University of Massachusets Athletics
UMass Finishes Road Swing At Rhode Island
October 18, 2004 | Football
Oct. 18, 2004
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UMass (3-4, 1-3) at Rhode Island (3-3, 1-2)
SATURDAY, Oct. 23, 2004 • Noon
Meade Stadium (5,180/Grass), Kingston, R.I.
UMass Radio Network
UMass Finishes Road Swing At Rhode Island
• Coming off a huge win over No. 7 New Hampshire, the UMass football goes for its second win a row as it travels to Atlantic 10 rival Rhode Island. The Minutemen broke a four-game losing streak with a 38-21 win at UNH, spoiling the Wildcats' homecoming -- something UMass will look to do again this week as URI is holding its homecoming. Saturday's game wraps up a difficult four-game road stretch for UMass as it faced Division I-A Boston College, No. 19 James Madison and No. 7 UNH.
• The win at New Hampshire was the 500th in UMass football history. In the win, tailback Steve Baylark (Apopka, Fla.) had a career game with 192 yards on 43 carries and three touchdowns, all career-bests. He was honored with the Bill Knight Trophy as the game's MVP and was named the Atlantic 10 Co-Offensive Player of the Week. On the defensive side, safety Shannon James (Stratford, Conn.) has his third multi-interception game of the season in the win and was named the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Week. It was James' second weekly honor from the league this season and third of his career. James is now tied for fourth all-time in school history in career interceptions with 15. He is the active leader among all Division I-AA college players in career interceptions as well.
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Top 10 Tidbits
• Shannon James is second in the nation in interceptions with seven and leads the Atlantic 10. • James leads all active Division I-AA players in career interceptions with 15 and has the most of any junior in all of college football, regardless of division. • James is also tied for fourth all-time in career interceptions at UMass with 15. He is also one interception shy of being tied for the best single-season mark of eight. • Steve Baylark should break into the top-10 career lists at UMass in carries and rushing yards on Saturday. • UMass has won seven straight games in the series with URI and with a win Saturday, it would equal UMass' longest streak in the series which began in 1903. • UMass has played URI more than any opponent in history (78) and has more wins against URI than any school (43). • Brothers will be on opposite sidelines as UMass' DT Matt Stolte faces Mark, an offensive lineman. • UMass will be the homecoming opponent for the second week in a row at URI before hosting its own homecoming vs. Maine on Oct. 30. UMass is 3-1 all-time at URI homecoming. • In the last game when UMass was URI's homecoming opponent, the Minutemen won 26-8 in 1980. • The URI game concludes a four-game road swing for UMass, the longest such occurance since 1986.
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The Teams and Rankings
• UMass enters the game with a 3-4 overall record, 1-3 in the Atlantic 10. UMass comes off a 38-21 win at No. 7 New Hampshire, which was UMass' fifth win in its last eight games against a top-10 team dating to 2002. The Minutemen suffered four consecutive losses, falling to Richmond, 24-14, on Sept. 18, No. 4 Delaware -- the defending I-AA national champions, 21-7 on Sept. 25, at Boston College, 29-7, on Oct. 2 and at No. 19 James Madison, 28-7 on Oct 9. The Minutemen opened the season with a pair of wins at Delaware State (51-0 on Sept. 4) and vs. No. 4 Colgate (30-20 on Sept. 11). UMass ranked No. 39 in the Don Hansen weekly poll and is currently among others receiving votes in the Sports Network and ESPN/USA Today polls.
• Rhode Island comes into the game with a 3-3 overall record and is 1-2 in the Atlantic 10. The Rams lost to No. 16 William & Mary last Saturday in Williamsburg to conclude a stretch of three road games in four weeks. With the UMass game, URI begins a string of four consecutive home games at Meade Stadium. URI opened the season with a pair of high-scoring wins, beating Fordham, 37-36 on Sept. 4 and Central Connecticut, 39-7 on Sept. 11. The Rams dropped back-to-back games at Hofstra, 62-43, on Sept. 25 and Brown, 20-13 on Oct. 2. Their lone Atlantic 10 win came at Towson, 28-16 on Oct. 9. Rhode Island is not ranked, but has received votes in the poll at various times this season.
