UMass was expected to be outmatched by the high-powered Toledo Rockets offense last Saturday. The Minutemen got off to a solid start trailing 10-7 after the first and even taking a 21-17 lead into halftime. However, the game fell apart quickly in the third quarter as Toledo took a commanding 38-24 lead entering the fourth quarter and concluded with a 41-24, Rockets victory.
Despite the loss, there are many quality takeaways for UMass from this game. Kay’ron Lynch-Adams was dominant in the running game including a 47-yard touchdown in the first quarter that began the scoring for the day. Lynch-Adams would finish his day with 162 yards on the ground with 20 carries.
Toledo followed up with a rushing score of their own via Peny Boone who ran for 132 yards and two touchdowns throughout the day. However, Toledo’s rushing attack was led by their starting quarterback, Dequan Finn, who tallied 172 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Finn also took it to the UMass defense through the air adding 139 passing yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
Jerjuan Newton added four catches for 43 yards and two touchdowns. In total, Newton now has nine touchdowns on the season.
The UMass secondary stepped up in the absence of starting cornerbacks, Isaiah Rutherford and Jordan Mahoney. In particular, Juan Lua took over in a starting role and recorded two pass breakups as well as an interception.
Defensively, UMass struggled against the run all day giving up 383 yards total on the ground. It was the most yards given up on the ground since 2019 when UMass gave up 498 yards against Army.
Fifth-year senior safety Noah Boykin was the lone player to record more than one tackle for a loss, but Boykin did record seven tackles to pair with his 2.5 TFLs on the day.
On the other end of the field, UMass had some of their best play of the season. Along with the tremendous game Lynch-Adams had, quarterback Taisun Phommachanh recorded two touchdowns, only one interception and 272 passing yards.
Phommachanh has taken the next step as an athlete and teammate this season, “He’s taken a real leadership role recently and it’s noticeable and it’s effective as well,” head coach Don Brown said.
Phommachanh linked up with George Johnson III for a 31-yard score as well as Anthony Simpson for a 71-yard touchdown.
Simpson tallied seven catches for 140 yards to pair with his touchdown. The Arizona transfer has now tallied 533 yards on the season and has a three game streak with 100+ receiving yards. Simpson now has the ninth most receiving yards across college football.
Despite a lack of offensive firepower in the second half there are still positive takeaways from this game including the exemplary play of Simpson and Lynch-Adams as well as the Minuteman secondary.
UMass will be back in action next weekend against a nationally ranked Penn State. The Minutemen will look to continue the positives in what will be a tough matchup on Saturday.
