UMass football: Pop Watson propels Minutemen past Ball State in 31-30 OT victory

AMHERST — The UMass football team desperately needed a boost in its return home on Wednesday against Ball State. Sitting on a four-game losing streak, the Minutemen suffered through a one-point loss to Miami (OH) and an overtime defeat to Buffalo in previous weeks.

Against the Cardinals, the Minutemen found themselves in overtime once again, this time down by six, needing a touchdown to stay alive.

Quarterback William “Pop” Watson III answered the call. Seeing the defense leave a gap up the middle, Watson bolted to the end zone. Getting an open field block, he juked one defender and ran into the end zone untouched.

His score plus Derek Morris’ successful extra-point kick allowed the Minutemen to walk off with the 31-30 victory over Ball State. More than a month after recording four wins to open the season, UMass reached five wins for the first time since moving up to the FBS in 2011.

“I said the other day this is a turning point,” head coach Joe Harasymiak said. “We got to take this program to the next level and I think when you’re getting games like this, those players showed you exactly what they’re all about.”

Watson threw a career-high 302 yards on 17-of-25 completions. His two rushing touchdowns were also the first time he ran for a score since UMass’ win against Sacramento State. The senior looked much like the version of himself the Minutemen were used to seeing; moving outside the pocket and making explosive plays with his feet and arm.

Down 14-10 with 21 seconds left in the first half, Watson and wide receiver Jabari Lewis injected a shot of energy into an offense that had been mostly stagnant up until that point. Lewis sprinted past his defender along the right sideline and Watson hit his guy in stride for the 64-yard touchdown pass.

Now with the lead, the Minutemen were in control headed into the locker room. After Lewis had dropped a third-down pass earlier in the quarter, Watson reminded him to stay in the game.

“I told him, ‘I’m coming back to you bro,’” Watson said. “‘It’s not over, you got to make a big play for me. I’m counting on you.’ Went right back to him, he did what I thought he would do.”

Lewis finished the game with two catches and 78 yards.

In the third quarter, Ball State took advantage of T.Y. Harding’s second fumble of the game with a quick possession completed by a 42-yard touchdown run from Jalen Bonds. The sophomore ran 17 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns.

The following drive belonged to Watson and his receivers. On second down, Watson launched a 46-yard pass to Harding to get into Cardinal territory. He followed with another deep-ball to Kezion Dia-Johnson to get UMass to the one-yard line.

Watson capitalized the drive with a one-yard run, his first rushing touchdown since he scored two against Sacramento State.

“He wasn’t being denied tonight,” Harasymiak said. “I think that was the biggest thing I saw in his eye and to put it on his shoulders and do what he can do. That’s college football. You need great players to win big games.”

Harding led the team with six catches for 70 yards while Dia-Johnson led the Minutemen with 97 yards with three grabs.

Ball State quarterback Keldric Luster threw for 182 yards and a touchdown. Down 24-17, he orchestrated a two-minute drill where he scored on a two-yard rush to tie the game with 25 seconds left.

Whereas UMass’ first four wins were decisive victories, Wednesday was the first time it came out on top in a back-and-forth game. While it had been over a month since the Minutemen won a game, Harasymiak said practices did not have the feel of a team in a losing-streak.

“I would say this is a completely different culture than what we’ve had,” he said. “I think what we’re doing as a program is putting ourselves in this position more often than not, and you got to keep knocking at the door.”