‘We feel this could be the one’

Huskies hoping hard yards in practice will translate into their first win of season against Utah State

STORRS — Practice hasn’t made perfect for the UConn football team.

The Huskies may be winning the day in practice from Tuesday through Friday, but Saturday game days have not gone their way this season.

“We’re working really, really hard in practice, harder than we’ve been working,” UConn linebacker Jackson Mitchell said. “We understand what it takes. We’re not getting the results we want so we have to go harder.

We’ve seen the step up in practice and now we have to get it to translate to the game. There have been flashes in games but we have to do it consistently for four quarters.

“We know we’re capable of winning. Once we get one, it will get the ball rolling. We feel this could be the one.”

UConn (0-4) hosts Utah State (1-3) out of the Mountain West Conference Saturday at Rentschler Field. Kickoff is scheduled for noon.

The Huskies returned to the practice field Tuesday for the first time following their 41-7 loss to then-No. 18 Duke. Coach Jim Mora

felt they responded with their best Tuesday practice of the season.

“That’s a function of the guys digging in, paying attention, having a will to come out of this thing,” Mora said. “If you stop seeing those things maybe we’re faltering in some of those areas. They’re working. The attitude is where it needs to be if you want to succeed.

“Even though we’re sitting here at 0-4, my feeling based upon my experiences in this profession tell me we’re still doing the right things but we have to do them better.”

A lack of execution in games is the culprit and it’s come from the offense, defense, and special teams. There hasn’t been one thing Mora could point to and figure if it got fixed the Huskies could still turn their season around,

Mora’s indicators for a good practice are his team’s focus, energy, enthusiasm, effort, attitude, and execution. He’s seen them on weekdays. On weekends, though, one thing or another is missing.

“You’re never going to play a perfect football game,” Mora said. “What coaches try to do in practice is create problems that the players have to solve on Saturday. You don’t want to make it easy. You want to make it hard. You want them to think, react, and adjust. Then you want to give them things that they’ll absolutely understand to give them confidence.

“At times it’s carried over and at times it hasn’t. That’s true for every team in the country. You have good plays and bad plays. You may mismatches for you and

against you. Unfortunately for us there hasn’t been enough consistency and we haven’t won enough matchups at every position and with every call.

“I know this. If you don’t have good practices you don’t really have a chance to come out of this with a win. If you do have good practices, if you have good effort, if you have good attitude, then you have a chance. If you don’t do those things you have no chance. We have a fighting chance because our guys will fight.”

Mora insists the Huskies are improving but knows the numbers are not good. The scoring offense (13.0 points per game) ranks 130th out of 130, dead last, in the national rankings. Total offense (286.2 yards per game) ranks 124th. The scoring defense (31.0 points per game) ranks 105th.

Entering the weekend, UConn, Buffalo, Nevada, Sam Houston State, and Virginia are the winless teams in the country.

“We’ve been prepared,” Mitchell said. “We watch a lot of film and the coaches do a great job of preparing us and making sure we know what to do. It’s just going into a game with no expectations but understanding you have to play really hard and executing your job. If everyone does their job and plays hard the plays will come to us.”

Utah State’s scoring offense is ranked 26th nationally at 37.8 points per game and it averages 430.5 yards per outing. Those numbers are helped by a 78-point performance in a win over FCS Idaho State on Sept. 9 but the Aggies scored 38 points last Saturday against James Madison to overcome a 24-point deficit only to eventually fall a touchdown short.

The Huskies will get a boost having Mitchell available for 60 minutes. The Ridgefield native was ejected for targeting last Saturday following a roughing the passer penalty against Duke quarterback Riley Leonard. Replays did show Mitchell’s helmet hit Leonard’s face mask. What upset Mora about the targeting call is referee Jerry Magallanes of the Atlantic Coast Conference said there was no targeting after his first look at the replay, but changed his call when, for some reason, he took a second look.

“It was just a regular play,” Mitchell said. “He rolled out and it’s part my responsibility when the quarterback rolls out to make sure he keeps rolling and has to get rid of the ball. That’s what I did. I hit him how I hit any quarterback when I get pressure. I’m probably not going to get the sack but I felt like I was there early enough to get the hit and make him feel it.

“I guess I was a little too high for their liking. I’ll probably go lower next time to the chest area. It is what it is. You can’t go back and you wish it didn’t happen because it was a big game and I prepared hard for it and was excited to play. It was a tough call.”

UConn’s hopes of being bowl eligible seem slim and may go to none if it can’t get a win in the finale of a three-game homestand Saturday. The Huskies will play five of their final seven games on the road starting with a trip to Rice on Oct. 7.

“We can still improve,” UConn guard Christian Haynes said. “The last two weeks of practice have been really good so we need to put that on the field and execute.”