Monmouth football comeback falls short at Elon, 28-26
If there’s anything Monmouth’s learned in its two seasons in the Coastal Athletic Association, it’s how wild the emotional swings can be from one week to the next.
Because the elation associated with a pair of lopsided wins quickly dissipated inside Rhodes Stadium in North Carolina Saturday, as host Elon jumped out to a 14-0 lead. And while Monmouth tried to claw back into the game, the end result was a 28-26 loss marked by missed opportunities.
Monmouth quarterback Marquez McCray put together an 80-yard drive that ended with a 12-yard TD pass to Josh Derry with 1:29 to play to pull Monmouth within two points. But Elon recovered the ensuing onside kick, and when Monmouth got the ball back there was just six seconds to play.
But Monmouth’s fate was sealed by surrendering a series of long touchdowns and the offense missing out on a handful of missed opportunities, including a trio of chances deep in Elon territory in the first half that yielded no points. A missed extra point in the first half and a missed two-point conversion after the Hawks' second TD were ultimately the difference.
“I though we did enough to win it on both sides of the ball, but we squandered too many opportunities," Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan said. "Three in the red zone in the first half where we got nothing. We had a missed PAT and a missed two-point conversion. That’s a lot of points right there. Both teams scored four times and we’re there fighting for our life at the end.”
It was a game in which Monmouth (3-4, 2-2) could have put itself in a good position to challenge for a CAA title. Instead, it’s Elon (4-4, 4-1) moving towards the top of the standings.
After exploding for 276 yards and four TDs against Hampton, Monmouth junior running back Jaden Shirden was limited to 110 yards on 19 carries, with just 29 yards on 10 carries at halftime.
“They’re one of the better run defenses in the conference and they made it tough on us,” Callahan said.
Meanwhile, Elon quarterback Matthew Downing threw for 282 yards, doing most of the damage in the first half with 213 yards and three TD passes.
Backbreaking big plays
It was three long scoring passes that gave Elon a 21-6 halftime lead. It began with Downing, who sat out Elon’s 21-0 loss at Villanova a week earlier, finding a wide-open Chandler Brayboy in the Monmouth secondary, with safety Tyrese Wright the closest Hawk on a 59-yard touchdown pass on the game’s third play.
Midway through the quarter it was Downing taking advantage of a mismatch downfield as receiver Jordan Bonner matched up on linebacker Jake Brown, with Miller getting behind Brown on a 41-yard TD reception to put Elon up 14-0.
The backbreaker came when Johncarlos Miller beat Monmouth freshman cornerback Deuce Lee on a seam route, getting behind him on a 65-yard touchdown catch with just 1:53 left in the first half, as the Phoenix built a 21-6 halftime edge.
The final straw came after Monmouth pulled within 21-19, with Brayboy taking a reverse and racing 41 yards down the right side for a touchdown that extended the lead to nine points.
Contributing to the loss were the points Monmouth gave away, particularly in the first half when Monmouth was stopped on a pair of fourth downs deep in Elon territory, including Sone Ntoh getting stood up at the one-yard-line, while McCray had a ball tipped and intercepted near the Elon goal line.
Elon held on a fourth down at its 30-yard-line in the third quarter as well.
Dymere Miller finished with 210 yards of offense for Monmouth, including 146 receiving yards.
Monmouth returns to action next Saturday when the Hawks travel to Williamsburg, Va., to face William & Mary, ranked No. 11/12 nationally.
Monmouth football vs Elon: Scouting report and prediction, plus full week of coverage
There were signs through the first half of the season that Monmouth’s depth, one of the key upgrades the program needed to make in transitioning to the Coastal Athletic Association, was much improved.
What’s absolutely clear is that it had better be as the Hawks enter a critical five-game season-ending stretch, including three against teams currently in one of the two major FCS Top 25 polls, or receiving votes.
The first test comes today when the Hawks visit Elon, where a victory could go a long way towards improving the Hawks’ standing in the CAA’s tightly-packed standings.
“You’re starting to get a lot of people in to play, and at this time starting to see the development of depth and now we have to use it and it’s helping a lot,” said Monmouth coach Kevin Callahan, with his team coming off a 61-10 win over Hampton.
