The Colonial Clash was an annual
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
rivalry game
Pairs of schools, colleges and universities, especially when they are close to each other either geographically or in their areas of specialization, often establish a college rivalry with each other over the years. This rivalry can extend to both ...
played between the
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...
(UMass) and the
University of New Hampshire
The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...
(UNH). The two teams first played each other in 1897, and met annually from 1952 through 2011. The rivalry was branded as the Colonial Clash beginning in 2010. In 2012, UMass transitioned to the
Football Bowl subdivision
The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...
(FBS) of
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...
, leaving the future of the rivalry in question. In 74 playings, UMass has won 43 games, UNH has won 28 games, and there have been three ties. Beginning with the 1986 playing, the MVP of the game was awarded the
Bill Knight Trophy.
History
The first game played between the two schools took place on October 2, 1897, in
Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst () is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County (althoug ...
.
won the game by a score of 10–4. At the time, UMass was known as Massachusetts Agricultural College and New Hampshire was officially
New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts
New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts (NHC) was founded and incorporated in 1866, as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College. In 1893, NHC moved to Durham, where it became the University of New Ha ...
. They had formed a loose association with other public colleges in
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
such as present day
UConn
The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Ha ...
and
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
for the purpose of scheduling football matchups between the schools.
The colleges continued to schedule matches intermittently through 1922, but then had a 30-year hiatus until next meeting in 1952.
[ They then met annually through the 2011 season, along with one playoff game as part of the 2006 postseason.][
In August 2010, the matchup was branded as the "Colonial Clash", coincident with an arrangement to have the game played at ]Gillette Stadium
Gillette Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is southwest of downtown Boston. It serves as the home stadium and administrative offices for both the New England Patriots of the National Footb ...
in Foxborough, Massachusetts
Foxborough is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, about southwest of Boston, northeast of Providence, Rhode Island and about northwest of Cape Cod. Foxborough is part of the Greater Boston area. The population was 18,618 at ...
, during the 2010 and 2011 seasons. The 2010 matchup, a 39–13 win by New Hampshire, was the first college football game played at Gillette, the home stadium of the NFL's New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
. The 2011 game, the second (and to date, most recent) playing under the Colonial Clash branding, was also won by UNH, 27–21.
UMass leads the all-time series, 43–27–3, a winning percentage
In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...
of , although UNH has the edge in games played since 1990, 14–9.[ From 1958 through 1989, UMass won 26 of the meetings, losing only six times, including only one instance of back-to-back losses to their rival (1975 and 1976). The most successful run for New Hampshire occurred from 1990 to 2002, when the Wildcats won 10 matchups and lost only three.
In 2012, UMass moved up to the ]Football Bowl Subdivision
The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...
(FBS), the NCAA's highest level of college football. The Minutemen joined the Mid-American Conference
The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...
(MAC) at that time, then in 2016 became an independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
. UNH remained in the Colonial Athletic Association
The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...
(CAA) of the Football Championship Subdivision
The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...
(FCS). No meetings between the programs have been scheduled since 2011, leaving the future of the rivalry in doubt.
Game results
See also
* List of NCAA college football rivalry games
This is a list of rivalry games in college football in the United States. The list also shows any trophy awarded to the winner of the rivalry between the teams.
NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
...
References
External links
Colonial Clash Promo (10/23/10)
via YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
2010 Colonial Clash
via YouTube
Colonial Clash 2011 (CSN-NE)
via YouTube
{{NCAA Division I FBS independents rivalry navbox
College football rivalries in the United States
New Hampshire Wildcats football
UMass Minutemen football