Minutemen start strong
Blowout at McGuirk
AMHERST — In a game that wasn’t that close from start to finish, UMass began its 2018 campaign by pulverizing FCS entrant Duquesne, 63-15, yesterday at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
An opening day crowd of 8,684 saw FBS entry UMass ride three scores (two receiving, one rushing) by redshirt senior Andy Isabella and a pair of interceptions from Brice McAllister, including a 60-yard pick-6, as the Minutemen thoroughly throttled the Dukes.
It sets the stage for next Saturday when UMass travels to Boston College for the Eagles’ season opener.
“BC is a different beast next week, not to take anything away from Duquesne. They have bigger guys who are faster. AJ Dillon will have their attention, and their two safeties. (Connor) Strachan is back. We’ll put the tape on Monday morning,” said UMass head coach Mark Whipple.
The 48-point winning differential marked the largest for UMass since 2008, and the 63 points were the most the program scored in its seven-year FBS membership. It was the first time UMass hit the 60-point plateau since 1999, and allowed Whipple to empty his bench.
“I felt like our guys were ready to go all week. At breakfast, walk-through and pregame meal, I thought they were really focused,” Whipple said. “We saw some things on tape that we thought we could take advantage of with our speed, and McAllister made the play of the game with his interception return and sealed it.”
The Minutemen wasted little time grabbing control. The defense caused a turnover on the opening Duquesne drive as junior corner Bakhari Goodson picked off quarterback Daniel Parr on third down. UMass immediately capitalized as quarterback Andrew Ford lofted a perfect toss to redshirt sophomore Brennon Dingle on a corner route, beating double coverage, for a 32-yard score just 1:03 into the game.
“For about two weeks there we were going with that first play. Luckily, the defense gave us a short field and it worked,” said Ford.
UMass forced Duquesne to punt and redshirt senior Ross Comis took the helm behind center. He hit a wide-open Isabella for a 60-yard catch-andrun to make it 14-0. Isabella, who finished with five catches for 131 yards, extended his streak of multiple-catch games to 25, two behind national leader Olamide Zaccheus of Virginia.
UMass scored on a third straight possession when backup tailback Bilal Ally galloped 66 yards to the 1-yard line, and then went across the goal line on the next play to make it 21-0.
Duquesne finally stopped UMass and Mitch Maczura converted a 32-yard field goal to get the visitors on the scoreboard. But Isabella registered his second TD of the game on a 14-yard run to give the hosts a 28-3 lead.
McAllister posted his first interception, which led to a 1-yard TD run by Marquis Young (15 carries, 90 yards). Duquesne answered with a late first half score on a 5-yard toss from Parr to Nehari Crawford with five seconds left to raise hopes. But UMass cornerback Lee Moss intercepted the 2-point conversion attempt in the end zone.
Duquesne’s misery continued in the second half. Ford found Isabella for a 40-yard score 2:38 into the third quarter, and then McAllister intercepted a Parr pass to the right sideline and went 60 yards the other way to push the host’s lead to 40 points.
The rout continued when Comis scooted for an 18-yard score with 3:33 left in the third, and he added his second TD throw, a 14-yard connection to Zak Simon, with 7:42 left.