AMHERST — Win No. 2 was on the menu for the UMass football team last Saturday afternoon at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. The Minutemen defeated Wagner 35-7 to improve to 2-6 – both victories coming against FCS opponents.

Just as UMass does following every win, head coach Don Brown and crew hit the locker room for some postgame fun. Sunday is the team’s day off, and they don’t come in until Monday afternoon for practice and meetings.

The mood around the facilities has been significantly brighter this week.

“Saturday night after the game, we got to do a little dancing,” Brown said. “So, we do that, and then Sunday is their off day. So we don’t see them until [Monday] afternoon. But let me tell you now, I think there was a good feeling in the locker room post game.”

Coming out of the bye week, UMass looked energized and well-rested. It made sense that the Minutemen came out and hung 21 quick points up to go into halftime ahead three possessions, because they had extra time to prepare for Wagner – a middle-of-the-road FCS program.

Brown said following the game on Saturday that all wins are good wins, and that he “really [doesn’t] care who the opponent is.”

The Minutemen looked the part of a 20-plus point favorite, but their opponents are going to get significantly tougher from here, starting with their second of three SEC opponents in Mississippi State this coming weekend. UMass is hopeful its momentum will carry into its trip down to Starkville, Miss. for a 4:15 p.m. kickoff on Saturday.

“Going all the way to the bye week, I feel like the bye week was a good refresh or reset for the team,” UMass senior defensive back Te’Rai Powell said. “And then getting this dub, it was very good for us, for the whole team to have that confidence going into Mississippi State on Saturday. So I think that win [against Wagner] was obviously a good win for us, but obviously we want to keep building and show a little bit more what we could do.”

Taisun Phommachanh hasn’t played his best football of late, and he threw for only 129 yards on 10-for-18 passing with one touchdown and one interception – a poor throw he made on the first play from scrimmage – against Wagner.

He did, however, add 30 yards on the ground and two scores. Brown believes his below-average passing performance had to do with the elements of Saturday’s contest.

“It was just a different game, the wind made things way different in the throw game,” Brown said. “That was one piece, and it was gusting pretty good. So that was part of it. But he also had his first career multi-rushing touchdown day. Usually everybody's asking, ‘Is he healthy? Can he run?’ And you really did need to run the ball efficiently if you were going to have a shot on Saturday, because the wind was a factor.”

Heading into the game with Wagner, UMass was ranked in the top 20 in FBS pass defense. That ranking only improved thanks to the Minutemen surrendering just 56 yards through the air.

Powell picked off Wagner starting quarterback Jake Cady (1-for-3, 4 yards, 1 INT) before Cady exited the game and didn’t return. Backup Jack Stevens went 4-for-6 and threw for 52 yards. The interception was Powell’s first of his career.

“While I was playing my side, just seeing the ball thrown, I was just following the ball,” Powell said. “And shout out to Arsheen Giles for tipping the ball in the air, and then it's me being in the right spot at the right time, and just making the play on the ball.”

Perhaps the most important aspect of the blowout win over Wagner – aside from T.Y. Harding (128 all-purpose yards, 2 TDs) continuing to blossom – was the fact the UMass only had three penalties for 25 yards.

The only time the Minutemen had less penalty yards was against Northern Illinois, but the three flags was a new season low. Saturday was the most disciplined game UMass has played to date.

“The thing that we hadn't minimized, except for one week, was penalties,” Brown said. “And obviously that finally got through and we reduced the penalties kind of where you like it. So, good for sure.”