EAST HARTFORD – There was some extra energy in the air outside Rentschler Field as the lights started to come on for UConn’s Friday night rivalry game against UMass.
Just outside the stadium was Barstool’s College Football Show setup and thousands of fans gathered for the festivities and some pizza from Frank Pepe’s, which was recently announced as the “Official Pizza of the UConn Huskies.”
Dave Portnoy, who’s raved about New Haven pizza in his famous “One Bite” pizza review series, looked out at the crowd and was pleasantly surprised at the amount of care he saw for the Huskies’ football program.
“It’s the entire state. You have UConn and pizza,” Portnoy said, claiming New Haven style to be the best pizza in the world. “I honestly think UConn is a school in this new NIL era, you could wake up one day and be like, ‘Oh, UConn’s a competitive, real good football program.”
“UConn’s a sleeping giant in football,” the Barstool Sports founder said earlier, while acknowledging he hadn’t seen the team play a single snap this season. “UConn has great fans. They travel for basketball, look at this crowd for football. I think if they could get in a conference, they have the stadium, I honestly think they could be a legitimate football school. You’ve got to get in a conference.”
The panel, featuring host Kayce Smith along with Portnoy, Dan “Big Cat” Katz and Brandon Walker, picked UConn to win the game. Picking against the spread, Portnoy went with UMass to cover 13.5 points, expecting a close rivalry game.
“Listen, Jon Gruden knows more football than anybody ever, he loves Jason Candle. He thinks Jason Candle is the coolest,” said Smith, who also hosts the Gruden Family Football Show.
The crew was able to obtain the Southwick Jug trophy that was created in 2024 but never presented after UConn won in Amherst, and was dead set on forcing Friday night’s winning team to accept it. Portnoy, a Michigan fan, didn’t shy from teasing about last year’s basketball national championship game. Naturally, the Huskies’ crowd broke out chanting Dan Hurley’s name. Hurley tried to make an appearance but wasn’t able to make it in time.