Game # 11: BYU

[jpatsfan]

I want to congratulate the players on a huge statement win against BYU on the road. The guys won today because of persistence, hard work, guts and a ton of heart. I give ZERO credit to the coaches. Say what you want about Whipple, but if there is no OC then he goes, end of story. This game was won because of the PLAYERS, not the coaches. The defense IMO played their best game of the FBS era, not just the season. They hit the Freshman QB early and often. Ford was smart, consistent and good in the pocket. This team won and they deserve all the credit. Very happy for the record and hoping for victory #5 in two weeks!

[69MG]

Surely our most important win since the upgrade. We have actually had a nice rivalry with BYU, especially in BB. The most entertaining BB game I have ever been to was the 2013 BYU game at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield before a full house. We won 105-96 in regulation, Chaz had the game of his life and the pace was all out for 40 minutes.

[KahunaK]

Another coach to be fired????

[78]

^
I doubt the BYU coach will be fired, but I could be wrong. They have been decimated more by injuries than probably every other FBS team this year. They have had to play 5 quarterbacks. They would have been decent this year. My guess is the coach stays around.

[LS71]

Congrats to the team on the win!

Go UMass!

[Berkman]

I am now in the camp of we need an OC next year. .

I know that a lot of you guys want a OC for next year but I don't think that we will get one while Whip is the coach. The money he is saving by not having an OC has been spread out to the other assistants.

[dennisdent]

It's first non-conference FBS win on the road.

UMass isn't in a conference. The announcers were just plain wrong.

[Rolling Ridge]

I want to congratulate the players on a huge statement win against BYU on the road. The guys won today because of persistence, hard work, guts and a ton of heart. I give ZERO credit to the coaches. Say what you want about Whipple, but if there is no OC then he goes, end of story. This game was won because of the PLAYERS, not the coaches.

I agree with you about Whipple and the need for an OC, but I'd give some credit to Pinkham for today. The defensive players played very well, but they came in with a good gameplan, and they made adjustments based on various situations. For example, rushing three instead of four late in the 4th, which I think threw the BYU QB off at a critical moment. Subtle move, but important, and the right move at the right time as opposed to the wrong move at the wrong time we see so frequently on offense.

Surely our most important win since the upgrade.

I'd agree. Even with BYU depleted by injury and playing a freshman QB, they didn't want to lose this game at home. BYU's defense played valiantly, and held UMass to 16, not a bad showing. And freshman or not, that kid threw some good balls and our corners for the most part shut them down. Even the BYU game announcers said our corners were more talented than BYU's. Actually the announcers for that game were quite good, other than mistaking this for our first FBS road win. But we did enough to win, particularly on defense.

So, a great win on the road, even if it got a bit ugly at the end, and unnecessarily. The question is, what does this mean? We had a great win against Buffalo on the road two years ago and it looked like Marquis Young was ready to become the next star UMass running back. And we've had two years of regression since then. Is this a win off of which we can build, or is it a shot in the dark like Buffalo? We'll see next year.

I'm pleased that the team committed far fewer penalties (ESPN has three, but I think it was four, including one personal foul), played better on special teams (helps when you kick the ball out of the end zone), and only tried one trick play. They basically ticked all my boxes that would measure success in this game. And I can't fault the defense at all. Offense turtled too quickly, but that's been the story this year. Makes you question whether Whipple is capable of learning from past mistakes (that may have cost us two wins earlier in the year). But today it worked out, and since the bowl ship sailed basically in week two this year, I'm going to be happy for the team and hope my ass off they can parley this into something to build on. Otherwise, it's just a shot in the dark.

[minutefanjsf]

There are still far too many mistakes being made that are attributed to coaching. For example, we never let the play clock or game clock run down to the last second on at least two punts when we were trying to kill clock. The interception by Hayes in the end zone should have been knocked down. It was 4th down and picking it off lost us at least 15 yards in field position.

[78]

It's first non-conference FBS win on the road.

UMass isn't in a conference. The announcers were just plain wrong.

DUH, I know UMass isn't in a conference. But, when they were, they did not beat any non-conference teams. Regardless, it is a meaningless stat.

[Sheck]

I am now in the camp of we need an OC next year. .

I know that a lot of you guys want a OC for next year but I don't think that we will get one while Whip is the coach. The money he is saving by not having an OC has been spread out to the other assistants.

If it comes down to spending money on an OC or giving Pinkham a raise I choose the latter. Need to make sure he doesn't leave for another program during the off-season.

[McKinney]

I am now in the camp of we need an OC next year. .

I know that a lot of you guys want a OC for next year but I don't think that we will get one while Whip is the coach. The money he is saving by not having an OC has been spread out to the other assistants.

Give me a break. Whipple is not a martyr for agreeing to make $470k. Up until this year, he deserved that relatively "low" pay for an FBS coach, and hardly anything more. (In my 2016 HC performance/$ metric he ranked #107/128 FBS and #138/253 FBS+FCS). Would you expect a bottom 10 team's coach to be making even average FBS pay?

I've posted about this before, but we're financially in the top third of G5 athletic departments, affording a quality OC should not be an issue. Additionally, after this year, going 4-1 and reaching new heights in terms of rankings (most I've seen get us out of the bottom third of FBS) we can reconsider a raise if he gets a contract extension. I can't think of a reason why Whipple won't hire an OC, maybe it's arrogance in his abilities or maybe he feels he hasn't worked well with OCs in the past, idk, but it shouldn't be for financial reasons.

[McKinney]

If it comes down to spending money on an OC or giving Pinkham a raise I choose the latter. Need to make sure he doesn't leave for another program during the off-season.

It shouldn't come down to that. We should be able to do both.

[DEM]

^
Exactly. I'm pretty sure not having an OC has more to do with Whipple's preference than anything Bamford decided. If Whipple agrees to hire an offensive coordinator, money isn't likely to be an issue.

Pinkham does seem legit, based both on his past resume and the improvement the defense has seen this past season. If Whipple were to retire after this year, I think it would be reasonable to give him a good look as a potential HC.

Either way, nice win!

[vanmeter]

I think Pinkham has been a very positive addition to the staff.

The defense has gotten better and looks far more in sync than it did during the Masiello years.