UMass Recruiting 2018--Elijah Johnson verbals to UMass

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Elijah Johnson , a 6-0 180 pound CB from East Longmeadow has Tweeted' he's verbaled to UMass.

247Sports page here.

MassLive has a post about Johnson's commitment to UMass here.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a story about Johnson's verbal to the Minutemen.

MaxPreps has some stats.

Chose UMass over an offer from Bryant.

UMass Football News--November 2nd, 2017

Logan Laurent named New England Football Writers Association Gold Helmet Award Winner.

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UMass has their game notes for Mississippi State up.

The UMass Daily Collegian says the Bulldogs will be the Minutmen's biggest challenge yet.

The Clarion-Ledger has how to watch the Mississippi State-UMass game .

SEC Country has five things to know about the Bulldogs-Minutemen game.

Mississippi State has only allowed three sacks in its first seven games.

USA Today predicts Mississippi State 45, UMass 14.

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Da'Sean Downey is third in the nation in tackles for loss.

UMass is #20 in the nation in passing offense.

The Minutemen are #38 in total offense.

UMass is dead last in the NCAA in sacks allowed. Mississippi State is #12 in scoring defense.

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Rene Ingoglia is the feature of this story by Yahoo Sports: Cop by day, football analyst by night.

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BYU football gets a boost from the sidelines.

UMass rises to #11 in this power ranking of BYU's opponents.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Josiah Johnson verbals to UMass

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Josiah Johnson, a 6-5 203 pound pro-style QB from Jacksonville, FL has Tweeted he's verbaled to UMass.

I blogged about Johnson back on August 28th.

247Sports page here.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post featuring Johnson here.

MaxPreps has stats.

This article from July of 2017 features Johnson.

UMass was Johnson's first offer.

UMass Football News--November 1st, 2017

Matty Vautour report Ross Comis rallied the team before and he's ready to to it again.

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SB Nation names UMass as one of ten "teams-of-the-week" for the Minutemen's double overtime victory over Appalachian State.

UnderDog Dynasty says UMass gained national recognition for the win over the Mountaineers.

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Logan Laurent was named the Lou Groza award winner-of-the-week.

Laurent was also named UMass' co-athlete-of-the-week.

The UMass Daily Collegian says Laurent was setting his sights on Starksville this week.

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Fox Sports reports Mississippi State expects a challenge from UMass.

Quote from the article:

"This year, UMass might still be holding the short stick when it comes to talent. But the Minutemen have heart, which was on display last week."

The Clarion Ledger reports on how Mississippi State went from #120 in passing yards/game to #4.

The Clarion Ledger reports Mississippi State is ranked #16 in the college football playoff poll.

SEC Country says the Bulldogs check in as #16.

ESPN's SEC power rankings has Mississippi State #4 and Tennessee as #13.

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Maine moves their game with Delaware to Portland's Fitzpatrick Stadium.

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BYU's HC Kalani Sitake talks injuries and Fresno State.

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FIU coach Butch Davis cites "a special year" for the Panthers.

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UMass Football 2018--Isaiah Likely

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Isaiah Likely, a 6-2 225 pound WR/Athlete from Malden, MA has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has some stats.

Inside the Huddle has a post about Likely.

Besides UMass, Likely has an FBS offer from Southern Mississippi.

UMass Football News--October 31st, 2017

Watch the joy in the UMass locker room after the win.

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Matty Vautour reports Mississippi State is ranked this week as #21 in the AP  Poll.

Sports Illustrated has the Bulldogs at #22.

The Clarion-Ledger wonders what bowl the Bulldogs will play in.

State does it with the running game and defense.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a Q&A with a Mississippi State fan site.

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The Vegas Line has come in with State as a 28 point favorite.

Keepers college football ratings has the Bulldogs by 44.

UMass' win over Appalachian State didn't do much for the Minutemen's power rankings as Keeper's has us a #123.

