UConn football returns to Rentschler Field looking to get back on track vs. UAB: How to watch
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The UConn football team returns to Rentschler Field trying to turn things around after suffering its third overtime road loss of the season last week at Rice.
Double-digit favorites again, the Huskies look to continue their success in East Hartford when they host UAB in their second of three games against American Athletic Conference teams this season. UConn, 9-1 at home over the last two seasons, is just 5-4 against AAC opponents since becoming independent before the 2021 season.
UAB fired head coach Trent Dilfer after getting out to a 2-4 start, which included losses to Army and Florida Atlantic, who the Huskies will meet in their season finale on Nov. 22. Offensive coordinator Alex Mortensen took over interim head coaching duties.
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Expected to have quarterback Jalen Kitna healthy on Saturday after he missed UAB’s 31-24 win over a ranked Memphis team prior to their bye week, the Blazers have the No. 15 passing offense in the country with 293 passing yards per game. Kitna ranks third in completions per game (26.83) and seventh in yards per game (296). His top receiver, Iverson Hooks, has 41 catches for 560 yards and five touchdowns on the season.
UConn’s run defense, which “isn’t broken” according to coach Jim Mora, despite allowing nearly 500 yards over its last two games, will be challenged by UAB running backs Jevon Jackson (88 carries, 442 yards) and Solomon Beebe (28 carries, 216 yards).
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“We’ve just got to make tackles,” said linebacker Bryun Parham, who leads the Huskies in that category with 76 total tackles, good for 15th-most nationally, and is third in the nation with 9.5 sacks. “Just the fundamentals in practice, wrapping up on everything, putting our chest on tackles, not leaving our feet and rallying to the ball. We’ve got to play with a lot more effort.”
The Huskies, who beat the Blazers in their first-ever meeting last year, 31-23 on the road, are one win away from clinching bowl eligibility for the third time in four years, and the first time in back-to-back seasons since 2010.
In order to do so, they will have to restore some semblance of a running game after hovering around 100 rushing yards at Boston College and Rice. Part of that is due to success in the passing game behind quarterback Joe Fagnano, who is sixth in the nation in passing yards (2,262) and hasn’t thrown an interception through eight games – the only QB with at least 250 passing attempts to do so. Fagnano was top eight on the Week 10 Heisman Fan Vote leaderboard as of Friday.
Top receiver Skyler Bell, after being named East-West Shrine Bowl Player of the Week with his 158-yard performance at Rice, ranks second in the nation with 845 receiving yards this season. His eight receiving touchdowns ranks fourth in the country. And running back Cam Edwards, despite being beat up and battling through injuries over the last few weeks, still finds himself at No. 12 nationally with 753 rushing yards on the year.
The team ranks 20th in the nation in scoring at 36.8 points per game, but has struggled to find the end zone late in games, particularly last week.
“Our mindset is still the same,” Edwards said. “It’s just the little things, we’ve got to fix the little things and we have to finish games out. We’ve got to put some more points on the board in the second half. It’s us as a collective, as a team, there’s nobody else to blame but this team. We just have to come in to work and have a great mindset.”
What to know
Site: Rentschler Field in East Hartford
Line: UConn by 11 1/2
Time: Noon.
TV: CBS Sports Network – Fran Charles, Taylor McHargue, Hailey Sutton
Radio: UConn Sports Network from Learfield, Fox Sports 97.9
Online: The Varsity Network App – Mike Crispino, Wayne Norman, Adam Giardino
Record: UConn: 5-3, UAB: 3-4
Series: UConn leads, 1-0
Last meeting: Nov. 9, 2024 – UConn 31, UAB 23 at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama.
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