The smile on Jason Peebler’s face disappeared instantaneously. What began as a light-hearted interview during the team’s preseason media day had turned serious, because someone had said the word.

Not just any word, but THE word. A word so terrible that it forms a hole in the Massachusetts football team’s collective stomach every time it’s mentioned. A word so offensive that it pumps adrenaline through the Minutemen at the mere thought of what it entails. Two syllables that have boiled the blood of the defending Atlantic 10 champions for the past 10 months for reasons they will never forget.

Colgate.

“If you’re a UMass football player and you’re not ready to play Colgate, you need to have your head examined.” the senior captain said. ‘”You get shivers just thinking about it. That’s what football is about, big games like that.

“After what happened last year at Colgate up in the snow, it couldn’t set up our season any better. Delaware State and then come back here under the lights against Colgate.”

Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m at Warren P. McGuirk Alumni Stadium. Also, the university will honor members of the 1964 football team that played in the Tangerine Bowl prior to the game in addition to a fireworks display scheduled to follow the conclusion of the contest.

Having crushed Delaware State by a score of 51-0 to open their season, the Minutemen now indeed return home for the second night game in school history, and more importantly to face the team that knocked them out of the Division I-AA playoffs in 2003. UMass (1-0, 0-0 Atlantic 10) enters the game ranked No. 14 in the nation after vaulting five spots with the win over the Hornets.

Coach Dick Biddle’s Red Raiders, meanwhile, will open their season on Saturday as the defending national runners-up, and carry with them a No. 4 overall ranking. Nonetheless, many members of the Maroon and White feel as though they were, and still are, the superior team and they will look to prove that on the field.

“I’ve still got a bitter taste in my mouth about what happened last year,” junior safety Shannon James said. “I know we were the better team and we’ve waited a long time for our chance to prove that.

“Coach (Don) Brown already said that he won’t have to say anything before that game. If you’re not ready to play, there’s something wrong.”

“There’s something down deep that each one of us has.” Sophomore strong safety James Ihedigbo added. “There are guys on this team that have been waiting for this game for a long time, and [the Raiders] are going to feel something.”

Offensively Colgate is led by a trio of talented skill players, including Walter Payton Award Winner Jamaal Branch. The 6-foot, 225-pound senior tailback rushed for 2,346 total yards in 2003, including 5.2 yards per carry and 145.4 yards per game, but was shut down by the Maroon and White in the teams’ playoff match up in less than favorable conditions.

Thus, it will be very important for Brown’s defense to be able to contain the run throughout the game in order to keep the Raiders’ offense in check.

“Branch isn’t a flashy guy, but after awhile you look up and he has 100 yards,” Brown said. “We need to be able to hit him early and often and keep him from wearing us down as the game goes along.”

Equally as important to the ‘Gate’s offensive machine is multi-talented quarterback Chris Brown, who started all 16 games for Biddle in 2003 and was awarded the Andy Kerr Award as the team’s most valuable offensive player after completing 223 of 395 passes for 2,832 yards and 22 touchdowns while running 154 times for 453 yards and nine touchdowns.

In his two seasons as a starter, the tri-captain boasts an 18-1 record with the lone blemish being a 40-0 loss to Delaware in last year’s national championship game. He has teamed with fellow captain and senior wide receiver Luke Graham to form a very potent passing attack.

Graham, a second All-Patriot League selection for the team, is third in school history with 151 receptions, fourth with 2,448 total receiving yards and has also caught a pass in 30 consecutive games.

“We respect every football team we play and Colgate has a very good one. Our guys know that,” Brown said. “We just need to execute our game plan on the field and not get too overrun with emotion and we’ll give ourselves a chance to win this football game and become 2-0.”