AMHERST — The best word to categorize the UMass football team’s homecoming game victory against Central Connecticut State on Saturday is quite simple. Ugly. In the 35-31 win, both teams combined for 26 penalties resulting in a whopping 241 yards.
The Minutemen’s special teams were sloppy, with UMass giving up a chunk kick return that set up a Blue Devils touchdown right before half, then letting them recover an onside kick to open up the third, which also resulted in a touchdown. Yes, the box score leaned heavily toward UMass in every major statistical category. It had more total yards (450-247), rushing yards (163-90), passing yards (287-157), first downs (27-11), time of possession (15 minutes more) and a higher third-down conversion rate.
Yet somehow CCSU, a mediocre-at-best FCS program, had the ball with a chance to drive down the field and take the lead in the final minute to spoil the Minutemen’s homecoming at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. Luckily for UMass, its defense played lights out in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter, and rose up to make one final stop, securing a victory that never should have been that close. Minutemen head coach Don Brown said two weeks ago, following a 38-23 loss to Toledo in which his team committed nine penalties for nearly 100 yards, that he was “definitely addressing” UMass’ continued disciplinary issues.
And after one decent week against Buffalo where the Minutemen had six penalties, they were well into double digits on Saturday. Under Brown, UMass was sixth worst in penalties per game in 2022 and ranked third worst in 2023. Once again it’s a problem in 2024.
“[I’m] just losing my mind,” Brown said of the penalties, “preparing to get ready to hash this thing out. But we had 15 penalties for 135 yards. Now, [CCSU was] no picnic either, but I’m not really concerned about them.
I’m concerned about us.” Article continues after..
. Cross|Word Flipart Typeshift SpellTower Really Bad Chess UMass avoided a complete catastrophe on Saturday, but there were some highlights among a litter of lowlights. Of the five touchdowns that UMass scored on Saturday, four of them came from players who had either never scored in college, or never scored with the Minutemen.
Running back Jackson Paradis rumbled in from a yard out in the first quarter to get the scoring started, as the sophomore running back found pay dirt for the first time in his college career. In the final minute of the first half, tight end Owen Anderson also notched his first career score, catching a two-yard toss from quarterback Taisun Phommachanh to, at the time, give UMass a 21-14 advantage. Then came the game-changer, a 57-yard bomb from Phommachanh to speedster T.
Y. Harding. Harding caught the beautiful throw in stride and cruised down the right sideline, dodging two CCSU defenders in the process, and into the end zone for six.
With receiver Anthony Simpson no longer on the UMass team and tight end Dominick Mazotti still nursing an injury, Phommahcanh was thrilled to see new faces step up and contribute to a win on Saturday. “It felt good seeing them get their first career touchdowns,” the senior quarterback said. “Seeing their joy, the hard work they put in behind the scenes and to just translate it over to the field, I think that’s the beauty of sports.
I’m definitely happy for them boys.” For as much as Brown and defensive coordinator Keith Dudzinski like to blitz, having only two sacks through four games is certainly eye-opening. But the tape shows that the Minutemen are getting home with their pass rush, opposing quarterbacks are just throwing the ball away or getting it out in a blink to avoid a sack.
During Saturday’s game, UMass’ defense had 23 plays (40 percent) that went for either zero or negative yards. They also gave up three or less yards on 37 of their 58 snaps and accumulated a dozen “Havoc” plays, which Brown classifies as quarterback knockdowns, pass breakups or turnovers. All in all, it wasn’t a bad performance and two of CCSU’s touchdowns came on possessions it started inside the red zone.
“You know, we’ve got so many new people there, but I’m happy with them,” Brown said of the defensive line. “I like all those guys now. They’re competing, they’re playing hard .
.. We’ll be at full strength this week.
So that’s a good positive.” It made sense as to why Brown elected to go for it on 4th-and-1 from the CCSU 23-yard line with under two minutes to go in the Minutemen’s contest with the Blue Devils on Saturday. His defense had only given up three points in its last four possessions on the field leading up to that decision, including two three-and-outs and an interception from Ryan Barnes.
UMass kicker Jacob Lurie already missed a kick in the direction the Minutemen were going in as well. Even further, UMass had been stopped on 2nd-and-1 and 3rd-and-1 directly before that fourth down play, so surely it wasn’t going to be denied a third time in a row, right? Phommachanh handed it off to Paradis, who was stuffed again. But the result of the play didn’t make the decision wrong.
Given the aforementioned factors, Brown made the right choice — his offense just didn’t execute. The defense, however, did on the Blue Devils’ ensuing drive. They totaled just five yards, all five via an offsides penalty, and UMass defensive back Leonard St.
Gourdin batted down Brady Olson’s fourth-down throw to seal the deal. The win, fittingly fueled by Brown’s defense, stood as his 100th career victory. “How many of you guys wanted a piece of me on fourth down, when we went for it on 4th-and-1,” Brown said.
“I just felt like, ‘Hey, we gotta win this football game, and we gotta compete, and we gotta do aggressive things in nature.’ We didn’t make the first, but [the defense] went four-and-out after that with a great stop on fourth down. So that led to the win.
So it was all good.”.
