UMass Minutemen football won’t win a game this season

PHILADELPHIA, PA - SEPTEMBER 15: Adonis Jennings
PHILADELPHIA, PA - SEPTEMBER 15: Adonis Jennings /
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The UMass Minutemen are 0-4, and could easily be 4-0, but that 0 will stay in the win column for the rest of the 2017 season.

UMass has started the 2017 football season with a 0-4 record, losing each game by 10 points or less. So, the Minutemen could easily be 4-0 instead, looking at their best every FBS start, but they aren’t. They also aren’t going to win a game the rest of the way this season.

The Minutemen dropped a heartbreaker to Hawaii 38-35, let a young upstart Coastal Carolina team handle them 38-28, lost to Old Dominion 17-7, and most recently were defeated by Temple 29-21. Those are all very winnable games, and they were UMass’ best chance to earn a W this season.

The rest of the UMass schedule is not looking good. This week they’ll travel to Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee to take on the Tennessee Volunteers. The Vols aren’t a great team in the SEC, but they’re still in the SEC. They’ll have no problem dismantling this weak minded UMass team that can’t figure out how to close out games. After that, UMass will return home to play the Ohio Bobcats, a MAC powerhouse. This one has the potential to be a close game, but I don’t believe in the Minutemen in the fourth quarter at all.

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Thanks to some in-season schedule changes from Hurrican Irma, UMass will then have two weeks off in a row to prepare for a home game against Georgia Southern. If the Minutemen are going to win any game at all this year this is it. They’ll have weeks to prepare for a weaker opponent, but guess what, UMass will still mess it all up and end up losing in embarassing fashion to the Eagles. The Appalachian State Mountaineers will then dominate UMass on both sides of the field.

A showdown with another SEC opponent will come the following week, as the Minutemen travel to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs, currently the #17 team in the country. Sorry UMass, you have no chance here at all.

Maine is another winnable game in November at Fenway Park, but do you think UMass can handle easy situations and close them out? I don’t. Expect Maine to hang around just enough until the fourth quarter when UMass implodes. A trip to Provo comes next, where BYU plays extremely tough. I don’t think the Minutemen can handle the Cougars.

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That will leave the December 2nd game against FIU as the last chance for UMass to earn just one win. I think by that point, the season is over. FIU has a lot more talent than UMass does, and it will show on the field. This game won’t even be played if FIU is in their conference championship game that day, and they very well could be. FIU will likely also be bowl eligible. They’re a much better team than UMass and they’ll make sure that the Minutemen end the season with a big, fat 0 in the win column.