Bob Diaco hasn’t been the easiest guy to believe in his first season at UConn.
While his team limped to a 1-6 start, he was irrationally optimistic. He talked about improvement when we saw none. He said the wins would come when we saw no reason to expect them.
On Saturday, one of those wins finally came. And it was a big one.
It was a 37-29 home victory over defending conference champion Central Florida on the day that the program dedicated a memorial to former player Jasper Howard, who was tragically killed five years ago.
The Huskies were far from perfect, but they played well enough, for long enough, to earn their first conference win of the year and hand the Knights their first ever defeat in AAC play.
“I’m proud of the players each week in how they fight and their spirit,” Diaco said. “It’s great to end the game with a win and to be able to reinforce all the things they are doing and how hard they are working.”
For the first time this year, that fight translated into a win against an FBS opponent.
DeShon Foxx saw his first chance at quarterback and on his first snap, he ran 68 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 7-7 in the second quarter. Chandler Whitmer threw for two scores for the second straight game. Andrew Adams tied a program record with three interceptions in a game, becoming the first Husky to do so since Darius Butler in 2005. Noel Thomas emerged as a receiving threat, catching both of Whitmer’s touchdown passes and accumulating a career-high 83 receiving yards.
“Noel Thomas is a talented player,” Diaco said. “He just needs to mature in the game and now that he’s doing that, he is working on how to become a professional and how to be a student-athlete at the highest level.”
UConn’s progress as a team was punctuated in the third quarter. UCF had reclaimed the lead on a touchdown and it appeared that UConn was about to give up the ball on its next possession. The Huskies were at 3rd-and-20, stuck at their own 26, when they were bailed out by a Knights’ pass-interference penalty.
The Huskies took advantage. Whitmer hit Thomas. Then Sean McQuillan. Then he ran it himself for a first down. A few minutes later, the ball was on the 1-yard line and on fourth down, Ron Johnson ran it through to put UConn ahead for good.
Another short touchdown run from Johnson and Thomas’s second TD catch of the game just provided breathing room as the Huskies withstood a late score and a two-point conversion from the Knights to hold on.
“These are the best two games we’ve played this season and that was the plan,” Whitmer said, also referring to last week’s close loss at East Carolina. “We hope to continue that and get even better.”
UCF was probably the toughest opponent UConn had remaining on its schedule. Next up is a date with Army at Yankee Stadium. A win there and the Huskies would match their win total from last year.
Depressing, incremental improvement? Yes. But for the first time this season, we have reason to believe in Diaco’s season-long mantra of steady progress.
