Recruiting 2017--Jake Byczko verbals to UMass

Jake Byczko, a 6-3 240 pound DE/LB has Tweeted he's verbaled to UMass.

Originally a UConn commit. I've blogged about Byczko before.

That's four Massachusetts recruits this cycle.

Recruiting 2017--Jake Byczko

Twitter image

Jake Byczko, a 6-3 240 pound DE/LB from Auburn, MA has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Originally verbaled to UConn. New coach Randy Edsall has been changing the Huskies recruiting class. That's engendered some negative comment. The Hartford Courant also has a post on the recruiting changes.

Hudl.com has video.

Byczko drew interest from BC, Syracuse, Buffalo and others.

UMass Football News--December 5th, 2017

Matty Vautour has an article about UMass football having an interesting off season.

He mentions the possibility that UMass defensive coordinator Ed Pinkham could get an offer from another staff. While UMass could not match a Power Five offer, the Minutemen currently do not have a "assistant head coach". UMass could offer him a raise or extension and the assistant head coach title. I would hope UMass could keep him. The two best wins of 2017, and they were the two best wins of the program in the FBS era, were Appalachian State and BYU. Both games were defensive gems.

Matty mentions the Minutemen will have six QB's on the roster if no one leaves. Andrew Ford has already said he's staying. Ross Comis, Randall West and JUCO Mike Curtis are currently on the roster. UMass adds Jake Pallotta and Josiah Johnson.

Matty says Whipple stated he's received some feelers about grad transfers and is looking at some JUCO's on defense and punter.

He mentions possible breakout players for 2018. Jordan Fredericks joins the running backs.

Chinedu Ogbonna and Jake Byczko will be available for the defensive line. Ogbonna played in eleven games in 2017 and Byczko in twelve. Byczko had 23 TT and three TFL. Ogbonna had 10 TT.

At linebacker, Mike Ruane and Cole McCubrey will complete for playing time. McCubrey had 14 TT and appeared in eleven games. Ruane appeared in ten and had one tackle.

Claudin Cherulis, Xavier Steele and Tyrus Lebeau will be available at Safety. Steele appeared in seven games and five TT. Cherulus and Lebeau redshirted.

Chris Hunt and Brian Roberts will join the cornerbacks.

Brian Abosi joins the offensive line.

Zak Simon, Silky Brown and Melvin Hill will join the receiving corps.

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The UMass Daily Collegian has a post about Whipple's extension.

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UMass Football News--September 27th, 2017

When you're 0-5 all you've got are individual performances, but the UMass defense is racking up some impressive numbers.

Bryton Barr, the Towson LB transfer has gone 5-5 GP-GS 24 UT-26 AT 50 TT 3.0-14 TFL 1.0-8 SACKS 1 BKUP.

Da'Sean Downey has 5-4 GP-GS 11 UT 13 AT 24 TT 6.5-19 TFL 3.0-12 SACKS 1 BKUP 1 FF

Other notables:

Ali Ali-Musa 5-5 GP-GS 10 UT 17 AT 27 TT (3rd on team) 4.0-12 TFL 1.0-7 SACKS 1 BKUP

That is excellent production from Downey and Ali-Musa as defensive linemen.

Jake Byczko also has done well as a true freshman. He has 5-0 GP-GS 6 UT 11 AT 17 TT 2.0-6 TFL 2 BKUP.

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Matty Vautour reports Coach Whipple has confidence in Ross Comis if Andrew Ford is unable to play against Ohio. He also reports Logan Laurent is healthy and will handle punting and field goals.

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And ESPN writer has UMass second from the bottom in FBS rankings.

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Coaches are feeling the impact of the NCAA's new focus on unsportsmanlike like behavior from the sidelines.

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Tennesse QB Quinton Dormady understood the reason that he was pulled for three series against UMass.

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Georgia Southern's fans flood the president's office with calls and e-mails to fire the football coach and A.D.

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UConn lost to Eastern Carolina on a late field goal. A current AAC power poll has the Huskies last.

