After a winless 2025, UMass beats a power conference foe for the first time as a 29.5-point underdog against Rutgers

UMass finally has a win over a power conference program. And it wasn’t even close, either.

The Minutemen upset Rutgers 37-21 as 29.5-point underdogs on Thursday to begin the 2026 college football season. Since moving up to college football’s top level in 2012, UMass had never beaten a team in one of the power conferences before it pulled off what will assuredly be one of the biggest upsets of the season on the first night of play in Week 1.

Rutgers QB Dylan Lonergan committed four turnovers. His third interception with 4:35 to go ended any chance of a miracle comeback for the Scarlet Knights, who looked like the far inferior opponent to a team that hadn’t won a game since Oct. 26, 2024.

UMass QB Pop Watson threw three touchdowns in the first half. The Virginia Tech transfer is a Massachusetts native and went back to his home state after three years with the Hokies and just one TD pass over 63 attempts.

The victory is also the first for UMass coach Joe Harasymiak. He was hired to succeed Don Brown after serving as Rutgers’ defensive coordinator from 2022 through 2024. The Minutemen went 0-12 in Harasymiak’s first season in 2025. That season included a one-point loss to FCS-level Bryant and just a singular one-score loss to an FBS opponent.

UMass has been one of the most hapless programs in college football since moving up to the FBS level. The 1998 FCS champions have never won more than four games in a season over the past 14 years and that’s only happened twice. UMass has won two or fewer games in eight of the 13 previous full seasons and went 0-4 in 2020.

Overall, the Minutemen were just 26-134 entering Thursday night’s game.

Even if UMass gets to a bowl for the first time in program history in 2026, the loss could be a harbinger of a rough season to come for Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights went 5-7 in 2025 and have games against USC, Indiana, Michigan and Penn State in Big 12 play. A second straight season without a postseason appearance is suddenly looking very, very likely. And September just started.