Monmouth Beats Bryant 34-21 as Elijah Jennings and Kenny Smith Jr. Run for 332 Yards

Monmouth's offense on Halloween had two ingredients, and neither was a secret. Bryant knew exactly who was getting the ball. It still could not stop Elijah Jennings and Kenny Smith Jr. from running through, around and past it for most of the afternoon.

No. 17 Monmouth beat Bryant 34-21 on Saturday, Oct. 31, at Kessler Stadium in West Long Branch, N.J. The Hawks improved to 7-2 overall and 6-0 in the Coastal Athletic Association, stretched their winning streak to six games and, according to the school's pregame notes, picked up the 100th home win in program history. Bryant fell to 5-4 and 3-2 in league play.

Two backs, one problem for Bryant

Monmouth set the terms on the first drive. Frankie Weaver hit Tra Neal for 29 yards to get the Hawks moving, and Jennings finished a nine-play, 75-yard march with an 18-yard touchdown run less than four minutes into the game.

The second Monmouth possession was a grind that said plenty about the day. The Hawks went 18 plays and 61 yards, chewing up 7 minutes and 31 seconds, before the Bryant defense held at the 4 and Sky Sholder kicked a 21-yard field goal. It was 10-0 after one quarter, and Bryant had run eight offensive plays.

Then the big plays started. Jennings broke a 37-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter. A few minutes later, facing fourth-and-1 at their own 45, the Hawks went for it. Smith took the handoff and went 55 yards to the end zone. That was the gamble of the half, and it turned a two-score lead into a 24-0 rout in the making.

Bryant digs in

To Bryant's credit, it did not pack it in. The Bulldogs answered with their best drive of the half, a 16-play, 72-yard march that ate 7:30 off the clock. Sean Wilson Jr. picked up a key 13-yard catch, and Jordan Bennett punched it in from the 1 with 51 seconds left. Monmouth's late attempt to add more ended when Weaver was sacked for a 12-yard loss on fourth-and-1, and it was 24-7 at the half.

The third quarter opened with a gift. On Bryant's first snap after the break, Brennan Myer's pass was picked off by Omar Ibrahim at the Bryant 16. Monmouth could not punch it in, but Sholder's 34-yard field goal made it 27-7.

The turning point: a fourth-down sack

Bryant's best chance to make it a game came on the next drive. The Bulldogs moved 41 yards in 11 plays and reached the Monmouth 33, then faced fourth-and-6. Ryan Russo got home and sacked Myer for a 7-yard loss, and the ball went back to Monmouth.

Six plays and 60 yards later, Smith scored from 8 yards out, and it was 34-7 with 5:09 left in the third quarter. That sequence, a defensive stop followed by a touchdown, was the moment the result stopped being in question.

A late Bryant push

The fourth quarter was all Bryant, which made the final score look closer than the game felt. After Weaver was sacked and fumbled near midfield, Jaden Roper recovered for the Bulldogs, and Myer hit Shamar Fowles for a 21-yard touchdown. A fourth-down incompletion on the next Bryant drive stalled another chance, but the Bulldogs went 94 yards in 11 plays on their final possession, helped by Myer completions of 21 yards to Alfredo Perez and 29 to Brian Williams. Deshon Jenkins scored on a 12-yard run with 23 seconds left.

Monmouth did not score in the fourth quarter, and a coaching staff that preaches against complacency will not love how the final 15 minutes looked on film. But with a 27-point cushion entering the period, the outcome was never really at risk.

The players who decided it

Jennings was the best player on the field. The running back carried 24 times for 175 yards and two touchdowns, with a long of 40. Smith, the redshirt freshman who came in second in the CAA in rushing, added 157 yards and two scores on 19 carries, including the 55-yard fourth-down dagger. That makes three straight games of at least 157 rushing yards for Smith, and it pushes both backs well past their 2026 totals coming in, 753 yards for Smith and 646 for Jennings.

Monmouth's preview notes called it the only FCS team with two 500-yard rushers and two 500-yard receivers. On Saturday, it barely needed the receivers. Weaver completed 10 of 20 passes for 81 yards with no interceptions, and Neal led the team with three catches for 36 yards. When the running game is doing this, the quarterback's job is to stay out of the way, and Weaver did.

On defense, Russo was the difference-maker with two sacks, both drive killers. Charlie Sasso led the Hawks with eight tackles, and Ibrahim's interception set up three points.

For Bryant, Myer completed 14 of 27 passes for 133 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Fowles caught eight passes for 54 yards and the score, and Jenkins ran for 50 yards and a touchdown on seven carries. Bennett, who came in leading the team with four rushing touchdowns, added a fifth. Anthony Ottinot and Duke Bradley had eight tackles each, and Toby Brown Jr. and Anthony Schettino each had a sack.

Numbers that matter

Monmouth outgained Bryant 400 to 297 and ran for more than 300 yards, averaging 6.8 yards per carry. Bryant had to know the run was coming, and it still could not get enough bodies to the ball. Bryant actually won the time of possession battle, 31:08 to 28:52, and converted 8 of 14 third downs, but came up empty on two fourth-down tries and could not match Monmouth's explosiveness.

Each team turned it over once. Penalties were lopsided, with Monmouth flagged six times for 52 yards and Bryant just once for 5. It did not matter. The full numbers are in the ESPN box score (opens in a new tab).

What it means

Monmouth is 6-0 in the CAA, and the race is narrowing fast. The Hawks came into the day with Campbell as the only other unbeaten team in the league, and the path to a first CAA title and a fourth trip to the FCS playoffs runs straight through Kessler Stadium. Monmouth hosts North Carolina A&T on Nov. 7 and Merrimack on Nov. 14.

It has been an emotional season in West Long Branch, with the program mourning the death of defensive coordinator Louis DiRienzo Jr. earlier this year. Under first-year head coach Jeff Gallo, the Hawks keep stacking wins. A week ago, they spoiled Hampton's homecoming 49-13, and the six-game streak is the longest of Gallo's tenure so far.

For Bryant, it is a second straight loss after a 27-17 defeat at Stony Brook, and the Bulldogs remain in the middle of the CAA pack. The fourth-quarter fight was a good sign, and an offense that had not topped 20 points in three straight games finally got there, even if it was too late. Bryant hosts UAlbany on Nov. 7.

The last word

Monmouth now leads the series 9-1 and is 3-0 all time on Halloween. None of that matters as much as what this team looks like in November. A defense can stack the box and know the run is coming, and Monmouth will still find a way to run it. That is a dangerous thing to be in a league where most teams cannot.

Bryant heads back to Rhode Island knowing it made the scoreboard respectable. Monmouth sits at 6-0, one week closer to something the program has never done.

Sources: Monmouth Athletics, the Asbury Park Press, and the ESPN box score and play-by-play. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Omar Tulloch/Monmouth Athletics (file photo).