You know what they say about payback.

Just shy of 10 months after the Massachusetts football team saw its 2003 season come to a bitter end on the snow-covered turf of Andy Kerr Stadium, the Minutemen finally had there crack at the Colgate Red Raiders on a clear and even playing field, and the results were distinctly different than the 19-7 loss that bounced UMass from the Division I-AA playoffs.

With a raucous crowd of 16,405 – the largest to watch a football game on the UMass campus in 30 years – nearly filling Warren P. McGuirk Alumni Stadium for the university’s second-ever night game, the 14th-ranked Minutemen scored the game’s first two touchdowns and never looked back, shutting down No. 4 Colgate 30-20 to improve to 2-0 under new coach Don Brown.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you our guys were looking forward to this one,” UMass (2-0) head coach Don Brown said. “From the day I was hired we had this one circled on the calendar.

“I told the guys that I was going to have them ready and prepared to play. We went out and had a great week of preparation and we came out and played at a very high level tonight and did what we wanted to do.

“Every time they delivered a blow, we hung in there and delivered a counter blow.”

“It had nothing to do with last season,” Colgate coach Dick Biddle said. “I’m sure they (UMass) were using it as motivation, but we just got beat.”

“UMass was obviously motivated, but we hung in there.”

Wide receiver Jason Peebler was once again the offensive star for the Maroon and White, catching four passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns, including a highlight reel run-after-the-catch on a 58 yard scoring strike in the fourth quarter.

The senior is now third all-time in career receiving yards at UMass with 1,624 and ninth overall in career receptions with 84. When asked if he felt the results of Saturday night’s game should have taken the place of what transpired back in November, UMass’ captain did not hesitate.

“Definitely. We have a better team, a better coach, better schemes and better players. We showed that tonight.”

Junior tailback Steve Baylark also had a banner day for the Minutemen, carrying 18 times for 124 yards and two touchdowns in outgaining the ‘Gate’s Walter Payton Award winner Jamaal Branch for the second time in as many meetings.

After being held to just 59 yards in the previous meeting between the two teams, Branch again struggled against the Minutemen in picking up just 62 yards on 23 carries.

With their running game being rendered ineffective, the Raiders were thus forced to go to the air. Senior quarterback Chris Brown completed 27-of-48 passes for 272 yards and a touchdown, but was intercepted three times.

On the other side, UMass junior quarterback Tim Day was 13-of-22 for 258 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and was intercepted twice.

Leading 17-10 at the start of the second half, UMass took control of the game for good on its second possession when Day hit Peebler with a 50-yard touchdown pass that made the score 23-10 following a botched extra point.

The Red Raiders answered back with a field goal to cut the lead to 23-13 at the 2:20 mark of the third quarter, but Peebler added to the Minutemen’s advantage when he took a third down screen pass from Day and scampered 58 yards for his second touchdown to push the advantage to 30-13 with 14:45 to play in the game.

Colgate then returned the favor, but became its own enemy in the process, using 8:30 to march 80 yards before Branch plunged in from a yard out to narrow the margin to 30-20 with 6:15 remaining.

The Maroon and White got out of the gates running in the first quarter. Baylark capped a seven-play, 57-yard drive when he found the end zone from 32 yards out to give UMass a 7-0 lead just over 11 minutes in.

The Apopka, Fla. native then followed that up with a 13-yard touchdown scamper just before the start of the second quarter to make the score 14-0.

The Raiders did not go away, however, as Dick Biddle’s squad came up with 10 consecutive points to tighten things up. A Lane Schwarzburg 21-yard field goal with just over two minutes to play in the half made the score 14-3, and after UMass sophomore wide receiver Brandon London lost a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, the Raiders narrowed the gap even further.

Taking over at the Minutemen’s 42-yard line, Brown needed only four plays to find senior wideout Luke Graham with a 31-yard touchdown pass.