.png&type=webp)
University of Massachusets Athletics
UMass Football Postgame Notes vs. Vanderbilt
September 13, 2014 | Football
Recap | Box Score | Quotes
UMass Football Postgame Notes
Vanderbilt 34, Massachusetts 31
Vanderbilt Stadium, Nashville, Tenn.
Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014
Attendance: 33,386
1: The University of Massachusetts football team played its first road game of the season at Vanderbilt on Saturday, Sept. 13. The Minutemen fell to the Commodores, 34-31.
2: The contest marked the third consecutive season UMass faced Vanderbilt, which included two trips to Nashville, Tenn., and one game at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass.
3: UMass' 69 combined points in the Colorado and Vanderbilt games are the most scored in back-to-back games since moving up to the FBS.
4: The game marked the third consecutive for Massachusetts against a member of the "Power 5" conferences. UMass started the season against Boston College (ACC) and Colorado (Pac-12) before the Minutemen faced Vanderbilt (SEC). UMass continues its season at Penn State (Big Ten) with a game on Saturday, Sept. 20.
5: Rodney Mills had a pair of touchdown receptions in the first half giving UMass a 14-0 lead. He has a touchdown reception in each of the last two games and three overall this season. His second touchdown catch of the first half was on a 53-yard fake punt. His 76 yards receiving for the game were a career high.
6: Mills caught one of his touchdown passes on a fake-punt pass from graduate student punter Brian McDonald. The former quarterback and punter during his previous high school and college years tossed his first touchdown pass since Oct. 15, 2011, which came against Massachusetts-Maritime when he played for Fitchburg State.
7: Trey Dudley-Giles had an interception and a 74-yard kickoff return to highlight the first half. The interception was the first of his career, while the 74-yard kickoff was his career long. Dudley-Giles added four tackles in the secondary and forced a fumble.
8: Tajae Sharpe paced UMass with eight receptions totaling 73 yards. Through three games, Sharpe leads the Minutemen with 15 grabs and 246 yards (16.4 yards per catch).
9: Linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox led both sides with 15 tackles for the third consecutive week. Now with 42 tackles as a junior in 2014, Santos-Knox has surpassed his previous career-high of 32, set as a freshman in 2012 and equaled as a sophomore in 2013.
10: Junior safety Joe Colton followed Santos-Knox with 12 tackles, including six solo stops. Colton recorded his second career sack against the Commodores and finished the game with 2.5 tackles for loss. His 12 stops fell one shy of tying Colton's single-game career-high, which was earned against Boston College in the season-opener.
11: Graduate student quarterback Blake Frohnapfel finished 17-for-34 passing for 205 yards and a touchdown without an interception.
12: Lorenzo Woodley scored a pair of rushing touchdowns, a single-game career-best, as part of a 22-carry afternoon for the sophomore running back. Woodley added 41 yards over two receptions to finish the day with 84 total yards.
13: UMass' opening drive touchdown was the first time since the 2013 game against Maine (Sept. 7 at Gillette) that the Minutemen scored a TD on the opening drive.
14: The Minutemen wore white helmets, white jerseys and maroon pants during their first road game of the season.