Greatest turnaround ever? Undefeated UMass has college football's attention after 0-12 season

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Greatest turnaround ever? Undefeated UMass has college football's attention after 0-12 season originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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It's early in the 2026 college football season, but one team that's been a fun surprise is the UMass Minutemen. Although the program finished 0-12 last season, which was the worst record in all of college football, the Minutemen have gotten off to a 4-0 start, marking the first time for the program since 2007.

Led by head coach Joe Harasymiak, UMass is undefeated for the first time in nearly two decades.

Here's a look at where the Minutemen have been and how they got here, to the ranks of the unbeaten.

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What was UMass record last season?

UMass finished 0-12 last season, which made them the only winless team in the country. The Minutemen fell to Temple, Bryant by one point, then Iowa and Missouri. UMass didn't win a game the rest of the season, marking their first winless season since going 0-5 in 2020.

The closest UMass got to getting a win was during a mid-October road game against Buffalo. The Minutemen actually led 21-20 with less than a minute left but gave up a four-play, 50-yard touchdown drive to give Buffalo the win.

UMass lost its next five games by multiple scores.

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Worst college football seasons of all time

According to CBS Sports, this was not the first time UMass finished without any wins. The program went 0-7-1 in 1927, 0-4-1 in 1896, 0-2 in 1882 and 0-1-1 in 1880. 

UMass even had five 1-11 seasons from 2012-2025, but hadn't gone winless. 

There have been other college football teams to have finished with zero wins in recent years, and several in the MAC. Kent State went 0-12 in 2024, and Akron did the same in 2019. There was UTEP in 2017, and two teams, UCF and Kansas that finished a combined 0-24. Miami of Ohio and Georgia State were winless in 2013, and Southern Miss in 2012. 

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Who is UMass football's coach?

UMass is led by head coach Joe Harasymiak, who started his career at Maine Maritime and Springfield MA before spending the next eight seasons at Maine, where he was elevated to head coach from 2016-2018.

He finished with a 20-15 record there before coaching stops at Minnesota from 2019-2021 and served as Rutgers defensive coordinator in 2022-2024.  

UMass football record

UMass is 4-0 on the season. The Minutemen haven't just barely beaten teams either, outscoring opponents 145-51.

The roster features plenty of newcomers, including 56 new players, 30 of whom are transfers. The quarterback is Virginia Tech transfer Pop Watson III, who now plays with his former high school teammate, Joseph Griffin Jr., who transferred over from Boston College.

Perhaps most impressive is UMass' scoring offense, which is averaging 36.3 points per game, tied for 37th nationally. Per the school, it marks the first time UMass has scored at least 35 points in four straight games since 2014.

And the defense, led by linebacker and Rutgers transfer Timmy Hinspeter, ranks 15th (!) nationally in scoring defense, giving up just 12.3 points per game.

Week 1: 37-21 over Rutgers 

UMass snapped its 16-game losing streak against Rutgers, going on the road on a Thursday night to spoil the Scarlet Knights' home opener. It was Harasymiak's first game back since leaving Greg Schiano's staff. The head coach was born in New Jersey,  In fact, he grew up about an hour outside of Rutgers' campus.  

“I think probably the most special part about it is, my mom, my dad are here (Piscataway), and my two brothers,” Harasymiak said after the game. “I just face-timed my wife and my kids, they’re at home. So certainly, growing up here, an hour away, working here for Coach (Greg) Schiano, it means a lot, but I’m just really proud about our team and what we did.”

Watson threw for 197 yards with three touchdowns, his best game so far this season. 

Week 2: 37-10 win over Sacred Heart

UMass then returned home to face Sacred Heart for the Minute Men's home opener. The Minutemen led 37-0 at halftime, and cruised to a 37-10 victory. 

Week 3: 36-14 over Stonehill

UMass' early-season magic appeared to be ending early in this one. Stonehill took a 7-3 lead early in the first quarter. But UMass rattled off two straight scoring drives to go to the locker room with a 13-7 lead. The Minutemen scored 23 more in the second half to win 36-14.   

Week 4: 35-6 at Sacramento State

UMass was a slight 3.5-favorite in this one, but had another impressive road victory. The Minutemen offense scored 21 points in the first half, holding the Hornets to just two field goals. UMass added 14 more points in the third quarter to win 35-6.

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