The national attention on the UConn football program only continued to grow after the team finished its 9-3 regular season with a win in a shootout at Florida Atlantic on Saturday.
The Huskies received three voting points in the AP Top 25 poll (one vote at No. 24 and one at No. 25) and four in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, where they were tied with the likes of Penn State and Illinois – two teams ranked in the preseason top-12.
Now comes the unfortunate side of success for a non-power conference program.
If coach Jim Mora, who celebrated his 64th birthday last week, wants to move on, there may not be a better time to do so. There are still plenty of dominoes yet to fall in a coaching carousel that features several high-profile jobs. But the Huskies’ coach has already received interest from multiple schools on the West Coast, according to a report over the weekend from The Athletic’s Chris Vannini.
Vannini reported that Mora “received interest” from Oregon State and Stanford. He got to that point by mentioning Akron coach Joe Moorhead, the former UConn offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach (2009-11), as a name to watch to potentially return to Connecticut, should Mora leave.
After Cal fired coach Justin Wilcox on Sunday, following a loss to Stanford, Vannini mentioned Mora again as a potential candidate for the Golden Bears’ job.
Mora, a California native, has strong roots to the West Coast. He went to the University of Washington and coached at UCLA following multiple decades in the NFL, including head coaching stints with the Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks. Prior to taking the UConn job, he was living in Idaho.
He has shown an ability to rebuild a program where many thought it wasn’t possible, making him an intriguing candidate. But he isn’t the only one.
UConn signed Mora to a contract extension just before the Fenway Bowl last December that runs through the 2028 season.
Fagnano wins Bulger Lowe Award
After one of the best regular seasons in UConn football history, quarterback Joe Fagnano was announced as the winner of The Gridiron Club of Greater Boston’s Bulger Lowe Award on Tuesday, which is awarded annually to the best offensive player of the year at the FBS or FCS level.
Does UConn quarterback Joe Fagnano actually have a case for the Heisman Trophy? Jim Mora thinks so
Fagnano, also a semifinalist for the Davey O’Brien Award and a longshot Heisman candidate, was the first UConn quarterback to start in every regular season game since 2018. The seventh-year QB has gone 285-for-413 for 3,448 yards and 28 touchdowns with only one interception. He has a 161.03 passing efficiency rating. On the season, he ranks third in the nation in passing TDs and passing yards, seventh in completions per game (23.75) and passing yards per game (287.3) and eighth in points responsible for (188). With a bowl game left to play, Fagnano is three completions away from the school record, 37 yards away from the school mark and currently holds the record for fewest interceptions and best passing rating.
Latest bowl projections
With a week left in the regular season for most teams around the country, all UConn can do is wait to find out where it will play next for its third bowl game in four years under Mora. The projections – and levels of potential opponents – are all over the map.
In the latest projections from ESPN, Kyle Bonagura predicted the Huskies would end up returning to the Myrtle Beach Bowl (where they lost to Marshall in 2022) to meet Southern Miss on Dec. 19. Mark Schlabach proposed a more intriguing arrangement with the Huskies potentially playing Florida State in the Gasparilla Bowl (Dec. 19, Tampa, Fla.). For that to happen though, Florida State, which is 5-6, would need to win its season finale at Florida, and become bowl eligible.
The Athletic projected a UConn-James Madison matchup in the Cure Bowl (Dec. 17, Orlando, Fla.), though the Dukes are still hanging around in the College Football Playoff picture. USA Today projects a return to Boca Raton, where the Huskies finished the regular season, for the Dec. 23 Boca Raton Bowl vs. Coastal Carolina, and Athlon Sports also had the Huskies returning to the Myrtle Beach Bowl, to meet Kennesaw State.
UConn receiver Skyler Bell named one of three finalists for Biletnikoff Award