Game 1, 2025: Temple (H, 8/30)

[Steve81]

I'm with you. It certainly looked like same old same old, but I'll give them one more game before I'm out. The problem with that is the next three games are completely meaningless, so you have to wait for homecoming against Western Michigan. Up next are FCS Bryant and the two SEC games, which won't tell me anything. I'll marginally pay attention to these next 3 and then tune in for Western Mich to see if they've pulled their heads out of their asses.

...I want to see improvement through the season. No longer dare measure it in wins and losses.

Sorry Steve, but that's some wimpy Old Mass stuff. New coach, new budget, new facilities investments, new conference, go MAC, rah rah sis-boom-bah, etc., wins and losses are the only measuring stick remaining at this point for the program.

Your entitle to say what you wish, but Cal and Carvel had shitty first years and think this year will trend the same as do not have faith in the defense, especially losing Joshua Nobles.

[Juice Stand]

Different eras, Steve. Coaches don't get a 5-year leash to build something anymore. As I mentioned above, all the excuses are used up. We have the money, we have the conference affiliation, and we have a new coach. Time to win. And I'm not talking about 6 or 7 wins, I'm talking about a pretty low bar of 4 or 5. And this is not just about football, I'll say the same thing about basketball when the season starts.

[jjmc85]

...I want to see improvement through the season. No longer dare measure it in wins and losses.

Sorry Steve, but that's some wimpy Old Mass stuff. New coach, new budget, new facilities investments, new conference, go MAC, rah rah sis-boom-bah, etc., wins and losses are the only measuring stick remaining at this point for the program.

Your entitle to say what you wish, but Cal and Carvel had shitty first years and think this year will trend the same as do not have faith in the defense, especially losing Joshua Nobles.

After 1 game we knew there was a huge improvement with Carvel over Michelleto. I remember the first turn over UMass had in the offensive zone thinking “oh shit. Here’s another odd man rush going the other way” but the most amazing thing happened-UMass had a guy back on defense. That never happened under Michelleto. And there wasn’t an odd man rush. Wins and losses aside if you watched the hockey program in Spring of 2016 vs fall of 2016 there were huge improvements that didn’t show up in the W-L record.

I guess the thing that improved this Saturday is that UMass wasn’t stupidly subbing late every defensive red zone down. Aside from that, what’s gotten better? If it’s only the kicking game and not subbing foolishly then that’s not gonna cut it.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

The end result was what I expected. The lack of competitiveness was not what I expected though.



Game 1 of a new HC, new system, new players... I'm not going to lose it quite yet, long way to go.

I did not expect that result. I thought it would be a tight game. Temple also has a brand new coach. They were only 2.5 point favorites, turned out to be easy money.

By end result, I meant the loss. I thought my comment about lack of competitiveness clearly indicated that I did not expect it to be a blowout.

[ZooMass84]

Different eras, Steve. Coaches don't get a 5-year leash to build something anymore. As I mentioned above, all the excuses are used up. We have the money, we have the conference affiliation, and we have a new coach. Time to win. And I'm not talking about 6 or 7 wins, I'm talking about a pretty low bar of 4 or 5. And this is not just about football, I'll say the same thing about basketball when the season starts.

My pretty low bar is 2. We get the win Saturday and then Kent State. Wish we had our kicker last year vs. Liberty. It's sad but Temple has our number. Whether they knew the defense or not our offense sucked. Brandon Rose is not the answer. I just hope Coach Joe gives all the other QBs a shot.

[ZooMass84]

Coach Joe is making 1.4M. That's a far cry from Molnar making 200,000. I'm sure he wants to win if for no other reason that he is 39 years old and he's got to work for another 20 years. His contract is 5 years for like 7 million. Sure, top SEC and Big 10 coaches make that in one year but that's them. Hate to say this but if we wind up 2-10 in 2025, 3-9 in 2026, then 2-8 and the asst coach takes over in 2027 for the last 2 games then we have a huge problem. What are we going to do: get the next HC for 2.4 million in 2028??? There is NO WAY Coach Joe is happy about the Temple game.

[photoman]

Coach Joe is making 1.4M. That's a far cry from Molnar making 200,000. I'm sure he wants to win if for no other reason that he is 39 years old and he's got to work for another 20 years. His contract is 5 years for like 7 million. Sure, top SEC and Big 10 coaches make that in one year but that's them. Hate to say this but if we wind up 2-10 in 2025, 3-9 in 2026, then 2-8 and the asst coach takes over in 2027 for the last 2 games then we have a huge problem. What are we going to do: get the next HC for 2.4 million in 2028??? There is NO WAY Coach Joe is happy about the Temple game.

