AMHERST — Sixty Minutes may be the name of a highly-rated television program. It is also a goal of the University of Massachusetts football team.
"We've got to be much more consistent in each phase, offensively, defensively and the kicking game. When you point to it, we're a very young team," UMass coach Don Brown said after the Minutemen fell to 1-5 on the season in a 42-24 loss at the hands of Liberty on Saturday. "There are a lot of things that are being coached. Obviously, we'd like to do better, but we're working at it.
"I can promise you this, there's no stone being unturned when we go back to work in the beginning of the week."
It was a game where, for the second consecutive week, the Minutemen scored first. It was also a game where a big quarter did UMass in.
This time, it was the second quarter where the visiting Flames outscored UMass 21-3, turning a 7-0 UMass lead into a 21-10 halftime deficit. Any thoughts UMass had of making a third-quarter comeback were dashed with two touchdowns. One of the TDs, on a two-yard run by Shedro Louis, came after an interception at the UMass 33-yard line.
That short touchdown drive was one of the game's major storylines. Three times in the first half, Liberty started drives inside the UMass 50. Twice, the Minutemen stopped the Flames on downs. The third drive, which started on the UMass 28 after a 14-yard punt return, was capped off by a one-yard touchdown run from Dae Dae Hunter with 10:56 left in the second quarter. The PAT tied the game 7-7.
Two more Liberty TDs were countered by a 28-yard field goal from Cameron Carson. The damage, however, had pretty much been done.
"The field position piece is tough to overcome," Brown said in post-game remarks, "when you're giving your guys so many short fields from a defensive perspective."
The other story of the day was the unexpected start of Garrett Dzuro at quarterback for UMass.
The redshirt sophomore from Lakewood, Ohio, orchestrated a 65-yard touchdown drive to stake the hosts to a lead. Greg Desrosiers Jr. took off on a 53-yard touchdown run, and Cameron Carson's point-after kick made it 7-0.
Dzuro played the first half, but was injured when he was sacked by Liberty's Dennis Osagiede on second-and-7 from the Minuteman 28. The quarterback was shaken up on the play, needed help to get off the field, and did not return in the second half. In all, he was sacked four times for a loss of 38 yards. Two of those sacks came on bad snaps from center. He had 50 yards rushing and seven net yards, including the four sacks. He was also 5-for-7 for 83 yards.
"I was encouraged. Dzuro, I thought, did a good job when he was in there. He was rewarded for his last two weeks of practice," Brown said in his opening remarks. "This isn't something where we just kind of threw a hand grenade in there and said here we go, try another guy. This is a guy who proved he deserved an opportunity.
"I thought he played pretty darn well under the circumstances."
When he met with reporters, Brown did not comment on what happened to Dzuro and on his status moving forward.
Brown has often said that it's a competition for playing time every week, and work in practice will have much to say about that. He said that two weeks ago is when he showed up on the radar of offensive coordinator Steve Casula and Brown.
"Now, here's a guy that missed the entire spring, so obviously we didn't have a great handle on what he could do, you know, due to injury," the coach said. "He started getting his legs underneath him during fall camp. We kind of noticed him the last couple of weeks, and I could feel him a little bit. We're going offense vs. defense and I was feeling him a little bit. Coach Casula and I rode with it and said let's give him an opportunity."
Dzuro also guided the Minutemen to their second-quarter field goal. He started the drive with a 45-yard pass play to Jamir Roberts and got the ball to the Liberty 9 on a five-yard run. That's where the drive stalled, and Carson split the uprights with a 28-yard field goal.
A stop would have been good for the psyche of the members of the UMass team and the vast majority of the 11,217 fans inside McGuirk Alumni Stadium. The Flames, however, had another idea. They marched 61 yards on four plays, with quarterback Johnathan Bennett finding Demario Douglas for 51 yards and Michael Bollinger on a four-yard touchdown pass.
Bennett was 9-for-18 for 183 yards and two touchdowns. He also added 50 yards rushing on nine carries. Liberty's Shedro Lewis ran for only 26 yards, but he scored three touchdowns.
UMass had 233 yards in total offense, but only 75 in the second half. The Minutemen did score two fourth-quarter touchdowns, one on a 22-yard fumble recovery by defensive back Jordan Mahoney, but it did not have an impact on the outcome, only the margin of victory.
The other bit of news was the play of redshirt freshman running back Desrosiers. The Lawrence native who transferred from Louisville ran for 110 yards on seven carries, with touchdowns of 5 and 43 yards. He had only 51 net yards in UMass' first four games.
And if Ellis Merriweather and Tim Baldwin Jr., who were in sweats on Saturday, are out next week, Desrosiers will become a more important cog in the UMass offense. Next up is a home game against Buffalo on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Amherst.