UMass Football Newws--August 31st, 2023

UMass Chancellor and Don Brown visit band camp

More images here.

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 The latest video episode of "UMass Unleashed" is up and it's great. After so many lean years, it's wonderful to have some positive results.

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Don Brown say if you want to be the best, you gotta beat the best.

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Auburn is ranked as one of college football's most iconic brands.

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ESPN releases the names of the announcers for the Auburn-UMass game. 

ESPN's Jesse Palmer says college football is better when Auburn is good.

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Al.com previews the Tigers defense.

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The New Mexico State football community is rallying behind DC Nate Dreiling's wife Alexa who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. 

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Miami of Ohio will play Miami of much media coverage on Friday at 7:00.

The "All Hurricanes" staff predicts the outcome. 

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UMass Football News--August 30th, 2023

 

Taisun Phommachanh is named one of UMass' Student Athlete-of-the-Week

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Adam Breneman has Taisun as one of his Dudes of the week.

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The UMass-New Mexico State game drew almost 600,000 viewers and was the second most watched game of the weekend. 

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MassLive beaks down the rewards of UMass' money games.

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Auburn Daily has three Tiger newcomers to watch during the UMass game.  

MSN previews Auburn's offense. 

Auburn announces their captains for the 2023 season.

The Montgomery Adviser predicts Auburn 42 UMass 10

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New Mexico State looks to rebound against FCS Western Illinois, UMass played the Leathernecks at least once. Western Illinois went 1-11 last year.

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Miami of Ohio's QB Brett Gabbert weighs in on who's the "real Miami".

Predictions, trends and odds for Miami vs Miami.

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UMass captains for New Mexico State

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UMass Football News--August 29th, 2023

UMass has their game notes for Auburn up. 

Auburn also has their game notes for UMass up.

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 Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" recaps the New Mexico State game.

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The Hampshire Gazette has Coach Brown reflecting on the New Mexico State victory. 

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Hugh Freeze previews UMass.

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Hugh Freeze on playing Don Brown's defense: it's hard. 

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Three goals for Auburn, beyond winning, for the UMass game. 

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Three takeaways for New Mexico State from the loss to UMass.

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I finished watching the New Mexico State game in YouTube last evening. One of my takeaways was the play of Gino Campiotti. He only had one reception, but his blocking grades must have been excellent. On Anthony Simpson's opening TD, it was Campiotti's block that sealed the New Mexico State defense inside.

In the second half, the ESPN announcers mentioned Campiotti's blocking.  It seemed like every time number 13 was in the frame somewhere, he had his hat on a New Mexico State defender. At 6-2 225, he's not the prototypical 6-5 255 pound TE, but he made an impact for UMass last Saturday.

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Click on image and Blogger displays a larger view

If any Blog readers like to travel, the last week of August seems to be a great time to visit New Mexico. Yesterday Mrs Blog and I basically had Carlsbad Caverns Nation Park to ourselves. The lack of crowds was wonderful. We road the 750 foot elevator down to the cavern with just the two of us and we were almost alone in the vast and wonderful Big Room. We passed maybe six people in the hour-and-a-half walk through the cavern. It was so quiet we could hear the "plink" of water droplets that had managed to make it through the nearly 1,000 feet of limestone over our heads. It was an amazin' experience

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UMass Football News--August 28th, 2023

UMass athletic dept image

 In my pregame write-up on the New Mexico State game I doubted Taisun Phommachanh's passing ability. Boy was I wrong. His QB efficiency for the New Mexico State game ended up at 153.7, which we have not seen in a while. He also had a 58% completion average. Some other heroes:

• Christian Wells and Anthony Simpson combined for 133 receiving yards.
• Seven different receivers caught a pass.
• Zukudo Igwenagu had five TT and drove an Aggie OL back into  the New Mexico State QB for a sack and a FF.
•  The UMass OL, on the other hand, gave up zero sacks.
• 22 Minutemen defensive players had at least one defensive stat.

• Freshman LB Tyler Martin had 4 TT and a big TFL.

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Matty Vautour says UMass has an honest-to-god reason for optimism.

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Nice article about Don Brown and the eight "Minutecats".

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MSN.com says UMass matched last season's win total with Saturday's Victory. 

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Miami of Ohio's QB Brett Gabbert says the Redhawks are going to show the Hurricanes something.

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An Alabama writer takes a shot at Hugh Freeze and Auburrn for hosting UMass.

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The UMass Daily Collegian reports UMass showed a huge improvement.

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Yardbarker says UMass took flight.
 

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Auburn Daily reports game week is finally here. 

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INFLATION

I was gassing up my rental car in Roswell yesterday and a woman came up to me and said "Can I have $15.00 to get some gas?"

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At the game the Aggie students near us kept chanting "F*ck UMass, F*ck UMass".

The UMass fans chanted back "We-are-winning,we-are-winning".

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UMass Football News--August 27th, 2023

 Well I was there and a lot of good things happened. 

• Taisun Phommachanh went 192 yards on 10-17 throws and added 96 yards rushing. That was the best offensive performance by a UMass QB in years. He seemed to get more comfortable as the game progressed.
• We scored 28 points in the 4th quarter!
• UMass scored 41 points!
• The Minutemen averaged 7.2 yarrds/play. Almost double last year's stat.
• The defense had 3 sacks and 1 important forced fumble.

• The defense scored a TD and held the Aggies  to 2-9 on third downs.

That was the best looking UMass team I have watched in years. Through most of the game, the offense and defense did not sit on the benches. Everyone was standing up urging thier teammate

A great win for the program and UMass fans.

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UMass write-up here.

NMS write-up here.

These images on the entity formerly-known-as-Twitter are great.

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The Hampshire Gazette says UMass was impressive. 

Mass Live reports the Minutemen had their first opening  game win against a FBS opponent in 40 years.

Yard Barker says UMass took flight.

Drones! 

The Las Cruses Sun-Times reports UMass spoiled the Aggies opener.  

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Game Day--New Mexico State 2023

 Yes! Suck it pundits!

 UMass played really well. And the Minutemen had the subs in for that last TD by New Mexico State. The offense got better as game went on and the defense generated turnovers.

Great game by the Minutemen in tough conditions.

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UPDATE: Currently 88 degrees at 12:00 Noon.  Predicted 94 by 5:00 pm.

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Thunderstorms rolled through Las Cruses last evening at about 6:30. They dropped the temperature by what felt like 30 degrees. Accu Weather say there is about a 25% chance of cloud cover in the afternoon. That would help.

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

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The Hampshire Gazette previews the entire UMass 2023 season. 

The Gazette says the Minutemen are looking to "prove it" this season.

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Clutch Points thinks New Mexico State will cover the spread.

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New Mexico State looks to build off bowl momentum. 

The Las Cruses Sun-News asks if the Aggies can live up to expectations. 

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UMass Football News--August 25th,, 2023

 UPDATE: Click on image and blogger displays a larger view

 Holy crap it's hot here. Zero shade at the Aggies stadium.

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Good morning from El Paso!

 Don Brown says he won't know if UMass is good until they face adversity

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After three tough seasons UMass' Josh  Atwood still believes.

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And lots of predictions:

Fan Nation says take the Aggies. 

NBC Sports says take the Minutemen. 

Covers says take New Mexico State. 

USA pundits pick  New Mexico State 6 to 1 over UMass. 

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And then there is the really stupid.

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Auburn Daily reports the UMass Game is sold out. 

The War Eagles like to run the ball and Jarquez Hunter leads pack. 

Auburn adds more than 20 game day enhancements for its fans.

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UMass Football Blog News--Road Trip!!

 Me and Mrs Blog are off to New Mexico.

We've got tickets to the Aggies game and will be cheering for the Minutemen in person.

We're going to do some sight seeking in southern New Mexico and revisit some places we camped at in our younger days.

I wanted to drive the rental car across Texas and also take in the Auburn game, but my bride said enough was enough 😀

As usual, I'll try to keep the Blog going. If I go dark, I'll be back in a week.

UMass Football News--August 24th, 2023

 Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" previews the UMass-New Mexico State game.

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Auburn announces a sell out for the UMass-Auburn game.

Auburn has an excellent pump-up video here.

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Maize & Brew says Josh Wallace brings experience and leadership to Michigan.

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UConn thinks they have significantly upgraded their WR room.

Maine names Maine transfer Joe Fagnano QB starter for the Huskies.

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UMass Football News--August 23rd, 2023

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Game week images from Amherst.

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The New England Football Journal reports on Don Brown's game week press conference.

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The Las Cruses News reports New Mexico State opens as favorites in Jerry Kill's second year.

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Gaming Today says take New Mexico State. UMass is "overmatched". 

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The New Mexico State athletic dept website says the Aggies open against UMass.

The New Mexico State game notes for UMass are here.

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Auburn Wire ranks it's 2023 opposition quarterbacks. Taisun Phommaehanh is ranked last.

Auburn HC Hugh Freeze is concerned about the War Eagles run defense.

College Football News predicts Auburn 52 UMass 10.

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Hustle Belt previews Miami (Ohio) defensive backfield.

All Hurricanes previews common opponent Miami of Ohio.

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UMass Football News--August 22nd, 2023

The UMass press release for New Mexico State is up.

The UMass game notes for the Aggies are up.

The game notes has the UMass depth chart to start the season. Not a lot of surprises. Marcellus Anderson is the starting RG. I was struck by the fact this is a more veteran OL than we've seen for some time. The line has two RS seniors: Anderson and Garcia. Hassard, Atwood and Mottinger are juniors. In addition, it looks like we have an actual two-deep rather than only a couple of additional guys who are ready to play.

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Dan Little image

Coach Brown names Taisun Phommachanh has starting QB for the New Mexico State game. May he have a great game and lead the Minutemen out of the wilderness.

The Hampshire Gazette also has a post on Phommachanh being named the starter.

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The Recorder reports UMass turns its attention to New Mexico State in a nationally televised game.

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Doc's Sport Service thinks the Aggies will cover the spread.

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ATS thinks taking San Diego State over Ohio and New Mexico State over UMass is the parley of Week 0 in college football.

UPDATE: The line for UMass-New Mexico State has dropped from 8 to 7.5

In addition, Ohio was 10-4 (two of the Bobcats' losses were to Penn State and Iowa State) while San Diego State went 7-6 in 2022. Ohio also gets the return of former MAC player-of-the-year QB Kurtis Rourke, so this might be a bet to avoid..  

UPDATE II: Oddshopper thinks UMass will pull off the upset!

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Odds Checker says take the under in the Aggies-Minutemen game.

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Eight former Arizona Wildcats will play for Coach Brown at UMass.

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Meanwhile, the injury bug bites Auburn.

With the QB position settled, the War Eagles have five other position battles going.

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August 21st, 2023--Previewing the New Mexico State game

 UMass is 0-2 all-time against New Mexico State,losing games in 2021 and 2022.


Last year the Minutemen defense did a fine job holding the Aggies to 334 yards total and 0-12 on third downs. In addition, the UMass defense held New Mexico State to 111 yards rushing and 3.5 yards/carry. The Minutemen had 10.5 TFL and 3 sacks. Those should be winning statistics.

The difference was on offense. UMass only totaled 259 yards of total offense and was shut out in the second half. Brady Olsen went 15-28 for 97 yards and 1 INT. The Minutemen's longest pass completion of the day was 19 yards. UMass had 162 yards rushing, but 66 of those came on one play.  Other than Kay’Ron Adams 66 yard TD, the Minutemen rushed 23 times for 96 yards, about 4.1 yards/play.

The difference in the game was Aggie QB Diego Pavia. He is an Horatio Alger story all by himself. He had no offers coming out of HS. He led his JUCO team to a national championship---and still received little interest. Pavia started the second half against UMass and then started for the rest of New Mexico State’s season. Of New Mexico State’s 334 total yards, Pavia accounted for 250 (194 passing, 56 rushing). He won five of the Aggies last six games and was MVP of the Quick Lane Bowl against Bowling Green.

Pavia is not a dual-threat guy. He’s a scrambler who’s at his best running around making plays. UMass needs to keep him inside and not whiff on tackles.

The UMass defense needs to tackle Pavia

Winning or losing this game is on the UMass offense. I think the Minutemen win if the offense scores 24 points and the odds go even better if we score 27-30 points. The UMass passing game needs to be at least average to give the Minuteman rushing game something other than facing eight-or-nine-in-the-box on every down.  The Minutemen averaged 116.9 yards/game passing in 2022 (#128th in the nation). I am not yet sold on Taisun Phommachanh’s passing. Last year for Georgia Tech he appeared in two game went 2-5 for 13 yards and a 21.8 efficiency rating. If he is dialed in for UMass, then he will be the four-star QB we all long for him to be. If Phommachanh struggles, I think they need to give Carlos Davis a chance early.

I do think the Minutemen WR room has improved significantly this year. Mark Pope, Anthony Simpson and George Johnson III looked good in camp. Geno Campiotti can make plays at TE or H-back. Hopefully they will get him more than one or two targets a game. This is a lot more talent than we had last year. These receivers can make an impact on the entire offense. Go get the ball. Make plays.

New Mexico State should be in our wheelhouse. They are pretty much an average Group-of-Five team. In 2022 they lost to three Power Five teams (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri) by a score of  21-149. The Aggies beat two weak FCS teams (Lamar, Valparaiso) by 100-17. New Mexico State went 5-3 against Group-of-Five teams. They are not Tulane, Air Force, UTSA, Toledo or Marshall. I think UMass’ defense will be even better this year and we will generate enough offense to win.

Go UMass!

UMass Football News--August 20th, 2023

 The UMass radio station WMUA sports dept has its first football podcast and discusses the Minutemen's 2023 offense.

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Liberty Flames.com has a podcast previewing New Mexico State. The Aggies play both Liberty and Auburn in 2023.

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On 3.com does a game-by-game preview of Auburn's 2023 schedule and says UMass will be nothing but a tune-up.

Auburn Sports on Rivals previews the War Eagles receiving corps.

The War Eagles has six defensive players sit out the most recent practice due to injury.

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HERO Sports presents Eastern Michigan's 2023 schedule.

The Eagles went 9-4 in 2022. Eastern Michigan had two notable victories in 2022. They ran over Power Five Arizona State (305 yards rushing) and the Eagles scored a decisive win over San Jose State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

This year they play at Minnesota and have to play both Toledo and Northern Illinois on the road. Beating beating the Rockets or the Huskies could make Eastern Michigan MAC West champs.

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UMass Football News--August 19th, 2023

 Play Picks has UMass vs New Mexico State betting predictions, tips and last year's stats. Again, it reads like an AI-written story.

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KTSM.com previews New Mexico State's schedule.

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A CFN writer thinks Auburn will have a really good season.

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HERO Sports list Miami of Ohio's football schedule. They open against Miami (of Florida) and also play at Cincinnati on September 16th. Last year the Redhawks played Kentucky and lost 13-37. They also played Cincinnati and lost by a nearly identical score of 17-38. Miami went 4-4 in the MAC East, which was 4th in the division. 

The Redhawks best game was a 17-14 win over Big Ten Northwestern. Miami won despite having only 278 yards of offense and going 5-15 on third downs.

Miami lost to a 6-6 UAB team in the Bahamas Bowl.

The Redhawks were able to participate in a Bowl with a 6-6 record because the MAC has pretty extensive bowl tie-in's. The MAC gets consideration in:

• The Bahamas Bowl vs Conference USA
  
• Famous Idaho Potato Bowl vs Mountain West
  
• Quick Lane Bowl vs Big Ten
• Lending Tree Bowl vs Sun Belt
• Camellia Bowl vs Sun Belt/AAC
• Arizona Bowl vs Mountain West

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Image credit unknown..

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UMass Football News--August 18th, 2023

UMass Football Unleashed has episode #5: the defense.

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The "Outside Amherst" podcast has episode #3 up.

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Former UMass player Josh Wallace tells how he came to Michigan.

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New Mexico State's depth chart is coming into focus as they prepare for UMass.

The El Paso Times predicts New Mexico State will finish 6th in the revamped C-USA.

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Stew Milne image

Auburn has named Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne as starter against UMass. Stories here and here. 

Also: the War Eagles are loaded at RB.

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Hustle Belt previews the 2023 Miami Red Hawks front seven.

Fox Sports looks at the odds and over-and-under for Miami.

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UMass Football News--August 17th, 2023

 

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" previews the Minutemen's 2023 season.

UMass will win some games this season. IMHO, bowl eligibility is a stretch. We have not caught many breaks in FBS so far. Things would really have to go our way to make six wins. Two wins would be disappointing, three wins would be OK, four or five would be significant progress.

• It's been 677 days since an FBS win (UConn 10/9/21)
• It's been 1,419 days since an FBS win not named UConn (Akron 09/28/2019)
• It's been 4653 days (11 years 8 months 5 days) since we had a winning season (6-5 2010 finishing on 11/30/2010)
• It's been 18,513 days (50 years, 8 months, 8 days) since we played a bowl game (Boardwalk Bowl 12/9/72)
  

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Former UMass Captain Josh Wallace is battling for a starting spot at Michigan. 

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AtoZ Sports image

Former UMass star WR Andy Isabella is climbing the depth chart will the Bills. 

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New Mexico State is +2000 to win the C-USA conference title.

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Saturday Down South has 10 bold predictions for Auburn football in 2023.

An Auburn writer says he expects to see both Robby Ashford and Payton Thorne against UMass. 

