Central Connecticut Routs Robert Morris 49-14 With 42-Point First Half to Stay Perfect in NEC

By the time most of Arute Field had settled into its seats, the game was already being decided. Central Connecticut scored three touchdowns in a little over four minutes of the first quarter, one on offense, one set up by special teams and one by its defense, and Robert Morris never got close to recovering.

The Blue Devils piled up 42 points before halftime and beat Robert Morris 49-14 on Saturday, Oct. 31, in New Britain, Conn. Central Connecticut ran for 341 yards, held the Colonials to minus-9 on the ground and won its fifth straight game to stay alone at the top of the Northeast Conference.

Central Connecticut improved to 5-3 overall and 4-0 in league play. Robert Morris fell to 4-5 and 2-2, a week after a 28-14 win over Mercyhurst that had pulled the Colonials back to .500.

Four minutes that ended it early

The Blue Devils opened the way they have opened most NEC games this fall. Brett Griffis led a six-play, 66-yard drive and finished it himself with a 1-yard run at 11:16 of the first quarter. It was 7-0, and it was about to get away from Robert Morris in a hurry.

The Colonials' first possession went nowhere, and when they lined up to punt, Navon Mitchell got a hand on the kick. Tymaine Smith recovered at the Robert Morris 41. Four plays later Griffis flipped a 3-yard touchdown pass to Davon Smith Jr. at 7:54, and the lead was 14-0.

Then came the play that turned a bad start into a lost afternoon. Two plays into the next Robert Morris possession, Chris Jean picked off Carson Haggard and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown at 7:00. In the span of 4:16 of game clock, Central Connecticut had gone from 0-0 to 21-0, and only one of those touchdowns came from a normal drive.

Jean came into the weekend with more career passes defended than any active player in the FCS, and the pick six came with a pass breakup on the side. It was the kind of play that changes how an offense calls the rest of the game.

The second quarter avalanche

If the first quarter was about big plays, the second was about Central Connecticut simply taking whatever it wanted. The Blue Devils opened the period with a 12-play, 72-yard march that chewed up 6:43 and ended with Smith powering in from 1 yard out at 12:37. Three minutes later, they needed just four plays to cover 72 more yards, with John Manning IV finishing from 2 yards for a 35-0 lead at 9:08.

Robert Morris finally found the end zone before the break. Haggard led a 10-play, 80-yard drive and hit Noah Schaerli for a 10-yard touchdown at 4:34, the first points of the day for the visitors. It barely registered. Central Connecticut answered with a 10-play, 90-yard drive, and even an illegal forward pass penalty that wiped out a 37-yard touchdown could not slow it down. Griffis scored on an 8-yard run with 34 seconds left in the half.

Lucca Valens tried a 57-yard field goal for Robert Morris on the final play of the half and came up short. The scoreboard read 42-7 at intermission, and the Blue Devils had already won the game three different ways.

The turning point

There is no mystery about where this one flipped. The blocked punt and the interception return came on back-to-back Robert Morris possessions, and they turned a game that was 7-0 into a 21-0 hole before the first quarter was half over.

That matters because of how Robert Morris wins. The Colonials beat Mercyhurst a week earlier by forcing four turnovers and playing from in front. Against Central Connecticut, they were the team giving the ball away and chasing the scoreboard, and with no running game to lean on, chasing meant throwing on almost every snap into a secondary that was waiting for it.

Griffis does it with both arms and legs

Griffis was the quarterback most people expected to beat Robert Morris through the air. Instead, the fifth-year veteran was nearly perfect in limited work as a passer and did real damage as a runner. Griffis completed 10 of 13 passes for 120 yards and a touchdown and led the Blue Devils with 117 rushing yards and two scores on just 10 carries, including a long of 35.

Smith, who came into the weekend among the NEC's top rushers, did not need a huge day to make his mark. The sophomore ran 15 times for 96 yards and two touchdowns, broke off a 58-yarder, and added four catches for 37 yards and the early touchdown grab. Three touchdowns in a game that was decided by the second quarter is a nice afternoon by any standard.

The depth showed up, too. Isaac Stopke ran twice for 42 yards, Gabriel Wiggins added 36 and Kendal Donovan 24. Michael Trovarelli led the receivers with four catches for 63 yards. Central Connecticut used nine different ball carriers and averaged 7.4 yards per rush.

Numbers that tell the story

The rushing split is the stat that will jump off the box score (opens in a new tab): Central Connecticut 341 yards on 46 carries, Robert Morris minus-9 on 12. Haggard was sacked twice, and the Colonials' running backs never had room to operate. Keino Fitzpatrick II, who scored the swing touchdown against Mercyhurst a week ago, finished with 3 yards on five carries.

The Blue Devils outgained Robert Morris 469-319, converted 7 of 12 third downs and held the ball for 35:59. They did not commit a turnover. Robert Morris was 4-of-11 on third down and 0-for-2 on fourth down, with both of those failed fourth-down tries coming in Central Connecticut territory in the second half.

On defense, Mitchell led the Blue Devils with five tackles to go with the blocked punt. Deonte Douglas had four solo stops, Carter Banks recorded a sack, and LaZaryus Toombs and Sharod Watkins split another.

Robert Morris kept slinging

To its credit, Robert Morris never stopped trying to move the ball. Haggard completed 20 of 33 passes for 227 yards with a touchdown and the interception. Cooper Panteck came on later and went 5-of-9 for 101 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown strike to Schaerli at 6:35 of the fourth quarter.

Schaerli was the bright spot. The receiver caught four passes for 88 yards and both Robert Morris touchdowns. Galen Combs caught eight balls for 74 yards, and the Colonials threw for 328 yards as a team. Jake Lopinto and Noel Roach each made seven tackles, and Amanuel Dickson and Tahseen Howard added six apiece. Lopinto, the NEC Defensive Player of the Week after the Mercyhurst win, also broke up a pass.

None of it changed the math. Throwing for 328 yards while running for minus-9 is what happens when a team falls behind by three touchdowns in the first quarter and the other side knows what is coming.

What it means

For Central Connecticut, this was another week of proof that the two-time defending NEC champions are the team to beat again. The Blue Devils lost to South Dakota, Toledo and Montana State early in the season. Since then they have beaten Wagner, AIC, Mercyhurst, New Haven and now Robert Morris, and they have scored at least 40 points in all four league games.

The schedule now gets to the part that decides the title. Next up for Central Connecticut is a trip to Stonehill on Nov. 7, followed by a visit to LIU on Nov. 14.

Robert Morris has to regroup quickly. At 2-2 in the league, the Colonials are not out of anything, but they no longer control much. Next up is a trip to Duquesne on Nov. 7, with Stonehill and LIU still to come after that.

The last word

Central Connecticut also won last season's meeting 24-12, but that one was a grind. This was a statement. The Blue Devils blocked a punt, scored on defense, ran through a defense that had just forced four turnovers, and were in cruise control by halftime.

Robert Morris came to New Britain needing a clean game to steal one from the league leader. It got the opposite in the first quarter, and against a team playing like this, there was no coming back from it.

Sources: ESPN box score, play-by-play and team stats, the West Hills Gazette and earlier Undrafted coverage. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Central Connecticut State University.