Writing Sunday morning blog posts has not exactly been a joy for me this year. However, that is not the case this morning. Yesterday's game against bowl-bound Army was a game, not a blow out.
Most impressive was how competitive the UMass defense was against the Army option. The UMass defense held Army to 6-15 on third downs and 3-6 on fourth. UMass stopped the Black Knights twice in the red zone. The Minutemen defenders flew to the ball and arrived with a thump. With fourteen minutes left in the fourth quarter, UMass was down by 2. Without the four UMass turnovers, it would have been a much closer game. I thought it was the best defense UMass had played all year.
On offense, the Minutemen had 277 yards of total offense averaged 5.1 yards a carry rushing. Garrett Druzo has the legs and the arm to play. He needs work on his decision making in the passing game. Still, he moved the team. UMass converted half of third and fourth down plays. That's a lot better than we have done recently.
In addition, this was the first road game where our play was not flatly atrocious. We could actually have a chance against New Mexico State next week. I had been dreading that game recently. Getting blown out by a team that bad was going to be the final insult of a lousy season. If we play like we did at Army, we could win.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UMass' write-up here.
Army write-up here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitt clinched the ACC Coastal Division with a win over Virginia.
BC's comeback against Florida State fell short.
Eastern Michigan edged Western Michigan on Tuesday.
Coastal Carolina beat Texas State to run their record to 9-2.
Toledo beat Ohio Tuesday.
UConn gave up 49 to UCF.
Florida State beat BC as above.
Louisiana ran over Liberty 42-14.
Rhode Island flopped on the road at Elon.
Maine beat New Hampshire 33-20.
New Mexico State fell to 1-10 losing big to Kentucky.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------