Something had to be done.
The University of Maine’s football team went from showing intriguing promise after a 21-18 win at Towson in its season-opener to facing the prospect that its first victory could be the only one of the season.
There is plenty of blame to go around in all areas of the game: offense, defense and special teams.
The first victim of the 1-5 campaign was offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Mikahael Waters, who was fired Monday.
As the adage goes, it’s easier to fire one coach than jettison dozens of players.
The numbers validate the decision as the offense ranks 90th or worse among 124 Football Championship Subdivision teams in seven offensive categories, including points scored per game (14.5, 118th) and yards gained (270.2, 115th).
Since scoring three touchdowns in the second quarter of the win over Towson, the Black Bears have had 66 offensive possessions and tallied just six touchdowns and six field goals in those 66 series.
“We have a very talented roster. We have done a lot of good things, but we have to be more consistent. We need to score more points,” UMaine fifth-year head coach Jordan Stevens said Tuesday. “We have to spread the ball around and put it in the the hands of the guys who can make plays. This is a production business. We have to win football games.”
First-year running backs coach Sean Green, who led Portland and Cape Elizabeth high schools to state championships, will take over as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach, but Stevens was quick to point out that Green will get plenty of help from the rest of the staff.
“It all starts with me, and I have to do a better job. I have to coach better. We need to put our players into better position to make plays, and that’s from a confidence standpoint and an execution standpoint. When we talk about execution, that’s not on the players. That’s on us,” Stevens said.
“We have to make sure the guys can execute at a high level, and that’s blocking, tackling, catching the football, throwing the football, and, on special teams, it’s about catching punts, catching kickoffs and covering kicks. It’s about playing complementary football. That’s how you win games,” he said.
The Black Bear offense has been conservative and unimaginative, and that, in turn, has made it more predictable and easier to defend.
UMaine began the season with a veteran offensive line that was supposed to be the strength of the team. Four interior starters returned.
But the line has underperformed.
Making the line’s job more difficult has been the fact opposing defensive coordinators have been loading up the box at the line of scrimmage to take away UMaine’s running game and forcing its two inexperienced quarterbacks to make throws to beat them.
And the completion rate of Eddie Buehler and Caden Drezek is 52%, which ranks 113th in the FCS. Buehler has been intercepted six times.
In addition, the receivers have had countless drops, including a crucial one that could have set UMaine up inside the Sacred Heart-20 yard line late in the 24-16 loss to the Pioneers on Saturday. That was the scoreline at the time of the drop.
UMaine’s offense has to become more diversified and adventurous.
Part of the reason it was conservative is you have two quarterbacks with little or no experience, and flooding them with a packed playbook could be counter-productive.
But you still have to throw in a reverse or two or a flea flicker, where a quarterback gets the ball back from a running back after first handing the ball off to him and then the quarterback throws a pass. You can also mix in a different formation or two like UMaine did against Sacred Heart by lining up four players in an I-formation before they branched out before the snap.
It created a productive play.
These types of plays make a defense uncomfortable and tentative. They can’t be as aggressive because that could leave them out of position and incapable of making a play.
Running backs Rashawn Marshall and Nick Laughlin came into the season off injuries, and the current bye week should help both continue to get back to 100%. Marshall is UMaine’s leading rusher, and Laughlin is its top receiver.
Marshall has had a recent resurgence, averaging 86 rushing yards per game over his past two games after averaging 58.7 in his first three.
Waters may have been too conservative, but it is ultimately up to the players to do their jobs and they haven’t been. They need to take a look at themselves and step up.
Waters is a class act and will land on his feet, somewhere.
The defense and special teams aren’t absolved from blame either.
For the most part, the defense has been respectable and has kept the team in games, but it has also been unable to come up with stops at critical times.
The defense was stout for 24 minutes in the loss to Sacred Heart, and it appeared UMaine’s 9-0 lead might even be able to stand up.
But the Pioneers promptly strung together drives of 79 and 81 in the second quarter to take a 14-9 lead into the intermission, and they promptly marched 75 yards to open the second half and built the lead to 21-9.
In the previous week’s 43-17 loss to Elon, the UMaine defense surrendered touchdown plays of 57, 55 and 39 yards.
In the 23-14 loss to Merrimack, UMaine pulled within 14-11 with 3:50 left in the third period with a touchdown and a two-point conversion, but the Warriors scored on their next possession to regain the momentum.
The special teams have received a perfect 8-for-8 showing on field goals from Sam Tremblay, but they have had three punts blocked, an extra-point blocked and they have fumbled away a punt and a kickoff.
Stevens stressed they are committed to finishing strong and winning football games and time will tell if the offense can become consistently productive with an interim coordinator with some new ideas.
UMaine plays again when it hosts Bryant at 1 p.m. Oct. 17.