UMass Football News--September 9th, 2026

 Coach Harasymiak's Sacred Heart press conference. 

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UMass is up to #98 in the latest USA poll.

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 UMass is the Pop-Tarts Bowl team of the week.

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This post talks about Curtis Kimmons IV who had an excellent game for UMass against Rutgers. 

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Pop Watson makes the Davey O'Brien "Great 8" quarterback list.

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Pop Watson and Derek Morris make two of the three UMass Student-Athletes of the week.

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ESPN updates their CFP predictions and also bowl predictions. 

This is one of them:

 IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl
Cramton Bowl (Montgomery, Alabama)
5:30 p.m., ESPN
Bonagura: Liberty vs. Louisiana Tech
Schlabach: UMass vs. Louisiana

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AP News reports Rutgers' coach Greg Schiano said the Scarlet Knights "laid an egg". 

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This isn't going to work, but I approve the effort.

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UMass Football News--September 8th, 2026

 UMass Football Blog trivia question: In the FBS era, has UMass ever opened with two consecutive wins? Answer at the end of this post.

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 UMass sweeps Week #1 MAC offensive, defensive and special teams player-of-the-week awards.

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Coach Harasymiak's press conference for the Sacred Heart  game.

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UMass game notes for the Sacred Heart Pioneers. 

Sacred Heart game notes not up yet.

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The Greenfield Recorder says UMass moves its focus to Sacred Heart.

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Sacred Heart hopes to make an impact in their first season in the CAA.

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On the Banks blog revises their predictions for Rutgers season win totals.

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The MAC Blot "By-the-Belt" has their weekly Monday Musings.

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Answer to Trivia Question: No, UMass has never opened with two wins in FBS.

The last time the Minutemen opened the season with two wins was 2011 under Kevin Morris. UMass beat Holy Cross 24-16 and on 09/17/2011 beat Rhode Island 39-27.

That's 5,474 days if UMass wins on 09/12/2026.

That's 14 years 11 months and 26 days.

That's 782 weeks..

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UMass Football News--September 7th, 2026

 The UMass Athletic Dept has home opener updates.

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This is fun!

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 Derek Morris was one of many heroes last Saturday. He went 3-for-3 on field goals and also put all 8 kickoffs into the endzone. Rutgers never had a chance for a big return to ignite a scoring drive. It seems like for the last decade, we'd score, then the ensuing kickoff would go out of bounds and the other team would get the ball on the 35..

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 Click on an image and blogger displays a larger view. The Minuteman defensive line dominated.

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 As I've been saying forever, if you can run the ball good things happen.

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ESPN takeaways for Week #1 has UMass wins.

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Pop Watson is this week's New England Gold Helmet winner!

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UMass jumps up 25 slots on ESPN's 2026 power rankings. 

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Yahoo Sports reports after a winless 2025, UMass beats a -29.5 spread. 

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At Rutgers, even the politicians are griping.

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The Scarlet Knights open a -4.5 underdogs to Boston College.

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UMass Football News--September 6th

 The Minuteman Command says Pop Watson took Springfield with him.

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UMass walking into the Rutgers Athletic Dept for their $1.5 million.

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Sports Illustrated's Patrick  Andres says he's in love with UMass.

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The Rutgers Blog "On the Banks" analyses the loss to UMass and says it's the worst in program history.

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Indiana's Curt Cignetti takes a shot at Rutgers as the pile-on continues.

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The Ashbury Park Press analyses Rutgers' embarrassing loss. 

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UMass students celebrate.

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Next week's opponent Sacred Heart lost to Monmouth in their CAA opening game. 

 Stonehill rode a strong first half in a win over New Haven.

 Sacramento State blew away Mississippi Valley State 52-0.

Eastern Michigan lost a close game to San Jose State 27-21. 

Miami Ohio gave up 649 yards of offense and lost to Pitt 59-14.

Buffalo had already won on Thursday.

UConn rang up a program record 679 yards of offense and thumped Lafayette 56-7. 

Ball State had the unenviable task of playing Ohio State and lost 56-3. 

Toledo's second half rally fell short and they lost to Michigan State 30-20. 

 Akron was competitive with Wake Forest but fell 38-16.

FCS Tarleton State won their 2nd consecutive FBS game as they edged Bowling Green 20-13.

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UMass Football News--September 5th, 2026

 Well, UMass's win set off a lot of stories. It's good to be a blogger with lots of material and it's great when it's positive news for a change..

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The Minuteman Command says UMass just changed the entire conversation.

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Pop Watson on Sports Center.

