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Game Day Notes: Redshirt freshman AJ Hairston remains the starter at quarterback, throwing for 812 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions on the season. He drew significant P4 attention early in his prep career before it became evident the G5 level would be his path. UMass has struggled to find consistent production from the backfield, partly due to injuries that have limited their key players. Colorado transfer Brandon Hood and UTSA transfer Rocko Griffin have combined for 519 yards and four touchdowns. At receiver, Jacquon Gibson has been the most reliable option throughout the year with 358 yards, though it was redshirt freshmen Kenyon Massey — a player we once offered — and Kezion Dia-Johnson who saw the bulk of the targets last game. Dia-Johnson, like Hairston, also had plenty of P4 interest coming out of high school. Up front, the offensive line has been a major problem, giving up 16 sacks in MAC play — the most in the conference. They’ve also surrendered 127 pressures on the year. For comparison, Akron’s allowed 83. Defensively, UMass has held up reasonably well against the run in conference play, but the overall picture hasn’t been nearly as encouraging. The Zips offense should have a chance to put together its best passing performance of the season against a struggling UMass secondary. The Minutemen have surrendered the most total yards and points in the MAC and sit second-to-last in passing yards allowed. To make matters worse, they’re tied for forcing the fewest turnovers in league play. Injuries have taken a major toll on what was supposed to be a revamped defense, though one bright spot has been Dartmouth transfer edge rusher Marques White, who’s been a steady presence up front with five sacks on the year. On the other side, Akron’s defense has quietly become one of the better pass-rushing groups in the MAC, second in the conference in sacks — and honestly, I’m not sure when the last time that could be said. On paper, Akron is a bad matchup for UMass, as the Zips’ strengths line up directly with the Minutemen’s weaknesses. Akron should win this one comfortably. Then again, things rarely come easy for this program, so we’ll see how it all shakes out. Notable MAC only Stats: Finley is third in passing yards and second in touchdowns thrown. Gant is second in rushing yards. Mason is eighth in receiving yards and tied for third in touchdown receptions. Laventure is tied for sixth in tackles for loss and tied for seventh in sacks. Summers is tied for first in interceptions.

JMU is a football school.

19-9 in our favor on turnovers too. Combined with transition buckets, that right there is the game.

Lets be clear here, we homered them! Somewhat blatant if you ask me...Just sayin...

Some quick thoughts: - Lyles was our best and most important player tonight, and may be the entire season. We were a different team when he was on/off the floor. - I am surprised Barre only played 2 minutes against YSU and didn't play tonight. I expected him to be an important contributor behind Lyles. I hope he just needs more time to feel comfortable, because I think we will need him against teams with size. - Young is the heart of this team. He plays with such intensity...I absolutely love it. If he stays here his entire career, I think he's a MAC POY candidate by the time he's a senior. - Eric Mahaffey looked tentative in the first half and seemed to relax in the 2nd. You can tell the athleticism is off the charts. - Evan Mahaffey is an elite defender and excellent rebounder. Not much offensive game, though. At least I didn't see much tonight. - MMK played really well. He's undersized as a big, but makes up for it with his motor. - I think Stankovic becomes an important part of this offense by conference play.

I don't know but I'm not mad. Got to watch the above highlight again.

Eric played. Not sure what is going on with Cody. Groce said Barre and Brisco will be used, but this match-up didn't necessitate it. Said MM earned his minutes by his performance in practice.

Massive game. Win and there's a good chance we're in the Big East Tourney.

https://csnbbs.com/thread-1019635.html all time crash out from JMU fans

Scary, huh? Barre, Brisco, and Head didn't even play haha.

Edit: how the hell did I end up posting here ugh

Halligan did get a few minutes. Eric started lol

This is going to expose me as a filthy casual, but I see that the below scholarship players (according to the chart on the recruiting board) did not play tonight. Can someone tell me which of these guys are injured, redshirting this year, or DNP-CD? Zachary Halligan Cody Head Halil Barre Rich Brisco Eric Mahaffey Tai Perkins Josh Henderson

Nice win. This team is deep

He's incredibly gifted and still raw. He's going to create so many matchup problems as a guard with his length, especially once he finds his footing as a scorer.

A good point made by our radio guys. Eric Mahaffey might be a redshirt freshman, but this was his very first college game ever. I will add that this was a high level game for a season opener and he looked quite comfortable out there.

I think that thread is in its last days. They must’ve moved to something else

87-63 final.

Kent's fan forum has 9 posts in the Troy game thread. That game ended a half hour ago.

Good Lordy

Should end up 9-4 if NIU holds its double digit lead. Which means wed need to win 6 to clinch this in the second round. Great start for the MAC this year. Such a fun time. Really wish they scattered the games more!

Spoiler alert: JMU cracked under pressure.

I just wanna say this: I think college football will be fine, and I don't think NIL is ruining college football; I actually think it's good. First and foremost to my "college football will be fine" claim is that I believe that kids want to play. That is to say, I think the number of kids who are happy to sit on the bench, get that sweet NIL $, and jeopardize their potential pro dreams is negligible. I also think schools willing to pay benchwarmers just to keep them away from other programs is also negligible. So while we hate that the big $ schools seize the best g5 and poor p5 players, the opposite also happens: players not getting a shot at Blueblood U are transferring to smaller programs because they want to play, first and foremost. So I think that the talent transfer works both ways in a way that basically makes it not very different than it was before NIL, or at least before the advent of the transfer portal. It might even create more parity, because making it harder to transfer, well, made fewer kids transfer! Kids that, hypothetically, might've busted out in a different/better situation. Finally, just on a philosophical level, I think players should be renumerated for being the core component of the multibillion dollar beast that is college football. These are young adults, but they are adults, and I don't hold them with cynicism ("these are just a bunch of spoiled, entitled punks!") or contempt. We wouldn't tell a programming whiz kid looking at options that he oughta be happy with a free education, or that his options for profiting off his talents should be limited until he is a bit older. That's because a lot of us inherently respect a college-age computer programmer more than a college football player, and therefore are more comfortable giving him options and more independence than a college football player. I don't think that's right, though.

By being in it? 🤔

And you have to figure that we will be playing a team that is not quite as good as JMU who are the best in the Sun Belt. Although we will be playing on the road, we will likely be in mid-season form playing the Sun Belt's second best team. I like our chances. That also means that the second best MAC team will probably have to go to JMU, which is certainly a team that will benefit from playing half a season together.