AMHERST — Reviewing tape from last season proved something to UMass coach Mark Whipple — his team had the potential to play really good defense.
The Minutemen went into Knoxville and held Tennessee to 319 yards and 17 points in a narrow defeat. They traveled to Provo, Utah, for the penultimate game of the season and limited BYU to 42 yards on the ground in a 16-10 victory.
The issues came in the weeks after those standout performances.
A week after slowing the Volunteers, UMass allowed Ohio to run for nearly 7.5 yards per carry in a 58-50 home loss. After shutting down the Cougars, the Minutemen’s final game was a 674-yard, 63-point debacle at Florida International.
“We had some really good games, Tennessee, Mississippi State and BYU, and then some games where we weren’t as consistent like Ohio and FIU,” Whipple said. “There’s no question when you hold Tennessee to (28 rushing) yards in the second half and Mississippi State was a pretty good team, when you hold them down, you can do it; it’s just a matter of being more consistent.”
Linebacker Bryton Barr said he thought UMass was a little greedy on defense last year, which caused major issues within the scheme. He said instead of trusting the play and teammates to do their job, defenders would try to make the play themselves and cause problems in the process.
“If one guy doesn’t do his job, it ruins the whole defense for us,” Barr said. “That’s what happened last year. Some guys were just a little selfish and just tried to do a little extra, more than they were asked to do, and it ended up hurting us. In the long run, it lost us games and lost us some good ones in the first half of the year.”
In their second year under defensive coordinator Ed Pinkham, Barr and senior lineman Joe Previte said everyone has a better understanding of the scheme. The experience in the system has built trust between teammates that everyone will be in the correct spots during a play, which has led to fewer breakdowns during preseason camp.
Sophomore Jake Byczko said that connection is the most important element in UMass’ ability to shut down the run this season.
“We’re going to trust the guy next to us to do his job,” the defensive lineman said. “Once that trust is established, it’s going to be tough to run the ball on our D-line, especially when we have this great connection going on. … We definitely had to replace a couple of good players — Ali (Ali-Musa) and (Da’Sean) Downey — but guys have stepped up and I feel like this line has a lot of chemistry and everyone trusts each other to do their job.”
The improvements along the defensive line will be critical for UMass to improve upon the 198 yards rushing per game it allowed last year. In addition to the stronger chemistry among the group, the unit is also much deeper than in past years which should keep the front four fresher throughout the game.
A less tired defensive line will have more success getting into the backfield and dictating the play to the running back.
“It’s important to get penetration on the D-line because it forces the running back to change his path,” Previte said. “If he has to stop and slow down and cut somewhere else, I know a linebacker’s going to be there or any D-linemen on the stunt is going to be there.
“The same thing, it’s important to not get blown back off the line because he can come right off the butts of those O-linemen and gash us.”
The Minutemen ranked 99th in the nation last year against the run and face a tough gauntlet of running backs in the first three weeks of the season.
On Saturday, UMass opens against Duquesne’s A.J. Hines, an All-American last season who has run for 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons, and was one of 25 players named to the watch list for the Walter Payton Award, given to the best player in FCS. In the second game, the Minutemen must try to slow down Boston College sophomore AJ Dillon, who ran for nearly 1,600 yards as a freshman. Then it’s the option-based attack of Georgia Southern in the third week, which will test just how disciplined the UMass defense has become.
Barr said he’s not concerned about the Minutemen’s run defense as long as no one gets selfish.
“The defense we have going for us is meant to stop the run, and we have the guys to do it,” Barr said. “If we just stick to our assignments and do our job and not try to do anything extra, I don’t think we’ll have any problems stopping the run.”