UMass Football News--September 30, 2021

 UMass has its game notes for Toledo up.

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The Daily Collegian has a podcast on the struggles of Minutemen Football and Field Hockey's strong start. 

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Yahoo News has a scouting report Toledo at Massachusetts. 

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Following UMass' blowout loss to Coastal Carolina, the Minutemen are up to #3 in the CBS Bottom 25 poll. 

ESPN however, has UMass as #1.

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The Tennessean says UConn-Vanderbilt is a matchup of near historic futility. 

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Hey! Vegas has UMass -1 as an opening line for UConn prior to this week's results. Another blow-out loss to Toledo could change that.

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UMass Football News--September 29th, 2021

 Toledo has their game notes for UMass up.

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Sports Illustrated has Toledo-UMass odds, notes insights.

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The Hampshire Gazette says the Minutemen pass rush is still a work in progress.

The Gazette reports UMass should get Josiah Johnson back after sitting out the Coastal Carolina game. Also Kay'Ron Adams will be back at full speed.

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UConn LB Hunter Webb is all-in for the Huskies. 

UConn hopes to take the next step against Vanderbilt. 

The Daily Campus goes inside the minds of Husky fans. 

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Nice human interest story about Florida State OL Dillon Gibbons use of NIL to do some good for someone else.

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UMass Football News--September 28th, 2021

 Thanks to the blog reader who sent me this Saturday Down South parody of Arkansas moving out of college football's basement. Maybe someday that will be us.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post recapping the Minutemen's depressing loss to Coastal Carolina.

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Toledo finds value in preparation.

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The Rockets are 26.5 favorites over the Minutemen in Vegas odds.

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Vanderbilt, as mentioned in the video, who lost to Georgia 62-0, gets UConn this week.

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Meanwhile in Orono, the Black Bears are aggravated.

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UMass Football News--09/27/2021

Sports Illustrated has UMass vs Toledo, odds, plays and insights. 

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MassLive reports UMass drops 15th consecutive game to Coastal Carolina.

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The Berkshire Eagle says the Chants scored early and often in rout of the Minutemen.

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Yahoo News has five things we learned about Toledo Football in the win over Ball State.

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Dave Briggs rips up all the MAC negativity after the Rockets open with a critical win over Ball State. 

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Takeaways from UConn's close loss to Wyoming. 

Lou Spanos says the Huskies are trending in the right direction.

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Fan Sided says Florida State might not win until they play the worst team in college football---UMass.

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UMass Football Blog News

 Mrs Blog and I are going to PA for four days. As usual, I'll try to keep the blog going. If I can't I'll be back late Friday.

Go UMass!

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UMass Football News--September 26th, 2021

 Well, that was unpleasant. Coastal Carolina is a much better team than UMass and we needed to play well to stay competitive. We didn't. A number of special team miscues early seemed to frustrate the team and we never got into any kind of rhythm. The defense delivered some hard hits, but the faster, more talented Chants won easily.

158 total yards on offense will make a game ugly. BTW, the Chants announcers said Tyler Lytle has a broken wrist. Hope he gets back for the second half of the season.

Not a lot to be learned except to keep grinding. Leave the game in South Carolina and get ready for Toledo.

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UMass write up here. 

Chants write-up here.

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Pitt blew out New Hampshire 77-7.

Undefeated Boston College beat Missouri in overtime. 

Eastern Michigan crushed Texas State 59-21.

Toledo beat Ball State 22-12. 

UConn made it close in a loss to Wyoming.

Florida State lost to Louisville to fall to 0-4.

Syracuse upset Liberty.

Rhode Island had a bye.

Maine lost to Northern Illinois 41-14.

Army beat Miami of Ohio 23-10. 

New Mexico State lost to Hawaii 41-21.

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Game Day Coastal Carolina--September 25th, 2021

UMass in the all-white road uniform today

 Nobody will ever accuse UMass of playing an easy schedule. Today the Minutemen tangle with #17 Coastal Carolina. The Chants feature one of the best offenses in college football.

Chant QB Grayson McCall leads FBS QB's with a 78% completion rate. They average 43.0 points a game.

Coastal's defense is also good. They have yet to allow a passing TD this season (one of only six teams to do so). No opponent has had a pass longer than 39 yards and the Chants only allow 132 passing yards/game. 

UMass moved the ball against BC and Eastern Michigan. The Minutemen need some long drives to keep Coastal's offense off the field.

