UMass to the breaking point.
Dan also says J.T. Blyden impressed.
Ron Chimilis says we didn't achieve any miracles in our first game under Whipple.
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Matty Vautour has first impressions of the 2014 Minutemen.
Matty says Boston College ground down the Minutemen in the second half.
He points out UMass got good weather and 30,479.
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Michael Cox and Julian Talley were cut by the Giants yesterday.
Rob Blanchflower was cut yesterday by the Steelers.
We'll have to see if anyone gets picked up on waivers or added to the practice teams.
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The MAC results are here.
Not a great weekend for the MAC. Morgan State, non-scholarship Duquesne, and Colgate all made it close against league teams. Western Michigan had the best result as they lost by just nine at Big Ten bottom feeder Purdue.
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Colorado lost to rival Colorado State 31-17.
Penn State edged UCF 26-24.
Vanderbilt got run over by Temple, but that wasn't the only thing that went wrong.
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