TIME: 3:00 PM
TV: ESPN+
ANNOUNCERS: AJ Ricketts (play-by-play), Patrick Murray (analyst), Savanna Collins (sideline)
RADIO: UConn Sports Network; Varsity Network App; 97.9 Fox Sports, WGCH 1490 AM, WAVZ 1300 AM, WILI 1400 AM and 95.3 FM, WICH 1310 AM and 94.5 FM; Sirius/XM online streaming, XM 388 (UConn)
ANNOUNCERS: Mike Crispino (play-by-play), Wayne Norman (color analyst), Adam Giardino (sideline)
RECORDS: UConn (8-3); FAU (4-6, 3-4 AAC)
LAST WEEK: UConn knocked off Air Force, 26-16; FAU fell to Tulane,
35-24
POINT SPREAD: UConn -7.5 (odds via FanDuel)
O/U: 65.5
SERIES HISTORY: This will be the third time the two teams have met on the gridiron with the Huskies holding a 2-0 advantage. This will be UConn’s first trip to Boca Raton.
GAME NOTES WITH DEPTH CHART: UConn; FAU
PREGAME PRESS CONFERENCE(S): UConn head coach Jim Mora; FAU head coach Zach Kittley
WEATHER FORECAST: Boca Raton, FL
Fun With Numbers
1: The Huskies received one vote in the latest AP Poll. It’s the first time since 2010 final poll they’ve received votes. The lone vote came from Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
2: With Cam Edwards reaching 1,000 yards rushing (1,031) and Skyler Bell reaching 1,000 yards receiving (1,153), they become the first RB-WR duo in UConn’s FBS history to pass the 1,000 yard mark. The last time a RB-WR combo hit the century mark in the same season at UConn was 1988 when WR Glenn Antrum (1,130) and RB George Booth (1,002) did it.
2: UConn is also one of two Group of Five teams to beat two Power Four schools (Duke and Boston College). Tulane is the only other school to do it and is currently the Group of Five representative in the recent CFP rankings.
5: The Huskies are 5-5 against American Athletic Conference teams all-time. They are 1-1 this season having beat UAB, 38-19, and falling to Rice, 37-34, in double overtime.
25: This is the 25th anniversary of the FAU football program born from the vision of the late great Howard Schnellenberger
74: Despite the win, UConn fell four spots to 74th in ESPN’s FPI (College Football Power Index) this week. FAU is 104th
47: With the win over Air Force, UConn moved up 11 spots in ESPN’s SP+ rankings to 47th while the Owls are 105th
3002: Joe Fagnano has thrown for 3002 yards this season, which ranks him fourth in FBS. He ranks third in passing TDs (25), sixth in points responsible for (170), 11th in completions per game (22.8), 13th in passing yards per game (272.5), 15th in passing efficiency (159.4), 17th in completion percentage (.686) and 22nd in total offense (286.3). He is the first quarterback to pass for over 3,000 yards since Dan Orlovsky did it in 2003.
2,964: FAU quarterback Caden Veltkamp has thrown for 2,964 yards and 22 TDs this season. He ranks sixth nationally at 296.4 yards per game. His 28.4 completions per game is tops in the country.
3,289: As a whole, the FAU passing offense leads the country with 3,289 passing yards and 328.9 yards per game.
346: Fagnano threw his first interception on his 346th pass of the 2025 season. Dating back to last season, he gone 379 passing attempts without an interception while throwing 29 toucdowns in that span.
1,153: Bell’s 1,153 receiving yards ranks him currently second in FBS. Bell ranks first in the country in catches (93), receptions per game (8.45) and receiving TDs (13). He ranks third in yards per game (104.8) and is seventh in total touchdowns (13).
55: FAU has gone for it on fourth down 55 times this season which is 13 more than any other school in FBS.
13: Bell’s 13 touchdown receptions breaks the single-season school record which was previously held by Carl Bond, who did it in 1998.
35: The UConn defense has 35 sacks on the season which is ninth best in FBS. They are also ranked ninth in the nation in average sacks per game at 3.18.
10.5: Huskies linebacker Bryun Parham leads the team with 10.5 sacks and ranks fourth in total sacks (10.5) and sixth in sacks per game (1.05). Parham is also the Huskies leading tackler with with 108 which is fifth in the nation and ranks 11th in tackles per game at 9.8. He is just 2.5 sacks away from tying the school record of 13 set by Steve Beal (1978) and Mark Michaels (1984).
