The UMass Minutemen have added 21 games to their future football schedules, Director of Athletics Ryan Bamford announced on Monday.
UMass has added six games with Army, which extends the series with the Black Knights through the 2028 season. The Minutemen also added four games with Liberty, which extends that series through 2025.
Home-and-home series added include Akron (2019-20; previously reported), Coastal Carolina (2019 and 2021), Eastern Michigan (2022-23), and Temple (2020 and 2022).
The Minutemen have added single home games against three FCS opponents: Southern Illinois (2019), Albany (2020), and Maine (2021). The SIU and Maine games were both previously reported.
“We are pleased to be able to secure games and rewarding scheduling relationships with a number of quality FBS and FCS opponents in future years,” Bamford said. “A healthy mix of games versus regional and national opponents is an important piece of our plan to create a sustainable future for UMass Football as an FBS Independent.”
Below are the 21 games announced by UMass today:
Akron: Sept. 28, 2019 (Amherst, Mass.); Oct. 3, 2020 (Akron, Ohio)
Albany: Sept. 19, 2020 (Amherst, Mass.)
Army: Oct. 28, 2023 (West Point, N.Y.); Sept. 7, 2024 (Amherst, Mass.); Nov. 22, 2025 (West Point); Nov. 21, 2026 (Amherst); Nov. 20, 2027 (West Point); Nov. 18, 2028 (Amherst)
Coastal Carolina: Sept. 21, 2019 (Amherst, Mass.); Sept. 25, 2021 (Conway, S.C.)
Eastern Michigan: Sept. 10, 2022 (Amherst, Mass.); Sept. 16, 2023 (Ypsilanti, Mich.)
Liberty: Oct. 29, 2022 (Amherst, Mass.); Nov. 11, 2023 (Lynchburg, Va.); Nov. 16, 2024 (Amherst); Nov. 1, 2025 (Lynchburg)
Maine: Nov. 13, 2021 (Amherst, Mass.)
Southern Illinois: Sept. 7, 2019 (Amherst, Mass.)
Temple: Oct. 10, 2020 (Amherst, Mass.); Sept. 24, 2022 (Philadelphia, Pa.)
So it seems UMASS has delayed their reckoning until 2023. 5 road games that year, and no home games, with no corresponding excess of home games. This isn’t the first time they’ve put it off (many thought they wouldn’t get to 5 home games in 2016, and before this announcement they were short in 2019 and 2020), but I have to imagine it’s getting more difficult to manipulate the schedule to get enough home games each year.
Certainly these future game are not of the nature that would attract interest from the AAC, which is where Massachusetts would like to end up.
The American won’t be looking as long as the Big XII holds together until the next GOR expiration. If the XII falls apart, then many dominos fall. Or if the XII ever decides to add UH and UC.
Jack, you should read better: they are playing Army at home in 2024, 2026, and 2028. What day of reckoning?