Jason Candle liked plenty about UConn’s 56-7 rout of Lafayette on Saturday. The yardage was historic, the offense and defense both came out sharp, Jack O’Connor was perfect on the day, and 100 players had already seen the field by halftime.
Still, the first-year Huskies coach walked away wanting more.
For Candle, the biggest thing missing from the season opener was simple: a little resistance.
“I just think number one, like we haven't been through any adversity yet, right? That's the one thing that's that really stands out to me,” Candle told reporters on Monday. “You know, what's going to happen and who are we when we get hit in the mouth?
“And at some point in time throughout the course of the football season, that's going to happen. You hope there's some moments like that in game one.”
That test comes quickly. UConn faces Maryland on Saturday at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn., and the jump in competition is a major one.
Lafayette was the Huskies’ only FCS opponent on the schedule, while Maryland is one of three Power Four teams set to visit UConn. Syracuse comes on Oct. 3, and North Carolina on Nov.
Maryland arrives after piling up 646 total yards in its Week 1 win over Hampton, another FCS team.
Candle said a little adversity on Saturday might have been useful - not enough to turn the opener into a loss, but enough to see how his team responds when things stop going smoothly.
“I think that's our challenge this week to continue to hone in on practice details and practice habits so we're ready for when, you know, the you-know-what hits the fan.”
Even with that concern, Candle used Monday to hand out his Week 1 MVP awards, something he said he does after wins. He went with Julian Allen on special teams, K'Von Sherman on defense and Kalieb Osborne on offense.
All three came over from Toledo, where Candle spent 10 years before taking the UConn job last December after Jim Mora’s departure.
Allen earned special praise for his work handling punts. Candle said he “did a good job catching the punts all day long… I think he's got a really bright future at that position.”
Allen returned three punts, including a 49-yard burst to the Lafayette 16-yard-line. After a penalty moved UConn back to the 25, Kenji Christian finished the drive with a 25-yard touchdown run that made it 35-0 at the end of the second quarter.
Candle also singled out Sherman, calling the linebacker “an impact and a force right from the start.” Sherman finished with five tackles, including two for loss, and added a sack.
In Other News...
UConn Is Battling For A Backcourt Target Fans Need To Watch
UConn has gotten a head start in the race for one of the more intriguing backcourt names in the Class of 2027, as NaVorro Bowman Jr. recently wrapped up a visit to Storrs. The California guard, whose football lineage comes through former NFL linebacker NaVorro Bowman Sr., arrives with the kind of profile that naturally draws attention, and the Huskies are clearly treating him as a priority long before his class reaches signing time.
For UConn, the interest is as much about fit as it is about talent. The Huskies are already looking ahead to what their backcourt could look like in the next few years, and Bowmans skill set gives them a chance to get in early on a player who could eventually matter a lot if current rotation pieces move on. His recruiting trail is only getting started, with visits to Illinois, Texas and Arizona still on the calendar, so this is the kind of battle UConn fans will want to keep an eye on. [Read more 🡒]