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UMass Football News--July 7th, 2018

UPDATE: Mike Traini Tweets Josh Jefferson is on campus and is enrolled.

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Joe Previte/Thom Kendall image

Josh Walfish reports depth adds competition to the Minutemen defensive line.


If I had to guess, I'd say the "base package" DL will be:

Jake Byczko 6-3 250

Charlie Timite 6-3 275

Joe Previte 6-2 265

Chris DiTommaso 6-4 275

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Yard Barker lists Andy Isabella as one of college football's 10 unstoppable wide receivers.

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Duquesne receives votes in the first FCS preseason top-25 poll.

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Nate Hopkins, who led UConn in rushing TD's last year, has left the squad and plans to transfer.

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After a devastating knee injury, Boston College QB Anthony Brown seeks to lead the Eagles in 2018.

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UMass Football News--August 14th, 2019

Josh Walfish has a post on UMass' young defensive line is gaining confidence. Josh mentions Dennis Osagiede, Jake Byczko and the return of Charlie Timite. The DL may have been the Minutemen's weakest unit last year. No pass rush, no outside contain, not much run stopping.

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NJ.com wonders if Rutgers will face a New Jersey QB when they open against UMass.

NJ.com has a podcast on the Scarlet Knights own QB battle.

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UMass and Georgia will play again in November of 2024. The Minutemen will receive $1.9 million for the game. That's almost four times the guaranty FCS Tennessee Tech will receive for playing the Dogs the same year.

Future college football schedules has story on Georgia's guaranty games.

UMass needs two home games and one away game to complete the 2024 schedule.

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247Sports has the best case and worse case win-loss records for Big Ten teams in 2019

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KSL.com reports BYU's defense is relying on senior leadership for success in 2019.

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The News Herald says Andy Isabella is OK after a "minor knee" injury.

Isabella buys cleats for his old high school team.

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UMass Football News--November 22nd, 2020

Image credit unknown

 I was talking to a UMass fan off site and he used the phrase "We've been connoisseurs of defeat", meaning Minutemen fans have had to try hard to find silver linings while watching us get hammered. However, the UMass defense supplied the most enjoyable performance against FAU I've seen in a long time. I'll replay the game on DVR again several times this winter.

Before the season I thought repairing our train wreck defense would take at least three recruiting cycles, but there has been big improvements in only two. We do have five more defensive recruits committed so far in the 2021 class. We need MLB's and more depth everywhere. The Minutemen DL has far exceeded my hopes so far. Avien Peah has battled through injuries to be a force. Jake Byczko has endured a lot of tough games before his senior year, but he and Peah combined for 15 tackles, which is a lot of production for linemen. The defense was fun to watch, something UMass fans have not have not seen for a long time.

On offense things are not as advanced. We do not seem to have a deep threat WR. Taylor Edwards has the longest reception of the year of 37 yards. No one else is above 25 yards. In the short passing game, from the shotgun, it should be "one-two-three" throw. However, many times during the FAU game Will Koch set up and apparently did not like what he was seeing, i.e. he thought no one was open. On TV it's nearly impossible to see the receivers routes or the coverage.

You've probably noticed from the recruiting posts, UMass continues to offer JUCO WR's and offensive linemen. That makes me think the coaches think they still need help in those two units.

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MassLive has UMass falls to 0-3 with a loss to FAU.

FAU Football (an Owls fan site) didn't like those three consecutive FAU pass plays with a minute left either.

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Georgia Southern lost to Army by a missed extra point.

Marshall's game against Charlotte was postponed due to COVID issues. 

Liberty went toe-to-toe with North Carolina and lost by one. IMHO, the Flames are the best team in the Group-of-Five. 

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UMass Football news -- Coach Whipple being let go

Multiple news outlets are saying UMass and Coach Whipple are negotiating his leaving UMass.

Josh Wallfish says sources say UMass and Whipple are parting ways.

MassLive reports Whipple out as UMass coach.

The Boston Herald reports the Whipple era may be over.

Hero Sports has some potential candidates for the head coach for the Minutemen.