I'll be watching and cheering for the Maroon & White.

Go UMass!

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College Football News predicts Chants 48 Minutemen 7.

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Sports Book wire predicts Coastal Carolina 52 UMass 20.

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The Hampshire Gazette says it will be no day at the beach for UMass.

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Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle says UMass hits the road to contend with #17 Coastal Carolina. 

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UMass Football News--September 24th, 2021

 The Hampshire Gazette reports Coastal Carolina OL coach Bill Durkin is glad he can't escape his UMass roots.

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Sports Illustrated has the odds, plays and insights for the Chants-Minutemen game. 

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The Kansas City Star reports Coastal Carolina looks to stay perfect against UMass.

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News 13 says Coastal Carolina football prepares to face UMass on Saturday.

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Winners and Whiners takes a look at the Chants-Minutemen game.

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Everybody loves a winner and Coastal Carolina students are on the band wagon.

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Winners and Whiners also looks at the Toledo-Ball State game where the Rockets are looking to bounce back from a disappointing loss.

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The Hartford Courant on freshman Nate Carter replacing Kevin Mensah as the Huskies #1 running back.

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UMass Football News--September 23rd, 2021

 UMass has its game notes for Coastal Carolina up.

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Coastal Carolina celebrates its win over Buffalo with a bullfight parody.

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Chants LB Jeffery Gunther's NFL draft profile.

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Toledo plays two road games in a row: against 1-2 Ball state this week and at UMass next week.

The Rockets nearly beat Notre Dame and then had only 11 first downs in a home loss to Colorado State.

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UConn freshman RB Nate Carter has passed Worcester native Kevin Mensah as the Huskies #1 running back.

UConn is a 30.5 underdog to undefeated Wyoming this week.

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UMass Football News--September 22nd, 2021

 Coastal Carolina has their game notes for UMass up.

I had forgotten Bill Durkin is offensive line coach at Coastal Carolina. I watched him play for the Minutemen and I think I spoke with him at several UMass functions back in the day.

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The Hampshire Gazette reports Brady Olson is becoming more comfortable as the starting QB.

The injury report looks a little better than last week. Starter LB Zack Magis is out for the season. Nose tackle Taishan Holmes is likely out as is DL Xavier Gonsalves and LB Drew Harvey. On the offensive side OL Brian Parrish is out and TE Josiah Johnson (who had two TD's against Eastern Michigan) is iffy.

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Coastal Carolina's Brooks Stadium: where football and partying intersect. 

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UMass is #129 in the latest re-rank of the 130 FBS teams.

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OTOH, CBS Sports has UMass as #6 in the bottom 25.

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UMass Football News--September 21st, 2021

 Coastal Carolina faced a big test last Saturday against Buffalo. Here's how the Chants won.

How Buffalo tried to prepare for Coastal's spread option offense.

The Chants are the real deal on offense. Unusually, for an option offense, Coastal can throw the ball. I watched last year's game against undefeated BYU and the big and physical Cougar's defense was really working hard to try to stay with Coastal Carolina's offense.

This year the Chants are:

• #2 in FBS football in scoring offense (43.0 points/game)
• #17 in rushing offense (228 yards/game)
• #38 in passing offense (275 yards/game)
• #20 in total offense (503 yards/game)

Coastal is #67 in total defense, so UMass' best defense may be long offensive drives to keep the Chants high-octane offense on the sideline. Coastal Carolina has the best offense we have seen this year and they are going to score a lot of points.

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UConn started their third QB of the season Tyler Phommachanah against Army and scored 21 points in the second half.

Phommachanah's UConn bio. 

Army was up 42-0 after the first half and played their reserves from the second half kickoff.

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UMass Football News--September 20th, 2021

 UMass is a 35.5 point underdog in the Vegas odds.

Sports Illustrated looks at the stats behind the odds.

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MassLive says UMass could not slow down the Eastern Michigan offense.

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Uh-Oh.

Did you see this post-game quote from Coach Bell about Kay'Ron Adams? 

"We’re down to one healthy scholarship running back and we don’t know if we’re going to get Kay’Ron Adams back." Does that mean for the season?

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Prior to the season I thought the wide receivers might be the shallowest unit on the team. The first game against Pitt seemed to bear that out.

However, since then I think the WR"s have performed really well. When Olson puts the ball on target, the WR's have made some nice catches.

