UConn football’s next home game is getting a little extra spotlight.
The “Barstool Sports College Football Show” is set to be live at Rentschler Field next Friday night before the Huskies meet UMass. The pregame show begins at 5:30 p.m. ET and looks like it will include Barstool names Dave Portnoy and Dan “Big Cat” Katz.
It comes at a good time for UConn, which is sitting at 3-3 after last Saturday’s 34-20 win over Temple in Philadelphia and now has a bye week to work with before turning to the Minutemen.
UMass is coming off a different kind of season arc. The program went 0-12 in 2025 and 2-10 in 2024, though it has opened this year 4-2 heading into Saturday’s game against Buffalo.
There are a few obvious reasons Barstool might be headed to Storrs. The game falls on a Friday night, which gives the company room to build around the rest of the weekend schedule. And Portnoy, a Massachusetts native who went to Michigan, has long been tied to the region and, as the source notes, is the kind of guy who seems to take notice when New England is in the mix.
For UConn, the bigger point is simple: this is exposure. Jason Candle is ultimately in favor of promoting his program and there’s no better promotion than Barstool, who appeals to teenagers.
A high school player might see the Huskies through that lens. A prospective student might, too.
However it happens, the attention can help the football program and the university around it.
While football is idle this weekend, UConn athletics still has plenty going on.
The women’s basketball team returns Monday night at PeopleBank Arena in Hartford, where it will face Texas at 7:00 p.m. ET, one week after beating Syracuse in its first exhibition game of the season.
The men’s team also took care of Syracuse earlier this week in its exhibition opener. Next up is a Tuesday night trip to East Lansing, Mich., for a matchup with Michigan State. The two schools met in exhibition play last year as well, and UConn won that one, too.
UConn beat Syracuse 72-52, and it remains to be seen whether star guard Braylon Mullins will play this week.
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