The UMass Minutemen and Maine Black Bears meet Saturday afternoon in week 11 college football action from McGuirk Alumni Stadium. Maine is coming off a matchup versus Stony Brook. The Black Bears posted a tough loss in that game. As for the Minutemen, they played Rhode Island in their last outing. UMass ended up falling by 13 points there. Check back all season long for free college football picks at Sports Chat Place.
Maine went just 1-4 over their first five games, losing to Delaware, James Madison, Elon and Northern Illinois in that stretch. The Black Bears found their stride from there, and took wins versus William & Mary, Albany and Rhode Island in their next trio.
In the Saturday matchup versus Stony Brook, Maine was down 16-7 at halftime on the way to a 22-17 defeat. The loss torpedoed the Black Bears’ three-game win streak, and pretty much buried any playoff hopes the team may have been hanging on to.
Over on the UMass side, they lost their first five games to Pitt, Boston College, Eastern Michigan, Coastal Carolina and Toledo before getting a win over UConn on October 9. After that it was more losses to Florida State and Liberty.
Last weekend versus Rhode Island, UMass had a 21-16 deficit heading into the break and ultimately couldn’t bridge the gap in a 35-22 defeat. QB Tyler Lytle managed 227 yards with one TD and one pick, while Ellis Merriweather had 30 rushes for 118 yards and a score.
PICK: I’m going to try UMass. The Minutemen kept up with a much better Rhode Island pretty well in their last outing, notching 335 total yards, 5.2 yards per play and 21 first downs. It was a messy game with 18 total penalties, but overall a decent effort from UMass.
As for Maine, they had a chance to overcome Stony Brook with less than 4:00 remaining in the fourth quarter, but a late interception sealed the win for the opposition. It was a game full of missed opportunities and probably should have been a Black Bears win. I don’t think they’ll be able to regroup and cover/win here, but it should be a close game.