Buffalo–UMass rivalry

College Comparison

Founded

1846

1863

Type

Public

Public

Conference

MAC

MAC

Students

32,347

32,045

School colors

Nickname

Bulls

Minutemen

The Buffalo–UMass rivalry is a growing sports rivalry between the Buffalo Bulls of the University at Buffalo and the UMass Minutemen of the University of Massachusetts. Both schools compete as members of the Mid-American Conference (MAC).

All-time results

Sport

All-time series record

Last result

Next meeting

Football

Buffalo leads
10–6

Buffalo won 28–21 on October 18, 2025

October 17, 2026 @ Buffalo

Men's basketball

UMass leads 2–1

Buffalo won 86–82 on February 21, 2026

January 5, 2027 @ Buffalo

Women's basketball

| Series tied 4–4

UMass won 73–55 on March 7, 2026

January 6, 2027 @ Home

Women's soccer

UMass leads 1–0

UMass won 2–0 on October 9, 2025

October 15, 2026 @ Buffalo

Women's Tennis

UMass leads 1–0

UMass won 6–1 on April 19, 2026

TBD

Softball

UMass leads 3–1

UMass won 5–4 on April 8, 2026

TBD

Series led and games won by Buffalo

Series led and games won by UMass

Football

The UB–UMass football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Buffalo Bulls football team of the University at Buffalo and the UMass Minutemen football team of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

History

The first ever meeting between the two teams came on Oct. 3, 1964 when the Minutemen posted a 24–22 road win as part of an 8–1 regular season record that propelled them to a Tangerine Bowl berth.

On October 3, 1970 the Bulls rallied to defeat the Minutemen, 16–13, in front of a homecoming crowd of 6,206 fans at Rotary field. Behind a 45-yard touchdown drive in the closing minutes, Joe Hudson took advantage of a short kick off and returned it to the UMass 45-yard line. Three straight passes from Kirk Barton to Joe Moresco set the Bulls up at the 19-yard line. After Mike Sharrow caught a pass at the eight and Joe Zelmanski barreled down to the three-yard line, John Faller rambled around the right end for the game-winning score.

Division I-AA

For the 1998 game, Craig Cirbus and the (2–1) Bulls team would travel to play the (1–1) Minutemen, infront of 11,672 people. UMass won 51–27. Later in the season, UMass would become NCAA Division I-AA national champions, under coaches Mark Whipple and Don Brown. This was also Buffalo's last season in Division I-AA, before joining the MAC. Thus, ending the series.

Mid-American Conference

In April 2011, UMass announced plans to join the Mid-American Conference and move up to the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, the highest level of college football in the country. Prior to this decision, the last game played between the schools was on September 26, 1998.

On November 17, 2012, the Minutemen took a 13–0 lead into the locker room, but four second-half touchdowns helped the Bulls rally past UMass, 29–19 at Gillette Stadium.

For the October 19, 2013 game, the Bulls would dominate the game 32–3, improving to 5–2 overall and 3–0 in the MAC. While the Minutemen would go 1–6, 1–2 MAC for that week.

The most recent series went dormant after the 2015 season, when UMass announced its withdrawal from the MAC in order to keep all sports in the Atlantic 10.

On May 16, 2019, both schools had scheduled a six-game, home-and-home football series starting in 2022, until 2028. Buffalo won the first game in 2022, 34–7 and then won the second game in 2024 34–3. The yearly series will continue after the 2028 season, when UMass announced it would be rejoining the conference for all sports in 2025.

FlagShip Cup

Three days before the 2025 game, both schools announced The Flagship Cup as the name of the new football rivalry against one another. Milton CAT was announced as the series sponsor.

For game one of the new rivalry series, both teams played infront of 15,239 fans at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. Buffalo would go on to win the game 28–21, by late game touchdown by Victor Snow.

History

The first ever game played between the two schools took place on February 18, 1993, in New York. Tony Barbee led the Minutemen to a 96–67 victory with 18 points. The win was Massachusetts' 12th straight overall and improved the Minutemen to 18–4. Buffalo, 5–18, a Division I independent, was led by Modie Cox with 15 points.

History

The 2025 game was played in the second round of the WNIT tournament. Buffalo down 16 entering the fourth quarter, rallied back to beat the Minutewomen in overtime 84–82 led by Chellia Watson with a game-high 26 points. It was UMass' last game as a member of the A10 conference, before joining the MAC and becoming Buffalo's conference mate.

Conference play

In 2026 season, the Minutewomen swept both games against Buffalo.

History

The first ever game played between the two schools took place on February 2, 2020, in Spartanburg, South Carolina as part as a opening day doubleheader at the Upstate Classic. Massachusetts won 6–2.

2026 season

In the first series of play, UMass would win the first game 3-2. The second game between the two, Buffalo won 21-4. Breaking multiple past records in the game; most hits (23), most runs scored (21), most RBIs in a game (20). Buffalo sophomore C Bella Smithson also hit two homeruns in the game (3R HR & GS). Senior 1B Abbey Nagel became the second player in Bulls history to hit 3 doubles in a game. In Game 3, the Minutewomen won on a walkoff hit 5-4 against Buffalo. With the win, UMass secured their first MAC series win in program history.

Results

DH - Doubleheader (Two Games/One Day)

Baseball

Buffalo stopped sponsoring baseball after the 2017 season.

Men's soccer

Buffalo stopped sponsoring soccer after the 2017 season.