Youth Is Served
• UMass is the youngest team in the Atlantic 10 in terms of playing experience as UMass plays just six seniors on its regular depth chart -- all on offense. There is not a single senior in the two-deep on defense. On offense only three seniors start: wide receiver Jason Peebler (Modesto, Calif.), offensive guard Rob Kane (Londonberry, N.H.) and fullback Rich Demers (East Boston, Mass.). After those three, just three seniors are on the depth chart as back-ups on offense: wide receiver Dominique Stewart (Severn, Md.), fullback Steve Wysocki (New Britain, Conn.) and tight end Sean Young (Nashua, N.H.).
• The defense features three freshmen who are listed as starters: Andrew Blumenthal (Clearwater, Fla.) or Wilner Alexis (Somerville, Mass.), David Burris (Southbridge, Mass.) and true freshman Brandon Freeman (Ruther Glen, Va.). Overall, of the 22 players on the defensive two-deep 14 players are in their first or second year of action at UMass with 10 players as redshirt or true freshmen.
Finally, Back Home Next Week
• The Oct. 2 game at Boston College was the first of four consecutive games away from McGuirk Stadium. The journey began on Oct. 2 with the game at Division I-A Boston College. That game was be followed by trips to James Madison (a 28-7 loss on Oct. 9), New Hampshire (a 38-21 win on Oct. 16) and finished with Rhode Island (this Saturday) before returning to Amherst to host Maine on Oct. 30 as part of Homecoming 2004. It is the first four-game road stretch for UMass since 1986 when the Minutemen won three-of-four games away from McGuirk beating Maine, Boston University and Harvard.
The Series: UMass vs. Rhode Island
• UMass holds a 43-33-2 lead in the all-time series against Rhode Island. The Minutemen stand at 20-17 against URI in Kingston and 19-15 all-time in Meade Stadium. UMass has won seven straight games in the series dating to 1997. With a win on Saturday, UMass will equal its longest win streak in the series which dates to 1903. UMass won eight games in a row from 1960-67. Rhode Island won nine in a row from 1937-48 with no games played in 1943-45 due to World War II.
• UMass has won 15 of the last 18 in the series as well and the last three at Meade Stadium.
• The series with Rhode Island is the most played one in UMass history as the teams have met 78 times. Next on the list is UConn, as the Minutemen and Huskies played 71 times from 1897-1999.
• UMass' 43 wins are the most against any team as well. The second most wins are against last week's opponent, New Hampshire, as UMass is now 39-24-3 against the Wildcats.
• Head coach Don Brown is 2-2 all-time vs. the Rams, all coming while he was the head coach at Northeastern from 2000-2003.
• UMass is 3-1 as the homecoming opponent of Rhode Island, winning the last instance in 1980, 26-8.
Connections Of Note Between UMass/URI
• Brothers will be on opposing sidelines as UMass' Matt Stolte (Rochester, N.Y.) will face his brother Mark Stolte of Rhode Island. Matt is a true freshman who has played in the last two games as a reserve defensive linemen for the Minutemen. Mark is also a back-up offensive linemen . Both played their high school ball at the Aquinas Institute in Rochester.
• UMass' Justin Schweighardt (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) was a high-school teammate of URI's Rod Chance at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Florida.
• The Minutemen roster features two players from the state of Rhode Island. Back-up quarterback Liam Coen (Wakefield, R.I.) was one of the most prolific quarterbacks in the Ocean State's history passing for 5,335 yards and 66 touchdowns playing for his father Tim at LaSalle Academy. Back-up tailback and return man Lorenzo Perry (Providence, R.I.) saw his first action of the season on Saturday at URI as he was in on kickoff returns, but did not field any.
• UMass tight ends coach Guido Falbo is in his first season with the Minutemen after two years as Rhode Island's wide receivers coach (2002-03). • Rhode Island's punter Justin Cherry is the younger brother of former UMass kick Jason Cherry, who kicked for the Minutemen in 1998-99.
