When the UConn football team battled the Oklahoma Sooners in the 2011 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, they had the opportunity to change how people viewed them.
Oklahoma prevented that perception shift from becoming a reality, however. Bob Stoops’ Sooners recorded two pick sixes en route to a 48-20 beatdown in the desert.
Then-head coach Randy Edsall eased the Huskies’ transition into the Football Bowl Subdivision and made them a respectable program. From 2003 until 2010, UConn posted six winning seasons, had 11 players drafted into the NFL and participated in five bowl games.
A dark time followed for the Huskies. Connecticut had five head coaches, two of them interim coaches, and posted just one season with 5+ wins between 2011 and 2021.
Nearly 14 years later, the Huskies got that program-defining victory in their most important game since that Fiesta Bowl.
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The standards were not necessarily as high as that New Year’s Six Bowl game 15 seasons ago. UConn defeated a 6-6 North Carolina Tar Heels team with an interim head coach and one win against programs that went bowling.
Nevertheless, the Huskies fans who packed Fenway Park on Saturday cheered in delight while enjoying their program’s statement triumph. Head coach Jim Mora embraced the Gatorade shower more than he did when his team upset the then-No. 19 Liberty Flames two years ago.
Over the course of almost 1,150 days, Mora had already changed Connecticut’s reputation into one where players could springboard their careers. Taking down the Tar Heels in the 2024 Wasabi Fenway Bowl further altered people’s impressions of the program.
Especially with their name, image, or likeness (NIL) resources, the Huskies might stop being a stopgap for future star players. Instead, UConn could become a program that three-star and four-star recruits want to spend their college days playing for. Athletes will realize they can become the best versions of themselves while learning from the former UCLA head coach.
Just take it from East-West Shrine Bowl 1000 Watch List tackle Valentin Senn.
“[Mora] never promised us that we were going to win or anything. He just promised us that if we put the work in and if we do it the way he tells us, then we get an opportunity to come out here and play,” Senn said after the Fenway Bowl. “If we actually put that plan that our coaches give us into action, we can see that we can really play with anybody.”
Despite their independent status, the Huskies had long worn off the label of being a pushover in the FBS scene. That had been the case with each game they played against the Atlantic Coast Conference over the past three seasons. Saturday marked Connecticut’s second win versus the ACC under Mora in eight tries, which included four single-digit defeats.
It stretches well beyond one league, however. Athletic director David Benedict told Mike Anthony in August that he had become annoyed with people disrespecting the Huskies because of their football program. Earlier this week, College Football Live’s FBS Independent/Pac-12 Coach of the Year sent a warning to those trying to poach his athletes.
From Mora’s perspective, those people are trying to undermine the culture he has instilled in the team since day one. The theme of brotherhood has been the backbone behind developing a winning program in the Nutmeg State. It ignited the Husky Revolution in 2022; it helped UConn overcome their worst season opener since 2021.
The Huskies surrendered 629 total yards of offense and six touchdowns in a 50-7 blowout loss to the Maryland Terrapins on August 31, 2024. While they started 0-1 for the fourth straight season and 1-2 heading into their six-game homestand, Connecticut did not cave in.
In almost similar fashion to that revolution, the Huskies embraced an underdog mentality that kept them rooted in attaining success. Behind their tight-knit defense and a ferocious run game, UConn finished the 2024 season 9-4, their best result since that 2010 campaign.
Senior defensive back Rante Jones knew the Huskies would win when the NCAA announced their bowl game on December 8. Despite displaying the same confidence as Joe Namath did before Super Bowl III, one question still burned in the back of his mind.
“Why not us?” Jones asked rhetorically and passionately after his last career game Saturday. “I can look everybody in here [the press room] in the eye, and nobody would expect us to do this. … To come out and get over the hump, it means a lot to us.”
Earning that 13-point victory in front of a mostly-Connecticut crowd marked the end of a 15-year chapter in the program’s history. The new era of UConn football will garner much more respect in a time where NIL and the transfer portal reign supreme.
Even with new talent, the Huskies will play to a higher standard than the one that they worked for throughout the 2024 season. Winning bowl games and staying close with each power conference opponent that they face could become the new norm in East Hartford.
The 2004 NFC Coach of the Year deserves some recognition for composing this extraordinary turnaround. Mora, who felt like “a proud father” after the victory, does not want that spotlight. He made that clear following his opening statement during the postgame press conference and on top of the visiting team’s dugout.
“These men are incredibly important to me,” the 63-year-old coach told ESPN about his players after lifting the Fenway Bowl trophy. “Their commitment, their dedication, their selflessness, what they mean to each other. The brotherhood we have built, that is what it is all about.”
Mora often stated that he did not just want to make a bowl game; he wanted to win one. Connecticut achieved that goal at Fenway Park, almost 20 years to the day after securing their first-ever bowl victory.
With a postseason win secured, the Huskies have earned their place as one of the top FBS teams not in a power conference. It should dramatically skyrocket their reputation.
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