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The Starkville Daily news reports Dan Mullen is thinking about UMass, not Florida.

Quote from the article:

 "UMass will also enter Saturday’s game with confidence after winning its last two games, giving Mullen and the Bulldogs greater reason to remain focused.
“They’ve won two in a row,” Mullen said. “They always play tough.”

The Daily Journal says UMass' record is misleading.

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The Associated Press says Adam Breneman can make the case for being the best TE in the country.

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Meanwhile, the injuries keep piling up for BYU.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Parker Ogle verbals to UMass

Parker Ogle, a 6-3 280 pound OG/C from Palm Beach Gardens, FL has Tweeted he's verbaled to UMass.

I blogged about Ogle back on July 10th.

247Sports three-star player.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on Ogle's verbal to the Minutemen.

Chose UMass over an offer from Bowling Green.

UMass Football News--October 30th, 2017

Andrew Ford was released from the hospital Saturday night. He also Tweeted he's feeling OK and appreciated all the support he received.

Matty Vautour reports, despite some issues, Saturday was the best win in FBS program history for 
UMass.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" recaps the Minutemen's win.

The Enterprise News reports UMass gets a win in double overtime.

The Winston-Salem Journal says key penalties cost the Mountaineers in a double overtime loss.

The Citizen-Times reports UMass clips Appalachian State in double overtime.
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There is no Vegas line yet on the UMass Mississippi State game because of Ford's injury. The Vegas Insider consensus line has the Bulldogs by 28.

The Clarion Ledger looks at Mississippi State after their latest win (scroll down a bit till they get to some stuff on the UMass game). Note the Bulldogs get Alabama the week after UMass, so they might be looking ahead, just a bit.

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BYU fans are enjoying their first FBS win of the 2017 season.

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CBS Sports thinks coaches from Mississippi State and Appalachian State have a shot at being named HC at Florida.

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Can the readership help be out with a couple of questions? I didn't understand a couple of plays from Saturday's game.

On the play where the Appalachian State kick returner muffed the catch and then ended batting the ball out of the rear of the endzone----why was that not a safety? He touched the ball in the field of play. Is possession required in order for it to be a safety?

Then on the Ross Comis late hit. I thought once the play stepped out of bounds, the play was over and so the late hit was a dead ball foul. Then after that there were multiple fouls in the scrum resulting from the late hit. The officials initially said the foul on Comis would be enforced, but then offset everything. I though UMass should have had the ball 15 yards from where the late hit occurred and then offsets on both sides. ..

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UMass Football News--October 29th, 2017

Best FBS win. Best win since Montana.

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The Minutemen set a lot "bests" in their win over Appalachian State, IMHO.

• Best defensive performance in FBS era. Yes, the wins UMass achieved so far have been mostly defensive grinds, but yesterday's performance was superb. The defense has two INT's. Two forced fumbles and 8 TFL. The Minutemen deserved to win on the defensive effort alone.
• Best kicking performance in the FBS era. Logan Laurant went 3 for 3 including a 45-yarder with five seconds left to tie the game. He then kicked a 36 yard FG for the first game-wining kick in memory. He had a career day. Take a bow, Logan!
• Best single offensive drive of the FBS era. With a minute fifty seconds left, Comis led the offense 53 yards to set up the game-saving field goal. 

We beat a league-leading FBS team. It was sweet.

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UMass write-up.

Appalachian State write-up.

Kevin Dillon of MassLive says Logan Laurant won it in overtime.

Dillon reports UMass rallied together after Andrew Ford's injury.

Matty Vautour says Logan Laurant's clutch field goals gave UMass the victory.

He also reports Andrew Ford's trip to the hospital seemed to be precautionary. 

The Boston Herald says UMass bounces Appalachian State in double overtime.

The Charlotte Observer says the Mountaineers gave UMass the break it needed.

The UMass Daily Collegians reports Andrew Ford's injury sparked the Minutemen to victory.

