UMass football improves to 3-0 with Saturday win over Stonehill

The University of Massachusetts football team may be 3-0 for the first time in nearly two decades. In the eyes of head coach Joe Harasymiak, the Minutemen are still a work in progress.

"Certainly, we won the game. Anytime you can win in college football, you're extremely happy about that," he said. "I told them we're happy with the result, just not really happy with how we got there at times."

Saturday's 36-14 win over FCS Stonehill at McGuirk Alumni Stadium might have been described as workman-like.

It was a game where the Minutemen actually trailed for the first time since the opening drive in the opening-night win over Rutgers. Like the win over the Scarlet Knights, the Minutemen responded with 30 unanswered points, outscoring Stonehill 23-7 in the second half to win going away.

On the day, UMass had 355 yards in total offense to only 161 for the Skyhawks. The Minutemen ran 32 of their 60 offensive plays in the Stonehill half of the field. The Skyhawks held the ball for 10 minutes and 37 seconds of the second quarter but, unfortunately for them, did not score. UMass came back in the third quarter, controlled the ball for 11:40 and scored 10 points to lock up the victory.

It was 13-7 at halftime. UMass took the third-quarter kickoff and drove 59 yards in 10 plays for what turned out to be a back-breaking touchdown. The Minutemen were 1 for 2 on third-down conversions in that drive and 1 for 1 on fourth down. It was fourth-and-2 on the Stonehill 26 when quarterback Pop Watson III found tight end Reece Adkins on the Skyhawks' 9-yard line, and the receiver got the ball to the 1. On the next play, Curtis Kimmons IV powered his way into the end zone, and that was that.

"We really haven't faced a storm yet, per se. We had one at halftime there," Harasymiak said to reporters in the postgame press conference. "We responded. We did what we had to do to go win that game. I'd be remiss. That team played their [butts] off. Credit to coach [Eli] Gardner. That's what they showed on film. They could have been 3-0 coming into this game and could have won this one."

The Minutemen got on the board first after Will DePaepe forced a fumble and T.J. Magee recovered, giving the Minutemen the ball on the Stonehill 17-yard line. The drive stalled and Derek Morris booted a 30-yard field goal.

Stonehill responded with a six-play, 75-yard drive with quarterback Jack O'Connell throwing a 13-yard touchdown pass to Alijah Turner. The kick put Stonehill up 7-3.

If UMass lost the momentum on that drive, they gained it right back thanks to offensive coordinator Max Warner, Pop Watson III and T.Y. Harding. Facing second-and-10 on the UMass 44, the UMass quarterback took the snap and pitched back to Harding on an end around. The quarterback got out as the lead blocker and Harding went 56 yards for the score. The PAT kick made it 10-7.

"Pop's a tough dude," Harding said with a laugh. "He isn't your typical quarterback. He likes contact. I trusted him, just like every guy out there. When I saw him out there blocking, you know what, I'm just going to run by him."

The Minutemen begin their Mid-American Conference schedule this Saturday night against new affiliate member Sacramento State. Sacramento State is 1-3, with its only win coming over FCS Mississippi Valley State.

The Hornets are coming off a 31-10 thrashing at home by new FBS member North Dakota State. The Hornets are 0-1 in MAC play, having lost to Eastern Michigan 28-17 in the season opener.