UMass Football Blog

Saturday, August 22, 2026

UMass Football Blog News--August 22nd, 2026

Mrs Blog and I are off on our summer vacation today. As usual, I'll try to keep the blog running. Should I go dark for some reason, the UMass Football Blog will be back up for sure on September 1st.

UMass Football News--August 22nd, 2026

The MAC Blog "By-the-Belt" previews the 2026 Central Michigan Chippewas.

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Mrs Blog and I have plans to take in the UMass@Buffalo game on October 17th.

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Athlon Sports has projected MAC conference win totals for 2026. They think UMass will top the 2.5 "Over".

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Dae'Quan Wright, who is on Cleveland Browns roster, filed Thursday to enter the college football transfer portal. Possibly the first of many..

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Friday, August 21, 2026

UMass Football News--August 21st, 2026

The Minuteman Command asks if an improved UMass pass rush would improve the rest of the defense?

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Three Minutemen on the "Comeback player-of-the-Year" list. Josh Nobles, TJ Magee and TY Hardin playing up to their capabilities would be a massive help for UMass.

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UMass safety Zeraun Daniel answers questions from the press.

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The MAC Blog "By-the-Belt" previews the Ohio University Bobcats.

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Rutgers football eyes new traffic plan and guest services to improve game day experience.

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Thursday, August 20, 2026

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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Wednesday, August 19, 2026

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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Tuesday, August 18, 2026

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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Monday, August 17, 2026

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!!