UMass Football News--December 3rd, 2024

 

The Hampshire Gazette reports a pair of blunders does not put a good spin in UMass' coaching search.

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The latest AP poll has Georgia as #6 and Missouri as #23 in the nation.

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247Sports has the latest on the ending season coaching carousel. 

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MSN.com has seven candidates for Neal Brown's job at West Virginia. 

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The Dominion Post says Brown was a nice guy who didn't finish first. 

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Liberty QB Kaidon Salter enters the transfer portal.

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UMass Football News--December 2nd, 2024

 The Daily Collegian has seven potential coaches for UMass football.

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THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS

If you missed it, there was a total snafu about the new UMass-UConn trophy after Saturday's game.

The screwup over the trophy is fairly mind-boggling. It's a nice trophy. UMass and UConn have been playing since 1897. There should be a trophy for the game. Why can't we do anything without messing it up?

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Neal Brown was fired at West Virginia. Hopefully the athletic department's  speed dial is working. We might not be able to afford him though. 

The News Sentinel says Brown was put into a tough situation.

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Chris Tucci image

I'm impressed with Shane Montgomery. He's an veteran coach. He's coached and recruited in the MAC. When he finally got a healthy QB (s) with Ahmad Haston and AJ Hairston, he averaged 29.25 points/game against two SEC teams and two 8-3 Group-of-Five teams. That's the best four game stretch of offensive production for the Minutemen since Mark Whipple in 2018. And that's a long, long time.

If he's not in contention as head coach, maybe he'd could be retained as OC..

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UMass Football News--December 1st, 2024

 

The Minutemen played another spirited game and again came up short. What probably doomed UMass was three consecutive three-and-outs in the third quarter. UMass was deep in their own territory and tried three passes on first down on each position. UMass was  forced to punt and the Huskies got the ball at midfield. Overall UMass punted seven times compared to UConn who punted three times.

UMass did score the most points since November 17th, 2018 when they beat Liberty 62-58 at home.

All in all, not a great year for UMass. Zero FBS wins is not optimal. Hopefully the new coach and the new conference will right the ship and I won't have to trudge to my computer every Sunday morning to try to put a good spin on defeat.

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UMass write-up here.

UConn write-up here.

Hampshire Gazette reports UConn held on to win.

Chad Chatlos (good name) of Turnkey ZRG talks about the Minutemen's coaching search. 

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Eastern Michigan lost to Western Michigan. The loss probably knocked to Eagles out of a bowl bid.

Toledo lost to Akron on 11/26. At 7-5 the Rockets will get a bowl bid.

Buffalo blew out Kent State on 11/27 to go 8-4 and a bowl bid.

CCSU lost to Rhode Island in the first round of the FCS playoffs.

Miami (Ohio) beat Bowling Green to punch a ticket to the MAC Championship game.

NIU beat Central Michigan to go 7-5 and a probable bowl bid.

Wagner's season is over.

Mississippi State lost to Mississippi to finish 2-9.

Liberty lost to Sam Houston State to finish 8-3. The loss knocked the Flames out of the CUSA championship, but they will get a bowl bid.

I already reported on Georgia's four overtime win over Georgia Tech.

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Bonus coverage

How much would it cost West Virginia to fire Neal Brown?

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