Football Returns To McGuirk Alumni Stadium For Homecoming On Saturday

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS FOOTBALL WEEKLY RELEASE
Game Seven	Massachusetts (0-6 overall) vs. Georgia Southern (0-5)
Date \| Time	Saturday, Oct. 21 \| 3:30 p.m. (ET)
Location	McGuirk Alumni Stadium
Series History	Series tied, 1-1. Last meeting: Georgia Southern 38, Massachusetts 21; Dec. 4, 1999
Game Notes	Massachusetts \| Georgia Southern \| Sun Belt Conference
Live Statistics	Sidearm Sports
Listen (Online) Listen (Radio)	105.5 FM WEEI \| TuneIn Radio App (Josh Maurer & Peter Brock) 105.5 WEEI FM (Western Massachusetts/Springfield), 95.9 FM (South Shore), 830 AM (WCRN)
Tickets	866-UMASS-TIX \| Buy Online
Watch	Eleven Sports \| NESNplus \| UMass All-Access
Team Information	Massachusetts \| Georgia Southern
Twitter	@UMassFootball \| @UMassAthletics \| @CoachWhipUMass
Instagram	UMass Football \| UMass Athletics
Gameday Events	Homecoming \| Breast Cancer Awareness
Honorary Captain	Nancy Kelleher, UMass Class of 1971 Cancer survivor & Breast Cancer Research Foundation Advisory Board member
Promotional Items & Gameday Events	Pink pom-poms and UMass football luggage tags Homecoming \| Breast Cancer Awareness Game

Ford Could Take A Lesson On Reliability From Ford
UMass football quarterback Andrew Ford has at least one touchdown pass in each of his last 16 games played. This streak ranks Ford fifth in the nation for consecutive games with a touchdown pass. Ahead of Ford are Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma, 32 games), Chase Litton (Marshall, 28), Trace McSorley (Penn State, 21) and Brent Stockstill (Middle Tennessee, 18). It also represents every game of Ford's career with a pass attempt.

Keep It 100
Three UMass football receivers have games with 100 or more receiving yards in 2017, including tight end Adam Breneman and wide receivers Andy Isabella and Sadiq Palmer. Breneman has three games each with 100 or more yards, against Hawai'i (179), at Coastal Carolina (126) and versus Ohio (131). Isabella eclipsed 100 yards at Coastal Carolina (101) and against Old Dominion (105). Palmer did so at Temple (117).

Massachusetts ranks tied for the fourth-most receivers with 100 or more yards in a game this season alongside Louisiana Tech, SMU, Virginia and Washington State. Oklahoma State and Louisiana each have four while Arizona State leads the nation with five.

Bombs Away vs. The Bobcats
Massachusetts put up rare passing numbers against the Ohio Bobcats, completing the game with 403 yards through the air (33-of-58 passing). It is the first instance of 400 passing yards in one game for the Minutemen since the team put up 486 at Bowling Green on Oct. 10, 2015. Andrew Ford had 390 - a career high - of those 403 yards while Ross Comis had the remaining 13.

Ford Learned His Lesson Early
UMass quarterback Andrew Ford threw a tipped-ball interception on his first pass attempt of the season. Ford followed with 168 pass attempts without an interception over the remainder of the Hawai'i game (21-of-30 total), at Coastal Carolina (25-of-41), vs. Old Dominion (21-of-32), at Temple (23-of-37), at Tennessee (11-of-17) and against Ohio (6-of-12) before the Bobcats picked off Ford on a tipped ball in the second quarter.

He sports a 148.50 passer rating this season and is 133-for-211 overall (63.0 completion percentage) with 1,723 yards and 12 touchdown passes.

Only one other player across NCAA Division I FBS have two or fewer interceptions thrown with as many or more pass attempts: NC State's Ryan Finley (172-248-0).

Breneman Starts 2017 With A Bang
Second-year graduate student tight end Adam Breneman began the 2017 season with 36 receptions covering 500 yards, an average of 13.9 gained per catch, against the Hawai'i, Coastal Carolina, Old Dominion, Temple, Tennessee and Ohio defenses. Twenty-one of his receptions went for first downs, while eight of them covered 20 or more yards. The 179 receiving yards versus Hawai'i went as the third-most by a tight end in program history (Jean Sifrin, 185 vs. Toledo, Oct. 25, 2014; Milt Morin, 181 vs. Vermont, Oct. 30, 1965).

Finding Gaps
The Massachusetts defense has 29.0 TFLs over the last three games with 11.0 at Temple, a single-game season high of 12.0 at Tennessee and 6.0 more against Ohio. Prior to the three most recent contests, the UMass defense had 11.0 TFLs total over the opening three games (5.0 vs. Hawai'i, 2.0 at Coastal Carolina, 3.0 vs. Old Dominion).

During the last three games, 13 different Minutemen recorded at least an assisted-TFL, while seven of those defensive players earned at least 0.5 TFLs in two of the three games. Defensive end Da'Sean Downey led the team with 5.0 TFLs in that span, followed by 4.0 from linebacker Jarell Addo.

Safety Play At The Line
Starting safety Jesse Monteiro has 1.5 TFLs in each of the last two games for a total of 12 yards lost. They represent 3.0 of his 3.5 TFLs on the season, with the remaining assisted stop coming on a sack against Hawai'i during the season-opener. His 3.5 TFLs are more than the rest of the secondary combined (2.0; 1.0 by Isaiah Rodgers and 1.0 vs. Tyler Hayes).

[Insert Prayer Hands Emoji Here]
UMass football recorded its first safety as an FBS program against Ohio. In the third quarter, a bad snap by the Bobcats landed in the endzone, which Ohio recovered for the safety. The last time UMass had a safety was against Central Connecticut on Oct. 8, 2011.

Whipple Approaches All-Time Wins Record
Head coach Mark Whipple is three wins away from moving into first all-time in UMass history for career victories. Whipple owns 57 triumphs over his two tenures as the program's leader (1998- 2003; '14-present).

Vic Fusia (1961-70) currently ranks first in UMass football history with 59 victories. Whipple is one of five coaches in team history with at least five winning seasons. Fusia leads the way with eight while Don Brown (2004-08), Harold "Kid" Gore (1919-27), Mel Taube (1931-35) and Whipple each have five.

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