Between the team\u2019s hot start and the university hosting its annual Family Weekend, there\u2019s enough demand that there\u2019s even a resale market for tickets.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of energy, a lot of juice right now on campus, which is, I think, certainly been earned by our guys to go out and start out 4-0,\u201d athletic director Ryan Bamford said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a fun first month of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Minutemen have a chance to start 5-0 for the first time in half a century if they can beat Eastern Michigan (3:30 p.m., ESPN+). Five wins also would be a program record since the jump to FBS. <\/p>\n
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\u201cI\u2019m hearing that it should be a pretty packed house, which is pretty special,\u201d coach Joe Harasymiak told reporters Monday.<\/a> \u201cSo now we\u2019ve got to go focus and do our part.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s been nothing fluky about this hot start for UMass, which followed up its Opening Night stunner at Rutgers<\/a> with dominant wins over Sacred Heart, Stonehill<\/a>, and Mid-American Conference opponent Sacramento State<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s perhaps been the most startling piece of the turnaround \u2014 the Minutemen have looked very solid, very cohesive, very fast.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Joe\u2019s done a really good job with his staff of just drilling down, focusing in, kind of digging the program out,\u201d Bamford said. \u201cYou could see it start to come together even after [going] 0-12. I think there was a pretty intentional resolve to get this thing flipped and to get off to a good start.\u201d<\/p>\n The large crowd won\u2019t be a complete shock to the school operationally. More than 15,000 were in attendance for last year\u2019s Family Weekend matchup against Buffalo, and a similar number were in attendance for this season\u2019s home opener against Sacred Heart.<\/p>\n But after years of struggling to successfully lure students from the long-popular tailgates into the stadium for kickoff \u2014 instead of back up the hill toward the dorms and dining halls \u2014 UMass is contending with an unfamiliar issue: meeting student ticket demand.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hold a lot of student tickets, over 4,000, and we\u2019ve been getting great student crowds. I think we had 5,400 for the first game against Sacred Heart,\u201d Bamford said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to make sure that we\u2019re filling those student sections, but I\u2019m a little worried that we\u2019re going to get more than [the] 4,000-plus that we have held. <\/p>\n \u201cSo we\u2019ve got some plans to do some things with standing room for students to give them some other places to congregate, to make sure that we\u2019re doing our best, ideally, not to turn any students away.\u201d<\/p>\n For Bamford, whose 11-year tenure has been largely viewed through the lens of the consistent failures of the football team, it\u2019s a big weekend in Amherst.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a tough road,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a privilege to be in games like this where you get to October and games matter. … It\u2019s an awesome thing. It\u2019s great for our program. It\u2019s great for our department, and I\u2019m just happy that we\u2019re here to support this program, this team, and make sure that they have the things that they need to ultimately continue this success on, not just this year but sustain it for future years, as well. <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s an exciting prospect for us and I\u2019m excited for the opportunities that lie ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n