By JOSH WALFISH
AMHERST — Coming off a two-week bye, UMass looked like a completely new team on Oct. 21, 2017.
That day, the Minutemen raced out to a 48-7 halftime lead and salted away a 55-20 victory over Georgia Southern. UMass went on to win three of its final five games while the Eagles fired their coach the next day.
Reflecting on last season, some of UMass’ most experienced players saw that victory as a turning point for the team and helped right the course of the program.
“Last year, we all finally came together as a team,” senior cornerback Lee Moses said. “It was kind of like a growing process for us, it was a maturity thing. Once we all came together and realized we can do this and we can play together as one, we just got to all get on the same page and understand what’s going on, and it was good.
“Coming off that win last year, once everyone got the hang of everything and knew what to do, (the momentum) just kept going.”
Coach Mark Whipple said much of the talk behind closed doors in the two weeks leading up to the Georgia Southern game mirrored the conversations currently going on among the coaches after last week’s 55-21 defeat to Boston College. He said the staff never lost confidence in the players and knew it was only a matter of time until the breakthrough happened.
“We approached it as coaches kind of like we approached this BC loss,” Whipple said. “We have faith in the players we have and the schemes, we just have to coach better. That’s what we thought last year after six games, we knew we were close, we knew we had a good team and good leaders.”
The two teams face off again this week as UMass makes the return trip to Statesboro to face Georgia Southern on Saturday for a 6 p.m. kickoff.
The Minutemen (1-1) are expecting to receive the Eagles’ best shot, especially after the results of last year’s game. UMass scored three touchdowns in a little less than 2½ minutes to take control of that game and demoralize the Eagles. Running back Bilal Ally said a similar effort is going to be needed this weekend to end Georgia Southern’s 21-game nonconference winning streak at home.
“How we played against them last year and we got on them last year, they’re coming for revenge,” Ally said. “We can’t let them have any (momentum). We have to take their confidence away and we’ve got to keep our composure and our confidence. Getting up on them fast and everything will help crush their confidence.”
In order for UMass to replicate its success, it will need to quickly move past last week’s loss. The theme of the week has been having a short memory, and both Whipple and the players said they thought practices were spirited this week.
However, Saturday’s game also marks an early season crossroads for the Minutemen. The matchup with the Eagles starts a critical five-week stretch before the bye for UMass.
Three of those five contests are against teams UMass either beat or were competitive against last season. The other two are against a team that went 1-11 last season (Charlotte) and a squad that might be ranked when the game is played (South Florida).
Whipple said he knew this trip was an important one when he looked at the schedule given how the first two weeks would likely play out.
“I really thought this was a key game on our schedule,” Whipple said. “We were hoping to win the first and then BC was going to be a test, we knew how good they were. We made too many mistakes. This is a big game to get to 2-1 against a team that’s rising. It’s on the road, it’s going to be a hard one. It’s the next game, but it’s also a little more than that.”
But the Minutemen aren’t looking past a chance to return above .500 this weekend. Ally said it was vital UMass not look ahead on its schedule and think about the momentum it could build in the future.
“We’ve got to stay levelheaded and treat every opponent like they are a top-notch team in the world,” Ally said. “When we play hard and fast, we do our job effectively and are effective that way. We can’t come out lightly, we have to stay strong-minded.”