For most of the college football world, Thursday night was an introduction to Pop Watson.
For most of Springfield, it was the same Pop Watson they’ve been watching since he was playing AYF for the Tigers.
Now UMass’ quarterback, Watson walked into SHI Stadium in New Jersey for his first start with the Minutemen and helped deliver a stunning 37-21 victory over Rutgers, snapping a 16-game losing streak and giving UMass its first win over an FBS opponent since 2023.
For those who followed Watson from his youth football days through his career at Central, none of what they saw Thursday night was out of character. The stage was bigger and the opponent was better, but Pop was still Pop.
UMass head coach Joe Harasymiak hasn’t known Watson as long as those in his hometown, but it hasn’t taken Harasymiak long to understand why so many have so much faith in him.
“He’s just got something about him that you don’t doubt,” Harasymiak said.
“I think that’s the best way to put it. If you ever talk to Pop, you wouldn’t doubt him.”
Springfield certainly never has.
Watson was one of the city’s most recognizable athletes long before he became a Division I quarterback. The buzz around him began when he was a youth standout in both football and basketball, to the point that he arrived at Central with almost as much hype as he carried with him to UMass.
He didn’t shrink from any of it. Instead, he thrived and eventually established himself as probably the city’s most beloved athlete since Travis Best.
That’s why nobody back home has ever been particularly concerned about whether Watson could handle becoming the face of UMass Football. He’s been training for it his entire life.
Watson completed 19 of 22 passes for 197 yards and three touchdowns against Rutgers, becoming the first UMass quarterback in the FBS era to throw three touchdown passes while completing at least 80 percent of his attempts.
“He’s a winner and that’s what we’ve been missing at that position probably for a very, very long time around here is a winner,” Harasymiak said.
Multiple watch parties around the city on Thursday night were filled with people eager to see one of their own get a true opportunity. They were thrilled with what they saw, but not surprised.
The rest of the country saw a quarterback making his UMass debut on the road against a Big Ten opponent as a massive underdog. Springfield saw the same kid it has watched embrace moments like this on a smaller scale for years.
“People gravitate toward him,” Harasymiak said. “He doesn’t have a panic button. He is very, very confident.”
That confidence isn’t an act and the bravado isn’t something he turns on when a camera lights up. He’s comfortable with people watching him because people have been watching him most of his life.
And yet, when the attention inevitably comes his way, Watson rarely keeps it there very long. He’s quick to redirect it toward teammates on both sides of the ball. That instinct is part of what makes him such a leader.
Even after delivering the kind of performance people will remember around UMass for a long time, Watson talked less about what Thursday meant for himself than what he believed it meant for everybody else.
“I feel like I owe that not just to you guys, but the state of Massachusetts,” Watson said. “I told these guys in the pregame, we’ve been laughed at for so many years. I channeled all the laughter, all the hate, all the we-can’ts and showed everybody that UMass is back.”
Watson wasn’t around for the losing that created all of that negativity, but as the program’s new leader, he’s embraced it as his own anyway. Losing isn’t something he’s had much experience with though, but belief is. And whether he was responsible for creating most of that belief or succeeded because of it, he’s received plenty of it from his hometown.
“Once again, man, I owed it to the state,” Watson said. “There was so much belief in me throughout the state and I blocked out all the naysayers, man. I couldn’t be more thankful for Massachusetts. I couldn’t be more thankful for UMass.
“Springfield molded me.”
The confidence, toughness, comfort with expectations and belief that when the moment gets bigger, he’s supposed to get bigger were all on display Thursday night.
Still, some of the emotion Watson usually keeps underneath that confidence came out when he and Harasymiak shared an embrace on the field immediately after the win.
Video via @cam_pellegrino
“He got a little emotional just saying, ‘Hey, thanks for giving me the chance,’” Harasymiak recalled. “That’s what a lot of those kids want. They need their chance and this is his chance.
“I’m just so happy he gets to do it in front of his family right in front of Western Mass. and gets to get this place rolling again.”
One game doesn’t guarantee Watson will get UMass rolling again. It doesn’t erase everything that has happened to the program or mean the Minutemen are already back to where they need to be.
But Watson wanted a chance, and when it finally came, the rest of the college football world got to see what Springfield has known for years.
Pop Watson made the most of it.
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