MassLive also has some potential choices for UMass' next coach.

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My take on this year's problems comes down to recruiting. After a successful year three years ago, the quality of the recruiting classes has declined. On defense we were small and lacked athleticism.

After Jarell Addo was suspended, Tyris Lebeau started for him. After Lebeau went down with a shoulder injury, the coaches thought the next best option was to move a safety to OLB.

Consider this quote by Ed Pinkham from October 6th:

“One of the things we’ve been trying to deal with is we’re trying to get our best 11 guys on the field,” Pinkham said. “Sometimes when you have injuries or you don’t have the option of playing a guy, you take a guy from one position and put him in another position, feeling like this is the best 11 guys we have. He hasn’t had all the experience, the amount of time we’ve invested for a guy in a particular position, it does take awhile for them to play. In addition to when I do that, I look at the guy I replaced him with and he’s not as good at that position as the guy I moved from one to the other."

I translate that as "we are exactly one guy deep at OLB".

On the defensive line we had five total sacks in the 2018 season by defensive linemen. Jake Byczko had 4.5-26 and Joe Previte had 0.5-4. That's amazin' stat. In addition UMass had one (1) QB hurry for the entire season. For the last two seasons, if we played a team that had a dual-threat QB we gave up a huge amount of yardage. It's no shame we couldn't compete with Georgia's #1 QB recruit in the nation, but teams like Coastal Carolina had the same results.

Now consider that Bryton Barr, Jarell Addo, both starting safeties and Lee Moses are all graduating. We don't have a pass rushing DE on the roster. We do not have a big run-stopping MLB.

Defensive recruiting has been a train wreck.

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My choice for a new head coach would be someone who is a good fit for the school and I'd probably pick a defensive guy. Most of our wins have been defensive grinds rather than offensive shoot-outs. Offense sells tickets, but losing is worse. We need someone who can recruit enough talent to be competitive. I'm not asking for Power Five recruiting classes. I'm asking for classes that will enable us to compete in the Group-of-Five.

Game Day Rutgers --- 2019

What I'm looking for this evening:

A quarterback. The spread is supposed to be about the system. Even against a Big Ten defense, I'm looking for UMass to move the ball. Our wide receivers are, I believe, the strongest and deepest unit on our club. Instead of the Andy Isabella home run ball, I'd like to see drive-extending catches. I'd like to see Randall West be in control of the offense. No bad balls, no turnovers.

I'm looking for a semblance  of a running game. UMass is really thin at RB, but we need more than around 2 yards a carry. I'm looking for some push from the offensive line when we run. If we can run the ball some, UMass could make the Scarlet Knights sweat tonight.

On defense: did anyone notice we had a Freshman PWO (Johnathan Weir) in the Rutger game two-deep? That pretty much shows how blown up our defensive roster was after last year. Nothing against Weir, he seems like a tough, determined kid (see the next paragraph)and I hope he has a great career at UMass, but DC Amdul-Rahim has maybe one or two players that a Big Ten coach would look at.

Just before I went on vacation I was watching the UMass-Georgia game on DVR while on the treadmill in my basement. Instead of watching Andy Isabella running around in Georgia's back field, I just watched the defensive series. Nobody from the Minutemen defense looked excited about colliding with the Bulldogs' 6-3 230 pound QB. Mostly we were trying to arm grab him as he went by. UMass would punt the ball to the Georgia 28 yard line and two rushing plays later the Bulldogs would be on the UMass 30.

I'd like for UMass to fly to the ball. I'd like to see professional writers describe the UMass defense as "scrappy". I'd like to see we have a DL other than just Jake Byczko. I'm looking for spirit and toughness on defense.

Let's give the Scarlet Knights a hard time.Go UMass!!!

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UPDATE: Mass goes with the all-whites and the script "umass" tonight. We had our biggest win ever with that combo...

How to watch the UMass-Rutgers game if you don't have cable.

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Josh Walfish has a post on how adversity molded QB Randall West.

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Rutger blog "On the Banks" previews the Scarlet Knights-Minutemen game.

