UMass Blasted By NIU During Home MACtion Debut
Northern Illinois beat winless UMass 45-3 at home on Wednesday night.
AMHERST, Mass. - MACtion arrived here on Wednesday night with literal fireworks during the national anthem.
Unfortunately for the Minutemen, the only fireworks after that would be provided by their opponent as Northern Illinois rung up 45 straight points…that is until a UMass field goal with six minutes to play provided the final score in a 45-3 game and the literal fireworks returned.
The Mid-American Conference is known for its nationally-televised midweek games and the craziness they tend to produce. There was nothing crazy about Wednesday night’s game, though, as the script was all too familiar for fans of the winless Minutemen (0-10, 0-6), who suffered their worst loss of a terrible season.
Quarterbacks being shuffled in and out, inconsistent offensive line play, dropped passes, a bend-before-eventually-breaking performance on defense, special teams miscues and injuries were present just as they’ve been all season.
The game was over even before NIU (3-7, 2-4) took a 31-0 lead into the half. But NIU wasn’t done as - sadly - MACtion doesn’t include running clock during blowouts.
The Huskies quickly extended their lead to 38-0 on the first drive of the third quarter when NIU quarterback Jalen Macon strolled in from 36 yards out for his third rushing touchdown of the day.
It was further extended after UMass turned the ball over on downs near midfield. NIU inserted its backup quarterback, Brady Davidson, who connected on a 31-yard touchdown pass to Gary Givens on his second play to stretch the lead to 45-0.
UMass quarterback AJ Hairston finished 13-for-20 for 91 yards while Brandon Rose also saw plenty of time and was 11-for-21 for 101 yards. Hairston (23) and Rose (12) were among the Minutemen’s leading rushers as Rocko Griffin, Brandon Hood and Elijah Faulkner combined for just 23 yards on 12 carries.
Donnie Gray had seven catches for 41 yards and Jacquon Gibson made six grabs for 64 yards to lead the UMass pass-catchers.
Derek Morris’ 44-yard field goal completed the scoring late in the fourth.
The Huskies blocked a punt to set up their first score and converted a pair of 4th-and-shorts to set up touchdowns on their second and third drives of the game.
The Minutemen defense was tough against the run for the first quarter-plus, but NIU broke it open when Macon hit running back Elijah Porter for a 67-yard touchdown pass up the seam after a playaction fake fooled everybody in a UMass jersey.
That put the Huskies up 17-0 with 11:42 remaining in the second quarter.
UMass’ offense got a bit of a jolt when it inserted Rose at quarterback on the following drive.
Rose completed three straight passes for 20 yards. After another 8-yard completion, NIU was flagged for pass interference, pushing the ball to the Huskies’ 32-yard line. But after Rose incompletions on second and third down, UMass was forced to attempt a 49-yard field goal. Morris’ kick was wide right, keeping the Minutemen off the board.
Running back Telly Johnson Jr. highlighted NIU’s next drive with a 23-yard scamper that put the Huskies inside the UMass 5-yard line. Chavon Wright powered his way into the end zone three plays later to give NIU a 24-0 lead with 2:29 remaining in the second quarter.
NIU wasn’t done yet.
Rose was sacked and fumbled on UMass’ next drive. NIU recovered at the Minutemen 13-yard line. Macon spun his way down to the one-yard line on first down and slipped his way into the end zone on second to increase the Huskies’ lead to 31-0 before the half.
Hairston was 7-for-13 for 65 yards in the first half while Rose was 4-for-9 for 28 yards. The Minutemen totaled 40 rushing yards on 16 carries in the first half and 23 of those came on a Hairston scramble less than a minute before intermission.
Meanwhile, NIU dominated on the ground. Outside of the big play to Porter, NIU totaled just 4 passing yards, but racked up 159 rushing yards on 29 carries and three touchdowns.
It was inauspicious from the start for UMass.
After picking up a first down on its opening drive, UMass punted from midfield, but it was blocked by NIU’s Kimar Nelson and Huskies took over at the MInutemen 25-yard line. UMass’ defense held NIU, but kicker Andrew Glass converted a 37-yard field goal to put the Huskies up 3-0 early.
UMass went three-and-out on its second possession of the game and NIU took over at its own 34-yard line after Keegan Andrews’ punt.
NIU would increase its lead to 10-0 on a 13-yard touchdown run from Macon on the ensuing drive. After converting a 4th-and-1, getting a 22-yard run by Wright and a 10-yard run by Macon, NIU was set up inside the UMass red zone before Macon went in for a score against little resistance.
UMass is back in action next Tuesday at Ohio (6-4) in another MACtion appearance.
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I am so tired of being the worst team in college football consistently year after year. Instead of getting better as the year goes on we seem to have gotten worse and worse. Has this team just given up already? I'm sick of the excuse of injuries, since we seem to have them every single year. I know it's a first year coach, but can we think of anything that we can look as a positive and give us any hope going forward that there is any way we can turn this around? I'm not looking to compete for a National Championship. I am just looking to be an average team in the MAC at this point.