I initially thought UMass had severe clock mismanagement at the ending, but the broadcast incorrectly showed the Minutemen as having a timeout remaining. That being said, it was actually excellent clock management on the final play. Logan Inagawa went down at the 21-yard line on a scramble and the team regrouped to snap the ball with six seconds remaining. Everyone knew the situation (unlike the Washington Commanders). All four receivers went directly toward the end zone, and Inagawa delivered a perfect strike to Max Dowling in the end zone.
UMass had the correct play call on the 2-point attempt for the win. The Philly Special was indeed open. Nobody was even close to containing Inagawa. It just came down to a missed block against Miami’s blitzing inside linebacker Malcolm McCain. Great play call by UMass, but even better execution by the RedHawks on the blitz.
This was one of the most thrilling games of the entire Saturday, but it was hard not to miss David McComb and Pop Watson. That would have been a battle of two of the MAC’s best quarterbacks.
Roosevelt Andrews III was extremely disruptive during this game. He’s a bit undersized for a defensive tackle at 6’1", 255 pounds, but he plays with the force of one in addition to having the speed of a defensive end. Andrews racked up nine tackles and two sacks in the victory. This was an excellent game by both him and McCain.
And on Akron’s performance against EMU this past weekend, since they are our opponent this weekend:
In a recurring stat brought up in Monday MAC Musings, Akron lost the sack differential 3-0 in this game. I just copied and pasted that sentence from last week, as it lost 3-0 the previous week against Central Michigan. That’s now 2.7 sacks allowed per game (tied for 18th-most in FBS). As I mentioned previously, Akron has allowed at least 2.5 sacks per game every year in the 2020s. The trenches: they matter.