UMass Football News--October 21st, 2026

 UConn's game notes for UMass are up.

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Western Mass News says the UMass-UConn rivalry is drawing national attention.

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The Minuteman Command reports Coach Harasymiak said UConn is an explosive team.  

UConn is currently #33 nationally in both 1st downs and scoring offense. The Huskies average 35.7 points a game.

I think the the UMass defense will play their usual tough game. However, scoring 18 points will not win this game. UMass will need to score 28+ to win.

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 TJ Magee was comeback player-of-the-week.

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The Hartford Current says the 24-team playoff means UConn really needs a league affiliation.

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UMass Football News--October 20th, 2026

 UMass has its game notes for UConn up.

Three freshmen in the two-deep in the WR position. Drew Alsup, Tavian Dashiell and Kai Owens are listed in the two-deep. 

No games notes for UConn yet.

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Coach Harasymiak's Monday press conference for the UConn game. Some of the walking wounded will be a game-time decsion.

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Yahoo Sports has UConn's QB Kaleb Osborne prepares to face UMass. 

Osborne's UConn bio.

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UMass is #118 in this week's ESPN power rankings.

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The MAC blog "By-the-Belt" reviews the weekend's conference games including UMass-Buffalo.

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UConn HC Jason Candle is impressed by the Huskies resiliency. 

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Yahoo Sports says the expansion of the CFP to 24 teams won't help UConn's chances (or any other Group-of-Six team).

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UMass Football News--October 19th, 2026

 X has Coach Harasymiak's post-Buffalo game press conference.

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WWLP has UMass moves to 4-3 after a defeat at Buffalo.

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Amherst Wire said UMass dropped a heartbreaker to the Bulls.

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The Daily Collegian reports the UMass defense crumbled in the clutch.

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 The Minuteman Command reports no one cares about the Minutemen's injury problems.

All this is true to some extent, there is no denying the offense team that opened with four victories has not been on the field the last two games. It is impressive that we've been so competitive playing players who were 3rd on the depth chart opening the season. 

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Channel 8 says the Huskies are preparing for a Friday night game against the Minutemen.

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Vegas has UMass a 15.5 point underdog to the Huskies.

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 UConn coach Jason Candle's press conference for the UMass game.

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Fox 61 reports Candle is impressed with UConn's resilience this year.

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UMass Football News--October 18th, 2024

 Some special teams misplays in the first half contributed to yesterday's loss. A long kickoff return gave Buffalo a short field. A missed field goal, a muffed punt all contributed to a slow start. The UMass offense had bad field position a number of times.

UMass was missing most of their offensive stars. I think if Pop Watson, Ty Harding, Joe Griffin could have played--even one of them would have been enough to flip the scrip on the last three games. We were very close to a win against Buffalo. Curtis Kimmons was another player who DNP yesterday. The offensive team that had the four game win streak was just not there.

The UMass defense again played well. Scoring sub-20 points is not going to win many games. 

We get a bye after UConn and hopefully get some offensive stars back for the last four games of the season.

UMass write-up here. 

Buffalo write-up here.

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 The Minuteman Command said UMass fell in overtime.

The Greenfield Recorder reports UMass faltered late. 

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Rutgers broke through with a win at Maryland. 

Sacred Heart won again over Hampton. 

Stonehill lost late to Duquesne.

Sacramento State was crushed by Ohio 48-7. 

Eastern Michigan lost to Toledo 34-14. 

Miami (Ohio) beat Akron 34-14. 

UConn had a bye.

Ball State won in overtime over Bowling Green. 

 

 

Game Day--Buffalo 2026

Well, it was a rainy and windy drive from New Hampshire to Buffalo yesterday It's just about dawn as I write this and it looks clear and cold. It's 40 degrees now and the game is only supposed to hit about 45.

UMass needs to stop the losing streak as UConn and Toledo are on the horizon. The UMass defense has been playing well and I expect a low scoring game. If the defense can generate a couple of turnovers, I think the game is winnable.   Logan Inagawa performed well in last week's final drive. He'll center stage today.

BTW, in the Amherst vs Amherst thing, my GPS insists we're in Buffalo.. 

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

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 The Minuteman Command has "Know your Opponent" for the Buffalo game.

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The Big Lead thinks UMass will beat the spread.

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By-theBelt  predicts Buffalo 24 UMass 21.

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College Sports Wire thinks the reverse: UMass 24- Buffalo 21.

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UMass Football Blog News

 

Mrs Blog and I are off to Buffalo to see the Minutemen-Bulls game. 

 The last time I was there was in 2013 when the Bulls and Khalil Mack crushed the Minutemen 32-3 in a freezing cold rainstorm. 

Khalik Mack personally wrecked the UMass offense with a dominate performance. 

I'm hoping for better weather and a better result tomorrow. 

UMass Football News--October 16th, 2026

 The Minuteman Command has what changed for UMass during its two-game loss streak according to PFF.

I subscribe to PFF. They purport to analyze every play of every game. Then they assign player effectiveness grades per game and per year. Like recruiting ratings that go to three digits you have to take this with several grains of salt. The ratings are probably broadly informative, but not something to get too worked up about.

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Barstool  Football Broadcast Show will be at Rentschler  Stadium for the UMass-UConn game!

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UMass drops to 8th in By-the-Belt's Week #5 MAC conference power rankings.

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By-the-Belt also comments on the soon-to-be 24 team college football playoff. 

They don't like it, but it brings FBS football in line with the playoffs of the other divisions.

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UMass Football News--October 15th, 2026

 The Minuteman Command reports UMass faces quarterback adjustments at Buffalo.

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 UMass is in the top-30 in total defense so far in 2026. It's an amazin' change from 2025 when we were dead last or near dead last in every defensive category.

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UMass' game notes for Buffalo. 

Buffalo's  game notes for UMass.

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The Hampshire Gazette says UMass faces quarterback uncertainty in its game against Buffalo.

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UMass is #105 in ESPN's power rankings after the loss to Miami (Ohio).

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