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Sporting News says UMass stops college football's longest losing streak.

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Athlon Sports reports UMass stuns Rutgers in a week #1 upset.

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 Coach Harasymiak's post-game press conference. Notice he almost breaks into a smile once or twice.

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The UMass Daily Collegian does a nice professional job covering UMass sports. I like their reporting.

The Collegian says a fast start provokes a historic win. 

There were many heroes in the win and the Collegian covers the UMass running backs. 

The Collegian reports the UMass defense showed up. 

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 The WMUA broadcast team has a post game video.

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Rutgers fans are melting down.  

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In 2026 opponent news Buffalo dodged a FCS upset. 

Eastern Michigan faded in the fourth quarter to lose to  San Jose State.

New-look Toledo gave Michigan State a hard time but fell in the fourth quarter.

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UPDATE: Sacred Heart opens its season with a CAA league game against Mommouth. 

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UMass Football News--September 4th, 2026

 

The Minuteman Command says UMass stuns Rutgers.

The Rutgers website says the Scarlet Knights lose to UMass. 

The MAC blog "By-the-Belt" reports the numbers behind the Minutemen's "unthinkable" win over the Scarlet Knights. 

By-the-Belt also said UMass was the center of the college football universe Thursday night. 

Bleacher Report has video and images from the UMass upset. 

Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said "he never saw it coming". 

MassLive says UMass fans have something they haven't had in a long time---hope. 

 UMass ended a 30-game MAC losing streak to the BIG10.

The NY Times says the upset of the year in Week #1? 

Remember last year when UMass got a lot of derisive commentary about fireworks after a field goal? The shoe is on the other foot. 

Transcript of coach Schiano's post-game press conference.  We've been on the wrong end of a lot of those.

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AJ Hairston and Merrimack fell to Delaware 42-7 Thursday night. 

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Akron lost their starting QB to an NCAA eligibility question just before their game with Wake Forest and lost 38-16. 

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UMass Game Day--Rutgers Part II

 

Turn your speakers all the way up.

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Man, that was a long time comin'. It seems like I've been trudging down to the computer Sunday mornings and trying to put a positive spin on defeat for just about forever.

Today was redemption. Best win since we dominated Montana at their place.

UMass write-up on the  game. Look at those stats! 200 rushing yards! I told you if you can run the ball, then you've got a good looking offense.

Lots and lots of heroes in this game. The O-line. The D-line. The defensive backs. The kicking game. Pop Watson. Wow!

UMass ravages Rutgers.

UMass stops a long running losing streak in a rout of Rutgers. 

Impressive rant by betting pundit Dave Portney. UMass fans never melted down on a loss.

Lot's more tomorrow. Right now I'm going to go out on my patio and scream.. 

 

Game Day-- Rutgers 2026

 

UMass opens its season with a Big 10 team Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights are a challenge. They have three All-Americans on offense. Anton Raymond 5-11 205 is one of the top running backs in all of college football. He ran for 1275 yards and 13 TD's against Big 10 defenses. UMass will get a heavy dose of Raymond tonight.

If the Minutemen try to pack the box, Rutgers has KJ Duff a 6-6 225 pound wide receiver. He had 60 catches for 1084 yards. He led the nation in contested catches in 2025.

For run and pass blocking they have Kwabena Asamoah, a 6-2 310 RG, who is a sure NFL pick.

 On defense, the Scarlet Knights are mostly, like UMass, new. Rutgers was 125th  in total defense in 2025, but that does not reflect this year's team.

The Minutemen are fated to lose this game, but I'd like to see some football plays from UMass. Some flashes at running the ball , good open field tackling, a couple of down-the-field pass completions.

I'd like to see the Minutemen play with intensity and compete. Just show we're not in 2025 anymore.

I'll be watching the game on ESPN+ and cheering for the Minutemen.

Go UMass!! 

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The MAC Blog "By-the-Belt" previews the UMass-Rutgers game and predicts Scarlet Knights 38-Minutemen 17. 

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On the Banks has three keys for Rutgers against UMass.

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CBS Sports says their model thinks the game will go "over" 51.0 points.

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UMass extends their partnership with Bay State Health with on-the-field logos.

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 Rutgers starts a new kicker.

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The Daily Targum (?) says UMass won't be much of a test for the Scarlet Knights.

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The Scarlet Nation reports 9 national pundits pick Rutgers to win, 0 pick UMass.

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Also on ESPN+ tonight is ex-UMass QB AJ Hariston and Merrimack against FBS Delaware.

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UCLA fires their athletic director days before their opening game.

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