There wasn’t much else Blake Frohnapfel could do. In order to keep up last week with the laser show that is Bowling Green’s offense, the UMass quarterback needed to throw the ball 56 times. And he did it.
Frohnapfel completed 34 passes, racked up 409 yards, found the end zone three times, and the Minutemen still lost by 24 points.
And he still pointed the finger at himself.
“Obviously, there is a lot of pressure on me, especially with our offense and just being a senior captain, there’s pressure being a senior quarterback and being that guy,” Frohnapfel said. “But for me, it’s really just trying to improve on what I did the week before.
“There were times where I missed a throw that could have been a touchdown. I threw a costly pick in the red zone. That’s one of the things where, as a senior captain, I put the pressure on myself to try to be better every week.”
Frohnapfel has never had a problem handling the pressure of his position or demanding more of himself to get a team a win it desperately needs. But the question is, how much more can he do?
The arms race with Bowling Green was practically unwinnable. The Falcons piled up 725 yards of total offense. They held the ball for 37 minutes. They scored on all but two possessions.
For as much responsibility as Frohnapfel puts on himself, Minutemen coach Mark Whipple said he wanted to see the defense make plays to make Frohnapfel’s life easier.
“We’ve got to take the ball away,” Whipple said. “We’ve got one takeaway in the last 10 quarters, and that was with seven seconds to go in the half. If we can take the ball away on defense a couple times, that’ll make a huge difference.
“I think [the defense is] saying it. They’re putting it on their back. Fro’s doing the same thing. I think the last two games, he’s thrown for like 760 yards and six touchdowns and one interception, and he’s saying it’s not good enough for me.”
It was only two weeks ago, when UMass was a winless team trying to figure out how to salvage the bowl hopes it came into the season with. Winning out was the only option.
That didn’t happen.
With just one win to show for their first five games of the season, the Minutemen are now at a point where salvaging those bowl hopes has taken a back seat to salvaging the season heading into their homecoming match with Kent State on Saturday at McGuirk Stadium.
Kent State, with its more deliberate offense and a defense that feasts on interceptions, will be different from the Bowling Green team that ate yards like carbs. But the Minutemen will need their defense to make plays.
“We’re back home,” Whipple said. “Our two best games we’ve played have been at Foxborough and Amherst. So I’m hoping that’ll help. We’ll worry about the road travel in a few weeks.”
Offensively, the Minutemen have been a self-sabotaging paradox. They’ve rushed for at least 100 yards in three of five games, despite not being terribly interested in rushing the football. They’ve thrown for at least 300 yards in four of five games, but have faltered in the red zone.
“For us, it really comes down to red zone offense,” Frohnapfel said. “Really, a lot of that’s on me with not missing throws because the windows are that much smaller, and with us and the way we throw the ball, with the smaller windows in the red zone you have to be more precise with your accuracy and everything. There are times that I haven’t been that way. So we have the yardage totals, but for us it’s about finishing drives and completing the execution of the series.”
But the defense is giving up the most yards per game in the Mid-American Conference (522), the most points per game (42.2), and forced the fewest turnovers (5), making the offense’s job much harder.
“They’ve challenged themselves to make our lives easier,” Frohnapfel said. “Instead of having to go a 75-yard drive, get a pick and we only have to go 40. That makes our lives that much easier. Especially with defensive takeaways, they kind of change the tone of the game. Obviously, when you score a touchdown, you’re excited about it, but something about getting a takeaway sets the tone.”
It’s a message Whipple has been preaching all week.
“That’s what the defense is saying and I think everyone is saying that,” Whipple said. “It’s not about the numbers, it’s about finding a way to win.”
Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com.