With INT and FG in third OT, UMass finally extinguishes Liberty Flame in game of Independents, 62-59

Amherst, MASS – UMass overcame a 14-point deficit in Q4 and tied Liberty with 25 seconds left before playing three overtimes to win with our record-setting score, 62-59.  LB Jarell Addo picked off Stephen Calvert’s pass in the end zone to kill the Flames scoring threat in the third OT.  Cooper Garcia then kicked a 22-yard FG for the Minutemen’s fourth victory of the 2018 season.  The total of 121 points scored eclipsed our Collegefootballfan.com record of 111 total point. That final score came in a two OT game back in 1998 won by Army over Louisville at West Point, 59-52.

Setting the records straight

On a blustery day that got colder as the sun went down after a 3:30 pm kickoff, the two offenses heated up the first half.  UMass (4-6) did it mostly through the air as QB Ross Comis lit up the airwaves with 540 passing yards and four TDS.  He also rushed for two scores.  UMass WR Andy Isabella broke Victor Cruz’s school record (262 yards versus James Madison in 2008) with nine receptions for 305 yards and two touchdowns.   Marquis Young led the UMass ground attack with 148 yards, two TDs, and a costly fumble on 23 carries.

Liberty QB Stephen Calvert (16 for 35, 272 yards, two TDS, four INTs) used 6’4” WR Antonio Gandy-Golden’s height advantage on numerous occasions (9 catches for 205 yards, two TDs) to beat shorter DBs on sideline passing routes.  The Flame’s (4-4) running game was well balanced with Frankie Hickson and Frank Boyd compiling 135 yards and two TDs and 83 yards and three TDs respectively. We expected a high-scoring game, and we got our highest ever!

Hot start!

The first half went down to the wire to end in a tie, 24-24. Comis threw two bombs that went to Isabella for 89 and 61 yards.  Comis ran one in from the seven.  Calvert threw a 15-yard score to Gandy-Golden for the first score by Liberty.  Hickson scored on an 11-yard run in the second period followed by WR Khaleb Coleman’s fumble recovery of CB Lee Moses’ interception.  That marked the second time on two consecutive Saturdays that we saw this happen. Along with Alex Roberts’s 21-yard FG, Liberty led, 24-21.  As time expired in the first half, Garcia converted a 28-yard three pointer to complete a seven-play, 58-yard drive to end the half all even at 24-24.

Minutemen and Minutewomen Homecoming

The 10,388 in attendance at the UMass Homecoming at McGuirk Stadium could probably not envision what was to follow a great halftime show.  The always great-sounding UMass Marching band that the University takes great pride in paid a tribute to the memory of the late Aretha Franklin, Queen of Soul.  They finished with a 40-year tradition of ending their performance leading the stands with Jersey boy Frank Sinatra’s popular song, “I did it my way.”

Whose way?

Things did not seem to go either team’s way early in the third after the high-scoring first half. Threatening to end a possession with a long bomb of his own for a score, Calvert went deep to the end zone.  DB Isaiah Rodgers at 5’9” who got taken advantage of on several plays by Gandy-Golden made a nice over the shoulder running catch and raced to the opposite side of the end zone.  He brought it out to his 35 to put the ball back on offense for UMass.  They finally jumped ahead with 3:00 left in the third when Marquis Young completed a 65-yard scoring drive with a four-yard TD run for a brief Minuteman lead.

To start the fourth, the game definitely did not go UMass’s way when Liberty scored three touchdowns within 3:14.  Gandy-Golden caught a 14-yard pass for a TD.  Hickson set up a one-yard TD by Boyd with his 38-yard run before getting tackled a yard short of the goal-line.    Young fumbled on UMass’s next possession. LB Solomon Ajayi returned it to the Minutemen four.  Boyd took it in again for the 45-31 Flame lead.

