University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Lafayette
Huskies Kick-Off 2026 Saturday Against Lafayette
9/2/2026 3:37:00 PM | Football
Media Coverage:
Television: WFSB-3, WWAX, UConn+ (pxp) Randy Brochu (analyst) Marc Robbins (sideline) Dan Booth
Radio: UConn Sports Network
Flagship Station - Fox Sports 97-9 FM (Hartford) (pxp) Mike Crispino (analyst) Wayne Norman (sideline) Adam Giardino
Affiliates - WAVZ 1300 AM (New Haven), WGCH 1490 AM (Greenwich), WILI 1400 AM/95.3FM, (Willimantic); WICH 1310 AM/94.5 FM (Norwich-New London)
Online: The Varsity Network App
SiriusXM 263 and on the SiriusXM App 972
Live Stats: UConn.Statbroadcast.com
Quick Hits:
The UConn Huskies open the 2026 season on Saturday afternoon taking on FCS opponent Lafayette of the Patriot League. The game kicks-off at 12:02 pm and will air locally in Connecticut on WFSB-3 and WWAX and stream online on UConn+.
A new era of UConn football kicks-off on Saturday under first-year head coach Jason Candle. The Huskies named Candle the 33rd head coach in program history in December. Candle comes to Storrs after 10 seasons at the helm at Toledo, guiding the Rockets to 81 wins, making him the program's all-time winningest coach. Under his leadership, the Rockets won two Mid-American Conference Championship titles (2017, 2022) and seven bowl appearances. No MAC team won more games than Toledo during Candle's tenure, and the program did not have a losing season in any of his ten years at the helm. He earned MAC Coach of the Year honors in both 2017 and 2023.
In addition to a brand new coaching staff, UConn welcomed in 87 new players in total to the program this offseason. Candle and his staff added 60 players through the transfer portal. The Huskies return just one starter from last season's team, offensive lineman Ty Chan.
This is the second-straight year and third time in the last four seasons the Huskies will open a season at home. UConn is 16-6 in home openers at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field. The Huskies are 14-9 in season-openers since their move to FBS. Last season's win over CCSU ended a streak of three-straight years with an opening loss. The last first year head coach to win in their debut game was Randy Edsall in his second stint at the helm of the Huskies, winning the opener against Holy Cross. Prior to that, Paul Pasqualoni won his debut game, beating Fordham in 2011.
UConn has played at least one Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) school in each season since moving up to Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) in 2002. UConn is 22-2 overall against FCS opponents. UConn logged victories against: Florida Atlantic (2002), Lehigh (2003), Murray State (2004), Liberty (2005), Rhode Island (2006, 2009, 2018), Maine (2007, 2016), Hofstra (2008), Texas Southern (2010), Fordham (2011), UMass (2012), Stony Brook (2014), Villanova (2015), Holy Cross (2017), Wagner (2019), Yale (2021), Central Connecticut (2022, 2025), Sacred Heart (2023) and Merrimack (2024) with losses to Holy Cross (2021) and Towson (2013).
The 2026 campaign will mark the sixth season the Huskies will compete as an FBS Independent. UConn has three match-ups with teams from power four conferences, all at home. The Huskies host Maryland from the Big Ten and Syracuse and North Carolina from the ACC. The Huskies face three teams from the Sun Belt Conference (Southern Miss, James Madison, Old Dominion), a pair of teams from the MAC (Miami (OH), UMass) and the Mountain West (Air Force, Wyoming) and a team from the American (Temple).
THE STADIUM: The Huskies moved into Rentschler Field in East Hartford for the 2003 season and are in their 23rd season of play at their off-campus home this fall. The stadium officially became known as Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in 2015. UConn has an all-time record of 83-58 at Rentschler Field. UConn set a new all-time single-game attendance record at Rentschler Field on Sept. 21, 2013 against Michigan with a crowd of 42,704. That capacity was achieved with extra bleachers brought in for that game. Last season's match-up against Duke drew 38,106, the highest attended game since the Michigan game.
