Faced with the unenviable task of recuperating from consecutive road losses and looking beyond a winless start, the football team did what it does best: The Jumbos went back to work.
"We've done a really good job this year of starting fresh," senior tri−captainJ.T. Rinciari said. "It goes back to last year. After the first week, we had a good mentality going into Bates, and this week's no different. Our mind's set on Bowdoin, not Bates. It's in the past, [there's] nothing we can do about it."
Dwelling on the past might seem inevitable, given the team's current position in the NESCAC. Tufts lost to Bates 28−9 this past Saturday, the Bobcats' most lopsided win since 2004, after losing to Hamilton in the season−opener for the first time since 1991. The Jumbos managed only 18 net rushing yards and turned the ball over four times versus Bates, mustering single−digit points for the first time since Oct. 16, 2010, against a team that, before Homecoming last season, Tufts had beaten in 24 straight years.
Having not won a game since its 2010 season−opener, Tufts plans to focus on the future, taking its lumps from the Bates loss and learning from the experience. Motivation can be extracted from a 0−2 start, but the team's collective mentality has deemphasized using mistakes as a centerpiece for inspiration.
The important thing, according to interim head coach Jay Civetti, is not carrying the loss from week to week but carrying over the breakdowns and the mistakes to grow in the future.
"Plain and simple, we got beat," Rinciari said. "That's not going to change the way that we approach this week. But we were very disappointed. We didn't do everything we needed to do to put us in a position to win."
The transition began Monday, when Tufts dissected film and addressed the areas that required correcting. The second half of the day, according to Civetti, is dedicated to getting out on the field and refocusing on the next mission: in this case, Saturday's home opener versus Bowdoin.
"It would be the same message had we won," Civetti said. "Doing your job and playing within the play and doing what's expected of you, that should be how things are done. You can't look to the past. What's important now is correcting the mistakes from Saturday, focusing on this upcoming Saturday."
Saturday will bring the Polar Bears, who scrimmaged Tufts on Bello Field in September, into town. Bowdoin enters at 0−2 as well after losses to Amherst and Williams, two of the league's perennial top teams. In a battle of winless squads, something will have to give, and Tufts is doing everything in its power to ensure that a repeat of last Saturday isn't an option.
After Monday's walkthrough, the Jumbos kneeled in a circle on Bello and held a players−only meeting, their coaches scattered on the fringe. Rinciari and seniors Nick Falk and Luke Lamothe, the three captains, stood in the front and addressed the team about accountability.
"Since the beginning we've talked about — and this goes back to last spring — talked about holding each other accountable, trusting each other," said Lamothe, an offensive lineman. "That was what we were talking about after practice, that we need to hold ourselves accountable before we hold others accountable."
Rinciari opened, talking about a missed assignment against Bates that led to a Bobcats touchdown. And one by one, his teammates followed suit, standing up in order and publicly sharing their mistakes, ones they hope to correct.
"In order to be a successful team and to win games, you have to win the things on your sleeve," Rinciari said. "As a senior and a leader of the defense, it's important to say that I messed up, and because of that, something happened. Instead of pointing fingers, saying the offense or defense messed up, it allows you to look at yourself to see what did you do to put your team in that position."
