Not to take anything away from Diamond, but we at Duck on a Rock at least got one prediction right.
After UConn got blown out by Maryland in the season opener, we said to fret not, and the Huskies proved us right.
The UConn football team capped a 9-4 season with a 27-14 win over North Carolina in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl.
The Huskies made school history in a historic ballpark. UConn reached nine wins for the fourth time in school history, won a bowl game for the first time since the Papajohns.com Bowl in 2010, finished their first winning season since 2010, and their highest win percentage since 2007.
And it may not have been a bowl game in warm weather to escape the winter cold, but UConn fans got to make the short drive to Boston for a bowl game. It was the first time the Huskies played in Fenway Park since 2017.
To catch us up since September, after starting 0-1, UConn showed some promise by lighting up the scoreboard in a 63-17 win over Merrimack in the home opener. The Huskies had a tough 26-21 loss at Duke, then took advantage of the not-as-strong schedule to reel off a winning streak. UConn crushed FAU 48-14, blew out Buffalo 47-3, and then turned a potential loss to Temple into a 29-20 win by returning a fumble the length of the field on the final play of the game.
UConn took a tough 23-20 loss at home to Wake Forest, but then rebounded with a 17-10 Homecoming win against Rice. The Huskies held on in one-score wins against Georgia State and at UAB to gain bowl eligibility against the Panthers, and to clinch their first winning season in a decade and a half at the Blazers. UConn hung tough on the road at 10-win and former Big East rival Syracuse, then closed out the 8-4 regular season by beating current football rival UMass 47-42.
Now for what’s next. Jim Mora signed an extension through 2028 the morning of the Fenway Bowl. Mora has reached bowls in two of his three seasons at the helm, and has put UConn football in its best position as a program since Randy Edsall’s red eye to College Park. UConn’s win against the Tar Heels at Fenway notched the Huskies a win over the ACC, and a Power 4 school, after all four losses came against the P4, three to the ACC. Perhaps power opponents will be more common in the future.
For years UConn football fans have dreamed of a power conference, or at this point any conference invite. After flirtations with conferences, especially the Big 12, and rumors on X and message boards about football-only invites to the Pac 12, or the entire athletic program to a power conference, Mora and the Huskies may actually have a chance.
They needed a season like this. The schedule helped of course, but to go 9-4 and win a bowl game is meaningful. It shows the strength of the football program is catching up to the rest of the school. UConn is an attractive option for conferences who want the full package and the most important sport is now up to par.
Look at what has happened in college football. Group of five Boise State is the third seed in the playoff, Arizona State won the Big 12 in its first year and also got a bye. Indiana and SMU, much to the chagrin of ESPN/SEC shills and mouthpieces in the media, made the playoff.
Is it that crazy to think that UConn could get a chance and win a conference, power 4 or group of 5, someday, or at least get a chance to get crushed by Notre Dame or Penn State in a first round playoff game after an 11-win season?
If that sounds crazy to you, then just think of this. The UConn football program that some fans, myself included, have pondered dropping back down a division, or disbanding entirely, just capped off its best season in convincing fashion – convincing not only Husky fans of the strength of the program, but maybe the national college football landscape as well.
