In 2021, someone forgot to tell the entire program to wake up.
Thus far, the Huskies are 0-4 on the current season, even losing in Week 2 to I-AA Holy Cross by 10. Their current losing streak going back to 2019 now stands at eight.
Head coach Randy Edsall had announced he would be retiring after this season, a decision that was exacerbated by the loss to Holy Cross. Edsall retired the following day. The Huskies have already been shut out twice this year, once to Fresno State and the other to Purdue, giving up a combined 94 points.
Sports news outlets such as ESPN and CBS Sports have for years jokingly ranked the 10 worst teams in the country. UConn has been a mainstay on both websites the past several years, where they currently sit atop both “polls” at the moment.
To make matters worse, the Huskies actually have Clemson in “Death Valley” later this season. Their big rivalry game against lowly Massachusetts is on the road in three weeks as well. In 2019, the Huskies hung 56 points on the Minutemen, which was the only time they scored above 24 all season.
Connecticut returned from their hiatus as an independent, citing that all other sports joined the Big East Conference, which does not house football. Currently there are only seven teams that are independent in Division I-A, or what some might affectionately call the “Notre Dame Conference.”
Just how bad is 2021 for this program you ask? Quarterback Jack Zergiotis has three touchdown passes and 235 yards. Both are tops among the three quarterbacks UConn has used through four games. Keep in mind that Zergiotis has not played since the loss to Holy Cross.
The Huskies only have six offensive touchdowns as a unit through four games.
We all understand that Connecticut is known far more for its basketball programs, namely the dominance of the women. Let’s keep in mind that the Huskies have only been a Division I-A school since 1998, but made six bowl games between 2004-2015. Five of those games were coached by Edsall, with three being victories. The Huskies actually won the Big East in 2010, but were dominated by Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl as the conference representative in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS).
The combined record of UConn’s four opponents so far is 10-3. Fresno State upset UCLA 40-37 and Purdue gave Notre Dame everything they could handle up until the fourth quarter in a 27-13 loss on Saturday.
Then again, ask someone like Michigan if they would rather go 12-1 and win the Big 10 despite losing to Ohio State, or go 1-12 and upset their nemesis.
UConn currently has the title that Kansas held when I wrote about their shortcomings in 2018 on this very blog. At least the Jayhawks have a win on the season. Even though they nipped South Dakota 17-14 in Week 1, Kansas has a leg up on the Huskies for not succumbing to the I-AA opponent on their early-season schedule.
The home loss to Purdue drew only 14,187 fans to the 40,000-seat Pratt & Whitney Stadium. Gampel Pavilion holds 10,167 for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Put that into perspective when it comes time for students to get amped up for what event to attend now that the weather is about to turn colder.
If it was not for UConn and UMass, the once vaunted Florida State could be thought of as the worst team in the nation. Someone is going to win and get out of the basement in a few weeks.
The only problem is that it might end up being the victor's only win of the entire season.
-JC24