When a player is down on the field with an injury, the rest of his team doesn’t usually pay too much attention. The captains and coaches will gather the players together and keep the team focused on the upcoming play.

That wasn’t the case on the Massachusetts football team’s first scoring drive in Saturday’s 17-16 win over Villanova at Warren P. McGuirk Alumni Stadium, as the majority of the team looked toward the Villanova two-yard line. They stared not because of the severity of the injury, but due to the number on the injured player’s jersey: seven.

Quarterback Jeff Krohn was sprawled out on his back, after a nasty collision just two yards shy of paydirt. After a Mike Ziccardi interception that gave UMass possession at the Wildcats’ seven-yard line, Krohn rolled right, tucked the ball, and went for the endzone. When three Villanova defenders cut the Arizona State transfer at the goalline, everyone in the stands expected him to slide, protecting himself from the big hit.

Krohn went in headfirst.

The ‘Nova defenders smacked Krohn helmet-to-helmet, causing a loud crack to echo into the stands and one of the few players UMass Head Coach Mark Whipple named as irreplaceable during the preseason was now laying on the ground, with the entire medical staff around him.

As soon as Krohn stood up, with the help of the staff, it was clear that one of the conference’s best quarterbacks was essentially out on his feet and likely done for the game.

Whipple sent redshirt freshman Scott Ratliff in to finish the drive, which running back R.J. Cobbs capped with a touchdown run on the very next play, and for the next possession, which resulted in a pair of incomplete passes.

Ratliff had seen mop up duty in five games this season, but once it was announced to Whipple that Krohn wasn’t going to return, as evidenced by the medical staff’s taking his helmet away from him, the Brown alum decided to go with true freshman Tim Day under center for the rest of the contest.

“I thought Scott did a really good job,” Whipple said, “but I felt like we weren’t going to throw the ball a whole lot and [Day] could get outside and make some people miss.”

Day’s reaction to the news that he was going to make his debut with a 7-7 tie in the biggest game of the season was understandable.

“You get nervous all of a sudden,” Day said. “[Coach Whipple] told me before to be ready, but you never think it’s going to happen. You never want to think about a player like Jeff going down. When [Coach] told me to get ready, I was really nervous. But everybody was behind me, especially [Krohn].”

Krohn was so woozy after the hit that he didn’t even realize that his team scored on the very next play, but No. 7 looked much better in the second half, which saw him as the team’s biggest cheerleader.

On the first play of his collegiate career, Day bootlegged left for 15 yards. He handed the ball to Cobbs on the next play, who dashed left for 10. Then Day, a native of Manchester, N.H., rolled right and hit senior receiver Adrian Zullo for a 12-yard gain.

“It created problems for us because all week we had our defensive package set up to stop Krohn and all of a sudden you get a feisty little sprint-out quarterback who runs around and runs the bootleg and things like that,” Villanova Head Coach Andy Talley said. “We had to make a lot of adjustments at halftime to try to come up with some things in anticipation of things he might do. It’s kind of like a Catch-22.”

The drive essentially ended after the Zullo reception, as a holding penalty and a sack pushed the Maroon and White offense back and forced a punt, but it gave Day some needed confidence.

No. 16’s numbers on the day (3-for-8, 27 yards, six rushes, 17 yards) aren’t jaw-dropping, and his forth quarter interception when the Minutemen needed to simply run the clock out was the stuff that heart attacks are made from, but he didn’t hurt the team and allowed the defense and special teams to win the game.

Day, who came to the Minutemen as one of the best high school quarterbacks in New Hampshire last year, has done a lot of growing up since arriving in Amherst. Especially after witnessing the atmosphere in Raleigh in September.

“I can remember sitting next to Timmy when North Carolina State ran out of the tunnel,” Whipple said. “I just said, ‘this isn’t the New Hampshire state championship anymore, is it?'”

Day may not have been able to replace Krohn’s stats, but he did do something the junior has been able to do four times this season, get a ‘W.’ And he appreciated the difference in being a part in celebrating a win that he had taken part in.

“When you’re on the sidelines, you’re a part of a team and you’re celebrating, but it’s different when you’re playing,” Day said. “It’s a little bit more meaningful when you get a victory that way.”