McLane Carter named QB starter for Rutgers.

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MassLive reports first year coach Walt Bell set to lead UMass into a new season.

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The Boston Herald says UMass braces for a battle with Rutgers.

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The Berkshire Eagle reports the Minutemen hit to road to Rutgers.

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UConn needed a truly terrible call in the last two minutes of last night's game to avoid a upset by Wagner.

SIU gave up 30 unanswered points in falling to SEMO.

Charlotte won big over Gardner-Webb 49-28.

FIU got whacked by Tulane 42-14.

BYU lost to rival Utah 30-12.

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Game Day--Marshall 2020

 UMass game notes here.

The game will be available on ESPN+. Subscription is $5.99/month. You can unsubscribe after the first month.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" previews the Herd-Minutemen game.

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The Herdzone says unbeaten Marshall welcomes UMass.

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College Football News previews the game and predicts Marshall 45 UMass 6.

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Mike Moran of the Hampshire Gazette reports the Minutemen face a big challange in #16 Marshall.

Moran reports SR defensive lineman Jake Byczko 6-3 260 is now healthy and back in the rotation.

He also mentions FR linebacker Gerrell Johnson 6-3 225 and FR DT Josh Atwood 6-3 360  improving in practice and will see more reps in today's game.

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The Charleston Gazette-Mail says the Herd marches ahead against UMass.

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I thought the UMass defense gained confidence as the GSU game went on. They looked visibly much faster than 2019. Today's game should give the young Minutemen defense more experience and all this will pay dividends in 2021.

The Minutemen offense has a tough task in facing the Herd's defense, which is nationally ranked in just about any defensive category you would care to name. Last week UMass' longest runs were QB scrambles and the longest pass completion was only 15 yards.  The Minutemen need to improve on that today.

I'll be there watching.

Go UMass!!

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UMass Football News--July 15th, 2017

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UMass currently has 14 defensive lineman on the roster:

Ali Ali-Musa  #90 DL 6-2 274 SR 12-11 GP-GS 16 UT 21 AT 37 TT 4.5 TFL 1 PD 2 FF
Domenico Cipriani #63 DL 6-3 290 RSFR Redshirted in 2016
Basit Dennis #69 DL 6-1 268 RSJR 3-0 GP_GS 1 TT
Da'Sean Downey #4 DL 6-4 225 SR 10-6 GP-GS 25 UT 23 At 44 UT 8.5 TFL 4 FF 6 SACKS
Leon Flanagan, #54 DL 6-1 212 SO 2-0 GP-GS
DaVone Hall, #75 DL 6-3 315 RSJR JUCO transfer
D'Shan Harley #88 DL 6-5 215 RSSO 7-1 GP-GS 3 UT 3 AT 6 TT
Sha-Ki Holines #95 DL 6-3 257 RSSR 12-9 GP-GS 18 UT 26 AT 44 TT 7.0 TFL 1 FF
Roderick Jones, #11 DL 6-2 260 RSSR 10-1 GP-GS 13 TT 1 TFL
Mario Patton #96 DL 6-0 297 RSSO 12-0 GP-GS 5 UT 7 AT 12 TT 1.0 TFL 1 PD
Alex Piechocki #91 DL 6-6 260 FR in for Spring semister
Joe Previte #61 DL 6-2 269 RSJR 8-4 GP-GS 4 UT 18 AT 22 TT 4.5 TFL 1 FR
Sharif Saleem #93 DL 6-5 251 RSFR Redshirted in 2016
Charly Timite #94 DL 6-3 307 RSFR Redshirted in 2016

Although it has not been announced, most UMass fans expect the Minutemen to change to a 4-3 base defense. As football junkies know, defensive linemen are the scarcest recruits.

The college football magazines predict UMass will start Joe Previte and Ali Ali-Musa as the two DT's with Da'Sean Downey and Sha-Ki Holines as the two DE's.

Downey led the Minutemen with 6 sacks in 2016 and he could prosper in a 4-3 as there would be less unassigned offensive linemen facing the defense.

