As Joe Harasymiak and the UMass football team make their foray into the Mid-American Conference (MAC), it won’t be a completely new experience for the Minutemen.
After all, when UMass made its move to being an FBS program in 2012 it spent three years in the MAC before becoming an independent. Even as an independent, the Minutemen frequently played MAC schools, ramping up the last few years as the move back to the conference became more of a reality.
How has UMass performed against MAC schools? Let’s take a look.
Since the move to FBS in 2012, the Minutemen have an 8-40 record against MAC schools. It didn’t start hot, as UMass went 1-7 in each of its first two years in conference play before improving to 3-5 in 2014. The win in 2012 came against Akron while the Minutemen beat Miami Ohio in 2013. The wins in 2014 came against Kent State, Eastern Michigan and Ball State.
The jump didn’t take place in 2015, the Minutemen going 2-6 in the league with wins coming against Eastern Michigan and Buffalo.
After not facing a MAC opponent in 2016, UMass fell to Ohio in back-to-back years in 2017 (58-50) and 2018 (58-42) before taking down Akron (37-29), its lone MAC opponent in 2019.
That win over the Zips in 2019 was the last time the Minutemen were victorious against the MAC. UMass is 0-13 against the MAC over the last four years, unable to secure a win to help enter the conference with momentum.
It was two losses in 2021, coming against Eastern Michigan (42-28) and Toledo (45-7). In 2022 the Minutemen fell to Toledo (55-10), Eastern Michigan (20-13) and Buffalo (34-7) before suffering losses to Miami of Ohio (41-28), Eastern Michigan (19-17) and Toledo (41-24) in 2023.
In an effort to ramp up before joining the conference, UMass played five MAC schools last fall but it didn’t go well. The Minutemen opened with a 28-14 loss to Eastern Michigan, followed with a 38-23 defeat to Toledo, got thumped by Buffalo (34-3) before falling to Miami Ohio (23-20) and Northern Illinois (34-20).
In those 13 games since 2020, UMass has been outscored 454-214, showcasing the Minutemen have a sizable gap to close in order to be competitive in the conference.
Has UMass had success against any MAC team in particular since 2012? The only MAC opponents the Minutemen have beaten twice are Akron and Eastern Michigan. UMass has a 2-3 record against the Zips and a 2-4 record against the Eagles.
The Minutemen have been competitive against Ball State (1-1) and Kent State (1-1) but have struggled against Miami Ohio (1-5) and Buffalo (1-5). UMass has not beaten Northern Illinois (0-3), Bowling Green (0-4), Central Michigan (0-2), Ohio (0-4), Toledo (0-6) or Western Michigan (0-2).
With Western Michigan, Kent State, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Akron, Northern Illinois, Ohio and Bowling Green on the schedule this year, UMass has a chance to build some early confidence in the conference but as history has shown, it won’t be a walk in the park to have success in the MAC.