Taking On The Top Teams
• UMass faces arguably its most difficult schedule in school history as it faced both the defending national champion and the defending national runner-up as it beat Colgate (30-20 on Sept. 11) and faced Delaware on Sept. 25 (losing 21-7). Both teams were ranked No. 4 in the nation at the time of the game, spanning three weeks. In addition, UMass faced perennial Division I-A top-25 team Boston College (losing 29-7 on Oct. 2) which has been to five consecutive bowl games.
• Overall, UMass faces five teams in this week's Sports Network Top 25: No. 3 Delaware, No. 13 James Madison, No. 15 New Hampshire, No. 18 Colgate and No. 19 Maine. Northeastern has also been ranked all season before losing to undefeated Harvard last weekend.
• The Atlantic 10 is showing to be perhaps the nation's top conference as it has six teams in this week's Top 25. For the last three weeks, the A-10 had seven teams in the Top 25 to match a conference record which last occurred on Sept. 9, 2002.
• In Don Hansen's weekly poll, three Atlantic 10 teams are in the top 10 and 10 teams are in the top 40 including Hofstra and UMass. In the ESPN/USA Today weekly poll, five UMass opponents are ranked.
James Picks Them Off At A Record Rate
• Junior free safety Shannon James was named the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Week for the second time in three weeks on Sunday, Oct. 17 after his third two-interception game of the season at New Hampshire. He was also honored on Sunday, Oct. 3, after his strong performance at Boston College in Saturday's 29-7 defeat.
• James is currently second in the nation (first in the Atlantic 10) in interceptions per game with a 1.0 average with seven in seven games. Only Fordham's Thaddeus Kornegay has a better average with seven picks in six games for 1.17 per game.
• He is active career leader in interceptions among all college players in Division I-AA with his 15 career picks. He leads all players that are not seniors in career interceptions regardless of division.
• That mark ranks him tied for fourth all-time at UMass with Jeremy Robertson (1998-2001).
• James picked off BC quarterback Paul Peterson twice including a 47-yard return which led to UMass' first touchdown in the game. The return was also the longest run-back of his career. He picked off UNH's Walter Payton Award candidate Ricky Santos twice along with seven tackles on Oct. 16.
• James has earned A-10 Defensive Player of Week three times in his career as he also earned the honor last season after a huge game in an upset win over No. 2 Villanova on Oct. 25.
Baylark Running For Paydirt
• Tailback Steve Baylark had the greatest game of his two-year career at New Hampshire with 192 yards on 43 carries and three touchdowns. All were career bests. The 43 carries were the third-most in a single game in UMass history. Garry Pearson had 54 vs. AIC in 1982 and Marcel Shipp had 44 vs. Delaware in 1999. The game was his eighth career contest with 100 yards and fifth career game with multiple touchdowns. He set his original career-high of three touchdowns in a game against New Hampshire in last year's game at McGuirk Stadium.
• Baylark had his seventh career 100-yard rushing game with 115 on 18 carries against Colgate on Sept. 11. He also scored two touchdowns in a game for the fourth time in his career. His 100-yard game was especially impressive against Colgate, as the Raiders allowed just one 100-yard rusher last season on their way to the national championship game. The Colgate game was also sweet as he outgained 2003 Walter Payton Award winner Jamaal Branch, 115 to 62 yards.
• In seven games this season, Baylark has 130 carries for 580 yards for 82.9 yards per game, which ranks fifth in the Atlantic 10. Last season, Baylark picked up 1,177 in his first year with the Minutemen, passing the 1,000-yard plateau against Delaware.
• Baylark is also on the verge of cracking the top-10 career lists at UMass in total carries and rushing yards. He comes into the Rhode Island game with 398 carries for 1757 yards. Standing tenth on the carries list is John Johnson with 402 from 1990-1993. Tenth on the yardage list is Richard Jessamy with 1,780 from 1973-76.
Peebler Flying Up All-Time Charts
• Senior All-American wide receiver Jason Peebler is moving up the all-time UMass lists for career receptions and career receiving yards. Since the start of the 2004 season, he has moved all the way from seventh to second in career receiving yards with 583 over the first seven games. He now has 2,002 yards with only Adrian Zullo (1998-2002) ahead of him on the all-time list with 2,892 yard.
