On the Toledo one-yard line, UMass went for a touchdown, but Ja’Wuan Woodley intercepted Frohnapfel’s pass in the end zone and returned it 83 yards on the last play of the half.
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UMass took what appeared to be a commanding 28-10 lead with 8:23 left in the first half when running back Marquis Young bolted between the tackles, untouched, for a 50-yard touchdown run.
He kept it to himself when the Minutemen got into the locker room. “We have an ability to settle in, find out what teams are doing offensively and defensively and have the ability to adjust”, he said. “Maybe we just didn’t handle the expectations”.
For 30 minutes, his team was a havoc-wreaking, ball-hawking band of players fueled by their own desperation.
The UMass secondary squeezed a career-high three interceptions out of Toledo quarterback Phillip Ely.
It was exactly what Whipple was looking for after the Minutemen spent the week soul-searching, coming off back-to-back losses. “We preached about takeaways and had a few certainly in the first half”. “The end of the half, it was discouraging”, Whipple said.
NFL SETTING: Saturday’s game will be held at the New England Patriots’ Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, where the Minutemen will play half of their six home games this season, with the remainder at 17,000-seat, on-campus McGuirk Stadium.
“Obviously, whenever the momentum changes, it obviously has an effect on the field”, said UMass wideout Tajae Sharpe said.
The Rockets are 6-0 for the first time since 1997 and their No. 19 ranking is the highest since then, when they reached 18th before losing three of their last four games. The Rockets scored touchdowns on their first five second-half possessions, including four Ely touchdown passes, and went on to win 51-35.
Terry Swanson scored from a yard away, Ely threw a 20-yard pass to Thompson, and Jameson Vest made a 25-yard field goal for a 48-28 lead with 6:31 remaining, effectively ending the game. “We missed a couple plays where we couldn’t turn the ball around and give it back to the offense”, Jette said.
Ely was 12 of 19 for 198 yards in the second half. “It was just ‘Regroup.’ I thought our kids were really poised and then I thought we did an unbelievable job in the second half”.
Swanson had 118 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries, while Hunt added 90 yards on 20 touches. “So we had to make in-game adjustments and that kind of slowed us up”.
“Eventually, a good team, a top-20 team, is going to score”.
For as an impressive and complete an effort the Minutemen put forth in the first half, the third and fourth quarters were equally as devastating, if not more so. “I think those things really lend to themselves to when you have the opportunity to play, you have complete and full confidence in that young person leading your football program”.
Thompson, who came into the game with 16 catches and two scores, grabbed six for 116 yards, his third in the last five with at least 100 yards.
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“We definitely realize that, but that’s been our mind-set ever since we’ve entered conference play”, Sharpe said.
