Timh
CTG Psychiatrist - Dr. Tim
UMass and App. State meet in the Div 1 AA final in Chatanooga on Friday night. This matchup truly represents the two best teams in this Division in my opinion. I am actually headed down to Nashville tomorrow evening and then over to Chatanooga on Friday to see the game. One of my best friends son's is a starting LB for UMass and I've known him since he was born and watched him though his high school and college careers. He was part of 3 state championship teams in a row in MD and never lost a game in high school. He was originally recruited by Vanderbilt and had one red shirt season there before transferring. Bobby Johnson wanted him to play FB, but Brad is a LB at heart and wanted to play where he had an opportunity at that position so he decided on UMass. It turned out to be a great decision as he has enjoyed a lot of success at UMass and could reach the pinnacle with a win and a National Championship on Friday night. Anyway, now that you know I am biased lol...I'll give you my thoughts on the game.
UMass has an excellent defense all around and do a particularly good job of mixing up their blitz packages and are likely to send pressure from a variety of different directions. They racked up 37 sacks on the year and were led by D. Burris with 8.5. They do a great job stopping the run (3.2 ypr) and only allow 101 ypg on the ground. Mass has excellent CB's and LB's which is crucial to stopping the potent App. State rushing game.
Mass can afford to go man up on the outside and devote their safeties and interior LB's to stopping the run and that will be the key as App. State RB Kevin Richardson is a breakaway threat at RB and the QB Armanti Edwards (freshman) is an extremely fast and elusive runner who runs a lot of single back option plays and is a threat to break one if he gets on the edge. App. State does not have nearly a refined passing game as UMass and UMass must stop the run first and force Edwards to throw. App. State OL has done a great job in run blocking but have given up 36 sacks which is a concern if they are forced to go to the air more than they plan on.
UMass is extremely well balanced on offense and have a potential NFL back in Steve Baylark who is a very strong and can get yardage inside and is also a threat to break one with his speed if he gets outside. Baylark is also a fine receiver out of the backfield. UMass QB Coen throws the ball extremely well but has made a couple of big mistakes recently (late throws over the middle) that have been very costly. Mass found themselves down 17-14 at half after dominating the 1H vs. Montana only to give up a TD on a pick by Coen and then another right before half while playing a soft dime defense at the end of the half only rushing three and getting dinked down the field underneath. Mass adjusted well in the second half and went back to their trademark pressure with an array of blitzes and forced the Montana QB into numerous poor throws and the Grizzlies were shut down completely. Coen is very capable of making big plays in the passing game and Mass has good receivers in London, Moore and Rancher who can stretch the field. Mass does a nice job of moving the pocket and running some mis-direction bootlegs with Coen and have protected him very well all year (15 sacks allowed).
This Mass team is very well coached by Don Brown and always seem to adjust well defensively at halftime to correct any problems. They shut down Montana completely in the second half and the week before did pretty much the same to a potent New Hamp. offense. This will be the best defense that App. State will face this year and I think that although they are an excellent rushing team that they are really kind of one dimensional on offense. I expect Mass to be ready for their sprint options and I think they are physical enough up front to disrupt this rushing attack. Mass will make Edwards beat them through the air. On the other side of the ball, I really think that Mass has fine balance overall and will be able to establish things on the ground early, that will set up some good things in the passing game. Turnovers could play a huge part here and App. State has been a little more turnover prone than UMass this season. I think we see a great game here and I am going to predict a UMass SU win here 24 -21.
Mass +4 2 units
Mass ML +150 1 unit
UMass has an excellent defense all around and do a particularly good job of mixing up their blitz packages and are likely to send pressure from a variety of different directions. They racked up 37 sacks on the year and were led by D. Burris with 8.5. They do a great job stopping the run (3.2 ypr) and only allow 101 ypg on the ground. Mass has excellent CB's and LB's which is crucial to stopping the potent App. State rushing game.
Mass can afford to go man up on the outside and devote their safeties and interior LB's to stopping the run and that will be the key as App. State RB Kevin Richardson is a breakaway threat at RB and the QB Armanti Edwards (freshman) is an extremely fast and elusive runner who runs a lot of single back option plays and is a threat to break one if he gets on the edge. App. State does not have nearly a refined passing game as UMass and UMass must stop the run first and force Edwards to throw. App. State OL has done a great job in run blocking but have given up 36 sacks which is a concern if they are forced to go to the air more than they plan on.
UMass is extremely well balanced on offense and have a potential NFL back in Steve Baylark who is a very strong and can get yardage inside and is also a threat to break one with his speed if he gets outside. Baylark is also a fine receiver out of the backfield. UMass QB Coen throws the ball extremely well but has made a couple of big mistakes recently (late throws over the middle) that have been very costly. Mass found themselves down 17-14 at half after dominating the 1H vs. Montana only to give up a TD on a pick by Coen and then another right before half while playing a soft dime defense at the end of the half only rushing three and getting dinked down the field underneath. Mass adjusted well in the second half and went back to their trademark pressure with an array of blitzes and forced the Montana QB into numerous poor throws and the Grizzlies were shut down completely. Coen is very capable of making big plays in the passing game and Mass has good receivers in London, Moore and Rancher who can stretch the field. Mass does a nice job of moving the pocket and running some mis-direction bootlegs with Coen and have protected him very well all year (15 sacks allowed).
This Mass team is very well coached by Don Brown and always seem to adjust well defensively at halftime to correct any problems. They shut down Montana completely in the second half and the week before did pretty much the same to a potent New Hamp. offense. This will be the best defense that App. State will face this year and I think that although they are an excellent rushing team that they are really kind of one dimensional on offense. I expect Mass to be ready for their sprint options and I think they are physical enough up front to disrupt this rushing attack. Mass will make Edwards beat them through the air. On the other side of the ball, I really think that Mass has fine balance overall and will be able to establish things on the ground early, that will set up some good things in the passing game. Turnovers could play a huge part here and App. State has been a little more turnover prone than UMass this season. I think we see a great game here and I am going to predict a UMass SU win here 24 -21.
Mass +4 2 units
Mass ML +150 1 unit