• Peebler has also gone from 11th to tied for fifth on the career receptions list since the start of the year. With 100 he became the sixth Minuteman to pass the century plateau, tying Kerry Taylor (1995-98). he caught his 100th career ball at New Hampshire on Oct. 16 with a 41-yard strike from Tim Day in the fourth quarter.
• He is 28th in the nation and sixth in the Atlantic 10 in yards per game at 83.3. Peebler is also 11th in the A-10 in all-purpose yards at 98.9.
• His 20.0 yards per catch average for his career, is the best in UMass history.
• Peebler began with a sensational start to this season with three 100-yard receiving games in the first three contests of 2004, as he has been the top target of quarterback Tim Day. He hauled in five passes from Day in the season opener at Delaware State for 144 yards and two touchdowns. Against Colgate, he had four catches for 161 yards and a pair of TD's and against Richmond, he had four catches for 130 yards with one touchdown. For his career, Peebler has seven career 100-yard games, with the first four coming last season.
• Overall, Peebler and Day have connected for five plays of 50 or more yards (80, 50, 58, 64 and 50) with four of them going for scores.
• Peebler, who has been named a preseason second team All-American by I-AA.org, is one of the top offensive threats for the Minutemen this year, after having a breakout season in 2003. Peebler led the team with 50 catches for 1,003 yards and 13 touchdowns last year, while setting a school single season record with an average of 20.1 yards per reception. He also placed third on the UMass single season list for receiving yards, while ranking second on the list for receiving touchdowns. In addition, Peebler led the team with 78 points scored, while ranking second on the squad with 1,187 all-purpose yards. At the conclusion of the season, Peebler earned second team All-America honors from College Sports Television, in addition to being a second team All-Atlantic 10 Conference selection.
• He was named the UMass/Dinn Brothers Athlete of the Week on Sept. 13 after his big game vs. Colgate.
Day Continues Sparkling Passing
• Junior quarterback Tim Day has been very strong in the early season, his first as the Minutemen's full-time starter at quarterback. In his first two games this season, he was nearly perfect, as he completed an amazing 30-of-40 pass attempts for 589 yards and six touchdowns. Day set the UMass single-game record for completion percentage in the season-opener at Delaware State (9/4), as he nailed 17-of-19 passes (89.4 percent) for 290 yards and four touchdowns. All of those marks set career high as well. He passed his yardage mark in his return to his home state of New Hampshire, as he threw for 293 at UNH.
• In two games this season, Day surpassed his entire career totals in passing yards, with 589 (had 339 entering 2004) as well as touchdowns with six (had two).
• Overall through seven games, Day has completed 56.6 percent of his passes (120-of-212) for 1519 yards. He has hooked up for 11 touchdowns -- five to Jason Peebler and thrown just eight interceptions.
• Day continued to make his mark on the UMass record book as he tied for the second-most attempts in a game with 52 at James Madison and tied for the third-most pass completions with 28 in that same game.
Koegel Gets His Kicks With Punts
• Sophomore punter Christian Koegel (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) was named the Atlantic 10 Special Teams Player of the Week on Monday, Sept. 27 after a huge game against No. 4 Delaware.
• Koegel averaged a single-game school-record 53.0 yards on six punts and dropped four inside the 20-yard line in Massachusetts' 21-7 loss to the Blue Hens. Four of Koegel's six punts went for over 50 yards. He had a 76-yard boot in the first quarter which was downed at the Delaware one yard line. That punt was the third-longest in school history.
• Against Boston College, Koegel set another school record for punting yardage in a game with 526 yards on 12 boots for a 43.8 average. Koegel's 12 punts were one short of a school-record as well. The 526 yards also set an Atlantic 10 conference record.
• For the season, Koegel has averaged 41.9 yards on 43 punts. He ranks second in the A-10 and 14th nationally in punting average. Eleven of those have been downed inside the opponents' 20-yard line.
