The transition to Division I football hasn’t been kind for the University of Massachusetts.
Since making the leap from Division I-AA to the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) in 2011, the Minutemen have won just two games in two years and already are on their second coach in as many seasons.
According to USA TODAY’s Paul Myerberg, the future doesn’t look much brighter in Amherst.
Myerberg kicked off his rankings of all 128 college football teams on Tuesday, and UMass pulls up the rear at No. 128. According to Myerberg’s breakdown, the Minutemen will struggle with a lack of depth in their front seven and a transition to yet another new head coach, Mark Whipple.
“If not the worst team in the country… UMass is easily among the nation’s bottom 10, a program that understands the importance of winning today and tomorrow yet lacks the talent, experience and depth to win more than one or two games during the regular season,” Myerberg writes.
This isn’t the first time the Minutemen have received a dubious distinction for their poor performance: Myerberg crowned UMass as the winner in a bracket-style ranking of the worst football teams of the past decade.
The Minutemen will be challenged right away, as they open their season at Gillette Stadium on Aug. 30 against Boston College. At least they can’t get any worse.
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@D1Locker
