UMASS UNABLE TO HALT TULANE
Tulane rallies by Minutemen
AMHERST — In no time flat, UMass built itself a two-touchdown lead early in yesterday’s game. The problem? The UMass offense didn’t see much of the field from that point forward.
Tulane ran off 24 unanswered points at one stretch and controlled the ball for 40 1⁄2 minutes in all, en route to a 31-24 victory over the Minutemen before a homecoming crowd of 14,892 at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
UMass (1-4) jumped Tulane with a pair of touchdowns inside the first five minutes, thanks to a fumble recovery in between. Andrew Ford threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Andy Isabella, with Mike Caggiano adding the extra point with 11:20 to play in the first.
On the ensuing kickoff, UMass’ Khary Bailey-Smith ripped the football loose from return man Devin Glenn and recovered the ball himself at the Tulane 12. One play later, Ford hit Isabella down the left seam for their second touchdown connection in the span of 14 seconds.
Still, UMass coach Mark Whipple wasn’t impressed with his team’s seemingly impressive start.
“I didn’t like the look in our guys’ eyes when it was 14-0. Young guys were like, ‘This game’s over,’ ” said Whipple. “Credit Tulane, they had a good plan, they took the air out of the ball, and we made some mistakes we haven’t had on offense. I thought we lost focus, but we got the ball with a chance to win the game.”
That deficit sparked Tulane (3-2) on a longdistance 75-yard drive, finished off by an 11-yard scoring run by Dontrell Hilliard (game-high 99 yards) with 6:37 left.
The Green Wave would top that with a monster 20-play, 85-yard campaign that consumed 8:32 off the clock. Andrew DiRocco booted a 22-yard field goal, pulling the visitors within 14-10 with 11:06 to play in the half.
Tulane pulled off a wacky interception when Ford’s deep ball intended for Jalen Williams was tipped by the Wave’s Donnie Lewis Jr. The ball caromed off Lewis’ leg and was grabbed out of the air on a dive by teammate Jarrod Franklin, giving Tulane possession at its own 21. The Green Wave, however, couldn’t do anything with it.
After its two lightning touchdowns, UMass managed only 68 yards of offense for the remainder of the first half.
The third quarter began poorly for UMass when Ford fumbled on a hit by Tulane’s Tanzel Smart and Franklin recovered for the Green Wave at the UMass 38. Two plays later, Glen Cuiellette (11-of-20 passing, 168 yards) hit a streaking Terren Encalade with a 36-yard TD dart down the right sideline. DiRocco’s extra point gave the visitors their first lead at 17-14.
A UMass punt set up Tulane at its own 16, and the Wave moved quickly downfield, helped along by a running-into-the-punter call on fourth down. Lazedrick Thompson snapped off a 19-yard touchdown run with 6:54 to go in the third for a 10-point Tulane lead.
Through three quarters, the possession edge was owned by the Green Wave, 32:21 to 12:39.
Whipple pulled Ford at that point and replaced him with Ross Comis, who started the first two weeks for the Minutemen. Comis’ first pass went for 52 yards to Isabella, and he completed his next two plus an 11-yard scramble. That set up a 28-yard field goal by Logan Laurent, making it 24-17.
The Green Wave answered right back with a 10-yard TD by Josh Rounds, who bounced out to the left side after he was stacked up in the middle of the line.
Sekai Lindsay put the hosts’ final points on the board with 2:45 to play on a 2-yard run as the Minutemen drew within 31-24. Comis had two completions and a pair of 10-yard scrambles on the drive.
UMass took over at its own 34 with 2:18 left and one timeout, but turned the ball over on downs.
Ford went 11-of-19 passing for 109 yards, with two TDs and one interception. Comis finished 5-of-11 for 72 yards and ran for 41 more.
“We didn’t get anything going in the second and third quarter,” said Whipple. “Ross gave us a little spark. We’ve just got to eliminate that stretch we have where we kind of hand people the game. That’s killed us in three games.”