UMass still has a lot of work to do on the offensive side of the football according to its coaching staff.
UMass coach Charley Molnar, has a few words with his quarterback Mike Wegzyn in the first quarter of Saturday's loss to Indiana.
AMHERST — After Saturday’s 45-6 loss to Indiana, University of Massachusetts quarterback Mike Wegzyn said the Minutemen’s offense was close to clicking.
That would have to depend on your definition of “close.”
Yes, UMass was significantly better than it was against UConn, but it only gained 59 yards against UConn, so being significantly better doesn’t necessarily mean “close” in the context that Wegzyn implied it.
Offensive Coordinator Mike Kruczek offered some perspective after Monday evening’s practice.
“There’s still major steps to be taken to get to where we want to get to against the kind of opponents that we have to play this year, next year, as we move on in I-A,” he said. “That may be his perception of what’s happening, but I think what he was saying is that improvement was made.”
Improvement was indeed made. UMass gained 264 yards as opposed to 59. The Minutemen had 14 first downs instead of three.
And of course, they got on the board, scoring on their second series after a 56-yard trick play set up a 16-yard Wegzyn scamper for the team’s first and only touchdown of the season.
But many of the problems that plagued the Minutemen on that Thursday night in East Hartford were still present on Saturday afternoon Foxborough. There were still six three-and-outs on 14 possessions. Three more of those possessions (not counting the scoring drive) had just one first down.
In an offense that relies on pace and rhythm, moving the chains is paramount.
“I think as our fans watch it, and I know they’re frustrated, I think they need to look at the consistency of moving the chains because that’s what this offense is,” Kruczek said. “I think progress will be made in their minds if they see us continue to make first downs, drive the football, which we haven’t done this season in the first two games — the only touchdown was on a big chunk play on that second series we had.”
Numbers aside, coach Charley Molnar said there was improvement based on what he saw on the film.
“I think after the first game I could have picked two, three, four guys on every play and said, absolutely can’t win with that performance on that play,” Molnar said. “Then, this game you’re kind of down to one or two.”
What it comes down to, by the account of both the coaches and players is youth. That’s not an excuse, as they’ll tell you, but rather a simple fact.
“When you have a 19-year-old freshman up front that’s 280 pounds up against someone close to 300 pounds that’s three years older, there’s a maturation strength that’s tough to match,” Kruczek said. “When you play the Big East, when you play the Big Ten, that’s what matters.”
Will it come with time? Wegzyn said he believes that UMass has the players in place. That he saw flashes of what the offense could become against Indana, and that with time they’ll be a consistent light instead of an inconsistent strobe.
“The longer you’re with a team, the more comfortable you get with each other, and the more you mesh,” Wegzyn said. “At that point, you’re just out there playing with your buddies instead of thinking about what you have to do, instead of thinking about your assignments.”
Whether that is achieved this season remains to be seen. What is unlikely in any realistic sense is that much of it will be visible this week, when the Minutemen travel to No. 17 Michigan.
“It may not show against Michigan because they’re just so good across the board, but now when we start getting into the Mid-American Conference, the talent level will be much more even — or relatively even — it’ll start to really show itself,” Molnar said.
Even Wegzyn, ever the optimist, was willing to back off a little bit when it came to UMass’ trip to Ann Arbor, where the Minutemen are the largest underdog of the 2012 season in games between two Football Bowl Subdivision teams at 45.5 points.
“If I was a fan, I’d see that we were the underdog,” Wegzyn said. “We might not blow Michigan’s top off and go off on them, but I have to believe that a lot of the people I’ve talked to, that a lot of the fans, that they still are pulling for us, they still believe in us.”
Those who still believe will have to show patience. The “clicking” that Wegzyn referred to in Saturday’s post-game press conference is further off than one week.
INJURY UPDATE
The Minutemen’s offensive line will get a boost this Saturday with the return of junior Anthony Dima, who started all 11 games in 2011. Dima had been previously out with a strained leg muscle.
Wide receiver Marken Michel, who was on the receiving end of Saturday’s biggest triumph — the 56-yard gadget play — did not practice Monday but is expected back Tuesday.
The news was worse for freshman running back Stacey Bedell, who had his left arm in a sling Monday and is out for an undisclosed period.
Quarterback Kellen Pagel, who has been sidelined indefinitely with post-concussion symptoms, was in full uniform Monday, but Molnar said that didn’t indicate that he was on his way back anytime soon.