By MATT VAUTOUR
AMHERST — Following the UMass football team’s 24-7 loss to then-No. 25 Florida on Saturday, coach Mark Whipple was glad his team didn’t appear satisfied.
The Minutemen have been universally praised for staying within a field goal of the perennial power for three quarters on the road. Still, Whipple said the players haven’t been complacent as they prepared for Saturday’s noon game against Boston College at Gillette Stadium.
“They’ve been good the last two days. Better than last week,” Whipple said. “We didn’t practice well enough during the week (last week). You win the game during the week, not on Saturday. That’s why we came up short.
“Hopefully they took that to heart. It seems they have. They’ve been more focused,” he continued. “We haven’t had as many mental errors. We’re going to play a little bit faster. We have to play a little faster, have a little better effort. If we do that maybe we’ll get on a couple of those turnovers.”
Quarterback Ross Comis, who made his first start at Florida, thought a lot of his mistakes were fixable.
“There were a lot of things that were very correctable. In the fourth with the pressure they were bringing, I know we’re going to be better in those situations,” Comis said. “We played well. It’s frustrating to lose a game we think we could have definitely won. We’re past that. We learn from our mistakes and we’re ready for BC.”
MANAGING JALEN WILLIAMS — Senior receiver Jalen Williams, who has battled an ankle injury throughout the preseason, made a key fourth-down catch against Florida that set up UMass’ only touchdown.
But after seeing him limping, Whipple kept Williams out of the second half in hopes of having him ready for BC.
“I just shut him down. We went into halftime and said ‘you did a great job. Let’s get you ready for next week,’” Whipple said. “That was my decision. He wanted to go. I’m sure he’ll be better this week. For not practicing, he did a great job. We need him back. there’s no question about that.”
Williams didn’t practice Tuesday, but Whipple has said he’d be comfortable playing Williams even if he doesn’t practice.
LINDSAY READY? — UMass kept sophomore running back Sekai Lindsay’s ankle injury under wraps last week, but he only played sparingly at Florida.
“He’s been much better this week. He looked quicker today coming off the ankle,” Whipple said. “He keeps an even keel and a good demeanor during games.”
MISCELLANEOUS — Former Minuteman Randall Jette was at practice Tuesday. The defensive back, who was cut by the Green Bay Packers last week, is working out at UMass to stay in shape in hopes of catching on with a team.
Florida dropped to first in the also receiving votes section of The Associated Press poll, making it the de-facto No. 26 team.
The Gators are still No. 25 in the coaches poll.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage