It’s certainly been one of the more chaotic weeks in UMass football history.

Less than a week removed from the firing of former head coach Don Brown, the Minutemen will somehow try and turn the page to play against one of the top programs in the country on Saturday. UMass (2-8) travels to No. 8 Georgia (8-2) for a 12:45 p.m. kickoff at Sanford Stadium in Athens.

The teams have met just once all time, a 66-27 Georgia victory back in 2018.

While the opponent is certainly daunting, what type of Minuteman team will show up six days removed from losing their head coach?

To make matters worse, several members of the program took to social media on Thursday night, voicing displeasure that the administration had changed their Senior Day program for next weekend’s finale against UConn. A letter to team members said that “due to the number of players who are completing their eligibility and graduating from school,” players would not be introduced individually prior to the Nov. 30 game against UConn.

Tight end Dom Mazotti brought the situation to X, saying “For the department to take away honoring individuals who have given their all to this great university, is asinine.”

Other players chimed in with similar sentiments, including leading receiver Jakobie Keeney-James and safety Te’Rai Powell. UMass defensive coordinator Keith Dudzinski also commented, quote tweeting Powell’s disappointment by saying “to all the seniors I have nothing but gratitude for all you have done for UMass football. It has been an honor to coach you all these last 3 seasons. Let’s finish what we started.”

The UMass football official account backtracked its initial statement to players on Friday morning, calling the issue a “miscommunication with our team regarding the Senior Day activities planned for next Saturday.” The school said it would meet with players later on Friday to “further discuss the logistics of Senior Day.”

With all that bubbling, and a coaching staff in flux, what can fans expect against Georgia?

“It’ll be challenging,” said interim head coach Shane Montgomery, who was elevated from his position as offensive coordinator on Monday to replace Brown for the final two games of the 2024 campaign. “Any time you have 90-100,000 fans, that’s different than what you get every week. You end up playing a team that’s two years removed from back-to-back national championships. I’m sure you’ll see them in the playoff [this year]. Whether they’re No. 1 or No. 2 or [No. 8], they’re still Georgia. You’re going to face a lot of All-Americans on both sides of the ball, you’re going to face a lot of five-star recruits.”

It’s the third and final SEC opponent on UMass’ schedule this season. It lost to Missouri (45-3) and Mississippi State (45-20), putting the Minutemen 0-13 all time against the nation’s toughest conference.

“They play multiple SEC teams,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said of UMass. “It’s good because you get to watch how they played those teams but it’s unfortunate because those teams don’t have the same schemes we do. But uniquely UMass, their quarterback is out from [when they played Missouri and Mississippi State]. So now they’re using a two-quarterback system with guys that aren’t on those tapes.”

Montgomery said during Tuesday’s press availability that he will still call plays, though he’ll now be on the sideline instead of up in the booth. Defensive coordinator Keith Dudzinski will handle defensive responsibilities, an area where Brown also had a hand prior to his departure, though Montgomery doesn’t anticipate a major overhaul to that side of the ball.

Georgia presents a number of problems for opponents, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. The Bulldogs are 15th in the country in yards allowed (307.8) and 16th in points allowed (18.3) despite playing one of the toughest schedules. They have wins over Clemson, Texas and Tennessee this season, and sit 10th in the most recent College Football Playoff ranking.

“I’ve been fortunate to play against some good defenses over the years, this is probably the most talented that I’ve ever faced,” offered Montgomery. “Kirby does a great job of preparing them. It’s going to be a challenge for us.”

UMass put together one of its best offensive outings of the season last week in the team’s 35-34 overtime loss to Liberty. The Minutemen racked up 426 yards of offense and 263 on the ground. With quarterback Taisun Phommachanh out for the season due to injury, redshirt freshman Ahmad Haston started against Liberty. The team mixed Haston in with true freshman AJ Hairston, and both played well – Haston racking up 62 yards rushing and Hairston completing 13 passes for 163 yards. Montgomgery said he expects both quarterbacks to play again on Saturday.

“I thought AJ played really well [against Liberty],” Montgomery began. “You’re talking about a redshirt freshman [Haston] and a true freshman [Hairston]. Ahmad [played] a few [games] last year… did have some pressure situations but he hadn’t had that really this year. AJ has a really strong arm, he’s got one of the strongest arms of a young quarterback that I’ve had. When you throw a true freshman like that at quarterback against a quality opponent, you really don’t know how they’re going to react. I really wanted to get his feet wet early and see what he can do but as he went on and on, he really showed what he can do.”

While running the ball against Georgia will be a challenge, Montgomery noted that the team is going to try hard to find some semblance of a balance early on.

“The biggest thing going into this type of game is they’ve got a great run defense. We have to try to find ways to run the ball early,” he said. “We cannot become one-dimensional early in the game. Whatever the score is, whatever happens early, we’re going to have to find some things that work.”

UMass will have to find a way to slow down a Georgia offense led by expected first round draft pick Carson Beck at quarterback. The senior has thrown for 2,835 yards, 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions this season, though the Minutemen rank fifth in the country in passing yardage allowed at just 159.6. Montgomery said he’s friends with Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, whose unit has topped the 30-point plateau in eight of its 10 games.

The game will be televised on the SEC Network, with Dave Neal and Max Starks on the call. Georgia is a 42-point favorite.