Saturday, Olson connected with nine different receivers.

Melvin Hill caught 4 with a 45 yard TD. Hill's a good athlete; he had four special teams tackles in 2020.

Rico Arnold caught 6 for 58 yards. A good possession receiver really helps the offense.

Trey Pettway had 5 catches for 57 yards. He caught a couple over the middle in traffic that were Minutemen first downs.

Josiah Johnson had a nifty 29-yard TD contested catch. 

Besides an epic running effort Ellis Merriweather had two catches out of the backfield for 20 yards.

Eric Collins had two catches for 20 yards.

Onuma Dieke had one catch for 15 yards and a first down.

OC Johnson had one catch for 7 yards.

We also have high regarded Freshman WR Michael Fitzgerald who has two catches for the season.

The wide receiver room looks like it has a lot more talent than I thought going into the season. With UMass thin at RB, the Minutemen may have to rely more on the passing game.

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UMass Football News--September 19th, 2021

Video is from the UMMB's march to the Stadium. Runs about a minute.

 Well, we were talking improvement for this game and we got it for the most part. UMass had a slow start as did Brady Olson. The undermanned Minutemen defense gave up TD's in Eastern Michigan's first three drives and then made 'em work for the remaining scores.

The UMass offense had their best day in years. 

• 519 total yards
• 206 yards rushing (The most since Akron 09/18/2019)
• 6.17 yards/carry (almost a 1 yard/carry better than the Akron game)
  
• 30 first downs
• Carter Scudo rushed for 33 yards on four carries (8.3 yards/carry) and 1 TD.
• When Brady hit them, the receivers made some nice catches.
• The OL looks like it's coming together. The EMU defense had 3 TFL and one SACK. The sack was probably on Olson; he had time to throw)
  

 The UMass defense had 4 TFL, 1 SACK, 1 FF and 7 BKUP's. Hopefully we'll get some defensive starters back soon. The defense looked over matched in the first quarter, but battled back. Being down 21-0 early is tough to make up.

I still think we're going to win some games this year.

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UMass write-up here.

EMU's write-up here.

The Hampshire Gazette says critical errors hampered the UMass effort.

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Pitt was stunned by Western Michigan 44-41.

Boston College beat Temple 28-3.

Coastal Carolina held off Buffalo.

Toledo, which almost beat Notre Dame last week, had a clunker of an offensive showing and was upset by Colorado State. 

UConn lost to Army 52-21.

Meanwhile, Florida State fell to its worst start since 1976. 

Liberty ran its home winning streak to thirteen .

Rhode Island dominated Brown to go 3-0 for the 2021 season.

Maine beat Merrimack 31-26. 

Army beat UConn.

New Mexico State beat FCS South Carolina State 43-35.

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Game Day Eastern Michigan--September 18th, 2021

 Well Eastern Michigan is an established team and I'm trying not to be over-optimistic about our chances. Vegas has a 22 point spread, so the rest of the world is not expecting much. 

I think the key to the game is the UMass offense. EMU likes to play a run control offense and control the clock. I watched a couple of quarters of the EMU-Wisconsin game last week after I got back from Amherst. EMU stayed with their offense even down 34 points. The Minutemen "O" needs to score when they have the ball. We probably will not get a ton of opportunities. The Eagles run-heavy offense matches up well against our defense strengths. UMass is probably better against the pass.

20 Minutemen first downs, like last week, will help the defense a lot. 

I'll be there cheering for the Minutemen. Go UMass!

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The Action Network thinks both UMass and UConn could cover the spread.

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Winners and Whiners thinks the Eagles will not only cover, but be up 22 points by half time.

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How UMass is preparing for student tailgating.

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Our old friends at Hustle Belt previews the EMU-UMass game.

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The Milford Daily News looks at native son Bradly Olson's first game as a starter for the Minutemen.

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Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle reports UMass is setting their sights on Eastern Michigan.

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The Hampshire Gazette says Eastern Michigan is what UMass wants to be.

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UMass Football News--September 17th, 2021

 Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle reports UMass prepares for Eastern Michigan, a program they hope to emulate.

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Sports Illustrated looks at the odds, plays and insights for the Eagles-Minutemen game.

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College Football News predicts 38-13 Eastern Michigan.

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The Boston Herald says injury riddled UMass has a challenge with Eastern Michigan.

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Joey Alberti of the Daily Collegian reports on Saturday's Eagles-Minutemen game.

