ODU Monarchs at UMass Minutemen Game Preview

Where: McGuirk Alumni Stadium, Hadley, Massachusettes

When: September 9^th, 2017 3:30 PM

Where to watch: Eleven Sports or on UMass’ live stream

Line: Old Dominion (-4) vs UMass, O/U Total: (61.5)

The Old Dominion Monarchs are heading up to New England to fight the embattled UMass Minutemen who are looking for their first win of the season.

Team Breakdowns:

• Points Per Game: ODU (31.0), UMass (31.5)
• Points Allowed Per Game: ODU (17.0), UMass (38.0)
• Total Yards: ODU (285), UMass (427)
• Passing Yards: ODU (187), UMass (333)
• Rushing Yards: ODU (98), UMass (97)
• Yards Allowed: ODU (275), UMass (452)
• Passing Yards: ODU (160), UMass (235.5)
• Rushing Yards: ODU (115), UMass (216.5)

UMass Breakdown:

• Location: Amherst, Massachusetts
• Conference: Independent (2nd year)
• Record: 0-2 (vs Hawaii 35-38, at Coastal Carolina 28-38)

Players to watch:

• QB: Ford, Andrew 46-71 (591 yards, 3 touchdowns)
• RB: Young, Marquis 32 rushes (123 yards, 4 touchdowns)
• WR/TE: Brenemen, Adam 18 receptions (305 yards, 0 touchdowns)
• LB: Barr, Bryton 24 total tackles (1.5 TFL, 1 sack)

Outlook

The Monarchs are heading to a hungry UMass team coming off a loss to recent FCS-to-FBS convert, Coastal Carolina. The Minutemen could easily be 2-0 instead of 0-2 if it weren’t for a breakdown late in a game they controlled against Hawaii and costly mistakes against the Chanticleers. After a rough week one showing by a Monarch football team many expected to compete for a C-USA championship, we are all wondering what the identity of this team is.

Many believed that the Monarchs would heavily rely on their amazingly talented backfield headed by Ray Lawry and Jeremy Cox. However, an undersized FCS defense was able to hold one of the conference’s top rushers to only 44 yards and one touchdown. It will be interesting to see what changes for the rushing game now that Lawry is stated as a “game-time decision”. You would hope that the running game can be established early in order to give redshirt sophomore quarterback, Blake Larussa, time to find his feet and become more acclimated to the FBS speed. I believed it will be a very different game without torrential downpours the entirety of the game, but we’ll see.

The defense for the Monarchs had a great first half showing against Albany before giving up two touchdowns in a five-minute span to make a game that should’ve been put away earlier, competitive. It’ll be interesting how the secondary and linebackers handle former Under-Armour All-American and Penn State Transfer, Adam Breneman. The man puts the defense in quite a quandary due to being too fast for a linebacker and too big for a corner. I don’t see the rushing game being much of a factor for the Minutemen so I expect that the Monarchs game planned heavily for a pass-heavy offense.

Predictions

Overall, I think the Monarchs pull off a rather impressive win to shake off an un-impressive first game. UMass starts fast and gets an early lead but can’t with the Monarchs down the stretch. 38-21 Monarchs… I’m sorry, UMass, but 38 seems to be your (un)lucky number.

Bold Predictions

• Look for Johnathan Duhart to have another fantastic game. Larussa has made it evident that when he isn’t throwing short designed screens, Duhart is his number one target. Duhart has 2 touchdowns and 100+ yards receiving.
• Jeremy Cox, in the absence of Ray Lawry, rushes for 100+ in convincing fashion, showing his strength with yards after contact.
• The defensive line gets four sacks on the day and forces one fumble, but sadly they won’t recover it. Don’t worry though, the secondary will pick off a ball targeted for Breneman.

What are you looking for in the game? Predictions? Tell me in the comments!