Coast not clear for UMass attack
AMHERST — Coastal Carolina rushed for first downs and threw for scores in yesterday’s 24-13 victory over UMass at McGuirk Stadium.
UMass fell to 2-6 and will travel to Connecticut on Saturday. Coastal Carolina improved to 4-3.
The setback marked the return of coach Mark Whipple to the
UMass sidelines. Whipple was suspended for one game after a loss at Ohio for equating several officials’ calls to being raped during a postgame interview.
“If you told me we would have held them to 24, I would have thought we would have won but we didn’t play as well as we needed to,” said Whipple.
Coastal rotated three dual threat quarterbacks — Kilton Anderson, Bryce Carpenter and Fred Payton — in a scheme that rolled up 498 yards of total offense with 279 on the ground. Coastal threw for 219 yards, including touchdown tosses of 61 and 21 yards by Payton, who is listed third on the depth chart.
“When they had their opportunities for touchdowns they made them and we didn’t and that was the big difference,” said Whipple.
UMass receivers Andy Isabella and Sadiq Palmer combined for 17 receptions for 313 yards, primarily from quarterback Andrew Ford (2034, 326 yards).
The UMass passing game was offset by six sacks for 41 yards and eight penalties totaling 70 yards. Ford was injured on a sack late in the fourth and Whipple said his status will be updated today.
“I’m surprised the way we dropped some balls and had unfortunate presnap penalties, we haven’t had that lately,” said Whipple. “We just didn’t make enough big plays on offense.”
Coastal opened the second half with a methodical 15-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that put the Chanticleers up 10-6 with 6:50 to play in the third. The drive featured 12 running plays and ended on a 1-yard dive by tailback Marcus Outlow on fourth-and-goal.
Ford retaliated with a five-play, 74-yard scoring drive that used up 1:53 and included three Palmer receptions. Ford eluded the pressure, stepped up in the pocket and threw a 22-yard strike to Palmer to put UMass up 13-10.
Coastal changed tactics and went up 17-13 on a big play. Payton connected on a 61-yard toss down the left sideline to Malcolm Williams, who raced untouched into the end zone. Payton put Coastal up 24-13 with 12:02 to play on a 21-yard throw to tailback CJ Marable.
“He threw the wheel route and we blew the coverage,” said Whipple. “Then they threw the other wheel route and (Marable) made a good play.”
UMass trailed by 11 with just over eight minutes to play and faced a fourth-and-4 on the Coastal 17. Whipple elected to go for the first down, even though Cooper Garcia was 2-for-2 on field goals (21, 39 yards). Ford was sacked for a loss of 10 yards.