UConn Opponent Lafayette Owns Remarkable Place in College Football History

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Lafayette head football coach John Troxell and his assistants probably thought their players would be entering Week
1 of the college football season against UConn with a game under their belt,
prepared for the Huskies — their only FBS opponent of 2026.

Mother Nature had other ideas.

Lafayette was trailing Georgetown 13-7 at halftime in their
Week 0 season and Patriot League openers on Thursday, but the game couldn’t
restart due to extensive lightning in the Washington, D.C., area.

Because the two teams
don’t share a common bye week, the game will not be rescheduled for completion,
and the statistics won’t be added to the season stat sheet. It officially was declared a no contest.

So, Lafayette’s first game will come next Saturday against the
Huskies at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn. It will mark the debut of Jason
Candle as the UConn head coach after a decade at the helm at Toledo.

He replaces Jim Mora, who led the Huskies to back-to-back nine-win seasons and a pair of trips to the Fenway Bowl. Mora is now the head football coach at Colorado State.

UConn Roundtable will have more coverage about the game, the players and the Xs and Os right up until game time. For now, let’s learn
more about the interesting history of Lafayette, which posted an 8-4 (6-1 Patriot League) record in 2025.

About Lafayette

The basics
Location: Easton, Pa.

Chartered: 1826

Enrollment: 2,675 undergraduate students

Lafayette athletics
National championships: four

Patriot League regular season and tournament titles: 64

Nickname: Leopards

Lafayette’s football contributions

Lafayette isn’t a modern-day football power, but its contributions
to the game have been immense, according to school lore.

George "The Rose" Barclay, who was part of
Lafayette’s 1896 co-national championship team, is credited as the inventor
of the football helmet.

Lafayette’s website reports that Barclay, a member of the
Class of 1898, asked a saddlemaker in Easton to put together three leather
straps that Barclay could wrap around his head. He feared he would develop the
condition known as cauliflower ear – ears that are permanently swollen or misshapen –
as a result of blows to the area.

The helmet evolved from there.

The football
huddle also was created at Lafayette, according to the school website.

Head coach G. Herbert McCracken, who led Lafayette from 1924
to 1935, instituted the huddle in his first season when he believed an opponent
had stolen signs. Rather than sending signs, he opted for his team to get together for a short chat to discuss the play. Other schools quickly adopted the huddle. 

McCracken led the Leopards to an undefeated record and the 1926 national
title.

The rivalry

And, finally, Lafayette is part of the most-played
rivalry in college football. Forget Yale vs. Princeton. Forget Yale vs. Harvard
– or any of those Ivy League rivalries. Forget Ohio State vs. Michigan, Alabama
vs. Auburn.

When Lafayette and Lehigh met in 2025, it marked The
Rivalry’s 161st all-time meeting. The Leopards hold an 82-74-5 head-to-head
edge, losing 2025's contest 42-32.

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