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I was remiss in not mentioning the UMass Marching Band sounded wonderful last week.

The Minutemen cheerleaders were energetic and the Dance Team did a crisp routine.

Click on image and Blogger displays a larger view.

 

It was great to be back at McGuirk watching the game.

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UMass Football News--September 16th, 2021

 UMass has its game notes for Eastern Michigan up.

Eastern Michigan's game notes for UMass.

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Chris Tucci has a really nice photo album of the UMass-BC game on Flickr.com

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Coach Bell hopes the students get to have a football tailgate. The Hamp Gazette reports nine players did not practice Monday. "Nine UMass starters did not practice Tuesday: quarterback Tyler Lytle, defensive lineman Taishan Holmes, defensive back Bryson Richardson, defensive lineman Xavier Gonsalves, wide receiver Jamir Roberts, running back Kay’Ron Adams, offensive lineman Brian Parish, defensive lineman Josh Atwood and linebacker Zack Magdis"

I don't think all those are starters. Hope to get most of them back for Saturday.

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With the student tailgate closed, a lot of them ended up in Amherst.

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Play Michigan looks at the odds for the Eagles-Minutemen game.

After Coach Bell's announcement of the injuries the Vegas odds jumped to EMU by -22. I donno. UMass plus 22 points at home looks pretty good to me.

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EMU's HC Chris Creighton gets a contract extension.

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Our old friends over at Hustle Belt looks at the results of the Eastern Michigan-Wisconsin game.

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Meanwhile, the suffering in Tallahassee is intense. We feel your pain, Seminole fans.

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UMass Blog News

 No blog updates tomorrow or Wednesday morning. Might be able to catch up late Wednesday.

UMass Football News--September 13th, 2021

 I'm trying not to get ahead of myself here. Eastern Michigan is not the 0-10 team we defeated back in 2014. Their recent FBS accomplishments have far exceeded ours. The Eagles beat Rutgers in 2017, Purdue in 2018 and Illinois in 2019--and all those were on the Big 10's team's home field. 

Eastern Michigan is better than us until we prove different.

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One more point about Saturday's game. The UMass defense had a couple workman-like third-and-long stops. UMass played three down linemen and standup linebacker. Both times the Minutemen had the deep coverage and everybody stayed in their lanes so the BC quarterback was not tempted to run and slide. BC completed a pass both times, but it was well short of the first down.

That was a big contrast to 2019. The first few games UMass played the exact same defense, rushing three and dropping everybody else back. In 2019 the opposing QB either hit a wide open receiver for 30 yards or pulled it down and rushed 30 yards. After the first few games, the UMass defense coordinator was just trying to keep the plays under 10 yards/play. Saturday was a big change. Also the Minutemen ran in some defensive packages. Not quite Don Brown's package-for-ever-down-and-distance, but enough so the defense could play aggressive. That's a big change from 2019.

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Eagles (the BC variety) Insider has five takeaways from the UMass game.

ESPN recaps the BC-UMass game.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" says the Minutemen showed signs of progress.

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Sports Illustrated looks at the odds and more for UMass-Eastern Michigan.

The Vegas line is Eastern Michigan by -18.

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The big doin's from Eastern Michigan-Wisconsin game is EMU's Turan Rush's behavior on the field.

Meanwhile in Madison, 45 people were ejected from the Badgers-Eagles game and 32 were arrested. 

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UMass Football News--September 12th, 2021

Click on any image and blogger displays a larger view

 Hey! It was a football game! The Minutemen played a spirited effort against a Power Five school. First off, the offense looked a lot better. Brady Olsen went 14-219 yards. The Minutemen racked up 20 first downs and averaged 5.68 yards/play.

There were a couple of sparkling plays. Eric Collins had a great reception for a TD in the third quarter. Olsen hit Merriweather with a nicely designed slant for another TD in the fourth quarter. The offense had several long drives; we even ran a couple of option plays. Zamir Wise ran the wildcat to mix up the UMass tendencies. 

The defense had a FF, five TFL and generally held their own against a BC offensive line with four pre-season All-ACC picks. UMass easily beat the spread and the Minutemen fans gave the team an ovation at the end of the game.

We fumbled a kickoff for a BC touchdown and gave up 96 yard return. Olsen missed a couple of throws, but did well for his first start as a true freshman. Some things we could have done better, but it was visible progress. I think we are going to win some games this year.

