Plenty of knowns and unknowns as UConn football hosts Syracuse Saturday: How to watch

The Syracuse game used to be almost an automatic win for UConn football.

UConn won the six of the first eight meetings, including five in a row from 2007-2011, but the Huskies haven’t had success in the regional rivalry since Paul Pasqualoni’s first season as head coach. They will look to end the streak at six games and get over the hump after two consecutive one-score losses in the regional rivalry when the Orange visit Rentschler Field on Saturday.

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Last year, playing in Syracuse’s dome, UConn built a 17-6 lead early in the second half before quarterback Steve Angeli (then coached by current UConn offensive coordinator Nunzio Campanile) put together a pair of fourth-quarter scoring drives to send it to overtime, where the Huskies failed to score.

Before the fans left, coach Fran Brown had his team back on the field running sprints as punishment for the scare. Syracuse has lost 10 of its 13 games since.

“We had gone to the locker room and then got onto the bus afterward and saw it online,” said offensive lineman Ty Chan, one of the few players still on the roster. “That’s something for last year’s team to dwell on, but this year, this is a whole new program, a whole new team.”

UConn has been figuring it out with 87 new players, many of whom hadn’t seen regular game reps at their prior stop.

The Huskies have alternated wins and losses thus far, rolling over Lafayette behind QB Kalieb Osborne’s dual-threat excellence in their opener before coming out on the wrong end of a lopsided score in their first power conference opportunity against Maryland. They responded with a big win at Southern Miss, but couldn’t keep the momentum going last week as they visited Miami, Ohio, and came up short after a strong start.

The season hasn’t gone much smoother for Syracuse. Coming off of a bye week, the Orange have struggled with Angeli at QB and lost to both Cal (21-18) and Pittsburgh (27-13) since opening the year with a 66-3 win over New Hampshire.

“We have to address us before we can worry about anybody else. We’re not going to deviate from that,” UConn coach Jason Candle said. “If you just get caught up in moments, if you just get caught up in Saturday’s and outcomes and wins versus losses, then are you really building a team? Are you really getting better? Are you really doing what you said you were going to do in January? I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s the case.

“I’m looking for consistent improvement, I’m looking for guys that come in here with a great attitude and are willing to get better. Guys that really have some humility about them, guys that have the ability to keep the main thing the main thing. … We’ve got to handle us. We’ve got to force and we’ve got to demand consistent improvement to have the competitive excellence that we’re striving to have.”

Familiar faces

No coach in the country knows Jason Candle like Syracuse defensive coordinator Vince Kehres does, and vice versa.

UConn’s offensive play caller and head coach will be going head-to-head with his former Toledo defensive coordinator on Saturday. The relationship between the two tracks back to their own college days, graduating from Division III powerhouse Mount Union five years apart, and then sticking around as assistant coaches under Kehres’ 11-time national champion father, Larry, before reuniting with the Rockets.

“These things are fun but they’re not fun,” Candle said. “We have a great relationship, a ton of respect, talk weekly. I love him and I hope for his success, I hope they shut out every opponent they play, except Saturday. So we’re gonna put together a really good plan, give us our best crack to try to go win the game and play really well, and I know he’ll have his guys ready to do the same.”

Kehres’ defense in his first season at Syracuse has been among the best in the nation in defending the pass, allowing just 130.3 passing yards per game, good for No. 6 nationally. The Orange haven’t had quite the same success against the run, but are still above average allowing 124 rushing yards per game, No. 62 nationally.

Similarly, UConn’s Campanile spent the last three seasons at Syracuse, working with quarterbacks like Kyle McCord (who beat UConn in 2024) and Angeli. He may be able to provide some notes for UConn DC Ryan Manalac, though it seems as though the leash is short and the Orange could very well use two different QBs on Saturday.

Angeli has struggled since returning from the torn Achilles that knocked him out for the season two weeks after beating the Huskies last year. He’s completed 54.8% of his passes for 731 yards and five touchdowns while throwing six interceptions before he was benched in the fourth quarter of the loss to Pittsburgh. Backup Amari Odom came in and completed all eight of his passes for 51 yards.

The Orange have been about average in the running game, averaging 164 yards (No. 64 nationally) behind sophomore Tylik Hill and freshman Shavane Anderson Jr.

“(They’re) massive up front, biggest offensive line we’ll see. Two quarterbacks that are capable of going into the game and playing well. Really good backs, run behind the pads, good after contact, solid vision in the hole to set up what the second level of the defense looks like when they break through. Receivers on the perimeter who can run and can make the quarterbacks better,” Candle said.

What to know

Site: Rentschler Field in East Hartford.

Time: Noon

TV: CBSSN – Jack Gordon, Taylor McHargue, Jaclyn DeAugustina

Friday morning line: Syracuse by 7

Radio: UConn Sports Network, Fox Sports 97.9 – Mike Crispino, Wayne Norman, Adam Giardino

Record (2025): UConn: 2-2 (9-4), Syracuse: 1-2 (3-9)

Series: Syracuse leads, 8-6.

Last meeting: Sept. 6, 2025 – Syracuse 27, UConn 20 (OT) at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.

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