103: UConn linebacker Oumar Diomande has made 103 total tackles to rank eighth and he ranks sixth with 56 solo stops. He averages 9.4 tackles per game to rank 15th.
78: Leon Hart Jr. leads the Owls with 78 tackles on the season. He is ranked 34th in FBS with 8.6 tackles per game.
1,031: UConn running back Cam Edward ranks eighth in the country in rushing yards (1,031) and is 10th in rushing touchdowns (12).
What to watch for
Nine Regular-Season Wins!
UConn has only won nine regular-season games twice in its FBS years, in 2003 and 2007. The first time, the program was still transitioning from 1-AA to 1-A and ineligible for the postseason. After wins over Indiana, Army, and Rutgers, the 2003 season ended with a 51-17 regular-season triumph over Wake Forest.
The 2007 season also ended against Wake Forest, in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, after a season where UConn was ranked 16th after beating then-No. 11 South Florida (if this seems crazy to you now, it also was back then) to improve to 7-1. They stayed at 16th after a win over Rutgers, before a big loss to Cincinnati pushed them down to No. 25.
In that season’s penultimate game, they took down Syracuse at the Rent and moved up to 20th in the AP Poll, setting up a big matchup against West Virginia in the season finale, with the Big East crown and New Year’s Six bowl berth on the line.
UConn did not win that game, and an unfortunate meme was born that day. They also lost the bowl game.
Anyway, that’s the history of UConn’s best regular seasons as an FBS program. You know the rest — they won eight games in each of the next three seasons before the program tanked. [Insert stat about futility from 2011-2021].
Jim Mora’s Huskies have a shot at adding to the story with their second straight nine-win campaign, an improvement over last year. A 4-6 FAU side, ranked 105th in SP+, 73rd offensively, 127th defensively, stands between them and setting the high mark for regular-season wins since 2007.
FAU Can Sling It
UConn destroyed FAU last year, 48-14, as the Owls fired head coach Tom Herman after the season. Zach Kittley took the job after two years as OC at Texas Tech and one year in the same role at Western Kentucky. His starting QB is a transfer from WKU, Caden Veltkamp, whose passing numbers are nearly as strong as Joe Fagnano’s, except for his 14 interceptions on the year.
Still, Veltkamp is an experienced QB, who has attempted 49 or more passes in a game five times in 11 games this season. Last week against Tulane, we saw the full Caden Veltkamp experience, as he completed 68 percent of his attempts for 375 yards and two touchdowns, but also threw three picks as they lost by 10 to a solid Green Wave team.
The Owls have two receivers over 50 receptions and three over 500 yards and five touchdowns, led by Easton Messer (83 rec, 847 yds, 5 TD) with deep threat Jayshon Platt, while running back Gemari Sands also has 30 receptions on the season and tight end Mike Kirch has three touchdowns. UConn’s secondary will have a lot to contend with, and the defense will also need to ratchet up the pass rush to stop this attack.
Watch Them Go
Joe Fagnano crossed the 3,000-yard mark on the season, he needs 353 yards to pass Dan Orlovsky’s second-place mark for passing yards in a season, and 484 yards to break it. He’s fifth in the country in yards, T-3rd in touchdowns, and 15th in passer rating and will end the season very high on all of these leaderboards.
Skyler Bell is first in receptions (93), leading by 10, and touchdowns (13), ahead of second place by one, and second in yards (1,152), behind first-place by two. He has a legit shot at the receiving triple crown and UConn’s single-season, FBS-era records of 100 receptions and 1,179 yards, set by Noel Thomas in 2016. Bell already holds the touchdown record.
Cam Edwards is 10th in rushing yards and 14th in TDs, and at 1,031 rushing yards right now has a chance to pass Lyle McCombs’ mark of 1,151 rushing yards, which is sixth in the program single-season FBS-era record book. At 12 touchdowns, he could tie the mark shared by some FCS veterans as well as Jordan Todman and Andre Dixon, who miraculously both accomplished the feat in 2009 before Todman did it again in 2010. The FBS record is 18, set by Donald Brown in 2008, and the all-time record is 22 by Walt Trojanowski in 1945.
At 24 career rushing touchdowns, Edwards needs just one to tie Trojanowski’s career total of 25, which is currently sixth all-time, and tied with Cornell Brockington (2003-2005). Taber Small (1999-2001) is fifth with 26, while Todman and Terry Caulley are tied at third with 31.
