New season, familiar result
UConn overwhelmed by Fresno State in opener
UConn was pushed around Bulldog Stadium Saturday, smeared back into the college football landscape with a 45-0 loss at Fresno State. It was, essentially, a time portal back to 2017, 2018 or 2019 — and any of the more miserable moments from this backwards era.
At least the post-game explanation wasn’t laced with pretext.
“No excuses,” coach Randy Edsall said.
He repeated later, “I have no excuses to offer.”
UConn came out of preseason camp bigger, faster and stronger.
Three words that defined the program’s behind-the-scenes progress through a 21-month hibernation, the result of opting out of play in 2020.
Three words that certainly defined yet another opponent on Saturday.
“This is just one game,” Edsall said. “We just have to get better in all areas. And I know we will. I like this group of kids. They’re disappointed, they’re upset, but they’re going to work and we’re going to continue to get better.”
UConn allowed 538 yards and gained just 107 in its first game as an independent program. The Huskies were shut out for the first time since a 30-0 loss at Boston College on Nov. 19, 2016.
Nearly two years of reflection and planning led to one of the most lopsided losses since Edsall’s return in 2017. UConn lost to Temple by 50 in 2018, to Navy by 46 in 2019.
Those defeats came amid an oft-discussed youth movement, the need to recalibrate on the fly, a recognition for being overmatched in age and physical development.
More was expected, inside the program and outside, from UConn in this YearFive-Season-Four debut, the groundwork for which was that needed sabbatical to train and develop. Edsall has raved about strides made.
But when the new and improved product was put on display for the first time, it basically melted like an ice cube on the 120-degree FieldTurf. Rust wasn’t necessarily the problem. UConn played its best football during a relatively evenly matched first quarter, led by a stout defense that eventually broke. The offense, meanwhile, never even looked mildly functional, with quarterback Jack Zergiotis struggling without protection, options — or much accuracy.
Zergiotis, who won the starting job over Steven Krajewski, completed 12 of 24 passes for 61 yards. Krajewski took over midway through the fourth quarter.
“It’s hard to evaluate the quarterback when the offensive line doesn’t do what they should do,” Edsall said. “You can’t put it all on Jack. I thought he missed some opportunities.”
The floodgates opened for Fresno after Zergiotis was strip-sacked by Arron Mosby late in the first quarter, leading to a 31-yard fumble return and a 7-0 lead. Zergiotis overthrew a wideopen Cam Ross behind the Fresno State defense — on a play that was ultimately called by due to a holding penalty, anyway. In the second quarter, Zergiotis overthrew Nate Carter, who would have easily scored a touchdown to pull UConn with 14-7.
The Huskies play their season opener next Saturday, Sept. 4, against Holy Cross at Rentschler Field.
“He’s going to be the quarterback,” Edsall said of Zergiotis. “It all starts up front. The quarterback takes too much blame when you lose, gets too much credit when you win. You’re never going to be good at football unless you get it done up front. Everybody else has to do their job. Everybody focuses on the QB, but it wasn’t much different with Steven in there. We’re not going to start a quarterback controversy. We’re going with Jack. He’s going to get better.”
Fresno’s Jake Haener (20 of 26, 331 yards, three touchdowns) connected with Ronnie Rivers for a 61-yard touchdown, making it 21-0 moments after Zergiotis missed Carter. Haener on the next drive connected with Jalen Cropper for 86 yards, a touchdown play during which three UConn players failed to make a rather basic tackle.
It was 28-0 at that point, 31-0 at halftime. In terms of a reintroduction to the nation and a fan base back home, the game couldn’t have gone much worse. The punter, freshman Joe McFadden, was pretty good, averaging 40.8 yards on eight attempts, with a long of 53. Jeremy Lucien had an interception.
UConn didn’t come close to covering the spread (271⁄2), and gained just nine first down’s to Fresno’s 25. Kevin Mensah, who passed Wilbur Gilliard for fifth place on the program’s all-time rushing list during the game and now has 2,650 in his career, finished with 31 yards on 11 carries. UConn averaged 1.1 yards per attempt.
Players were not available to the media after the game.
UConn is now 6-31 overall and 2-16 on the road since Edsall’s 2017 return.
“It’s my responsibility to continue to work and get it fixed,” Edsall said. “I’m upset because we came out here to get a win. We have to look at the film make corrections and continue to get better. That’s my job as head coach to make sure that happens. I love these kids. They’re going to do everything we ask them to do. Disappointed, but I think there are lessons we can learn and they can learn. You’ve got to be consistent for 60 minutes if we’re going to give ourselves an opportunity to win.”
The CBS Sports Network broadcast noted that the on-field temperature at kickoff was 117 degrees and later reported it was over 120. Several players on both teams were sidelined with what appeared to be muscle cramps in the second half.
“We’ve made strides,” Edsall said. “It didn’t show in some areas today. That’s why you play the game. Some of the concerns that I had going into this game, they showed up. You’ve just got to work on them and we’ll get better.”