Everything you need to know about UConn in EA College Football 27

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UConn football fans will get to experience the inaugural season of the Jason Candle era when it starts the first weekend of September at Rentschler Field against Lafayette.

But they can get an early look at the Huskies – the virtual version – in the EA Sports College Football 27 video game, which was released earlier this month. UConn’s new-look roster was rated a 71 overall, balanced with the same rating on offense and defense. It is the same rating the Huskies had in last year’s version of the game before stars like Joe Fagnano, Skyler Bell and Cam Edwards developed over the course of the real, non-virtual college football season.

Since the game returned with CFB 25, it has been a staple in team rooms around the country, including Storrs, where student-athletes of all sports have played as the Huskies. The men’s basketball team and its managers notably had a long-running competition where they played in a league run by Alec Millender and dominated by Alex Karaban’s dynasty at Northwestern.

The video game allows users to take over a program acting as its head coach with the ability to recruit, manage a staff and improve facilities, just like in real life.

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That could be tough to do with UConn, which has a smaller allotment of dynasty points – or a smaller NIL budget. Taking over the Huskies is considered “very high” difficulty, but we’ll go for it to get a deeper look at the virtual Huskies.

Like last summer, when the game predicted seven wins for a team that finished 9-4, we simulated the 2026 season 10 times on its highest difficulty (Heisman) to see how the game developers have the year shaking out.

The first thing that stands out when starting a UConn dynasty is Candle’s character, which begins with a C+ rating. Candle is considered a “Talent Developer” in the game and starts at level 34 of 100. The expectations put on the coach when taking the job include making a bowl game within the next four seasons, beating UMass by three or more points and signing at least one recruit ranked three stars or better.

Getting into the roster, which includes the nearly 70 new players Candle brought in this offseason, UConn only has two players rated an 80 or better in linebacker K’Von Sherman (84) and running back Kenji Christian (81), who both followed Candle from Toledo. The Huskies’ other highest-rated players include defensive tackle Esean Carter (79), center Terrence Moore (79), returning guard Ty Chan (78), receiver Shamar Porter (77) and MIKE linebacker Luke Murphy (77).

Our simulation experiment started tremendously as the virtual Huskies, led by 75 overall quarterback Jake Merklinger, the Tennessee transfer, finished 10-3 and beat UTEP in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Merklinger completed 58% of his passes for 3,550 yards and 28 touchdowns to just seven interceptions.

That was by far the best result of the 10 seasons we simulated. The worst came in the final simulation, when UConn lost to FCS East (the game’s placeholder for FCS opponents like Lafayette) and finished 4-8, failing to make a bowl appearance for just the second time in our 10 seasons. The other time came in the fifth simulation, when the Huskies started 1-5 and finished 6-6 but didn’t receive a bowl bid.

But those rough seasons were outliers as the virtual Huskies averaged 7.6 wins, slightly better than last year’s 7.2. They made eight bowl appearances, four times in the Fenway Bowl and three in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

UConn lost to Maryland in all 10 simulations and fell to Syracuse eight times. The game seems to view North Carolina and Wyoming as difficult games to win as well.

The star of the simulations was Christian, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards on six different occasions. Merklinger threw for more than 3,000 yards in six simulations with Ryder Treadway, Shamar Porter and Emmanuel Ross serving as his top receiving targets.

In reality, Merklinger may not even end up being the Huskies’ starting QB when the season begins on Sept. 5. Candle and his new staff will only start to get an idea of what the depth chart looks like when training camp starts up in August. But seven wins, 10 being the ceiling and four being the floor, doesn’t sound too bad for his first season in Storrs.

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