UConn heads to Colorado Springs on Saturday with a defense that finally looks like it’s settling in, and the timing couldn’t be better.
After a bye week that Jason Candle used to hammer the basics, the Huskies answered with a dominant defensive showing in last week’s win over UMass. Candle said the break was about clearing out the sloppy habits that show up over the course of a season and getting back to the details - playing out of a stance, fixing hand placement and sharpening eye discipline.
That work showed up against the Minutemen, and now UConn has a very different test waiting at Falcon Stadium. Air Force runs one of the most punishing ground games in the country, rolling up 337.4 rushing yards per game, No. 2 nationally.
Troy Calhoun’s team has lived near the top of the national rushing charts for years, with seven top-five finishes over the last eight seasons and three years at No. 1.
The challenge is built around the triple-option, a system that keeps defenses guessing snap after snap. Quarterback Evan Medders can hand off to the fullback, keep it himself, or pitch to either halfback, and Candle knows exactly what that means for his defense.
"It stresses your eye discipline and forces you to play sound assignment football," Candle said. "You have to take on blocks with the correct shoulder.
You have to have great hand placement. You have to defeat and destruct blocks at a high level, and then at the end of the day you have to be a great tackling team or this piles up on you fast."
UConn’s last outing offered a useful blueprint. The Huskies held UMass to just 53 rushing yards, and over the last six-plus quarters their defense has been in strong form overall. Temple scored only three points in the second half of UConn’s Oct. 10 win, and UMass managed only 303 total yards with its touchdown not coming until the fourth quarter, after the game had already been decided and reserves were on the field.
Candle said that kind of execution needs to carry over immediately.
"There is no more critical time than this week to have to replicate that," Candle said. "We have to do what we can to limit the rushing attack and try to slow that thing down. We have to somehow, some way get them off schedule and force them into some 3rd-and-long situations, because when they are on schedule it is a really tough operation to stop."
That urgency is real because the schedule tightens up after Saturday. Following Air Force, UConn still has North Carolina and James Madison ahead, the two best teams Candle believes remain on the Huskies’ slate.
The defense has leaned into a more aggressive identity, and defensive lineman Anas Luqman said defensive coordinator Ryan Manalac pushed that message hard during the bye.
"I feel like our defense has played pretty well every game, and we are getting better," Luqman said. "Huskies run as a pack, and it feels good to just run around relentless and wild, fast and violent. I feel that is who we are and who we are striving to be better every day."
Linebacker John Lista used the same language when describing how UConn wants to attack the Falcons.
"Our mentality and our motto on defense is that we are junkyard dogs, and we are aggressive. So, we have been aggressive all year. If you watch the majority of our games, we are blitzing 40% of the game, maybe more.
"Yeah, we will get different looks (in the triple option) and see a different offense, but in terms of our mentality and how we approach the game, it will be similar. We are aggressive."
Even with all the deception Air Force throws at defenses, Lista said UConn can still affect the play at the line of scrimmage with discipline, film study and a crowded box.
The Falcons don’t ask much of their passing game, ranking last nationally at 67.6 passing yards per game. Medders has carried the ball 490 yards at 6.7 yards per carry, but he has also made the few throws he has taken count, completing 8 of 14 passes with no interceptions and two touchdown passes.
Air Force complements that offense with the kind of possession game that can suffocate an opponent. The Falcons rank No. 1 nationally in time of possession at 36 minutes, 34 seconds per game, and their defense has been sturdy too, sitting No. 20 nationally by allowing 296.4 yards per game.
UConn, meanwhile, has to clean up the mistakes from last week. Candle said the Huskies can’t afford 11 penalties or five sacks again. The offense has been productive this season, ranking No. 24 nationally at 447.6 yards per game and averaging 203.0 rushing yards, but it will need to be sharp if the game turns into the sort of grind Air Force prefers.
"I don't want to create a sense of anxiety going into the game for our team and have them feeling like, 'Man, you have to be perfect,' because that is not the case," Candle said. "Make no mistake about it, you would like to play with the lead in this game.
You can't go down 14 or 21 here, because you don't have the possessions on the back end to try to catch up. It gets really problematic if you get behind."
Candle said the Huskies have handled tempo well all season, and he believes they are in position to keep building.
"I think the entire team has evolved," Lista said. "There is one sign in (the football building) 'Get Better,' and Coach Candle preaches it every day. We have definitely gotten better."
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A late-October trip to Colorado Springs already asks plenty of a visiting team, and UConn is staring at a road game that could reveal a lot about where it stands. The Huskies will face Air Force on Oct. 31, with Jason Candle spent time this week discussing how to blunt the Falcons run game and how the altitude adds another layer to the challenge.
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For a player who arrived in the league with the kind of rsum that made him the winningest player in UConn history, the early pro adjustment has been slow, especially on a Kings team mired in a rough stretch. But the more interesting part for Huskies fans is the path ahead, because Karaban is expected to keep earning more run as the season goes on, and Sacramento could soon give him a bigger stage to build on what he showed in this one. [Read more 🡒]