To commemorate the 10th anniversary of UMass' Division I-AA Championship in 1998, I'm rerunning the game story from each game from that season in its corresponding week this year.  I'll add some commentary on the old articles in in italics.

This game was the morning after Larry Bird's Hall of Fame induction, which I covered. So I drove to Hempstead very late and was pretty exhausted, but the game was pretty memorable. This one began UMass' reputation as a team of destiny.

The Minutemen got ranked for the first time afterward. 

The headline was:

A banner day for UMass football

HEMPSTEAD, NY - At halftime, University of Massachusetts quarterback Todd Bankhead's head was being fitted for goat horns. A pair of costly fumbles and his inability to move the Minuteman offense were largely to blame for No. 5 Hofstra's 12-0 lead.

But when freshman receiver Adrian Zullo dove and caught Bankhead's 15-yard pass just inside the goal line with three seconds left in the game, Bankhead's head could have been fitted for a crown.

"Coach told me that if they played man (defense) that we'd go to Jimmy (Moore) and if they had zone we'd go to Adrian," Bankhead said. "I saw the zone and I threw to where I knew Adrian would be and he made a great play."

That touchdown capped a wild game, as UMass (3-1) blocked two punts for touchdowns en route to an upset of the No. 5 Flying Dutchman, 40-35, at Hofstra Stadium.

"This was one of the top five games I've ever been associated with," UMass coach Mark Whipple said. "The second half .. these kind of halves are how you make a champion. It was a great win."

Despite the difference in ranking, Whipple didn't think his unranked squad had pulled off an enormous upset.

"I don't think this was a huge upset," he said. "I never got the feeling that these kids thought they were going to lose the game. During the week there wasn't any trepidation. This was another step for us."

Bankhead finished with 348 yards in the air, including three touchdowns and no interceptions, and ran for a TD as well. After the game, he credited the UMass defense for giving the offense a chance to pull out the comeback.

"The defense was playing great and keeping us in the game," Bankhead said. "I wasn't playing good at all and we needed to step up and make something happen. I'm just appreciative of our defense and our special teams for stepping up."

Adding to the defense's effort was that it came without captain Khari Samuel, who was sidelined with a deep thigh bruise.

After the UMass offense's dismal first-half performance, the defense took matters into its own hands.

On Hofstra's first possession of the second half, three straight incompletions by QB Giovanni Carmazzi forced the Dutchmen to punt from their own 10-yard-line. Minutemen Dan Healey broke through the Hofstra line and blocked Dan Kralich's kick, sending it rolling backward. Willie Hemmer pounced on it in the endzone to cut Minuteman deficit to 12-7 with 13:02 left in the quarter.

Remember Gio Carmazzi? So good at Hofstra before becoming one of the worst NFL draft picks off all time.

"We worked on going after punts all week," said Healey. "We thought they were kind of soft in their punt protection. A seam just opened up and I went threw it and blocked it."

An unsportsmanlike conduct call on Minuteman Mike Smith extended the following Hofstra drive that otherwise would have ended in a punt from near midfield. Three plays later Carmazzi hit Wayne Yearwood in the endzone to build their lead to 19-7.

The Minuteman offense finally came to life on the next drive. Moving 83 yards on 12 plays, Marcel Shipp caught a pass from Bankhead just inside the Hofstra 20-yard-line and eluded tacklers on his way to the endzone, bringing UMass within five, 19-14, with just over seven minutes left in the period.

After Carmazzi briefly grabbed momentum back with a 76-yard bootleg touchdown, the Minutemen went back to work. Starting at its own 10, UMass mixed Bankhead passes and Shipp runs to push the ball to the Hofstra 32. With 3:31 left in the third, Bankhead tossed a short dump-off pass to Shipp, who made his way into the endzone, making the score 25-21.

Chad Johnson's 41-yard (not that Chad Ocho Cinco) field goal salvaged a disappointing drive for the Dutchmen to start the fourth quarter and the Hofstra defense then stuffed the Minutemen on a fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard-line.

But the Minutemen special teams turned a good performance into an historic one three plays later. Three straight Carmazzi incompletions from the 3-yard line brought out the punting unit and this time Nelson Ovailes made the block and Bryan King smothered it for the game-tying score. It marked the first time ever UMass had blocked two punts in a game.

Kralich learned his lesson on Hofstra's next drive. When the snap came to him wobbling, he tried to run with it rather than risk another block. But Healey and King snuffed him, giving UMass the ball at the Hofstra 32.

Bankhead's 23-yard pass to Jimmy Moore brought UMass to the 9-yard line and the quarterback's bootleg from 2 yards out gave the Minutemen their first lead, 34-28.

Matt Murphy's missed extra-point left the door open for the Dutchmen, however and they sneaked through on a Carmazzi 44-yard TD pass to Vaughn Sanders. It tied the game and Johnson's extra-point put Hofstra ahead 35-34 with 3:21 remaining, giving UMass 2:57 to mount one-more attack.

UMass ran the three-minute drill to perfection. Its final drive gobbled 73 yards on 12 plays. Moore (11 catches, 164 yards) made four grabs for 59 yards in UMass' last possession. He was double-covered on the last play, freeing up Zullo.

Shipp finished with 146 yards on 27 carries, after a tough start. He had an early fumble deep in UMass territory and was stopped in the end zone for a safety in the first half. Bankhead's two fumbles directly led to a field goal and a touchdown by Hofstra that gave the hosts a 12-0 lead at halftime.

"This was a great game for UMass," Whipple said. "I was really proud of our kids because we were offensively nonexistent in the first half and I didn't see that much panic. When you play that poorly and you're only down 12-0 you have to credit the defense."

...10 years since that game...