FOXBOROUGH — When UMass reflects on Saturday’s 35-16 loss to BYU, it will think about the two big opportunities it missed in the second half.
On their first drive, which had been extended thanks to a BYU facemask penalty, the Minutemen drove inside the red zone and looked poised to score a game-opening touchdown. Instead, they picked up just 8 yards on three straight rushing plays and kicked a 20-yard field goal on fourth down to take a 3-0 lead.
It continued a troubling ongoing trend for UMass of not converting red zone chances into touchdowns. In its four games since the bye week, UMass has kicked six field goals inside the red zone in 18 chances.
“We had to score touchdowns on offense when we had the chance, and we didn’t,” coach Mark Whipple said. “We had the three then we missed the three, and that hurt us.”
The missed three Whipple referred to was Cooper Garcia’s 36-yarder at the end of the first half that sailed well left of the uprights. It was the culmination of a drive that began at the UMass 27-yard line with 1:50 left in the second quarter and BYU leading 14-10.
Quarterback Ross Comis did well to lead the Minutemen to the Cougars’ 19 with five seconds left on the clock to set up the Garcia attempt. He lamented one missed chance he had to potentially score a touchdown on that drive, but said the missed kick deflated the team more than it should have given how close the game was at halftime.
“We had a minute or so and we put together a good drive and got it inside the 20,” Comis said. “I missed Sam (Emilus) on a seam route that could have gotten us closer, but when you have a field goal to put it 14-13, it’s big. But you have to go to the next play. It might have turned the tide a little bit, but us as players, we need to say to heck with that and go onto the next play.”
DEFENSIVE LETDOWN: BYU converted on 6 of 12 third-down attempts, but most of them came at critical moments for the Cougars.
All three of BYU’s third-down conversions in the first half came on its final drive of the half, the one that gave it a 14-10 lead. The Cougars completed a 10-yard pass to move the chains on third-and-8, busted through for a 7-yard rush on third-and-2 before capping the drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Zach Wilson to Talon Shumway on third-and-10.
In the second half, BYU scored on third-and-goal to take a 21-10 lead. It then sealed the game with a conversion on third-and-6 after Whipple took a timeout to preserve some clock with his team down three scores.
“We were really close on some of those third downs,” linebacker Bryton Barr said. “First half we were shutting them down, and in the second half, we just couldn’t get off the field. They would just drive down on us, and it’s unfortunate, disappointing, all of the above.”
CLEAN GAME: There were only three penalties called all game and two of them were flagged on the first drive of the contest. Larnel Coleman was whistled for a holding call that negated a UMass first down before the facemask penalty gave the Minutemen a first down on the next play. The Cougars were also called for jumping offsides during UMass’ two-minute drill at the end of the first half.
PRO-COUGAR CROWD: The announced attendance for the game at Gillette Stadium was 14,082, about a fifth of which were the bands that were in the north end zone in honor of band day. A large majority of the other fans at the contest were supporting BYU, which received a large cheer when it took the field before each half. Each Cougars score was greeted with a similar round of applause and a “B-Y-U” chant echoed through the stadium at critical junctions of the game as well.
The large support for BYU — a university affiliated with the Mormon Church — is not surprising given Gillette Stadium’s proximity to Belmont. The Boston suburb is home to one of the larger Mormon churches in the country and the area is home to a large contingent of Mormons.