It’s been quite the few days for the Massachusetts football team, losing in heart-breaking fashion to Liberty in overtime on Saturday, and moving on from its head coach on Monday. The upcoming week doesn’t get any less interesting, traveling to Athens, GA on Saturday, taking on the No. 8 Georgia Bulldogs.
The matchup against Georgia (8-2, 6-2 Southeastern Conference) will be the third SEC opponent for UMass (2-8) on the season, losing to both Missouri and Mississippi State by a combined score of 90-23 earlier in the year.
The Minutemen will be led by offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery who will be taking over interim head coaching duties after the firing of Don Brown. With head coaching experience at Miami (OH) in the mid-2000s, Montgomery looks to right the ship with two games remaining on the season.
“I kind of know how the kids are feeling right now,” Montgomery said. “I think they just need that positive approach, that ‘Hey listen, unfortunately, life goes on’ … If you’ve watched the last few weeks, I think you’ve seen a team that seems to be improving.”
Ahead of the Week 13 contest, the Bulldogs defeated No. 10 Tennessee 31-17 at home. Quarterback Carson Beck threw for 347 yards and two touchdowns in the win, completing a pass to 10 different players.
The redshirt senior is 11th in the FBS with 2,835 passing yards. The Minutemen will have their hands full with a high-powered offense but have been up to the challenge so far in the 2024 season.
UMass surrenders just 159.6 passing yards per game, good for fifth in the nation. With the dismissal of defensive play-caller Brown, defensive coordinator Keith Dudzinski will be orchestrating the gameplan against Georgia, which should share similarities with Brown’s philosophies.
“There’ll be some different things there, I’m sure, because [Dudzinski] has coordinator experience, but I don’t think he’ll major overhaul it,” Montgomery said. “There’s not enough time to do that.”
For the passing game on the Minutemen’s side, both AJ Hairston and Ahmad Haston will take snaps under center in Taisun Phommachanh’s absence, similar to the rotation against Liberty in Week 12.
The 34 points on the scoreboard for UMass against the Flames was the most scored by the team against an FBS opponent in 2024. By utilizing Hairston in the drop-back passing game and Haston in more of a dual-threat role, they gave the Minutemen a versatile offense that showed their opponent varying looks.
“I really thought that was our most complete game,” Montgomery said. “… We tried to put the gameplan together and utilize both of their strengths … We’ll use both of those guys when we need them.”
The committee of quarterbacks for UMass is complemented by a group of running backs who have also played a big factor in the team’s success in 2024. Jalen John, CJ Hester and Brandon Campbell have combined for 155.2 rushing yards per game.
Defensively, the Bulldogs have been successful against the ground game, allowing 114.4 yards per game, good for 27th in the country. With two young signal callers, the Minutemen know how important it is to make sure both aspects of their offense are working together.
“We cannot become one-dimensional early in the game,” Montgomery said. “Whatever the score, whatever happens early, we’re not [going to] be able to go in and just run it every down, and we’re not [going to] be able to go in and drop back every down.”
Sanford Stadium will be the largest venue that UMass plays at in the 2024 season, with a capacity of 93,033. With a packed stadium of SEC fans, noise could prove to make an impact on the game.
“You worry about your cadence, those types of things on offense, communication on both sides of the ball,” Montgomery said. “We’ve just got to make sure we have a good week, and communicate well all week.”
The former back-to-back national champions will be sure to put the new-look Minutemen to the test on Saturday, Nov. 23. Kickoff from Sanford Stadium is set for 12:45 p.m., and the game can be watched on SEC Network.
“Whether they’re ranked number one or two, or number eight, it doesn’t matter,” Montgomery said. “They’re still Georgia.”
Mike Maynard can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter/X @mikecmaynard.
