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I'm all for protecting the players for injury, but currently the targeting rule presents some difficulty for the defensive player. What does he do if the opposing player ducks? Basically, all the offensive player is presenting is his helmet. The defensive player can't make contact with the helmet with anything: shoulder pad, arm or his helmet. Once he commits, he does not have any legal choice for a tackle.
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One thing that did not go well for the Minutemen defense Friday was when UMass only rushed three men. It seemed as if Rutgers was able to get a receiver open with ease with that play. Linebacker coverage did not go well for UMass and I would think that would be something that will be addressed while watching film this week.
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Two new players on the UMass defense were the only two to have tackles for loss at Rutgers. Charly Timite had 1 YFL for -4 yards and he also recorded the only Minutemen sack, again for -4 yards. Johnathan Weir also has 1 TFL for -1 yards.
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Syracuse shut out Liberty 24-0.
Northwestern lost a grind-it-out game to Stanford 17-7. The Wildcats managed only 210 total yards.
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