UMass Postgame Notebook

Some good, a lot of bad, but plenty of reasons for hope.

(UMass Athletics)

AMHERST, Mass. - The debut of UMass’ offense and first-year quarterback Brandon Rose was about what should have been expected; a lot of good, a lot of bad, and at really bad times.

But plenty to be excited about moving forward despite the 42-10 loss to Temple, which is kind of a microcosm of the Minutemen as a whole.

Rose was a bit shaky to start the game and had a couple major miscues throughout, but also showed the kind of ability to be a premier signal-caller in the MAC if he can clean it up.

The transfer quarterback from Utah missed a couple throws on the game’s opening drive, including a deep ball that was underthrown and a couple underneath passes that were almost picked off.

Rose’s receivers and offense were there to pick him up though, as he settled in. Rose completed just two passes on the opening drive, but UMass still managed to get in the end zone on their first drive behind running back Rocko Griffin.

On the game’s second possession, T.Y. Harding made a man miss to pick up a key first down on 3rd-and-8 on UMass. Two plays later, Jacquon Gibson made a man miss on a hitch before scampering 39 yards down the sideline to set up a UMass field goal.

Rose found a rhythm on the next drive, ripping off a couple beautiful passes to Harding and Gibson before a nifty 11-yard designed run to pick up a first down, but he lost the ball as he went to the ground and Temple recovered his fumble.

To Rose’s credit, he returned and continued to look sharp on the next drive. He completed three straight passes to Gibson (two) and Harding (one). Griffin busted off a 41-yard run to get inside Temple’s 5-yard-line, but UMass was stopped on four straight plays and turned the ball over on downs.

The Minutemen found themselves down 21-10 only four plays later and the offense was forced into being pretty much one-dimensional the rest of the game.

Despite Temple expecting UMass to pass coming out in the third quarter, Rose was carving the Owls up after the half.

He completed seven of his first eight passes coming out of the locker room for 61 yards. A defensive holding penalty on Temple put the ball at its own six-yard-line, but Rose threw an interception in the end zone on 1st-and-goal to kill that drive.

Griffin and Gibson were absolute bright spots. Griffin rushed for 94 yards and a touchdown on just 10 carries while Gibson hauled in 12 passes for 132 yards.

Rose finished 23-for-38 for 193 yards with the interception.

CRITICAL PLAYS KILL UMASS: A handful of plays proved crucial in the game and those are the kind of plays the Minutemen can’t make if they want to turn things around.

Rose’s fumble ended one promising drive and immediately led to a Temple touchdown. In a matter of seconds, UMass went from potentially going ahead 17-7 early in the second quarter to trailing 14-10.

His interception in the third quarter was just as devastating. UMass was poised to make it a game again with a touchdown. Instead, all realistic hopes were dashed even before Temple responded with an 80-yard touchdown drive to make it 35-10.

Coming away with zero points after being set up 1st-and-goal from the three was crippling as well. After gaining no yards on first down, UMass ran a playaction pass on second down that fell incomplete. UMass got a yard closer on third down, setting up 4th-and-goal from the 2 and Rose was unable to reach the end zone when nobody was open.

Instead of cutting into Temple’s 21-10 lead, UMass would find itself down 28-10 a minute later.

On their second possession of the game, the Minutemen also had a false start that changed a 3rd-and-5 into a 3rd-and-10 and ultimately forced a field goal instead of a potential touchdown.

DEFENSE BENDS & BREAKS: Of course, those offensive miscues could have been minimized had the defense been able to pick them up.

But they weren’t.

It took Temple 40 seconds to score a touchdown after Rose’s fumble.

Immediately after turning over the ball on 4th-and-goal, Temple flipped the field with a 55-yard run. The Owls scored a touchdown four plays later.

Temple scored touchdowns on four of their six first-half drives, not including the Owls’ final possession of the half, when they ran the clock out deep inside their own territory.

UMass forced a punt on the initial drive of the second half, but allowed to Temple to control the ball for 13 plays and more than seven minutes during an 80-yard touchdown drive following Rose’s end zone interception.

SPECIAL TEAMS LOOKS AS GOOD AS ADVERTISED: One area UMass was confident it would be improved in was special teams, and at least through one game, so far, so good for special teams coordinator Joe Castellitto’s unit.

Derek Morris drilled a 40-yard field goal on his only attempt.

Punter Keegan Andrews averaged almost 60 yards on three first-half punts and had two downed inside the 10. His only punt of the second half traveled 50 yards.

The Minutemen came close to blocking Temple’s first punt of the game. A blocked punt (or more) seems inevitable at some point this season.

HARASYMIAK AGGRESSIVE AS ADVERTISED: Coming into the season, Harasymiak hinted that he’d be aggressive on 4th-and-short situations,

That was exactly what he proved to be on the game’s first possession, when he went for it on 4th-and-1 at Temple’s 32-yard-line. That risk paid off as Brandon Hood banged ahead for three yards and Griffin scored the year’s first touchdown three plays later.

HIs aggression worked against him in the second quarter though as UMass failed to score on 4th-and-goal from the two-yard-line. And any advantage from having Temple backed up when Rose was tackled at the Owls’ one-yard-line was wiped out when Temple running back Jay Ducker ripped off a 55-yard run on first down.

Trailing 28-10 with a minute left in the half, Harasymiak again proved willing to take risks; allowing Rose the chance to get into scoring position by throwing the ball. Rose was sacked twice, eliminating that possibility, but didn’t turn the ball over and Andrews prevented the Owls from taking a similar chance when they got the ball back by sailing his punt to Temple’s two-yard line.

He also didn’t throw in the towel when he could have either, choosing to go for it on 4th-and-10 in their own territory instead of punting despite the game being all but decided in the fourth quarter.

INJURIES HIT BEFORE THE SEASON STARTS: UMass’ secondary was certainly hampered by the absences of first-string cornerback Ryan Barnes and second-string safety DD Snyder on Saturday.

Harding didn’t appear in the second half after appearing to get banged up late in the second quarter.

But more importantly, the Minutemen will be without two major transfer players for the entire season. Defensive end Josh Nobles was expected to be a true impact player, but he is out for the season as is offensive lineman Zachary Franks, who was expected to be a key player in the rotation this season.

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