By Ryan Barry
NEFJ Staff

UMass interim head coach Shane Montgomery took to the podium on Monday for the final game week press conference of the season to discuss Saturday’s loss at Georgia, as well as the final game of the season against UConn.

Montgomery opening thoughts

“Looking back at the Georgia game, from what I said after the press conference to the team, I was really proud of the team. It was a daunting task, especially week eleven, to go into a place like that, when you’re down so many players from the start of the season and go against a top ten team who’ll probably be in the playoffs here in a couple of weeks. I was really proud of our guys. We gave ourselves a chance to stay in the game through most of three quarters. They kind of wore us down there at the end, but I was really proud. It was a tough week, not only for our players but I want to praise our coaching staff too because there’s a lot of uncertainty not only with the players but with the coaches’ futures. There was a lot on their plate but they had our guys ready to play and I was proud of the way that we came out and represented UMass football. We’ve got a tough challenge this week against a very good UConn team that’s 7-4 right now trying to go for their eighth win. They’ve had some big wins this season, and I know they played Syracuse very well last week, taking it down really late into the fourth quarter. It’s senior day for our guys, we’ll have a number of guys playing in their last game so we want to try and help those guys go out with a win and really try to build some momentum as this program moves forward.”

Montgomery about continuing to try and have a solid performance in the run game after a successful stretch of weeks

“Just keep going, and not only for them but for the offensive line. We ran the ball really well the last three weeks starting with the Mississippi State game, then had a great game against Liberty. I was really proud of what the front and the backs did, and not only the backs but the receivers blocked really well. We had some long runs. Jakobie Keeney-James stands out as a guy that blocks really well on the perimeter. He had a couple of big blocks on some big runs, but hats off to those guys. We struggled earlier in the season running the football and they really stayed with it even though we were playing some tough teams down the stretch. They really kept improving and hopefully we keep it going. UConn’s given up about 131 yards rushing a game so they’re pretty stout up front. They’ve done a good job against the teams they’re played, and they’ve done a really good job in the red zone. I think that they’ve got one of the top red zone defenses in the country for giving up touchdowns so we’ve got out work cut out for us.”

Montgomery on the senior day debacle and what happened

“No, it was never cancelled. I think there were a lot of options, and again I found out about everything in the middle of last week when I took over. As far as I know the senior day was never cancelled. There were a lot of options on the table. Really, it’s a little bit different now in that because of all the transfers, you know, people that have come into your program that are older, there’s so many guys that have graduated or are graduating this year that there are more numbers right now. There were over 50 players that are going to graduate or if they haven’t graduated, they are graduating this year, so I think some of the confusion was again, how many people would take part in it. I just kind of got involved with it last week. We had a meeting about it and we’ve got it taken care of because we want to honor these seniors the right way, and I think that hopefully it will go as planned Saturday and they’ll have a good sendoff with a win.

Montgomery on whether any tape from last year’s loss can help prepare for this year’s matchup

“We looked at it (the tape). They’re different on defense. I’m sure our defensive staff is going to spend some time looking at it, but we’re (the offense) not going to spend as much time because it’s a new defense. We’re going off the tape that we have this year because they’re doing some different things. I obviously wasn’t here last year, but I know that offensively we made some mistakes early and had some turnovers that got us behind. We tried to come back, so whatever they throw out there we’ve got to do a better job at taking care of the ball this year by not putting our defense in a tough spot like they did last year.”

Montgomery on any advantages to them having senior day against a rival

“No, because most teams do it the last game of the year, unless there’s something else. I know some of the teams in the MAC because of all the midweek games late in the season, and to try to make sure that parents can make it, do it with a couple of games left on a Saturday. Just taking over the head coaching job last week, I don’t think there was any strategy. I think it’s your last home game and that’s typically when those people do this.”

Montgomery on his interest or thoughts on the head coaching role

“I really don’t want to comment on the permanent head coaching position. I’m really just focused on this week and trying to win this game and see what happens in the future.”

Montgomery on what they can learn from the Georgia game defensively going into UConn

“Again, I think that was a tough task. They’ve got Carson Beck who is an NFL quarterback that has played well the past couple of weeks. They’re big up front. We’ve had a number of injuries on defense throughout the year. We lost a few more during that game. I think the one thing you saw was that they did put up some yards. We gave them a score on the strip sack. We gave them another short field. I don’t think you can look at 59 points because that wasn’t all the defense. You’re only going to try and slow those guys down, you don’t stop them a whole lot. The one thing we didn’t do was not give up a lot of really big plays. We made them drive the ball a little bit and we came up with one or two fourth down stops, so there were some good things there. I think with coach Dudzinkski taking over and adding some things he’s had in the past, you’ll see a much improved defense this week with a little more confidence.”

Montgomery on the impact and importance of senior game

“I think it’s something that you address. Anybody that’s been through, I did so 30 or so years ago now, you still remember that day. There’s always a lot of emotion. You try and honor them as best you can before the game with their parents and their families but at the same time as soon as we hit the field it’s just another game. There is a lot of emotion to it and some of these guys have been here longer than others, some of these guys have been here for a year, so it’s a different feeling. It’s not quite what it used to be when you had 25 guys who had been here for four or five years, that’s different, but anytime you put your blood and sweat into things, whether it’s four years or one year, the potential of it being your last game is very emotional. I hope we handle it well. I think once the kickoff starts their mind will be where it needs to be.”

Montgomery on the key to beating UConn

“We’ve got to take care of the football. The game last year was swung with some turnovers. We had a couple of turnovers on Saturday which I think was maybe our second multi turnover game of the year which we’ve done a pretty good job. We’ve got to take care of the ball. Again, it doesn’t really matter who you’re playing, it starts up front. They’re averaging just over 190 rushing yards a game, they’ve got a pretty balanced offense throwing for 215 (yards), so we’ve got to do a good job of stopping their run defensively. For us offensively we’ve got to continue to run the football. We’ll continue to use the two quarterback system as much as we need to and hopefully keep them off balanced. It’s going to start up front and then try and win the explosive play battle too. Those are the things that stand out. We’ve just got to be able to continue to do things that we’ve been successful with on offense the past few weeks, and just continue defensively from the good things we did last Saturday.”