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This Saturday, the Massachusetts Minutemen are hoping to patch up the holes in a defense that has allowed an average of 47.2 points per matchup. The Minutemen and the Connecticut Huskies will face off in an FBS Independents battle at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at Warren P. McGuirk Alumni Stadium. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W.'
It's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 45-7, which was the final score in Massachusetts' tilt against the Toledo Rockets last week. UMass was in a tough position by the half, with the score already sitting at 31 to nothing. One thing holding UMass back was the mediocre play of RB Kay'Ron Adams, who did not have his best game: he rushed for 23 yards on 12 carries.
Since the offense as a whole struggled to get points on the board, UMass' defense had to pick up the slack, as it got past Toledo's offensive line to sack the quarterback four times for a total loss of 13 yards. Leading the way was DL Josh Atwood and his two sacks. Those were the first sacks for Atwood this season.
Meanwhile, it was a hard-fought contest, but UConn had to settle for a 30-28 defeat against the Vanderbilt Commodores last week. QB Steven Krajewski put forth a good effort for the losing side as he passed for two TDs and 265 yards on 34 attempts in addition to rushing for one TD and 42 yards.
Special teams collected ten points for the Huskies. K Joe McFadden delivered a perfect 3-for-3 game.
The Minutemen are expected to lose this next one by 3.5. Those betting on them against the spread shouldn't have high expectations for them since the squad is 1-3 ATS when expected to lose.
UMass found themselves the reluctant recipients of an unpleasant 56-35 punch to the gut against UConn when the teams previously met two seasons ago. Can UMass avenge their loss, or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll soon find out.