No doubt he's unhappy about it. Who'd be happy? The question is can he do something about it. It was SO discouraging, and stomping a lesser opponent this week doesn't make up for it.

[Juice Stand]

Did anybody listen to his interview on the Minuteman Command podcast? https://www.minutemancommand.com/p/the- ... episode-20

He's definitely not pleased with the way things went. I like the things he's said, I think he sounds like a good motivator and he has some solid history in the coaching profession. Now we get to see if he can put it all together. Like I said earlier, the next 3 mean very little to me unless they smoke Bryant and play very close through all 4 quarters or somehow beat Iowa and Mizzouri. I'm waiting for homecoming to see what this team is all about.

Western Michigan is predicted to be a middle of the road MAC team. If we can't compete with them on homecoming, then we're sunk. If we beat them, I'll be back on board.

[doubledribble]

Bring on BB and Hockey !

[Rolling Ridge]

Did anybody listen to his interview on the Minuteman Command podcast? https://www.minutemancommand.com/p/the- ... episode-20

He's definitely not pleased with the way things went. I like the things he's said, I think he sounds like a good motivator and he has some solid history in the coaching profession. Now we get to see if he can put it all together. Like I said earlier, the next 3 mean very little to me unless they smoke Bryant and play very close through all 4 quarters or somehow beat Iowa and Mizzouri. I'm waiting for homecoming to see what this team is all about.

I just watched this. I'd agree that I basically liked what he said. Perhaps the most important thing he said was that he was disappointed and surprised at the lopsided result, and that he felt that wasn't indicative of what he's seen from the team in practices. He feels they are doing the "little things" that will eventually lead to success and that this game just got away from them.

For now, I'm going to choose to believe that. I'm not schooled enough in those "little things" to really know. I certainly couldn't see them against Temple, but despite this miserable loss, I do still have faith in Coach Joe, and I think he will eventually get results. I also think the investment UMass has finally started making in the program will pay off. He couldn't put a timetable on when those results might start coming, so I can't. What may be most discouraging about this game is that it looks like it might take longer than a lot of us expected, and the prospect of sitting through another season of drubbings is a tough pill to swallow.

Hopefully he's right and we show better against Bryant and our MAC competition. If not, Coach Joe himself said he understood the students leaving in the third quarter... the team didn't give them a reason to stay. That goes for a lot of fans. I think that's a fair way of being critical that stops short of saying, "same old, same old UMass," or calling for the end of FBS football, or "told you so," or whatever. I'm not withholding financial support for the program, I'm not giving up on the coach or the team in the longer term, but until those "little things" start to translate into a team that can at least compete (I'm not even after wins at this point), it's tough to watch. I think it was tough for Coach to watch as well, but he doesn't have the luxury of temporarily bailing.

I'm not nearly at that point yet. I really do hope to see improvements against Bryant and our MAC competition. I'll hang in there as long as I can, but if all the games "get away" from them like Temple, I may just wait for a reset next season.

[doubledribble]

Believe me when I say that I am huge fan of UMass athletics! Such has been the case for 50 years!

When you say “ I also think the investment UMass has finally started making in the program will pay off.” I can’t help but think it has turned out to be HUGE waste of limited resources which has lead to the elimination of several other athletic teams.
I wish the athletic department would stop chasing this pipe dream! Bring back some version of the old Yankee Coference.

[Rolling Ridge]

I wish the athletic department would stop chasing this pipe dream! Bring back some version of the old Yankee Coference.

Which does absolutely nothing for the University. FCS is a money suck with little to no upside, financial or institutional. We won the 1998 Championship and what did it get us? Zero. Some here don't even feel it's a legit D1 championship, and that's here, where the uber fans dwell. FCS may not even exist going forward, or it will look like D2 or D3. I say pass on that. Even with our horrid record, institutional support for the program has grown exponentially. I think it's FBS or we go the way of BU and drop football altogether, and what would that do to our athletic department?

[Floyd]

Coach Joe is making 1.4M. That's a far cry from Molnar making 200,000. I'm sure he wants to win if for no other reason that he is 39 years old and he's got to work for another 20 years. His contract is 5 years for like 7 million. Sure, top SEC and Big 10 coaches make that in one year but that's them. Hate to say this but if we wind up 2-10 in 2025, 3-9 in 2026, then 2-8 and the asst coach takes over in 2027 for the last 2 games then we have a huge problem. What are we going to do: get the next HC for 2.4 million in 2028??? There is NO WAY Coach Joe is happy about the Temple game.

No doubt he's unhappy about it. Who'd be happy? The question is can he do something about it. It was SO discouraging, and stomping a lesser opponent this week doesn't make up for it.

^ yup

This year I just want to see consistency, effort, and discipline. Big offseason for recruiting to bring in impactful talent.