The Massachusetts football team turns incompetence into art, one disastrous brushstroke at a time.

Throughout 2025, UMass (0-6, 0-2 Mid-American) has displayed a level of ineptitude that shouldn’t be possible at any level — let alone in the premier division of college football. The Minutemen create new humiliation rituals weekly. In Saturday’s 42-6 loss to Kent State, they inflicted atrocities upon themselves that I have never seen on a football field in my life, a sentiment that I’m sure most viewers of the game share. Some mistakes are larger than others, but it’s actually often the smaller ones that better demonstrate just how pitiful UMass truly is.

Early in the third quarter, the Minutemen brought their offense out for a fourth-and-11, leaving the Golden Flashes’ (2-4, 1-1 MAC) defense scrambling in preparation. They attempted to make a substitution at defensive tackle, but a lack of communication resulted in an egregious case of 12 men on the field. Instead of cashing in on five free yards, left tackle Luke Painton jumped off the line, mistakenly thinking that his team wanted to snap the ball quickly. The false start penalty led to a punt.

One quarter earlier, Kent State’s Da’Realyst Clark was back to return a kickoff following a Derek Morris field goal. Instead, kickoff specialist Marcus Lye showed some guts and attempted an onside kick. With the opposition off-balance and already running the opposite direction to protect their returner, Lye waited patiently at the 45-yard-line for the ball to bob off the turf and into his hands — a task he succeeded at. Running back Elijah Faulkner managed to sprint offsides before the kick, however, negating what would’ve been an extra possession at a point when the game was not yet out of reach.

If head coach Joe Harasymiak was available for a postgame press conference, his explanation of his team’s performance would likely lean on his favorite themes: that they didn’t execute well enough, that too many players were injured or maybe his common concession that they gave up too many “explosive plays.” On this day, media relations canceled the normally routine postgame presser on Zoom, citing a lack of location to conduct it. Convenient.

There was a time when I, an unsuspecting student newly introduced to this program, fell for the preseason hype. The new coaching regime, the crop of fresh transfers to start at every position: maybe this really was going to be a transformative season for UMass football. Those ideas were vanquished as quickly as the Minutemen ceded a 91-yard return touchdown to the aforementioned Clark on the game’s opening kickoff.

Entering the contest, the Golden Flashes had lost their previous 26 games against FBS opponents. In 2024, they won a grand total of zero games. Their fortunes changed once they had the great pleasure of facing UMass. When Kent State decimated its new conference opponent by 36 points, you couldn’t tell that the last time they recorded an FBS win, I was still worrying about high school midterms.

When it gets to this point, it’s clear that the Minutemen’s issues span far beyond their players. Brushing off mistakes as teaching moments and mental errors can only go on for so long. There comes a point where those at the top, whether it’s coaches or leaders in the athletic department, must look in the mirror and consider where they’ve misled.

A perfect example on Saturday came at the conclusion of the opening frame, when quarterback AJ Hairston had his throw deflected up in the air. Now 13 yards behind the line of scrimmage, the wise decision was for Hairston to spike the ball into the turf as if it’s a volleyball — a move that is taught by every coach ever. Alternatively, Hairston caught his own pass and didn’t even seem aware that he wasn’t allowed to throw a second forward pass on the play, resulting in a -13 yard completion to himself.

Another example was when quarterback Dru DeShields dropped a snap six minutes into the third quarter. The loss of seven yards pulled the Golden Flashes out of the red zone and put their offense well behind schedule. Rather than accepting the loss of yardage handed to his defense on a silver platter, defensive lineman Zukudo Igwenagu opted to twist and hurl one of his opponents into the ground, earning himself a personal foul for unsportsmanlike conduct. Kent State then turned that drive, which also included a foolish roughing the passer penalty, into seven points.

At the end of the day, UMass’ roster is filled with Division I athletes. Sure, the team doesn’t have endless four and five-star prospects, but every one of its players has been playing football at a high level for their entire lives. When the Golden Flashes dialed up a fake punt early in the second half, there’s no one to blame but the coaching staff for the outcome.

Kent State put the ball in the wide receiver Clark’s hands rolling right on the fake. Cornerbacks Raheim Sexil and Zach Farris both blanketed tight end Zy’aire Fletcher, who was really the only option for Clark to throw to on the right side of the field. Both corners sprinted off their assignment in unison and charged toward Clark, who then had five Minutemen closer to him than the now wide-open Fletcher 27 yards down the field. The almost instinctual lack of awareness and communication on the play speaks to a much larger problem within the program.

There’s no fixing the current state of UMass, not with any amount of talent injection or tweaks in game planning year over year. This is a program that has evidently not belonged in FBS from the very outset of its top-division journey back in 2012. Lifelong Minutemen fans have gone without a winning season since 2010 and have been subjected to one of the worst college football teams in the country for over a decade.

Notice how in this story, I’ve yet to mention a genuine football error. I could discuss the thrown interceptions, the lack of defensive technique that leads to blown coverages all over the field and the consistent failed attempts at tackling ball carriers. Those are normal football plays though. The brainless, losing plays that UMass makes on a regular basis are not normal. They prove that the dysfunction of the program runs deeper than its players — it’s an institution built on a blueprint of incompetence.

Cameron Pellegrino can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @cam_pellegrino.