Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

UMass football prepares for Southeastern Conference opponent in first road game of the season.

(Cade Belisle)
(Cade Belisle)

 

 

The first couple weeks of the season for the Massachusetts football team have not been easy.

Week 1? Atlantic Coast Conference rival Boston College.

Week 2? Pac-12 foe Colorado.

What does week 3 bring for UMass?  A matchup against Vanderbilt, coming from arguably college footballs best conference, the southeastern conference.

The SEC produced seven consecutive national champions from 2006-2012, and although the Commodores have not been one of those teams, Vanderbilt isn’t going to be a walk in the park either.

“This is a good team,” head coach Mark Whipple said. “This team knows how to win down there. … They’re really talented.”

Despite the programs recent success, the Commodores have struggled this year following the departure of head coach James Franklin to Penn State – UMass’ next opponent. Vanderbilt (0-2) has struggled this year being outscored by its opponents 87-10, with the lone touchdown coming off a fumble recovery.

The majority of the Commodores problems can be linked directly towards the quarterback situation in Nashville. As of Wednesday night, Vanderbilt has four quarterbacks listed on its two-deep depth chart, none of which are listed as the starter.

Stephen Rivers has started the past two weeks for the Commodores throwing just 18-for-50 (36 percent) for 246-yards, zero touchdowns and a pair of interceptions.  Johnny McCrary, Patton Robinette and Wade Freebeck are the three other quarterbacks currently in contention for the starting job this Saturday.

Ralph Webb has been Vanderbilt’s most dynamic offense weapon through two games this season averaging 5.2-yards per carry on 32 carries for 165 yards.

Saturday’s contest also marks the first true road game of the season for the Minutemen, who went winless away from Gillette one year ago.  UMass’ last and only road win in program history came on November 10, 2012 in a 22-14 win against Akron.

“It’s not like going to an Alabama,” Whipple said.  “I don’t think the noise will be a factor, but we’ll work on some silent stuff just in case.”

“Our main thing to worry about is if there is going to be a silent snap count,” quarterback Blake Frohnapfel said.  “It’s something that we haven’t really worked on yet, but it’s definitely something we’ll take care of.”

Frohnapfel showed major signs of improvement from week one to week two, throwing for three touchdowns last week against Boston College.  However, one of the Minutemen’s main goals on offense has been to commit to improving the run game.

Jamal Wilson and J.T. Blyden will likely split carries again this week, as the two backs have taken about 70-percent of the teams handoffs this season.  Wilson has 70-yards to Blyden’s 68.  Wilson also has the only rushing touchdown of the season for UMass.

Although Wilson is currently listed ahead of Blyden on the team’s depth chart, Blyden mentioned that he’s always ready to go on the sideline and said his main job was to look out to see if Wilson needed a rest midway through the drive.

One of Vanderbilt’s main problems on defense this season has been its ability stopping the run allowing 180-yards against Ole Miss, and 144-yards against Temple in the season opener.  Although those stats might be appetizing for Minutemen fans, Frohnapfel knows just how difficult it’s going to be for his team to move the ball.

“They’re huge. The whole front seven is big, the secondary is big, and they can all run. As an offense you know they have a lot of talent on their defense and we have to execute very well if we want to win.

Kickoff from Vanderbilt is set for noon and can be seen on Fox Sports South or ESPN3.com.

 

Andrew Cyr can be reached at [email protected], and can be followed on Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.

 

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  • V

    VUSethSep 11, 2014 at 12:44 pm

    Patton Robinette started the first game for the Dores. While Rivers got the majority of the snaps in game 1, he did not start.

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