25 Questions about Sam

Today's pictures are Sam the Minuteman.
Here, he forgot his toothbrush.

What is their body of work?

UMass is 1-3 out of the gate.  Their win over FIU was their first win over a non-conference FBS opponent, which is really shocking.  They have certainly struggled at the FBS level.  Having said that, they almost beat BG last year and their losses this year are @Colorado, Temple (by 2) and @Notre Dame.  This was supposed to be their best season in FBS and it could still be.

How many seniors and juniors on the two-deep?

29 which is a lot.

Who are their statistical leaders?

Blake Frohnapfel is #7 in completions per game and #14 in passing yards per game.
Tajae Sharpe is #7 in receiving yards, #5 in receiving yards per game and #2 in receptions per game.

What is their turnover ratio?

The are -3, which is normal for a 1-3 team.

Offense:

 How is their QB play?

Sam's thumbs say he likes sustainable food.
His face might say otherwise.

Frohnapfel is a good QB.  He's racked up huge yardage numbers, as noted above.  The QB Rating doesn't like him very much...he's 7th in the MAC in that category.  He completes on 59% of his passes and there are 7 TDs over 3 INT.  The biggest strength he has is yardage.  He's averaging 12.01 per completion, which is really good.

What is their scoring and yards per play?

For their strong QB play, they are 9th in scoring offense, but consider the schedule.  (Like BG, they played no FCS team).  Their yards per play with 4th at 5.7 yards.  An offense that gets yards but doesn't score usually reveals issues on big plays and turnovers (noted already).

Can they run the ball?

They are 11th in overall rush offense and 7th in yards per carry.  Watch out for true FR Marquis Young who leads the team in rushing, averages 9 yards per carry and broke out against ND.

Do they pass the ball?

As mentioned above, they have a high yardage pass offense.  In addition to Frohnapfel, Tajae Sharpe is one of the MAC's best WRs and Marken Michel has had a bunch of big plays.

How was their run/pass balance?

They run on 42% of their plays, which indicates a pass heavy offense.

Do they convert on 3rd Down?

Sam getting buff. Sparty-envy.

They are 11th in the MAC at 32%.

Do they score in the red zone?

They are also poor in the red zone at 4.2 points per trip. This, wrd downs and the turnovers explains the difference between yard production and point production.

Do they protect the quarterback?

They have allowed 9 sacks in 180 attempts, which is 5% of attempts, which is normal/average.

Defense:

Topline: Scoring and yards per play.

Their defense has struggles.  Coach has said that their defense is much improved from last year and there is that schedule, but they are 10th in the MAC at 6.1 yards per play.  (BG is 5.9)

Do they defend the run effectively?

They are 12th in overall run defense and 11th in yards per carry.  Teams have run on them effectively.

Two if by sea

Can they be passed on?

They are 9th in pass defense efficiency.  They allow 61% completions, which is high at about 10.1 yards per completion.  They have given up only 898 passing yards, which could look very funny depending on the numbers BG puts up.

Do they get off the field on 3rd down?

They are 11th in the MAC, allowing 48%...so no, not really.

Do they defend in the red zone?

They are not good.  They have gotten no red zone stops and allow 5.75 points per trip.

Do they pressure the QB?

They have 7 sacks which is 4.9%, which is normal/average.

Little known fact.  Sam loves to read.
More than he likes
sustainable food.

Special Teams:

Punting?

They are 5th in net punting, almost equal to where BG is.  No blocks but they have had a TD return.

Punt Return?

Not really a factor, only 2 for 7 yards.  No blocks.

Placekicking?

They have 3 guys who might do this.  They have attempted only 3 FGs in four games, so much like BG they are focused on getting in the endzone.  They have gone for it on 4th 6 times.

Kickoff?

Opponents start on the 25, which is normal.  However, he has only 5 touchbacks on 17 kick offs.

Kickoff Return?

They start on the 24, which is also normal. That is on only 7 touchbacks.

Miscellaneous: Overall atmospherics and intangibles.

Couple things.

Also he does not like this.

First, BG has to be glad to be getting back home again.  If you are 3-2 with only 1 home game, you have to feel good about it.

This is the kind of game you need to close on home field if you are looking to contend for a title.  UMass is not a bad team and probably better than they look--and there has been no opportunity to see them in MAC play.  They played BG very tough in a big game (first campus game) last year at a time where BG was playing poorly.  It was a high scoring affair as you would expect this one to be.

They key will be that BG will need to cover the really strong UMass wideouts.  It would appear to me that's the key to stopping them.  If BG--thin at DB--can get any kind of victory there, I think things will be looking up.