AMHERST – Walt Bell’s first game in front of the UMass faithful at McGuirk Alumni Stadium was a dud.
The Minutemen failed to convert on fourth down on their first drive, missed the extra point after their first touchdown and threw an interception inside the red zone after recovering a fumble at the start of the second half. Those were just three of the miscues UMass committed in its home opener Saturday against Southern Illinois.
The sum total of those mistakes was a 45-20 shellacking at the hands of the FCS Salukis, who had beaten an FBS team just three times in 34 previous attempts.
UMass (0-2) tried to establish the run early and Bilal Ally was able to carry the team inside the Southern Illinois 20-yard line. Bell decided to gamble on fourth-and-three with a running play with Cam Roberson from the 11, but the junior was stopped two yards shy of the line to gain. However, the Minutemen forced a quick three-and-out and a shanked punt gave them great starting field position.
Randall West took advantage of the field position, keeping it himself on a broken pass play for a four-yard touchdown run. Yet Cooper Garcia missed his extra point attempt wide to the right and the downward spiral began in earnest.
Over their next five drives, UMass was flagged for five false start penalties and picked up just two first downs, both of which came on the Minutemen’s final drive of the half. The Minutemen actually converted that fifth drive into a touchdown set up by a 23-yard pass to Samuel Emilus and a 38-yard connection to Zak Simon. Kevin Brown punched into the end zone for his first career touchdown on the sixth play of the drive.
The UMass defense bent but didn’t break much in the first half, except for a handful of key plays. On the first play of the second quarter, Javon Williams Jr. caught a screen pass and raced up the left sideline untouched for an 85-yard touchdown. Then after Brown’s touchdown put the Minutemen back into the lead with 1:26 left, the Salukis took just 1:19 to reclaim the lead.
Southern Illinois (1-1) exploited the UMass linebackers in pass coverage, forcing them to defend running backs and tight ends in space. Salukis quarterback Stone Labanowitz gained 75 yards on the scoring drive, all but 10 of which came courtesy of passes to either running back D.J. Davis or tight end Nigel Kilby. Eventually it was a 32-yard wheel route to Davis out of the backfield that scored the touchdown as Davis raced past linebacker Jarvis Miller.
There was a glimmer of hope to begin the second half when Cole McCubrey forced a fumble out of Davis that freshman Billy Wooden fell on. But after Ally gave UMass a first down at the SIU 3-yard line, freshman receiver Jermaine ‘OC’ Johnson Jr. was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. The penalty backed up UMass to the 20 and the drive eventually ended with West being intercepted on third-and-goal from the 17.
Williams Jr. blasted through the UMass defense for a 64-yard touchdown on the next play to put the Salukis in front by two scores. Andrew Brito took over at quarterback for UMass and his first pass was intercepted after his bullet to Sadiq Palmer was a bit high and deflected off the senior’s hands. Southern Illinois scored off that turnover as well with Williams converting on a three-yard power run.
UMass failed on fourth down on its next two drives, leading to the Salukis piling onto the lead with two more touchdowns. Brito led a 13-play, 81-yard drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Taylor Edwards with the game out of hand.