A group of pigskin-adoring Ivy Leaguers treaded upon the greenery of Penn State’s Beaver Stadium on Nov. 5, 1983. It came to brave the rule of Joe Paterno and the defending National Champion Nittany Lions.
That confronting crowd was from Brown University, the school with the Division I-AA football program, the same team that deferred to lowly Harvard the previous Saturday.
But Brown only fell to Penn State by 15 points that autumn day, 38-21 – a notable act from such an unsuspecting crew.
Massachusetts football coach Mark Whipple, then an assistant in that Bear program, is looking back at his old team’s moral victory in hopes of finding some inspiration for this Saturday’s game at Division I-A Marshall.
“We (Brown) played worse against Harvard (in 1983) than we (Massachusetts) did Saturday against William ‘ Mary,” Whipple said. “The kids went down to Penn State and played their tails off. I didn’t think we had a prayer to win. We should have never even played the game. But that’s the great thing about sports.
“The bad thing about sports is what I had to go through Saturday.”
By all accounts, the Maroon and White collapsed last week at McGuirk Stadium. The offense totaled 141 yards, and the defense gave up 358 yards along with three easy touchdowns to William and Mary’s Rich Musinksi.
“Last week I was very disappointed, I was shocked, quite frankly,” Whipple said. “I really liked this team, and after the game I would have liked to hit them all in the mouth.”
All jesting aside, Whipple’s main concern was the Minutemen’s offensive execution. First off, he said that the receivers ran many bad routes, which reflected on freshman quarterback Matt Guice’s poor throwing performance.
“He’s going to go through growing pains,” Whipple said. “I think he tried to do a few too many things on his own, but that’s just his nature, which is why he’s going to be a good player. He wants to make plays. He’s a worker and he’s a tough kid, so he’ll be fine.
Also, not one Minuteman on the offensive side of the ball made a big play Saturday. No big catches or significant runs to talk about. William and Mary completed a 50-plus-yard pass in the first half and a successful option-reverse on an important 3rd and 16 third quarter possession – both keys to the Tribe’s 31-10 runaway victory.
“We have to hang our hat on something and improve,” Whipple said. “We just took so many steps backward. It was like we hadn’t practiced, and that’s what was disappointing. We had a simple game plan and didn’t execute it. There were always one or two guys making a mistake on every single play. It wouldn’t matter who played. It wouldn’t matter if it was Marshall, or William ‘ Mary again, or Amherst Pop Warner. You’ve got to have 11 guys doing the right thing. And that’s not the way they practiced – that is what’s really baffling.”
If they haven’t already, the Minutemen must regain focus now if they plan on making this Saturday’s contest look like anything close to a football game. There’s no way to tiptoe around the fact that Marshall is the best team the UMass football program has ever scheduled.
The Thundering Herd hasn’t had a losing season since 1983 and has won the Motor City Bowl each of the last three years. Before joining I-A football, Marshall won I-AA national championships in 1992 and 1996, and finished second four other times.
The Herd is led by junior quarterback Byron Leftwich who went 27-of-43 for 274 yards with one score in Marshall’s 49-14 loss to No. 1 Florida. He can throw, he can run, and at 6-foot-6, he’s tall.
“They all feel at Marshall that he is better than Chad Pennington,” Whipple said.
Pennington is now on the New York Jets roster.
Leftwich’s main target is sophomore wide out Darius Watts. Against Florida, he caught six passes for 116 yards and a touchdown. Watts is a sure first-round draft pick whenever he makes the decision to take the step.
Heading the Herd defense is senior linebacker Max Yates and junior corner Yancey Satterwhite. Yates, the 6-foot-3, 245 pound Butkis award finalist, made nine tackles against the Gators. Satterwhite equaled that mark and added a sack and an interception to the mix.
Overall, Marshall is just a bigger, stronger, faster and better team. That’s not too difficult to comprehend.
UMass didn’t schedule Marshall with victory in mind. It did so in hopes of putting up a strong fight against a national I-A power. If UMass can do for Whipple what Brown did for him in 1983, then respect will be granted. Keeping it within an embarrassment will do wonders for this team’s confidence.
There’s no need to reach for a miracle right now.
