UMass Football News--October 10th, 2021--Hallelujah!

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Well, UMass finally broke through yesterday. There were lots of heroes. Ellis "Ironman" Merriweather had 39 (!) carries for 171 yards and two TD's. A truly amazin' performance.

Zamir Wise added a dimension to the UMass offense out of the Wildcat. He ran for 64 yards and a TD.

Brady Olson struggled with his accuracy, but he ran the offense well and had 10-162 yards passing, which was enough to score 27 points.

The defense held the Huskies to 1-10 on third downs and added two INT's. They had eight TFL and 1 SACK. The defense dominated in the fourth quarter.

Cameron Carson went 2-3 in field goals and was perfect on extra points.

The win made my 80-mile drive back to New Hampshire more pleasant than it had been in a long time.

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UMass write-up here.

UConn write-up here.

The Hampshire Gazette reports the UMass fans stormed the field. 

MassLive said UMass snapped a 16-game losing streak.

The UConn Blog said the Huskies had a chance to win. 

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Pitt had a bye.

Boston College had a bye.

Eastern Michigan had a one-point victory over Miami.

Toledo lost to NIU on a late field goal. 

Coastal Carolina crushed Arkansas State 52-20. 

Florida State had a big win over North Carolina.

Liberty rolled over Middle Tennessee State 41-13. 

Rhode Island beat Delaware to go 5-0 for the season.

Maine lost to Elon 33-23.

Army had a bye.

New Mexico State lost 52-28 to Nevada. 

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Game Day UConn--October 6th, 2021

 

UMass will be in the traditional Maroon jerseys and white pants with script "umass" white helmets. Maroon jerseys and white pants are what some people think college uniforms should look like.

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College football News predicts UConn 30 UMass 24.

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Three UConn coaches and two players (one a starter) will miss the UMass game due to testing positive for COVID.

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The Hartford Courant says UConn favored to break 10-game losing streak against winless UMass.

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The Hampshire Gazette reports an elusive win is on the line for both teams.

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UMass Football News--October 8th, 2021

From the Gridiron Club weekly e-mail: " This weekend’s game is Band Day, led by the Power the Class of New England, the Minuteman Marching Band.  We’ll have nearly 1,100 high school band members in attendance.  The UConn band will also be in the stadium and perform as part of the festivities.  "

Band Day is always fun and UConn's band being there will add some rivalry to the performance. Come to the game and cheer for the Minutemen.

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 The spread for the UMass-UConn game is up to -3.5 for UConn. Ouch.

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USA Today says UMass-UConn could be the worst game of the season. 

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The UConn Daily Campus previews the Huskies-Minutemen game.

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Athlon Sports "experts" pick UMass by 2 to 1 over UConn.

Athlon also picks North Carolina over Florida State by 17.

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UMass Football News--October 7th, 2021

UMass has their game notes for UConn up.

Brady Olson is listed as the starting QB. This will be his fifth game of the season and that will, I believe, burn his redshirt.

Carter Scudo and Jared Chisari are listed as the #2 or #3 RB. Chisari has appeared in four games going 4-15 3.8 yards/carry. Scudo has played in 2 games going 6-35 5.8 yards/carry.

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 ESPN says it's the Battle for the Bottom.

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Huskie TE Jay Rose is playing with spirit for UConn.

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Kalen DeLoach is the "Energizer Bunny" for the Florida State defense.

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Undefeated Rhode Island has a big game against Delaware Saturday.

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UMass Football News--October 6th, 2021

 Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" recaps the Toledo game.

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The Hampshire Gazette recaps George Georgopoulis' great game against Toledo. 

Bell states in the report Kay' Ron Adams is out for the season with ankle surgery. DB's Josh Wallace and Donte Lindsey are uncertain for the UConn game. OL Max Longman is a game-day decision for Saturday.

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CBS Sports reports UMass and UConn #1 and #2 in the bottom 25 are set for an epic game this Saturday.

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NCAA.com says one of the teams Saturday will break a long losing streak. 

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Sports Illustrated says only one team has been eliminated from bowl eligibility so far this season: UConn. A Huskie win this Saturday will eliminate UMass.

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The Journal Inquirer reports UConn QB Tyler Phommachanh will be out indefinitely.

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UMass Football News--October 5th, 2021

 Fan Duel has UConn with a 63.7% chance of defeating UMass Saturday.

