AMHERST — For three straight years, the UMass football team has played Eastern Michigan. And all three times, they’ve lost.

But the games have been trending in the right direction for UMass, and the Minutemen are favored by 2.5 points on Saturday. After a 42-28 loss in Amherst in 2021, UMass has kept the last two – both in Ypsilanti, Mich. – within one possession. Eastern Michigan beat UMass 20-13 in 2022 and 19-17 last year. Both times, UMass has had a chance at a win.

“If you watch the games the past two years, so close,” UMass fifth-year center Josh Atwood said. “Just so close to winning both of them. I know it’s the first game and maybe it’s a coincidence, but that’s the game that’s circled on my calendar.”

In 2022, UMass went up 13-0 early in the third quarter, only to finish their final five possessions with three three-and-outs, an interception and a turnover on downs. Eastern Michigan scored 20 unanswered points to win 20-13.

In 2023, UMass held a second-half lead again. With Taisun Phommachanh out injured, Carlos Davis threw for 340 yards and a touchdown – UMass’ most productive day through the air all season. He led a late drive that ended with a Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams rushing score to give UMass a 17-13 lead with 2 minutes, 42 seconds left. 

But just 82 seconds later, Eastern Michigan took the lead right back, courtesy of a Hamze El-Zayat 50-yard deep ball touchdown. UMass got the ball back, but couldn’t get a first down, and Eastern Michigan took its third straight win.

“I’ve been ready since spring,” fifth-year safety Te’Rai Powell said. “I’ve been having one goal, get Eastern Michigan. Last, shoot, what is it, three times? I haven’t beaten them yet. So I’m trying to get my get-back, personally.”

The Minutemen and Eagles also played twice before in the 2010s – UMass won 36-14 in 2014 and 28-17 in 2015. Those games represented two of the seven MAC wins UMass accrued across its four-year tenure as an affiliate member in the conference they will join full-time next year.

UMass’ game against Eastern Michigan on Saturday is the first of five they’ll play this season against future MAC opponents.

The Eagles’ offense has a brand-new feel this time around. Running back Samson Evans, who rushed for 228 yards in three meetings with UMass, graduated last year. Austin Smith, the Eagles’ passer in the last two wins over UMass, transferred to Austin Peay. 

“They’ve got some issues too, just like we do,” UMass head coach Don Brown said. “They’ve dealt with the transfer portal at a high level, so that’s a difficult deal.”

Buffalo transfer Cole Snyder is the Eagles’ new starting quarterback. The senior started all 25 of the Bulls’ games the past two seasons, including a 277-yard, three-touchdown performance two years ago at McGuirk in Brown’s fifth game in charge, a 34-7 Buffalo win.

“The young man from Buffalo, we kind of know about him a little bit,” Brown said. “We kind of know what his strengths are.”

In the running back room, Weber State transfer Dontae McMillan and NC State transfer Delbert Mimms are expected to share lead back duties for the Eagles, much like the Jalen John, CJ Hester and Brandon Campbell committee for the Minutemen. Four of the five starters from Eastern Michigan’s offensive line last year have departed.

In the receiver room, second-leading receiver JB Mitchell III returns, but was not listed in Monday’s two-deep depth chart release. The Eagles list a pair of junior college transfers in Oran Singleton and Markus Allen as starters alongside returner Terry Lockett Jr. At Monday’s press conference, Brown referred to a new Eagles receiver who “has got some ability.”

Eastern Michigan finished just 117th in the country in scoring offense last year (19.5 points per game), but its defense ranked 67th (26.7 points per game) and returns several players who served large roles in 2023. The defensive line is experienced, though it lost graduate student defensive tackle Tim Grant-Randall to UMass.

“This is a big game for him,” Brown said on Monday.

Eastern Michigan lost its top two linebackers to the transfer portal, but brought two more in to replace them, including Coastal Carolina grad-transfer JT Killen, who was recently named to the East-West Shrine Bowl 1000 alongside Minutemen tight end Dom Mazotti and wide receiver Frank Ladson Jr.

Like UMass, Eastern Michigan’s secondary holds lots of experience. Joshua Scott, Daiquan White and Quentavius Scandrett have all started double-digit games at Eastern Michigan.

After months of work in the mat room, in the bubble and on the field at McGuirk, UMass’ season opener is here. And for the first time since the official announcement of its entrance into the MAC back in February, UMass has a real-life litmus test for how they stack up with a future conference opponent.