You have to give UMass credit. At least the school's jump to Division I-A college football has been a bit smoother than Villanova's jump:
"After several months of negotiations, the University of Massachusetts will officially move from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision level in college football. The official announcement will come Wednesday afternoon in a press conference at Gillette Stadium."
Reportedly, UMass will join the MAC in football starting in 2012. The press conference will take place at Gillette because the Minutemen plan on playing a majority of their home games at the home of the Patriots.
Can't say my thinking on this has changed much since this report surfaced in December. BC doesn't have much to gain from scheduling UMass going forward and a lot to lose. Worst-case scenario is that GDF plans on adding UMass to future football schedules to replace the annual game against a Division I-AA opponent, but I doubt it.
It will be certainly be interesting to see how the BC Athletics Department plays this. Playing UMass could be a lose-lose for the program for all the same reasons that playing UConn would be, except for that whole "lining the pocket of the party that tried to sue you" thing.
Can't say there is much room on the future sched, either, especially with a I-AA creampuff (likely a given), long-term series with Syracuse and Notre Dame, and series against Northwestern, USC, Stanford, Army and others scheduled going forward.
The Eagles will host the Minutemen this season on September 24.