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The Daily Campus says UMass-UConn will be the game of the year.

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The Hartford Courant reports the Huskies are re-tooling their offense.

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The UConn Blog (good name) looks at the Husky's future opponents including UMass. 

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The Warchant says Jordan Travis has been the Seminoles' best quarterback. 

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UMass Football News--October 4th, 2021

 UConn opens as a 2 point favorite over UMass. Man, losing to UConn is really going to put a cherry on the top of three years of football misery.

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MassLive notes the Minutemen were held to 134 yards of offense against Toledo.

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The Berkshire Eagle says UMass went from bad to worse.

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The Lines has UMass-UConn lines, trends and odds.

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The UConn Blog (good name) says the Huskies lost in the last seconds.

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UConn QB Tyler Phommachanh had a leg injury during the Vanderbilt game and did not return. Phommachanh had really supplied a spark to the Husky offense. It would improve UMass' chances if he did not play Saturday.

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247Sports has reactions after Florida State beats Syracuse in the final seconds.

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UMass Football News--October 3rd, 2021

 I gotta tip my hat to UMass fans. Over 9500 showed up to watch the 16th consecutive loss. It actually looked like more than that.

Click on any image and Blogger displays a larger view.

Next, the UMMB is having its finest year of Anderson era. They sound great and somewhere George Parks is smiling.

Next is George Georgopoulos, he punted like an All-American. Georgopoulos averaged almost 53 yards/punt and dropped three inside the 20.

The UMass defense also played well. The defense had a number of TFL's and one sack. Late in the second quarter UMass had the ball and three or four first downs would mean UMass would go into the second half down 10-0. That didn't happen.

Four turnovers doomed a good defense effort.

The offense was putrid. If we continue to play this way, we're going 0-12. Coach Bell tried three QB's. Nobody moved the ball. UMass averaged 0.9 yards a rush and the longest run all day was six yards. 134 yards total offense is not going to beat anybody. The Minutemen were 1-11 on third down conversions.

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UMass write-up here.

Toledo write-up here. "The rockets smother UMass"

The Hampshire Gazette says the UMass offense let the defense down.

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Pitt crushed Georgia Tech 52-21.

BC hung with Clemson most of the game but lost 19-13.

Eastern Michigan lost to Western Illinois 27-20.

Coastal Carolina demolished ULM 59-6.

UConn led most of the game but lost to Vanderbilt 30-28. 

Florida State beat Syracuse for their first win of the season.

Liberty beat UAB 36-12.

Rhode Island stayed undefeated, beating Stony Brook 27-20. 

Maine lost to Northern Illinois 41-14.

Army lost to Ball State 28-16.

San Jose State edged New Mexico State 37-31.

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Game Day Toledo--October 2nd, 2021

 

Another Saturday, another good opponent for UMass. If you follow recruiting rankings you are aware the Rockets sign 20+ three star recruits every year. This leads to lots of depth and lots of seniors in the two-deep.

It also leads to a near upset of Notre Dame. Toledo is maybe a half a notch below Power Five teams like BC and Pitt. They're probably better than Florida State.

UMass needs to play a focused game. The sloppy start against Coastal Carolina seemed to fluster the Minutemen. We need some offensive production and the defense needs to make a couple of plays.

I drove 500 miles back from PA yesterday and I'll be hitting the road again to drive to Amherst this morning to cheer for the Minutemen.

Go UMass!

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Winners and Whiners predicts UMass to cover the 27-point spread.

Sports Chat Place also thinks the Minutemen will cover.

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The Hampshire Gazette says the early season gauntlet continues for UMass. 

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UMass Football News--October 1st, 2021

 The Boston Herald says UMass brings a fifteen-game losing streak to Saturday's Toledo game.

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Coastal Carolina is another 30+ favorite over Louisiana-Monroe.

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College Football News thinks Toledo will cover the spread.

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UConn wants to prove they're not an easy target at Vanderbilt.

The CT Post reports the Huskies are looking to upset Vanderbilt. 

The UConn Blog (good name) breaks down the Huskies depth chart for the Vanderbilt game. 

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Syracuse looks to run over winless Florida State.

Athlon Sports predicts a 24-20 "Noles win.

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College Football News predicts UAB will upset Liberty. 

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If you missed it, the 3-0 Rhode Island Rams are ranked in the FCS Top-25 poll.

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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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