Brown’s Buddy Farnham, right, making a one-handed touchdown reception against Harvard’s Derrick Barker last month, is a key weapon in the Bears’ aerial attack.

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The providence journal / John Freidah

Their records are 4-3, and they each put 11 players on the field. That’s where similarities between Bryant University football and University of Massachusetts football end.

Bryant is playing its first season of Division I football. UMass played in the first NCAA Division I-AA championship game 30 years ago, won the I-AA national championship 10 years ago and played in the I-AA national championship game against Appalachian State two years ago.

Bryant is loaded with Division II players trying hard to make the grade at a Division I entry level. UMass is loaded with Division I players trying to make the grade in the Colonial Athletic Association, the toughest conference in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision.

Bryant dreams of being ranked someday. UMass is ranked 17th in the nation. “This week, I think we’re overmatched,” said Bryant coach Marty Fine, whose Bulldogs will travel to Amherst tomorrow to play the Minutemen.

Fine agreed to this game to give his players a taste of Division I football, New England-style. UMass is not Boston College or Connecticut, but it’s a step up from Sacred Heart and Central Connecticut. And UMass won’t be the last.

Bill Smith, director of athletics, is negotiating a home-and-home series with Hofstra that could start next season. He has talked with his intrastate counterparts, Thorr Bjorn at the University of Rhode Island and Mike Goldberger at Brown.

“Our challenge is that everybody is scheduled out four or five years,” Smith said. He said that he is trying to find opponents in conferences that have an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and that are a day trip from Smithfield. Those criteria limit the possibilities to URI, UMass and Northeastern of the Colonial Athletic Association and Holy Cross of the Patriot League. A date with an Ivy League team is attractive, even though the league still chooses not to participate in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. Brown, Harvard and Yale are the geographic possibilities. Brown has multiyear arrangements with URI, Holy Cross and Stony Brook.

Fine wanted an opponent to measure his team’s progress halfway through the season.

“This is a benchmark for us, where we are now and where we want to be some day,” he said. “In 2012 we’ll be eligible to go to the national playoffs, and that’s our goal. This tells us where we are today.”

Injured and inconsistent is where the Bulldogs are today. Fine has lost 18 players since training camp, the cost of playing bigger, faster Division I athletes. As a result, young players are seeing a lot of action. Freshman offensive lineman Raymond Bundy from Bristol and defensive back Michael McGowan from Attleboro (Bishop Feehan) will start this week, and defensive lineman Josh Janes from Newport (La Salle) has played in every game.

Fine said his team has not blocked, caught the ball, or rushed the passer week to week, but he has seen positive signs.

“These kids care. They want to come out of their first season in Division I with a winning record, and they have a chance at that,” he said.

Quarterback Liam Coen from Newport (La Salle) leads the Minutemen, The senior is completing 63 percent of his passes and has thrown for 1,629 yards and 11 touchdowns.

•Brown (3-2, 2-0) will host Cornell (3-2, 1-1) as a Family Weekend highlight at Brown Stadium. The Bears are 2-0 in the Ivy League for the first time since 1987 and are tied for first place with Penn (3-2, 2-0). Brown is returning home after a 31-10 victory at Princeton. Cornell is coming to town after a 38-22 loss to Colgate.

Brown’s dynamic duo of Buddy Farnham and Bobby Sewall from Portsmouth are tied for fourth among Football Championship Subdivision receivers with 7.4 receptions per game.

•The University of Rhode Island (2-6, 0-4) will play its third Top 25 opponent tomorrow at William & Mary (4-2, 2-1). The Tribe is ranked No. 23 in The Sports Network poll this week. The Rams lost to No. 10 New Hampshire, 51-43, on Sept. 13 and to No. 7 Villanova, 44-7, last week. UMass will visit Kingston next week.

URI is 0-4 at Williamsburg.

URI and Delaware (2-5, 0-3) are the only CAA teams without a conference victory.

•Salve Regina (3-3, 2-2) hopes to continue its resurgence in the New England Football Conference with a victory over MIT (4-3, 2-2) tomorrow at Toppa Field. The Seahawks have won more games than in either of head coach Chris Robertson’s first two seasons and are guaranteed their best record since 2001.

•UMass Dartmouth (4-3, 2-2) is the favorite over visiting Nichols (2-5, 0-4). The Corsairs, MIT and Salve Regina are tied for third in the NEFC Boyd Division. Nichols and Mass. Maritime are the only teams still looking for an NEFC victory.

mszostak@projo.com