With the exception of the weather and the time zone, the UMass football team finds itself in a pretty similar spot going into its final game of 2016 as it was in its final game of 2015.
A year ago, the Minutemen had long been out of bowl contention when they took the field at Buffalo with a 2-9 record. In that game, the Bulls needed a win to achieve bowl eligibility, while the Minutemen were trying to end a long year on a high note.
The Minutemen are again 2-9. At 11 p.m. EST, Saturday, they’ll try to complete the season with a positive against Hawaii at Aloha Stadium.
“There’s tremendous energy,” Whipple said. “They were very disappointed in their performance (in last week’s 51-9 loss at BYU). Not just losing but playing that way. We’re excited to play.”
With UMass closed for Thanksgiving, the Minutemen went straight from Utah to Hawaii, where they’ve spent the week.
The Minutemen had Thanksgiving dinner, Thursday, at Pearl Harbor military base and toured the historic site.
“We’re treating it like the last week of a bowl trip on the road, mixing pleasure with some history. We think it’ll help us down the road and in recruiting also,” Whipple said. “We want to have a nice trip, but we want to win the football game.”
Hawaii is still hoping to have an actual bowl trip itself.
A team needs to be .500 or better to reach a bowl, unless there aren’t enough teams .500 or better to fill all the bowls.
The Warriors are 5-7. A sixth win would assure them of being the first sub .500 to get in if there are slots available. Hawaii is the only team playing 13 games and 6-7 is better than 5-7.
Hawaii snapped a three-game losing streak after beating Fresno, 14-13, Saturday.
Hawaii is coached by former UMass offensive coordinator Nick Rolovich. He never actually coached a game or even a practice for UMass. He was one of Charley Molnar’s first hires and was part of recruiting the Minutemen’s first class as an FBS program.
He left to take the offensive coordinator job at Nevada before spring practice even started. He was replaced by Mike Kruczek.
Hawaii has struggled offensively. Its points per game (24.8) and yards per game (374.9) are 10th out of 12 in the Mountain West.
Quarterback Dru Brown has completed 167 of 275 throws for an average of 173.0 yards per game. He’s throw 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Marcus Kemp has been his favorite target with 65 catches for 993 yards and six touchdowns.
Diocemy Sainte Juste is the Warriors top rusher at 71.4 yards per game. He’s scored two touchdowns.
Defense hasn’t been much better. The Warriors 37.2 points allowed is the worst average in the conference.
NOTES: With a good day, Adam Breneman can break a pair of UMass single-season tight end marks. His 66 catches are eight short of Kerry Taylor’s 74 in 1998 and his 778 yards are 76 behind Taylor’s total from that same season.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage