Dave Portnoy apologizes after Rutgers blows 29.5-point cover to UMass

Rutgers opened the 2026 season as a 29.5-point home favorite over UMass, and Dave Portnoy leaned all the way in, putting the Scarlet Knights out as his pick to cover by 40-plus. Instead Rutgers scored on its opening drive and then didn't do much of anything else, while UMass ran up 30 unanswered points on the way to a 37-21 win that snapped a 16-game losing streak, the program's first win over a power-conference opponent since 1978.

Dave Portnoy

@stoolpresidente

Umass is kicking the ever living shit out of Rutgers.

The pile-on started early and never really stopped. By the third quarter it was 17-7 UMass and the jokes were already flying about Rutgers' promo trash-can cart getting more push up the field than the offense.

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

Rutgers pulling up for another season of college football

Midway through the fourth, with UMass cruising, a Rutgers staffer got knocked down on the sideline during a UMass touchdown celebration — a moment that summed up the night about as well as anything could.

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

The first big hit of the college football season

That's when Portnoy stopped tweeting jokes and started filming a direct apology. He told his followers he wasn't going to blame Greg Schiano or the Rutgers roster for what he called the most pathetic effort he'd ever seen — the buck, he said, stopped with him — before going a step further and saying he thinks the Rutgers football program should be disbanded and kicked out of the Big Ten.

Dave Portnoy

@stoolpresidente

I apologize to everybody who followed me on the Rutgers pick. I’m not gonna point the finger at Greg Schiano or Rutgers for the most pathetic effort Ive ever seen. The buck stops with me. I will work to earn your trust back #rutgerssucks

Rutgers still ran postgame fireworks at SHI Stadium despite losing by 16 as a massive favorite, which only fed the running joke that the celebration was scheduled regardless of what happened on the field. The next day, with Schiano fielding questions about the loss on the Big Ten Network, Barstool's crowd wasn't letting up — one fan's line about needing "a firing squad" instead of fireworks became the framing for the whole aftermath.

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

“Forget fireworks. We need a firing squad.” Rutgers fans are broken inside after last night’s loss to the UMass

For Portnoy specifically, this is the second season opener in a row where a strong Rutgers pick has blown up in his face publicly, and it's already being framed on Barstool's shows as a loss that soured his mood on the entire college football season before Week 1 even wrapped. Whether the apology sticks or he's back on Rutgers by conference play is the obvious next beat — but for now #rutgerssucks is doing a lot of the talking.