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PROVO — Just when BYU fans thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did.
Andrew Ford threw for 230 yards and a touchdown, and Logan Laurent booted three field goals to lead independent UMass to its fourth win of the season, 16-10 at BYU in the Cougars’ home finale Saturday afternoon at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
“I’m obviously very disappointed about the loss, and disappointed for the seniors this entire season,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “It wasn’t good enough, nor to win the game today. I understand why a lot of people are upset.
“I’m disappointed in us and in myself … It’s not good enough to win. We just have to evaluate everything again.”
The Minutemen (4-7) opened the game on a 16-0 run, including Ford’s 40-yard TD strike to Andy Isabella on the first drive of the second half.
“That was frustrating,” Sitake said of the scoring drive to Isabella, who caught seven passes for 84 yards with the score. “I thought the quarterback made some really good throws and scored on a double move.
“It was bad technique. I thought our corners need to compete more coverage-wise, and a couple of times we were just misaligned,” Sitake said. “These young guys know how to play leverage … but we gave up slants and that’s something that should never happen in man-coverage.”
Rhett Almond prevented the shutout with a 40-yard field goal with 1:35 left in the third quarter, capping a 53-yard drive that was the longest of the game to that point for BYU.
BYU quarterback Joe Critchlow hurled four interceptions in the second start of his career. The true freshman from Franklin, Tennessee completed 21-of-45 passes for 257 yards, but threw for just his second career touchdown, as well.
“It’s obviously not good enough,” Sitake said. “We didn’t complete enough balls, and the turnovers are something that really hurts us.
“We probably threw the ball too much coming off a good week of running the ball. We got behind, and had to play catch-up.”
KJ Hall caught four passes for 33 yards, ran for 37 yards to lead the Cougars (3-9).
UMass ran for just 58 yards, and held BYU out of the end zone until the final minute of the game, when Critchlow found tight end Matt Bushman for the Cougars’ lone touchdown.
The Cougars strung together 167 of their 299 yards of offense in the final quarter.
“When plays like that happen in the fourth quarter, it was still a tight game,” said wide receiver Micah Simon, who caught two passes for 66 yards. “I don’t want to say that UMass went into a prevent defense — it was the same coverage as the whole game. We just connected on those plays, and guys made a play.
“It’s just a matter of learning from this, and doing that every quarter — not just the end, when it’s comeback time.”
With the loss, BYU is guaranteed its first nine-loss season since 1955, when the Cougars were 1-9 under former coach Chick Atkinson that included an 0-7 mark in Mountain States Conference play.
The Cougars had just 31 yards of total offense during a scoreless opening quarter for both teams, and BYU totaled mere 74 yards by the end of the half. They didn’t pass the 100-yard mark of offense until late in the third quarter.
The home team punted on six of their first eight drives of the game, with the other two ending in interceptions.
“The way that the game went and the defense adjusted, it led us to pass the ball a little bit more,” Critchlow said. “I feel like our lack of success throwing the ball can be narrowed to my efforts … I feel like we left a lot of big plays on the field tonight.”
BYU ends the season next Saturday at Hawaii, which fell to 3-8 with a 38-0 loss at Utah State.
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