The UMass Minutemen have added the Stonehill Skyhawks to their 2026 football schedule, it was announced Tuesday.
UMass will welcome Stonehill to Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium in Amherst, Mass., on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. The game will mark the first-ever meeting between the two schools on the gridiron.
The Stonehill Skyhawks are a member of the Northeast Conference (NEC) in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Stonehill moved to the FCS ranks in 2022 after spending just over 30 seasons between Divisions III and II.
With the addition of Stonehill, UMass now has five non-MAC opponents set for the 2026 season. The Minutemen are set to make three road trips during the campaign, starting the season at Rutgers on Saturday, Sept. 5. UMass is also slated to host FCS Sacred Heart on Sept. 12 and will travel to UConn on Oct. 24, with a visit to Hawaii on the books for Nov. 28.
UMass plays at Hawaii in 2026 and can therefore schedule an additional non-conference contest that season due to the Hawaii Exemption. It remains to be seen whether UMass will in fact play 13 games in 2026 or cancel a previously scheduled contest.
Stonehill now has five listed games for its 2026 ledger. The Skyhawks will start the season at home against Bryant on Aug. 29 before consecutive road trips to New Hampshire on Sept. 12, UMass on Sept. 19, and Ohio on Sept. 26. The Skyhawks will also visit Sacred Heart on Oct. 10.
The Skyhawks went 4-8 (3-4 NEC) in 2025 and just completed head coach Ed Gardner’s ninth season at the school. Gardner’s record is 41-52 at the helm of the Skyhawks.
Football Schedules
So is UMass-Sacred Heart confirmed to be off because technically they could play 5 with the Hawaii exemption, although that is probably unlikely and I wonder if this also means Ohio-Stonehill is off as Ohio already has another FCS and UMass could simply be the replacement.
Nobody has reported the Sacred Heart game as canceled.
So UMass now has two FCS opponents on the 2026 schedule now, Stonehill and Sacred Heart? Or was the latter game canceled?
And it was previously reported UMass was trying to cancel the Hawaii home-homei series. Any update on that?
UMass currently has two FCS opponents, nobody has reported the Sacred Heart game as canceled. And the Hawaii series is still on the schedule per both schools, as of now.
There is no ban on having two FCS opponents, when you already have 11 FBS opponents.
Actually FBS teams can have up to 40% of their schedule against FCS teams, but only one win against a FCS team can count toward bowl eligibility and that one FCS team must meet certain scholarship criteria. A few years ago Army played two FCS teams and just 10 FBS teams
Actually Army played two FCS teams and ten FBS teams in both 2022 and 2023.
Kind of pissed Notre Dame not going to LA next year for Thanksgiving Would have loved for them to go to Hawaii and UMass goes to Syracuse instead Then as a result, UMass cancels their game with UConn who would play their old coach Jim Mora and Colorado State instead