I think that when the committee looks at games, the score doesn't matter. They just look at if it is a W or L. THe margin doesn't play a factor. It wouldn't matter if Syracuse beat UMass by 2 or 20, it is still a lose. Of course, that being said, I wholeheartedly agree with you that UMass should have made it in before UVa. The committee said that strength of schedule played a big factor in the decision, but you are right that UVa was still playing D2 teams while UMass had a pretty tough schedule in hindsight.