AMHERST — “Ownership Sunday” is what UMass football head coach Joe Harasymiak called the Minutemen’s meetings one day removed from one of the program’s more embarrassing losses in program history, a 27-26 defeat to FCS Bryant after holding a 20-3 lead at one point.
The first-year head coach held separate meetings with each unit (offense, defense and special teams) on Sunday where he showed 24 different plays from Saturday’s defeat. Harasymiak didn’t hold back, calling out players and coaches alike — himself included — to challenge them to simply be better.
During a game, there are seven categories Harasymiak said he wants his team to be “in the green” in, and if they are, they should be in a great position to win. UMass excelled in five of those seven, as the Minutemen had a plus-1 turnover margin, led second half time of possession by nearly 11 minutes, had three more third-down conversions, scored more points in the red zone (20-13) and downed five punts inside the 20-yard line compared to Bryant’s one.
But UMass (0-2, 0-0 MAC) still found a way to let a 17-point lead at home slip away.
Yesterday’s meeting was not fun, to be honest… That was the first time we’ve kind of been through that.
UMass head coach joe harasymiak
“Yesterday’s team meeting was not fun, to be honest with you,” Harasymiak said during Monday’s media availability. “I don’t know if [the players had] ever been through one like that. We certainly haven’t with me. But accountable, we covered everything in the beginning — don’t give me any faces, don’t give me any looks on the penalties… But I think they took ownership for it. They sat up and looked me in the eye. That was the first time we’ve kind of been through that.”
It’s tough to pinpoint one moment where things went wrong, because there were multiple. Let’s start in the third quarter, with UMass driving into Bryant territory looking to extend its lead back up to three possessions with a touchdown. On 3rd-and-1 from the Bryant 16-yard line, a five-yard loss forced a 38-yard field goal attempt — which was blocked by the Bulldogs. The Minutemen came up empty handed, and Bryant responded with an 80-yard touchdown drive in two minutes to make it 20-17.
A holding call on the next possession turned an AJ Hairston first-down run into a 2nd-and-20, ultimately leading to a punt. UMass’ defense forced a three-and-out to get the ball right back to the offense, and Grant Jordan — who replaced starting QB Brandon Rose (shoulder injury) after the first quarter — led a drive down inside the 10 to give the Minutemen 1st-and-goal at the Bryant 7.
Three plays of no yards forced another field goal attempt, this one sailing through to put UMass in front 23-17.
Bryant quarterback Brennan Myer hit Zyheem Collick for a 72-yard score just three plays later and all of a sudden the Bulldogs were ahead 24-23. Again, the Minutemen showed promise as they drove down the field inside the red zone. But their first down from the Bulldogs 14 suddenly vanished thanks to a holding penalty and a sack. Two incompletions later and UMass was staring at a 4th-and-31. Derek Morris calmly drilled a 53-yarder, giving the Minutemen a 26-24 edge, but the opportunity for more points was clearly missed.
It was those four offensive possessions — the 3rd-and-1 at the 16 that turned into a 4th-and-medium and eventually a blocked kick, the holding penalty negating a big Hairston gain, a 1st-and-goal situation leading to only three points and a 1st-and-10 at the 14 turning into a 4th-and-forever — and the explosive Bryant responses that lost UMass the game.
Bryant kicked the winner after marching 88 yards in just 1 minute, 45 seconds.
“When your mind gets in those situations, you go back to what your experiences have been — and that’s been losing,” Harasymiak said. “So in order to teach that, we have to be in these moments, continue to have growth… We got to keep putting ourselves in situations to win a game, and then we got to go win them. We’re all doing it together for the first time. Everyone wants it immediately, and we’re trying everything we can do to get that done. But I think it’s just human nature to have so many negative experiences that the first thing that goes wrong in your mind goes there. We got to cut that out and go play. And [going back to the Bryant game], we just could never put the hammer down. When you’re up 20-3, I don’t care who you’re playing, you have to choke them out. Put the hammer down and go get it.”
Perhaps the most deflating part of the loss for UMass was the way the defense looked. The Bulldogs put up 399 yards of total offense, including 318 yards through the air. Temple quarterback Evan Simon threw for six TDs in a near-flawless performance back in Week 1, so this marked back-to-back defensive letdowns to start the season.
It isn’t just the secondary’s fault, either. Because UMass has struggled to get to the opposing quarterbacks in the backfield through two weeks (two sacks, both against Bryant), the cornerbacks are asked to cover for a long time. Simon and Myer both had all day to throw, and eventually somebody will — and did — get open as a result.
Add in the Minutemen injuries to the back end (corners Malcolm Green and Bo Barnes, safety Zeraun Daniel), and it’s been a recipe for disaster early on.
“The two corners besides TJ McGee that were in there were fifth and sixth on the depth chart going into the year,” Harasymiak said. “We have to be able to help our guys out a little bit more. We did not hold up in man so we made some changes there late in the game, but we’re going to have to see what we can do coverage-wise and what we can do situationally to help our guys out. We’re not creating a pass rush right now, which is an issue.”
Two games against Iowa and Missouri are left on UMass’ non-conference slate. Then the Minutemen will welcome Western Michigan on Oct. 4 in their first MAC game as a full member of the conference.
The most important thing from now until then is staying healthy and hoping a handful of the nine starters that are currently out can come back in time for the start of MAC play against the Broncos.