“With the defensive line, our ends and getting 25 plays, 30 tops, and in rotating the end and tackle positions a lot of guys getting reps. And when you do that it builds your depth and guys are fresher when they’re out there.”
MONMOUTH (3-3, 2-1) at ELON (3-4, 3-1)
When: Today, 2 p.m.
Where: Rhodes Stadium, Elon, N.C.
TV/Radio: FloSports.com (streaming) / MonmouthHawks.com.
The series: First meeting.
More: Monmouth football crushes Hampton, 61-10; Jaden Shirden runs for 276 yards, 4 TDs
When Monmouth has the ball
Over the last three games, Elon has surrendered a staggering 954 yards on the ground, including 440 yards to Villanova last weekend. Monmouth has picked up 584 rushing yards the last two games, including 354 in a 61-10 win over Hampton, in which Jaden Shirden ran for 276 yards and 4 TDs. The Hawks need to line up and pound the ball at the Phoenix, while using its play-action game to throw the ball. Two weeks ago it was QB Marquez McCray throwing for 333 yards and 4 TDs, so Monmouth has shown an ability to beat you running or throwing. Monmouth’s revamped offensive line, with LT Adrian Hawkins having replaced Jordan Hall, out with a season-ending ankle injury, and RT a rotation with JT Cornelius and Kyrik Mason.
Sophomore DB Caleb Curtain has done it all for the Phoenix on defense, leading the team with 55 tackles and two interceptions, in addition to 2.5 sacks and three pass breakups. Senior DE Marvin Pearson has a team-high four sacks, and junior DB Daidyn Denis has two interceptions, four pass breakups, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
When Elon has the ball
What Monmouth’s defense must do now is build on its performance from last weekend, when it limited Hampton to just 118 yards through three quarters, clamping down on the Pirates’ ground game. Elon was without starting QB Matthew Downing in last Saturday’s 21-0 loss at Villanova in a driving rainstorm, with Justin Allen getting the start. RB Jalen Hampton has a 5.2-yard average and five TDs.
Monmouth benefitted from the return from injury of LB Jake Brown and CB Eddie Morales, who had an interception, while the play of freshman DB Deuce Lee, who has played well in two games at nickel back, one of several young players stepping up in different roles.
Special teams
T.J. Speight needs to get the ball in his hands as much as possible on kickoff returns after streaking 98 yards with the longest kickoff return for a score in program history, to go with a 69-yard return. It was tough to tell much about the kicking game in the rain, although frosh K Michael Calton Jr. missed two PATs and a 44-yard try.
Prediction
Monmouth 35, Elon 32
Monmouth football: Jaden Shirden shows who top FCS running back is - again
WEST LONG BRANCH - In case anyone had forgotten, Jaden Shirden provided yet another reminder about who the best running back in FCS football is when he ran for 276 yards and four touchdowns Saturday, on just 16 carries.
How good has Shirden been?
Over the last 16 games, since bursting on the scene with a school-record 299-yard performance against Fordham in Week 2 last season, Shirden has rushed for 2,519 yards, an average of 157.4 yards-per-game, with a gaudy 7.6-yards-per-carry average. And his 19 touchdowns are a highlight reel for his breakaway speed, with 12 coming on runs of more than 50 yards.
In Saturday’s 61-10 win over Hampton, Shirden streaked into the end zone on runs of 72, 63, 25 and nine yards, as well as breaking a 52-yarder. And after a 1,722-yard season in 2022 that placed him third in the voting for the Walter Payton Award, given annually to the FCS's top offensive player, the 195-pound junior is now third nationally at 135.3 yards-per-game, and fourth in total yards with 812.
“I knew it was coming, based on our last game, and really the whole season. I knew we were going to have game where we break out,” said Shirden, with the Hawks rolling up 352 yards on the ground.”
Shirden said he wasn’t worried as the Monmouth offense struggled to find a flow early in the season, leaving him to showcase his ability to get tough yards, including a 33-carry, 145-yard game against Towson, before running it 31 times for 165 yards a week later against Campbell.
Now Shirden’s trademark acceleration has returned as his carries have been drastically reduced, with graduate transfer Sone Ntoh, a 230-pound short yardage specialist with great speed, shouldering more of the load.
