UMass vs. Villanova

[minuteman65]

Well, I didn't see a thread for the game, so I'm starting a thread.

32-24 UMass in 4 OTs.

WHAT A GAME. UMass was horrible for most of regulation, trailing 6-0 at the half and just barely forcing OT. Had a chance to win the game with a field goal in the first OT, but Matt Lawrence fumbled it away on third down. Traded TDs and FGs on the second and third drives, then finally UMass came through with a TD, 2 points, and a big defensive stand in the fourth OT. Great game, and I haven't seen McGuirk Alumni Stadium that alive and excited in the past year and a half (save for the playoff game against UNH). But maybe that's because it was Band Day.

MVP of the game had to be WR Rasheed Rancher for UMass. Came up with a few huge plays to keep UMass in a position to force OT. Had one Randy Moss-esque catch where he just grabbed the ball away from the DBs in double coverage. He's the reason we were able to win it. Villanova's QB was definitely MVP for his team. That kid is pretty mobile, and I think he's a freshman (?). Certainly a good injury replacement.

[UMass922]

This is turning into the year of the backup QB in the CAA.

[RadMann]

Maybe UMass looked horrible because Nova played them tough and forced mistakes?

[minuteman65]

Maybe UMass looked horrible because Nova played them tough and forced mistakes?
Yeah, Villanova played an excellent game of football. UMass nearly killed themselves early with their usual array of stupid penalties, and Villanova made them pay. UMass didn't look like #4, that's for sure. Villanova probably deserved to win today, but I won't complain.

[KAUMASS]

Just got back from the game-Hats off to Villanova, they are an excellent football team. They gave UMass way more than UMass wanted to deal with.

[KAUMASS]

Maybe UMass looked horrible because Nova played them tough and forced mistakes?

Right on the money radmannxthumbsupx

[UMass922]

Even though we won, I still must say that I don't like the college OT format. Probably a topic for a different thread, though.

[Minuteman87]

Right on RadMann ... Villanova deserved to win this. Their QB (Whitney) is as slippery as an eel. I can't count how many times I thought our guys had him sacked and he'd slip away from trouble for a big gain. Plus he's got a ton of poise for a freshman. Tons of credit for Nova's O-line. They did as good a job blocking our LBs and D-line as I've seen the last couple years. Dicken is a good back too. He's not that big but he's tough to bring down and he makes great cuts.

Our defense was pretty good (holding Nova to 14 in regulation) but the offense looked out of synch until the 4th quarter and OT. Rancher (see post above) and to a lesser extent Moore were the keys for UMass. Of course, most of that had to do with Nova's D. LB Osunde is a monster. Murrell and Ventrone are both excellent DBs.

BTW, didn't see this mentioned above, but UMass 48 yard FG attempt on last play of regulation hit high off the upright and bounced away. Of course, it wouldn't have been a 48 yard attempt if UMass had their heads in the game and hadn't been flagged for a 5 yard delay of game because they couldn't get a play in on time with less than a minute to play and no timeouts. grrrrrrrrrrrr

Come on Nova fans, let's hear from you. If I were you I'd be a bit disappointed.

[Sam Adams]

Nova is a damn good football team. It was an amazingly entertaining game. Not sure why folks think Nova deserved to win however - UMass earned the W.

[BDKJMU]

Nova is a damn good football team. It was an amazingly entertaining game. Not sure why folks think Nova deserved to win however - UMass earned the W.

Sounds like a hell of a game. As far as Nova being a damn good football team, well they weren't against JMU just 2 weeks ago (with Young in there), down 35-0 till late in the 4th, 507-201 total yards (53 on Nova's last drive). Beat a medicore Lehigh team by 8, Maine took them to OT at Nova. But after the last 2 games when they put up 63 against W&M and took UMass to OT, maybe something happened? Could be they got some injured players back to more than make up for the loss of Young? But I'm thinking that UMass brought their "B" or even "C" game, certainly not their "A" game.

[saint0917]

Well, I didn't see a thread for the game, so I'm starting a thread.

32-24 UMass in 4 OTs.

WHAT A GAME. UMass was horrible for most of regulation, trailing 6-0 at the half and just barely forcing OT. Had a chance to win the game with a field goal in the first OT, but Matt Lawrence fumbled it away on third down. Traded TDs and FGs on the second and third drives, then finally UMass came through with a TD, 2 points, and a big defensive stand in the fourth OT. Great game, and I haven't seen McGuirk Alumni Stadium that alive and excited in the past year and a half (save for the playoff game against UNH). But maybe that's because it was Band Day.

MVP of the game had to be WR Rasheed Rancher for UMass. Came up with a few huge plays to keep UMass in a position to force OT. Had one Randy Moss-esque catch where he just grabbed the ball away from the DBs in double coverage. He's the reason we were able to win it. Villanova's QB was definitely MVP for his team. That kid is pretty mobile, and I think he's a freshman (?). Certainly a good injury replacement.

I agree with you 100%. Umass didn't show up to play untill OT. The Umass offense and defense just couldn't do anything. Umass is lucky it was only 6-0 at the half, it could have been a lot worse. Chris Whitney a true freshman fron nova did a pretty good job hitting a couple of long passes and getting some big first downs with his legs. My only knock on Whitney is (and he'll learn this as he gets more experience) when you have an open receiver, throw the freakn ball, he had some many open WR's it wasn't funny, but he heald on the the ball way to long and spent most of the afternoon running for his life. My hats of to nova, it was a game you should have won, you came ready to play and Umass didn't.

[charliej]

I was hoping Nova could get a another score before the half,knew UMass would be a different team after halftime.Had some chances to put it away but just couldn't get it done.A big break for UMass,followed up by a big play and we were headed for OT.Minutemen finally got pumped up after they tied it up,(they had looked flat up to that time).

