Minutemen can’t keep pace
FOXBORO – The hopes and dreams of being in the mix for a bowl game will have to wait another season for UMass as it clinched a seventh straight losing season since jumping up to the FBS level in 2012. The Minutemen saw an early lead disappear by halftime and fell, 35-16, to Brigham Young at Gillette Stadium on a blustery afternoon yesterday. Talon Shumway had a pair of touchdown receptions in the first half and Aleva Hifo had two TD runs in the second half as the Cougars overcame a sluggish start. BYU traveled to Boston on Thursday attempting to negate the effects of an early kickoff combined with a two-hour time change from their Provo, Utah, campus. UMass (4-7) led 10-0 a little more than 10 minutes into the game. The Minutemen opened the game with a 14-play drive that took 7:03 off the clock, helped out by a facemask penalty that gave UMass a first down after a third-and-long play was stopped well short of the marker. The drive stalled inside the 5-yard line, however. Faced with a fourthand-2 from the 3-yard line, UMass coach Mark Whipple called on Cooper Garcia to kick a 20-yard field goal. “I second-guess myself a little bit there,” Whipple said. “We had to score touchdowns on offense when we had the chance and we didn’t.” Hifo dropped a handoff on the Cougars’ first play from scrimmage and defensive end Jake Byczko recovered for the Minutemen at the BYU 31. Marquis Young finished off the ensuing eight-play drive with a 2-yard run to the right for a touchdown with 4:12 left in the first quarter. The offense sputtered from there as BYU controlled the line of scrimmage. After picking up 98 yards in the first 21 plays to take the 10-0 lead, UMass only had 101 yards over the next 38 plays against BYU’s first-string defense and finished with a season-low 285 yards of offense. “They’ve got big guys rushing the passer. (Defensive end Corbin) Kaufusi is 6-9 and they’re 350 (pounds) and there’s not a lot of space in there,” said Whipple, who fell to 16-43 during his second tenure. “We couldn’t run the ball as well as we tried to on first and second downs to try to get those manageable third downs.” Andy Isabella, the FBS leader in receiving yards who had a school-record 303 yards a week ago against Liberty, was bottled up for much of the day with 10 catches for 85 yards, the longest going for 23 against the Cougars’ second unit. “They just didn’t want to get beat deep, sitting back,” said quarterback Ross Comis, who completed 23-of33 passes for 183 yards and was sacked four times. “They wouldn’t let Andy over the top, any of those guys.” UMass managed to put a drive together late in the first half, as Comis hit Samuel Emilus for 20 yards and Jordan Fredericks for 11, but Garcia missed a 36-yard field goal attempt as time expired. BYU (5-5) led 14-10 at halftime with Zach Wilson throwing TD passes of 4 and 15 yards to Shumway. The Cougars asserted themselves offensively in the third quarter. Squally Canada ripped off a 25-yard run down the left side and Neil Pau’u got behind the UMass defense on the next play, a 40-yard flea flicker, to the 10. Matt Hadley scored three plays later from 2 yards for a 21-10 lead. Hifo made it 28-10 with 2:03 left in the third quarter, taking a handoff while in motion to the right pylon from 3 yards out. He added a 10-yard TD on an end around early in the fourth quarter. BYU rushed for 221 yards in the second half, finding a lot of success getting outside the tackles. UMass put an 86-yard drive together in the fourth quarter against BYU’s backup, Comis capping it off with a 5-yard run with 5:16 remaining. After having the ball for all but 5 seconds of the opening 10:48, UMass only had a 32:32-to-27:28 edge in time of possession. UMass wraps up its season next Saturday at fifthranked Georgia. “You couldn’t ask for a better game to end your season with,” said linebacker Bryton Barr, who had a team-high 14 tackles. “Of course it’s an SEC team, but last year we played Mississippi State and hung in there with them. We couldn’t get it done, but they put on their shoulder pads and helmets just like we do. They’re humans. A little bit bigger, a little bit faster, but we’re ready for the challenge. It’s going to be fun.”