The Minutemen say they've shifted their focus to Saturday's opponent, Buffalo.
Charley Molnar says he isn't worried about a first-win hangover for his team.
AMHERST – It had crossed Chaz Thompson’s mind. He said he wasn’t the only one.
The senior defensive tackle had let the doubt creep in about the University of Massachusetts football team.
“It crossed my mind, but I knew we still had an opportunity not to be 0-12,” Thompson said. “I didn’t want that on my conscience. My teammates didn’t either.”
After Saturday’s win at Akron, the Minutemen won’t have to worry about that any longer.
Quarterback Mike Wegzyn invited some teammates over Sunday to celebrate with honey-barbecue wings from The Hangar, and coach Charley Molnar said he received countless text messages, emails and phone calls congratulating him on his first win.
“I forgot that I had so many people out there rooting for me. During that dark period there, I didn’t get many text messages after games.” Molnar said. “I got them from all sorts of people, from guys I haven’t heard from in a long, long time. It was nice. How they got my phone number, I have no idea, but it was nice.”
All of that was forgotten by the time Monday’s practice rolled around, and the team’s focus shifted from 0-12 to 3-9, beginning with Saturday’s game against Buffalo at Gillette Stadium.
“As everybody says, you celebrate that next 24 hours, but now we’re out here on the field, that’s over and you just have to move on to the next opponent,” Wegzyn said.
Molnar said he wasn’t worried about any sort of first-win hangover.
“Once you get to practice, and you go through today and lifting weights and everything, it’ll be behind them. They know,” he said. “They can sit and think about it in the winter if they choose to, but right now our focus has moved on to the University of Buffalo.”
Molnar also said getting the proverbial monkey off the team’s back will likely help the Minutemen lock in their focus for the task ahead.
“It’s a more confident group now, and I think they felt maybe just a little pressure to end for us what felt like a very long losing streak,” Molnar said. “I think now that they’ve gotten a win under their belts, they can really just focus on beating Buffalo.”
JOHNSON RECEIVES MAC HONOR
Junior punter Colter Johnson became the first Minuteman to receive an award from the Mid-American Conference, earning the MAC East Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts in Saturday’s win.
Johnson pinned the Zips inside their own 10-yard line on four separate occasions, including twice at the 1 in the second half.
“Coming off the win that we had, and to have the game that I had, it will be just another great accomplishment to put under my belt,” Johnson said.
MINUTEMEN WINNERS IN HEALTH
Molnar said after practice his team was as healthy as it’s ever been.
“We’re as good as we’ve ever been coming out of a football game,” Molnar said. “Right now, I would anticipate that everybody who played Saturday, by gametime, should be good to go.”
In addition, Molnar said offensive lineman Jamie Casselberry and defensive backs Iric Harris and Ryan Carter, who have all missed extended time, would likely be back for Buffalo.
There had been speculation in some circles about freshman Kassan Messiah’s health, but Molnar put that to bed, saying his standout linebacker was totally fine.