The UMass Minutemen bought highway robust in a rush.
UMass opened the 2023 season on Aug. 26 with an inspiring 41-30 win at New Mexico State. Last Saturday the Minutemen tried to take an enormous chew out of the SEC apple however bought greater than they may chew. After a sluggish begin, the Auburn Tigers dispatched UMass 59-14 earlier than a capability crowd at historic Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala.
“We were playing a very good opponent, an SEC caliber opponent and we need to play better for things to happen,” stated UMass second-year coach Don Brown.
“But what we really needed to happen was to take care of the ball and that’s a complementary thing that didn’t happen in any phase.”
After securing a highway cut up, the Minutemen return to McGuirk Stadium on Saturday (3:30 p.m.) to have interaction Miami (Ohio) in probably the most anticipated house opener in years. UMass had gone 1-11 the final two seasons underneath Walt Bell and Brown. But the win over the Aggies in Las Cruces, N.M., was an early indicator that the Minutemen are not impartial pushovers for the remainder of FBS.
“This is big and it’s one that we’ve been pointing to and it’s really good when you have the chance to play at home,” stated Brown. “We’ve been on the road for two weeks now and the kids have been anxious about playing at home and they are going to get their chance for sure.”
The greatest fallout for the Auburn sport was the early exit of quarterback Taisun Phommachanh, the redshirt junior switch from Clemson who orchestrated the offensive onslaught at New Mexico State.
Phommachanh scored the Minutemen’s first landing in opposition to Auburn on a 1-yard run that tied the sport 7-7 with 7:20 to play within the first. Phommachanh was on the enterprise finish of 4 sacks and 4 quarterback hurries earlier than exiting the sport favoring his shoulder and leg.
Carlos Davis, a redshirt senior switch from Western Carolina, changed Phommachanh when the sport was effectively out of hand. Davis battled Phommachanh in coaching camp for the beginning job and the competitors introduced out the perfect in each of them. Brown stated Phommachanh was on the mend however expressed his confidence in Davis to do the job if wanted.
“He (Davis) has been getting equal time in practice and we know what we are going to get from him,” stated Brown.
Source: www.bostonherald.com