UMass Football News--September 21st, 2023

 

Maroon out this Saturday against New Mexico.

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Athlon Sports thinks UMass will cover the spread.

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And in ESPN's not-very-clever "Bottom-Ten", UMass is #9. 

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The Daily Collegian reports UMass starts a three-game homestand.

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Mississippi State adds Toledo to their 2024 schedule. Toledo, UMass and Mississippi State all play each other in '24.

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New Mexico coach Danny Gonzales discusses the Lobos injuries, expectations and lineups.

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Why UConn came up short against FIU.

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Boston College suspends their men's and women's swimming and diving programs indefinitely.

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UMass Football News--September 20th, 2023

 

UMass DT Billy Wooden, 6-1 310 has been a force for the Minutemen in the middle of the defensive line.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" recaps the Eastern Michigan game.

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The New Mexico Lobos are moving past their latest loss and are optimistic about the remaining season.

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Arkansas State's presser for their league opener against Southern Mississippi.

Red Wolves safety Justin Parks tried to comfort Butch Jones during their 73-0 loss to Oklahoma.

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NBC Sports thinks UMass will cover the -3 point spread.

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Inside Josiah Johnson's journey from UMass QB to starting TE at Oklahoma State.

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UConn hopes a change in mindset will help turn the Huskies' season around. 

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UMass Football News--September 19th, 2023

 

Kay'Ron LynchAdams is third in the nation in rushing yards. UMass is # 93 in total rushing yards with 523 and averages 130.3 yards/game.

UMass is currently #87 in scoring offense with 25 points/game (last year #130, 12.5 points a game)

The Minutemen are #83 in total offense with 365 yards/game (last year #128, 265 yards/game) 

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Chris Tucci image

 Coach Brown says he'd rather be talking about victories.

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UMass' game notes for New Mexico are up. 

Lobos game notes for UMass are here.

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KRQE Albuquerque says the Lobos and staff are gearing up for a run to a bowl game.

New Mexico's all-time worst losses (includes a 97-17 loss to Fresno State).

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Arkansas State still hasn't settled on a starting quarterback.

The Red Wolves ran over Stony Brook last week with 345 total rushing yards. 

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Penn State is up to #6 in ESPN's FPI power ranking.

Toledo is #61, Liberty is #72, Army is #86 and UMass is up two slots to #127.

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UMass Football News--September 18th, 2023

 Eastern Michigan's defense generated five turnovers against UMass, the most since 2016.

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UMass opens as a 2.5 point favorite over New Mexico. 

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New Mexico coach Danny Gonzales guaranties the Lobos will make a bowl game in 2023.  

More here.

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AOL.com predicts New Mexico 30 UMass 17.

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UConn is 0-3 in a "terribly disappointing season".

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After Week #3:

New Mexico State is neutral going 2-2 with one of the wins over an FCS team.

Auburn is 3-0, but except for UMass has not looked overwhelming. Now they start their SEC schedule.

Miami of Ohio is up at 2-1 and a win over Cincinnati.

Eastern Michigan is 2-1 before starting their MAC schedule.

New Mexico is down at 1-2. The lobos do not play Air Force this year, do face Boise State.

Arkansas State is down at 1-2 and have only scored 34 points in three games.

Toledo is 2-1 and have scored 120 points in three games (by far the most in the MAC).

Penn State is 3-0 and ranked #7 in the nation. Out scored opponent 131-35.

Army up at 2-1 and have outscored opponents 107-46. The Black Knights new offense looks good so far. 

Merrimack is down at 1-2, but one loss is to #5 Holy Cross.

Liberty is 3-0 and their new option offense is clicking.

UConn is down at 0-3. A second bowl game is looking unlikely.

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UMass Football Blog News

 Mrs Blog and I will be traveling this week. As usual, I'll try to keep the blog going.

If it goes dark, I'll be back Friday morning.

