UConn’s 2026 season starts Saturday at 12:02 p.m., and the Huskies are doing it with a fresh face on the sideline, a nearly rebuilt roster and an FCS opponent in Lafayette waiting at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field.
The opener will air locally in Connecticut on WFSB-3 and WWAX, with streaming available on UConn+. The game is also set for the UConn Sports Network, the flagship Fox Sports 97-9 FM in Hartford, and SiriusXM 263 and the SiriusXM App 972.
This is the beginning of the Jason Candle era in Storrs. UConn introduced Candle as the 33rd head coach in program history in December, bringing him in after 10 seasons at Toledo.
He leaves the Rockets as the school’s all-time winningest coach with 81 victories, two Mid-American Conference titles in 2017 and 2022, and seven bowl trips. Toledo never had a losing season under Candle, and no MAC team won more games during his run.
He also picked up MAC Coach of the Year honors in 2017 and 2023.
Candle’s first UConn team looks nothing like last year’s group. The Huskies brought in 87 new players this offseason, including 60 through the transfer portal, and they return only one starter from 2025: offensive lineman Ty Chan.
Saturday also continues a familiar pattern for UConn. It’s the second straight year and the third time in the last four seasons that the Huskies open at home.
They’ve been strong in that setting, going 16-6 in home openers at Rentschler Field and 14-9 in season-openers since moving to FBS. Last year’s win over CCSU snapped a three-year stretch of opening losses.
The last first-year UConn head coach to win his debut was Randy Edsall in his second stint, when the Huskies beat Holy Cross. Before that, Paul Pasqualoni opened with a win over Fordham in 2011.
The Lafayette game also fits into a long-running UConn trend. Since moving up to FBS in 2002, the Huskies have faced at least one FCS opponent every season, and they’re 22-2 overall against those teams.
Their FCS wins include Florida Atlantic in 2002, Lehigh in 2003, Murray State in 2004, Liberty in 2005, Rhode Island in 2006, 2009 and 2018, Maine in 2007 and 2016, Hofstra in 2008, Texas Southern in 2010, Fordham in 2011, UMass in 2012, Stony Brook in 2014, Villanova in 2015, Holy Cross in 2017, Wagner in 2019, Yale in 2021, Central Connecticut in 2022 and 2025, Sacred Heart in 2023 and Merrimack in 2024. The two losses came against Towson in 2013 and Holy Cross in 2021.
UConn enters its sixth season as an FBS independent, and the 2026 schedule brings three home games against Power Four programs: Maryland from the Big Ten, plus ACC opponents Syracuse and North Carolina. The rest of the slate includes Sun Belt matchups with Southern Miss, James Madison and Old Dominion, MAC games against Miami (OH) and UMass, Mountain West opponents Air Force and Wyoming, and Temple from the American.
Rentschler Field has been UConn’s home since 2003, making this the 23rd season in East Hartford. The stadium was officially renamed Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in 2015.
UConn’s all-time record there is 83-58. The venue’s single-game attendance mark remains 42,704, set against Michigan on Sept. 21, 2013 with extra bleachers added.
Last season’s Duke game drew 38,106, the largest crowd there since that Michigan matchup.
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UConns Brutal Early Schedule Just Got A Lot Clearer
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The schedule also now has its finishing touches, with additional non-conference games lined up and exhibition dates in place to help frame the preseason. Syracuse is on the exhibition docket at Mohegan Sun, and UConn will also see Michigan State and Purdue in tune-up action, adding more heavyweight names to a calendar that already stands out. [Read more 🡒]