Dom Amore: Now we begin to learn where UConn football is heading in 2026, and beyond
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Far from sibling rivals, UConn football has plenty of powerful allies on campus. It’s no secret, and it is undisputed that in college athletics, it is football that “drives the bus” to where the needed revenue is stored.
“I think it’s hugely important for the university, the students, the campus, the whole community,” UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley said, during his visit to the Catholic Charities breakfast this week. “There’s nothing like having high-level football, high-level basketball and just high-level sports in general. The reputation of the university, the morale on campus, the branding and the identification with the state, with the university.
“I was fortunate enough to get to Coach (Jason) Candle’s practice the day before the opener and spend some time with him, meet a couple of the players, meet the quarterback. I think supporting the football program is essential.”
Women’s coach Geno Auriemma, too, is a high-profile supporter, taking part in the recruiting of Candle and taking in the opening game from the sidelines last Saturday.
So here begins the periodic plea to “Pack The Rent.” Candle’s arrival kept the enthusiasm built by Jim Mora and the back-to-back, nine-win seasons going into 2026. The 56-7 warm-up win over Lafayette, an overmatched FCS opponent, feeds into Game 2 against Maryland of the Big Ten Saturday at 3:30 p.m.. As Candle has said, we will learn much more about this UConn football team when it is “punched in the mouth.”
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Though there was little fault to find last week, except for the holding penalties and lack of resistance from the opponent, there was some social media grumbling about the crowd, announced as 31,000 “tickets distributed,” but 20,000 or less actually inside Rentschler Field on a gorgeous fall day, albeit Labor Day weekend and a noon start. The students showed out and filled their section, though the one-sided game sent most of them back to their busses to campus at halftime.
A few thoughts here. There are many things that go into whether or not UConn will be the next school invited to join one of the power conferences. Attendance and atmosphere at football games may be one, but only one of several factors. Brand recognition and strength on local and national levels, social media presence, quality and stability of the major programs, market size and saturation, financial footing.
UConn men’s and women’s basketball bring more of these things than many schools in power conferences, and the football resurgence since 2022 has better positioned the university to realize its long-held goal. UConn basketball is outgrowing the Big East and the athletic department is at a growing revenue disadvantage, so there is no longer any reason to debate what course must be pursued.
These decisions, though, are made by cold-hearted professionals and involve billions of dollars, so one game, one season, one coach, does not move the needle. Ultimately, UConn must demonstrate it has the potential to bring enough value into a conference to justify splitting its revenue pie more ways. This potential, at least as far as I can see, is there now.
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If filling the football stadium contributes to the narrative UConn wants to create, the conferences, the ACC in particular, can just as easily look to the atmospheres for past games against NC State, Wake Forest and Duke, or to what happens around upcoming games against Syracuse and North Carolina, as the true barometer. So the crowd and the atmosphere for this game against Maryland will be worth watching, and UConn’s ability to compete will be worth watching, but nothing is going to be decided between 3:30 and 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Toward these ends, should I ever go into the media consulting business, here is a sample of the services available, free of charge:
Had UConn, which generally markets itself successfully, named its starting quarterback early last week, as the decision was obviously made, the Connecticut media and the school’s in-house content producers would have spent days generating stories about Kalieb Osborne, creating a buzz, getting people curious and excited to come see the dynamic new QB1 perform.
Maybe it wouldn’t have “packed The Rent” for Lafayette, but local media coverage still has some ability to benefit UConn football in this regard. Instead, the fashionable, 2020s route was taken, guarding the decision until a national CFB insider could post it on social media the night before the game. So be it, this is how it’s done seemingly everywhere, but it’s hard to see how punting away free local hype helps a program that still needs to sell tickets and get fannies in the seats for kickoff.
Take that for what you will, we’ll keep showing up.
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Anyway, as an independent FBS program, UConn’s on-the-field objectives are to beat the Group of Six conference opponents it schedules and compete with the big conferences when there is a chance. This the Huskies grew to do just that under Mora, beating nearly every MAC, AAC, Sun Belt, Mountain West team that crossed their path, and knocking off Boston College, Duke and, in a Fenway Bowl, North Carolina. The last team to make UConn look noncompetitive was in fact Maryland, a 50-7 winner in the 2024 season-opener at College Park, Md.
The Terrapins are 11 1/2-point favorites Saturday, further distancing UConn from the days when they were four- or five-touchdown underdogs to teams like this. This must be said from experience: even a relatively small crowd at Rentschler can be very loud and create a real homefield advantage, because UConn football fans are that enthusiastic.
The Huskies, for many reasons, can use more of that Saturday, for fans to get to the stadium, put away the grills and take your seats for kickoff and be loud. We know something more about the team and the players than we did a week ago. We’ll know a whole lot more about what kind of season this can be by Saturday night.
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