UMass opened the season by flipping the script in the loudest way possible, walking into Piscataway and leaving with a 37-21 win over Rutgers in a game that instantly jumped into the upset conversation for the ages.
Rutgers was supposed to cruise. The Scarlet Knights were 29.5-point favorites at home, facing a UMass team that had gone 0-12 last season and carried a 16-game losing streak into Thursday night. Instead, the first game of Week 1 delivered a shocker that will sit with both programs for a long time.
The spread alone tells you how far this result landed outside expectations. Rutgers’ 29.5-point edge makes this the biggest point-spread upset at the FBS level since Kansas stunned Texas as 31-point underdogs in 2021.
And the loss came with a costly twist. According to Brett McMurphy of On3, Rutgers paid UMass $1.55 million to come to New Jersey for the game. That makes Thursday’s result sting even more for an athletic department that has accumulated a deficit of more than $500 million since joining the Big Ten in 2014.
UMass hadn’t tasted victory in 677 days before Thursday. The Minutemen’s last win had come on Oct. 26, 2024, against FCS Wagner.
The skid looked even harsher when narrowed to FBS opponents. Entering Thursday, UMass had dropped 23 straight games against FBS competition and owned the nation’s longest active losing streak at 16 games.
There was also a bigger historical marker buried in the upset. Since moving up to the FBS in 2012, UMass had gone 48 years without a win against a current power-conference opponent.
The Minutemen did beat BYU in 2017, but at that point BYU was still an independent and not part of the Big 12. On Thursday, Rutgers became the team that finally ended that streak.
In Other News...
Rocco Becht's Penn State Debut Raised One Very Real Question
Rocco Bechts first game in a Penn State uniform was the kind of debut that can change the mood around a quarterback room in a hurry. Against Marshall, he completed 13 of 18 passes for 271 yards and four touchdowns, spreading the ball around with four different scoring throws and giving the offense the sort of easy rhythm coaches dream about when a new starter takes over.
Matt Campbells decision to go to backup Alex Manske after Penn State had already built a 31-0 lead only added to the conversation. Becht looked sharp, efficient and very much in command, and the performance left one very real question hanging over the program now: how long does Penn State keep leaning into the backup plan when the debut looked this ready? [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Fans Are Already Judging One Big Matt Campbell Change
Matt Campbells first game as Penn States head coach drew plenty of attention beyond the usual season-opening buzz, because it gave fans their first real look at what the program might look like under his watch. After taking over in December as the 17th head coach in school history, Campbell arrived with the kind of reputation that tends to stir big expectations in Happy Valley, and plenty of people in the stands against Marshall were eager to see whether the program would feel different right away.
What stood out most was the reaction in the stadium, where many fans seemed to buy into the idea that Penn State was leaning back toward tradition and toughness. The hope around the program was obvious, even if the range of expectations was wide, with some already projecting a strong season and others treating this as the beginning of a longer transition. Either way, the first impression mattered, and it was clear plenty of eyes were on how Campbells version of Penn State would handle the early weeks. [Read more 🡒]
Penn States Defense Already Has A Freshman Forcing Big Decisions
A true freshman has already worked his way into Penn States defensive plans, and Josiah Zayas made his case quickly enough to earn a starting spot before taking the field against Marshall. For a secondary that values reliability and flexibility, that kind of early rise matters, especially when a young defender is showing he can handle more than one job on the back end.
Matt Campbell has pointed to Zayas versatility and the way he has made impactful plays in practice, and the early returns carried over into game action. He showed up around the line of scrimmage with tackles for loss and held up in coverage well enough to earn more trust, even with a few minor mistakes mixed in. For Penn State, the bigger question now is how much responsibility a freshman can absorb as the games get tougher. [Read more 🡒]