What We Learned From Monmouth's Epic Comeback Win Against Colgate

THERE’S NO QUIT IN THIS TEAM

Down 31-7 with 8:23 remaining in the third quarter, the Hawks could’ve packed it in and called it a day, the way things were unraveling. Instead, they choose poise over panic, stuck to the game plan, and went on to score 35 unanswered points to take a 42-31 lead with 9:32 still remaining in the game. For those of you keeping score, that’s 35 points in a little over 14 minutes spanning the third and fourth quarters. Erasing the 24-point deficit marked the largest comeback victory in Monmouth program history. Then, after Colgate scored late to make it a 42-39 game following a two-point conversion, the Hawks' offense held on to the ball for the final 4:48 to run out the clock, clinching the incredible victory.

“I can tell you this,” said Hawks’ head coach Kevin Callahan on Monday’s weekly CAA Zoom call. “At halftime, the attitude in the locker room was something I’ve never seen before. It was very serious, yet very confident and very matter-of-fact. To a man, every player on the team was saying, ‘Okay, coach, we got this, let's go play Monmouth football.’ I have to give all our guys a lot of credit. They just kept believing and plugging away. Our players showed a tremendous amount of resolve. They knew we were a better team than what we had put up.”

THE OFFENSE IS AS GOOD AS ADVERTISED

Don’t let the first-half miscues fool you; they were outliers. Quarterback Derek Robertson threw six interceptions all of last season and uncharacteristically threw four, three in the endzone, in the first half against Colgate. The offense moved the ball up and down the field in the first half, but the turnovers prevented them from getting into the end zone. For the game, the offense racked up 671 yards of total offense, including 187 yards on the ground and 491 yards through the air with 32 first downs. Once it started humming in the second half, there was no stopping it.

“In the second half, we came out and had five consecutive drives that resulted in touchdowns,” said Callahan. “And actually, the sixth drive was when we ran five minutes off the clock to end the game. Derek started playing like the great player he is, and we flipped the script. We were moving the ball in the first half, but we didn’t finish in the end zone, and we corrected that in the second half. Once we started clicking, from there, the belief on the sidelines was that they can’t stop us, and we’re going to score every possession we have.”

QUARTERBACK DEREK ROBERTSON IS A SPECIAL PLAYER

I’m sure Robertson would like to have a couple of those throws back that resulted in interceptions. And I’m sure he would admit that they were poor decisions on his part. However, to be able to bounce back from a start like that and accomplish what he did shows what he’s made of. Chalk it up to first-game jitters, shaking off the rust, or the pressure of trying to do too much himself. Whatever it was, he got over it and put on a show. Robertson completed 34-of-45 passes (76%) for 491 yards and four touchdowns. He had touchdown passes of 13, 70, 24 and 51 yards. His cool, calm demeanor in the face of adversity was infectious, leading his teammates to believe that they could still win this thing.

“Derek’s got remarkable talent, but he’s also a terrific leader,” said Callahan. “Everybody on our team looks up to him. He’s a guy they follow and believe in him 100 percent. There wasn’t anybody more down at halftime than he was. And to be able to light it up the way he did in the second half was really good. You can’t give him enough credit for the way he played in the second half; he never got down, was always upbeat.”

“I've got to be a lot better moving forward,” said Robertson in a post-game interview. “But I’m so happy to get this one done. The fight from this team was unbelievable. Down big in the second half, no quit, I love every single one of those guys. Those guys believe in me, and I appreciate that.”

WILL THE REAL DEFENSE PLEASE STAND UP

It was a tale of two haves for Monmouth’s revamped defense. In the first half, the Raiders scored on their first four possessions to take a 24-7 lead at the half. They drove up and down the field on the Hawks' defense, which allowed 357 yards of total offense in the first half alone. Monmouth attempted an onside kick to start the second half, with Colgate recovering at the Hawks' 45-yard line. Twelve plays later, Colgate made it 31-7, for what looked like an insurmountable lead, the way things were going. But on the Hawks’ ensuing possession, Robertson connected with Gavin Nelson for an 80-yard touchdown to breathe new life into the game at 31-14. The defense then fed off the momentum and forced a punt on the Raiders' next two possessions, with Monmouth answering with touchdowns on both change of possessions. Then, with the score now 31-28 and Colgate reeling, Lamont Lester Jr. recorded a strip sack with Bryce Rooks recovering at the Monmouth 49-yard line. On the next play, Robertson found Nelson for a 51-yard touchdown, and the Hawks had their first lead of the game, 35-31. Once again, the defense came through, forcing a punt on the Raiders' ensuing possession, and once again, the Hawks' offense took advantage, driving 84 yards in three plays to take a 42-31 lead on a Rodney Nelson 75-yard touchdown jaunt.

The defense turned this game on its head. Without its stellar second-half play, this game goes in the loss column. Hopefully, they will build off of this performance and roll with the momentum. Sophomore safety Jeaden Jones led the team with 11 total tackles, including nine solo stops and a tackle for loss.

“The defense came up with some really key stops, and they were important,” added Callahan. “And then the offense turned them into points. I think we stopped them on five of six possessions in the second half on downs. I think the defense settled down in the second half and started playing better football. We started making plays, we turned them over on downs and came up with some really precious stops in the redzone. And I think with each stop, they started believing more and more. There are some new faces in that unit, and I think it took some time for this group to come together and solidify things. But I was very happy with the way they finished.”

MONMOUTH HAS DYNAMIC SKILL POSITION PLAYERS

Junior wide receiver Gavin Nelson had a career day, catching five passes for 176 yards and three touchdowns. He had touchdown receptions of 70, 24 and 51 yards. His 51-yard touchdown catch gave the Hawks their first lead of the game, 35-31, a lead they would not relinquish. Following his breakout performance, Nelson was named the CAA Offensive Player of the Week. 2025 Preseason All-CAA selections Josh Derry and T.J. Speight each broke the century mark in receiving yards, with Derry hauling in seven passes for 103 yards, while Speight caught eight passes for 100 yards. That’s 379 yards in receptions for the three standouts. Sophomore Tra Neal added five receptions for 47 yards and a touchdown. Redshirt sophomore running back, Rodney Nelson, Gavin’s brother, rushed for 169 yards on 22 attempts for a 7.7 yards per attempt average with touchdown runs of one and 75 yards. His 75-yard touchdown jaunt put the game out of reach at 42-31.

“Coming into the game, the guys you have your eye on are probably T.J. and Josh, guys who both had over 60 receptions last year. And then Gavin Nelson comes on the scene and has five catches for 176 yards and three touchdowns, and made some very big plays. And then Tra Neal is another one of our receivers, and he contributed five catches, so that’s quite a formidable group we have there, and we can go to any guy at any time. They all know the ball could be coming their way at any time, whether they’re in the initial progression or not. Derek sees the field so extremely well that the ball is going to go to the open guy. Rodney handled the moment extremely well. As we got going in the game and started opening up things in the passing game, he had more opportunities carrying the ball, and he made every one of them count.”