McGuirk Alumni Stadium has been the home of Massachusetts football for the past 46 years, but on Saturday, the Minutemen will line up against Rhode Island for their final home opener in their familiar confines.
UMass enters the game having won the only game it has played thus far. In Week 1, the squad held off a late offensive surge to defeat Holy Cross, 24-16.
Though the Minutemen struggled early on in the contest, a few key personnel changes in the second half proved to be all the team needed to get the victory.
URI has also only played one game this year, a 21-14 loss to Syracuse last weekend. The Rams found themselves with a rare Week 1 bye and have had plenty of time to prepare for the Minutemen.
UMass, on the other hand, didn’t get any game film or scouting reports about the Rams until after last Saturday night’s game, giving them only a week to practice.
Despite the bye week, Minutemen coach Kevin Morris said that his team has put their time to good use, working on fundamentals and solidifying plays and schemes that were already in place. Additionally, special teams and kickers worked on setting the offense up with better field position.
“Right now we’re working on everything,” Morris said. “Right now, it’s [focusing on] the Rhode Island game plan. We had the bye week to really get fundamentally sound and we emphasized all the individual structures of the program and this week is all game planning and playing fast.”
It’s been a bit of a carousel at quarterback for UMass thus far, but Morris was finally ready to name a starter for this weekend against URI, though it’s a different one from Week 1.
Freshman Brandon Hill started against the Crusaders, but only played in the first half. His backup, Kellen Pagel, took over and led the offense for the remainder of the game. Pagel’s performance seems to have turned heads, as he will be the starter in Week 3.
“Kellen Pagel is going to start for us this week and we’ll see where it goes,” Morris said. “Last week we had it scripted for both guys and that Pagel would get in. It’s been a close competition throughout [preseason camp], but we need our play to be at a higher level at the quarterback position. We’re going to let Pagel start [the game] and let him run [the game] and we’ll see how it goes.”
A season ago, the Rams defeated the Minutemen, 37-34, in spite of outstanding performances from former quarterback Kyle Havens and current tailback Jonathan Hernandez. Havens threw for 373 yards and two touchdowns while Hernandez rushed for 124 yards and also scored twice.
Morris said that in order for his team to replicate the offensive success it had last year, the unit will have to make an impact.
“It comes down to making plays,” Morris said. “You’ve got to step up and make plays. Rhode Island is going to make it hard on us, but we’re really looking forward to that challenge. I feel like we have enough weapons on offense to [play well again] and we’re going to come out and play hard physical football.”
Michael Wood can be reached at [email protected].
