AMHERST — At 1-4, the UMass football team headed to Virginia to close out the first half of its season badly in need of a win at 8 tonight at Old Dominion to keep its season from getting way from it.
“Being 1-4, it’s a must win game,” said junior linebacker Steve Casali. “We’ve had a great week of practice. Everyone is focused. We’re ready to go.”
UMass coach Mark Whipple hoped his team was ready to break through.
“It’s hard to get momentum when you don’t win. But I’ve gone back through the tapes. Guys are playing hard and have competed. We’ve just come up short,” he said. “But we’ve certainly played much better opponents than we ever have. We’re just trying to find a way to win a game. I know we’re better this week than we were last week. Hopefully we prove it on Friday night.”
The game was moved from Saturday to Friday night to prevent Hurricane Matthew from affecting either the game or UMass’ travel.
“I like having a Friday night game, Friday night lights. It’s like high school all over again,” said Casali who was wearing a T-Shirt from Sachem East, his high school. “I’m really excited to play this game. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The Monarchs are 3-2, with only one game against a team that was a full FBS program in 2012. After opening the season with a win over Hampton, an FCS team, they dropped two straight to Appalachian State (upgraded in 2015) and NC State. They followed with back to back wins over fellow young FBS programs beating Texas-San Antonio, which became a full FBS member in 2014 and Charlotte, which completed its transition in 2015.
UMass, which completed its upgrade in 2013, will be the latest fledgling to face the Monarchs.
ODU is second in Conference USA with 186.0 yards per game and its 11 touchdowns on the ground are tied for best in the conference.
Ray Lawry leads Old Dominion with 285 yards and two touchdowns on 47 carries, while Jeremy Cox isn’t far behind with 258 yards and seven touchdowns on 45 carries.
The Monarchs have been effective in the air as well. Quarterback David Washington is 77-for-137 for 1,002 yards. He’s thrown 11 touchdowns and been intercepted twice. Zach Pascal has been his favorite target with 27 catches for 333 yards and four TDs.