Joe Previte was having a good season before suffering a elbow injury against South Carolina.

UMass does get four new defensive linemen for 2017. Domenico Cipriani, Sharif Saleem and Charly Timite come off redshirt seasons. JUCO transfer DaVone Hall weighs 305 and could provide immediate help inside.

Charlie Timite was a 247Sports three-star recruit. Sharif Saleem was two stars. Cipriani was unrated by recruiting services.

The Minutemen brought in five defensive linemen for 2017 and Alex Piechocki and DaVone Hall were in for the Spring semester. Two-star 2017 recruits Hunter Brown, Jake Byczko and  Caeleb Washington are probably looking at a redshirt year.

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UMass Football News--September 25th, 2018

Flo Football has video highlights of Young's game against Charotte.

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Kevin Gutting image

Josh Walfish has plays that mattered against Charlotte.

Josh also reports Bryton Barr's energy led the UMass defense. He also mentions defensive linemen Jake Byczko and Leon Flanagan, JR. The UMass defensive line was really active, putting pressure on the 49ers QB and controlling the line of scrimmage in defending the run game.

Whipple again said Ford and Comis will be a game-time decision for Ohio.

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

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Vegas Insider has Ohio as a 13 point favorite over UMass.

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The Ohio Post has five fun facts about the Minutemen.

The Post also has highlights from Frank Solich's weekly press conference.

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UMass Football News--December 14th, 2020

 Blogger was down earlier this morning. The whole Google empire seemed to be having problems.

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Evan Marinofsky of the UMass Daily Collegian talks to Coach Bell about recruiting during the pandemic.

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Coach Bell likes what he sees in UMass hoops.

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Starting UMass DL Jake Byczko transfers to Boston College.

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Georgia Southern gave up 17 points in the fourth quarter to Appalachian State on Saturday and finished the season 7-5.

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Marshall is 7-1 and will host the C-USA championship game against UAB this Friday.

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FAU finished 5-3 and accepted a bid to go to the inaugural Montgomery Bowl against Memphis.

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Liberty is 9-1 and moved up the Top-25 poll despite losing a show-down game against Coastal Carolina to the COVID pandemic. 

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UMass Football News--December 19th, 2017

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on tomorrow's Early Signing Day.

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Mike also has a post on Ryan Bamford's question-and-answer session from yesterday.

Several point are relevant to UMass Football: He's working on more package football and basketball series. This is a smart move. Scheduling games as an Independent can be difficult. Bundling makes us more attractive and gives us options with scheduling. 2016 is a year when we had no options and we don't want that situation to reoccur.

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My wish list for recruiting starting with tomorrow's early signing (and/or February's LOI ) Day:

1. Recruits for the front seven on defense. I liked the work of Joe Previte and Jake Byczko this year.  Cole McCubrey and Jarell Addo also showed promise. We've had two HC's since we moved to FBS. Both coaches were offensive guys. In six years of FBS football, I can only remember one game (Georgia Southern) where we offensively blew out the other team. All the rest of our wins were defensive grinds. We scored 95 points against Ohio and FIU and lost both games.

2. A kicker. Consider Temple; we've played twice and twice played well enough to win. Temple had a kicker and we didn't. I'm not asking for an All-American, but we can surely ask for a guy as good as the Owls have.

3.  A tight end. Whipple's offense works best with a pass-catching TE. Travis Reynolds looks like a good athlete, but did not get targeted a lot, which is understandable with Breneman on the roster. If we don't have a pass-catching TE on the roster, then we need a transfer or JUCO.

4. A JUCO or transfer offensive lineman, preferably a RG to pair with Jack Driscoll so we can get our running game going.

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Former UMass QB James Sosinski is doing well as a forward on Kansas' hoops team.

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OT, but Georgia HC Mark Fox said it wasn't UMass, it was the schedule. Somehow we never play good, the opposing team is always off their game.

BTW, I like what's happening with UMass Hoops and Hockey. I was expecting a 8-22 season with basketball, but if UMass keeps playing like they did Saturday, the Minutemen could get an NIT bid.

