Massachusetts Escapes BYU With 16-10 Defensive Slugfest Victory

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Massachusetts	0	3	13	0	16
BYU	0	0	3	7	10

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Massachusetts

BYU

PROVO, Utah – The Massachusetts football defense picked off four BYU passes and accumulated seven sacks as the Minutemen escaped BYU's LaVell Edwards Stadium with a 16-10 victory over the Cougars on Saturday afternoon. The Maroon and White improved to 4-7 on the season with the victory while BYU dropped to 3-9.

Bryton Barr and Jesse Monteiro paved the way for a stout defensive performance. Monteiro earned a game-high eight tackles, including 1.5 sacks for 18 yards lost while Barr added a pair of sacks among five tackles. Isaiah Rodgers played lock-down defense at cornerback with three pass breakups and seven tackles.

Andrew Ford finished 21-of-35 overall with a touchdown, while Ford did not throw an interception. Andy Isabella was the most frequent target as the 5-foot-10 pass-catcher tallied seven receptions for 84 yards, including a 40-yard touchdown strike.

Logan Laurent went 3-of-4 on field goals, with makes of 28, 34 and 35 yards. Laurent also averaged 46.6 yards per punt over seven attempts and sent all five of his kickoffs for touchbacks.

Defense dominated the first quarter as the teams combined for just 96 yards of total offense (UMass 65, BYU 31).

Despite the lack of ball movement, Massachusetts earned the first scoring opportunity as Lee Moses jumped a route and hauled in his fourth interception of the year at the BYU 38-yard line. With green space in front of him, Moses returned his pickoff for 13 yards and set the Minutemen up at the 25 yard line.

Three plays later, Laurent lined up for a 43-yard field goal attempt from the right hash mark, but pushed his try left of the goal posts as the score stayed knotted at zero.

BYU worked into the UMass half of the field once during the opening quarter, but Da'Sean Downey silenced the drive with his team-leading 19th TFL of the season. Downey's nine-yard sack dropped BYU back to its own 47-yard line and led to a punt two plays later.

Massachusetts finally broke the scoreless tie during the second quarter as Laurent capped a season-best 16-play drive covering 74 yards with a 34-yard conversion. Ford's accuracy during the series created the points opportunity as he went 10-of-12 for 75 yards with completions to six different receivers.

The Minutemen held BYU scoreless on the half with a last-minute defensive stand.

With BYU operating at the UMass 39-yard line in a 1st-and-10 situation, the UMass defense forced back-to-back incompletions, including a 3rd down pass breakup from Rodgers, as the Cougars opted to punt with 13 seconds remaining in the half.

The Minutemen finally earned a trip to the endzone with the opening drive of the third quarter as Ford connected with Isabella on a 40-yard touchdown strike. It was Isabella's ninth scoring grab of the season and Ford's 18th passing touchdown. The play moved Isabella into a tie for fifth all-time on the single-season touchdown reception list with four additional Minutemen.

UMass added back-to-back field goal conversions from Laurent as the Minutemen bumped their lead to 16-0 with less than five minutes to go in the third quarter. It earned Laurent his third game with a career-high-tying three made field goals in the last four contests (Appalachian State, at No. 21 Mississippi State).

A Rhett Almond field goal brought BYU back within 16-6 before the end of the third quarter while the Cougars made it interesting in the fourth quarter as their defense held UMass scoreless as BYU clawed back within a touchdown of the Minutemen.

Critchlow hit Matt Bushman for a touchdown in the final minute and cut the UMass advantage to 16-10, but Malik Lee recovered the Cougars' on-side kick and Massachusetts held on for the victory.

Massachusetts wraps up the 2017 season with a trip to Florida International University (FIU) on Sat., Dec. 2. Kickoff and television broadcast information have yet to be made available.

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