 "Photo: Michael Phillis/Collegian")
When your team is as successful as the Massachusetts football team has been recently, the all-time statistics lists change more often than the names on the back of the jerseys.
Add another adjustment after Saturday's win over Maine. Wide receiver J.J. Moore caught seven balls against the Black Bears for 71 yards. Moore now has 25 receptions this season, giving him 130 in his career at UMass, good enough for third best in UMass history.
Moore passed UMass running back Marcel Shipp (1997-2000), who caught 126 passes out of the backfield during his record-breaking career.
Moore was tied for fourth on the list with Jason Peebler's (2001-2004) entering Saturday's contest with 123 career receptions.
Next on the list for Moore to catch is 2006 alumnus, Brandon London. The wide receiver is second on the all-time list with 148 career receptions. Moore will need about three catches per game the rest of the season to pass London. He's currently averaging more than six.
Adrian Zullo (1998-2002) is far and away the Maroon and White's all-time reception leader with 187 over four years. Moore will need 58 catches over the final seven games (not including possible postseason games) to become the top pass-catcher for UMass.
Coach 'em up
While UMass coach Don Brown was in Maine leading the Minutemen to their fourth win of the season, Norwich University was honoring him by inducting Brown to the school's Athletic Hall of Fame.
Brown graduated from the military academy in 1977 and was a four-year letterwinner in football and a two-year letterwinner in basketball.
Norwich honored him for his career as a football coach, not just his accomplishments while attending the school, though he was a celebrated athlete. He was the starting running back and team co-captain his senior year.
After leaving Norwich, Brown began his road toward becoming head coach at UMass as an assistant coach at Hartford High School in White River Junction, Vt., for five years. From there, Brown jumped to the collegiate level as an assistant at Dartmouth in 1982 and at Mansfield University (Penn.), in 1983. Brown returned to Dartmouth as defensive coordinator from 1984-86.
Five years at Yale followed, where Brown was the defensive coordinator for the 1989 Ivy League champions. Brown was then head coach at Plymouth State (N.H.) from 1993-1995, winning two Freedom Conference championships, before spending two years as Brown's defensive coordinator and two years at the same position at UMass in 1998 and '99.
From 2000-03, Brown was head coach at Northeastern, winning one Atlantic 10 title in 2002. In 2004, Brown returned to UMass as head coach, leading the team to the NCAA championship game in 2006, his third year at the helm.
Because Brown was in Orono, Maine, at the time of the induction, his wife, Deborah, accepted the honor on his behalf.
First time in a long time
UMass is 4-0 for the first time since 1986 when the Minutemen, under head coach Jim Reid, defeated conference rivals James Madison, Richmond, Northeastern and Rhode Island before falling to Delaware in Week 5, 41-13.
The Maroon and White went on to finish the season 8-3 and win the Yankee Conference championship with a league record of 5-2.
The only better start to a season came in 1990, also under Reid, when UMass went undefeated until the final game of the season, a 36-18 loss to New Hampshire.
The Minutemen tied Holy Cross, 10-10, in the season opener, then ripped off eight consecutive victories before losing to UNH. UMass reached the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs, falling in the first round, 38-0, to William & Mary.
Running back and forth
In Saturday's 38-7 rout of Maine, Matt Lawrence ¬¬(176 yards on 20 carries) and Tony Nelson (104 on 18) each eclipsed the century mark in rushing. The Minutemen totaled 289 yards on the ground in the game.
The tandem performance by Lawrence and Nelson was the first time UMass had two backs over 100 yards in one game since Steve Baylark and Rich Demers did so in 2003 in a 30-17 victory over Richmond.
In that game, the Minutemen stepped all over the Spiders for 258 yards rushing. Baylark led the way with 145 yards on 21 carries, and Demers was not far behind, with 128 yards on 18 carries.
Both Lawrence and Nelson had runs over 60 yards. Lawrence's came on the Minutemen's second offensive play, a 62-yard romp up the middle. Lawrence was hit at the line but never hit the ground, breaking several tackles before torching the secondary, which never had a chance to catch him.
Nelson's big run came on the final possession for UMass. With the game already out of hand at 31-7, Nelson broke off a 61-yard run, starting at the UMass 30-yard line. Nelson broke free and appeared to have a touchdown but was chased down at the Maine nine. UMass scored three plays later on a 5-yard Breyone Evans touchdown run to ice the game, 38-7.
Trusting your leg
UMass placekicker Chris Koepplin kicked the seventh 40-yard field goal of his career, with a 45-yard kick at the end of the first quarter against Maine.
Koepplin tied his career long in the season opener against Holy Cross, splitting the uprights from 48-yards out. The senior booted a 48-yarder last season against Stony Brook in a 48-7 win. He also made a 41-yarder in that game.
Jeremy Rice can be reached at jeremyr@student.umass.edu.
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