I went back and re-watched every play, noting down, distance, and defensive alignment, and, for the most part, it was ok. The issues that I had were:
(1) First series, first play, was trying to "take a shot" and stretch the defense. This is a low probability play, and has a big bang if it works, but has a low probability of success. Because of the incompletion, it put them in 2nd and long, so they passed again and it was incomplete, so they were in 3rd and long and had to throw again (which was incomplete). The first series then became a quick 3 and out without attempting a single run. Given UMass' defense, establishing the run early on would have "shown them who is boss" at the get go and set the stage for a crushing, ball control, smashmouth football game. Instead, it ran no time off the clock, let them get a little comfortable, and put Critchlow in a position to have to win it with his arm, instead of with the ball on the ground. Bad way to start the game.

(2) Later on during the 3rd drive, Detmer took 2 more long shots in inappropriate times. Once again, I get that he wants to stretch the defense, but this is not the defense that needed to be stretched. On 1st and 10, they did a play action, long throw that was incomplete, setting up a 2nd and long. Fortunately, Squally rushed for 8 and 15 yards on the next 2 plays getting the 1st. However, on the next play (1st and 10), Detmer goes for the homerun again. And, while the pass probably should have been caught, it wasn't and it set up a 2nd and long which became a 9 yard sack, followed by a 3rd and very long, which resulted in a completion well short of the first.

So---by trying to be aggressive and go for the home run, we closed down 2 drives. Conversely, regardless of whether they had 6, 7 or even 8 in the box, Squally was consistently getting good yardage.

The rest of the offense isn't innocent here, however. There were multiple sacks, multiple dropped balls that should have been caught and a couple of pretty bad decisions/throws by Critchlow that ended drives as well.