AMHERST — The UMass football team hits the road one last time before its much-needed bye awaiting them next weekend.
But before that off week, the Minutemen have to get through their toughest test of the season against No. 6 Penn State (5-0) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (Big 10 Network).
The two head coaches in this matchup go way back with one another, as UMass head coach Don Brown and Penn State head coach James Franklin were on staff together at Maryland in the early 2000s.
Franklin had nothing but high praise for Brown, who has made a name for himself throughout his lengthy coaching career, during his press conference earlier this week.
“From a UMass perspective, Don Brown, the [head] coach… I go way back with Don,” Franklin said. “Don was the defensive coordinator at Maryland when I was the offensive coordinator, so we’ve got history. Obviously, he’s been at Michigan and a ton of other places, as well. Well respected head coach as well as defensive coordinator.”
Penn State’s offense is led by quarterback Drew Allar. The sophomore has yet to throw an interception while his 1,092 passing yards and nine touchdowns highlight his stellar stat line midway through the year. Allar doesn’t force the ball down field, he prefers to use his checkdowns and short, outside-breaking routes to put the Nittany Lions in favorable second and third-down situations.
Although Allar doesn’t run much, expect to see some designed runs from their other quarterback, Beau Pribula (166 yards, two touchdowns this season), in short-yardage packages. Running backs Kaytron Allen (307 yards, two touchdowns) and Nicholas Singleton (283 yards, six touchdowns) provide a two-headed threat in the backfield for UMass’ front seven.
The Penn State offense isn’t flashy (last in FBS in plays of 20 yards or more), but it gets the job done.
“They are 50/50 in the run-pass ratio, so you’re gonna have to have balance [on defense],” Brown said. “You gotta do a great job in the run game on the early downs, and obviously on third down you better be ready to handle it. They throw it around pretty good, and they run it well. The thing I like about the quarterback is he does a very good job of just dumping the ball down, getting it out of his hand, and giving the receivers a chance to make first downs.”
The Nittany Lions defense comes into Saturday having given up fewer than 10 points per contest this season. The No. 6 team in the country has also only allowed 48 first downs throughout its first five games, good for less than 10 a game.
With how the Penn State offense attempts to methodically drive the ball down the field with short throws and physical runs, it gives the defense plenty of time to rest on the sideline — leading to a fresh unit taking the field for each series. Brown recognizes the tall task at hand of scoring on this stout group, but thinks balance could be the key to putting points on the board.
“You gotta have balance, and you gotta battle,” Brown said. “You gotta take what they give you, and obviously this is a great challenge. They’re ranked very high in the country. The one thing that they’ve been able to do well, and I think it works complementary, is that their offense stays on the field, which then the defense is allowed to let it rip and go when they hit the field. There’s one game where I think they played 35 plays on defense… the amount of plays they’ve seen is as low as anybody in the country.”
Penn State isn’t coming into Saturday taking the Minutemen lightly. Franklin has done his research on what is an explosive UMass offense – an offense that has his full attention.
The Minutemen rank second in the country in plays of 50 yards or more, and ninth in the country in plays of 20 yards or more. Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams, Anthony Simpson & Co. have a lot to do with that, so Franklin is prepared to keep UMass in front of his defense and make the Minutemen drive the length of the field.
“We’ve been impressed with them on offense,” Franklin said. “They’re an 11-personnel, no-huddle spread, heavy, heavy RPO team. Maybe the most explosive team we’ve played this year. If you look at them statistically they’re No. 2 in major college football in plays of 50 yards or more.”
What the Nittany Lions provide on the field with matchup problems in each phase of the game is one thing, but dealing with their home crowd of 106,572 practically breathing down the Minutemen’s necks for 60 minutes is another beast on its own. And oh yeah, it’ll also be Homecoming at Beaver Stadium on Saturday.
UMass quarterback Taisun Phommachanh has experience playing in hostile environments given his time at Clemson and Georgia Tech, so he’s been able to provide his teammates with advice on how to handle it – taking the ‘Hoosiers’ approach of understanding that the field and the game doesn’t change based on the atmosphere.
“It’s just another game,” Phommachanh said. “Yeah, it’s gonna be 100,000-plus in the stands, but we just gotta do what we’ve been doing – executing the offense. Having a crowd like this around you definitely brings a little bit more juice, a little bit more hype around the game, but at the end of the day, once you’re in between the white lines, it’s football. It’s just football at the end of the day.”
To go along with Phommachanh’s calming comments to his team, Brown ramped up the noise during practice throughout the week to ensure his team is prepped for State College and in hopes to eliminate pre-snap penalties.
“We put the music on nice and loud and let it rip and run all day long, that’s really what you do to try and get the guys used to being in chaos,” Brown said. “You’re constantly trying to create the chaos so the guys are used to working in that style of an environment.”
