Monmouth football routs Stony Brook, 56-17, as Hawks snap two-game skid

After back-to-back near-misses on the road against CAA contenders extinguished any hope of a championship for Monmouth, the Hawks returned to the friendly confines of Kessler Stadium.

And winless Stony Brook turned out to be a welcome sight, as the Hawks rolled up 588 yards of offense in snapping a two-game skid with a 56-17 victory in West Long Branch.

The victory gives the Hawks hope of finishing with a winning record, as they improve to 4-5 overall, 3-3 in CAA play. But winning two straight to close the season won’t be easy, with New Hampshire bringing the CAA’s top offense to the Jersey Shore next week, before a season-ending trip to face No. 23 Albany.

Stony Brook falls to 0-9 overall and 0-7 in CAA play, having lost to Monmouth, 24-21, last season, the Hawks’ first in the league.

It was Monmouth’s stars who fueled the fire. Jaden Shirden, in position to become the leading FCS rusher for the second straight season, ran for 171 yards on just 71 carries with two TDs, including an 81-yard scoring burst. Quarterback Marquez McCray threw for 323 yards, completing 22-of-22 attempts, and four TDs, with Dymere Miller catching 11 passes for 150 yards and score.

"Dymere Miller had an exceptional day. He demonstrated how dynamic he can be when he gets the ball in his hands," Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan said. "And then you have Jaden Shirden, he had another electric day with some key tough yardage inside. I can’t say enough about what Marquez McCray did today, he was nearly flawless. On the offensive side we had a lot of guys step up with season highs and do a great job.

"I thought we did a great job, particularly in the first half. Eddie Morales got us started in the first half with the key interception and that got us going on both sides of the ball."

The Hawks built a 35-3 halftime lead, producing 345 yards of offense to 154 for Stony Brook, with Shirden rushing for 150 yards and two TDs, while Miller had 118 receiving yards and a TD at the break.

Shirden carried the ball six times for 64 yards on Monmouth’s first possession of the game, scoring on a 17-yard run, after a Morales interception in the end zone ended Stony Brook’ drive after reaching the Monmouth 13.

Stony Brook had a touchdown called back by a penalty and had to settle for a field goal. But that’s when Shirden broke an 81-yard run to make it 14-3, and the Hawks were off to a flying start.

Monmouth linebacker Jake Brown led the team with 10 tackles, but left the game with what appeared to be a knee injury.

Pregame

Monmouth football: Scouting report, prediction vs Stony Brook in CAA clash

WEST LONG BRANCH - It was the latest example of why Jaden Shirden is just different.

Against a William & Mary defense that came in ranked among the CAA leaders in every major category, Monmouth’s dynamic junior ran for 252 yards on 21 carries on the road last Saturday, with a 75-yard TD run. It was the sixth 200-yard game of his career, and his second in three games, having run for 276 yards on just 16 carries, with four TDs, against Hampton.

Now the 195-pound speedster tops all FCS backs with 1,173 yards, a season after leading the country with 1,722 yards, finishing third in the voting for the Walter Peyton Award, given annually to the top FCS offensive player.

“He has another gear in terms of his speed, in terms of any other back we have had, he seems to be able to kick it into another gear,” Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan said.

But Monmouth’s lost two straight by a total of five points on the road. The hope is that a return to Kessler Stadium will help propel the Hawks to a strong finish over the final three games.

STONY BROOK (0-8, 0-6) at MONMOUTH (3-5, 2-3)

When: Today, 1 p.m.

Where: Kessler Stadium, West Long Branch.

TV: FloSports.com (live streaming; SNY (tape delay), NBC Sports Philadelphia (tape delay).

Series: Monmouth leads the series, 6-4, including a 27-24 win to close the 2022 season.

When Monmouth has the ball

Monmouth needs to start a lot faster, especially on offense, having been outscored 42-13 in the first half over the past two weeks in losses to Elon and William & Mary, before outscoring them 41-17 in the second half. Dymere Miller ranks among the top receivers in the country, but he can’t do it alone. Over the past two games, the senior has 17 catches, while the rest of the receiving corps has 11 catches total. The Hawks need starter Assante Kearney to make plays, but he has four catches four catches for five yards in the last two games.  They need to get Sone Ntoh on the field immediately in short yardage and goal line situations, with his 12 TDs tied for fifth nationally.  Graduate LB Aidan Keler has 68 tackles to lead the Seawolves, while junior DB Nick Chimienti has three interceptions and sophomore DE Rodney Faulk has 4.5 tackles for losses and three sacks, although he did not play a week ago.

