UMass Football News--August 20th, 2026

 The Minuteman Command has a video interview with UMass DB TJ Magee.

Magee's Minuteman bio here. 

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The Greenfield Recorder reports UMass continues to fine-tune their defensive identity. 

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 UMass LB Tyler Martin also spoke with the press about the defensive progress.

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The WMUA Sports staff has episode #5 of their preseason football preview.

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247Sports says early signs point to an improved season for Rutgers. 

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The MAC Blog has two preseason previews for the Buffalo Bulls and  the Western Michigan Broncos.

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Akron reveals nine finalists for their "Offensive coordinator of the Game" promotion. 

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UMass Football News--August 19th, 2026

 The Minuteman Command reports UMass searching for a backup quarterback.

This is a big deal as right now, as all UMass eggs are in Pop Watson's basket. In 2023 Taisun Phommachanh looked like a world-beater in the win over Diego Pava and New Mexico State. He got hurt against Auburn and was never the same. Don Brown's decision to play Phommanchanh in 2024 probably cost Brown his job. Phommanchanh played with a big brace on his knee and tried to be a pocket passer, which was not close to his game. 

Pop Watson's game is his mobility. If he's not 100%, then it's not going to work if they try to convert him into pocket passer. UMass would need to move heaven and earth to get Watson an injury red-shirt year and play someone who's healthy.

RJ Johnson III left the program under murky circumstances, so the next available QB's are Logan Inagawa  who's a dual threat guy. At Drake he threw for 1,393 yards and 9 TD's. He also rushed for 398 yards and another 9 TD's. He's probably the closest to what UMass wants Pop Watson to do.

Aedan McCarthy is a prototype Power Four QB at 6-5 230. However, he's a true freshman. In his junior and senior years, we'll be watching him play for Tennessee..

 Ty McCutcheon is apparently a pocket passer of some talent.  There's no film on him so nobody really has a feel for what he can do.

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 UMass has some images from Monday's practice.

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 Why would offensive linemen go anywhere else?

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Rutgers dismisses a former four-star recruit. 

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UMass Football News--August 18th, 2026

 

Click on the image and Blogger displays a larger image. Hopefully, this will be an historic team photo---the team that broke the putrid streak.

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 Coach Harasymiak's update on Fall practice.

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The Greenfield Recorder reports UMass is ramping up the offseason work.

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The Daily Collegian says UMass has a clear identify in Coach Harasymiak's second year. 

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Sports Illustrated has the road ahead for Rutgers.

247Sports says early signs are showing improvement for the Scarlet Knights. 

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UMass Football Opponents 2026--Eastern Michigan

 The Eastern Michigan Eagles will be the fifth game of the 2026 season and the third home game. 

The Eagles will be coming off their FCS game with Lindenwood prior to their visit to McGuirk 

In 2025 Eastern Michigan  went 4-8 overall and 3-5 in the MAC. Of interest to UMass fans, Eastern Michigan lost their FCS game to Long Island 23-28. They lost their Power Four game to Kentucky 23-48. 

UMass is 2-4 all-time against the Eagles. UMass lost the last game, in 2024, 14-28 in McGuirk. 

In 2025, the Eagles were average in offense (76th total offense) and slightly better in passing offense (59th). Defense was the weak point being 100th in scoring defense and 111th in total defense.

In 2026, Eastern Michigan returns four starters on offense and three on defense, which is decent for the Transfer Portal Era.

Lindy's ranks them 7th in 2026 in the MAC and Athlon has them 8th.

 The Eagles return QB Noah Kim (a Michigan State/Coastal Carolina 2024 transfer). He threw for 2,817 yards and 18 TD's in 2025, a total that far surpassed any UMass QB's recent efforts.

 Kim has a good group of receivers to throw to.  Nick Devereaux was 2nd team All-MAC and had 34 receptions for 510 yards. TE Joshua Long was also 2nd team All-MAC.

On defense, Eastern Michigan returns leading tackler Barry Manning at LB, one of three returning starters.

I watched a couple of 2025 Eastern Michigan full-game replays on the web and was impressed by safety Bryce LLewellyn. He's  a excellent tackler and always around the ball. Phil Steele has him  first-team preseason All-MAC.

By the time UMass and the Eagles meet on October 3rd, we should have pretty good insight into the 2026 Minutemen. Like everyone else, I feel UMass will be improved. But does "improved" mean no longer totally awful,  but just bad (as in a 3-9 season), or an actual mid-level MAC team?

My feeling is this is a 50-50 game. It's at home and the Eagles are the level of team we should be able to compete with if we are ever to be anything other than the worst team in the MAC. If UMass wins the two FCS games and Sacramento State game, the Minutemen would have the chance for an all-time FBS level four game win streak. That would be balm to the battered  egos of UMass fans. Can anything that good happen to us? We'll see..

 Go UMass!!

UMass Football News--August 16th, 2026

College Football News has UMass among the top-10 best win total predictions for 2026. 

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Western Michigan gets a mention as one of the Top-10 Group of six teams.

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The MAC blog "By-the-belt" previews the 2026 Eastern Michigan Eagles.

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Rutger's QB battle is still ongoing after the first scrimmage. 

The Scarlet Knights are searching for a jersey sponsor.  

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UMass Football News--Ides of August

 UMass football has some Fall Camp images here. Jax Markovich is the TE catching the ball.

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The MAC Blog "By-the-Belt" previews the 2026 Toledo Rockets.

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Pro Football Network names two Rutgers players as pre-season All-Americans. UMass is likely to see a heavy dose of both.

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How Akron's promotional drive to have one fan call the offensive plays of the first drive of a game came to be.

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UMass Football News--August 14th, 2026

 

Episode #4 of the WMUA summer football show.

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The Minuteman Command reports leadership comes naturally to Pop Watson.

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"Big doin's" before and after the UMass-Rutgers football game at SHI Stadium. 

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ESPN has a detailed look at preseason rankings. With all the transfers and turnover in recent years, these things are a lot more fuzzy.

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The MAC Blog "By-the-Belt" previews the 2026 Sacramento State Hornets.

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Changes to college football rules for the 2026 season.

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