By MATT VAUTOUR
AMHERST — The annual preseason optimism, seemingly present in every football team’s training camp around the country, was in ample supply at UMass this week.
At practice Wednesday, three nights before the Minutemen’s Saturday opener at Florida (7:30 p.m. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, SEC Network), the UMass players were focused on making history.
In four seasons as an FBS program, the Minutemen are still searching for a signature victory, a win to announce them ready to take a step forward.
Senior Khary Bailey-Smith said upsetting Florida would be that kind of win.
“It would be the start of a new program. We can turn this thing around,” he said. “I think we’re ready. Everyone’s spirits are really high. We’re just going to go out there and ball out.”
Senior defensive tackle Peter Angeh agreed.
“Any time you’re playing a ranked team, you definitely want to give everything you have and represent UMass in the best way we can,” Angeh said. “All I care about is getting a W, making the university proud and making the fans proud. We’ve really worked hard as a team. This is something we’re definitely looking forward to.”
Getting that win Saturday figures to be an extremely difficult task. Florida is ranked No. 25 in both polls and is the defending SEC East champions. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, better known to most as simply the Swamp, is among the toughest places for an opponent to win.
The official capacity is 88,548, which would make it the third largest stadium, UMass has played in behind Michigan and Penn State. The Gators have attracted several crowds over 90,000, which seems possible Saturday. The combination of it being the opener mixed with the Steve Spurrier field dedication ceremony before the game could make it a big draw.
Since Spurrier’s debut in 1990, Florida is 141-24 at home, the third best home winning percentage in college football during that time behind Florida State and Nebraska.
Unranked teams are 10-114 over the same stretch.
UMass coach Mark Whipple hoped his team wouldn’t be intimidated.
“They’ve been to Notre Dame (2015) and Penn State (2014). Some of the guys were at Wisconsin (2013),” he said. “They’ll be excited about it I think. Hopefully they learned something from the Notre Dame game. They didn’t flinch last year.”
Whipple said the Minutemen didn’t need to be perfect, but that they needed to keep big mistakes to a minimum.
“We just can’t give them anything easy which we did last year in the Colorado game,” he said. “We have to be really good on special teams. Obviously Florida has a lot more skill than Colorado had.”
Among the most talented is Antonio Calloway. He caught 35 passes for 678 yards last year. He’s especially dangerous on returns. He brought 28 punts back for 435 yards and two touchdowns, and had three kickoff returns for 79 yards last year.
“He can really hurt you in the kick game,” Whipple said.
Both teams will debut new starting quarterbacks. UMass will hand the reins to redshirt sophomore Ross Comis, while Luke Del Rio takes over for the Gators. Florida is his fourth college and the first place he’ll start.
“All games are won up front. If we can control the line of scrimmage and get pressure on the quarterbacks it’ll definitely help the DBs,” Angeh said.
Florida coach Jim McElwain said his team was largely focused on itself.
“It has as much to do as anything with what we’re able to do. It’s about us in everything we try to do and accomplish,” he said in his Tuesday press conference. “It’s about the unknown. That’s a great thing about opening games. You have to be able to adjust to whatever comes up. For us to be able to open in the Swamp, there’s something special about that place. It’s really cool on game day. I’m looking forward to it.”
NOTES: Whipple will be competing against his former boss. Florida co-defensive coordinator Randy Shannon was the head coach at Miami when Whipple was the offensive coordinator there.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage