UMass Embarrassed By Kent State
Kent State throttled the Minutemen 42-6 on Saturday.
By the time many UMass fans were able to find Saturday’s game against Kent State on ESPN+, the Minutemen were already trailing.
Allowing a kickoff return for a touchdown on the game’s very first play was just the start of a day that has become all too familiar for the Minutemen and their fans.
Special teams miscues, a lack of production on offense, dropped passes, an inability to protect the quarterback, some up-and-down quarterback play, red zone struggles, a defense that struggles to both get off the field and eliminate big plays, penalties and injuries were all on display at Dix Stadium in Kent, Ohio.
A matchup between two teams at the very bottom of college football by virtually every measure was embarrassingly one-sided.
Kent State blew out UMass 42-6 to improve to 1-4 on the season and 1-1 in MAC play. The Minutemen dropped to 0-6 on the year and 0-2 in conference play as first-year head coach Joe Harasymiak is still in search of his first win.
Kent State snapped a 26-game losing streak to FBS opponents, one that stretched back to November of 2022 while UMass’ winless streak against FBS opponents extended to 17.
AJ Hairston started at quarterback for UMass and finished 26-for-48 for 227 yards. He was picked off, lost a fumble and was sacked four times. Kent State outrushed UMass 158-44 and the game was essentially over midway through the third quarter…if not earlier.
Kent State’s Da’Realyst Clark returned the game’s opening kick 91 yards for a score giving the Golden Flashes a 7-0 lead right from the start.
Meanwhile, UMass went three-and-out on its opening possession. The teams traded punts until Kent State struck again in the first quarter. After consecutive runs of 6, 10, 5 and 24 yards, Kent State quarterback Dru DeShields hit Sebastian Brown up the seam on a playaction pass for a 36-yard touchdown to give the Golden Flashes a 14-0 lead with six minutes to play in the opening quarter.
UMass kick returner Samuel Baddoo fair caught the ensuing kickoff inside UMass’ five-yard-line, keeping the Minutemen there and offensive guard Sullivan Weidman was carted off the field after the next play.
On the first play of the second quarter, UMass saw a key third-down conversion wiped out by a holding penalty. The Minutemen would eventually convert thanks to a Kent State penalty, but a couple plays later, UMass lost its other starting offensive guard, when Mao Glynn was carted off.
The Minutemen continued to push the ball, getting into the Kent State red zone, but an illegal motion penalty and a sack forced them to settle for a 38-yard field goal, which Derek Morris made to cut the lead to 14-3 five minutes into the second.
A surprise onside kick, recovered by UMass, was wiped out by an offsides penalty. A pass interference penalty on third down extended the ensuing Kent State drive. DeShields would eventually connect with Dashawn Martin on a 25-yard touchdown pass on a fake QB run to put the Golden Flashes up 21-3 with 5:46 to play in the half.
Hairston found tight end Reece Adkins up the seam for a 51-yard gain on the first play of the next drive and a six-yard completion to Donnie Gray set UMass up at the Kent State 19, but the ineptitude of UMass’ red zone offense was apparent again. An incompletion and a negative run forced a 4th-and-5, which UMass went for. Hairston was sacked and fumbled the ball for a 26-yard loss.
But after forcing a Kent State punt in the final minutes, UMass used multiple Kent State penalties and multiple big-time completions from Hairston to move the ball deep into Golden Flashes territory. Morris made a 33-yard field goal as time expired to make it 21-6 at the half.
Hairston finished the first half 14-26 for 142 yards, but was sacked three times. Jake McConnachie led UMass with four catches for 55 yards in the first half, but the Minutemen could only manage 8 net rushing yards in the first half.
UMass came out of the half and pushed the ball into Kent State territory on the back of Hairston and Brandon Hood, but a pair of drops, including one on third down killed that drive, as did a UMass false start on fourth down, when Kent State had too many men on the field. Instead of a free play, the Minutemen were forced to punt.
It looked like the UMass defense had earned a stop on the ensuing possession, but the Golden Flashes faked a punt and picked up a first down. A roughing the passer penalty, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a pass interference penalty would eventually put the ball inside the one-yard-line.
DeShields hit Terik Mulder for a touchdown pass to cap that drive and give Kent State a 28-6 lead.
On the ensuing drive, UMass head coach Joe Harasymiak elected to go for it on 4th and 4 from his own 31-yard line. The Minutemen came up inches short. DeShields threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Ardell Banks on the very next play as the Golden Flashes stretched their lead to 35-6.
Hairston was picked off at UMass’ own 30-yard-line on the next drive. Kent State running back Jordan Nubin ran 25 yards for a touchdown two plays later to put the Golden Flashes up 42-6.
Kent State took its foot off the gas in the fourth quarter, inserting reserves and doing its best to run the clock out for the full 15 minutes.
The Minutemen return to Amherst next Saturday, when they will host Buffalo, who sits at 3-3 overall and 2-0 in the MAC and will be coming off a bye.
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Wow, and I thought that the Bryant loss was hitting rock bottom, apparently, I was wrong. Enough is enough with this team, and it starts at the very top of the athletics department food chain. We, as fans of the program, deserve better than this. For the last 10 years that Ryan has been in charge we have gotten progressively worse every year. The school has chronically underinvested in this program, and this is what we get year after year. For the last 10 years there has been one constant in our failure and that has been Ryan Bamford. Every year it's the same thing; tell everyone how wonderful things are going to be and that this is the year we finally turn the corner only for it to fall apart once the season starts. Does he actually think that investing $25-30M in this team is going to solve all the problems that we have? That will just scratch the surface. No university would allow an AD to cycle through three coaching hires and pretty much miss on all of them. Chancellor Reyes goes to the games, and he sees what we all have seen for years. An assessment of the athletics department needs to happen now, and it starts with finding a new Athletics Director. The status quo has gone on long enough. Will it be easy to find a qualified candidate who would be willing to take over? No, it won’t. An assistant AD at Texas or Ohio State that is ready to take on their own department wouldn’t touch this place but there must be someone with the needed experience who would be willing to take a chance on a fixer upper athletics department. It goes beyond fundraising and facilities; it’s completing a comprehensive review of the entire athletics department and finally making the tough decisions on what needs to happen to move us forward. It needs include a review of the current personnel in the department and the mix of sports that are currently being funded. There is absolutely no reason why we can’t be the top athletics program in the MAC but there are serious changes that need to be made, and they must happen immediately.