Rotoworld says "break up the Minutemen".

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Hawaii lost to San Diego State 28-7.

Coastal Carolina lost to Texas State 27-7.

Old Dominion lost their sixth straight to North Texas.

Temple had a bye.

Tennessee lost to Kentucky. Tough year for the Vols.

Ohio crushed Kent State 48-3.

A new head coach did not help Georgia Southern as they lost to Troy 38-16.

Mississippi State rolled over Texas A&M 35-14.

Maine held William & Mary without a touchdown in a 23-6 win over the Tribe.

BYU found its offense in a 41-20 win over 1-7 San Jose State.

FIU remained in contention for the C-USA title with a win at Marshall.

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Game Day Appalachian State--October 28th, 2017

All right. UMass plays a very good Sun Belt team today. All the pundits picked the Mountaineers as the Sun Belt champion during the preseason. Seven games into 2017, Appalachian State is getting it done, tied for the conference lead at 5-2 overall and 4-0 in the Sun Belt. The Mountaineers are 2nd in total defense and 2nd in scoring defense. They lead the Sun Belt in sacks and 4th down conversions. They average 418.6 yards of offense. Appalachian State is a well rounded team. They can run and they can pass. They have a solid defense.

UMass has scored 105 points in the last two games. We need to score points today. The Minutemen will probably need to score in the high 30's to win. I think we can do that. There will be much less of a margin for error against a good team like the Appalachian State. Let's put it together and get our second win.

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

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Matty Vautour reports UMass had a short prep time for Appalachian State.

The Boston Herald says UMass eyes a victory in its final game at McGuirk.

UnderDog Dynasty predicts Appalachian State 35 UMass 17.

The Winston Salem Journal reports the Mountaineers look to their young wide receivers heading into the UMass game.

The Ashville Citizen-Times says Appalachian State looks to keep rolling against UMass.

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Boston College ran over Florida State last night 35-7. I think BC freshman AJ Dillon is one of the top backs in the country. Too bad UMass could not have landed him. I know we recruited Dillon; he would have changed the program at UMass.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Chris Joyce

Chris Joyce, a 5-11 175 pound athlete from Hampton, GA has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports two-star player.

Rivals three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

This article from June 2017 features Joyce.

Joyce holds ten offers including FBS teams from the MAC and Sun Belt.

UMass Football News--October 27th, 2017

A quick look at Appalachian State:

The Mountaineers return six starters on offense and six on defense from a team that went 10-3 including a 31-28 victory over Toledo in the Camellia Bowl.

RB Jalen Moore is a three-time Sun Belt offensive player-of-the-week he runs behind an OL that had three members first-team All-Sun Belt. QB Taylor Lamb has been setting program records in 2017. Most pundits had Appalachian State as the preseason Sun Belt Champion. They are currently tied for the conference lead with Arkansas State. As several blog commenters have pointed out App State's wins have come against less than stellar opposition. They lost to Georgia 10-31 and lost to Wake Forest by one point 19-20.

Still, Appalachian State is night and day compared to Georgia Southern. This will probably be a shoot out. We need to keep our DB's in the game and not get injured. UMass needs Lee Moses, Isaiah Rogers and Jesse Monteiro in the game, not on the sidelines. I think the Minutemen will score in the thirties. Can we keep the Mountaineers to a lesser score? So far in the second Whipple Era we have been in a number of high scoring games, but have yet to win one.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" previews Saturday's game against Appalachian State.

Kevin Dillon of MassLive reports UMass looks for its second consecutive win.

Matty Vautour says the Minutemen look to build off their first win.

High County Press says the Mountaineers could win "in a rout" and predicts App State 47 UMass 20.

Metro USA reports UMass TE Adam Breneman takes a leap up in NFL draft position.

Rivals.com says take the Mountaineers to cover the spread against UMass.

