Cougars savor experience playing at Gillette Stadium, but enjoy 35-16 win even more

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"It was amazing. Beautiful stadium, beautiful atmosphere. I loved being able to be on that field, "Wilson said. "Knowing Tom Brady for the New England Patriots has been played on this field, along with many other amazing teams, is a cool experience. This is something I will never forget. And we are so lucky to be able to come back and do something like this. "

The advertised crowd at Gillette Stadium was just 14,082, better than the 12,571 who watched BYU defeated New Mexico State in 2012. But nobody dressed in blue and white was complaining.

When the game started, the crowd was evenly split between UMass and BYU fans – not counting the 3,500 local high school band who played at halftime – but by the time it was over, Cougar faithful had taken over and chants of BYU echoed around tens of thousands of empty seats.

"I love it. That was awesome, "BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. "They made a lot of noise. Everywhere we go, it's nice to have fans, even when you're two times away from the East Coast. "

The Cougars improved to 7-4 in NFL stadiums over the past 10 seasons; next year's game will be played at UMass' on-campus stadium in Amherst, some 70 miles away.

"We got the win, so I'm going to count it," said linebacker Sione Takitaki, who posted a career-best 14 tackles, including two tackles for loss. "It was a good stadium. I wish it was more packed, but a lot of BYU fans came out, so that was really great. "

Isaiah Kaufusi also made 14 tackles, but it was a play that might have been that the linebacker will remember the rest of his life.

He stepped in front of UMass QB Ross Comis' pass in the third quarter, and had clear sailing to the end zone. But he dropped it.

"The ball hit my hands. No real good excuse, "Kaufusi said. "I should have had a pick-six with that one."

Fellow linebacker Rhett Sandlin will be back with the backing of memories after playing what he called "probably the best game that I have had here at BYU."

Sandlin picked up his first two sacks and added another tackle for loss. His sacks sparked a BYU defense that became more dominant as the game went on.

"I feel like everyone is a little bit tired this morning, just waking up early," Sandlin said. "It took a little bit for it to kick in. I do not know if that is why we started slow. For me personally, I was a little bit tired. We ended up waking up and playing our game. "

Former BYU linebacker Kyle Van Noy visited the team hotel Friday night and there showed up Saturday before the game Patriot teammates left for Tennessee.

"That was cool," said running back Matt Hadley, who has 11 ball games for 69 yards and a touchdown. "I was here at BYU in Kyle's junior year, 2012, my freshman year. That seems like forever ago. It was cool to see him again in his atmosphere. "