Monday, November 19, 2018

UMass Football News--November 19th, 2019


Let's start the post season with some appreciation of Andy Isabella.

In 2018 Isabella set the single season record of 1,698 yards. That broke Jimmy Moore's 1,494 in 1998 (15 games). He was 2nd in single season pass receptions with 102. Tajae Sharpe had 111 in 2015. Isabella tied Jason Peebler in TD pass receptions (13) for 2nd place in a single season. He was also 2nd behind Tajae Sharpe in single season receptions per game with 8.5.

In career stats:

His 3,526 career receiving yards places him 1st ahead of Tajae Sharpe 3,486. Isabella's 231 career catches places him 2nd to Sharpe (277). His 30 career TD receptions has him 2nd to Adrian Zullo (32).

Dog Nation has "Bulldog secondary torched by Andy Isabella".

There were some Internet trolls who inferred Georgia was not really trying or the game was out of reach anyway.

This article from Dawgs Nation on Georgia's results from the Minutemen game.

 Quote from the article":

"The Bulldogs allowed their independent visitors 390 total yards, 287 yards passing and 219 yards and 2 touchdowns to one receiver. They’ll tell you that most of that offensive production for UMass came in the second half against backups, but that isn’t entirely true.

First, more than half of the total yardage — 206 yards — came in the first two quarters, when Georgia’s front-line defenders were on the field. In that span, the Bulldogs allowed a 42-yard run, a 17-yard pass and three scoring drives. Andy Isabella, who would finish with 15 catches, had eight of them in that opening stanza. The Minutemen also rushed for 81 yards on 15 carries in the first half-hour of play.

Granted, the two big scores — 75- and 45-yard TD passes to Isabella — did not come against the No. 1 defense. The defensive backs that were ultimately burned, Eric Stokes and Christopher White, represented a starter and counted-on reserve. And while one of those plays came on a double-pass, UMass still completed 74 percent of the passes it attempted.

In the end, the visitors averaged 7.2 yards per offensive play
"

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In a topic that will occupy us for a while, Josh Wallfish has the pro's and con's of Mark Whipple.

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