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UMass Football News--September 17th, 2023

 Two inflection points in yesterday's game: The first, Gerrell Johnson's incredible hustle play to strip Sampson Evans and preventing the score to going to 17-0. If he had not made that play the rest of the game would have probably been moot.

The second was Carlos Davis' third INT. UMass was inside the Eagles 10 yards line and came away with zero points. If UMass had kicked a field goal, we would have been up seven points and the game would have gone into overtime.

Chris Tucci image

UMass won the stats creating 464 yards of total offense. The defense played well holding EMU to 19 points, only 14 first downs and three total 3rd down conversions.

EMU is a pretty good team. UMass needs to cut down on the mistakes and we'll get some wins in the future.

UMass' write-up here.

EMU's write-up here.

The Hampshire Gazette says a late EMU touchdown doomed UMass.

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New Mexico State beat rival New Mexico 27-17.

Auburn beat Samford 45-13. 

Miami of Ohio upset Cincinnati. The Redhawks first win in the series since 2005.

Arkansas State beat Stony Brook 31-7 for their first win of the season.

Toledo rallied to beat San Jose State 21-17.

Penn State beat Illinois 30-13.

Army won Friday night.

Merrimack held DII Virginia-Lynchburg to 74 total yards and won 44-0.

Liberty crushed Buffalo 55-27. 

UConn fell to 0-3 with a 24-17 loss to FIU. 

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Boston College committed a school-record 19 penalties and lost to Florida State.

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Game Day Eastern Michigan--September 16th, 2023

 Well Eastern Michigan had a season to remember in 2022. The Eagles went 9-4 overall. EMU ran over Power Five Arizona State. The Eagles capped their season with a dominating win in Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

Lindy's ranked the preseason MAC with Toledo #1, Miami of Ohio #2 and Eastern Michigan as #4. We're going against the MAC's best.

The Eagles have started slow on offense. They had two kickoff returns for TD's against Howard (and UMass has not done a good job in covering kickoff and punt returns), but only scored two offensive TD's in two games.  EMU wants to run the ball with All-Conference RB Sampson Evans. The Minutemen did a good job against the Eagles offense last year. 

A real bright spot for UMass has been Carlos Davis. So far for the season, he's 28-40 350 yards 70% completion average and a 176.5 EFF. Those are stats we've not seen in a long time.

Today UMass needs to tighten up on defense and continue to move the ball on offense. A second road win would be a real milestone for the program.

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

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UPDATE: UMass in their "Icy Whites" for the EMU game. Also UMass MLB Jerry Roberts Jr may get some snaps after being out two games.

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The Hampshire Gazette says UMass seeks to turn the page at Eastern Michigan.

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Pick Dawz thinks UMass will beat the spread. 

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The Eastern Echo previews the EMU-UMass game. 

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If you missed it, UConn lost starting QB Joe Fagnano for the season during their last game. 

The Huskies look to bound back against FIU after an 0-2 start.

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I watched Army run their new offense to perfection in the Black Knights win over Group-of-Five power UTSA last evening.

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UMass Football News--September 15th, 2023

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" previews UMass' road trip to Eastern Michigan.

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Amherst Wire covers the UMass-Eastern Michigan game.

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Against the Spread thinks Eastern Michigan will cover the spread.

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CBS Sports says take the under in the Eagles-Minutemen game. 

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Betting Pros thinks UMass will pull off the upset victory. 

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Auburn plays FCS Samford this Saturday. The Bulldogs went 11-2 in 2022 and made the FCS quarter finals.

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Miami of Ohio plays in-state rival Cincinnati this Saturday. The Bearcats have won sixteen straight over the Redhawks.

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PER DIEM

Texas high school soccer coach pays a $5,000 strip club bill with the school's credit card.

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UMass Football News--September 14th, 2023

The UMass Daily Collegian reports UMass travels to Ypsilanti for a matchup with Eastern Michigan.

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Latest edition of the podcast "Eastern Michigan Insider".

