I hate starting the season against these "cupcakes" simply because it's much harder to come to real conclusions. Week 1 usually isn't a true harbinger of the future for any team, but when your opponent is a lot weaker than you it's even more unclear.
I stayed up until 4 am CET watching this game and then got up a couple hours later to get on a plane so my memory is a little fuzzy.
Defense-couldn't have looked stronger. This wasn't a CAA offense that it was playing against, But it wasn't a Big East offense either. It's pretty clear that this will be the strong point of the team. Our CBs look bigtime to me. Gratz looked ridiculously athletic on that Pick 6. In a word, they were fun to watch.
Offense. I think Whitmer will end up being a pretty good QB for us, but right now I am a little scared. He can make the throws we need him to make, but he seems to have a judgement issue. I am just going to expect that he will throw one or two bad INTs a game. I just hope they happen at "good" times.
The Wildcat. With Whitmer being green, I am not sure the back and forth offense thing will be helpful in getting him into the groove. Quite frankly, I hate it. I wish we would pick one or the other.
I am convinced that the Wildcat is in there to mitigate the suspect pass blocking from the offensive line. McCummings can get us some first downs and he is capable. But if Whitmer was really ready and the Offensive line was too, then we would rarely see the Wildcat.
Businesslawyer is exactly right. In this game we have appeared to move away from our core competency of hat on hat husky football. We looked ineffective in rushing the football conventionally. Teams a few years ago would have physically punished a team like UMass.
Receivers. Another disturbing area. They seemed to make catches, but they weren't getting the seperation that one would hope for.
My too soon too tell early assessment is that this will be another year where we remain frustrated on offense. However, the good news is that defense and the special teams show make up for part of that with some opportunities.