Lafayette-Monmouth follow-up: good and bad

When Lafayette lined up for its final play of the game Saturday night in Fisher Stadium, I actually had a fleeting thought: The Leopards are going to pull this off.

It was an improbable situation, but there was a good bit of improbability in the Lafayette-Monmouth game. What a fitting finish this might be.

It didn’t happen, of course, because Julius Spigner, a former Bethlehem Catholic High quarterback, never had a real leaper’s chance of grabbing the Sean O’Malley from defensive back Tymere Berry, who had him blanketed.

As the ball dropped to the turf to end the night, the guy in the press box had to ask himself:  Was this a game the Leopards could have won to stun everyone? Or, was this a game that wasn’t as close as the final 24-20 score would indicate?

The answers to those questions might both be the same: Yes.

Here’s my take.

First, the positives.

J.J. Younger’s 95-yard kickoff return. Forget that it ended the touchdown drought. What the big return did for the Leopards is make for some serious decisions for other coaches, especially those in the Patriot League. If they decide to kick away from Younger. They are forced to go to C.J. Amill, who, if he’s totally healthy, is just as dangerous. Remember his 96-yard return last year? And remember that he has 1,650 yards of KO returns for his career.   If coaches choose to go the short-kick route to nullify Younger and Amill, I’m sure the Leopards have another option to sit at the 20 or 25 to accept the pooch kickoffs. Maybe Yasir Thomas? Kickoff return seems to be the team’s best weapon right now, but the truth be told, Lafayette coaches would just as soon see opponents kick off far less. That means they’re not scoring lots of points themselves.

The offensive line: no penalties, only 1 sack. I can’t remember the last time a Lafayette team went through a game with no penalties. For the OL, the means no false starts and no holding calls on 64 offensive plays Saturday night. Ten o-linemen were dressed on Saturday. The only Monmouth sack of the game came on the first down of Lafayette’s final possession, with less than a minute left in the game. Quarterback Sean O’Malley did appear to be moving around a lot more, which may have helped the o-line because Monmouth had recorded only two sacks in its first two games. But the fact is, the guys held their own. O'Malley seemed to be throwing to pre-arranged receivers quite often, too, eliminating the time it takes to read the field.

The Lehigh playbook. Nick Pearson ran for 95 yards in the first half of the game against Lehigh, thanks to wide receiver speed sweeps and reverses. Those plays were missing the first two games this season, but Pearson ran four of them on Saturday. He scored one touchdown on a five-yard run. He had just nine yards net, including one costly loss on a first down at the MU 10-yard line in the fourth quarter. But that didn’t matter to me. The fact that Coach John Garrett or offensive coordinator John Van Dam – whoever is making that call – dusted off those plays to let others know they must defend it was enough for me. Pearson has enough speed to make them work even if opponents are aware of them.

Pearson the receiver. Nick had 21 receptions last year and seemed to be O’Malley’s favorite target before getting hurt and missing five games. He had what I think was Lafayette’s best scoring chance on Saturday night when he got free in space and caught a perfect throw from O’Malley in stride. One Monmouth defender got just enough to his foot on a tackle attempt that Pearson, as he tried to regain his full stride, wound up falling to the turf without being hit. The play covered 43 yards – the longest of the season to date – but it might have wound up in the end zone if Nick had been able to hang on.  Sorry if I sound a little like Coach Garrett with my “if” reference, but this play had real possibility.

Three cheers for the defense under pressure. How in the world, you wonder, can I put a positive spin on the defense when it allowed Monmouth to gain 528 yards of total offense – 194 on the ground, 334 through the air?  The truth is the outcome of the game would have been a good bit more lopsided except for the defense. (1) In the second quarter, Monmouth got a first down at the Lafayette 10, but pass breakups by Demetrius Breedlove – yes, a d-tackle – and Eric Mitchell and a run stop by Keith Earle forced the Hawks to kick a 25-yard field goal. (2) And in the fourth quarter, with the Hawks again at the Leopards’ 10, Breedlove had his second breakup and Jerry Powe and Major Jordan combined for a key stop of running back Pete Guerriero, after which Monmouth again kicked a field goal. The 27-yarder was good, but the stop meant Lafayette’s chances of an upset were still alive. (3) Then late in the game, after the Leopards were kept out of the end zone by the Hawks, stops by Michael Root, Major Jordan and Powe forced Monmouth to punt from its end zone, with A Joey Chenoweth 10-yard return putting the ball on the Monmouth 45 with 40 seconds to play.  As a bonus, I throw in the fact that the defense allowed Monmouth only four third-down conversions on 12 attempts, a big improvement over the first two games.

Not all was positive. So here’s some costly negative.

Defense in space. Some soft play in the Lafayette secondary allowed 28 receptions and far too many explosive plays. Jake Powell had six and each gained between 10 and 23 yards; Reggie White Jr. had six catches, including 34- and 27-yarders, and Brandon Batts had seven catches, including 18-, 19- and 14-yarders. There was also the 43-yard untimed-play touchdown run by Guerriero, who went right up the middle and outraced everyone to give the Hawks the lead.

No sacks, no penalties. Then, too, the Leopards could not catch Hawks’ QB Benji Bahar, who, in addition to throwing for 334 yards, had 47 net yards on five scrambles. The defensive line had its hands full with an experienced Monmouth offensive line. Bahar was amazing, especially considering that in last year’s game against Lafayette, he had run seven times for no yards.  I’m not sure how no penalties becomes a negative, except to say that I think sometimes there needs to be a physical statement made by the defense that might cost you yardage once in a while but will also let the opposing team you’re coming after them with everything. Monmouth didn’t seem worried about that.

Blocked kicks. Lafayette has arguably the best kicker in the Patriot League in Jacob Bissell, but a blocked extra point and a blocked 50-yard field goal attempt were important plays for Monmouth. What made the block a momentum-changer for Lafayette was the fact that it came on the opening drive of the second half. The Leopards, leading 20-15, drove from their 25 to the Hawks’ 36 where they were faced with a fourth-and-5. Punting wasn’t an option, and because Bissell has continuously shown that he has enough leg to clear from 50, taking three points to get the lead to eight won out over trying to go for the first down. Thomas Daivone blocked it before it ever really got going. 

The running game. Just can’t seem to get away from this one. Selwyn Simpson and QB O’Malley had a mess-up on the first Lafayette play of the game, which ended in a six-yard loss. Simpson made up for that on the next play by running for 19 yards on his second touch. He had just 17 net for the game. That was the team-best. Mike Dunn got more work with six carries after having only two in the first two games. But nothing seems to get things going. Coach Garrett did try harder this time with 27 rushing plays, as contrasted to just 11 against Delaware. But at 48 yards net, that came out to 1.8 yards per carry. That continues to be a drag on the offense as a whole. The wide receiver reverse is not the panacea.

And so, it’s on to Colgate to open the league. Colgate is 2-0, having allowed 121 yards rushing and 123 passing in victories over New Hampshire and Holy Cross. The Raiders averaged only 110.5 rushing and 139 passing themselves. Colgate has allowed eight sacks and has converted only 8-for-30 on third downs. Colgate also has not scored a point in the second half of either game to date.

The Raiders are favored to win the league, so if Lafayette has something it hasn’t used yet, this would be a good week. The game’s in Hamilton, N.Y., and Colgate will be rested. Its game with CAA foe Furman was cancelled Saturday because of the “girl” named Florence. Maybe that’s what it takes to stop the Raiders: a hurricane. Or, maybe not.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "We're tired of being right there." -- Wide receiver Nick Pearson to LSN's John Leone after the game.