SB Nation says take UMass to beat the spread against Appalachian State.

Athlon Sports predicts Mountaineers 30 UMass 17.

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This article features Mississippi State's OL coach John Hevesy, who originally was a three-year starter at Maine.

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BYU plans to be more aggressive against San Jose State.

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FIU features 15 seniors who are starters this year.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Darien Green verbals to UMass

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Darien Green, a 6-0 214 LB for Cerritos, CA has Tweeted he's verbaled to UMass.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on his signing here.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

UMass was Green's only offer. He was drawing interest from a mix of FBS and FCS schools.

UMass Football News--October 26th, 2017

UMass has its game notes for Appalachian State up.

So do the Mountaineers.

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Matty Vautour has a podcast discussing the Georgia Southern win plus other UMass sports news.

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Ryan Ames of the UMass Daily Collegian reports UMass hosts Appalachian State in the final home game at McGuirk.

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Mississippi State faces a tough road game against Texas A&M. The Bulldogs have one of the best offensive lines in the country. This article explains they are #1 in sack rate and also excel in run blocking.

Mississippi State has been especially tough in Starksville, dominating at home.

• 49-0 over Charleston Southern
• 37-7 over LSU
• 35-10 over BYU
• 45-7 over Kentucky

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FIU goes into Marshall as a 17-point underdog.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Jake Hudson

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Jake Hudson, a 6-4 235 pound DE from Saddleback CC in CA has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

Saddleback bio here.

Hudson has six FBS offers including Toledo and Hawaii.

UMass Football News--October 25th, 2017

Matty Vautour says McGuirk has been a special place for Adam Breneman.

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Philip Sanzo of the Daily Collegian says Appalachian State is the type of win UMass needs.

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GSU OC Bryan Cook liked what he saw of JUCO QB Kado Brown during last Saturday's game against UMass.

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Good News: UMass' win over GSU moved the Minutemen out of ESPN's Bottom Ten. The Bad News: we lost to the #6  Coastal Carolina.

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More on Appalachian State QB Taylor Lamb's record-setting day against Coastal Carolina.

Lamb was named the Sun Belt's co-offensive player-of-the-week.

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More trouble for BYU as starting RB  Ula Tolutau was cited for possession of marijuana.

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UMass Football News--October 24th, 2017

Keepers College Football ratings has issued his first power rankings for 2017. UMass is #119 (out of the bottom 10).

His algorithm has UMass as a 4.66 point favorite over Appalachian State.

Vegas Insider has the Mountaineers as a 3.5 point favorite.

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Matty Vautour looks at the Minutemen's chances for more wins this season.

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Enjoy the win again!

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Two of Appalachian State's best players Jalen Moore and Devan Stringer have injuries and are "day-today" if they will available for the UMass game.

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The Clarion-Ledger says Mississippi State's strong win over Kentucky means the Bulldogs are capable of bigger things.

BTW, the kickoff time for the UMass-Mississippi State game has been announced.

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Maine's defense has been strong over the Black Bears last two games.

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BYU finds glimmers of hope in a loss to 1-6 Eastern Carolina.

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As Matty Vautour points out in his article above, the FIU-Marshall game may have ramifications for UMass. The Herald-Dispatch thinks the second quarter is the key for the Thundering Herd.

The Miami Herald report FIU wants to recruit more speed and also looks at the remaining games on the Pnathers 2017 schedule.

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UMass Football News--October 23rd, 2017

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" recaps Saturday's win over GSU.

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Georgia Southern fired Tyson Summers after the Eagles lost Saturday. Remember, we got FIU's coach fired too.

Kinda tough to fire a coach after 1.5 seasons, although GSU seemed to have multiple problems. During what little of the game NESN broadcast, the announcers said at one point GSU had players ejected for targeting for six consecutive games. That speaks to an undisciplined club.

Savannah Now on Summer's firing.

SB Nation reports why.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has fan reaction.

