Massachusetts Daily Collegian

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A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Jean Sifrin, UMass catch Colorado by surprise

Madeline Parsons/Daily Collegian
Madeline Parsons/Daily Collegian

FOXBORO- When Colorado watched Massachusetts vs. Boston College film from last week, there something missing that the Buffaloes couldn’t prepare for.

That missing piece was 6-foot-7, 250-pound Minutemen tight end Jean Sifrin.

Colorado narrowly avoided a 41-38 UMass upset Saturday and was forced to adjust to the Minutemen’s use of Sifrin on the fly.

“I had no idea (Sifrin) even played,” Buffs free safety Chidobe Awuize said. “We really scouted for (Rodney Mills) and (Marken Michel). They had a great game and he had a catch on me. He can jump pretty high and he’s an incredible player.”

Sifrin started for UMass and appeared in a variety of packages in his first game as a member of the Minutemen. He was cleared this week by the NCAA and had missed all of training camp and the first week of practice.

After failing to connect on their first two attempts, Blake Frohnapfel found a wide-open Sifrin along the sidelines from 12 yards out to give the Minutemen a 10-7 lead with six minutes, seven seconds remaining in the second quarter. It was Sifrin’s first career reception.

“That’s the first time he’s played and he’s a big dude,” Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre said. “One thing we realized after about the third time was that when he came in they were going to throw him the ball.”

With 18 seconds remaining in the first half, Frohnapfel found Sifrin in the end zone again — this time from 14 yards out. This catch, however, was exceptional. With two defenders draped over him, Sifrin made an incredible, one-handed catch that will be in highlight reels across the country.

“Does he play basketball? I’m dead serious,” said MacIntyre with grin on his face. “We didn’t know about him. He wasn’t on the depth chart. He made an acrobatic catch. I thought we were going to pick that. That was an incredible catch.”

Attacking the Minutemen

Colorado’s game plan was simple: hit UMass with a series of “quick-hitters”. The Buffals Pac-12 style of play was a constant throughout the game as it used a series of wide receiver screens and routes to the flats to gash the Minutemen secondary.

Colorado quarterback Sefo Liufau finished the game 26-for-42 for 318-yards, with 3 touchdowns and an interception. Both Liufau and MacIntyre mentioned that the screen game was a focal point going into the game and that at times it mimicked a run game for them. Colorado finished the game with 156 rushing yards.

Still, the Minutemen played their best game of the season thus far. UMass went into the locker room at halftime with a 21-20 lead and saw its lead increase to 31-20 when Jamal Wilson ran it in from two yards out following a Randall Jette interception in the third quarter.

“They played real well. I think they have great program right now,” Liufau said. “They’re a great team and they’re on the rise right now. They have a lot of great players and a lot of hard working guys. You can’t take anything away from them. They gave us a great game and they were in it until the end.”

“They played Boston College off their butt,” MacIntyre said. “I thought they would play hard and I thought they would be better this week than they were last week… I knew (Frohnapfel) would be better today. They got us on a big play at the end of the first half that really boosted their confidence.”

After trailing by 11 with 8:02 remaining in the third, Christian Powell broke into the secondary and scored on a 14-yard run making it a one-possession game trailing 31-27. Powell’s run sparked Colorado’s offense scoring 21 unanswered points before Marken Michel scored on an end-around for the Minutemen with 2:55 remaining.
Colorado opens Pac-12 play next week against Arizona at Folsom Field.

Andrew Cyr can be reached at [email protected], and can be followed on Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.

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