WEST LONG BRANCH – Jeff Gallo’s first five seasons as Monmouth’s offensive coordinator were groundbreaking, finishing in the Top 12 nationally among FCS programs in total offense four times. But this year the Hawks have soared to new heights, leading the country in total offense, scoring offense and passing offense after five games.
“It’s been fun,” said Gallo, who showed up in 1999, became an All-NEC offensive lineman and never left, joining the coaching staff in 2005.
“It’s been different. We don’t have that one splash skill guy like we’ve had the last couple of years. We have a lot of very good players, a quarterback who spreads the ball and we’re all in it together.”
More: Monmouth football crushes Fordham, 63-21; Takeaways from Hawks third straight win
Now comes the biggest test yet for a unit that’s scored 159 points during its current three-game winning streak, with Delaware (4-0) bringing a Top 10 defense to the Jersey Shore Saturday for a CAA clash with wide-ranging implications for Monmouth (3-2, 1-0 CAA).
“Jeff is a Monmouth guy through and through,” head coach Kevin Callahan said. “He bleeds blue and there’s nothing he wants to see more than this program be successful. He’s intelligent, he’s an innovative thinker, he doesn’t always just do things by the book because they’ve been done that way before. He’s creative in the game plans he puts together.”
Recipe for success
Quarterback Derek Robertson, a Maine transfer, is averaging 339.2 yards per game through the air, tops in the country, as he distributes the ball to a cadre of talented young receivers. And last Saturday the Hawks showed their versatility, rushing for 407 yards in a driving rainstorm, with three backs rushing for over 100 yards, in a 63-21 win over Fordham.
“It’s the best offense in the country,” said Delaware head coach Ryan Carty, whose defense comes off a shutout against Sacred Heart. “I think it will be a chance for our defensive guys to go get a challenge, a test. Their quarterback is playing very, very confidently right now. They have a ton of good skill players, they’re balanced, their running back is one of the best in the country.
“I love when our league has a ton of offensive firepower and I think it’s so fun to compete against those kinds of teams. You get a chance to test yourself and see how you stack up with the best offense in the nation so we’re excited about it. I think what they do is really sound, technical and physical. And so when you can add that with a bunch of talent and quarterback who is making the right reads right now, it’s a lot of firepower.”
Part of the secret to success has been the continuity of the staff, with offensive line/running game coordinator Brian Gabriel in his 21st season and running backs coach Sam Dorsett is in his 12th season, while receivers coach Kevin Callahan Jr. has been around the program his entire life. It’s helped set a standard and create a culture that’s kept that side of the ball performing at a consistently high level.
Speed, speed and more speed
The job the staff has done in recruiting has been the foundation of it all, continually finding game-changing talent, including running back Jaden Shirden, among the final four the past two seasons for the Walter Payton Award, given annually to the FCS’s top offensive player, and receiver Dymere Miller, now starring at Rutgers.
“We’re looking for speed. Talented guys with speed,” Gallo said. “You look at our best players over the years, they can all run. Are there some height requirements? Yes. But it’s also speed. We’re looking for the guys who have speed and when they get the ball are dangerous.
“Then you find a quarterback who can process and get the ball out and get the ball to the speed guys. If you can get speed on the perimeter and speed in the backfield then you have a chance.”
The gold standard of Monmouth offenses was Gallo’s first, with the 2019 team winning a program-record 11 games behind record-setting performances from quarterback Kenji Bahar and running back Pete Guerriero.
Can this current group reach that level?
“They’ve got to prove it. That team proved it every week. And that team got better as the year went on,” Gallo said. “You look at early in the year we were kind of figuring things out. We had a low scoring game at Wagner that we pulled out and won. I think this team, if we continue to improve as the season goes on, yes. But we’re not there yet. That team, every week we improved, and we’re trying to get in that groove right now. “
From Tuesday
Monmouth football seeks program-defining win against Delaware. Can Hawks pull off upset?
Monmouth’s football season could have gone one of two ways after then-nationally ranked Lafayette scored two touchdowns in the final minute to pull off a Week 2 stunner, dropping the Hawks to 0-2.
What’s followed has been some of the best football in program history.
Since that disastrous endgame, all Monmouth’s done is pick up its first-ever win over an FBS program, topping FIU in Miami, while beating two FCS foes by an average of 35.5 points.
“That was a game where we had put ourselves in position to win, we clawed our way back into it and could almost taste the win, and then had it taken away from us,” Monmouth coach Kevin Callahan said. “A good play on Lafayette’s part at the very end, but coming out of that game there was a lot of resolve within our team. They made a commitment to each other that if possible they were not going to let things like that happen again. And since that point I think we’ve played some pretty good football.”
Now comes another chance for a program-defining victory when Delaware visits Kessler Stadium Saturday. The unbeaten Blue Hens (4-0) are in their final season in the CAA, transitioning to Conference USA as an FBS program in 2025.
And while Delaware is ineligible to win the CAA or compete in the FCS Playoffs this season, a fourth-straight win by Monmouth would mark the Hawks (3-2, 1-0 CAA) as CAA contenders. Monmouth has not been nationally ranked since it was No. 20 in 2021 before losing to Holy Cross in Week 4. The Hawks have been receiving votes in both of the major FCS polls the past two weeks. Delaware is not being ranked in FCS polls this season.
“It will be a fun atmosphere,” said Delaware head coach Ryan Carty, a Branchburg native. “I am excited about it. The billing of two really good teams, too, which is so much fun to get a situation to play a CAA team on the road that’s one of the better ones in the country. I’m excited about it.”
Monmouth playing with a purpose
The two teams have played twice, and neither have been close. Delaware won 42-7 in 2007, as Joe Flacco threw for 215 yards and a pair of TDs, and 49-17 in 2022, Monmouth’s first season in the CAA.
Both teams come in off lopsided non-conference victories. Delaware rolled to a 49-0 win over Sacred Heart, while Monmouth crushed Fordham, 63-21.
“Our team played with a strong sense of purpose,” Callahan said. “They understood what they wanted to accomplish when they took the field. I could sense that really on Friday – and they went about their business and they didn’t let up. The rainy conditions didn’t seem to affect us at all. In saying that, we were far from perfect. There’s a lot of things we can still do better, but very happy with the effort.”
It will be the most stringent test yet for Monmouth on both sides of the line of scrimmage, particularly for the Hawks’ young, improving defense. Having given up just 286 yards in a win over Maine, and 278 yards against Fordham, Monmouth faces a Delaware offense that ranks No. 13 nationally, although the Blue Hens could be without their top two quarterbacks due to injuries.
For Carty, who was a star quarterback at Somerville High School and Delaware, it will be something of a homecoming, as he brings the Blue Hens to Central Jersey for the first time.
“I though that the other day, and it hadn’t really dawned on me but I don’t think I’ve ever played a college football game in New Jersey in my life, so I’m pretty excited about that,” Carty said. “It’s awesome. We’re close enough where I get a ton of family come to a lot of games but I am sure there will be quite a few more friends coming out of the woodwork. We have a lot of players from the state of New Jersey, a lot of families that have ties to the University of Delaware.”
Stephen Edelson is a USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey sports columnist who has been covering athletics in the state and at the Jersey Shore for over 35 years. Contact him at: @SteveEdelsonAPP; sedelson@gannettnj. com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth football: With top-ranked offense soaring, Hawks brace for top-10 Delaware defense
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