The sun had set, the wind picked up, the temperature dropped, and 11:01 remained on the clock. Liberty had momentum. Most UMass fans could not bear to watch any longer.  They began slowly abandoning McGuirk.  One longtime, die-hard sitting to my left the entire game, wrapped himself in blanket, passed me on the way out, looked me in the eye, and said, “I’ve had enough.”

And then there is Collegefootballfan.com

I, of course, persevered to stay. However, like many others who showed up on a sunny, but windy afternoon, I did not come prepared with heavy clothing for the cold, bone-chilling evening. It was! However, I also didn’t drive three and a half hours to Amherst to miss the last 11 minutes of any game with a 14-point margin.  The scores of previous games played by both these teams indicated both could score lot of points and give up a lot of points, depending on who they played.  Too much time remained for both not to score against the other one’s defense.  I knew that this could not be the final score. Two touchdown-margin? Overtime? I wondered.

Liberty kicked for a touchback. Seventy-five yards later with 6:42 left, Comis finished the UMass drive with a six-yard TD after faking a dive hand-off and taking it in himself.  Isabella gimped around.  On third and two, a bad snap by the Liberty center sent the Flames back on their 34 with a fourth and 11.  Isabella fielded the punt, and UMass had possession at their 25 again with 2:57 left.  After losing four yards on a sack and five-yards on an illegal motion call, UMass got back to the 31 with a fourth and four.  Comis hooked up with Sadiq Palmer for a 15-yard gain and a new set of downs.  Young carried the ball four times on the next five plays.  On the final carry, he ran it in from the nine with 25 seconds left.  Garcia connected on the PAT to knot it, 45-45.  We have Overtime!

Home?

First OT – Liberty scored a TD on Boyd’s five-yard run.  Comis responded with a seven-yard TD pass to Samuel Emilus. PATs both good, 52-52.

Second OT – For UMass first, Comis connected quickly this time with Emilus for a 23-yard TD pass.  PAT good.  Liberty ran the ball seven straight times with Hickson going in from the two. PAT good, 59-59.

Third OT – “I wanna go home!!!” yelled a 20-something UMass stalwart a few rows down. He got his happy wish.  Addo intercepted Calvert in the end zone, and Garcia kicked the winning score, 62-59, for a new CFF.com single game scoring record. The weather turned cold for people with sweatshirts and/or light windbreakers.  I gladly got out of windy, cold McGuirk to get in my car, turned on the heat, and headed, not home, but to my sister Mary Kay’s house less than two hours away in Cumberland, RI.

New England nostalgia

I got to see three pretty good games in New England these past two weekends. For CFF.com, our history started with her and her now husband Gunther when we started all this while they were students at URI. On that game back in 1979, Delaware defeated Rhody, 49-14 on their way to the D-2 national championship. Who knew, here we are, 577 games later.

Safe travels to all

Liberty stays on the road the next two weeks at Virginia and then at Auburn. Welcome Flames to your first FBS season as Independents.  The Minutemen will face the BYU Cougars next weekend at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, home of the Patriots.  A week later, they visit No. 5 Georgia down in Athens. The SEC sure knows how to pick non-conference games late in the season, don’t they?

Dekalb, Illinois welcomes CFF.com where we’ll take a little side trip while on business in Chicago.  Our first time there, we will attend our first Mid-American Conference game where Northern Illinois’ Huskies (6-3,5-0, 1^st in MAC West) will host Toledo’s Rockets (5-4, 3-2, 3^rd in MAC West) in a Western Division contest.  Hope it’s not too cold!

Extra points: 

In our fifth game seeing UMass struggle…I meant compete…at the FBS level, this is their first win in five games we’ve attended.  We saw them play at the FCS level against URI (twice), at Delaware, and against Fordham in the FCS playoffs.

Today, Liberty became the 130^th FBS team we have seen play in person. In 2011, we saw them compete as an FCS program when we watched them fall to No. 5 Lehigh, 27-24. We also saw their HC Turner Gill play QB for Nebraska in the 1984 Kickoff Classic at The Meadowlands when they trounced Penn State 44-6 on their way to a national championship.