Rutgers’ 37-21 loss to UMass on Thursday night set off a wave of reaction across the Internet, and much of it centered on the same ugly details: the Scarlet Knights paid UMass $1.55 million for the game, were expected to win by 30 points, and still ended up losing to a team that had been stuck on a 16-game losing streak and had not won in 677 days.
The postgame fireworks only made the jokes louder. After Rutgers lost, a pre-planned fireworks show went off anyway, giving the whole night an extra layer of embarrassment that people online seized on immediately.
“Rutgers paying UMass $1.5M to play them Week 1 as 30-point favorites only to lose and then set off a pre-planned fireworks show postgame might be the single saddest thing l’ve ever seen,” posted the NFL Memes account, which has 1.5M followers.
Bleacher Report added its own blunt take on the result:
“UMass received $1.55 million to play Rutgers on the road and beat them 37-21 🥴💰
“The Minutemen were on a 16-game losing streak and hadn’t won a game in 677 days 😳”
John Fanta also jumped into the conversation by laying out UMass’s football record over the last five seasons:
“UMass in the last five years:
2025 - 0-12
2024 - 2-10
2023 - 3-9
2022 - 1-11
2021 - 1-11″
He followed that up by tossing a little optimism toward the Minutemen fan base.
“On another note, I’d love to hear from a UMass fan about your CFP hopes. Why not dream! Let’s go!”
UConn fans got their shots in too. The HurleyMania account posted what appeared to be texts from Rutgers fans:
“the worst part is this will make it harder to fire Steve Pikiell, who deserves to be in prison.
“Schiano should be fired. Pikiell should be incarcerated.”
With NJ.com columnist Steve Politi writing that “Greg Schiano is toast,” attention quickly shifted online to possible Rutgers replacements, with Corey Hetherman, Charlie Weis Jr. and even Brian Kelly showing up on one list.
Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated also pointed to the bigger issues now facing new Rutgers athletic director Keli Zinn, summing it up this way:
Not fun problems for an AD to solve!
In Other News...
Rutgers Fans Are Facing The Greg Schiano Question Again
Greg Schiano is back in the familiar spot Rutgers fans know all too well: the season has barely started, and the conversation is already shifting from results to his future. Now in his seventh year of his second stint in charge, he enters 2026 with a 31-41 record in this return engagement, a number that has kept the scrutiny around the program from ever really going away.
The latest jolt came in the season opener, when Rutgers lost to UMass after falling behind by 17 points at halftime against a team carrying a long active losing streak. For a fan base still measuring progress against expectations, the larger issue is now unavoidable again because Schianos contract carries a buyout that would cost the school about $17.3 million if he were let go at seasons end. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Just Opened The Season With A Loss Fans Cant Ignore
Rutgers opened the season with a result that will linger well beyond Week 1, falling 37-21 to UMass in a game that the Scarlet Knights were expected to control. The Minutemen arrived carrying a 16-game losing streak against FBS opponents, but they played with far more edge than the odds suggested and put Rutgers in an early hole that never really disappeared.
Pop Watson was the spark for UMass, guiding an offense that found rhythm through the air and enough movement on the ground to keep Rutgers from settling in defensively. The Minutemen also tightened up in a way that changes the conversation around them after a rough run of seasons, getting into the backfield consistently and creating problems all afternoon, while Rutgers is left sorting through how a season-opening setback like this happened so quickly. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Week 1 Opener Carries One Betting Assumption Fans Should Notice
Rutgers heads into its Week 1 opener against UMass with the kind of setup bettors tend to circle early in the season, especially in a slate where several games are being sized up through the lens of roster changes and coaching adjustments. The Scarlet Knights are part of a three-game betting breakdown that also leans over in Georgia Tech-Colorado and points in UAB-Illinois, but the Rutgers angle is the one most tied to how cleanly the matchup lines up on paper.
The broader case around this game is built on Rutgers personnel advantages and the way UMass projects defensively, with the Scarlet Knights expected to find enough separation to make the number manageable. There is also one matchup note worth watching for those who follow the betting market closely, since Rutgers has a receiver who could create problems for the Minutemen secondary and tilt the game script early. [Read more 🡒]