Dave Portnoy is already looking past the usual college football map and pointing Barstool’s weekly show toward Connecticut.
The Barstool Sports founder floated the idea of taking the Barstool College Football Show to Hartford for the UMass-UConn game later this month, and UConn athletic director David Benedict was quick to welcome it. Portnoy made the pitch Friday on X, asking, “What if I said I wanted to bring the Barstool College football [show] to beautiful Hartford for [UMass] vs. [UConn] in a few weeks?”
Benedict’s response was just as direct: “[Pizza] and a ballgame!” he wrote on X. “Happy to host you!”
The timing makes sense. UMass has become one of the more surprising stories in the region, and Portnoy’s interest was sparked by the fact that the Minutemen’s game against Eastern Michigan in Amherst on Saturday is sold out for the first time since 2014. That kind of buzz is a long way from where the program started the 2026 season, sitting on a 16-game losing streak.
Instead of extending that slide, UMass has ripped off wins in all sorts of ways. It opened with a shocker at Rutgers, where the Minutemen were nearly 30-point underdogs but got a huge performance from transfer quarterback Pop Watson, who piled up nearly 250 all-purpose yards in the upset. After that came comfortable wins over Stonehill and Sacred Heart, followed by a 35-6 rout of Sacramento State for the program’s first conference victory as a MAC member.
Now the Minutemen can reach a new benchmark. A win over Eastern Michigan would give UMass a program record for FBS victories. Second-year coach Joe Harasymiak’s team enters that game as a 5.5-point favorite.
UConn’s season has gone in a different direction. The Huskies opened with a 48-20 win over Southern Miss, but the momentum didn’t hold. They then dropped a home game to Maryland and later let an early lead slip away in a 24-21 loss to Miami (Ohio).
Jason Candle’s team gets a chance to reset against Syracuse on Saturday at Rentschler Field, with the Huskies set to host their former Big East rival.
In Other News...
UConn Fans Turned One Dan Hurley Moment Into A Must-See Scarecrow
Wethersfields annual Scarecrows Along Main display has become a fall draw for thousands of visitors, and this years edition features more than 170 creations lining the towns streets. Among the most talked-about entries is a UConn-themed display put together by Ryan Lawlor and Jeff Bottaro, a nod to the basketball program that is impossible to miss for anyone who follows the Huskies closely.
The piece has already gotten plenty of attention well beyond central Connecticut, giving the event a little extra shine in a season when UConn fans are always tuned in to whatever happens around Dan Hurley. Visitors can vote on their favorite scarecrows, and this one has turned a local community tradition into a reminder of how deeply the Huskies can still shape the conversation, even in the most unexpected places. [Read more 🡒]
UConn Syracuse Could Hinge On One Frustrating Problem Saturday
Saturdays meeting in East Hartford has the feel of a game where the cleanest team could be the one that gets the early edge. UConn enters at 2-2 with a few more questions than answers after a start defined in part by discipline issues, and Syracuse brings the same kind of baggage into noon ET kickoff. Both sides have been fighting flags all season, and for the Huskies, that makes this one less about style points and more about who can avoid shooting itself in the foot.
Syracuse comes in with quarterback decisions adding another layer to the matchup. Fran Brown is sticking with Steve Angeli to start despite recent interceptions, while Amari Odom is also expected to see the field, leaving the Orange with some uncertainty under center as they try to steady a team already battling through mistakes. For UConn, the opportunity is obvious: if the Huskies can play a cleaner game than they have for much of the fall, they may be able to turn a frustrating problem into a very real advantage. [Read more 🡒]
UConn Basketball Just Took A Visible Step Into A New Money Era
UConn basketball is about to add a visible new layer to its uniforms, with UConn Athletics announcing a partnership that brings UConn Health onto the mens and womens jerseys beginning in the 2026-27 season. The deal goes beyond the patch itself, with in-venue signage and radio advertising also part of the package, a sign of how much more expansive school sponsorships have become around major college programs.
The school is framing the agreement as one of the largest integrated sponsorships in program history, another marker of the changing financial landscape around UConns flagship teams. What remains less clear is the full scale of the commitment, since the length of the partnership and the dollar figure were not disclosed, leaving the size of the move to be judged more by its reach and symbolism than by a public price tag. [Read more 🡒]