Liberty travels to play at UMass this Saturday afternoon with kickoff scheduled for 3:30 p.m. and televised on ESPN+. The Minutemen will be looking to stop Liberty’s three game winning streak in the series.To help preview this weekend’s game, we caught up with Michael Traini of Fight Massachusetts who covers UMass on the 247Sports network.
What is the overall feeling surrounding this season within the program and its fans on expectations for the year?
Michael Traini: The feeling from fans in the program is finally a bit of light at the end of the tunnel with Don Brown back coaching the team. It’s a rebuilding process but Brown was the most successful coach in program history during his first stint in Amherst and he is revered among UMass fans. This year is about being more competitive while simultaneously installing new schemes in all three phases. It’s a slow process but it is starting to take hold.
What has been your feeling/evaluation of Gino Campiotti thus far and what is the expectation for his production in this game?
MT: Campiotti has been the most effective QB for UMass so far this season. However, that is a relative statement. For all the improvement UMass has made defensively their offense has really struggled to score and move the ball through the air. Campiotti is a good runner as a QB but UMass’ passing game is still a work in progress. Campiotti will probably carry the ball at least 15 times in this game and may throw it 10 times. If he can rush for 75 yards and a score that’s good. It is not likely that UMass will throw for over 100 yards.
Who do you consider to be the biggest X factor on the UMass offense besides the quarterback? How about for the defense?
MT: The non-QB X-factor on the offense would probably be George Johnson III. He’s UMass’ most potentially explosive player and he can be used in a multitude of ways by the offense. Defensively the X-factor recently has been CB Jordan Mahoney. The sophomore has been playing some great football, very involved physically and creating turnovers consistently.
If you had to guess the ending record for this team, what would it be?
MT: It’s difficult to say given that just improving the competitiveness is the most important thing, but I’ve said many times this year that if UMass can get to 3-9 that would be a good step for them. It won’t be easy to get there but if UMass keeps playing better, particularly defensively, they have some opponents they can compete with.
What player has surpassed expectations and has been breaking out this season?
MT: I mentioned him earlier but Jordan Mahoney is the name that really jumps out for me. He played last year as a freshman and gained some good experience that has really helped him take off under Brown in his new defensive system. He leads the team in interceptions so far this season along with forced fumbles and is second in PBUs. He’s displayed very good coverage skills and he’s got room to grow since he’s only a sophomore.
Where do you think the Flames will struggle the most against this team?
MT: UMass defense has made some big strides under Brown and are inside the top 1/3rd of the nation in yards allowed per play. It will be interesting to see how well the Flames can run the ball against the Minutemen this time around, so that might be the toughest area. They just had a great deal of success against ODU but they might be better if they concentrate their attack through the air.
MT: What is your final score prediction for this game?
UMass has made some strides so far this season but Liberty is a better team. There might be some struggles early on for the Flames in a road game but the likelihood is that they will figure out a way to move the ball effectively against a Minutemen team that is still trying to figure everything out. I would say this one won’t end particularly close, 42-10 Liberty.