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The Ypsilani Eleven podcast interviews Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts".

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EMU RB Sampson (good name) Evans is two touchdowns away from setting an Eagles rushing TD record.

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Eastern Michigan's offensive stats a skewed because , like UMass, they have played a Power Five opponent, but the Eagles are #114 in scoring offense averaging 19.5 points/game.

EMU is #132 (second to last) in total offense with an average of 218.5 yards a game. The Eagles have scored 2 total offensive TD's in two games.

The Eagles are #112 in rushing offense with 95.5 yards/game and #127 in passing offense with 123 yards/game.

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New Mexico wants to charge New Mexico State's marching band $20 a head to attend this Saturday's game.

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UMass Football News--September 13th, 2023

 

Miami Football Coach Chuck Martin says the Redhawks dominated last Saturday's game with UMass.

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WLIX has odds, spread and over and under for the Eastern Michigan-UMass game. 

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Doc's Sports predicts the Eagles will cover the spread.

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Sports Chat place also thinks Eastern Michigan will cover the spread.

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If you missed it, New Hampshire almost beat Central Michigan last week.

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New Mexico ramps up security before rival New Mexico State visits this Saturday. 

A brawl between Lobos and Aggies fans last year was a precursor to an on-campus gunfight involving a member of the New Mexico State basketball team.

The Lobos are a thin 1.5 point favorite over New Mexico State.

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UMass Football News--September 12th, 2023

UMass has its game notes for Eastern Michigan here. 

EMU game notes for UMass here.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" recaps the Miami of Ohio game.

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 The Hampshire Gazette reports Carlos Davis is expected to be available for Eastern Michigan.

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Vegas Insider has UMass a nine point underdog to EMU. UConn is an eight-point favorite over FIU and Boston College is a 25-point underdog to Florida State.

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Doc's Sports Service thinks the Eagles will cover the spread.

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New Mexico State travels to rival New Mexico Saturday.

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Hugh Freeze says Auburn's offense was "awful" against Cal.

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UMass Football News--September 11th, 2023

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 Liam Coen former UMass QB and current Kentucky assistant coach had a medical episode while at work.

Coen holds numerous UMass passing records including pass attempts, completions, passing yards, passing TD's and career passing efficiency. 

Another article here.

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Newsday reports Miami WR Gage Larvadian lit up the UMass defense.

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247Sports has five takeaways from Minnesota's 25-6 win over Eastern Michigan.

Hustle Belt recaps the Gopher's win over Eastern Michigan.

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Stats after three games:

Bad. UMass is #123 in total defense (#54 last year). #127 in scoring defense (#103 last year).

Good. UMass is #104 in total offense (#128 last year). #97 in passing offense (#115 last year). Scoring #75 (#130 last year).

Good defense. UMass is tied for #1 in the nation in defensive TD's. #16 in fumble recoveries, #57 in SACKS, #99 in TFL.

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I watched the Cal-Auburn game on DVR last evening. Cal should have won the game. The Bears missed three field goals and had a interception for a TD called back by an inadvertent whistle by a ref.

The Cal defense was a much better physical match-up with Auburn than the Minutemen were. They held Robby Ashford to 11 total yards. Against UMass, when he hit the line of scrimmage there were usually no Minutemen defenders within five yards of him.

UMass did score more points against the Tigers than Cal did.

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UMass Football News--September 10th, 2023

 Well, that was not optimal. What is killing UMass is those long bombs that we give up a couple times a game. 

The UMass defense actually did pretty well otherwise. The Minutemen had two INT's, one for TD. UMass had 2 FF, one leading to a Minutemen TD. We held Miami, a rushing team to 144 yards with a longest gain of 19 yards.

Subtract one of the long passing plays from both New Mexico State and Miami and our defensive stats would look a lot better. Seven forced turnovers against those two teams..

Carlos Davis did all we could ask in his first start. He went 22-32 244 yards, 3 TD's and no INT's. That's the best passing performance we've seen in a long time.

