The Waterbury Times|The New England Saturday
Sacred Heart Has Nothing to Lose. UMass Has Everything to Prove.
Connecticut- There are games on a college football schedule that look interesting because of the names involved.
And then there are games that become interesting because of what happened the week before.
Sacred Heart at UMass is one of those games.
On one sideline will be a Sacred Heart team that lost its first game as a member of the Coastal Athletic Association, but left that game believing it belonged.
On the other will be a UMass team that just walked into Rutgers and did something the Minutemen hadn’t done in nearly three years: win an FBS football game.
Now they meet for the first time.
The Pioneers travel to McGuirk Alumni Stadium in Amherst on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. for The New England Saturday Week 2 Game of the Week. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
And there is a lot more riding on it than the records might suggest.
The New England Saturday: Week 2 College Football Kickoff Preview
UMass Finally Has Something to Feel Good About
For UMass, last Thursday night in Piscataway was about more than beating Rutgers.
The Minutemen won 37-21, snapped a 16-game losing streak and picked up their first FBS victory since 2023.
It was also the program’s first win over Rutgers since 1973.
UMass ran for exactly 200 yards, forced five turnovers and held Rutgers to just 27 rushing yards. It was the kind of complete performance that can change the feeling around a football program almost overnight.
Quarterback William “Pop” Watson III was at the center of it.
Watson completed 19 of 22 passes for 197 yards and three touchdowns, finishing with an 86.4 percent completion rate. It was a career-high three touchdown passes and the highest completion percentage by a UMass quarterback with at least 20 attempts in modern program history.
The Minutemen also got significant contributions from their running game and defense.
Elijah Faulkner scored twice as a receiver. Joseph Griffin Jr. caught a touchdown. Jahmad Harmon intercepted Rutgers twice, while Isaiah Reed added another interception.
Suddenly, UMass isn’t entering its home opener trying to find confidence.
It’s entering it with expectations.
And that’s a very different problem.
Sacred Heart Lost — But It Didn’t Look Overmatched
Sacred Heart’s Week 1 result tells only part of the story.
The Pioneers lost 31-24 at Monmouth, but their first game as a CAA program was hardly a disappointment.
Sacred Heart outgained Monmouth 408-350, produced 26 first downs and ran for 217 yards.
The Pioneers also controlled the clock for more than 35 minutes.
They were tied 24-24 with 8:08 remaining before Monmouth scored the game’s final touchdown. Sacred Heart then drove deep into Monmouth territory on its final possession before the Hawks held on.
That’s the part UMass needs to pay attention to.
Sacred Heart didn’t enter the CAA quietly.
It announced that it could play.
Meet Poochie Snyder
Sacred Heart quarterback Poochie Snyder was one of the biggest reasons.
In his first game of the season, Snyder completed 14 of 25 passes for 191 yards and three touchdowns without throwing an interception. He also ran for 67 yards on 15 carries.
Then there is Dean Hangey.
Hangey caught eight passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns, including a 52-yard touchdown that pulled Sacred Heart even at 21-21 in the third quarter.
The Pioneers also produced 217 yards on the ground, led by Chuck Webb, who finished with 72 yards on 18 carries.
In other words, Sacred Heart doesn’t need to turn Saturday into a shootout to have a chance.
The Pioneers showed against Monmouth that they can control the football, run it effectively and stay on the field.
Against UMass, that could be critical.
The Question for UMass: Can You Do It Again?
This is where the game gets interesting.
Beating Rutgers was a statement.
Now UMass has to prove it wasn’t a one-night statement.
The Minutemen return home for their first game at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. The opponent isn’t an FBS program this time.
It’s Sacred Heart.
That may actually make this game more dangerous.
UMass spent the entire offseason preparing for a season in which it needed to change the trajectory of the program. After one week, the Minutemen have already accomplished something they couldn’t accomplish once last season.
But now comes the part nobody talks about as much:
handling success.
Can UMass play with the same discipline it showed at Rutgers?
Can Watson continue to operate the offense efficiently?
Can the defense create the same kind of havoc?
And perhaps most importantly, can UMass avoid looking past a Sacred Heart team that has already demonstrated it can make an opponent work for four quarters?
Sacred Heart Has a Different Kind of Opportunity
For the Pioneers, there is no pressure to live up to what happened last Thursday.
They weren’t supposed to be the team coming into this game with all the momentum.
They are 0-1.
They’re playing on the road.
They’re facing an FBS opponent.
And this is the first meeting between the two programs.
Sacred Heart is also 0-2 all-time against FBS opponents, with previous losses to UConn in 2023 and Delaware in 2024.
But that history doesn’t matter much Saturday.
This is a different Sacred Heart team.
This is the first season of the Pioneers’ CAA era, and their opening performance suggested they are not simply entering the conference to participate.
They are trying to compete.
A win at UMass would take that message to another level.
A New England Matchup With Something to Say
There is another reason this game fits perfectly into The New England Saturday.
These are two programs traveling very different roads toward the same goal.
UMass is trying to establish itself in the MAC and rebuild its standing at the FBS level.
Sacred Heart is stepping into the CAA and trying to prove that its move upward was the right one.
Neither program is where it ultimately wants to be yet.
But both have something to prove.
UMass wants to show that Rutgers was the beginning of something.
Sacred Heart wants to show that Monmouth was a missed opportunity — not a sign that the Pioneers don’t belong.
And because this is the first meeting between the programs, there is no rivalry history to hide behind.
Saturday gets to start from scratch.
The Matchup
When:
Saturday, Sept. 12 — 3:30 p.m.
Where:
McGuirk Alumni Stadium — Amherst, Massachusetts
Watch:
ESPN+
Records:
Sacred Heart: 0-1, 0-1 CAA
UMass: 1-0, 0-0 MAC
Series:
First meeting
The New England Saturday Prediction
UMass deserves to be favored.
The Minutemen just beat Rutgers on the road, their defense created five turnovers, and Watson played one of the best games by a UMass quarterback in recent memory.
But Sacred Heart is a dangerous opponent.
The Pioneers ran for 217 yards against Monmouth. Snyder didn’t throw an interception. Hangey already demonstrated that he can change a game with one play.
If UMass comes out flat, this could get uncomfortable.
If the Minutemen play the way they did against Rutgers, however, they have enough firepower to win.
The pick: UMass 34, Sacred Heart 24.
But don’t be surprised if this one is closer than the records suggest.
Because Sacred Heart already showed us something in Week 1:
The Pioneers are going to make people work for it.
And UMass now has to prove that beating Rutgers wasn’t the destination.
It was the beginning.
THE NEW ENGLAND SATURDAY GAME OF THE WEEK
Sacred Heart at UMass
Saturday. 3:30 p.m.
From the first kickoff to the final whistle.
The New England Saturday: Week 1 Kickoff Preview
THE NEW ENGLAND SATURDAY: FINAL WHISTLE
THE NEW ENGLAND SATURDAY: GAME OF THE WEEK- Stonehill at Univ of New Haven
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