UMass becomes 19th team to finish 0-12 or worse

The UMass Minutemen made history Tuesday evening in Amherst, MA as it lost a lopsided home matchup 45-14 to Bowling Green.

It wasn’t the favorable type of history. UMass concluded its 2025 campaign at 0-12, becoming the 19th team to finish 0-12 or worse in FBS history, joining the following:

• 1981 Colorado State

• 1998 Hawaii

• 2003 Army (0-13)

• 2003 SMU

• 2005 New Mexico State

• 2006 Duke

• 2006 FIU

• 2008 Washington

• 2009 Eastern Michigan

• 2009 WKU

• 2012 Southern Miss

• 2013 Georgia State

• 2013 Miami (OH)

• 2015 Kansas

• 2015 UCF

• 2017 UTEP

• 2019 Akron

• 2024 Kent State

• 2025 UMass

It was a nightmare season for UMass which made its debut as a full-time Mid-American Conference member, ending a 9-year reign as an independent. The Minutemen also onboarded a first-year head coach in Joe Harasymiak, who facilitated the team’s transition back to the MAC, as the program sought a new era of stability. Speaking of the MAC, the league has now produced each of the last three 0-12 finishers — 2019 Akron, 2024 Kent State, and 2025 UMass.

It was UMass’ second winless FBS season, as the Minutemen also finished 0-4 in a pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Since joining the FBS in 2012, UMass’ combined record is 26-134, never finishing a year better than 4-8 — a record which it attained in 2017 and 2018.

Now, let’s break down UMass’ 12 losses in 2025, which were by a combined score of 463-133. The Minutemen’s unquestionable worst defeat of the year was Sept. 6 to FCS opponent Bryant, 27-26, on a last-second field goal. Bryant finished its football season at 3-9 and fared 1-8 against FCS competition.

Of UMass’ 11 FBS defeats, 10 were by at least 18 points. Things could have been worse considering the Minutemen were never shut out and their largest margin of defeat was only 42, falling 45-3 to Northern Illinois in November Midweek MACtion. Interestingly enough, they never surrendered 50 points but allowed north of 40 in eight matchups.

But UMass’ other FBS defeat — its only closely contested finish — was perhaps its most excruciating of the year. On Oct. 18, the Minutemen led Buffalo 21-20 when Jeremiah McGill intercepted the Bulls with 59 seconds remaining, and the team celebrated the looming victory. However, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, combined with two negative runs and a third down incompletion, led to a late punting situation and provided Buffalo new life in the final seconds. Buffalo capitalized with a touchdown in the final seconds to notch an improbable 28-21 victory and keep the Minutemen winless. UMass never played another team within 25 points in the five games thereafter.

At the time of its season finale, UMass ranks last in the FBS in scoring offense at 11.1 points per game and third-to-last in scoring defense 38.6 points allowed per game. The Minutemen also boast bottom five national rankings in total offense (136th), red zone offense (135th), rushing offense (134th), third down conversion rate (134th), fourth down conversion rate (134th), completion percentage (133rd), run defense (133rd), red zone defense (132nd), and first downs (132nd).

UMass led at one point in five different games this year but only held a multi-score lead over Buffalo on Oct. 18, with an advantage as great as 14-3 in the second quarter. The Bryant (FCS) and Buffalo games featured the Minutemen’s only second half leads of 2025.

Against 2025 UMass, many opponents earned their largest margin of victory over FBS competition in quite some time:

• Akron (34-point win over UMass) got its largest win since 2002

• Bowling Green (31-point win over UMass) got its largest win since 2016

• Temple (32-point win over UMass) got its largest win since 2019

• Northern Illinois (42-point win over UMass) got its largest win since 2019

• Iowa (40-point win over UMass) got its largest win since 2020

• Central Michigan (25-point win over UMass) got its largest win since 2020

• Kent State (36-point win over UMass) got its largest win since 2021

It was a tumultuous season for the Minutemen, which were also dilapidated by injuries throughout the season, to the point where Coach Harasymiak called himself “the scout team corner” as the team prepared for Central Michigan in October. But the year is finally over, and UMass can only go upward in 2026.