Like a collision at sea, you could see this one coming a long way away.
It was a beautiful day. The UMass Marching Band sounded great. More than 15,000 fans showed up for the game.
The UMass football team didn't show up. Some UMass players may have NFL dreams. If you've ever watched any of Ray Lewis' memorable pregame rants on YouTube, then you know what a NFL player has to do. If you are on offense, you need to make plays. On defense, you need to hit. When the whistle sounds both sides have to throw the switch to the "On" position. If there were any NFL scouts at the game, any Minutemen player hoping in playing in the Pros chances just got longer.
Yesterday's game hurt the program, the coaching staff and the players. We need to hit the "reset" button and start making progress.
Coach Molnar does not even a full compliment of scholarships until 2015. I felt the UMass administration would give him till then to change the UMass program. Yesterday probably knocked a year off that horizon.
Special teams again hurt us. Maine had better field position all game. The UMass punter again shanked a punt and to get any distance, he had to kick low. A Minutemen returner fielded a kick inside the UMass five yard line. Our kicker took the air out of a potential fourth quarter UMass comeback by kicking out of bounds right after UMass scored a TD.
UMass tried two quarterbacks and neither could move the team. Our running back, billed as the fastest player on the squad, never looked like he could break open a long run. Twice, Minutemen series were stopped when a UMass receiver ran a route that was two yards shy of a first down.
The UMass defense has only received about a third of the first two years of recruits. Maybe we should rethink this year's class. The defense was pushed off the line of scrimmage all day. Twice Maine racked up big gains on a simple screen play. It came within an eyelash of working a third time. Black Bear receivers were wide open a number of times.
On coaching, the Minutemen are supposed to be playing a fast up tempo spread offense. The playing calling was glacially slow. UMass had to call a time out because we didn't have 11 men on the field for a punt. Some coach needs to be tasked with counting noses. On most teams, the punter counts too.
I'm going to break tradition and not set any links for game articles. If I were the coaching staff and players I would not watch any of the game film either.
Let's all UMass fans, players and coaches shake it off and start working on getting better.
Go UMass!!
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Yesterday' MAC scoreboard.
Akron and CMU both beat CAA teams by a combined total of five points.
Nichols State beat Western Michigan adding another FBS scalp to this year's totals.
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BTW, I liked the new UMass uniforms.
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An honorary Boston driver's licence goes to this New Hampshire driver.
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