Boxscore
Photos Courtesy of Mark Campbell

AMHERST, Mass. -- The University of Delaware had precious little offense and missed out on too many opportunities handed to them Saturday and the Blue Hens dropped their Colonial Athletic Association football opener to host Massachusetts Saturday afternoon at McGuirk Stadium.

The No. 16 Blue Hens (2-3, 0-1 CAA), coming off a 38-7 win over Albany the previous week, managed just 167 total yards and 10 first downs the entire day and could never capitalize on four Minutemen turnovers. The Hens lost for just the third time in 14 trips to UMass.

"We just lost to a better football team today," said Delaware head coach K.C. Keeler. "This was a huge game for both us, but they showed they were better and came out on top. I can't complain about our effort, we just didn't do enough on either side of the ball to win the game. We had a real difficult time handling their blitzes and had a tough time looking down field and getting balls off. I wouldn't necessarily say they handled us all day long, but they definitely had the upper hand.”

No. 18 Massachusetts (3-2, 1-1 CAA) shook off their four turnovers - all coming inside the Delaware 20-yard line - and powered their way to 459 total yards, including 163 on the ground by running back Tony Nelson, and won for the 16th straight time at home. UMass has now won 20 of its last 21 games and its streak of 16 straight home wins is the second longest active streak at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision level.

The Minutemen broke a long-standing 7-7 tie when kicker Armando Cuko converted a 38-yard field goal with 12:55 left to play and UMass defensive back Jeromy Miles sealed the win when he returned an interception 52 yards for a touchdown just two minutes later. The Hens could never manage enough offense to catch up after that.

Delaware QB Robby Schoenhoft was just 5 of 15 passing for 40 yards and led the Blue Hens in rushing with a season-high 57 yards. Delaware receivers caught just three passes for 19 yards on the day. Tight end Robbie Agnone provided the only Delaware scoring when he caught an eight-yard scoring pass from Schoenhoft late in the first quarter.

The Hens’ totals of 167 yards and 10 first downs were both season lows and Delaware went three downs and out in seven of its 12 possessions for the game. Delaware drove 79 yards on 15 plays in scoring on its first possession of the game, but managed just 82 yards the rest of the way. Delaware averaged just 3.0 yards per play on 55 plays while the Minutemen averaged 6.7 yards on 69 tries.

Massachusetts quarterback Liam Coen, the pre-season CAA Offensive Player of the Year, completed 18 of 32 passes for 228 yards with Jeremy Horne catching eight passes for 114 yards and a touchdown.The UMass defense was highlighted by a career-high 16 tackles from linebacker Josh Jennings.

The Delaware defense gained four turnovers but could never take advantage. Charles Graves recovered a fumble after a completed option pass from wide receiver Joe Sanford to Nelson at the Delaware eight-yard line and returned it 31 yards late in the first quarter, but the Hens had to punt after three plays.

Fred Andrew (#24 top right) intercepted a pass that was tipped by receiver Victor Cruz in the end zone with 10:12 left in the first half to halt another UMass drive, but once again the Hens failed to capitalize, punting after three plays.

Blue Hen linebacker Brian Brown intercepted another Coen pass at the Delaware 37-yard line with 4:57 left in the half, but Delaware once again had to punt after gaining just six yards on five plays. Delaware had yet another opportunity when Graves (#30 bottom right) intercepted a pass and returned it 38 yards to the Delaware 43-yard line with 5:20 left in the third quarter, but three plays later the Hens punted the ball away again. Coen had entered the game having thrown just two interceptions in 115 attempts this season.

“The outcome was a loss, and that’s all that matters,” said Graves, who added nine tackles to his two turnovers gained. “You always want to win the turnover battle and when you do you usually win. We just want to win games and today we didn’t. The game is about adjustments and they did a better job. This is a hard loss, but I think we are a heck of a team. We have to soak in this loss but we have to look toward the future.”

The game looked like it would be a high-scoring one early as both teams easily marched down the field and scored on their initial possession. UMass drove 86 yards on just five plays to open the game with Coen hitting on all four pass attempts for 80 yards, including a 40-yard strike to Horne over the middle just 2:08 into the game.

But Delaware answered quickly. With Schoenhoft mixing the run and pass, the Hens marched 79 yards on 15 plays, eating up 9:09 minutes and capping the drive when Schoenhoft rifled a pass through heavy traffic in the middle of the end zone to Agnone. The 15 plays and 9:09 of time were the longest marks of the season for the Hens.

The rest the half featured a struggling Delaware offense and injury-plagued UMass attack. The Minutemen had the chance to take the lead into halftime but Cuko was wide right on a 45-yard field goal attempt just seconds before the end of the half.

After a scoreless third quarter, UMass then sealed the win when Cuko nailed his 38-yard field goal to cap a 60-yard drive that was set up by several long runs by Nelson and backup Korrey Davis and on Miles’ interception down the right sideline.

“They did what we expected,” said Schoenhoft of UMass’ defensive scheme. “We knew they liked to blitz and that’s what they did. We tried to get the ball out to our receivers as early was we could but sometimes plans don’t go the way you want. We didn’t execute the way we wanted to. We have to learn to take advantage of opportunities when we get them.”

Delaware will return to action next Saturday when the Hens host Maine at 6 p.m. at Delaware Stadium.

GAME NOTES....Despite its offensive output, the Hens still extended their consecutive streak of not being shutout to 153 straight games, just one shy of the school record of 154 set in 1983-96...All-American defensive end Matt Marcorelle, who missed the Albany game with a hamstring injury, saw action and had one tackle...Leo Ferrine (hamstring) did not make the trip...WR Mark Duncan caught his first pass with 8:08 left in the first half, extending his streak to 19 straight games catching at least one pass...LB Benard Makumbi injured his left lower leg in the second quarter and did not return and starting MLB Erik Johnson injured his back and shoulder n the third quarter and did not see action again...crowd of 16,422 was the 13th highest attendance in McGuirk Stadium history and the highest regular season crowd since November, 1974....the game matched the two winningest teams in CAA history with Delaware having won 67.2 percent of its league game since joining in 1986 and UMass winning 64.1 percent of its league games...Nelson posted his third 100-yard rushing game of the season...Delaware’s defense had allowed just one run over seven yards in opponents’ previous 100 carries over three games, but UMass managed nine carries over eight yards, including a 38-yard romp by Nelson.