KSU stadium is a first-rate college football facility, with all sorts of amenities and a large scoreboard that holds all the pertinent information about the game being played.

But if you really want to know how Saturday’s game between Massachusetts and Kansas State is going, just take a look at Mark Whipple, Tom Masella, and the rest of the UMass bench after the first quarter. Because if the score is close, then the activity on the Minuteman sideline is sure to be frenzied.

The No. 5 Wildcats are UMass’ fourth I-A opponent in five years. In that time, the Minutemen lost to Toledo (24-3) in 1999, Marshall (49-20) in 2001, and North Carolina State (56-24) last season.

But this year, says the coaching staff, might just be different. Although K-State is among the elite college football programs in the nation, this UMass team is older and wiser, and the memories of the loss to N.C. State is still fresh in the mind of those who were there.

The Minutemen quickly found themselves down when the Wolfpack scored on their second play of the game. N.C. State then racked up 21 points in the first quarter, and that was plenty enough cushion. The Maroon and White managed to put together a solid game the rest of the way, though, and many regarded it as one of the best performances of the season.

“Hopefully we’ll handle the first quarter.” Masella said. “If we can get out of the first quarter in a close game, then let’s go play.

“This game, we don’t have to talk to the kids about being sky-high. They want to play this game, so you just go prepare them, and say, ‘listen, it’s going to be fast on Saturday, and it’s going to be loud on Saturday.” We just need to get through the first quarter.”

K-State is averaging 30.6 points in the first half, but just 15.3 points after halftime.

The Wildcats will be without stud quarterback Ell Roberson, who injured his non-throwing hand in KSU’s 55-14 win over I-AA McNeese State on Sept. 6. But coach Bill Snyder isn’t too concerned about backup Jeff Schwinn.

“He’s an extremely hard worker,” Snyder said of Schwinn in a press conference Tuesday. “He prepares himself. He is diligent. He’s focused. He’s one of those guys that does all the things you ask him to do snap after snap.”

“Schwinn is a good quarterback as well,” UMass coach Mark Whipple said in Monday’s Atlantic 10 Teleconference, “so our biggest concern is how do we handle the speed and size of Kansas State in the first 15 minutes.

“They just knock everybody out in the first 15 minutes, and you are playing from behind, so we need to start the game strong. We have faced some good I-A quarterbacks the last few years in [Marshall’s] Byron Leftwich and [N.C. State’s Philip] Rivers, so I think it would have helped us develop as a team to have the challenge of playing against him.

Now that Roberson is out, the Minutemen will both benefit from having one less potentially fatal dimension to worry about, and be faced with defending a quarterback who is mostly an unknown factor.

Even without Roberson, though, Masella and his charges will have plenty of explosive offense to defend. Tailback Darren Sproles is fourth in the nation with 325 rushing yards, and wideout James Terry’s 271 receiving yards is good for fifth.

Terry could prove to be the gamebreaker, as Masella conceded that he may just be better than the cornerbacks and safeties assigned to cover him.

“If they throw it over the top and beat us, that means their athletes are just better than ours,” Masella said.

UMass will also be missing a few key components, both on offense and defense, with their two top running backs possibly out for Saturday. Raunny Rosario is a definite no-go after injuring his knee against Central Connecticut State. Also, sophomore R.J. Cobbs, touted as the best athlete on the team, missed the opener due to academic discipline, and his status was unknown at press time. Wide receiver Greg Scott is also out with a shoulder injury, limiting quarterback Jeff Krohn’s options when he goes to the air.

Offensively, though, all hope is not lost, thanks to the inspired performance by sophomore Steve Baylark, who wasn’t originally supposed to work more than half of the snaps against Central Connecticut, and ended up taking on the full-time tailback role when Rosario went down in the first quarter. Baylark rushed for 146 yards on 22 carries, and found the endzone twice.

On defense, 2002 All-American Valdamar Brower is still on the road to recovery following double knee surgery, and though he is reported to be available for the game, his role will be limited to around 30 plays, Masella said.

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