When Stony Brook has the ball

Monmouth’s defense has been part of the problem in the slow starts, with the Hawks making some nice adjustments in the second half against William & Mary, holding them to just 120 yards in the second half. LB Jake Brown had 12 tackles against the Tribe, while S Tyrese Wright had 10. DE Antonio Colclough has sacks in back-to-back games.   Stony Brook has rushed for just 181 yards total over the past three games, and does not have a 100-yard rusher this season. At 221.4 yards-per-game passing, Stony Brook is middle of the pack in the CAA throwing the ball, with Casey Case and Daron Bryden each taking snaps last week against Villanova.

Special teams

Monmouth needs to find a way to stabilize the kicking situation over the final three games, with a missed extra point by Michael Calton Jr. two games back and a blocked 27-yard game-tying field goal on a Vincenzo Rea kick in the final seconds last Saturday. The Hawks can’t afford to give away any points.

Prediction

Monmouth 42, Stony Brook 21

Monmouth football CAA growing pains get agonizing; Is relief on horizon?

WEST LONG BRANCH - Growing pains were expected when Monmouth football made the jump to the Coastal Athletic Association last year. And on a scale from 1-to-10, the level of discomfort hit 11 recently with back-to-back road losses by a combined five points, including a blocked 27-yard game-tying field goal in the final seconds Saturday at nationally-ranked William & Mary.

Ouch!

“Our kids played really hard to get us back into it,” said Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan of Saturday’s 31-28 loss in Williamsburg, Virginia. “They had toughness and determination but ultimately we didn’t finish the way we need to in order to win a game like that.”

Since making the move, the program that went 15-1 versus conference foes over its final three seasons in the Big South is now 5-8 in the CAA, and 8-10 overall.

Next for Monmouth football: 0-8 Stony Brook, a study in how changing leagues can be a brutal transition

Which brings us to Stony Brook, which comes to Kessler Stadium Saturday (1 p.m.) at 0-8 overall, 0-6 in CAA play.

Remember that Stony Brook is the program that provided the blueprint for Monmouth after the school’s 2013 jump from the Northeast Conference to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, which does not play football.

Monmouth landed its football program in the Big South until it could find a better regional fit, which came with the move to the CAA in 2022.

More: Monmouth football falls to No. 22 William & Mary on last-second field goal block

Stony Brook football won the NEC title in 2005 and went to the Big South in 2006, eventually winning or sharing four straight conference championships between 2009 and 2012.

But since joining the CAA in 2013, Stony Brook has just two winning seasons and no championships, with a 49-66 record overall in 11 seasons, and a 33-49 mark versus CAA foes. The high-water mark came in 2017 when the Seawolves went 7-1 and finished second behind James Madison, which then knocked them out in the second round of the FCS Playoffs.

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It serves to underscore how difficult the transition to a tougher league can be, with the CAA testing Monmouth’s speed, size and depth from the outset.

To put it in perspective, the Missouri Valley Football Conference has seven teams ranked in this week’s STATS Perform FCS Top 25, including No. 1 South Dakota State, while the Big Sky has four ranked teams, all ranked in the top seven. Then comes the CAA with four ranked and another receiving votes.

The Big South, which merged with the Ohio Valley Conference for football this year, has just one ranked with UT-Martin No. 21.

Monmouth has proven it can build to the next level. The Hawks won or shared five NEC titles over 11 seasons (1996-2006), and won two Big South titles (2019, spring 2021).

“I think we’re close but close isn’t enough,” said Callahan, who founded the program in 1993. “You have to play a full game and it doesn’t matter who you play in this conference. You better play a full game and you better bring your best for the three hours that game is going on, and we’re coming up short for the entire time we are on the field and that is something as coaches we need to do a better job with.”

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth football routs Stony Brook, 56-17, as Hawks snap two-game skid