Minutemen upset William & Mary
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AMHERST - For most of Saturday's game, it looked like the University of Massachusetts football team's mistakes were going to define its 2010 opener.
Fumbles, missed tackles, penalties, mental and physical errors cost the Minutemen yardage, momentum and almost the game against fourth-ranked William & Mary at McGuirk Stadium.
Instead the 27-23 upset of the Tribe was defined by how the Minutemen overcame those mistakes. Many of the same players who committed the errors made up for them in the win.
"Our guys responded to a lot of adversity. We put ourselves in a bunch of different holes with some unforced errors and penalties and such," UMass coach Kevin Morris said. "We came back after each one and came out with a big win. There was a bunch of potential disasters that we inflicted on ourselves. Today the character came out and they responded in tremendous form."
Late in the third quarter, with the Minutemen trailing 16-14, Morris elected to go for a first down on fourth-and-2 at the William & Mary 7-yard-line. The play appeared to work. Quarterback Kyle Havens rolled right looking to pass but had plenty of running room. So he took off and crossed the 4-yard-line, which would have given him a first down. He might have beaten the converging safety to the goal line, but inexplicably Havens threw the ball.
The pass was incomplete but it didn't matter. Havens was way over the line of scrimmage and was flagged for an illegal forward pass, ending the drive as UMass fans gasped in disbelief with a minute left in the third.
"It was a bonehead move, but when I came back to the huddle there wasn't one guy that was mad at me," Havens said. "It's a testament to the team to know that you can make a mistake and everybody on this team is going to have your back. We're fighting together."
The Tribe took advantage of the big momentum swing by marching 96 yards on five plays, capped by a 34-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mike Callahan (21-of-35, 221 yards, one interception) to Cameron Dohse that increased their lead to 23-14, 33 seconds into the fourth quarter.
After Jonathan Hernandez's fumble cost UMass possession on a promising first half drive, John Griffin had been the Minutemen's primary ball carrier. But with his team in a hole, Morris turned back to Hernandez and was rewarded for it. He rushed for 32 of his 132 yards including a 2-yard scoring run to cap a 64-yard drive that brought the Minutemen back within 23-21 with 9:40 remaining.
The UMass defense forced a three-and-out and a Tribe punt on the ensuing series, but James Carven was flagged for running into the punter to give William & Mary a first down.
The senior safety, who was playing meaningful minutes for the first time in his career, thought he might have cost his team the game. But he redeemed himself with back-to-back tackles on second and third down to force another punt.
"One play doesn't lose the game, but that was pretty close," Carven said. "I've been waiting four years to get into the game and I tried to make the best of it."
Morris rode his hot hand and put Hernandez back in. This time Havens hit him for a short pass to the right. Hernandez slipped one tackle and then another and raced down the sideline before being caught at the 11 yard line.
Griffin finished the drive two plays later with a 5-yard TD run. The two-point conversion failed, but the Minutemen led 27-23 with 3:23 left.
Tyler Holmes delivered the knockout blow just over a minute later. Callahan's pass skipped off Jonathan Grimes' fingertips and settled into Holmes' hands to seal the win.
"I told Tyler get us the ball back and the game is over," Havens said.
He was right. The Minutemen ran out the clock and celebrated as they ran off the field.
UMass hosts Holy Cross at 6 p.m. Sept. 11.
Havens finished 15-of-24 for 223 yards and one touchdown.
The two-pronged rushing attack delivered exactly as Morris envisioned. In addition to Hernandez's big day, Griffin had 21 carries for 80 yards and two TDs. Both outgained the Tribe's All-American back Jonathan Grimes who finished with 67 yards on 18 carries.
"They're both premier backs in the league," Morris said. "It's not like we have two average Joes. These are high-level Johns."
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.
