PAINFUL DEFEAT
Last-minute INT costs URI chance at win over Elon
KINGSTON – There was plenty to cheer about for the 7,221 fans at Meade Stadium on Saturday, but the main takeaway was likely the controversial decision to thr the ball on URI's final play from scrimmage.
The Rams – trailing No. 14 Elon by one point with 34 seconds remaining and the ball on the Phoenix 17-yard line – opted to throw a quick out rather than take a shot at the end zone or run the ball to set up a field goal attempt.
JaJuan Lawson's pass went directly to linebacker Warren Messer, ending any shot URI had at earning an upset win. The Phoenix took knees to end the game after URI's only turnover, improving to 4-0 in the CAA with the 35-34 win.
“Really disappointing,” URI head coach Jim Fleming said. “Feel bad for our kids. They battled, stayed in it. Great opportunity to win it late, just had an unfortunate ending. They battled their tails off.”
“I went back to the read and when I threw it, I saw the guy undercutting it,” Lawson described of his final throw. “Went to the well one too many times and it bit me in the [butt] in the end.”
“Run the ball, kick the field goal, we're probably sitting here pretty happy right now,” Fleming said, looking back on the decision to throw on third down. “Just took down the No. 14/15 team in the country.”
Prior to the disastrous ending, the Rams gave the Phoenix all they could handle. Lawson's accurate thorws and dangerous runs led the Rams to four first-half scoring drives.
URI enjoyed a 27-21 lead at the break thanks to 175 passing and 66 rushing yards from their new starting quarterback. Lawson finished 20-for-34 with 252 passing yards, two touchdowns and an interception to go alongside 80 rushing yards.
T.J. Anderson – URI's bruising change-of-pace back – earned himself two rushing scores in the high-scoring first, while Lawson found Aaron Parker and Marven Beauvais for touchdown passes. The 27 first half points marked only the second time this season URI had scored 27 points in a game.
Beauvais caught a nine-yard score – his fourth of the season - with 1:44 remaining to give the Rams their halftime advantage. Lawson led his team on three scoring drives of 75 yards or more in the first half. The other scoring drive was a two-play affair set up by a Nas Jones fumble recovery on a kick-off.
The turnover and Lawson's explosive talent allowed URI to score three touchdowns in the final three minutes of the second quarter.
“Execution,” was the key there, said Lawson. “Catching, throwing, we were all on the same page. When everyone is all-in, playing to the whistle, we can be as good as we want to. That's what we have to get to, every play for 60 minutes.”
The offensive competency disappeared in the second half. Until the Rams’ final drive, Lawson had complete just one post-halftime pass attempt.
“[Elon] didn't make too many adjustments that hampered us,” Lawson said, despite the struggles. “We had wrong routes or we dropped balls. We had every opportunity in the second half to move the ball. At the end we were moving the ball, we can move the ball when we want to. We just have to be able to focus at all times and not let one play slip through.”
URI stayed in the game thanks to a crowd-pleasing special teams plays. Freshman punt returner Matt Pires dropped the first two punts that Elon sent his way, but the third time turned out to be the charm. Pires raced up the left sideline 90 yards at the end of the third quarter, setting a school record for longest punt return and giving his team a 34-28 lead.
“My teammates kept coming to me and telling me to keep staying confident,” after dropping the first two punts, said Pires. “During [the] Brown [game] I dropped one, too, so I wasn't really thinking about it. The whole return team told me that if I catch the ball, they got me. I have to give credit to my teammates, they had blocks downfield. My two outside guys made a crease for me to go through.”
URI had trouble holding their leads against Elon on Saturday. The Parker touchdown catch in the first half gave them a 20-14 lead, which evaporated in 11 seconds due to a Corey Joyner 65yard catch-and-run. Pires punt return had URI ahead for just under four minutes, as Elon drove down field methodically for a 10-play, 68-yard drive.
The URI secondary was gouged once again in the loss, this time by Davis Cheek. The freshman quarterback threw for a career-high 334 yards and three touchdown passes.
“Most disappointed probably in some of the defensive explosions, that's been biting us in the tail as a team more than anything else,” Fleming said. “The quarterback component isn't what the deal is, it's our play in the secondary. The things that they got on us today... Defensive back play is all about eyes and feet. Our eyes weren't in the right spot on some of those explosive plays.”
Even with the defense not holding up very well through the air, the Rams had a golden chance to win the game. After Cheeks threw an interception into the end zone on fourth down, URI took over with 3:59 remaining and 80 yards ahead of them.
Lawson returned to his first-half self on the drive, completing five straight attempts to Khayri Denny, Isaiah Coulter and Beauvais. A four-yard Lawson run and no-gain sack set up the fateful third down. URI kicker C.J. Carrick missed an extra point earlier in the day – the reason the Rams were down a point instead of tied – and also missed what would have been a gamewinner in overtime against Central Michigan.
“There was the thought to run the ball, there was also the thought to put the play in the hands of our offense,” Fleming said. “To not put it on a freshman kicker – who's going to be a good player – but obviously missed an extra point early. Had a kick out of bounds [on a kick-off].
“The safe call is to run it then kick it. We chose not to do that. We thought it was a safe call. The only thing that can't happen in that situation happened. Tough one to swallow. You make those decisions in split-seconds. It's working perfectly in our favor, we talked about it, decided to go with what we went with. Hindsight is always 20-20.
“He played a great game, so you can't blame it on JaJuan. There were a number of opportunities for us to win that football game. As a head coach, I'll shoulder the whole thing.”
URI drops to 1-6 with the loss, and remains winless in CAA games this season. They travel next week to Albany (3-3).
“We've been a resilient group, but that's a tough, tough loss,” Fleming said. “I don't think there's a limit on the human spirit. The human spirit can be resilient in absolutely anything that goes on in life.
“Once you give in, you lose and you quit. If you quit, you're a loser. That's not what we're going to do.”