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UMass Football News--August 16th, 2023

 

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ESPN has Independent game odds and facts. The over-and-under for UMass-New Mexico State is 42.5. The two teams combined for 36 points last year. Will the new-look Minuteman offense score more than 13 points? Only one more UMass TD will put the Minutemen over 42.5 combined score..

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The preseason FCS coaches poll is out. Some pundits are picking Merrimack to contend for the NEC title, but they do not get any points in the initial poll.

BTW, Merrimack will play Air Force in 2024.

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UMass' first home football game on September 9th will be youth day.

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Video of New Mexico State in their road whites.

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Fox Sports has win totals and over-and-under for the New Mexico Lobos.

Abqjournal.com reports on the status of New Mexico's training camp.

OTHER THAN THE GUNFIGHT, IT WAS A QUIET SEASON FOR NEW MEXICO BASKETBALL

Woman pleads guilty to role in on-campus shootout. 

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UMass Football News--August 15th, 2023

 

More UMass training camp images.

# 4 is George Johnson III. He went 28-402 and 1 TD in receptions in 2022. Should be one of the starting WR's in 2023.

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Sports Grid has UMass vs New Mexico State betting preview. This article, to me, reads like AI generated content. With the demise of the dead-tree media, we'll be seeing a lot more of AI written sports stories online.

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College Football News has 22 experts pick the UMass-New Mexico State game. Twenty of the "experts" pick the Aggies and two pick UMass.

Sports Illustrated picks New Mexico State.

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The Berkshire Eagle has Coach Brown like what he sees in training camp and is not ready to declare a starting QB. Note the Berkshire Eagle articles are usually pay-walled, but this one isn't (at the time I'm writing this).

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The War Eagle says Auburn transfer QB Payton Thorne does not seem like he has the lead in QB race anymore.

Sports Illustrated says yes he does. 

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UMass Football News--August 14th, 2023

 Ellis Merriweather talks about his TD against Chiefs and how everyone back at UMass was cheering for him.

Ellis' TD catch. 

Three Saints (including Merriweather) who made a strong case in their New Orleans debut. 

Saints Wire says New Orleans' best RB wasn't a draft pick. 

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I was watching Georgia Tech's 2022 upset of North Carolina on the ACC network last evening. Taisun Phommachanh, splitting series with another QB, had 10 carries for 45 yards. He went 2-5 with 1 INT passing.

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USA Today ranks Auburn QB Payton Thorne as #11 in the SEC.

Fly War Eagle.com says Thorne may be #3 in the preseason battle.  They also state it won't matter anyway against UMass as Auburn will be up double digits at the start of the second quarter.

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UConn is also having a preseason QB battle. One of the competitors is ex-Maine QB Joe Fagnano. He went 16-27 209 yards and 2 TD's in the Black Bears win over UMass in 2021.

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UMass Football News--August 13th, 2023

 Check out this run by Greg Desrosiers! We didn't put pressure on opposing defenses with our running game last year. 2023 is going to be different.

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Chancellor Reyes took in UMass practice yesterday.   

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The New England Football Journal has updates on UMass' running backs and linebackers.

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In Auburn's first scrimmage the offense shined early, the defense later. 

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I was watching last year's game between Arizona and Colorado on the PAC 12 network last evening. Jerry Roberts led the Wildcats in tackles and was praised several times by the announcers. 

Check out this catch by Arizona WR Tetairoa McMillan at 19:30 of the highlight reel.

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UMass Football News--August 12th, 2023

 

The Hampshire Gazette says the UMass football team is making strides during preseason.

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New Mexico State's defense looks to reload with transfers from Penn State and Arizona. The Aggies defense lost nine starters to graduation and the transfer portal off season.

Mountain West Wire previews the 2023 Mexico State Aggies.

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The Fighting Irish Wire looks at the helmets of the four independents and decides UMass is the worst and Nortre Dame's the best. Go figure.

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2023 opponent Arkansas State holds the first full pad practice of Fall camp.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail previews the Arkansas State Red Wolves. 

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Fox Sports looks at the over & under and win totals for UConn. The Huskies play four Power Five opponents: North Carolina, Duke, BC and Tennessee. UConn plays James Madison (8-3 last year), Sacred Heart and UMass in their last three games. Going 3-0 will probably give the Huskies another bowl game.

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A 247Sports writer says the era of transfer quarterbacks is upon us.

