AMHERST — Quarterback Andrew Ford knew for two weeks which play would be UMass’ first of the season. Thanks to some excellent field position, it ended up being the right call at the right moment.
Junior cornerback Bakhari Goodson caught a deflected pass for an interception on Duquesne’s opening drive to set up the Minutemen at the Dukes’ 32-yard line. Ford capitalized immediately with a perfectly placed throw to Brennon Dingle in the corner of the end zone, giving his receiver enough space to drag his foot and score the first points of the college football season.
“On the first day we started working on Duquesne, we put that in there and knew that was going to be the first play,” Ford said. “We’re lucky the defense gave us that short field and we were able to roll.”
The UMass offensive script kept looking better when Ross Comis hit a wide-open Andy Isabella over the middle and the senior wideout turned up the field for a 60-yard touchdown on the Minutemen’s third play from scrimmage. Bilal Ally almost cashed in a 67-yard touchdown run, but was tripped up at the 1 before punching it in on the next play.
The explosive plays did not stop for UMass in its 63-15 steamrolling of Duquesne at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. The Minutemen had 12 plays of at least 10 yards in the first half, including seven that gained at least 20 yards. That accounted for 30 percent of UMass’ plays in the opening 30 minutes.
UMass coach Mark Whipple said he wanted to exploit Duquesne with a lot of crossing routes, which opened the door for the first two scores, and then adjusted as the Dukes took away those paths.
“We thought if they played the way they played on tape, we would be able to expose some things that way,” Whipple said. “After that, they kind of backed off and we had to be a little more cautious.”
UMass (1-0) showcased several new weapons for the home crowd to supplement the existing stars. Ally finished with 109 yards on nine carries to complement Marquis Young, who had 90 on 15 touches. In addition to Isabella, who had five catches for 131 yards and three touchdowns (two receiving and a 14-yard score on the ground), Dingle had three catches for 61 yards.
After catching the first pass, Dingle added a 22-yard reception late in the first quarter that he almost broke for longer until being pushed out of bounds. His other grab was for 7 yards over the middle, but he’s the type of sneaky, explosive player Ford said could turn a game when he touches the ball.
“Brennon has really accepted that big-play role that we’re looking to use him in,” Ford said. “Today, he had two really big plays to help keep the momentum with us.”
The offense wasn’t the only unit making plays that electrified the crowd of 8,684. Brice McAllister announced his presence in his first game with UMass with a pair of interceptions. The fifth-year transfer from Connecticut made an acrobatic interception on an overthrown pass from Duquesne quarterback Daniel Parr that led to a UMass score midway through the second quarter.
Then he sealed the game with a 60-yard interception return for a touchdown early in the third quarter after jumping a route and stepping in front of Parr’s pass. There was no one within 5 yards of McAllister until the last few yards, but Chinedu Ogbonna threw a critical block to pave the way for the score.
“Xavier Steele did a great job acting like he was going to blitz then acting like he was going to cover (Brandon Stanback) then he blitzed,” McAllister said. “The quarterback thought (Stanback) was wide open so I just stepped in front of it. The only thing that was going through my mind was making sure I don’t get caught. The first thing I did was look back to see where the guy was then (Ogbonna) threw me a great block.”
Parr and the Duquesne offense were silenced for almost the entire time they faced the UMass starting defense. The Dukes (0-1) had just 180 yards in a little less than three quarters against the first-teamers and were forced to punt six times to go along with Parr’s three interceptions.
Running back A.J. Hines was effectively neutralized while being held to 59 yards on nine carries, 52 of which came on five touches during Duquesne’s touchdown drive at the end of the first half. The Minutemen also limited Dukes wideout Nehari Crawford, who finished with five catches for 59 yards, 34 of which came on one grab.
“We knew if we were able to stop them and shut them down, we’d be pretty successful,” McAllister said. “It was a great overall defensive effort. The D-line was getting great penetration and getting into the quarterback’s face, so he didn’t really have a lot of time for Crawford to run his routes and get open. The D-line played a major role in helping us defend Crawford.”