Game Day--Northern Illinois 2025

 Northern Illinois is leaving the MAC for the Mountain West, so this might be the last Huskies-Minutemen game for a while. UMass is 0-2 all-time against Northern Illinois. We were destroyed both times in 2012 and 2013 by scores of 0-63 and 19-63 under Charlie Molnar.

The Huskies offense is truly horrid and tonight is the Minutemen's best chance for a win in 2025. If we lose to NIU, an 0-12 season is looming..

If UMass can clean up the mistakes, we could be competitive. Northern Illinois has a better defense than we do, so scoring more than 10 points is the goal.

I'll be cheering for the Minutemen. Go UMass!

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The Minutemen Command reports Coach Harasymiak is expecting a battle against NIU.

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The Hampshire Gazette says winless and injured UMass faces Northern Illinois Wednesday. 

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Hustle Belt previews the game and predicts the NIU defense will prevail against the even-more-horrid UMass offense 17-3.

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Covers.com says take the under (43.5 points) as the two worst offenses in football won't reach 43 combined points.

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Holy Crap! College football News predicts UMass 20 NIU 17.

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College Sports Wire predicts Northern Illinois 20 UMass 7.

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The Northern Star reports NIU looks to right past wrongs against the Minutemen.

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UMass Football News--November 11th, 2025

 NIU finally has their game notes for UMass up.

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Hustle Belt has their weekly MAC Conference power rankings up. UMass and NIU meet tomorrow in the battle for the bottom. 

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Sports Book Wire has some stats on the Minutemen-Huskies game. The literal two worst offenses in college football collide.

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Bleacher Nation thinks UMass will beat the spread but only have a 23% chance to win the game.

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Hustle Belt has their Monday MAC Conference musings. Akron's beat-down of UMass was their largest margin of victory in 23 years..

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Ohio, Miami (Ohio), Buffalo and Western Michigan are still neck-and-neck for the conference title.

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40 college football players are suspended after three brawls last week.

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UMass Football News--November 10th, 2025

 UMass hosts Northern Illinois tomorrow at 7:00 PM.

Still no game notes from the Huskies. 

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The Daily Collegian previews the UMass-Northern Illinois game and points out the struggling offenses on both teams. 

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College Football News breaks down the MAC Championship race for the rest of the season. 

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College Football News predicts bowl games for UMass opponents Iowa, Missouri, Miami (Ohio), Western Michigan, Central Michigan and Temple.

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UMass Football News--November 9th, 2025

 The 2-7 Northern Illinois Huskies open as a 10.5 point favorite over the Minutemen.

Interesting stat: NIU is #133 in FBS scoring at 12.2 points/game and UMass is #134 in FBS scoring at 11.3 points a game. 

UMass is dead last (#134) in total offense, NIU is #132. Two really, really bad offenses..

However, Northern Illinois is #55 in total defense. UMass is #127 in total defense.

UMass is #129 in scoring defense. Since the Minutemen struggle to score more than 10 points a game, the Huskies should win comfortably

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Temple lost a close one to Army 14-13.

Bryant beat Albany 27-24 for their first ever CAA victory. 

Iowa lost a heart-breaker to Oregon on a last minute field goal.

Missouri was handled by Texas A&M 38-17. 

Kent State plays Akron on the 11th.

Buffalo plays Central Michigan on the 12th.

Ohio plays Western Michigan on the 11th.

Bowling Green fell to 1-5 in the MAC with a 27-21 loss to Eastern Michigan. 

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While on the treadmill yesterday, I watched UConn beat Duke. Great game. Eight lead changes. That was the second ACC team the Huskies beat this year.

 MISERY LOVES COMPANY VI

Boston College fell to 1-9 as they were crushed by SMU 45-13.

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UMass Football News--November 8th, 2025

 Coach Harasymiak has his weekly press video press conference.

Another piece of bad news as he says LB Timmy Hinspeter is likely out for the season. Hinspeter was among the best of the transfers and a major loss to the already weak Minutemen defense.

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Northern Illinois, next Wednesday's UMass opponent was crushed by Toledo 42-3 in their last game.  

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NIU's weekly press conference for the UMass game. 

No game notes from the Huskies yet. 

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Vegas odds for the MAC conference championship. UMass of course, is already eliminated.

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UMass Football News--November 7th, 2025

 The Minuteman Command has a video of Thorr Bjorn's introductory press conference.

It's well worth watching. It appears Coach Harasymiak and Thorr know each other and that bodes well for a good match in going forward. At least there will be no edging towards a coaching change immediately.  

I'd be happy with Bjorn in charge of the whole athletic dept. Besides football, I'm also a fan of hoops. McGuirk's deficiencies come up often with regards to football, but what is basketball's problems? Mullins is a better facility than most of the A10 teams had. Why couldn't we contend for the A10 title once in a while?

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The Athol Daily News reports Thorr Bjorn introduced and will advise Ryan Bamford.

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The Daily Collegian reports UMass hires Thorr Bjorn to lead the football program.

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Saturday Down South has a post UMass DB Brennan Baily getting sent to the locker room after drawing a unsportsmanlike-like penalty in the Akron game. 

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OT but the Minutewomen are in the MAC field hockey championship game. 

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UMass Football News--November 6th, 2025

 Maybe a ray of hope..

Thorr Bjorn joins UMass as Senior Deputy Athletic Director. 

The Daily Collegian report UMass hires Thorr Bjorn to lead the football program. 

The Greenfield Recorder says the UMass football program gets a new leader. 

Hustle Belt reports UMass hires Thorr Bjorn and retains Ryan Bamford. 

Back in the day, I had several conversations with Bjorn. Back then, the annual UMass football banquet was open to the public and I sat with him at least a couple times. Bjorn was highly thought of when he was at UMass and he was very successful at AD at Rhode Island.

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Meanwhile, back in the hell of the current season, Hustle Belt ranks the four most bizarre fumbles in the UMass-Akron game.

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With three games to go, four MAC teams are in the lead for the conference championship. 

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