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The Hampshire Gazette say the Minutemen missed some opportunities. 

The Gazette also reported tailgating returned to McGuirk.

BC Interruption said the game gave Eagles fans heartburn.

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Pitt beat Tennessee on the road 41-34.  

Wisconsin held Eastern Michigan to 90 total yards of offense and won 34-7. 

Coastal Carolina beat Kansas 49-22.

Toledo came within an eyelash of upsetting Notre Dame.

Purdue ran over UConn 49-0.

In maybe the biggest upset of 2021 so far, Jacksonville State beat Florida State on a "Hail Mary" TD.

Liberty had a bye.

Rhode Island beat Albany in a defensive struggle. The Rams are still my pick for the CAA North.

Maine was crushed by James Madison 55-7.

Army held off Western Kentucky 38-35. 

New Mexico State lost to New Mexico 34-25.

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Game Day---Boston College 2021

 Well another Saturday and another bout above our weight class. I'd like to see some offensive improvement and some ability to run the ball. We all knew the first two games of the season were going to be a tough go. It doesn't make watching them any easier.

However, it looks like today will be a nice Fall day. We're playing football at McGuirk. The UMass band will be playing. Most fans will have a chance to tailgate. I'm grateful for what we have. Better days are coming. For my 44th year of watching UMass football, I'll be there and cheering for the Maroon & White.

Go UMass!

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UMass cancels the student tailgate.

BC Interruption has game details. The game will be on NESN+

Winners and Whiners says UMass has no chance to cover the point spread.

The Hampshire Gazette reports BC will play at McGuirk for the first time since 1982.

Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle says BC vs UMass should always be a big event.

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Coastal Carolina handled Kansas 49-22 at home last evening.

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UMass Football News--September 10th, 2021

 UMass helmets will feature a 9/11 decal to commemorate the anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

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BC Interruption has a question-and-answer session with Dan Morrison of UnderDog Dynasty about the UMass game.

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College Football News previews the Minutemen-Eagles game and predicts a 45-7 BC win.

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Action Network thinks BC will cover the 37 point spread.

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Flo Football says the Eagles head to Amherst as a heavy favorite.

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UConn announces a QB change prior to hosting Purdue this week. The Huskies are a 34 point home dog to the Boilermakers.

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Eastern Michigan gets Wisconsin on the road this Saturday.

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UMass Football News--September 9th, 2021

 UMass has its game notes for BC up. The Minutemen will wear the throwback script "u" helmets for Saturday's game.

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BC ramps up its attention on the UMass game.

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The Eagles will wear their "red bandanas" uniforms for the Minutemen game.

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BC Interruption recaps the Colgate game and makes scoring predictions for the Minutemen.

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Eagle Insider has five questions for the BC team going into the UMass game.

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The Hampshire Gazette report CB Bryson Richardson is "doubtful" for the BC game, QB Tyler Lytle is a "game day decision" and so is starting guard Reggie Marks.

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Madison.com has five things to know about Eastern Michigan prior to the Wisconsin game. 

BTW, Eastern Michigan beat Big Ten teams in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

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UMass Football News--September 8th, 2021

 The Hampshire Gazette reports UMass wants to raise the bar against Boston College.

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BC Interruption previews the Eagles-Minutemen game. 

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Sports Illustrated says Boston College opens as a big favorite against UMass.

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Eagle Insider reports the Eagles have released their two-deep for the UMass game. 

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Fan Duel looks at the odds for the Eagles-Minutemen contest.

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Pitt News has some images from the Panthers game.

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The Pitt game was not what I had hoped, but the reality is this is really the second year of the rebuild and we just gotta keep grinding. Temple, an established team with a complete roster got waxed 61-14 by Big Ten non-power Rutgers.

UConn, which lost to Holy Cross gets Purdue this week. That's probably not going to be a joy for Husky fans. UConn announced a QB change for the Purdue game.

The ACC surprise team may be Florida State, who took Notre Dame to overtime last Saturday. 

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UMass Football News--September 7th, 2021

 Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" recaps the Minutemen's opening loss to Pittsburgh.

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BC Interruption wonders if the Eagles can cover a big point spread for the second week in a row.

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Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle looks back on a tough opening game against Pitt.

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Meanwhile, Randy Edsall steps down as coach of UConn.

The Huskies face another tough challenge as they face Purdue Saturday, who beat Oregon  State last week.

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Encouraging news that college football is returning to normal: "LSU fans drink the Rose bowl dry". Well done, Tigers fans.

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UMass Football News--September 6th, 2021

 BC Interruption reports the Eagles open as a 38 point favorite.

BC Interruption also has some observations on BC's blowout win over Colgate.

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UConn HC Randy Edsall will step down at the end of the 2021 season.

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Eastern Michigan is a 32 point underdog to Wisconsin.

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UMass Football News--September 5th, 2021

 Well, I knew Pitt was going to be a bad match-up as an opening game. I could not get the ACC video working, so I listened to the WHMP audio feed. I miss Josh Maurer, BTW. 

The UMass offense was pretty much stuffed by an outstanding Panther defense. When we did do something right we had dropped passes. Leaving the defense on the field for the entire first half makes some ugly stats.

The defense, I think, played pretty good. We had 3 TFL, 1 SACK and a FF. The defensive secondary had a number of BKUP's. The defense also had a goal-line stand.

The UMass offense did manage a score and over 200 yards of offense against probably the best defense we'll see all year. Chalk it up to a learning experience and get ready for BC. 

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UMass write-up here.

Pitt write-up here. 

Hampshire Gazette recap here.

The Berkshire Eagle recap, with some after game video here.

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Boston College beat Colgate 51-0.

Eastern Michigan won earlier in the week.

Coastal Carolina won earlier in the week.

Toledo ran over Norfolk State 49-10.

UConn (watched this game) lost to Holy Cross 38-28. 

Florida State plays Notre Dame today.

Liberty beat FCS Campbell 48-7

Rhode island rang up 508 yards of offense against Bryant.

Maine lost to Delaware earlier in the week.

Army dominated Georgia State 43-10

New Mexico State lost to UTEP earlier in the week.

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Game Day --Pittsburgh 2021

 Well to starts my 45th year with UMass season tickets (I'm giving myself 2020). There has not been a lot of positive reinforcement for Minutemen fans for a while. I'd like to see a functioning offense today, even though Pitt has maybe the best defense we'll see all year.

I'd like to see a competitive UMass defense. Make some plays and make the Panthers sweat. 

I'd like to see something more than a 40+ point blowout. 

Anyway, I'll be watching and cheering for the Maroon & White.

Go UMass!

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MassLive says Pitt, with Mark Whipple as offensive coordinator begins the season with high expectations.

The Athol Daily News says UMass knows what's coming.

The Daily Collegian reports UMass is yearning to win games.

The Tribune-Democrat says Pitt welcomes back fans as the Minutemen visit Heinz field.

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Eastern Michigan rang up 27 first downs to dominate St. Francis 35-15 last night.

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UMass Football News--September 3rd, 2021

 Action Network thinks Mark Whipple and the Panthers are going to run it up.

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The Hampshire Gazette says it's just another opponent for Whipple.

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Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle looks at the UMass depth chart prior to the Pitt game.

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Pitt Football gets a $20 million donation. 

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Joe McGonigal of the Post Gazette predicts 51-10 Pitt.

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Coastal Carolina rang up 610 yards of offense in a 52-14 rout of The Citadel. 

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Maine blew a 24-10 halftime lead and lost to Delaware.

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UMass Football News--September 2nd, 2021

 UMass has its game notes for Pitt up.

Panthers game notes for UMass.

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Jeff Lajoie of the Hampshire Gazette previews the Minutemen's season.

The Gazette also reports Tyler Lytle is a "gravitational force" for the Minutemen.

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Pitt News says the Panthers are set for a solid season.

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Pittsburgh Sports Now has five takeaways from Pat Narduzzi's press conference.

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UConn announces its two-deep for Saturday's game against Holy Cross.

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Two UMass 2021 opponents play tonight. Coastal Carolina hosts The Citadel on ESPN+ and Delaware plays at Maine on Flo Video.

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UMass Football News--September 1st, 2021

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has two position reviews:

Defensive backs. 

Special Teams.

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 The Hampshire Gazette reports this year's UMass team has some maturity. 

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Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle says Coach Bell has handed the ball to Tyler Lytle.

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The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette previews the Panthers season.

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The National Football post reports UMass brings a eleven game losing streak to Pittsburgh.

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Fan Duel has the UMass-Pitt game odds and more.

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The Sun-Sentinel previews the Seminoles season.

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