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UMass is up to #15 nationally in passing offense.

The Minutemen's big rushing day against GSU moved UMass out of the bottom 30 in rushing yardage.

UMass is a Top-30 team in passing efficiency.

The Minutemen are #39 in total offense.

After scoring 105 points in the last two games, UMass is scoring 29.9 points/game.

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From worst to first as next Saturday UMass hooks up with Sun Belt Conference leader Appalachian State .

UnderDog Dynasty reports Appalachian State slugged its way to victory over Coastal Carolina.

Tyler Lamb, App State's QB had a record setting game against the Chants.

Appalachian State is focused on their passing game.

Appalachian Online give grades for the Mountaineers win over Coastal Carolina.

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BYU fell to a weak 1-6 East Carolina team.

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UMass Football New--October 22nd, 2017

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The UMass fans at the game--- including me, stood and clapped at the end of a cathartic win over Georgia Southern. It was not a grind-it-out 27-24 win that I had hoped for. UMass broke out. The Minutemen set offensive records. We had the biggest win margin of the FBS era. We forced defensive turnovers. There have been a lot of long somber drives back to New Hampshire in the Blog household. Last night there was joy for all UMass fans. Enjoy it. Minutemen fans earned it as much as the team did.

• UMass had 320 yards rushing with a 7.3 yards a carry. The defense held GSU to 3.3 yards a carry.
• The Minutemen had an all-time 670 yards of offense.
• UMass did not give up a sack.
• GSU had it's third player ejected for targeting in two games.
• In further proof the stars were aligned, all three New England teams won: BC beat Virginia, UConn beat Tulsa and Rutgers even won a Big 10 game.

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UMass writeup here.

GSU write-up here.

Mark Chiarelli of MassLive reports a revised lineup and a first half blitz allows UMass to win big.

Chiarelli also says UMass set program records despite some unusual personnel situations.

Matty Vautour says a fast start sparked the first win of the season.

Matty also reports Ross Comis and Andrew Ford drove the Minutemen to a win.

The UMass Daily Collegian report UMass picked up a blowout win.

Savanah Now says UMass dominated.

SB Nation says it's time to fire Tyson Summers.

The Enterprise News says BC and UMass cruise to wins.

MDJ online reports UMass romps past mistake-prone Georgia Southern.

UPDATE:

UnderDog Dynasty says GSU moves to 0-6 after being drubbed by UMass.

Fox Sports reports Bilal Ally and Ross Comis lead UMass past Georgia Southern.

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Hawaii had a bye.

Appalachian State scored 20 unanswered points to edge Coastal Carolina.

Old Dominion suffered their fifth straight loss.

Temple lost to Army in overtime.

Alabama trampled Tennessee.

Ohio crushed Akron.

Mississippi State clobbered Kentucky.

Maine edged Albany by two points.

The gloom in Provo deepened as BYU fell to 1-7.

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Game Day --Georgia Southern

Well, today is the "Battle for the Bottom". The Minutemen have already lost to one dreadful team--Coastal Carolina. Losing to Georgia Southern would certainly cement our status as #130 on FBS.

UMass can win this game. We need to score points and not miss scoring opportunities. With Georgia Southern's clock control offense, the Minutemen won't get a lot of chances. The defense needs to stop big plays. No blown assignments. No wide receivers open by 20 yards.

If we win, UMass can get some momentum for the second half of the season. It's going to be a beautiful day weather-wise. I'll be there cheering for our side. Hope you will be too.

Go UMass!

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The game will be available on NESN.

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Matty Vautour reports UMass will try to deal with GSU's option attack in a battle of winless teams.

Savannah Now says winless UMass and Georgia Southern try to turn the corner.

Joel Thompson of exTREMEal has live stream information on the Eagles-Minutemen game.

SB Nation looks for UMass to cover the spread.

Athlon Sports predicts UMass 27-Georgia State 20.

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