Injury-Riddled UMass Gets Torn Apart By Central Michigan 38-13
Minutemen move to 0-8 after Week Nine rout
UMass got trounced by Central Michigan on the road, losing 38-13. Despite an impressive 13-tackle game from Zeraun Daniel, the Minutemen defense didn’t get nearly enough stops in a game where they struggled to move the ball downfield.
UMass entered the game with 20 players on the injury report. They showed spurts of offense, but it wasn’t enough. Head coach Joe Harasymiak’s group moved to 0-8 on the season.
Chippewas’ quarterback Joey Labas went 10-of-11 with 148 passing yards and two touchdowns to lead the way. Nahree Biggins led the rushing attack with 94 yards on 10 carries.
The Minutemen run game struggled to match that with Rocko Griffin, Da’Marion Alberic and Brandon Hood combining for 84 yards on 16 attempts. Despite star wide receiver Jacquon Gibson returning from injury, Kezion Dia-Johnson and Kenyon Massey were the only wideouts to catch three or more passes for UMass.
The game was still hanging in the balance at 24-10 coming out of the halftime break. The Chippewas struggled without their running quarterback, Angel Flores, who provided a massive spark in the first half.
Then, the UMass mistakes began. On a play in which the Minutemen’s defense was looking to get off the field, an illegal hands to the face penalty by Malachi Madison gave Central Michigan an automatic first down, propelling them 15 yards upfield.
Two plays later, Chippewas’ running back Brock Townsend caught a pass from Labas on what looked to just be a solid first down gain. Instead, Townsend plunged forward, shaking off a missed tackle from Malcolm Greene. He then nonchalantly scampered 51 yards untouched to the end zone to make it a three-score game.
Any prayer for a comeback was mostly gone, but the UMass offense found a way to immediately extinguish even that.
The first couple plays of the drive set up a first-and-10 for the Minutemen at their own 35. Redshirt-freshman quarterback AJ Hairston faked a handoff to Brandon Hood and rolled out right. As two Chippewas defensive linemen neared Hairston after beating the inexperienced UMass offensive line, he threw a drive-killing interception to Central Michigan’s Kalen Carroll.
The Chippewas turned the turnover into points, scoring another touchdown after just seven plays to make it 38-10. Labas found Nasir Williams on a short crossing route after the wide receiver raced past both Donovan Dyson and Tyler Martin in coverage.
UMass kicker Derek Morris added an impressive 50-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to make it 38-13, but it wasn’t anywhere close to what the Chippewas produced offensively all afternoon.
Hairston finished the game 21-of-51 with 176 passing yards and an interception. Brock Townsend played the villain role for Central Michigan, totaling 112 scrimmage yards and three touchdowns.
UMass started off the game with three plays for a total of just one yard. Hood took carries on the first two plays, and Hairston’s first pass was an incompletion on third down.
The first Central Michigan drive was a successful one, leading to the opening touchdown from Townsend, who ran it into the end zone after seven plays and 77 yards of work. The drive got going through a nifty fake reverse play to Biggins, who took it 58 yards up the right sideline to set the Chippewas up in the red zone. Graham nailed the extra point to make it 7-0.
The Minutemen punched back right back, though. After a strong run from Hairston to bring them past midfield, Griffin carried the ball 43 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown. His first carry since Sept. 27 was just the response UMass needed after going down early.
On Central Michigan’s second drive, head coach Matt Drinkall started to work both quarterbacks into the game. Labas came in to throw one pass, and Flores stayed in for the run. Flores’ burst brought the Chippewas past midfield, and a rare throw from him to Townsend made it first-and-goal. Townsend then punched it in from five yards out for the touchdown.
On the second play of UMass’ next drive, Hairston delivered a spiral toward a wide open Gibson with acres of space upfield. The ball bounded off of Gibson’s hands and onto the turf for an unusual drop, and the Minutemen weren’t able to recover on the next play with a false start and a sack, leading to a Keegan Andrews punt.
Drinkall kept Flores in on the next drive, and for good reason. His 48-yard dime to Langston Lewis brought Central Michigan into the red zone. On the next play, Flores walked in for another Chippewas touchdown to make it 21-7.
UMass went three-and-out on its response, but a holding by Central Michigan on third down gave Hairston’s offense another shot. A couple plays later, tight end Max Dowling dropped another beautiful pass that could’ve given the Minutemen solid field position, leading to another punt.
The mistakes continued for the Minutemen defense on the next drive. It looked like a defender brought Trey Cornist down, but three Minutemen swipes all missed the running back, who trotted upfield for 21 yards to bring the Chippewas into field goal range. Lewis dropped Labas’ easy touchdown toss, leading to Cade Graham’s successful field goal to make it 24-7.
UMass went three-and-out on the following drive. Hairston got hurried, which forced two incompletions with the inexperienced offensive line continuing to be an issue.
Central Michigan patiently moved up the field on the next drive, but a big tackle from Marques White on third down forced the Chippewas’ first punt of the day.
Despite Hairston’s beautiful 22-yard completion to Massey as tacklers plunged him backwards, UMass couldn’t move much farther upfield. On a fourth-and-1 situation on his own 43, Harasymiak elected to go for it. The attempt was unsuccessful, gifting Central Michigan the ball back in plus territory.
The Minutemen defense started to gain more momentum after Flores went to the locker room injured. White got to Labas for the sack, forcing another Declan Duley punt following a three-and-out.
After a near interception and a successful fourth-down attempt, UMass progressed on its last drive of the half. Through successful gains from Griffin and Hairston, as well as a nifty reception from redshirt freshman Kezion Dia-Johnson, Morris was set up for a manageable field goal of 29 yards, which he converted to make it 24-10 with time winding down.
Hairston finished the half 7-of-20 with 72 passing yards. Griffin carried the success in both the air and ground game, totaling 88 scrimmage yards and a touchdown.
Labas and Flores were a combined 6-of-7 on attempts with 114 yards passing. Flores ran in for the touchdown, but Biggins had the bulk of Central Michigan’s ground yards with 83. Townsend also tacked on two rushing touchdowns in the half.
Harasymiak’s defense was starting to catch fire going into the half, but the issue of consistency cost UMass once again in the second half.
The Minutemen will continue their quest for win No. 1 when they visit Akron on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at InfoCision Stadium.
Think you got the score wrong. How about double checking it. "Injury-Riddled UMass Gets Torn Apart By Central Michigan 38-10" Really, you printed that score?