EAST HARTFORD — Bob Diaco is going to save UConn football.
The future tense is important, because UConn football is not saved yet, although the Huskies earned either the most or the second-most important win in Rentschler Field history on Saturday night, a 20-17 win over Houston that stunned the college football world.
It was a beautiful, brilliant slog of a win, requiring four Houston turnovers and a goofy trick play – “an exotic,” Diaco called it after the game – in the grandest tradition of what-the-fuck UConn football wins.
UConn’s progress has been steady, if non-linear, over the last 23 months, giving the diehards – i.e. the loud 27,000 or so at the Rent Saturday – reason to hope that this program would turn itself around, turn into the winner that this university desperately needs.
Well after Saturday’s endorphin rush, UConn finds itself well ahead of schedule: 6-5 and bowl-eligible in year two of the Diaco era, boasting a team full of hungry underclassmen who have believed when they had no reason to believe. Back in August, I’d have counted a four-win season as a massive improvement. Improbably, the Huskies have a chance to double that optimistic total.
Bob Diaco is a damned wizard.
So what did we learn on Saturday, other than “everyone should buy season tickets for 2016 because this team could be really good really soon”?
1) That Diaco is building a formidable, badass defense, led by stars-in-the-making Foley Fatukasi (5 tackles, forced fumble), Luke Carrezola (2 tackles for loss) and Jamar Summers (2 pass break-ups and the game-clinching interception), all sophomores. They’re big, angry, and mean – and Diaco noted that the next generation of linemen coming into the program are bigger, angrier and meaner – and they shut down a really good offense today. Houston came into the game 22nd in the nation at 5.10 yards per carry; they had 3.3 today. (UConn would’ve out-gained Houston but for two end-of-game kneel-downs, which, what?)
“We know how physical we are up front,” Carrezola said. “The coaches’ game-plan was awesome, and I’m just so proud of the guys on defense for doing the job. We know how tough it is for runners to run when there’s no creases. We’re a no-crease defense.”
After tearing down the rotten foundations of the program just over 15 months ago, UConn is already back to the level of play circa 2011, when the Huskies trotted out defenses that were good-to-very good, and inconsistent offenses that would get you to say “goddamn it, I can’t believe we wasted that good defense.” Speaking of, we also still know…
2) That the UConn offense is still really a work in progress. Today’s a tough day to judge given that the Huskies lost their starting QB and starting tight end on the second drive of the game – Bryant Shirreffs is “day-to-day,” Diaco said, after taking a viciously dirty hit on the Huskies’ second drive; Tommy Myers suffered a “significant” lower leg injury.
With Shirreffs in the lineup, UConn put together a fine opening drive (UConn’s fifth opening drive score in 11 games, which seems to show a competence in game-planning, if nothing else) for a touchdown that gave the Huskies an early lift, with Arkeel Newsome running right through the Houston defense early on.
It was super-ugly for much of the time after that, but thankfully, smoke and mirrors are still things, so third-string QB Garrett Anderson, in the lineup as a fullback, tossed a 45-yard pop fly that found its way into the hands of Noel Thomas for what ended up being the game-winning touchdown.
3) That the team and the coaching staff are still figuring out basic things like clock management, getting plays in on time and not-illegally-substituting. Given the win it’s easier to overlook these things, but once UConn starts having real-life actual expectations (only 10 months until the 2016 opener!), it’s going to have to get better.
And finally, and most importantly as a fan and alum:
4) That UConn football can sell hope again.
While the hand-wringing about ticket sales on Iranian sketch-comedy website “The Boneyard” turned out to be on the mark, the 3/4ths-full stadium was very loud, electric even.
The kids who stormed the field looked like they were having the time of their lives, and all the players interviewed in the media room talked about how much that celebration meant to them.
And the people who were here will be back.
These are the wins that keep fans interested, wanting to come back and to be a part of something. Saturday was the perfect advertisement for a young UConn football team that is being built to win, a loud-and-clear message to the casual fans that some cool stuff might be coming soon.
I can’t rag on fans for not buying into a 5-5 team that has looked quite mediocre at times (although mediocre is still a step up from past years). But the UConn players believed in themselves before they saw the rewards, Diaco said after the game Saturday. His players fight, in the grand tradition of UConn athletes playing with a chip on their shoulder. They believe in his words, those super-positive-camp-counselor-on-speed words, and they have played at-times inspired football in a season when expectations were low.
The progress won’t be linear, and the Huskies will go through setbacks as all improving teams do. But Saturday’s result is clear evidence that UConn has something brewing here, that the corner has been turned, that the roughest seas have been navigated.
UConn football is alive again, and now is when things start to get interesting.