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UMass Football News--November 21st, 2020

UMass Athletic Dept/Ralph Notaro image

 Well the defense came to play with maybe the best performance since BYU on November 17th, 2017. The defense had six sacks and 14 TFL. FAU QB Javion Posey got loose for 49 yards and a TD on one play. Subtracting that run leaves FAU with 43 rushes for 70 yards, a 1.6 yards/carry.

The entire defensive line shone, time after time stopping FAU at the line of scrimmage. Senior Jake Byczko and Avien Peah had career nights. RS Sophomore Uchenna Ezewike also had a impressive game. The UMass secondary also played well with Tanner Davis totaling six tackles, 1.5 TFL, one blocked punt for a safety and 1 QB hurry.

In addition, UMass special teams had their best game of the season. George Georgopoulos finally got some forward roll on his punts and dropped two inside the 20 yard line. Samuel Emilus had a 33 yard return.

However the UMass offense was smothered again. FAU defensive pressure flustered Minutemen QB Will Koch. He was usually not able to find receivers or use his legs effectively. The UMass rushing game did look better as Ellis Merriweather ran for 48 yards in eleven carries for a 4.4 yards/carry, his best totals of the season.

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UMass write-up here.

FAU write-up here.

The UMass Daily Collegian says the defense shone and the offense disappointed.

The Hampshire Gazette reports the offense let UMass down.

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UMass Football News--September 13th, 2017

UMass has their game notes for Temple up. Rene Ingoglia will be doing the game for ESPNU.

Rene's Twitter feed has some images of himself and the Orlando Police dept dealing with Hurricane Irma

So does Temple.

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Matty Vautour report UMass' Pennsylvanians are looking forward to playing at Lincoln Field.

In the article Matty report UMass senior DL Sha-Ki Holines may play Friday against Temple. Holines started nine games in 2016 and was a Phil Steele First Team All-Independent team member. His return should help the defensive line.

One bright spot in the loss to Old Dominion was the defensive line play. True freshman Jake Byczko 6-3 250 had 2 UT 8 AT 10 TT and 1 TFL.

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Ryan Ames of the UMass Daily Collegian says the Minutemen face a crucial fourth game against Temple Friday.

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Keeper's College Football Ranking has UMass a 12.97 point underdog to the Owls. BC and UConn are also double-digit dogs.

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CBS Philly reports Temple is getting ready for Friday Night Lights.

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Temple QB Logan Marchi is feeling more mobile.

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Game Day Duquesne--2018

All right, here we go for 2018. We've all been waiting a long time to see players in Maroon & White running around McGuirk.

I still think UMass will play a reduced package today. We'll save the line stunts and five wide receivers for Boston College.

I do want to see Kyle Horn, Travis Reynolds and Taylor Edwards catch some passes. The TE has always been a significant part of Whipple's offense. We'll see what happens today.

I want to see George Georgopoulos punt. Kicking has been such a thorn in our side a four-year flip-the-field punter would be wonderful. I want to see Cooper Garcia or Mike Caggiano kick in a game situation. Last year we started 0-4 and didn't make a field goal until the Ohio game half way through the season.

I want to see the new defensive line be active. Jake Byczko, Joe Previte, Mario Patton and Leon Flanagan should be able to control the line of scrimmage against a FCS team.

2018 will be my 42nd consecutive year with UMass football season tickets. Hope it's one to remember.

Go UMass!

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The game is available on NESN+, which is available from Xfinity. NESN channel finder for New England.

The Berkshire Eagle says UMass opens its home slate with a game against Duquesne.

Josh Walfish reports UMass hopes to shine in national spotlight.

The Boston Herald has three things to watch for in today's game against the Dukes.

Duquesne is set for the first of two FBS showdowns.

Fan Sided previews the Minutemen-Dukes game and predicts UMass by eleven.

Sports Illustrated previews Week 0's games.

Fan Buzz predicts UMass by four.

Fan Sided predicts the Minutemen by 19.

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