FOXBOROUGH — On Friday, the final game of 2012 for UMass struck a string of bad notes: 28 unanswered second-half Central Michigan points, a friends-and-family crowd of 6,385 at Gillette Stadium, an interception of third-string quarterback Ian Shultis on the final offensive snap.

A 42-21 rout was hardly the way the Minutemen wanted to say goodbye to their seniors.