UMass Football Downed At Bowling Green, 28-7

Oct. 5, 2013

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - In its first Mid-American Conference game of the season, the University of Massachusetts football team dropped a 28-7 contest at Bowling Green's Doyt Perry Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Running back Jamal Wilson led the ground attack with a career-high 119 yards on 20 carries to average 5.9 yards per rush. The strong performance by Wilson marked the redshirt-sophomore's first career game with at least 100 yards rushing.

Quarterback A.J. Doyle finished 4-for-17 for 20 yards while Mike Wegzyn added a 7-for-8 performance with 76 yards, a touchdown and one interception. Wide receiver Tajae Sharpe hauled in his third career touchdown as part of a three reception, 38-yard day.

On defense, Devin Brown finished with 10 tackles to lead both sides. Linebacker Stanley Andre added nine stops and a pass breakup. Defensive lineman Justin Anderson secured a pair of sacks as part of a five-tackle afternoon.

Travis Greene led Bowling Green with 160 yards on 22 carries. Falcons quarterback Matt Johnson was 11-for-20 with 166 yards and three touchdowns. Heath Jackson, Ronnie Moore and Tyler Beck each recorded one touchdown reception. Justin Ford led the Bowling Green defense with seven stops while Gabe Martin added six takedowns with an assisted tackle-for-loss.

The Minutemen totaled 280 yards on offense, including 184 rushing and 96 through the air, and notched 15 first downs. Doyle and Wegzyn combined to finished 11-for-25 passing with 65 yards rushing on 11 carries.

Bowling Green finished with 448 yards of offense, including 232 rushing and 256 receiving. The Falcons earned 21 first downs while averaging 5.4 yards per play.

The Falcons broke the scoreless tie with a pair of second quarter touchdowns. Moore took a short pass from Johnson for 51 yards to notch the first points of the game with 7 minutes, 51 remaining in the half. William Houston added a goal line plunge for the Falcons with 1:15 left in the half to create the 14-0 lead at the break.

Bowling Green added to its lead with a five play, 56-yard drive spanning two minutes, 35 seconds during the second quarter. To cap the sequence, Johnson completed a pass to Beck near the right sideline, with Beck racing into the endzone to push the Falcons lead to 21-0.

After Bowling Green added another touchdown to go ahead, 28-0, UMass answered with one of its own. Wegzyn led a 10-play, 71-yard drive spanning 6:02 of game action for the score, hitting Sharpe from 24 yards out for the touchdown with 4:34 left to play.

The first quarter featured defensive stands by both sides as the Minutemen and Falcons exchanged possessions without reaching the endzone.

On the opening drive of the game, Andre broke up a third down pass to force the Falcon's to punt. During the stanza, a pair of sacks by the UMass defense proved key to the Minutemen holding Bowling Green scoreless during the frame.

Quayshun Smith dropped Johnson for a seven-yard loss on third-and-five at the Bowling Green 47 yard line. Anderson added a four-yard sack on first-and-10 for BGSU during their ensuing drive to help the Minutemen stall a Bowling Green drive near midfield.

Anderson went on to record his second sack of the afternoon in the fourth quarter, as the graduate student from Blythewood, S.C., dropped Johnson eight yards behind the line of scrimmage. The sack forced Bowling Green into a fourth-and-10 situation at the UMass 29 yard line. On the ensuing play, D'Metrius Williams broke up a pass intended for Chris Gallon in the endzone to give the ball back to the Minutemen offense with 10:36 left in the contest.

The Minutemen return to action at Gillette Stadium against Miami (Ohio) in Foxboro, Mass., on Saturday, Oct. 12, at 3 p.m.

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Mike Wegzyn

A.J. Doyle

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University of Massachusets Athletics