Hated to lose,but have to feel good about the way this young team played.

While it had no direct effect on the game result,the officiating in the overtime was awful.The longer it went,the worse it got.They've go to be on top of thingss in a game like that.

[Sam Adams]

Sounds like a hell of a game. As far as Nova being a damn good football team, well they weren't against JMU just 2 weeks ago (with Young in there), down 35-0 till late in the 4th, 507-201 total yards (53 on Nova's last drive). Beat a medicore Lehigh team by 8, Maine took them to OT at Nova. But after the last 2 games when they put up 63 against W&M and took UMass to OT, maybe something happened? Could be they got some injured players back to more than make up for the loss of Young? But I'm thinking that UMass brought their "B" or even "C" game, certainly not their "A" game.


Don't think so BDK. Nova just played very tough the entire way. UMass certainly could have played better, but I think Nova had an excellent game plan and executed it will. The freshman QB Whitney is a big tough kid who throws bullets and is a load to bring down. I'm thinking folks will be getting to know his name in the next few years.

Its probably a case of Nova learning a lot and improving after the whuppin' JMU laid on them. But this was a brawl on Saturday and Nova showed that they are one tough team. Look out UD, Richmond, Towson et al.

[HensRock]

This is turning into the year of the backup QB in the CAA.

PLEASE NO

[JMU-MRD-DAD]

Must have been a different Nova team that came to H'burg.....this game really surprised me...taking UMASS to OT........

[DB_Atlantic10]

Must have been a different Nova team that came to H'burg.....this game really surprised me...taking UMASS to OT........
The 35-7 win against Nova was a lot closer than it appeared.....It wasn't like we man handled them....we just had a good plan against their 3-3-5 defense....they played us tough all game. That game was full of long sustained short yardage gain drives...Even MM stated that he was suprised how we had so many yards on offense without any big plays. I've watched this game several times on the TV and Nova was just out coached against JMU. But they were not a bad team by any stretch. So get off of this high horse and give them some credit.

[Sam Adams]

The UMass game didn't just go to OT. It went to Quadruple OT.xeekx

That was one crazy ending to a ballgame that was a sleeper fot the first 45 Minutes.

[Old Cage]

No one has mentioned an important reason (beyond excellent "d" by Nova) for the UMass sluggishness on offense. Liam was not moving well on the bad knee and then got the other one whacked. I think that limited us a lot. He was limping about and was not mobile.

Also, no one has mentioned Jeromy Miles, our d-back transfer from Navy. He was all over the place making saving tackles and, more importantly, breaking up passes that would have done us in, including the last play of the game. The official stats show us with five passes broken up, and he had four of them. He gets my vote as our most valuable yesterday and would be my nominee for CAA defensive player-of-the-week. (For those reading this that don't know about him, he was ECAC defensive rookie-of-the-year last year.)

That was GREAT UMass event, one of the best in any sport in several years.

"Had 'em all the way"

[minuteman65]

No one has mentioned an important reason (beyond excellent "d" by Nova) for the UMass sluggishness on offense. Liam was not moving well on the bad knee and then got the other one whacked. I think that limited us a lot. He was limping about and was not mobile.

Also, no one has mentioned Jeromy Miles, our d-back transfer from Navy. He was all over the place making saving tackles and, more importantly, breaking up passes that would have done us in, including the last play of the game. The official stats show us with five passes broken up, and he had four of them. He gets my vote as our most valuable yesterday and would be my nominee for CAA defensive player-of-the-week. (For those reading this that don't know about him, he was ECAC defensive rookie-of-the-year last year.)

That was GREAT UMass event, one of the best in any sport in several years.

"Had 'em all the way"

Miles is nasty indeed. Holding our secondary together.

Horrible coaching at the end of regulation. HOW do you not decide what you're going to do on that last play? You CANNOT take that penalty there! Koepplin almost made an amazing kick there, though. JUST missed.

The crowd was electric, like I said earlier. It was loud in our end. Definitely a sign of increased interest in UMass football and sports in general, I hope.

[minuteman65]

I agree with you 100%. Umass didn't show up to play untill OT. The Umass offense and defense just couldn't do anything. Umass is lucky it was only 6-0 at the half, it could have been a lot worse. Chris Whitney a true freshman fron nova did a pretty good job hitting a couple of long passes and getting some big first downs with his legs. My only knock on Whitney is (and he'll learn this as he gets more experience) when you have an open receiver, throw the freakn ball, he had some many open WR's it wasn't funny, but he heald on the the ball way to long and spent most of the afternoon running for his life. My hats of to nova, it was a game you should have won, you came ready to play and Umass didn't.

Everybody was open. Because they ran the ball every freaking play. Always that option to the HB up the middle. Then whenever they passed, there was always someone open. They could have killed us by passing a little more, I think.

[JMU-MRD-DAD]

The 35-7 win against Nova was a lot closer than it appeared.....It wasn't like we man handled them....we just had a good plan against their 3-3-5 defense....they played us tough all game. That game was full of long sustained short yardage gain drives...Even MM stated that he was suprised how we had so many yards on offense without any big plays. I've watched this game several times on the TV and Nova was just out coached against JMU. But they were not a bad team by any stretch. So get off of this high horse and give them some credit.

I never said Nova was a bad team.....Villanova managed just 201 total yards for the day...with 50+ coming on the last drive against subs....not exactly the same performance...that's all.

Sure, long scoring drives are much better for JMU as it gives the D a chance to rest. Quick scores against VMI/Coastal puts the D back on the field.

Nova may play the upset role in determining the CAA.

Go Dukes.....