AMHERST — Walt Bell continues to adapt to the limited numbers he has at his disposal.
With injuries piling up for UMass, the first-year coach has kept practices less physical than he would prefer. So far three players are in the concussion protocol – notably quarterback Andrew Brito – while the Minutemen are waiting on test results for some others like redshirt freshman defensive end Johnathon Weir.
So, while UMass was back in just shoulder pads on the field Tuesday, off the field, Bell has continued to put an emphasis on the mental side of the game. He said he’s had to schedule more meetings and longer walk-throughs to make sure the Minutemen are still able to process the information thrown at them that the coaches can’t go over on the field given the lack of depth.
“We’re trying to do everything we can to keep them as healthy as we can and still get good functional work,” Bell said. “We’ve extended some walk-throughs and meetings to make sure we’re getting the mental piece, and we’re trying to teach as much as humanly possible and just being as maniacal as we can possibly be that we get great game-speed reps, great pad level and be as physical as we can be.”
The practice plan seemed to work for UMass on Saturday against Akron when the Minutemen emerged with a 37-29 victory for their first win of the season. The younger starters on defense executed the scheme better and limited the number of explosive plays Akron was able to get. In the first 40 minutes of the game, the Zips had just two of their 10 drives gain more than 50 yards and they scored just 14 points before the Minutemen started to wear down on defense.
Bell said he thought the reduced physicality and larger emphasis on fundamentals and the mental aspects of the game plan were especially beneficial to the younger players. He said he’s noticed that the coaches struggle to hold the attention of many players after a long day of class and that the on-field work helps them absorb the information better.
It helped “some of the younger guys, more than anything else just because there’s only so much video and so much tape and so much chalk talk and so much note taking (you can do),” Bell said. “Sometimes it’s actually a little bit better to just get out here and do it. That more has to do with just society, kids learn better by just doing now.”
FINAL COUNTDOWN — Bell still remembered the exact situation when the Minutemen’s final drive of the game was brought up again on Tuesday.
There was 5 minutes, 24 seconds on the clock, UMass was leading by eight and the ball was set on the right hash mark of the 25-yard line. It’s the type of situation that coaches love to talk about, but rarely get the chance to do so because it isn’t as interesting as the explosive plays.
But the Minutemen were able to milk all 324 seconds off the clock with four first downs on nine handoffs to redshirt junior running back Bilal Ally and a kneeldown from Michael Curtis.
“It was very satisfying because we knew that was going to be the way to seal the game,” Ally said. “We had a chip on our shoulder and we stood up to the standard and we exceeded it. That’s all thanks to the O-line and pounding the rock and we were able to seal the deal the away.”
The Minutemen struggled to run the ball for most of the game with their two primary backs – Ally and junior Cam Roberson. Freshman Kevin Brown’s bruising style had some success and Curtis, the dual-threat quarterback who was No. 1 on the depth chart this week, used his legs to exploit openings in the Akron defense. But Ally had been mostly bottled up until that final drive when he picked up 73 of his team-high 97 yards.
He was running behind a rather inexperienced offensive line as well, but the two sophomores and two freshmen stepped up to the occasion on the biggest drive of the day. Redshirt freshman Michael Sullivan, who learned he was starting at right guard the night before due to the suspension of Mike Yerardi, was credited with four knockdowns on the final drive. Helber Fagundes and Dalton Tomlinson, making their second straight starts at left guard and center, respectively, looked like veterans by opening holes for Ally. The redshirt junior had runs of 26, 13 and 17 yards in a four-play span to push the Minutemen into scoring range at the very least.
“We got the defense tired,” Ally said. “We got them backed in a corner and we just kept our foot on the pedal. We really backed them into a corner and we found success.”
MISSED CONNECTIONS — UMass might have scored a season-best 38 points and gained a season-high 433 yards, but Bell said he was still disappointed by the fact those numbers weren’t higher. Even Curtis said he thought the Minutemen left too many plays on the table because of little mistakes, whether it was his own footwork or a wrong route or a missed block.
Bell pointed specifically to Curtis’ interception as the type of play UMass wishes it had back from the victory. The Minutemen had Samuel Emilus open on a post route and Curtis was winding up to fire it when a Zips defensive lineman was able to hit Curtis’ arm and create the lame-duck toss that was intercepted. Bell said that was one of several big plays the Minutemen should have made on Saturday.
“Really at the end of the day, it’s missed opportunities,” Bell said. “That could have been a (different game). As opposed to being in the position we were where we had to go get four first downs to end the game and win the game, that game could have been over much earlier. They did a good job and we did not. More missed opportunities than anything else, we had a chance to go have a really nice day.”