 "Photo: P.J. Stanley/Collegian")
The extra-point attempt is rarely more than afterthought, but when the Massachusetts football team hosts Maine, it never seems to be.
The last three times that the two teams have met in Amherst, it was a missed extra point that decided the game. This weekend, however, was the first time the point-after try went in the favor of the Black Bears, who defeated the Minutemen, 21-20.
With the loss, the Minutemen's playoff hopes appear to be over.
Two years ago, Maine missed an extra point with 1 minute, 44 seconds left to give UMass the 10-9 victory, and in 2004 the Minutemen blocked the extra point in overtime to come out on top 35-34. This time with 11:39 remaining in regulation, UMass kicker Armando Cuko missed the kick (he was 38-for-38 prior to the miss) that was the difference in the game.
After a first half where the No. 13 Minutemen (6-5, 3-4 Colonial Athletic Association) were shut out, UMass responded in the second half. Senior quarterback Liam Coen (15-of-33 for 200 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions) led the offense on an 81-yard drive to open the second half and bring the Minutemen within a touchdown at 14-7.
"I thought we did nothing with the first 30 minutes," UMass coach Don Brown said. "[We were] very unsettled, didn't play well, but showed our true colors in the second half."
The defense came out of the locker room sharp as well, coming up with an interception by Jeromy Miles (19 tackles, one interception) that led to another UMass touchdown. The Minutemen tied the game, 14-14 on a 3-yard run by fullback Chriz Zardas.
The Black Bears (7-3, 4-3 CAA) answered back with their only score of the second half on the following drive. Maine drove 73 yards on 12 plays and capped off the drive on a 3-yard touchdown run by Jared Turcotte.
While Maine took 12 plays to take the lead, UMass needed just one play to get back in the end zone. Coen found Jeremy Horne (nine receptions for 141 yards and a touchdown) short on the left side and turned the reception into a 58-yard catch and run that brought the Minutemen within one at 21-20.
"[The kick] hit the upright. I don't know if he just missed it or not, but obviously there was some question whether he was ready for it or not," Brown said.
The extra-point attempt by Cuko went off the right upright and failed to tie the game at 21. The Minutemen still had three attempts in the remaining 11:39 to take the lead against Maine, but instead turned the ball over three times.
After UMass brought the deficit to one, the defense forced Maine to punt. The Minutemen were pinned inside their own 5-yard line, but started to move down the field before Coen threw his second interception of the day.
Coen took the snap and scrambled to his left and threw downfield and was intercepted by Maine's Andrew Downey.
UMass' defense came up big again after the interception, forcing Maine to turn the ball over on four plays, but the offense once again could not capitalize.
On the fifth play of the drive, Coen was intercepted by the Black Bears' Lamir Whetstone giving Maine the ball back with 1:37 left.
With just 11 seconds remaining, Maine coach Jack Cosgrove called an ill-advised timeout that allowed the Minutemen a chance to get the ball back.
"I'm still upset with myself about it. A minute thirty-seven seconds is left on the clock and with the forty second [play] clock rule; I didn't pay attention to it as sternly as I should have," Cosgrove said.
Maine tried to run the final 7 seconds off of the clock on fourth down, but when the clock failed to start with the play, the Minutemen were given the ball with 2 seconds on the clock on their own 48-yard line.
Coen took one shot down field but came up with the same result as the previous two drives; Coen was intercepted for the third time in the final 11:39 of the game, this time by Maine's Norman Smith at the 5-yard line.
"It was very frustrating to not play as well as you want to, to kind of hurt your team more than to help them," Coen said.
Jeffrey R. Larnard can be reached at jlarnard@student.umass.edu.
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