College Football Predictions – Massachusetts Minutemen 2020 College Football Preview
July 2020
UPDATED October 2020. Only one game booked as of Oct 15.
2019 Recap
Record – 1-11
ATS – 2-9-1
“The Horror…..The Horror.”
The Minutemen booked their worst record since the disastrous 2012 and 2013 seasons and were surely happy to have the season end after the final whistle in November. Not much was expected in HC Walt Bell’s first season, and apparently, for good reason. The offense was ok at times but the defense was a special kind of “bad’. More on that below.
Is there any hope for improvement in 2020?
2020 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating
Independents – TBD
Massachusetts Minutemen 2020 Outlook
OFFENSE
It’s a little known fact that the Minutemen weren’t THAT bad on offense last year. They finished up ranked #114 in rushing offense and #117 in passing offense but still managed to score 20+ in eight of twelve games. There are a lot of changes on offense this season and a lot of question marks. The QB battle will be between Andrew Brito who got some work LY (55%, 7-6 TD to INT) and junior college transfer Kyle Lindquist who is a promising pro-style QB out of Chico, California. Their #1 skill position player from LY (RB Bilal Ally, 853, 7 TD) entered the transfer portal and it’s unclear if they have a #1 option in the RB room as we approach press time. Three of their top-four WRs return for battle but none of them had 400+ receiving yards in 2019. They should be better up front with three returning starters including a fine LT (Larnel Coleman).
It feels like it’ll be a struggle on offense this year.
DEFENSE
Words can’t really describe what we witnessed in 2019. They allowed an impossible 53 (!) PPG and 561YPG (!) which were both the worst marks in the country. Only one team failed to get to the 40 point plateau and that was the pathetic Akron Zips (29). Only two teams had fewer sacks than the Minutemen (12). Where do we go from here? There will be a lot of new faces in the starting lineup (5 returning starters) so it’s hard to predict how much of a struggle it’ll be. They have a pair of senior DEs including Chinedu Ogbonna who led the team in sacks LY (2) (!) and senior LB Cole McCubrey led the team in tackles LY. It hurts to lose CB Isaiah Rodgers who picked off four passes LY and is off to the NFL (!) (Colts) but they should be ok at CB. Safety is another question and might be the biggest question on defense heading into 2020.
We’ll call for a much better season on this side of the ball, but they’ll still be one of the weaker stop units in the country.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Not good news. They’ll need to find a new PK and will miss Rodgers’ skillzz on returns.
Schedule Analysis
Overall – Only one game booked.
Potential ATS Trouble Spot – Only one game booked.
Season Win Total
TBD
MEGALOCKS says:
TBD
MEGAmazing Tidbit
Massachusetts’ primary rival has to be considered the Connecticut Huskies. They first played in 1897 (!) and the Minutemen lead the series 37-35-2. They’re schedule to meet on September 3rd this year.
MEGALOCKS Outlook:
This isn’t an easy job, but someone’s gotta do it. Walt Bell enters year two on the job with what should be an improved defense but they’ll need to find a QB and primary RB. The schedule is fairly kind and we wouldn’t be shocked to see them win two or three games. Hopefully, they can get that done and look forward to more improvement in 2021.
Want more Massachusetts football ?
WEBSITE
http://www.umassathletics.com/index.aspx?path=football
FORUM
http://umass.247sports.com/Board/UMass-Message-Board-Forum-59480
NEWS
http://www.masslive.com/umassfootball/
https://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/113/umass-minutemen
TWITTER
Hashtag – #Flagship
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