UMass Knows It Needs To Be Prepared For The Unknown
UMass doesn't know exactly what to expect from Temple on Saturday, which can make preparation simpler in a way.
Tight football games tend to be a lot about making adjustments, especially when you aren’t quite sure what to expect from your opponent.
But there are times when you’re so unsure of what you’re going to get that relying on in-game adjustments doesn’t make a ton of sense.
Saturday’s opener between UMass and Temple is probably one of those games for both teams as each side features first-year coaches and overhauled rosters.
UMass head coach Joe Harasymiak said his staff has researched first-year Temple head coach K.C. Keeler and the Owls’ offensive and defensive coordinators.
“You look back at where they've been, kind of like their tree,” Harasymiak said. “But first games are very tricky that way. You don't know until someone actually does it at a new place, what they're going to do.
“I think the big message for us is we've just got to control what we can control. I think just from my own experience, good and bad first game is usually, looking back on it. You've got to be really good at what you do.”
UMass has “rules” for its offense, defense and special teams that the players will be asked to rely on to make decisions on the fly,
“There's going to be stuff that they do that we don't know, we didn't practice, we don't prepare for, but our rules and the way we teach have to overcome that at that point,” Harasymiak said. “It's tricky.”
Just as there isn’t much sense in Temple studying much UMass film from last year, there isn’t much for the Minutemen to glean from the 2024 Owls, that goes for scheme and personnel. Harasymiak noted he recognized some of the names on Temple’s two-deep from evaluating Transfer Portal targets and others who may have been on his radar out of high school when he was recruiting for Rutgers.
Unlike UMass, Temple has chosen not to announce its starting quarterback prior to Saturday, but last year’s starter Evan Simon, who has been in a competition with Baylor transfer Gevani McCoy, is one name Harasymiak is quite familiar with.
“I was with Evan at Rutgers,” said Harasymiak of Simon, who played for the Scarlet Knights before transferring to Temple. “Unbelievable person, great young man. Always enjoyed my time with him competing against him in practice.
“And then McCoy, the other guy, I know of him a little bit through some connections when he was in the FCS and then he moved up.”
Harasymiak didn’t seem too bothered by the gamesmanship of Temple keeping its starting quarterback a secret.
“They're going to have their plan,” he said. “I'm sure they might have different plays for each guy, but that's why I think it comes back to us just being prepared and especially defensively, just having rules for our guys.
“I've chased a lot of ghosts over my time as a defensive coordinator, been in some situations like this where you don't know who it's going to be, even in the middle of the year when one guy gets hurt in the game and then you don't know what's going on. So we'll be prepared. I know (UMass defensive coordinator Jared) Keyte and his staff will do a great job and then certainly it comes down to someone will have to go out there first, whoever they believe will give them the best chance and we'll go from there.”
And as often as tight games come down to adjustments, more often they come down to turnovers, big plays and penalties.
“There's going to be things that we didn't practice that's indicative of any game week, but in the first game of the year, just like we're learning our team, what we're best at, I'm sure they're going through those same things,” Harasymiak said. “We've just got to play our style of defense, particularly against those two quarterbacks and we've got to do the things right.
“It comes back to the foundation. This game's going to come down to the ball, turnover margin, explosive plays and penalties. The first five FBS games on Saturday, it was 5-0 whoever won those categories. And when it was even in the two games, Iowa State-K-State and Hawaii-Stanford, it came down to a last-second field goal and then Iowa State goes forward on 4th and 2 and they take three knees to end the game at the one-yard line in the games that they were tied in turnover margins.
“Those three things have to be the foundation, but certainly through our offense, defensive and special teams prep, we've got to play our rules and just play the best we can.”
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