Joe Fagnano has had a Senior Day before, but never one quite like he’ll have on Saturday.
In the wake of leading the UConn football team to a thrilling 37-34 win over ACC-contending Duke in front of a near-record crowd that stormed Rentschler Field, Fagnano has garnered national attention for the Heisman-like stat line he’s put together this season. He is second in the nation in passing yards (2,840) and touchdowns (25), top 20 in completion percentage (68.8%) and, remarkably, hasn’t thrown an interception all year.
And last year, in his first Senior Day experience with Huskies, prior to finding out he’d be eligible to return for a seventh year of college football, Fagnano hadn’t yet become the team’s full-time starter. A last ride like he’s put together was unthinkable.
“I’m proud of (the senior class), I’m proud of the things that they’ve worked so hard to accomplish and the resilience that they’ve shown, and the toughness that they’ve shown,” coach Jim Mora said. “It can be fun to hopefully be able to get a chance to celebrate them before the game, they’ve earned it. So it’s really important that we have that chance to do that, then we put it behind us and play the game.”
Skyler Bell, who should be a Heisman candidate himself, or at least strong in the running for the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the top receiver, will also be among the 39 seniors and graduate students recognized as the team looks to go undefeated at home for only the third time since Rentschler Field opened in 2003 and the first since 2010.
Bell leads the nation in receptions (85) and touchdowns (13) and is only 45 yards behind the receiving yards leader (1,081) as he looks to become only the fifth player to claim the receiving Triple Crown. The Bronx native has already set the program’s single-season receiving touchdown record, and he is 15 catches away from the receptions record of 100 set by Noel Thomas in 2016, and 273 yards from the receiving yards record, set by Mark Didio in 1991 (1,354).
The success of college football’s most underrated duo has been embraced by the entire team.
“We’re so locked in and mostly in this (practice facility), so we kind of see the same faces and get the same message and we talk the same way we talked with each other before we started winning some games that mattered or before the season,” said tight end Alex Honig, another senior who will be difficult to replace. “But you see it online, you see Joe getting the attention he deserves, you see Skyler being up there for the Triple Crown. I mean, those are exciting and its great to get the recognition, it’s just fun to follow.
“Joe’s my roommate, I always bug him with it, he doesn’t care much about it but I care that I tell him about it. I love joking with him and it’s just crazy for a school like this, that hasn’t gotten the recognition it deserves, to finally get to that point. We try to cherish it, but also at the end of the day, it’s always just another week and we’re trying to play another game.”
Air Force, like the other service academies, likes to run the ball.
And UConn, while it has improved in recent weeks, is No. 106 of 134 FBS programs in defending the run.
The Falcons run the ball more than any team in the country aside from Army and Rice, which ran for 300 yards and four touchdowns to beat the Huskies in overtime three weeks ago. Air Force averages 269 rushing yards per game, second only to Navy, and is led by a mobile quarterback in sophomore Liam Szarka, who is in the top 15 nationally in rushing with 903 yards on the season.
“They stress you because of the way they run the ball and kind of play hide and seek with the football and they can involve the quarterback in the run game and get the extra hat, that challenges you. They are not like Rice, but there are some similarities, which, at least we’ve seen it – I’m not gonna say it helps us, what helps us is preparing well during the week and going out and playing well – but at least there’s a little bit of familiarity,” Mora said. “But these guys are polished. These are some of the smartest young men in the United States of America.
“They’re warriors. They play with that warrior spirit, they’re relentless. You don’t go to the Air Force Academy unless you’ve got something special in your heart and soul, and they play that way. We just have to be ready for that.”
The Huskies hope fans can ride momentum from last week’s largest attendance since 2013 and fill up the stadium again, but the team “eliminated,” according to senior DB D’Mon Brinson, the thrilling win after 24 hours and moved on.
“That’s why we play this game, to defy human nature,” Brinson said. “Nobody’s really talking about Duke at all, we’re onto Air Force.”
What to know
Site: Rentschler Field in East Hartford
Line: UConn by 7 1/2
Time: Noon
TV: CBS Sports Network – Chris Lewis, Randy Cross, Richard Johnson
Radio: UConn Sports Network from Learfield, Fox Sports 97.9
Online: The Varsity Network App – Mike Crispino, Wayne Norman, Adam Giardino
Record: UConn: 7-3, Air Force: 3-6
Series: First meeting.