The UMass football program has made national headlines for the wrong reasons. On Sunday night, UMass athletics announced that coach Mark Whipple was suspended without pay for one week and would undergo sensitivity training.
Whipple’s faux pas was to say the refs “raped us” after they picked up a flag late in Saturday’s loss at Ohio. Such are the perils of raw emotion and live radio interviews in the aftermath of a 58-42 loss. As Jimmy the Greek, Joe Namath and countless others well know, there’s no taking it back once it’s out there and the vultures will tear you apart.
Whipple’s getting raked over the coals for uttering a word, not doing a deed. Athletic director Ryan Bamford called the utterance “inappropriate, insensitive and inexcusable.”
That’s the way it is in today’s righteous society. Bamford ducked for cover and let ESPN, Fox News, USA Today and every other reporting agency take a piece of his coach’s hide.
The outcry should be on the team’s 2-5 record and its regression back to the Charley Molnar era, not one word that was uttered in the heat of the moment.
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On Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at McGuirk Stadium, UMass plays the University of South Florida — a Tampa-based team that averages 25,000 fans at Raymond James Stadium.
The Minutemen are 14-point underdogs versus the Bulls who are 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the American Athletic Conference. Last season, they finished 10-2 and beat Texas Tech in the Birmingham Bowl. That marked the first season under coach Charlie Strong, who arrived via Texas via Louisville. Strong replaced Willie Taggart, who left the program two years ago for Oregon, which he promptly left after one season for his current job at Florida State.
Five USF players have been taken in the NFL draft the last two seasons, and quarterback Quinton Flowers signed with the Bengals as a free agent.
The Bulls are in rebuild stage but wideout Tyre McCants leads the team with 22 catches for 214 yards and is projected as a sixth round pick by draftanalyst.com. Terrence Horne is 13th in FBS return yards with 282 and has returned two touchdowns.
USF’s ratings vary from No. 22 (cbssports.com) to No. 58 (USA Today) to No. 63 (ESPN Power Index); the Minutemen are a consensus Bottom 20 team.
The Bulls will need to shut down Andy Isabella, who’s third in FBS receiving yards and tied for 13th in points scored. “Isabella has really good speed and runs unbelievable routes,” Strong said during Monday’s press conference. “We need to win on first down, establish the run, stay physical and knock people off the line of scrimmage,” he added.
Marquis Young leads the FBS in return yardage with 488 including a touchdown. Of course, UMass has allowed the second most touchdowns in the FBS (34 to UConn’s 36), which gives Young ample opportunity to roll up those return yards.
The Minutemen are ranked 123rd of 130 in defensive efficiency by ESPN.
Defensive coordinator Ed Pinkham will be the acting head coach in Whipple’s absence. “You’re always gonna miss your head coach,” said Strong, “but we gotta take care of our own business.”
And watch what you say afterward.
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LONG GAINS: During last week’s 58-42 debacle in Ohio, the Bobcats rolled up a school-record 664 yards in total offense. … UMass linebacker Bryton Barr leads the FBS in total tackles (76).
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Eagles win ugly against Temple
BC’s 45-35 victory against Temple before 40,111 at Alumni Stadium on Saturday came at a cost. Running back AJ Dillon, who’s third in NCAA rushing yards, rolled an ankle and his status for this weekend’s game is unknown.
BC (4-1) is still paying the price for its lackluster 30-13 loss at Purdue the previous week. The team’s ESPN power index rating dropped to 40th, and it is ranked 43rd by both USA today and CBSsports.com.
The Eagles have converted one field goal all season, their punting is mediocre and a fumbled kickoff return was picked up and returned for a Temple touchdown, but two interceptions (one by Amherst’s Taj Amir-Torres) turned a 14-7 deficit into a 31-21 lead at halftime.
Despite their mediocre play the last two games, Boston College remains relevant. That’s more than can be said for UMass and UConn who are both in the Bottom 20 of Terrible Teams.
