PISCATAWAY, N.J. — It was going so well for Walt Bell in his UMass debut Friday until it all fell apart.
Randall West led the Minutemen to a touchdown on the first drive of the game while looking like the calm leader Bell entrusted with the offense. Joseph Norwood jumped in front of a McLane Carter pass on Rutgers’ opening offensive possession, setting up UMass to double its lead with another scoring drive. By the end of the first quarter, West had led the Minutemen on three scoring drives and the underdogs held a 14-point advantage on the road.
Yet the good omens came to a screeching halt in the second quarter as Rutgers responded and pounded the Minutemen into turf. The Scarlet Knights scored 31 unanswered points in the period and cruised to a 48-21 win over UMass at SHI Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.
West was an efficient 11-of-16 for 73 yards in the first quarter while leading the Minutemen on three scoring drives. He ended the first one with a 20-yard strike to Kyle Horn that stunned the home crowd. Two players after Norwood’s interception, Cam Roberson evaded a pair of tacklers near the line of scrimmage and weaved his way through the Rutgers defense for a 39-yard touchdown. West moved UMass down the field again on the third drive, which ended with Bilal Ally bursting through the line for a 33-yard touchdown.
After Norwood’s interception to begin the game, though, the UMass defense started to show some of its weaknesses. The Minutemen struggled to sustain a pass rush against Carter, giving the Texas Tech transfer plenty of time to dissect the secondary. UMass (0-1) didn’t do itself many favors on the back end either and gave Carter the windows to throw the ball comfortably to his receivers. Raheem Blackshear and Bo Melton both found themselves wide open on several occasions for longer gains as Carter threw for 340 yards on just 21 completions with nine throws of at least 15 yards.
On offense, the Minutemen had their issues on the perimeter, which hampered both their passing and rushing attacks against the Scarlet Knights (1-0). UMass really only found success when attempting rushes between the tackles, leading to all of their long runs. On the outside, the receivers and tight ends struggled to seal off their defenders and Rutgers was able to snuff out the screen passes and outside runs Bell dialed up.
The receivers on the outside did not give West much help, either, by struggling to create separation from their defenders. West’s longest pass was the 20-yard touchdown he threw to Horn on the first drive, but otherwise had to settle for underneath routes that were quickly bottled up. The redshirt senior finished with 106 yards on 20-of-31 passing in his first career start.
Bell showed off his gambling chops several times, and it paid off handsomely for UMass on almost every occasion. On the first drive of the game, Bell decided to go for it on fourth-and-10 in Rutgers’ territory and West rewarded the choice with a 12-yard shovel pass to Roberson. The Minutemen went for it again on fourth-and-13 from the 30, this time getting aided by a flag for roughing the passer.
The final gamble came to open the second half when Bell called for an onside kick with the Minutemen down by 17 points. Mike Caggiano executed the kick perfectly and it bounced off a Rutgers player to the turf where James Bowe dove on it. However, the referees penalized Michael Nesmith for targeting, negating the recovery and forcing UMass to kick off again.
A play that might have started a comeback instead turned into a Rutgers field goal and the end of UMass’ hopes. Isaiah Rodgers did his best to keep UMass alive with a pair of second-half interceptions, but the Minutemen couldn’t convert those takeaways deep in their own territory into points. The Minutemen recorded just eight first downs in the final three quarters after converting 10 in the opening 15 minutes on those three scoring drives.