AMHERST – The drill that is UMass’ football season continued to find new depths to the rock bottom it calls home.
An already struggling defense looked worse Saturday against Liberty than it had all year. The anemic offense was ineffective again as injuries began to take its toll at the line of scrimmage. And the sparse crowd of non-band members could have left the game at halftime knowing full well what the result was going to be.
There wasn’t much doubt about Liberty’s 63-21 demolition of UMass at McGuirk Alumni Stadium — it was simply a question of just how bad it would get. The answer was a program-worst 730 yards allowed, including an astounding 446 passing yards against in the first half alone.
“I don’t think there’s a metric within the game of football where we had very much success,” coach Walt Bell said. “That was as thorough a victory probably as you’ll see in college football.”
It wasn’t that Liberty scored in bunches against the UMass defense — it was how simple the Flames made it look in the first half. Liberty (6-3) possessed the ball for just 12:47 while racking up 502 yards on 41 plays with five scoring drives of less than two minutes.
The drives moved so quickly in some part due to Liberty’s high-tempo attack, but mostly because of how open the Liberty receivers were for quarterback Stephen Calvert. The defensive breakdowns were so blatant that Bell didn’t need to consult the tape to realize the Minutemen (1-8) had plenty of problems to address in Sunday’s film session.
“That’s when you know you have a few problems, when it’s that easy to see,” Bell said.
Calvert threatened to set UMass’ single-game record for passing yards allowed in just the first half, but had to settle at 78 yards short at the intermission. Only three of Calvert’s 20 first-half completions went for less than 10 yards, and nine of them went for at least 20. He targeted Antonio Golden-Gandy early against the UMass defense, with all six of their connections coming in the first quarter.
Once Isaiah Rodgers took over defending Golden-Gandy, the matchup shifted in UMass’ favor as the senior cornerback successfully defended the receiver on three of his four second-quarter targets, with the fourth one coming with Rodgers off the field. Rodgers finished with four pass breakups on the game, but was disappointed in his two dropped interceptions that ultimately led to Liberty finishing those drives with scores.
“He did everything we worked on throughout the week,” Rodgers said. “We watched film — he’s a deep ball guy, double-move guy. Coach was telling me this was one of the best receivers I’ll play this season, so lock in. That’s what I did. … I felt like I left a few interceptions out there that led to touchdown drives, so I just have to make sure I make those plays.”
Rodgers blamed the poor defensive effort on a “negative” week of preparation, which included Bell ending practice extremely early on Wednesday after being disappointed with the attitude. Although Rodgers said he felt the team responded positively Thursday to help make up for the poor Wednesday, Saturday’s game was a lesson to everyone about what it takes to succeed.
“Not only the underclassmen, but also it hit the seniors — we have a few practices left, but we can’t be missing a Tuesday or a Wednesday practice,” Rodgers said. “It hit the freshmen a lot and the sophomores and everyone else that to continue to be here — we can’t be missing out on days like that.”
The offense needed the defense and special teams to score most of its points against the Flames. UMass was able to steal a possession early in the game when D.J. Stubbs muffed the rugby-style punt and Rodgers was there to fall on the loose ball. That led to the Minutemen’s first points courtesy of a 15-yard run by Cam Roberson that tied the game.
Their final touchdown came after Logan Darby forced a fumble that Tyshaun Ingram recovered as Andrew Brito connected with Sadiq Palmer for a 45-yard touchdown pass.
The offense, though, gained only 10 first downs and 240 yards in the game as the Flames dominated the line of scrimmage. UMass grew progressively shorthanded on the line of scrimmage as the game wore on, with center Dalton Tomlinson and tight ends Kyle Horn and Taylor Edwards leaving the game with injuries. The patchwork offensive line eventually collapsed in the second half as Liberty was able to sack Brito five times to limit the Minutemen to 11 rushing yards on 14 attempts in the second half.
“Throughout the week, you have a set group of linemen that you run with and injuries can impact any position, but it starts with the line and ends with the line,” Roberson said. “Injuries to them impacts the game tremendously when it comes to throwing the ball and running the ball, but I feel like we did a good job adjusting.”
