Aug. 30, 2008

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AMHERST, Mass. - Before 15,112 screaming UMass, fans the No. 5 Minutemen downed Albany 28-16 at McGuirk Stadium. The game was the fifth night contest played at the stadium, but the first under the new permanent lights. Junior tailback Tony Nelson gained a career-best 171 yards on the ground along with two touchdowns as the Minutemen fought off a pesky Great Dane squad.

Senior Walter Payton Award candidate Liam Coen was 10-of-20 for 92 yards and three touchdowns. UMass' career passing leader in every category now has 69 career touchdown passes, the most of any QB in FCS.

UMass scored 28 of the game's final 35 points after Albany had built a 9-0 lead after the first quarter.

Jeremy Horne put the icing on the win with a 17-yard touchdown reception from Coen with 11:12 left in the fourth quarter. It was his fourth catch of the game also a career-high.

The Minutemen rolled off 21 points in a row between the second and third quarters. Nelson scored twice, once on a reception for two yards from senior quarterback Liam Coen and another on a 64-yard rush just 59 seconds into the second half.

Coen hit Nelson on a short pass to give UMass its first lead of the game, 14-9, with 6:38 left in the first half. Coen got UMass on the board early in the second quarter as he hit tight end Ian Jorgensen on a 2-yard pass with 11:39 left in the first half. That cut the Albany lead to 9-7.

Albany jumped out early on a bevy of screen passes against UMass' vaunted defense. The Great Danes, who were blanked 40-0 in the teams' first meeting in 2005, got on the board for the first time on their first series of the game. Quarterback Vinny Esposito threw a short pass to back David McCarty, who outran Minuteman defenders for a 52-yard touchdown, 2:53 into the game.

The Great Danes expanded to a 9-0 on a safety - the fourth in the two games between the teams - as UMass linebacker Anthony Rouzier was penalized for kicking a loose fumble on a punt out the end zone.

The Minuteman defense was solid much of the game as Jeromy Miles and Josh Jennings had interceptions. Jennings led the charge with 13 tackles, a career-high. Miles also racked up 10 tackles, his second-career 10-tackle game and Brian Ellis had a career-high 10 stops as well.

The defense showed its mettle late in the first half as they stopped Albany on a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line - without a score. The defense stopped McCarty on a pair of rushes and held Esposito down on a rush and an incomplete pass.

UMass travels to Holy Cross next week for an inter-state match-up at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 6.

Game Notes
UMass has won seven season openers in a row with the win.

UMass is now 5-0 all-time in home night games and 6-0 in games under lights at McGuirk Stadium. All five games night games have drawn more than 10,000 with an average of 13,437.

The crowd of 15,112 is the second-largest for a season opener for UMass. The record of 16,405 came in the 2004 opener against Colgate (9/11/04).

Over the last 10 season openers, UMass is averaging 11,951 fans.

Tony Nelson's 64-yard rush was the longest run by a UMass player since R.J. Cobbs had an 84-yard rush against Delaware (11/2/02).

Nelson went over the 100-yard mark for the second time in his career. He previously had 104 against Maine (9/22/07).

Brett Arnold had his seventh-career punt of more than 55 yards with a 56-yard boot in the third quarter.

Jeromy Miles had his fifth career interception and third while at UMass in the second quarter.

Korrey Davis had seven carries as a true freshman. Last season, UMass did not play a true freshmen.

Brandon White had his first-career carry on a 4-yard rush in the second quarter.

UMass was shutout in the first quarter for the first time since Oct. 13, 2007, when they were blanked in the first half against Villanova. UMass trailed 6-0, but came back to win 32-24 in four overtimes.

Albany was credited with a safety in the first quarter, marking the first safety against UMass since the season opener vs. Holy Cross (9/1/07).

Also, with the safety, UMass and Albany have combined for four safeties in the two meetings.

Albany scored its first points against UMass on a first-quarter touchdown by David McCarty, who grabbed a 52-yard TD pass from Vinny Esposito. UMass beat Albany 40-0 in the only other meeting on Sept. 17, 2005.