UMass might not be 'an easy opener' for Auburn — and it's OK if it's not

Auburn's Week 1 opponent doesn't look like it's going to be the worst team in FBS, and it *could* cause the Tigers some issues.

HC Hugh Freeze (Zach Bland/Auburn Athletics)

A lot of head coaches are great at making their next opponents sound like juggernauts in press conferences, no matter what their rosters look like.

Bruce Pearl has long been one of the best at this. He knows how to highlight a team’s top players, playbooks and coaching staff. He knows he has the reputation, too, sometimes joking about it to media members before he launches into a breakdown of an Auburn basketball non-conference opponent who is a double-digit underdog.

Perhaps Hugh Freeze has spent the past nine months at Auburn learning from his new friend in the basketball program, because he had this to say about season opening opponent UMass earlier this week:

“We've got our hands full,” Freeze said. “I believe that. It will not be an easy opener — and (it’s) one that's going to challenge us.”

Again, Freeze is talking about UMass. You’ve probably heard sometime this offseason that the Minutemen had a legitimate chance to be the worst FBS team in America in 2023. UMass has only won three games in the last four years, with one of those victories coming against an FCS team that went 2-9.

And Freeze saw UMass in all four of those years. At Liberty, Freeze’s teams beat the Minutemen by the following scores: 63-21, 45-0, 62-17 and 42-24.

Now, Freeze will be armed with an SEC roster, and UMass will be playing in front of more than 80,000 fans inside Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Tigers are favored by five touchdowns on Saturday, a margin of victory they’ve only achieved in one season opener since the 1990 season: A 50-point rout of Akron in 2021.

So, why did Freeze talk up UMass so much? It probably has a lot to do with how much better the Minutemen look after their Week 0 win over New Mexico State — and how much work his new-look Auburn team still has to do.

Let’s start with UMass, which surprised many by beating NMSU by 11 on the road last week as a 7-point underdog. A year earlier, UMass lost by 10 at home to NMSU and only averaged 4.32 yards per play on offense. Last Saturday, the Minutemen scored 41 points and averaged a healthy 7.2 yards per snap.

It’s safe to say UMass looks different on offense. The Minutemen are now led at quarterback by Taisun Phommachanh, a former 4-star prospect who started his career backing up Trevor Lawrence and DJ Uiagalelei at Clemson before spending last season as a little-used reserve at Georgia Tech.

Back closer to home, the Connecticut native was named the starter at UMass just before the season started. He threw for 192 yards and ran for 96 in his debut with the Minutemen, something that grabbed the attention of the Tigers’ defenders.

“I think the biggest thing with a running quarterback is gap integrity, everybody holding their gaps and being fundamentally sound in that standpoint,” linebacker Eugene Asante said. “They do a lot of good things. We're not, in any sense, underestimating UMass and what they can do. They're a really good football team. I watched their game in its entirety on Saturday, and I saw a lot of good things out of their team.”

Last season, UMass had one of the worst offenses in all of college football. The Minutemen were second-to-last nationally in yards per play (4.00) and dead last in points per game (12.5).

UMass was also second-to-last in yards per pass attempt (5.1) and passing touchdowns (4) while ranking dead last in passer rating (86.31). On the ground, the Minutemen were not in the basement of college football, but they were 107th in yards per carry (3.43) and 121st in rushing touchdowns (10). They only cracked 300 total yards in two of their 12 games.

But, with a new transfer quarterback from the ACC and a go-to transfer receiver in Anthony Simpson (Arizona), UMass has drastically changed its identity on offense.