UConn hits the road for the first time in 2026 on Saturday, heading to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, for a meeting with Southern Miss on ESPN+.
It’s a first-ever matchup between the Huskies and the Golden Eagles, and it comes with a little conference history attached. UConn has played four Sun Belt opponents since the 2022 season and is 1-3 against the league. This year’s schedule still has two more Sun Belt visits coming to Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in November, when James Madison and Old Dominion come to Storrs.
The Huskies are trying to bounce back after a 38-14 loss to Maryland last weekend that snapped a nine-game home winning streak at the Rent. UConn jumped ahead 7-0 in the first quarter, but the Terrapins answered with 24 straight points and took control from there. Quarterback Kalieb Osborne threw two touchdown passes in the loss, and wide receiver JD Willoughby grabbed his first career touchdown.
Saturday also puts first-year UConn head coach Jason Candle in another new setting. Candle, hired in December as the 33rd head coach in program history, spent 10 seasons at Toledo and left as the school’s all-time winningest coach with 81 victories.
His Rockets won two MAC titles, reached seven bowl games and never finished a season below .500 during his tenure. Candle was also named MAC Coach of the Year in 2017 and 2023.
Candle did not coach against Southern Miss while at Toledo, but he does have history against Golden Eagles coach Blake Anderson. Candle faced Anderson three times when Anderson was at Arkansas State, and Toledo won all three meetings, including the 2015 GoDaddy.com Bowl. Anderson, meanwhile, is 2-0 in his career against UConn, with wins over the Huskies in 2022 and 2023 while at Utah State.
Southern Miss enters at 1-1 after opening with a 49-3 win over Alcorn State before dropping a 43-8 game at Auburn last weekend. Anderson is in his first season leading the program, and the Golden Eagles also underwent major turnover this fall, bringing in 74 new players and returning just two starters.
Quarterback Ethan Hampton has thrown for 326 yards and two touchdowns through two games, while Steven Robinson has been the key runner with 174 yards and three scores. Southern Miss was picked to finish fifth in the Sun Belt West in the preseason poll.
The matchup also adds another chapter to UConn’s track record against the Sun Belt. The Huskies are 1-3 against the conference overall.
They ended an 0-3 stretch in 2024 with a 34-27 home win over Georgia State, after losses at Georgia State in 2023 and at James Madison that same year. UConn’s first Sun Belt meeting came in the 2022 Myrtle Beach Bowl, a 28-14 loss to Marshall.
The Huskies are 0-2 all-time against Marshall, 1-5 against James Madison and 0-1 against Georgia Southern.
In Other News...
UConn's Syracuse Trip Just Got A Lot Tougher For One Reason
Syracuses buildup to its Oct. 3 meeting with UConn picked up an extra wrinkle with the return of Calvin Russell looming. The five-star receiver has not played this season after tearing his Achilles in March, but head coach Fran Brown said he is expected to be cleared for the game, a sign that the Orange may have a dangerous weapon back in the mix sooner than most players make it back from that kind of injury.
For UConn, the timing matters because this is not just about adding another name to the Syracuse depth chart, it is about preparing for a player whose recovery would come in barely six months. Russells status still leaves a small bit of uncertainty, but the possibility alone changes the conversation around a road trip that already looked tricky enough on paper. [Read more 🡒]