Merriweather Carries UMass Past UConn, 27-13

AMHERST, Mass – On the back of a two touchdown, 171-yard day for Ellis Merriweather, University of Massachusetts Football (1-5) defeated UConn (0-7), 27-13 at McGuirk Alumni Stadium on Saturday. Merriweather finished the day with 39 carries, the most for a Minuteman since Marquis Young had 35 at Buffalo on Nov. 27, 2015.

Zamar Wise ran for 64 yards and a TD and Brady Olson was 10-for-22 for 162 yards. Eric Collins paced the UMass receiving corps with 66 yards on three catches, including a 49-yard grab.

Defensively for the Minutemen, Cody Jones racked up nine tackles (6-3) with a sack and 2.0 TFLs. Da'Shon Ross had nine stops (2-7) as well and Bryce Watts and Donte Lindsey both pulled down interceptions, UMass first game with multiple INTs since Nov. 16, 2019.

For the Huskies, Steven Krajewski threw for 128 yards (13-24-2) and Nate Carter ran for 136 on 20 carries. Keelan Marion finished with 80 yards on four receptions, including a touchdown.

After holding UConn to a 3-and-out on its first drive of the day, UMass went 73 yards on 12 plays, capped by a nine-yard touchdown run by Merriweather to give the Minutemen a 7-0 lead with 8:11 to go in the opening quarter.

The Huskies responded by leveling the score on their next possession courtesy of a 34-yard TD grab by Marion at the 7:15 mark. UConn went on to pull in front, 10-7, with a 38-yard field goal by Joe McFadden with 1:56 remaining in the first.

UMass tied the score at 10-10 with a 21-yard field goal by Cameron Carson with 9:27 to go in the third quarter and regained the lead on 28-yard kick by Carson to open the fourth.

The Minutemen made it a two-score game with Merriweather's second trip to the end zone of the day, running the ball in from the one-yard line to put UMass up 20-10 with 12:46 left.

Then McFadden converted a 20-yard field goal to bring UConn back within a touchdown of the Minutemen with 10:07 remaining in the fourth.

However, with 4:54 to go in the final stanza, UMass expanded its lead to 14 to seal the win with a one-yard touchdown run by Wise to complete a 78-yard scoring drive that included a 28-yard grab by Onuma Dieke and a 22-yard run from Merriweather.

The Minutemen will be idle next weekend and will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 23, at Florida State.

Scoreboard

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Team Stats

Brady Olson

Zamar Wise

Players Mentioned

Cameron Carson

Eric Collins

Onuma Dieke

Cody Jones

Donte Lindsey

Ellis Merriweather

Brady Olson

Da'Shon Ross

Bryce Watts

Zamar Wise

Players Mentioned

Cameron Carson

Eric Collins

Onuma Dieke

Cody Jones

Donte Lindsey

Ellis Merriweather

Brady Olson

Da'Shon Ross

Bryce Watts

Zamar Wise

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics