Beating Rutgers last Thursday showed UMass what its new standard could look like.
UMass head coach Joe Harasymiak believes what the Minutemen do next will offer insight into whether that standard is real.
UMass gets its first opportunity to cement the new standard on Saturday when it hosts Sacred Heart in its home opener, just nine days after opening the season with a 37-21 victory at Rutgers.
For Harasymiak, the challenge isn’t convincing his players that an FCS opponent can beat an FBS team. It’s making sure the opponent doesn’t change the way UMass approaches the game at all.
“We’re not playing up or down,” Harasymiak said Monday. “We’re playing a game for 60 minutes.”
The Minutemen’s performance at Rutgers provided an example of what that is supposed to look like.
“No matter who would’ve lined up (against), more than likely on Thursday night, Big 10 team, MAC team, CAA team, we would’ve had a very good opportunity to win because of the way we played,” Harasymiak said. “That has to be the same.
“It’s our job to recreate and reestablish what the new standard is for UMass Football.”
Thursday’s victory snapped a 16-game losing streak for the Minutemen and gave Harasymiak his first win at UMass after an 0-12 debut season. But the process of moving on from it began when the Minutemen reconvened Sunday.
“The first thing we did was put our hand on our head and throw Rutgers in the garbage,” Harasymiak said. “It’s over, it’s done with. We got to move on.”
The next challenge comes from a Sacred Heart program that won eight games last season and is led by longtime head coach Mark Nofri.
The Pioneers opened this season with a 31-24 loss at Monmouth last week, but Harasymiak saw plenty on film to get his attention .
“We have a great opponent coming in here, eight-win team from last year,” he said. “They just opened up on the road at Monmouth and they had a chance to go down and score to tie the game. It was a close play at the end there. They just had a mark that had them short.”
Nofri and his coordinators have been together for years, something Harasymiak believes shows in the way the Pioneers play.
“They know their program, they know how to recruit and they play extremely hard,” he said. “I’m very impressed with what I saw on tape so far.”
Offensively, Harasymiak believes everything starts with quarterback Poochie Snyder.
“He’s dangerous,” said Harasymiak.
Snyder’s ability to make plays with both his arm and his legs has Harasymiak’s attention. He also pointed to wide receivers Jason Palmieri and Dean Hangey as threats in the Sacred Heart offense.
The Pioneers will be without running back Mitchell Summers, who started as a freshman in 2025 and earned FCS Freshman All-America honors after rushing for more than 1,000 yards with 12 touchdowns. He went down with a season-ending injury against Monmouth.
“Our prayers go out to him,” Harasymiak said. “Hopefully he gets back and has a great year next year.”
Harasymiak has also seen plenty to respect on the other side of the ball.
He specifically mentioned Springfield, Mass., native Kymari Latney at safety and edge Janier Armstead as two players UMass will need to account for.
“9 as the safety over there, comes downhill and hits you,” Harasymiak said. “They got 54 on the edge that can cause some havoc. Their d-line guys inside play tough, play strong. I think they tackled really well in the open space against Monmouth’s skill.”
For UMass, though, the larger challenge is internal.
Harasymiak wants Thursday’s performance to represent the beginning of something rather than an isolated breakthrough.
“The good teams I’ve been around close the book, they move on and they come back even hungrier because we want to chase that feeling of what it felt like in the locker room again,” Harasymiak said.
That starts Saturday against Sacred Heart.
“We’re going to have our hands full. In no way are we to let them not have our full attention.”
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