UMass Falls In Season Finale To Finish 0-12
The Minutemen lost to Bowling Green at home 45-14 on Tuesday night.
AMHERST, Mass. - UMass fans have to be thankful the 2025 season is over.
And after Tuesday’s 45-14 loss to Bowling Green wrapped up an 0-12 campaign, the Minutemen players and staff probably are too.
The loss to the Falcons was the final disappointment in a disappointing Year One for first-year UMass head coach Joe Harasymiak.
Down 28-0 early in the second quarter, UMass did fight back, though. The Minutemen cut that lead in half going into intermission and it remained that way until the Falcons stretched it 35-14 late in the third to essentially seal it.
But even against the team closest to them in the MAC Standings, the Minutemen were simply outclassed for most of the contest.
UMass finished the season 0-12 overall and 0-8 in the MAC. The Falcons ended their season 4-8 and 2-6 in the league, tied for 11th-place with Northern Illinois.
Including tonight, UMass lost eight games by more than 20 points and were blown out by the three teams closest to them in the MAC standings (Bowling Green, Northern Illinois and Kent State) by a combined 109 points.
Maybe more disappointing though, were a couple of the close losses, a one-point defeat to FCS Bryant and a 28-21 loss to Buffalo, a game the Minutemen appeared to have won until the final seconds.
If anything was cemented on Tuesday, it was UMass’ consensus status as the worst FBS team in America.
That being said, you probably wouldn’t have noticed that from watching most of the players, well aside from their on-field production. The Minutemen didn’t execute well all season and Tuesday was no different, but effort was present.
And, as there had been all season, there were bright spots and positive moments here and there.
There simply weren’t nearly enough of them.
UMass quarterback Grant Jordan, starting in place of the injured AJ Hairston and the injured Brandon Rose, finished 22-for-35 for 223 yards and two touchdowns.
Jaquon Gibson led the Minutemen with 10 catches for 138 yards, but the Minutemen were unable to find any other consistent source of offense.
Bowling Green quarterback Hunter Najm was 7-for-9 for 128 yards and three touchdowns while Austyn Dendy had 115 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns on 22 carries with another receiving score. Cameron Pettaway added 87 yards on 12 attempts.
From the beginning of the season to the end, UMass wasn’t good enough and the Minutemen weren’t good enough from the beginning of the game until the end against the Falcons tonight.
On the game’s opening possession, Bowling Green busted into UMass territory thanks to a 34-yard pickup on a jet sweep by Cameron Pettaway. Five plays later, Najm found Austyn Dendy with a screen pass and Dendy navigated his way 11 yards into the end for the game’s first score to give the Falcons an early 7-0 lead.
UMass went three-and-out on its first drive and Bowling Green wasted little time piling on.
A neatly-designed wide receiver screen gave Brennan Ridley room after the catch and his speed did the rest, allowing him to race 87 yards for a touchdown to put Bowling Green up 14-0 seven minutes into the game.
A 20-yard run by Griffin and an 11-yard catch by Gibson got the Minutemen into Bowling Green territory for the first time, but Jordan was sacked on back to back downs to end that drive.
UMass finally forced a punt on Bowling Green’s next drive and took possession at its own 13-yard line five seconds into the second quarter. But UMass running back Brandon Hood’s fumble was recovered by Bowling Green at the UMass 11-yard line. Two plays later, Dendy forced his way into the end zone from eight yards out to put Bowling Green up 21-0.
Desperate to get something going, the Minutemen turned the ball over on downs in their own territory on the next possession. Cameron Porter rushed for 21 yards on five carries and a personal foul penalty against UMass helped set up Najm’s easy four-yard scoring pass to Blane Cleaver that gave the Falcons a 28-0 lead 10 minutes before the half.
UMass responded with a 13-play, 73-yard drive that was capped by a 20-yard touchdown pass from Jordan to Reece Adkins as the Minutemen designed a formation to confuse the Falcons, who left Adkins wide open.
After forcing another Bowling Green punt, the Minutemen offense finally got going.
UMass went on an 8-play, 80-yard touchdown drive in barely a minute. The drive was keyed by a 48-yard completion to Gibson and capped with a nifty two-yard touchdown pass from Jordan to Max Dowling to make it 28-14 at the half.
Jordan finished the first half 13-for-20 for 143 yards with two touchdowns. Gibson led UMass with six catches in the first half for 87 yards.
Najm was 5-for-7 for 117 yards and three touchdowns for the Falcons while Pettaway and Dendy combined for 96 rushing yards on 15 carries in the first half.
The two teams exchanged punts to start the second half. UMass appeared to convert a 4th & 2 on its second possession of the half when Jordan flipped it to Dowling for a first down, but review showed his knee was down and the Falcons took possession at the UMass 34.
Facing a 4th-and-short, Dendy busted through and took it 24 yards for a Bowling Green touchdown that put the Falcons up 35-14 in the final minute of the third quarter.
Always aggressive, UMass went for it on fourth down three times and was stopped each time, including on its first possession of the fourth quarter.
Bowling Green took over on its own 43-yard line. Jackson Kleather would convert a 42-yard field goal after an 8-play, 33-yard drive. The Falcons completed the game’s scoring when PaSean Wimblerly plunged in from a yard out with less than two minutes to play.
In today’s world of college football, the term offseason isn’t reserved for spring practice and fall camp. In the Transfer Portal Era, the offseason begins immediately, which means Harasymiak and his staff are currently in the most important period of his tenure to this point.
Since the loss to Bryant way back on Sept. 6th, it was clear this current edition of the Minutemen wouldn’t be good enough.
It’s on Harasymiak and his staff to make sure next year’s is.
And that work should already be underway.
We’ll see.
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