Keeping Score with Chip Ainsworth: UMass football seeking a season-opening win over Eastern Michigan

Published: 08-30-2024 4:17 PM

Good morning!

UMass opens the 2024 football campaign Saturday against Eastern Michigan at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. The season outlook is bleak. UMass plays at top-ranked Georgia and at Mississippi State, and is home against No. 10 Missouri. 

Already assured of an 0-3 record, they’re a combined 6-27 against six other opponents — Toledo, Northern Illinois, Miami Ohio, Buffalo, UConn and Liberty. The Chicago White Sox have a better winning percentage than UMass does against these teams, so where’s the hope?

The good news is they’ll beat Wagner and Central Connecticut State and are consensus 2 1/2-point favorites to beat EMU on Saturday.

At Tuesday’s practice an observer who’d never seen the team would quickly notice No. 3. Whether he was throwing spirals or doing squats on the sideline, 6-4, 220-pound TaisunPhommachanh looked like a smaller version of Cam Newton.

During his senior year at Avon (Conn.) Old Farms, 247Sports ranked Phommachanh the third-best schoolboy quarterback in the country. Alas, he wasn’t quite good enough to get off the bench in three seasons at Clemson and Georgia Tech where he completed 24 of 53 passes for 217 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions.

He was good enough to start at UMass last year and in nine games passed for over 1,500 yards with six touchdowns and six interceptions. In the season opener he led UMass to a 41-30 win at New Mexico State, but was injured against Auburn, missed three games and was never the same player. Now he’s back and says he’s good as ever despite the knee brace.

To help protect his versatile quarterback, coach Don Brown will use BraydenRohme, a 6-6, 300-pound grad transfer from Cal, and Luke Painton, a 6-7, 320-pound grad transfer from Columbia, at left and right tackle, respectively.

Your Daily Puzzles

Cross|Word

Flipart

Typeshift

SpellTower

Really Bad Chess

Phommachanh’s primary target will be Anthony Simpson — No. 1 in your program — who caught 57 passes for 792 yards and three touchdowns last season.

As for the ground game, new offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery will rely on 5-10, 210-pound Houston transfer Brandon Campbell who carried for 458 yards and four touchdowns in 2022, and mix-and-match with Arizona transfer Jalen John and Western Michigan transfer CJ Hester.

Saturday’s game is a must-win if UMass wants to reach .500 and be bowl eligible. The Minutemen have two wins and three losses all-time against EMU. Last year they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by letting Eagles quarterback Austin Smith complete a 50-yard touchdown pass with two minutes left to beat UMass, 19-17.

Phommachanh didn’t play against EMU last year but will be a crucial part of the equation this afternoon. “Taisun is talented not just physically but mentally,” says a UMass insider. “He has the ability to be a quiet leader.”

UMass fans hope those qualities will make for a loud locker room after the clock hits zero.

****

It’s inexplicable why UMass continues to schedule kickoffs at 3:30 p.m., when thunderstorms begin to percolate. Last year’s season opener against Miami Ohio was delayed by lightning until 5:38 p.m. and subsequent delays pushed the game past midnight. None of that would’ve happened if the game started at 1 p.m. when the weather was sunny and clear.

“We’ll never go back,” said a father who paid over $100 for tickets for himself and his family. They couldn’t stay — dinner and bedtime beckoned — but hoped UMass would give them comps to another game. “They never got back to us,” he said. Typical UMass.

****

EMU NOTES: Three Eastern Michigan transfers will help improve the Eagles offense which was 120th in scoring last season. Quarterback Cole Snyder transferred from Colorado, running back Delbert Mimms III from NC State and tight end Johnathan Odom from Florida. … At this writing UMass and EMU were ranked No. 124 and 125 respectively in the ESPN Football Power Index.

****

There was a time when men’s softball, basketball and hockey leagues flourished in Franklin County. One of the primary sponsors was the Rist Tavern A.C. on Chapman St. when it was owned by Bob and Bev Duprey. At its height the Rist AC was composed of 65 members, including Billy Kilgour who’s organizing a reunion.

“It wasn’t only softball,” said Kilgour. “The club consisted of a lot of things. We had a team in the street hockey league, touch football, pool league, darts, shuffleboard, pitch league and horseshoes. Everything folded when Bob sold the tavern.”

Now it’s Smitty’s Pub, and owners Dan and Shelby Smith are hosting the reunion which will be a week from Saturday on Sept. 7 from 3-8 p.m. “Tommy Rogers still has the roster book but we’ve had problems getting phone numbers,” said Kilgour.

RSVPs are unnecessary, just show up and rehash old times when the arms were limber and knees weren’t sore.

****

Two weeks ago in this space it was correctly reported that the KeeneSwampbats had the fourth-highest attendance in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, but the Valley Blue Sox weren’t close to what was reported. The Holyoke-based franchise averaged only 254 fans a game, next-to-last in the 13-team league.

Reader Bill Gorczyca of South Hadley reported the error and added, “I’d rather see the Greenfield-Franklin County area seek out the Valley franchise. Smaller towns have done a reasonably good job of supporting their teams.”

The perfect venue would be Deerfield Academy’s new multi-million dollar ballfield on Route 5 near the Citgo station which was mostly unused this summer. Players could stay in dorms and fans could park on Main Street. 

****

SQUIBBERS: “UMass quarterback Taisun Phommachanh enters his sixth season after taking more than 250 dropbacks last season and creating a nearly even ratio of big-time throws to turnover-worthy plays,” writes the Action Network’s Collin Wilson. …. Kudos to Eaglebrook for donating the food for last week’s Greg Belanger BBQ at Camp Apex which helped boost the net proceeds. … Saratoga handicapper Dave Gonzalez thought he’d hit a Pick 6 for $63,000 until the objection sign went up and the horse came down. “I don’t know about you, but I could use an extra $63,000,” said Gonzalez. … Betonline’s odds for the first college football coach to be fired: Billy Napier at Florida (4/1); Sam Pittman at Arkansas (5/1); and Mario Cristobal at Miami U (6/1). …  Film critic Johnny Oleksinski reviewed “Horizon” and said Kevin Costner’s four-part western epic was “unspeakably tedious, tumbleweeds rolled through my brain.” … Bill Simmons thinks the Jets should have fired Robert Saleh and hired Mike Vrabel. … Milton Academy’s junior quarterback Qur’an McNeil has been offered scholarships to UMass, BC and Syracuse. … In Hobe Sound, Fla., the Dept. of Environmental Protection ran and hid after its proposal to build a golf course in Jonathan Dickinson State Park was met with fierce opposition. Protestors held signs that said, “Save the birdies. Skip the golf.” …. Greg Cosell spoke of Drake Maye’s ability during a recent Ross Tucker podcast. “At times the dropback did not always sync up with the routes, but that’s an easy thing to fix. He did some really, really good things. He had subtle pocket movement [and] manipulated the boundary safety with his head and eyes.” … Toronto’s broadcaster reading the out-of-town scores: “How’d you like to be down 9-1 in a rain delay? I’d ask to be traded.” … Caller to Richard Neer on spin rate, launch angle, etc.: “Analytics could take the joy out of the first movement of Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony.” … Speaking of overkill, for a while there on Monday I thought Danny Jansen had risen from the dead.

Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@icloud.com