UMass football to face Louisiana Tech in 2016

The UMass football team will host Louisiana Tech during the 2016 season.



New athletic director Ryan Bamford confirmed that the Minutemen will host the Conference USA school, but didn’t give the exact date.



Since the Mid-American Conference forced UMass out of its football-only league membership, the Minutemen have been scrambling to fill out the 2016 slate as rules of Bowl Subdivision membership require at least five home games, including at least four vs. FBS foes.



UMass has two home games scheduled for 2016: Sept. 10 vs. UConn, and Louisiana Tech, a game that would likely be either Sept. 24 or one of the first weeks of October.



Bamford confirmed that Tulane is a potential opponent, but finalizing that game wasn’t imminent.



“I hope by the end of this month those things would be done. I have a good bead on getting us to four FBS home games and one FCS home game for now. I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Bamford, who wasn’t sure how UMass would divide games between Foxborough and Amherst. “We have to play at least three at Gillette. I’d like to play two at McGuirk, but that might not happen. We might have to go four and one.”



UMass has road game in 2016 scheduled at Florida (Sept. 3), Boston College (Sept. 17), Old Dominion (Oct. 1), Appalachian State (Oct. 29), Troy (Nov. 5) and Hawaii (Nov. 26).



Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage





