WEST LONG BRANCH – After beating Florida International University for its first-ever win against an FBS opponent earlier this season, the Monmouth Hawks were in position to pull off another stunning upset against soon-to-be FBS member Delaware (5-0).
However, down by seven points with just over a minute to play in regulation, Monmouth’s potential game-winning drive stalled at the Blue Hens 33-yard line when Monmouth quarterback Derek Robertson’s fourth-and-3 pass was broken up by Delaware cornerback Tyron Herring, preserving 42-35 victory for the Blue Hens.
“The No. 1 thing that comes to my mind is disappointment,” said Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan. “We put ourselves in a position to win the game; we played extremely hard all the way through, even at the end when it seemed we were out of it. And I think that is one that got away from us. I thought we did enough good things to win, but we had enough mistakes that kept us from winning. Most of those happened down the stretch and in the fourth quarter.
“If we continue to play like that through the rest of the season, I think we’re going to win a lot more football games.”
Delaware is transitioning to the FBS level next season as a member of Conference USA.
The Blue Hens took a two-touchdown lead, 42-27, with 6:10 remaining in the fourth quarter, and as they did all afternoon, the Hawks battled back to give themselves a real shot at winning the game.
Robertson directed an efficient eight-play, 60-yard scoring drive to pull the Hawks within 42-35 after Robertson connected with junior wideout Gavin Nelson for a two-point conversion, leaving 3:20 on the clock. Running back Sone Ntoh ran it in from a yard out for the score, his nation-leading 13th rushing touchdown of the season.
Sophomore wideout Tra Neal, Nelson, and senior T.J. Speight had key catches to extend the drive.
With Monmouth’s defense having a hard time getting off the field, particularly in the second half, the Hawks then gambled with an onside kick, hoping to regain possession and keep the ball out of the hands of Delaware’s potent offense, which racked up 607 total yards, including 309 yards rushing.
Delaware recovered the onside kick at the Monmouth 48-yard line, but this time, the Hawks’ defense stiffened and forced a turnover on downs. On third-and-2 from the 40, linebacker Ryan Moran dropped quarterback Zack Marker for a 1-yard loss, setting up a critical fourth-and-3 play.
Blue Hens running back Marcus Yarns was then stopped a yard shy of the first-down marker by a host of Monmouth tacklers, including Miles Mitchell, who finished with five solo tackles, TFL, and a QB hit.
Monmouth was now 61 yards away from the tying score.
Sophomore running back Rodney Nelson, who finished with 76 yards on 14 carries, had runs of eight, ten and seven yards on the drive to advance the ball to the 33, but that would be as far as the Hawks would get, leaving the capacity crowd in stunned silence.
“Yeah, that was the plan,” said Robertson when asked if he thought the Hawks would score on their final drive. “The defense came up with a massive stop; an unbelievable job by them. They do that; we have to get it done; it’s that simple. We got to be better in those situations.
“We just got to keep building,” Robertson added. “Offensively, we did not play clean enough at all today. We made mistakes that hurt us throughout the game, so we have to go into this bye week and clean up those mistakes. We have to come out firing and ready to go for the second half of the season because there’s no more time for mistakes.”
Robertson completed 19-of-35 passes for 361 yards and four touchdowns with one interception, his fifth straight game passing for over 350 yards. It’s an impressive stat line once again for the star quarterback, but he uncharacteristically overthrew a couple of open receivers that could’ve possibly put points on the board.
His interception came at a critical juncture of the game, but it was a ball that should’ve been caught. With Delaware holding a 35-27 lead with seven minutes to play and the Hawks facing a fourth-and-4 from the Blue Hens’ 31-yard line, Robertson’s pass, which would’ve been good for a first down, bounced off the receiver, with Gavin Moul making the interception.
Two plays later, Yarns took a pass from Marker in the left flat, got a block, and raced untouched down the left sideline for a deflating 86-yard touchdown run to push the Delaware lead to 42-27 with 6:10 remaining.
Give credit to Monmouth. They could’ve folded their tents and gone home at that point, but they battled back and ultimately had a good shot at the win.
Monmouth’s defense played some bend-don’t-break defense in the first half and held Delaware’s high-octane offense to 14 points in the half, including a pair of fourth-down stops, including one on fourth-and-one at the Monmouth 12-yard line right before the half to keep the game knotted at 14. However, the Blue Hens scored touchdowns on their first four possessions of the second half to seize control of the game.
“They’re a good team, they have a bunch of good athletes, but so do we,” said Moran. “We talk about there being no such thing as a moral victory. I’ve got to give it to my guys; they played their tails off all day. We fought to the end and made a huge stop on fourth down at the end of the game, and you’ll never see anything less from the Monmouth defense for the rest of the season. Coming Monday, we’re going to work as hard as we possibly can during the bye week and come out strong for Bryant.
“We have a lot of football ahead of us, a lot of games to win,” added Moran. “And we should hang our heads high the way we fought today. But there are no moral victories; we have to put games away.”
Moran finished with ten tackles, including five solo stops and a TFL. Defensive tackle Isaiah Rogers had a career-high ten tackles, including five solo stops. Safety Alex Odom added eight tackles (six solo) and a pass breakup, while linebacker Sam Korpoi finished with six tackles (three solo) and a pass breakup. Miles Mitchell had five solo tackles, a TFL, and a QB hit, and end Justin O’Bannon had a TFL and knocked down a pass.
Monmouth had just one sustained drive in the first half, a 13-play, 75-yard drive to take a 7-3 lead. Robertson found Neal for a six-yard scoring strike in the far-left corner of the end zone. Speight took a shovel pass from Robertson 87 yards for the score late in the first half, weaving his way through the Delaware secondary on his way to the end zone to knot the score at 14.
In the third quarter, with Monmouth trailing 21-14, Robertson connected with a wide-open Nelson at the Delaware 30-yard line, and Nelson raced into the end zone untouched.
The Hawks’ offense racked up 473 yards of total offense in the game, marking the fifth straight game with over 400 yards of offense.
Monmouth (3-3, 1-1) is off next Saturday before hosting Bryant University (2-3, 0-1) on Saturday, October 19.
“There’s a tremendous amount of positives (to take from the first half of the season),” said Callahan. “I’m not negative about our progress and where we are as a team. Yeah, we always want to win games. We expect to go 12-0 when the season starts, as do all these guys, but it doesn’t always happen. You’ve got to look at the reasons why you didn’t win those games, and you’re not 12-0, and if they’re fixable things, fix them. There are a lot of different reasons why things happen out there, so it’s my job as the coach to try and find out what those things are, address them, and fix them.
“I think going into the bye-week, this is a good time to be very introspective and take a good look at those things.”
* Photo by Kevin Prefer/On NJ Sports *
