It’s no secret that playing at home gives the hosts a massive advantage. Not only is everything familiar, but you have your crowd behind you. The other program doesn’t share these benefits, putting them at a competitive disadvantage. For the 2023 CFB season, the UConn football team had one of the most unique schedules in all of college sports, playing six home games in a row. Not to mention, the program hosted Merrimack a week before their week three showdown against Duke. Despite this advantage, the Huskies dropped to 4-1 at the Rent this weekend, falling 23-20 to Wake Forest.
Two weeks ago, the Huskies narrowly escaped with victory against Temple in a 29-20 thriller that truly came down to the game’s final play. In that contest, UConn struggled to get going early offensively. These struggles seemed to be an outlier case, as the program dominated offensively in their three other home showings. However, these offensive shortcomings followed the program into Saturday’s contest as the offense struggled to get going.
Connecticut failed to establish the outside run at a high level like it has done so many times before. The program finished Saturday with 45 yards on the ground on 23 carries. As a result, UConn had a much tougher time setting up the passing game, which was a significant reason why the program trailed 13-6 at the half. Another reason the program trailed at the end of 20 minutes of action was their inability to stop the Demon Deacons offense through their read-option mesh concept.
The offensive concept that Wake Forest ran on Saturday was not only one of the most unique we have seen in college football but also in football in general. Quarterback Hank Bachmeier would take the snap. Simultaneously, whoever was in the backfield for Wake Forest would come up on the ball but not take it immediately, as the receivers would also run routes. Since their offensive line dominated, the Demon Deacons had a plethora of options offensively based on this. Huskies defensive back Malik Dixon-Williams explained what makes this seemingly odd play challenging to defend, despite the program accounting for it and why Wake Forest kept returning to it.
“I knew it was going to be difficult. The reason why they do it is to kind of like freeze up the low defenders,” Dixon-Williams told media personnel postgame. “If you have a curl or hook drop, you don’t wanna trigger because it’s going to leave a lot of space behind you, but you also just don’t want to sit there, so it kind of puts you in a bind.”
While some fans may feel differently, Connecticut’s defense played a solid game. While the program undoubtedly struggled to defend against Wake Forest’s delayed option, they made solid plays when Connecticut needed it.
With less than two minutes to go, both the passing and running attack was in full force, with the delayed mesh at its center. Considering that the Huskies were down by a touchdown at this point and failed to move the ball downfield at a high level, giving up points was not an option. However, the Demon Deacons were in striking distance, getting all the way to the Connecticut 18-yard line. However, as so many times before, the defense came up and made a play. Bachmeier threw a goal-line fade, although Cam Chadwick beat his man and made a great interception in the endzone, limiting the damage to 13-7 at the break.
Unfortunately for the Huskies, they didn’t get off to the start they would have liked for the second half. Between the rushing attack from Demond Claiborne, the air attack from Taylor Morin and Co., and a late hit out of bounds, Wake Forest was in the red zone in no time, with Claiborne running in a score for the Demon Deacons. While Claiborne’s 60 yards on 24 carries won’t break any records, his ability to punch it in from short paid dividends for Wake Forest, finishing with two scores on the day.
A major reason Wake Forest was able to do all it could offensively was the performance of its offensive line. The Connecticut pass rush wasn’t as good as it had been in weeks past, failing to bring the same effect. Despite this, the Huskies responded.
A huge kickoff from Durell Robinson set the Huskies up at midfield, which was the turning point for this offense. After a couple of runs and throws to Jasaiah Gathings later, the Huskies were set up on the Demon Deacons 20-yard line. Then, Nick Evers made his best throw all day to Gathings, finding him 20 yards downfield for the program’s first score all day. All of a sudden, UConn made it a game. A couple of punts, dropped passes and even a kick off the right guard’s helmet later and still, neither side could put this one away fully.
All Saturday, the UConn defense bent but never broke, and this was still true in the fourth quarter. Matthew Dennis hit a 36-yarder midway through the fourth quarter for Wake Forest, and this came on a drive that saw a relentless offensive attack out of the Demon Deacons mesh concept. Despite this, Jayden McDonald made the play, with the team’s second sack all day, and limited the damage to three points.
All day, Evers and the team felt they would need to make a big play to emerge victorious. With four minutes left in the fourth quarter, the program finally got that from their offensive unit. A fourth-down conversion, some solid passing plays later and Evers found Louis Hansen for a 25-yard touchdown reception. Now, the Huskies were only down a field goal.
Instead of opting for the onside kick and losing the field position battle, Chris Freeman booted the ball to the back of the endzone. With three timeouts and the two-minute warning remaining, a three-and-out would guarantee that Connecticut would get one more solid offensive drive. The defensive unit made the plays needed and got the offense the ball back with 2:02 remaining in the fourth.
Evers immediately found TJ Sheffield for a 21-yard reception, and from there, it was clear that the Huskies weren’t going down without a fight. Despite this, after a couple of incompletions later, it was fourth down. A false start made it fourth and eight for the program, and they needed a big play. Evers opted to go back to Gathings, but he couldn’t come down with it this time. However, the drama was far from over. The stadium replay showed that defensive back Jamare Glasker held onto Gathings much more than he should have, yet the officials missed the call, which would have put the Huskies in prime position to at least tie Saturday’s contest.
Of course, no one on Connecticut was pleased with the egregious no-call, but that was not the point of focus for anyone on the team. This was far from their most complete performance, and everyone, from head coach Jim Mora to Evers, took responsibility, saying that “we need to be better.”
The Huskies will have a chance to play up to their expectations when they take the field next on Oct. 26th against Rice. This is a game that could define the rest of their season, as the Huskies have a significant chance at playing in a bowl game this year. If UConn can shake off this loss and hit the ground running fast next Saturday, this game will serve as fuel for a program that is hungry to bring football glory back to Connecticut.