University of Massachusets Athletics
Coach Don Brown's Weekly CAA Teleconference
October 28, 2008 | Football
Oct. 28, 2008
AMHERST, Mass. - UMass Head Football Coach Don Brown had his weekly CAA teleconference on Monday. Brown discussed last week's 42-7 win over Bryant and looked forward to this weekend's matchup with Rhode Island. The Minutemen will travel to Rhode Island to take on the Rams on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 PM.
Brown's general thoughts on the 42-7 win over Bryant:
After the tough loss at home against Richmond I was more concerned about our response coming into the Bryant game and obviously I thought our guys responded well. At the half we had a 35-7 lead. On the day Jeremy Horne had 182 receiving yards, Victor Cruz had 93 receiving yards, Matt Silver had one catch for 80 yards, and Liam Coen was 11-18 for 389 with 5 touchdowns. We really took advantage of what they were trying to do to us, and on defense I thought we played very well. We didn't have some guys available to us. Brandon Collier, our starting defensive tackle, did not play but I thought Kyle Harrington moved over and played extremely well; he had 10 tackles and one sack. Jeromy Miles continues to play at a high level and Courtney Robinson had three pass breakups. But the nicest thing is that after halftime we were able to get a lot of guys a chance to play. That was the thing I was most excited about; when I came in Sunday and seeing how some of those guys responded. Some guys stepped up, some stayed neutral and some have to go back to the drawing board.
On the injury to Sean Smalls:
Right now I have to list him as day-to-day, but we will know more on Monday.
On how Liam Coen responded after the loss to Richmond:
He was pretty upset on the Sunday following the loss; he didn't think he played his best football. But we had a game plan going in against Bryant. When you have 413 yards at halftime, it goes to show how focused Liam was on Saturday. He made all the right throws; he just took care of his business is a very positive way. I'm not really sure he is aware of all the things he has accomplished to this point as a UMass quarterback. But he's our offensive leader and has done a tremendous job.
On Coen reaching the 10,000 passing yards mark for his career:
We don't hand out bouquets around here; so every throwing yard he gets, he earns. We don't try to pad his stats. Its all in the mix and flow of games and trying to get us wins. He has won a lot of games here and I think that's the indicator of this kid; all he's trying to do is win games, and he has been a pleasure to coach.
On UMass' game next week at Rhode Island:
We certainly look at that game last year as the one that put us on the road for the playoffs, and that was disappointing for us. But we just have to worry about taking care of our business and playing the way we're capable of. I don't know about any motivation other than that it's a huge game for us, it's a league game, and we are going to Rhode Island where we were not successful last year.