We have to keep grinding. UMass is not that far away.

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UMass write-up here.

Miami write-up here.

MassLive reports Miami and the weather spoiled UMass' home opener. 

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Liberty rang up 526 total yards and beat New Mexico State 33-17. 

Auburn, who crushed UMass last week, needed a late drive to squeak by Cal 14-10. The Bears held Auburn to 230 total yards..

Eastern Michigan was out-gained 413 to 152 in total yards but only lost 25-6 to Minnesota.

New Mexico blew out FCS Tennessee Tech 56-10.

Arkansas State turned the ball over four times and lost to Memphis 37-3 

Toledo obliterated Texas Southern 73-3. The Rockets scored 50 points in the first half.

Penn State crushed Delaware 63-7. 

Army beat Delaware State 57-0. That was the Black Knights biggest margin of victory since 1956. 

Merrimack lost a close game to Lehigh 14-12.

Liberty pasted New Mexico State as related earlier. 

Georgia state had 250 rushing yards to handle UConn 35-14.

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Game Day Miami of Ohio --September 9th, 2023

 All right. We're home in McGuirk. I think this should be a highly competitive game. Again, the UMass offense has to be productive. Miami is a solid MAC team; a team many pundits picked to win their division in the MAC. 

UMass needs to score 28+ points to win. The Redhawks are not Auburn. The Minutemen defense should limit the Miami scoring, but we can't expect the defense to pitch a shutout.

The UMass rushing game has been very good so far. A 150+ yards rushing and two or three TD's on the ground will go a long way towards making the offense effective.

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

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" previews the Miami game.

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The Hampshire Gazette says Taisun Phommachanh's status won't be known until game time.

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Western Mass News say UMass prepares for their home opener.

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The Journal-News reports Miami hits the road against UMass. 

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CBS sports says Miami is a solid favorite. 

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The Miami Student reports the Redhawks hope to regain the path against the Minutemen. 

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Winners & Whiners thinks Miami will cover the -7 spread. 

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Against the Spread thinks UMass will beat the spread.

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The Action Network says take the under in the UMass-Miami game. 

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The Wenatchee World predicts UMass 42-Miami 15 ?!! I'll have a hit of whatever they're drinking..

I messed up the link and now I can't get it back. Everything is now paywalled. Sorry.

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The Las Cruses News has three keys for the Aggies against Liberty. 

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Auburn-Cal will be on ESPN at 9:30 EDT.

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UMass Football News--September 8th, 2023

 The NY Post has a video interview with Coach Brown about rebuilding UMass football.

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

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Our old friends at Hustle Belt preview the Miami (Ohio) -UMass game and predict Redhawks 30 UMass 17.

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On the other hand, Pick Dogs says take UMass and the points. 

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The Daily Collegian reports UMass looks to bounce back against Miami of Ohio. 

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College Football News previews the Auburn-Cal game.

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Liberty's option offense poses unique challenges for the New Mexico State defense. 

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Pioneer Press previews this week's Minnesota-Eastern Michigan game. 

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UMass Football News--September 7th, 2023

 

Intelligencer.com image

Still no word on Phommachanh's condition..

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Auburn's ESPN FPI shot up after the win over UMass.

The Tigers should be a lock for a bowl game. They will beat UMass, New Mexico State, Samford, Cal and Vanderbilt. That's five wins right there. Auburn should be highly competitive with Texas A&M and Mississippi State. They should win one or both. Georgia, LSU and Alabama will have to wait till next year.

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Odds Shark predicts Miami of Ohio 24 UMass 12. 

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Against the Spread says take UMass. 

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Army coach Jeff Monken addresses AAC conference rumors. 

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KAIT TV looks at Arkansas State's 73-0 loss to Oklahoma.

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UMass Football News--September 6th, 2023

 

UMass game notes and information about the Red Hawks here.

Miami of Ohio's game notes for UMass here.

