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Thinking about this game, UB, players-wise, should just be better...... With that said.....I think the onus is primarily on the coaches this week to get these guys ready to go, motivated from the start, and handle their business as they should be able to do. No sleepwalking....

The line opened at 15.5, but is now around 17. UMass (or UMess, as they are appropriately known in the Bottom 10), won 1 game last year, 0 the year before and 1 game in 2019. Their lone win this year is against the other SUNY flagship... But, relative to previous seasons, the losses this year seem to be closer. That's something. This past week against a 1-loss Liberty team, Umass lost by 18. A big culprit was their inability to make 3rd downs (1 - 14), though Liberty was never really in trouble. A 6 - 14 performance by two QBs (for 88 yards) just won't get it done for UMass. The previous week, UMass visited Ypsilanti and led 13 - 0 midway through the 3rd quarter before EMU rallied for a 20 -13 win. UMass is pretty inept at throwing the ball, (8 - 18, 87 yards in the EMU game), so they sort of live and die on the ground. Versus EMU, their QB (Campiotti) ran it 25 times. Against Liberty, Campiotti rushed for just 14 yards (on 13 carries, which undoubtedly includes some of the negative yards from six sacks). Garrett Dzuro started, though, but was eventually replaced by Campiotti. It seems like both should see action versus UB. In Temple's 28 - 0 win against UMass earlier in the year, they played three QBs (Campiotto, Wise and Olson). What to expect this week? UMass doesn't have a passing attack. Their best opportunity to move the ball through the air is with Dzuro, it seems. Dzuro arrived at UMass in 2019, but was redshirted (and took the COVID do over), so he is a sophomore this year. He is a pro-style QB from St. Eds in Cleveland. Perhaps UMass will have him start and see if they can't surprise the Bulls by throwing more in the opening parts of the game. But that likely won't amount to much. Expect a lot of UMass running the ball, especially with Campiotti, since UB is on film as having a hard time stopping a running QB from the Holy Cross game. Perhaps UMass uses Campiotti right from the start and has him run around until UB proves they can stop him. We shall see. On defense, expect UMass to make some plays (they are better on D this year than previous years), but UB has been able to move the ball through the air with their QB/WR combos. It would be a big upset if UB loses, but anything is possible if they don't play as hard as they have these past three weeks. We've already seen that.

Next loss we get the torches and pitchforks.

FWIW, Holy Cross FCS composite rank is #3 and UB composite is now #76. The team has been playing better. Let's keep it going.

Congrats!

I just grabbed a ticket (Sec 17 Row F). Who else is going? 17 is behind the UB sideline and still has plenty of seats available. PRO TIP: UMass charges for parking. Buy it in advance with your ticket and it's $10 instead of $20.