ORONO – The University of Maine football team is struggling to establish an identity this season.

A dominating Massachusetts squad made sure Saturday afternoon the Black Bears will have to keep searching for one.

The third-ranked Minutemen scored three touchdowns in the first 8:07 of the opening quarter en route to a lopsided 38-7 Colonial Athletic Association victory in front of 6,167 fans at overcast Alfond Stadium.

“It couldn’t have gone worse at the beginning,” said UMaine coach Jack Cosgrove, who knew defending conference champion and national runner-up UMass was a superior team.

“Coming into this thing, we were going to have to play an errorless, perfect football game. We didn’t do that,” he said.

Spearheaded by the physical running of tailback Matt Lawrence (20 carries, 176 yards, 3 TDs), the Minutemen (4-0, 2-0 CAA) amassed 431 total yards, including 289 on the ground.

Quarterback Liam Coen shook off a gimpy left knee to complete 15 of 19 passes for 142 yards and a score (with one interception). Wideout J.J. Moore made seven catches for 71 yards while Tony Nelson added 104 rushing yards.

It was the third straight loss for coach Jack Cosgrove’s Bears (1-3, 0-2 CAA), who exhibited shoddy tackling and a continued inability to throw the ball consistently.

Running behind a powerful offensive line, Lawrence set the tone on his first carry, the Minutemen’s second play of the contest. He found a big hole up the middle, shook off a hit from safety Jonathan Calderon, eluded three more would-be tacklers and raced 62 yards down the right side.

UMass scored again 15 seconds later. Jeromy Miles ripped the ball from tight end Matt Mulligan after a 6-yard reception to the 16-yard line and Michael Meggett ran it to the 2.

On the next play, Coen found Chris Zardas wide open in the right flat as the visitors made it 14-0 with barely three minutes gone in the game.

“They came out fast and we just didn’t answer well,” said UMaine senior co-captain Pat McCrossan. “We tackled horribly and it was just not a great performance at all.”

The Minutemen forced the Bears to punt, then needed only five plays to score again. Lawrence’s 4-yard run capped a 52-yard drive to make it 21-0 with 9:53 to play in the first quarter.

“It’s real tough,” said UMaine redshirt freshman quarterback Adam Farkes, who made his first collegiate start. “(When) you put yourself behind early like that, you have to play near perfect the rest of the way, and we didn’t do that.”

The Minutemen limited UMaine to 243 yards, including only 67 through the air. Farkes rushed for 59 yards and passed for 67, going 6-for-16.

“We’re not equipped to play from behind,” Cosgrove said. “We’re not a good throwing offense.”

UMaine never mounted a challenge because of its inability to throw against the outstanding cornerbacks and pass rush of UMass. The Bears opted to stick primarily with their run game.

“You’ve got to know who you are and we’re not capable of playing two-minute (drill) and throwing it around the field,” Cosgrove admitted. “We tried to keep it close to the vest to generate some of our run-pass thoughts.”

Chris Koepplin’s 45-yard field goal pushed the UMass lead to 24-0 late in the first.

UMaine’s only threat of the half came on a 12-play drive from its own 39-yard line to the UMass 7. Bobby Donnelly, who replaced Devin McNeill as the No. 1 place-kicker, shanked a 25-yard field-goal attempt with 40.8 seconds left in the half.

“We didn’t put some points up which would have been a boost for us at the halftime,” Cosgrove said.

While the Bears failed to reach 100 yards passing for the fourth straight game, an 18-yard scoring pass from Farkes to Mulligan in the fourth quarter marked their first passing TD of the season.

The drive also included Farkes passes of 11 yards to Anthony Cotrone and 16 yards to Jermaine Henderson.

“I was real proud of the way we played. We never gave up,” said the rugged Cotrone, who rushed for 55 yards. “We played our first play exactly the way we played our last play. That shows something.”

Linebacker Andrew Downey made a game-high 14 tackles for UMaine, while strong safety Brandon McLaughlin had 11. John Wormuth added nine tackles and an interception.

UMaine has a bye this week, then returns to action Oct. 6 with a CAA game at Hofstra.

MINUTEMEN 38, BLACK BEARS 7

Massachusetts (4-0) 24 0 7 7 – 38

Maine (1-3) 0 0 0 7 – 7

MASS – Lawrence 62 run (Koepplin kick)

MASS – Zardas 2 pass from Coen (Koepplin kick)

MASS – Lawrence 4 run (Koepplin kick)

MASS – FG Koepplin 45

MASS – Lawrence 1 run (Koepplin kick)

MAINE – Mulligan 18 pass from Farkes (Donnelly kick), 9:32.

MASS – Evans 5 run (Koepplin kick)

Mass. Maine

First downs 19 13

Rushes-yards 43-289 42-176

Passing 142 67

Comp-Att-Int 15-20-1 6-15-0

Total yards 431 243

Punts-Avg. 4-34.5 7-40.4

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-2

Penalties-Yards 4-20 4-34

Time of Possession 30:16 29:44

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Mass: Lawrence 20-176, Nelson 18-104, Woodward 1-8, Evans 1-5, Rancher 1-4, Team 1-(minus 1), Coen 1-(minus 7); Maine: Farkes 16-59, Cotrone 8-55, Fluellen 12-50, Henderson 4-7, Walcott 1-4, Randall 1-1.

PASSING – Mass:, Coen 15-19-1-142, Woodward 0-1-0-0. Maine: Farkes 6-15-0-67.

RECEIVING-Mass: Moore 7-71, Rancher 2-39, Lawrence 2-4, Omar 1-14, Horne 1-12, Zardas 1-2, Nelson 1-0. Maine: Mulligan 3-40, Henderson 1-16, Cotrone 1-11, Kelley 1-0.

A-6,167.