tulane game

[dennisdent]

The last time UMass played Tulane in Amherst, the teams were pretty even with speed. Last night showed how bad the recruiting has been for the past three years as Tulane was faster at every position! It will take Brown at least two more years to fix this...

[TheInsider]

It's gonna take time.. 1st half they looked ok but we put Tulane in a bunch of short fields.. 2nd half.. well you guys saw. QB is obviously an issue.. need to draw up some easy short passes.. I would take Olson with less running with a short to medium passing game over no passing game.. gotta find some things that work.. didn't think we would win but wanted to see more.. really tough test next week.. just want to see a little bit of improvement because after that we have 1 must win and 1 very winnable game.. a 2-2 start is still in play.

[Worcester_To_Amherst]

Punting is an issue. This team is going to be doing a lot of it and if it’s going to be 40 yard line drives we’ll be seeing a few return TDs this year.

Inability to get hands on the QB in the backfield was another major issue. Cushnie is going to need to be much better. I thought the linebackers looked better- Mackie is a better run stopper than anyone they had last year but keep him out of coverage.

Defense should be OK after a few weeks but if they can’t consistently make 10-15 yard completions and cut down on mistakes the record won’t be improving much.

[ZooMass84]

It's gonna take time.. 1st half they looked ok but we put Tulane in a bunch of short fields.. 2nd half.. well you guys saw. QB is obviously an issue.. need to draw up some easy short passes.. I would take Olson with less running with a short to medium passing game over no passing game.. gotta find some things that work.. didn't think we would win but wanted to see more.. really tough test next week.. just want to see a little bit of improvement because after that we have 1 must win and 1 very winnable game.. a 2-2 start is still in play.

a 2-2 start is still in play: yeah for a half decent team. Temple got absolutely blasted last week and Stony Brook is an average to bad FCS; problem is we are currently a horrible FCS team (think NEC/MEAC level). We are really fortunate that we have the easiest schedule in FBS but I don't think that will help. I don't mean to be Mr. Negative but other than second half of 2017, we are a really really bad FCS team.

[ZooMass84]

With the exception of Dabo Swinney or Nick Saban coaching and a ton of 5* guys magically appearing on our roster, I don't think we have a prayer of more than 1 or 2 wins a season. Sorry.

[TheInsider]

We are better than a horrible FCS team.. but until we can figure out a more balanced offense it will be tough. As bad as some of last night looked.. it was much better than last year.

[ZooMass84]

We are better than a horrible FCS team.. but until we can figure out a more balanced offense it will be tough. As bad as some of last night looked.. it was much better than last year.

agreed: 17 total passing yards?!?

[TheInsider]

Yeah.. can't have that.. that number is beyond bad. I think we have a solid running game with some pretty good backs. Shouldn't be that hard come up with some passing. Like I said I would rather have Olson run less and throw a bit more.. rely on running from the running backs and get some passing with a little running from the QB.

[stevemaz]

There were some positives.

1. we have a semblance of a running attack that might be good, especially vs weak teams
2. The defense was not pitiful.. missing those two sacks would have stopped two scoring drives by Tulane
3. i think they played hard

Negatives

1. the old adage of if you have two QBs you have none is true. Olson may be shot and probably should never had played last year. Campiotti needs to be able to complete short quick passes, but may not be able to.
2. had a couple of blown defensive calls.. shouldnt have been so aggressive on that 4th and 6 play and there was obvious screw up on the long td pass over middle.

Overall, let's hope that Tulane turns out to be an 8-4 type team and we will look better vs the likes of Stony Brook, Temple, UConn, NM state, Ark st, and Army. Long term goal is to keep building the roster with size/speed and then landing a both a good transfer QB to play next year or two and a good freshman.

[inthescoop]

One thing that we know for sure is that Ahmad Haston is the QB of the future. Would love to see him start all 4 years at UMass and make history in Amherst.

[stevemaz]

One thing that we know for sure is that Ahmad Haston is the QB of the future. Would love to see him start all 4 years at UMass and make history in Amherst.

Hope so, although I would still find a transfer to play at least one year.

[Floyd]

I was a little surprised we didn't throw to the TEs a little more. Thought it was supposed to be a stronger group this year. We have solid RBs, but we got no glimpse of what we have on the outside for receivers.
Tulane had much more speed which really created problems. Turn the page, keep working

[dennisdent]

I have total faith that Brown can get the program going in the right direction. He knows what it takes to win and be competitive.

[DeeDeeBee]

Totally agree, Dennis!!!
..as per Floyd: "turn the page and keep working"!!! Go UMass..

[Berkman]

And they expect people to pay $ 40 to go to home games. They should pay people to go to the games.