MIAMI — For the first time in his career, UMass football coach Mark Whipple was down to his third-string quarterback by halftime.
Andrew Ford, UMass’ fifth-year senior starter under center, was sacked late in the first quarter Saturday and injured on the play. He went to the sideline under mostly his own power and then walked to the locker room, where he remained for the rest of the 63-24 loss to Florida International, Saturday.
Ross Comis, the Minutemen’s other fifth-year senior quarterback, led the offense on two scoring drives, but he left the game after throwing an incomplete pass late in the second quarter. Comis looked unharmed when he trotted to the sideline after the three-and-out, but then was replaced by Michael Curtis for UMass’ final drive of the first half.
Whipple was non-committal when asked if either Comis or Ford could have returned in a closer game.
“We’re not going to put anybody in harm’s way, we have a long season ahead,” Whipple said. “It wasn’t close so we didn’t even have to answer that question. It’s hypothetical and I can’t deal with that.”
There was a small moment when it felt like Curtis might be the Minutemen’s unlikely savior at quarterback. Jake Byczko forced a fumble on FIU’s first drive of the second half and Chinedu Ogbonna fell on it, leading to a 6-yard touchdown from Curtis.
Lee Moses then intercepted James Morgan on the Panthers’ next possession, giving Curtis a chance to potentially turn the momentum completely. Instead, the Minutemen went three-and-out and the threat was neutralized when the ensuing punt was returned for a 69-yard score.
Curtis finished the day 8-for-15 passing for 158 yards and a late touchdown toss to Andy Isabella. But he also threw two bad interceptions that killed semi-promising UMass drives.
His first turnover came on the drive following the punt return. Curtis scooped up a low snap and was pressured from behind and ended up telegraphing his third-down pass toward the sideline. Rocky Jacques-Louis jumped the route in front of Travis Reynolds and raced the other way untouched for the score.
The second pick was arguably worse as Curtis threw a pass into double coverage deep in the red zone. Whipple admitted the coaches had to alter their play calling to fit with Curtis’ comforts because of his limited practice repetitions with the first-team offense.
“He made some plays, but he also made some boneheaded plays,” Whipple said. “He hasn’t had the reps, but it’s just fundamentals and some things that way. He’s been in the meetings, but it’s hard when you don’t have the reps.”
Isabella was easier on Curtis’ performance given the position he was placed in when he entered the game. The Minutemen already trailed by 32 points and the morale on the sideline was already poor, Isabella said.
“I thought he came out and played well for the situation he was in,” Isabella said. “It’s a hard situation to come in down 35 points and you have to come in and do something. He did alright, yeah, he made some mistakes, but this was his first time out there and I thought he did a hell of a job for being out there in the situation he was put in. It’s hard to go out there when you’re down like that and guys were already down.”
JUST RUN IT: The Minutemen continue to run the ball effectively no matter who is lining up alongside the quarterback in the backfield. On one second-quarter drive, UMass gained 62 yards on three rushes to begin the possession — a 13-yard run from Jordan Fredericks, a 27-yard gaunt from Fredericks and a 22-yard scamper from Marquis Young — that took UMass from its own 25 to the FIU 12 in a hurry.
UMass finished with 199 yards on the ground and averaged more than 5 yards per carry.
“When you’re down by four touchdowns, it kind of takes your run game away,” Whipple said. “There were some things there where I thought we did all right. We can build on it and Jordan’s getting better but we’ll look at the tape and go from there.”
COVERAGE ISSUES: UMass struggled with its punt coverage against FIU well before Maurice Alexander’s 69-yard punt return score. The Minutemen were slow to the returner on George Georgopoulos’ punts and gave Alexander plenty of space to operate. Excluding his score, Alexander averaged 16.8 yards per return on Georgopoulos’ other four punts.
Whipple said the coaches called the wrong punt on Alexander’s touchdown, but even so UMass had several chances to stop the returner. Alexander broke three tackles on his winding return and then outran the coverage for the last 25 yards.