25 questions for Minutemen

One if by run,
two if by pass

What is their body of work?

Well...it isn't great but it isn't as bad as it looks, I guess.  They are 0-6 in their first year as MAC members.  They lost by 11 to Miami, 3 to OU and 38 to WMU.  Coach has been focusing on the OU game in his comments, which have yet to take the Don Nehlen track and declare them the best 0-6 team in the country.  Anyway, they are clearly struggling in their first year in FBS.

How many seniors and juniors on the two-deep?

They have only 17 on their two deep, which is a pretty small number.  (I included graduate students).  In this sense they remind me of the 2010 Falcons.  They will start 2 true FR on the o-line, for example.

The dude on the right is a gas at parties.

Who are their statistical leaders?

All MAC rankings

Deion Walker is #7 in receiving.
Jonathan Broadnax is #5 in kickoff returns.
Perry McIntyre is #3 in tackles.

What is their turnover ratio?

They are -2.  One four teams in the MAC have positive ratios.

Offense:

How is their QB Play?

He's struggling.  He's a R-FR who has an efficiency rating of just over 100, which is lower than Schilz', which is not great.  He only is completing 53% of his passes, at 5.5 yards per attempt.

What is their scoring and yards per play?

They are last in the MAC in scoring at 13.8 PPG.  They are also last in the MAC in yards per play at 4.3.  (Next lowest is 5.4).

Can they run the ball?

They are almost, though not quite, as bad as Miami.  They have the same 3.2 yards per carry, but run more on account of not having Zac Dysert.

Do they pass the ball?

They are last in pass efficiency and 10th in passing yards per game.

Do you watch Boardwalk Empire?
If so, note the eerie resemblance
between Gyp Rosetti (above)
And Coach Molnar.

How is their run/pass balance?

They run on 51% of their plays.

Do they convert on 3rd Down?

For all of their offensive struggles, they are not too bad in this category, 7th in MAC at 39% and ahead of BG.

Do they score in the red zone?

They have only 14 red zone trips in their 6 games.  They have scored on 11 of those trips but with 5 FG's (imagine that!) and it all equals out to 4.1 points per trip, which is not great.

Do they protect the quarterback?

They have given up 12 sacks but that's on 236 attempts.  Equals out to 5.8% which is average.

Defense:

Topline: Scoring and yards per play.

They are last in the MAC in scoring defense and in yards per play allowed.

Do they defend the run effectively?

They are 11th in yards per game allowed and 10th in yards per rush.  Their run defense is very similar to Miami's.

Can they be passed on?

Not so far.  They are last in the MAC in pass efficiency defense.  They allow 63.7% completions (last) and give up 8.8 yards per attempt and 13.8 per attempt, but pretty bad numbers.

Do they get off the field on 3rd down?

They are 11th, allowing 47.6%.

Do they defend in the red zone?

They have allowed 32 red zone trips in their six games and 30 of those have been scoring drives.  That's 5.7 points per trip.

Do they pressure the QB?

They have only 6 sacks, which is 3.6%.

Special Teams:

How special though?

Punting?

They are 8th in the MAC in net punting.  They have allowed one return for a TD.

Punt Return?

They are last with 18 yards...on the year.

Placekicking?

They have used a couple.  The guy listed as starter is 2-3 with a long 30.  He's a FR.

Kickoff?

They led the MAC in this category.  Teams are starting on the 22 against them....and that's with only 4 touchbacks.

Kickoff Return?

Not bad....they are starting on the 26, and that's with a bunch of touchbacks.

Hint:  Not authentic

Miscellaneous: Overall atmospherics and intangibles.

Well, there's a couple of things.

First, UMass is coming off a bye week, which always make coaches nervous.  I am not sure that is borne out by the stats, but it is an issue.

Second, UMass plays in the same stadium the Patriots do.  That's 90 miles from the UMass campus, which is hard to believe.  They are busing students, yadda, yadda.  Anyway, as Coach Clawson talked about at the presser this week, you can have a big crowd for a MAC team and it still looks very empty.

Third, UMass has a ton of injuries and suspensions.  They are going to start 2 true FR on the o-line and they are more or less without a TE and have other injuries.  They are not at full strength.

This is being referred to as a trap game, which I can see.  BG gets the big win against Miami, and now face UMass and EMU, a collective 0-12 before BG faces the big games.  BG needs to string wins together and I'd like to think we're going to bring an A game for 60 minutes.

On paper, this should not be a contest.