By Ryan Barry NEFJ Staff Kickoff: A turbulent week off the field finally comes to a close for the UMass Minutemen who travel to Athens, Georgia to take on the Bulldogs. Interim head coach Shane Montgomery will do his best to lead a team against a powerhouse Georgia program looking for style points to add to their College Football Playoff resume. 1st Down: Minutemen true freshman quarterback AJ Hairston may not have……

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By Ryan Barry NEFJ Staff When UMass lost their season opener to Eastern Michigan this year I came home fairly despondent after a long day in Amherst. I put all my things away, grabbed some leftovers, and sat with my wife while she watched television. “Long day?,” she said. “Yeah, they lost 28-14 and never really had a chance, everyone was pretty surprised, I thought it’d be different this year,”…

Image courtesy of UMass Athletics It’s been a crazy 24 hours in Amherst, but nothing Shane Montgomery hasn’t seen before. If you’re a coach long enough, you deal with hirings and firings all the time. So, when he joined Don Brown’s staff earlier this year as the new offensive coordinator, somewhere in the back of his mind, Montgomery always had to know this could be a possibility given the state…

With two games left in the season against Georgia and UConn, the Don Brown Era has come to an end. UMass AD Ryan Bamford announced that Brown will no longer lead the program in a statement on Monday morning. Offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery will be serving as the interim head coach for the road trip to Athens and finale at home against the Huskies. Bamford also said an immediate national…

By Ryan Barry NEFJ Staff AMHERST – In front of 9,115 fans at McGuirk Alumni Stadium on Saturday, UMass found yet another soul-crushing way to disappoint fans. The Minutemen allowed the Liberty Flames to storm back and steal a 35-34 overtime win after a missed PAT for UMass. After leading 20-7 at halftime, the Minutemen (2-8) were outscored 28-14 in the second half and overtime combined to fall to the…

By Ryan Barry NEFJ Staff Kickoff: The Liberty Flames travel to Amherst on Saturday afternoon to take on the UMass Minutemen. After suffering a 45-20 loss at Mississippi State two weeks ago, the Minutemen come off their second bye week of the season hoping some rest can help their final three games of the season finish on a high note. 1st Down: The news of redshirt senior quarterback Taisun Phommachahn (132-for-234, 1,590-yards,…

By Ryan Barry NEFJ Staff After a bye week, UMass head coach Don Brown took to the podium at his opening week press conference on Monday following practice to discuss an upcoming home matchup against the Liberty Flames. The Minutemen have Liberty, Georgia and UConn remaining on the schedule.   Brown’s opening thoughts “We’re coming off the bye with a good week of practice. In the bye week I like…

By Ryan Barry NEFJ Staff Kickoff: The UMass Minutemen head to Starkville, Mississippi on Saturday afternoon to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs in what will be their second of three SEC match-ups this season. On the heels of their 35-7 win over Wagner this past weekend, the Minutemen hope to take that momentum in Davis Wade Stadium where a reeling Bulldogs team hopes to get their season back on track….