Monday--September 15th, 2014

Matty Vautour wonders if the recent Oh-my-God-that-was-close games will cause the Minutemen to improve or breakdown.

Frohnapfel impresses me as a really mature guy. So does Randell Jette. I don't think any UMass player considers the team a finished project after only three games in Whipple's system. The players have to feel better about the team and its prospects after the results of the last three games. So I think the Minutemen will continue to improve.

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Last year UMass finished next-to-last in scoring offense; this year we're 88th through 3 games.

UMass is 31st in total penalties---and that's a sign of good coaching.

Trey Dudley-Giles has us 22nd in kickoff returns. Remember, we're doing this against BCS teams.

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UMass has a new fan blog: Sons of Old Massachusetts. No mention of who's running it.

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Keeper's College Football rankings has UMass #121 in FBS.

Las Vegas as UMass as a 29 point underdog to Penn State.

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Sporting News says UMass embarrassed Vanderbilt with a fake punt (with video).

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Deadspin says Vanderbilt's hugging Blake Lucas was just plain mean.

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Some Penn State fans plan to "Joe out" for the UMass game.

StateCollege.com says the Nittany Lions players have a lot of heart.

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Hustle Belt still has UMass ranked low in its league power rankings. The poll is pretty screwy as Central Michigan, who got blown out by Syracuse, and Ball State, who lost to a FCS team, are still ranked highly.

Joe Colton gets some praise in Hustle Belt's weekly feature on league players with good performances.

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