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

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Doc's Sports Service says take UMass and the points.

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Redhawks-Minutemen odds, spread, over and under. 

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New Mexico State travels to common opponent Liberty for their first C-USA game. The Aggies are 13 point underdogs.

The Flames, you remember, supposedly changed their offense to an option offense. Against Bowling Green Liberty rushed 49 times for 248 yards. They did throw the ball 20 times, which is more than most option teams.

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Auburn opens as a 6.5 point favorite over Cal.

The Tigers also received some Top-25 votes after their win over UMass. 

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UMass Football News--September 5th, 2023

 

 

UMass opens as a 7 point underdog to the Red Hawks.

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Miami of Ohio's HC Chuck Martin reviews last weekend's game with Miami-of-giant-media-coverage and previews this week's game with UMass.

In 1973, Miami of Ohio went 11-0 with wins over Purdue, South Carolina and Florida.

Players from 2023 opponents Toledo, Eastern Michigan and Miami of Ohio won MAC Player-of-the-week honors. 

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With the pressures of traveling to New Mexico, I missed Northern Illinois beat Boston College. The Huskies went 3-9 in 2022 and were not picked to do much in the MAC this year.

Our old friends at BC interruption were not pleased. With the opening loss to a Group-of-Five team, six wins is going to be a difficult road for BC.

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Army, with its new-look offense only managed 13 points and 283 total yards against Louisiana Monroe.

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The New England Football Journal is now pay-walled.

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UMass Football News--Spetember 4th, 2023

 Hopefully, we'll get some updates on Taisun Phommachanh's injury soon. I think the Minutemen's offense has been really good so far in the season. Better than I expected, actually. We scored 34 points on New Mexico State and moved the ball on Auburn. The Minutemen running game, which we want to lead with, has averaged 5.3 yards/carry.

Kay'Ron Adams is averaging 6.2 yards/carry. UMass is currently #86 in total offense (#128 last year) and scored 6 TD's. 

The Minutemen are currently #92 in passing offense (last year #125). With Auburn behind us, I think the Minutemen offense will be good for the rest of the season.

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Because of the holiday, not much UMass football news to link to.

The New England Football Journal reports UMass could not contain the Tigers.

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Miami of Ohio gave up almost 500 yards of offense to the Hurricanes. 

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Eastern Michigan survived a Bison rally in the second half.

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UMass Football News--September 3rd, 2023

 It turned out I was able to watch the UMass game from my hotel after all. The Minutemen scored with an apparent effortless drive early.

However, Phommachanh was injured at the end of the series. After that, he could not step into his throws or run, which is a big part of his game. Also, his injury seemed to shock the Minutemen.

Auburn had at least four short fields and scored on all of them. A long kickoff run back, a failed fourth down by UMass and a short punt gave the Tigers plenty of opportunities. 

So, we got blown out. A loss is a loss by one point or forty. Congrats to Auburn, they are loaded with talent.

Still, we ran the ball well, Kay'Ron Adams averaged 7 yards a carry. Carlos Davis looked good in relief. If Phommachanh had not been injured, the results would have looked better,but we still would have lost. It only means anything if it affects the next game.

We should be able to get after Miami of Ohio next week. 

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UMass write-up here.

Auburn write-up here. 

The Hampshire Gazette reports UMass thumped 59-14. 

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New Mexico State rang up 650 yards of offense and beat Western Illinois 58-21.

Miami of Ohio lost 38-3 to Miami of Florida.

Eastern Michigan gave up nearly 400 yards of offense to Howard, but won 33-23.

New Mexico lost to Texas A&M 52-10. 

Arkansas State lost to Oklahoma 73-0. 

Illinois edged Toledo 30-28

Penn State beat West Virginia 38-15. 

Army lost a close one to ULM. 

Merrimack lost to Holy Cross 42-20. 

Liberty beat Bowling Green 34-24. 

UConn lost to NC State on Friday.

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