Massachusetts Football Prepares For Road Test At Iowa

AMHERST,Mass. — Massachusetts football prepares for its first road test of teh 2025 season on Saturday, sept. 13 against Iowa at 7:30 p.m. on the Big ten Network.

SERIES HISTORY

• Massachusetts and Iowa will be meeting for the first time
• The Minutemen last played a Big Ten team on Oct. 14, 2023 when they traveled to then sixth-ranked Penn State

QUICKOUTS

• Tyler Martin (pick six) and DD Snyder II each had an interception against Bryant, marking the first two interception game by the Minutemen since Oct. 28,2023,when UMass downed Army 21-14 (Juan Lua and Jeremiah McGill had the interceptions on that day)
• massachusetts is one of three MAC teams with a defensive touchdown this season,joining Toledo and Western Michigan.
• UMass ranks first in the conference and eighth nationally in net punting (47.44), while Iowa ranks 20th nationally (44.86).
• Keegan Andrews’ 50.1 yards per punt ranks second in the MAC and seventh nationally.
• Jacquon Gibson’s 110.5 receiving yards per game ranks second in the MAC and 15th nationally, while his 9.5 receptions per game leads the MAC and ranks tied for second nationally behind only Lewis Bond of boston College (11.0).
• Against Bryant, Derek Morris’ 53-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter marked the longest field goal in program history, surpassing Sandro Vitiello (vs. boston College, 1978) and Denis Gagnon (vs. New Hampshire, 1971) who both kicked a 52-yard field goals.
• Prior to the Temple game, projected starting defensive end Joshua Nobles and projected primary backup left guard Zachary Franks were ruled out for the season due to injuries.

HARASYMIAK ERA UNDERWAY

• On December 10, 2024, Joe Harasymiak was formally introduced as the program’s 32nd head coach during a press conference at the Martin Jacobson Football Performance Center
• Harasymiak arrived in Amherst with 17 years of coaching experience, including seven seasons as the defensive coordinator at two FBS institutions: Minnesota (2018-21) and Rutgers (2022-24).
• Harasymiak advanced up the coaching ranks at Maine, starting as a defensive assistant/defensive backs coach in 2011 and working his way to serving as head coach from 2016-18
• He led the black Bears to the 2018 CAA Championship with a 7-1 conference
  

  UMass Achieves Highest Learfield Directors’ Cup Finish in 25 Years

  The University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst finished 84th overall in the final 2024-25 Learfield Directors’ Cup standings, marking its best performance in a quarter-century. This achievement surpasses their previous best finish in 1998-99,when they ranked 51st.UMass accumulated 241.00 points, led by strong performances in field hockey, men’s soccer, hockey, and women’s lacrosse.

  Directors’ Cup performance and Point Breakdown

  UMass’s total of 241.00 points not only secured them the top spot among Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) schools but would have also been sufficient to lead the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The points were earned thru the following sports:

  Field Hockey: 83 points
  Men’s Soccer: 73 points
  Hockey: 60 points
  Women’s Lacrosse: 25 points

  A total of 303 schools were ranked in the final 2024-25 standings. https://www.learfieldcup.com/

  UMass Dominance in the A-10 and MAC Comparison

  The Learfield Directors’ cup is a comprehensive national athletic competition,ranking institutions based on their success across a broad range of NCAA sports. UMass’s performance demonstrates a critically important rise in its overall athletic program.

  Hear’s a look at how UMass fared against top Mid-American Conference (MAC) schools in the final standings:

  84. UMass
  88. Western Michigan
  109. Akron
  112. Miami

  This comparison highlights UMass’s strong athletic showing relative to schools in another conference.