STORRS – The UConn football team used its bye week to rest, recover and get a bit of a head start on Saturday’s game at Boston College, a prime opportunity for the program’s first regular season win over a power conference opponent since they took down the Eagles for the first time at Rentschler Field in 2022.
In its second year under its own former NFL coach, Bill O’Brien, Boston College (1-5) has one of the toughest schedules in the nation and has yet to beat an FBS team, struggling particularly in recent weeks as it allowed 40-plus points in losses to Pittsburgh and Clemson.
UConn, 1-1 against BC since Jim Mora took over as head coach, enters Saturday’s matchup as a slight underdog (+2.5) in the sports betting world.
In his Tuesday press conference, O’Brien told reporters in Chestnut Hill that he feels the Huskies should be favored, citing the fact that they have a better record.
Five things we’ve learned about UConn football through first half of season
“We don’t look at records,” Mora said after Tuesday’s practice, not in response to O’Brien. “We look at the team and what we see on tape, and we see a good football team. They’re physical, they’re hard-nosed, they play hard, they’re very well coached by Coach O’Brien and that staff, and it’ll be another hell of a challenge on the road. Our guys are excited by the challenge, one of our goals is to try to win on the road, which we’ve been okay at but not good enough at.”
The last matchup between the regional rivals came in 2023, when Jeff Hafley was still head coach of the Eagles. UConn scored first in Chestnut Hill, but allowed 21 consecutive points and saw its late comeback bid fall short as the defense couldn’t get off the field on BC’s final offensive possession, as the Eagles ran 12 consecutive run plays to tick the final 6:44 off the clock.
UConn’s defense has had similar issues at times this year, but the Huskies have shown improvement in recent weeks.
“The way we gauge success, at the end of the day it’s all about us,” said linebacker Donovan Branch, a four-year Husky. “We always have a chip (on our shoulder). That’s one thing about our team, Coach Mora keeps that chip on us. Whatever we do from the past is never good enough and it never will be good enough at the end of the day because there’s always those small, minute details that we can fix.”
Boston College head coach Bill O’Brien watches his team as they warm up before an NCAA college football game against Clemson, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025 in Boston. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Difference between NFL and college coaching
Mora and O’Brien have worn headsets on opposite sides of NFL fields before, but this will be their first time competing – on the field, at least – as college head coaches.
The difference?
At the college level, coaches are adversaries year-round. Especially when they’re in the same region, going after a similar group of players in the recruiting process.
“You’re recruiting on the recruiting trail and now you’re in the portal window. In the pros, you’re competing against your opponent for 17 weekends and then the playoffs, and the rest of the year you collaborate with your friends and you might go on vacation together because you’re not trying to beat each other in the draft – because there is no beating each other in the draft, your pick is what your pick is. Free agency comes down to money, that’s not the coaches,” Mora said. “So to me that’s one of the bigger differences, other than that it’s just football. I always felt like I had really good relationships with my NFL compatriots rather than in college because you try to beat each other on Sundays, but the rest of the year you pull for each other.”
Bye week evaluation: areas of concern
Evaluating UConn’s season to this point, getting through the first half with a 4-2 record, the only two losses coming on the road in overtime, Mora’s main concern is in the red zone on offense and defense.
The Huskies have scored on 92.6% of their trips inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, but of their 25 scores in 27 attempts, eight have resulted in field goals. Defensively, UConn has allowed its opponents to score on 90% of their red zone trips (18-for-20), with 12 touchdowns and six field goals.
The bye week also included a focus on third-down situations in addition to “a lot” of fundamental individual work.
“Sometimes you have to move through rather quickly in a game week so you can get into the preparation stuff, but it was just a really positive week for us,” Mora said. “We were able to go back and look at the film and see if we were tendancied up – one of the things you want to make sure you’re doing offensively and defensively is not getting tendancied, where another team can kind of zero in on what you’re doing in particular situations, or out of particular looks on defense or particular formations on offense. So we took a hard look at that.”