Walker Ties School Record For Tackles
• Sophomore linebacker Charles Walker (North Lauderdale, Fla.) tied the school record for tackles in a game with 23 vs. Delaware. Walker tied the record set by John McKeown in 1986, also set against the Blue Hens. He had 14 solo tackles and nine assists. He also had two sacks in the contest. Walker had just 13 tackles his entire freshman season, playing mostly on special teams.
• Walker currently leads the Minutemen in total tackles with 60 on 41 solo tackles. He also leads in sacks with 3.5 and is tied for the lead in tackles for loss with 4.5.
Top Tacklers
• The trio of UMass linebackers Charles Walker, Brad Anderson (Ijamsville, Md.), and Serge Tikum (Silver Spring, Md.) lead the Minutemen in tackles. Walker tops the squad with 60 tackles, 41 solo. Anderson has 48 while Tikum has 41. Shannon James tops the secondary in tackles with 50.
• Anderson has posted nine tackles in four of the last six games and is also third on the team with four tackles for a loss along with one sack, one interception and one fumble recovery.
• Keron Williams (Lake Park, Fla.) has made the most of his tackles, posting nearly half of them for a loss of yardage. Williams has a team-high 7.5 TFL for a loss of 34 yards but has just 19 overall tackles this season. He has 2.0 sacks for 21 yards.
• Linemen Ola Sanusi (Detroit, Mich.) has 3.5 sacks and 22 total tackles. Sanusi drew his first start in place of an injured Keron Williams and had nine tackles, one TFL, a forced fumble and a pair of pass break-ups against Richmond.
• With James leading the way, the secondary has been stellar for the early season. Strong safety James Ihedigbo (Amherst, Mass.), cornerbacks R.J. Cobbs (Parsippany Hills, N.J.) and Tracy Belton (Landover, Md.) have all started each game with Cobbs missing the New Hampshire game. Ihedigbo has 38 tackles -- 35 of which are solos. Cobbs, who converted from a running back to defensive back this season has 30 tackles and a three pass break-ups. Belton also has 33 tackles and team-high four pass break-ups.
• Belton is also tied for 11th in the nation with five interceptions in seven games for .71 per game.
Top-Notch Defense
• UMass' defense has been strong on the early season, pitching the program's first shutout since 2000, with the 51-0 whitewash of Delaware State in the season opener. UMass began the season with an 87:38 streak of holding its opponents scoreless before Colgate's Lane Schwarzberg made a field goal with 2:22 left in the first half of the second game of the year.
• Against New Hampshire, UMass held the Wildacts to minus-2 yards rushing. It was the fewest rushing yards allowed by UMass since they also held Central Connecticut to minus-2 in the 2003 season opener.
Five Starters Anchor Offensive Line
• The UMass offensive line, which posted a solid season in 2003, returns four starters from last season a one from 2002 to pave the way for the Minuteman offense this fall. Leading the way is senior left guard Rob Kane, a second team All-Atlantic 10 selection in 2003, who has started 41 of 43 games in his career. Other Minutemen returning to the starting lineup are junior tackle Colin Stoetzel (Grafton, Mass.) with 27 career starts, sophomore center Alex Miller (Fairfax, Va.) with 19 career starts and sophomore guard David Thompson (Norfolk, Va.) with 20 career starts. That group is joined by junior tackle O.J. McBride (Sunrise, Fla.) who started eight times in 2001 and 2002, before missing the entire 2003 season due to injury. Freshman Matt Austin made his first collegiate start in place of McBride in the James Madison game at tackle. Austin also started at New Hampshire.
UMass Finally Gets 500th Program Win
• UMass finally won its 500th game in program history on Saturday, beating New Hampshire, 38-21. after four attempts. The Minutemen come into the Rhode Island game with 500-495-51, dating to the start of the team in 1879. Last season, UMass pushed its all-time record over .500 for the first time since the 1887 season. Prior to the victory over James Madison on Sept. 27, 2003, the last time UMass had an overall record over .500 came following a 17-10 victory over Williston Academy on Oct. 8, 1887, which made its all-time record 11-10-3. In fact, UMass was once 87 games under .500 (218-305-46) in its all-time record, following a 20-6 loss to Boston University on Oct. 31, 1959. Since then, the Minutemen have posted an impressive 282-190-5 record to move over the .500 mark.
