The UConn football team had a concerning first 20 minutes after kickoff in its season-opener on Saturday.
After receiving the ball first, the Huskies’ opening drive lasted only four plays before head coach Jim Mora had to send the punt unit out. Then the snap sailed over the head of punter Connor Stutz, who raced back to retrieve the ball and fell on it at the five-yard line, essentially gifting Central Connecticut points, and the Blue Devils cashed in with a touchdown.
There was a holding penalty on the ensuing kickoff return, another on the first play of the drive, and a third that negated an 81-yard touchdown run from freshman receiver Terrence Smith.
The crowd, announced to be 37,594 at Rentschler Field, groaned.
But Skyler Bell‘s 80-yard sprint down the sideline a few plays later brought it back to its feet, and the Huskies were finally ready to go, scoring 28 unanswered points before halftime and rolling to the expected result over a lower-level, FCS opponent.
The 59-13 final score marked UConn’s fourth-widest margin of victory all-time (46 points), matching the 63-17 win over Merrimack in last year’s home opener.
Now Mora and the Huskies have some film to clean up before travelling to Syracuse, where they’ll meet their first power conference opponent on Saturday.
Here are three main takeaways from the season-opener:
UConn running back Cam Edwards (0) runs for a 73 yard touchdown while pursued by Central Connecticut defensive back Deonte Douglas (38) during an NCAA college football game at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. (Jessica Hill/Special to the Courant)
Offensive playmakers lived up to the hype
UConn’s offense proved it can make explosive plays.
The Huskies ran 71 total plays and accumulated 638 yards, good for an average of nine yards per play. Whether it was a play like Bell’s, an individual effort to evade two tacklers and fly down the field, or Cam Edwards‘ 73-yard touchdown run, which broke open thanks to great execution at the line of scrimmage, the Huskies showed they are capable of breaking explosives.
“I believe that all of us can do that,” said receiver Reymello Murphy, who put UConn up 35-10 with a three-yard touchdown reception just before halftime. “Obviously Sky (Bell) is unbelievable, so if he keeps on doing those things, more opportunities open up for us. And who knows, Shamar (Porter) could open up something, Thai Bowman, even Jackson Harper, (John) Neider, anybody could do it.”
Starting quarterback Joe Fagnano, one of three QBs who entered the game behind center, completed 72% of his passes (18 of 25) for 260 yards as the Huskies’ receiving corps (11 different options) accumulated 196 yards after catch.
UConn had 16 plays go for more than 15 yards, including at least one from all four running backs. Mel Brown, who had over 200 all-purpose yards thanks to his efforts on kick return, broke a 49-yard run to set up a touchdown. Victor Rosa made it through a few tacklers along his 20-yard run to the end zone and M.J. Flowers was surprised by how much open space he had on his 16-yard score.
“Everybody’s just feeding off each other. There’s an unselfishness about this football team,” Fagnano said. “Mel had a huge explosive down the field one play, next we score a touchdown. He’s kind of the reason we got down there and then Skyler feeds off that and we score, and vice versa. There’s just a willingness to play for each other.”
Dom Amore: For UConn football, a victory, a good day, but much left to do
Veiled by the lopsided outcome, defense has a ways to go
Mora said he’d learn what the Huskies have on defense once the almost entirely-new unit took the field for the first time.
Temple transfer Tyquan King, a West Haven native, recorded a team-best eight tackles, five of them solo. Bryun Parham, a Washington transfer, had seven tackles, including 2.5 for a loss and the team’s only sack. The Huskies broke up six passes, hurried the quarterback five times and allowed 257 total yards, evenly split on the ground and through the air.
Mora’s review?
“I was not satisfied with the way we played in the first half,” he said. “I felt like we were very, very tentative. I felt like guys were either not doing their job or doing too much. I didn’t think we tackled well, I didn’t think we were playing downhill, I thought we were on our heels a little bit and not on our toes attacking, so there was a sense of disappointment.”
As the Huskies got comfortable, many of them playing at The Rent for the first time, the defense came into its own. CCSU’s offense managed just 97 yards in the second half and scored only with a 29-yard field goal in the third quarter, which was set up by a 37-yard passing play and a roughing the passer penalty.
“I felt like in the second half we were much better, but we’re light years from where we need to be,” Mora said. “We’ve got to make sure that we make the corrections and those corrections are applied, and we move forward as a more violent, aggressive, cohesive defensive unit.”
Central’s star running back Elijah Howard, the reigning NEC Player of the Year, ran 11 times for 59 yards before exiting the game with a calf injury in the second quarter.
“I felt like we were soft up the middle. I felt like they were able to run the ball on us and that’s not who we can be. That cannot be something that people think they can do to us,” Mora said. “I can guarantee you Syracuse will look at that film and try to run it right down our throat – and I would, if I were them. So we’ve got a major challenge in front of us and fortunately we’ve got a bunch of really good coaches and a bunch of really great kids that want to be good and they will work as hard as possible to be good.”
UConn coach Jim Mora, left grabs the helmet of UConn linebacker Oumar Diomande, about to make his first start on defense for the Huskies in Saturday
s 59-13 win over CCSU (Jessica Hill/Special to the Courant)
Mental mistakes can fly in Week 1, but have to be cleaned up
Many of UConn’s mental mistakes can be chalked up to the fact that it was Week 1, the first time playing at full speed against an actual opponent. But for the Huskies to get where they want to go, they can’t shoot themselves in the foot.
Half of the Huskies’ penalties came in the first quarter, two on each side of the ball, but after halftime, aside from the roughing the passer call on King, a false start and the third defensive pass interference call of the day, the unforced errors became less frequent.
After the errant long snap eight minutes in, UConn didn’t turn the ball over.
“Next week you’re gonna see a whole different team,” Murphy said. “We got all the nicks and bruises out, people were excited because it’s the first game, so that’s in the past and now we move on to Syracuse.”
Originally Published: August 31, 2025 at 3:30 PM EDT