AMHERST, Mass. – Saturday was a sloppy, miserable day at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. And that’s exactly the way the University of Maine football team played.

Massachusetts shackled the struggling Black Bear offense, while the Minutemen capitalized on a handful of momentum-building offensive plays on their way to a 20-10 Atlantic 10 victory over second-ranked Maine.

UMass’ victory on the rain-soaked, chewed-up field snapped UMaine’s six-game winning streak and slowed the 6-1 Bears’ drive toward a possible conference championship. UMaine retains the conference lead at 4-1. The Minutemen improved to 2-1 in league play.

The Bears, who likely will slip significantly in the national polls this week, are 3-20-1 all-time at Amherst. It was UMaine’s first appearance on natural grass after seven straight on artificial surfaces.

UMaine coach Jack Cosgrove made no excuses for the effects of the weather and the soggy field on his team’s lackluster performance.

“[The weather] would be an excuse, and I’m not about that,” Cosgrove said. “They beat us fair and square.”

He did not sense his team was in any way looking past UMass.

“We’re in a tough league and each and every week we’re in new territory for our program,” Cosgrove said. “To see a team get so excited about beating Maine, that didn’t happen three or four years ago.”

The outcome came down to the Bears’ inability to move the football consistently. UMaine turned the ball over three times and managed only 211 total yards.

The Bears don’t plan to let the setback permanently derail their quest for the A-10 title and a postseason berth.

“We’ve been handling adversity pretty well all year this year,” said senior quarterback Jake Eaton, who completed only 12 of 35 passes for 103 yards.

“It’s a bump in that long road of college football,” he added. “We’re 6-1; it could be a lot worse. It’s a tough loss, things happen and we’ll just have to go back to the drawing board, try to get things going, try to get on a roll again.”

While UMass accumulated only 295 offensive yards, the hosts broke several long gainers that set up or accounted for their 20 points. Quarterback Jeff Krohn (12-for-22, 176 yards, 2 TDs) completed seven passes for 15 or more yards as the Bears had difficulty covering slippery wideout Adrian Zullo (6 catches, 104 yards, 2 TDs).

“They’ve got some experience outside and they had time to throw the football, which is something else we didn’t do a great job of, putting pressure on them,” Cosgrove said. “I thought they protected pretty well, too.”

UMaine’s only touchdown of the day was set up by a UMass miscue, a high punt snap that gave the Bears the ball at the 8-yard line. Eaton’s 1-yard dive with 11:24 left in the third quarter cut the UMass lead to 13-10.

However, the Minutemen responded on their next possession, moving 62 yards on seven plays to extend the lead to 10 points. This time, a 20-yard completion from Krohn, a transfer from I-A Arizona State, to Joe Bruce set up a Krohn-to-Zullo 20-yard TD hookup on the very next play.

The Bears had ample opportunities to attempt a comeback, but a fumbled center exchange and an interception thwarted two of their final five possessions.

“We did not have consistency today throughout the game on offense,” Cosgrove said. “I don’t know if you can just reach in there and pull it out of your back pocket. We were trying some things, but we were out of rhythm.”

Amherst native Marcus Williams carried 13 times for 94 yards to lead UMaine, but the offensive line was unable to sustain its run blocking.

UMaine took a 3-0 lead on its first possession on Mike Mellow’s 30-yard field goal, but UMass responded with a 73-yard touchdown march. R.J. Cobbs’ 49-yard run on a third-and-28 play set up Krohn’s 1-yard scoring plunge.

The Minutemen made it 13-3 early in the second quarter. This time, a 24-yard throw from Krohn to Cobbs led to a 16-yard TD pass from Krohn to Zullo.

The Bears tried to counter on their ensuing possession, but Mellow’s 30-yard field-goal attempt was low and got blocked at the line of scrimmage.

The UMaine defense, spearheaded by Stephen Cooper’s 12 tackles and interception, had difficulty containing UMass receivers, who often got themselves wide open.

MINUTEMEN 20, BLACK BEARS 10

Maine (6-1) 3 0 7 0 ? 10

UMass (4-2) 7 6 7 0 ? 20

Maine ? FG Mellow 30, 11:09

UMass ? Krohn 1 run (White kick), 7:02

UMass ? Zullo 16 pass from Krohn (kick blocked), 11:36

Maine ? Eaton 1 run (Mellow kick), 11:24

UMass ? Zullo 20 pass from Krohn (White kick), 8:22

Maine UMass

First downs 14 19

Rushes-yards 31-108 44-119

Passing 103 176

Comp-Att-Int 12-35-2 12-22-1

Return Yards 0 12

Punts-Avg. 4-37 4-36.5

Fumbles-Lost 4-1 5-1

Penalties-Yards 5-35 10-88

Time of Possession 30:04 29:56

Rushing

Maine: Williams 13-94, Eaton 15-14, Henry 3-0. Massachusetts: Cobbs 18-112, Rosario 13-53, Hardy 4-10, Krohn 7-(minus 19), Team 2-(minus) 37.

Passing

Maine: Eaton, 12-35-2-103. Massachusetts: Krohn 12-22-1-176.

Receiving

Maine: Gelsomino 3-37, Pereira 3-15, Waller 2-22, Fusco 2-15, Nwosu, 2-14. Massachusetts: Zullo 6-104, Cobbs 2-33, Bruce 2-27, Hardy 2-12.