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College Football Team Did the Most Embarrassing Thing While Losing 45–3

Andy Nesbitt

UMass celebrated a fourth quarter field goal by shooting off a ton of fireworks. The kick brought them to within 42 points of Northern Illinois.
UMass celebrated a fourth quarter field goal by shooting off a ton of fireworks. The kick brought them to within 42 points of Northern Illinois. / @cfbcampustour
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The UMass football team, to put it lightly, is having a dreadful season. For more proof of that look at what the Minutemen did at home on Wednesday night. Not only did they lose to Northern Illinois, 45–3, to fall to 0–10, they also went viral for doing the most embarrassing thing in the fourth quarter.

In case you missed it, and we're guessing that you did because, really, who's watching UMass football on a Wednesday night in November, the Minutemen opted to kick a field goal midway through the fourth quarter while trailing by 45 points.

The good news for UMass supporters is that the kick sailed through the uprights to give the team their only points on the night.

The bad news is that they then celebrated the points by shooting off a ton of fireworks.

Here's how that played out:

There's a whole lot of sadness in that video—the mostly empty stands, the band playing while down by 42 points, and, yes, all of the fireworks.

What's more incredibly sad is that the team kicked the field goal on a fourth-and-5 play from Northern Illinois’s 26-yard line. At that point just go for it instead of kicking a meaningless field goal.

Oh, by the way, UMass is ranked dead last in ESPN’s College Football Power Index at 136.

Fans had a lot of jokes about that fireworks celebration.

UMass has one more home game left on its schedule, as it will host Bowling Green on Nov. 26. Hopefully the Minutemen can find some more fireworks in case they're able to score any points in that one. Because the world needs more UMass football fireworks.

Northern Illinois, meanwhile, improved to 3–7 with the blowout win.

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Andy Nesbitt
ANDY NESBITT

Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.

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