“I don’t know if it was we were overusing him at the beginning, but he was over 30 carries and that’s too many for him. I don’t know anyone who can carry it that many times and continue to play at the high level he is capable of playing at,” Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan said.
“He’s got that burst back that we’re used to seeing. We played some good team early on, so I don’t want to say it wasn’t partly them. But now he feels rested. He’s probably a 20-carry guy. He’s not 33, and I think now he’s starting to show that acceleration, that burst.”
Said Shirden: “There was no frustration, because I was able to showcase my other talents – catching the ball, running more physically between the tackles, just using everything in my arsenal to help get us where we are.”
The ground game will be critical if the Hawks (3-3, 2-1 CAA) are to escape from Elon (3-4, 3-1) with a win Saturday afternoon in a key CAA game, with Elon giving up 187 yards-per-game on the ground.
“You watch them on film and they have some elite players,” Callahan said. “Their defensive line is very good. They have two good linebackers, and I would say they have two elite defensive backs. That is going to be a challenge for our offense.”
Can Monmouth football win CAA championship? What the numbers say after blowout victory
Monmouth’s offensive numbers the past two games have been eye-popping, with 110 points and 1,112 yards in a pair of dominating wins, including Saturday’s 61-10 drubbing of Hampton.
Except those aren’t the ones you should be focused on.
It’s the 17 points the defense has surrendered, its lowest two-game total in four years, that scream FCS Playoff team and Coastal Athletic Association contender.
The improvement’s been dramatic.
While Monmouth was 4-2 overall, and 2-1 in the CAA through six games last season, the Hawks were giving up 441 yards and 33.5 points-per-game, going on to lose four straight and finish 5-6. A year later, the Hawks (3-3, 2-1) are giving up 332 yards, some 109 yards fewer, and a full 10 points-per-game less.
After finishing last among 13 CAA teams in scoring defense and total defense in 2022, Monmouth is up to fourth among 15 teams in scoring defense, and seventh in total defense. The revamped unit’s next test comes Saturday at Elon (3-4, 3-1), with six one-loss teams within a game of first-place Delaware, the league’s lone unbeaten.
The path forward
It’s the CAA’s parity, along with the program’s history of riding defenses to championships, that provide the path entering a tough five-week stretch that includes three teams either in the FCS Top 25 or receiving votes.
During the pandemic-impacted spring 2021 season, Monmouth averaged 441 yards on offense and gave up 295 on defense, with the 146-yard difference the largest over the past 17 seasons, followed by the 100-yard gap in 2019 and 88-yard difference in 2006.
Those also happen to be Monmouth’s last three championship seasons. Through six games this season, the difference is 105 yards.
“There’s a lot of new players in the lineup, guys who were not here last year, or guys who missed part or most of last season,” Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan said. “I think guys are getting comfortable with playing with the guy next to them and I think any good defense that’s always the case. You have a chemistry and can kind of feed off the guys you’re playing with.”
It's the newcomers who have breathed life into the unit recently.
Linebacker Jake Brown, a graduate transfer linebacker from Harvard tabbed as the CAA’s top defensive player in Week 2, returned after missing two games, making six tackles. And defensive end Antonio Colclough, a graduate transfer from James Madison, made the tackle on third- and fourth-and-one in the final minute of the first half against Hampton, setting up a late score that sent the Hawks into the locker room up 35-7.
Freshman defensive back Deuce Lee, inserted as the nickel back the past two games, made an interception in what was his college debut, before making seven tackles Saturday. Junior Isaiah Rogers, a defensive tackle who transferred from Central Michigan, had four tackles and a half sack against Hampton, while freshman defensive tackle Logan Barnes has had at least one tackle in every game. Charlie Sasso, a sophomore linebacker from Wall, returned after missing four games with an injury to record two tackles and a sack.
Combined with some familiar faces - graduate cornerback Eddie Morales from Howell made an interception in his return after missing two games, while graduate linebacker Ryan Moran from Ocean leads the team in tackles - and the Hawks have a different look.
“Our guys are excited. They’re really enjoying playing football. and they go out there with a high level of energy and they are excited,” Callahan said. “Any time you have those components on a defense you have a chance to succeed.”
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: College football games this season: Monmouth vs Elon