Minutemen Against Ranked Teams In I-AA
• UMass topped No. 7 New Hampshire on Oct. 16 for its second win over a ranked team this season. The Minutemen have now won five of ther last eight games against top-10 teams.
• The Minutemen faced their second ranked team -- also at No. 4 -- on Sept. 25 when Delaware came to town. The Minutemen beat then-No. 4 Colgate for its fourth consecutive win over a Top 5 ranked team back on Sept. 11 (30-20). UMass fell at No. 19 James Madison on Oct. 9.
• UMass faced four ranked opponents last season going on the road for all four games. The Minutemen earned victories in the first two games against ranked foes last season and have won five of the last seven overall vs. Top 25 teams.
• Last season, they downed No. 16 Maine, 24-16 on Sept. 20, then defeated No. 2 Villanova on Oct. 25, 19-14. The squad then lost a triple overtime affair at No. 6 Delaware and the NCAA Playoff contest at No. 6 Colgate.
• The Minutemen played three games against ranked foes in 2002, defeating No. 2 Maine, 20-10, and No. 4 Villanova, 17-16, while falling at No. 18 Northeastern 42-17.
• Since the beginning of the 1998 season, UMass now stands 15-16 against ranked opponents. The Minutemen concluded the 2001 season 1-3 and the 2000 season with a 1-2 record against ranked opponents, while going 2-3 against ranked teams in 1999 and 6-3 in 1998. UMass' six victories over ranked opponents in 1998 set a school single season record.
• The Minutemen also stand 8-11 against ranked teams at home over the last 10 years, including a 3-8 mark against top 10 teams at home. Prior to back-to-back victories in 2002 over Maine and Villanova, UMass had lost eight straight home games to top 10 opponents, since a 43-29 win over No. 7 Delaware on Oct. 23, 1993.
McGuirk Magic
• UMass has been tough to beat in the friendly confines of McGuirk Alumni Stadium since the start of the 1998 season. The Minutemen have gone 30-10 (.750) at home over the last six years, improving their all-time record at McGuirk to 138-71-2 (.660). Since 1992, UMass has had a losing record at home only once, while posting a home mark of 51-23 during that span. Last year, UMass went 7-0 at home to set a new record for most home victories in the 39-year history of McGuirk Stadium. The 2003 squad also became the first UMass team to go undefeated at home since 1993, when it posted a 5-0 mark at McGuirk Stadium.
Minutemen Seek 20th Conference Title
• This season, UMass will be looking to win the Atlantic 10 Conference title for a record 20th time, while also attempting to repeat as conference champions for the first time since 1981 and 1982. With last year's victory over Rhode Island, the Minutemen won the Atlantic 10 championship for the first time since 1999. UMass finished the 2003 regular season with an 8-1 league record, and tied Delaware for first place in the conference. The Minutemen have won more league titles than any other team in conference history with their 19 championships (1960, '63, '64, '66, '67, '69, '71, '72, '74, '77, '78, '79, '81, '82, '86, '88, '90, '99 and '03).
UMass Stars Earns Preseason Honors
• Five members of the UMass football team have been selected to the 2004 preseason All-Atlantic 10 Conference teams. Junior tailback Steve Baylark, junior free safety Shannon James senior offensive tackle Rob Kane and senior wide receiver Jason Peebler were all selected to the first team in voting by the conference's coaches and media. In addition, senior cornerback Steve Costello earned second team honors. The teams were announced at Atlantic 10 Media Day in Richmond on August 4.
Four Captains In 2004
• This fall, UMass has four captains for the first time since the 1993 season and only the second time in school history. The four players who have been elected to serve as captains this fall are senior cornerback Steve Costello, senior offensive tackle Rob Kane, senior wide receiver Jason Peebler and junior linebacker Serge Tikum. Here is a list of players who have served as captains for the Minutemen over the last 11 years.
Extra Points
• UMass has scored in 112 straight games since a 34-0 loss to Rhode Island on Sept. 30, 1995 ... The Minutemen have scored in 119 consecutive home games since a 17-0 loss to Holy Cross on Sept. 17, 1983.
