Army and Thanksgiving week

[photoman]

With the final game of the season here vs. Army on Thanksgiving week I thought it would be interesting to see what UMass Football fans have to be thankful for this season. I'll start off, by thanking (2-9 FCS) Stony Brook U, for coming to Amherst and saving us from going winless on the year. Someone please send them a pumpkin pie!

Anyone or anything else deserving Thanks?

[m626t]

I’m thankful for the hope that next season will show the results of a much deeper and talented roster and an improved offensive coaching staff.

[eldonabe]

I am thankful for just about everything not related to football - that said I am pretty thankful that this football season is mercifully almost over.


Snark aside, the defense is reasonable now. We can argue the merits of how much it has actually improved versus the perception of how much it has improved, but we can all agree it is better to some degree.


This is better suited to the annual Christmas Wish List but:

- They desperately need a QB
- They desperately need a semblance of an offensive line.
- Hire some kid (any kid) who plays Madden regularly and that will improve the OC play calling situation. I get it, the QB is limited at best but seriously WTF do you have to lose. Try running some plays that might actually advance the ball more than 2 or 3 yards once in a while.

One caveat to my last bullet - DO NOT hire Matt Patricia as OC.

[Bob1975]

Add a punter to the wish list

[inthescoop]

UMass opens up as +20 point underdogs.

[dennisdent]

I'm thankful that Walt Bell isn't the coach anymore, no matter the record this season.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Weather seems to be improving... it had been saying rain but now that seems to be changing, and it might hit 50. Still going to be a cold tailgate...

[Worcester_To_Amherst]

Will be an interesting test for the defense. The run D was outstanding against A&M, and has been pretty good all year with the exception of getting gashed for big play TDs more than we'd like. I thought Bradley was more noticeable out there last game after he was much hyped coming in this offseason. Have to remember he's only a redshirt freshmen. Good college programs rely on 4th and 5th year guys and DB is working with a lot of 2nd and 3rd year guys, and the older guys didn't play much at their other schools. All signs pointing up for the D to keep getting better.

Mackie will have his work cut out for him in his last collegiate game.

[stevemaz]

Getting right back on the we get breaks horse.. UMass 20 Army 19

[minutefanjsf]

Add a punter to the wish list

CJ is getting better. He needs to be better at the roll out they ask him to do from time to time. His straight on boom it kicks are much better than those.

[minutefanjsf]

Weather seems to be improving... it had been saying rain but now that seems to be changing, and it might hit 50. Still going to be a cold tailgate...

I may not make it to tailgate and may have extra tix. I’ll let you know.

[dennisdent]

Just like the team, CJ can only go up from the bottom. Worst punter in FBS.

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs ... dual/17/p2

[minutefanjsf]

Just like the team, CJ can only go up from the bottom. Worst punter in FBS.

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs ... dual/17/p2

Never punted until this year and has gotten better. Why is he punting? AJ bolted. 74 punts is also the tops. Like I said the scheme to punt in many forms hasn’t been good for him. He is not good at the roll outs. Much better at the “standard” punting. He has been wildly inconsistent. Thought he was on track after the first three or so games then UConn happened.

[dennisdent]

Just like the team, CJ can only go up from the bottom. Worst punter in FBS.

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs ... dual/17/p2

Never punted until this year and has gotten better. Why is he punting? AJ bolted. 74 punts is also the tops. Like I said the scheme to punt in many forms hasn’t been good for him. He is not good at the roll outs. Much better at the “standard” punting. He has been wildly inconsistent. Thought he was on track after the first three or so games then UConn happened.

He's worse then 80 D3 kickers. No excuse for an FBS team to have a punter this bad (especially the one that punts the most). AJ isn't even kicking this season in college. They could have found another punter with the new transfer rules. This is another failure for this season, which hopefully will get fixed. He's had a few good punts but 90% bad.

The Mass Maritime punter averaged 42 yards a kick...The MIT punter was better...

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/d3/ ... dual/17/p2

[minutefanjsf]

Just like the team, CJ can only go up from the bottom. Worst punter in FBS.

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs ... dual/17/p2

Never punted until this year and has gotten better. Why is he punting? AJ bolted. 74 punts is also the tops. Like I said the scheme to punt in many forms hasn’t been good for him. He is not good at the roll outs. Much better at the “standard” punting. He has been wildly inconsistent. Thought he was on track after the first three or so games then UConn happened.

He's worse then 80 D3 kickers. No excuse for an FBS team to have a punter this bad (especially the one that punts the most). AJ isn't even kicking this season in college. They could have found another punter with the new transfer rules. This is another failure for this season, which hopefully will get fixed. He's had a few good punts but 90% bad.

The Mass Maritime punter averaged 42 yards a kick...The MIT punter was better...

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/d3/ ... dual/17/p2

I wasn’t saying he was good. I was saying for a guy who never punted he was getting better. AJ would have been better. There is no other Pinter on our roster. CJ isn’t even listed as a punter. He’s listed as a kicker. I also was pointing out he gets good distance when not doing the roll out kick, which is about half the time if not more.