The Eagles are a 4½-point underdog against undefeated (4-0) N.C. State in Raleigh on Saturday. BC hopes the Wolfpack are looking past them to next week’s showdown at Clemson.
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Bring on the playoffs
The Red Sox begin their quest for the World Series title on Friday night at 7:30 against the winner of tonight’s Wild Card game between New York and Oakland at Yankee Stadium.
It was a season of cold rain and hot bats in the Hub. The Red Sox started 17-2, and their lone bumps in the road were losing five of seven in early May and six of eight in late August.
They wrested control of the AL East at the All-Star break and spent the rest of the season loose on the lead, as they say in horse racing.
Pitching comes and goes, but a good lineup is the hallmark of stability. Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez are this decade’s version of Big Papi and Manny Ramirez and Red Sox Nation hopes they’ll take their 75 home runs and 210 RBIs deep into October.
The Red Sox need 11 more wins for the duck boats to roll.
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Warmup tosses
ESPN’s Eduardo Perez says Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez has his swing back against southpaws. … The Mother Ship (as Dan Patrick calls it) will have Jessica Mendoza back for Sunday Night Baseball, a reward for not shoving the intolerable Alex Rodriguez out of the broadcast booth this season. … Mitch Moreland was 10-for-51 (.196) in Sept. and hasn’t gone long in his last 70 at-bats. … Chris Sale’s velocity is down, and any trainer will tell you that’s the sign of an injured arm. … Rain canceled the Miami-Pittsburgh makeup game on Monday. Maybe they could reschedule it for January. … Kevin Cash guided Tampa Bay to a 90-72 record with the lowest payroll in baseball. Their over/under was 73. … Bob Melvin managed Oakland to a 97-75 record with the third-lowest payroll. … The Orioles finished 47-115, a mere 61 games out of first place. … The Red Sox paid Jacoby Ellbury $2.4 million in 2011 and he was runner-up in the MVP balloting. This year, the Yankees paid him $21.1 and he didn’t have a plate appearance. Ellsbury has torn hip cartilage and other ailments.
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Terry Francona’s bullpen is locked and loaded with closer Brad Hand and lefty specialist Oliver Perez, together with Cody Allen, Neil Ramirez and Andrew Miller. The Indians might use starter Trevor Bauer out of the bullpen. The 6-1 righthander — nicknamed Bauer Outage — was 12-6 with a 2.22 ERA when he took a Jose Abreu line drive off the ankle on Aug. 11. He didn’t pitch again until September, when he made three appearances and gave up two runs in 9.1 innings.
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According to sportrac.com, these are the playoff-bound teams’ payrolls: 1. Red Sox ($228.3 M); 3. Dodgers ($199.5); 4. Cubs ($194.3); 6. Yankees ($179.6); 9. Astros ($163.5); 13. Rockies ($144); 14. Indians ($142.8); 18. Braves ($130.5); 22. Brewers ($109); 28. Athletics ($80.3).
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In the are-you-kidding-me department, the Red Sox will begin the 2019 season with an 11-game road trip. They open with four games in Seattle, followed by four in Oakland and three in Arizona. Get out the No Doz, the first pitch for six of the first seven games won’t be until after 9 p.m.
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Twelve up, eighteen down, those were the crowd stats for MLB this season. According to baseball-reference.com, Houston averaged over 7,000 more fans this year than in 2017. The Yankees and Brewers were both up over 4,000 fans and the Phillies were up nearly 3,000 per game.
The losers on the field and at the gate were Toronto and Miami. They drew 10,000 fewer fans a game this season, and the Royals, Tigers, Orioles and Pirates also had significantly smaller crowds.
The surprise was Washington which averaged 491 more fans despite never being contenders and playing in terrible weather. Boston’s record-breaking season couldn’t offset the cold early spring and wet summer and the turnstiles were down 25,000 spins from last season.
Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for four decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached by email at sports@recorder.com.