The Colonial Clash was an annual college football rivalry game played between University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) and University of New Hampshire. UMass has transitioned to the Football Bowl subdivision (FBS) of NCAA Division I, leaving the future of the rivalry in question. The two teams played each other first in 1897, and annually from the 1950s until UMass made the move to FBS in 2012. The rivalry was named The Colonial Clash beginning with the game in 2010. The MVP of the game is awarded the Bill Knight Trophy.
History
The first game played between the two schools took place on October 2, 1897, in Amherst, Massachusetts. Massachusetts 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. They had formed a loose association with other public colleges in New England such as present day UConn and Rhode Island for the purpose of scheduling football matchups between the schools.
The colleges continued to schedule matches intermittently through 1922. Massachusetts affiliated with the New England Conference in 1923, and the schools would not meet again on the gridiron until New Hampshire joined Massachusetts in the Yankee Conference in 1952. UMass and New Hampshire have met at least once a year every season since.
UMass leads the all-time series 43–27–3, though it has been decidedly more even within the past 30 years. 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 (1975–76). The most successful run for New Hampshire occurred from 1990 to 2002, when the Wildcats won 10 matchups and lost only 3.
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. UNH plans to remain in the Colonial Athletic Association of the Football Championship Subdivision. No more meetings are currently scheduled, leaving the future of the rivalry in doubt.