Image courtesy of UMass Athletics/Chris Tucci
There have been a lot of embarrassing, soul-crushing, ‘how did they manage to pull that off?’ losses in recent UMass history, but Saturday’s 23-20 overtime defeat against Miami of Ohio has got to be in the Top 10 at least.
The Minutemen marched 59 yards in 11 plays over 5:33 late in the fourth quarter and a Jacob Laurie 23 yard field goal with just 40 seconds remaining put the Minutemen up by three. But, the defense allowed the RedHawks to swiftly move 47 yards downfield in seven plays and Miami’s Dom Dzioban drilled the game-tying field goal as time expired.
The Minutemen got the ball first to start overtime, but completely sabotaged themselves. UMass converted two different third downs, but both were called back by penalties. As the story usually goes for the Minutemen these days, Lurie missed the ensuing 44 yard attempt and four plays later, Dzioban put home a 43 yard game-winner.
UMass is now 1-4 with another tough road game against Northern Illinois up next before the No. 11 team in the country Missouri comes to Amherst on October 12.
“I just thought, two evenly matched teams offense, defense, kicking, I thought we played complementary football against them and I thought they countered with the same,” said Don Brown postgame. “It was just a well-played game by two teams and we came up short in overtime.”
Miami had 349 yards of offense and a turnover while UMass had 344 with no turnovers. The Minutemen also held the RedHawks to just 1-8 on third down while going 7-16. Rushing stats were also very close with Miami running for 168 yards and UMass for 171. Both teams had 65 yards worth of penalties
Taisun Phommachanh finished 9/22 with 173 yards, a TD and 18 carries for 80 yards. CJ Hester added 63 yards on the ground on 14 rushes and Jakobie Keeney-James racked up 150 yards receiving on just 4 grabs with a TD. The rest of the team combined for just five receptions and 23 yards.
Defensively, Jalen Stewart led the way with eight tackles and half a sack. Etinosa Reubon and Terrell Johnson each had seven tackles. Rueben had a sack and Johnson was in on the same sack as Stewart. Jalen Harrell had an interception.
A 27 yard touchdown run in the first put Miami up early, but Keeney-James had a 64 yard TD from Phommachanh late in the quarter to make it 7-7. Lurie hit a 45 yarder with 6:25 left in the half to put the Minutemen up, but Dzioban’s 37 yarder made it 10-10 at the half. A seven yard TD catch for Javon Tracy was the only score of the third and put Miami up 17-10. CJ Hester capped an eight-play, 61 yard drive with a one yard TD run at the 8:11 mark to make it 17-17.
“What you’re trying to do is you’re trying to defend the field, but not let them throw the ball over your head,” Brown added on the game-tying possession for Miami in the closing seconds. “Obviously, there were a couple of scenarios where we’re counting on guys to be fillers if the quarterback scrambles and we were late getting to the party.
“I feel like we’re making significant progress as you can see. But, the same thing is, you’ve got to get over the hump. That’s what we’re shooting for.”