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UMass Football News--August 11th, 2023

 

UMass single game tickets are available. Miami, New Mexico and Arkansas State kick off at 3:30 pm. Toledo kicks off at 1:00 pm.

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The UMass "X" feed has some video on the offensive & defensive lines.

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The New England Football Journal has a post on UMass' OC Steve Casula's take on the 2023 offense.

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Fan Buzz.com previews the 2023 Minutemen. They predict three wins.

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Vegas odds.com has New Mexico State as a 7.5 to 10 point favorite over the Minutemen.

They also have Auburn as a 38.5 to 39 point favorite over UMass. 

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The Liberty blog "A Sea of Red" has UMass as a potential trap game for the Flames. 

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The Miami Redhawks lost two OL starters to  Power Five schools, but they return 60 starts.

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UMass Football News--August 10th, 2023

 The UMass Athletic Dept received a record amount of donations in 2022.

The UMass Gridiron Club is the football-specific organization that supports Minutemen football. Any donation will help Coach Brown bring back a winning tradition to UMass Football. This year the Gridiron club donated funds that increased the number of lifting stations in the Performance center.

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Jeremy Horne visited UMass practice. Horne lettered for the Minutemen in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Horne recorded 85 catches for 1,343 yards and 11 TD's for UMass.

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Three takeaways from the first half of New Mexico State's Fall camp.

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Auburn added over 40 players during the off season. Five who have impressed in Fall camp.

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An Eastern Michigan play gives his scholarship to a teammate who was struggling to pay for college.

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MSN predicts Toledo as MAC champion and possibly a New Years Day team.

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Liberty mourns the death of a 19-year old freshman payer.

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UMass Football News--August 9th, 2023

 The UMass athletic dept has a nine minute video of the offense's status in Fall camp.

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BTW, at Saturday's practice, Brady Olsen was wearing #2 instead of 12.

On offense Stony Brook transfer Shawn Harris, Jr was wearing #12.

PWO QB Conner Whitson was wearing # 18.

Greg Desrosiers. Jr.

Greg Desrosiers, Jr was wearing #3, now #20. 

Arizona transfer RB Jalen John was wearing #21.

Arizona transfer LB Tyler Martin was wearing #5.

Miami transfer Mark Pope was wearing Ellis Merriweather's old #7.

Arizona transfer Mark Simpson was wearing #8.

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The UConn Blog (good name) looks at the Huskies QB battle.

Connecticut governor Ned Lamont visits the Huskies camp and weighs in on conference realignment and UConn's prospects. 

Can you imagine the Massachusetts governor visiting UMass football? I can't either..

Update: Dennis Hernandez, brother of Aaron Hernandez threatens UConn football.

"I've got a bullet for everybody", he said.

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Auburn's Toomer Oaks can be rolled this year returning one of the War Eagles cherished traditions.

Notes from Auburn's training camp.

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UMass Football News--August 8th, 2023

 The 2023 edition of the UMass Football record book is up.

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More training camp images.

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The New England Football Journal has Q&A with coach Brown after Monday's practice.

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The first USA Coaches poll is out. Penn State is #7. Toledo got five votes. No other UMass 2023 opponents appeared.

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Former TCU coach Garry Anderson visits New Mexico State's training camp.

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Former Springfield Catholic star Tyson Riley is primed for big season with Army football. 

Army opens Fall camp. UMass and Army play October 28th at West Point.

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UMass football News--August 7th, 2023

 Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" does a position review of the 2023 Minutemen specialists.

Studies have shown good (and bad) special team plays account for about one third of victories or defeats.

Last year CJ Kolodziey went 79-2873 yards. He averaged 36.4 yards a kick. He had 16 inside the 20 (opponents had 12) and 7 50+ yards (opponents had 5). He started slow, but improved throughout the year.

Cameron Carson went 13-18 in field goals (opponents also went 13-18). Two of his misses were over 50 yards. Carson scored 52 points, which was almost 35% of all the points scored by UMass in 2022.

With a better offense, Carson should have more opportunities this year.

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New Mexico State finishes their 2nd scrimmage of Fall camp.

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UMass' first home opponent Miami (Ohio) will meet their namesakes Miami (Fl) on September 1st.

The Redhawks had a tough off season losing 17 players to the transfer portal. Two of their starting OL signed with Power Five schools.

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ATTN MIDNIGHT RIDE COLLECTIVE

The West Virginia collective signed a deal with New Trust Lager that pays 15% of beer sales to the collective. I see a lot of five-star players in the Mountaineers future..

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