Lafayette, meanwhile, hadn't actually finished a game yet. The Leopards' opener at Georgetown got wiped out by lightning at halftime with Lafayette trailing 13-7 and about to get the ball back, so Saturday was effectively their first real 60 minutes of the season — against an FBS team with 64 new faces and a brand-new head coach looking to make a first impression. The Huskies' defense made sure the day stayed academic, holding Lafayette to 209 total yards and not letting the Leopards on the board until the final minute, which cost UConn a shutout bid it had otherwise built.
None of that translated into anything resembling drama on the scoreboard, and a game that opened as a 21.5-point spread ended at 56-7, with the total blown past its 51.5 mark well before the fourth quarter even started.
For Candle, hired away to replace a staff that watched Joe Fagnano leave for the Baltimore Ravens, this is about as clean a first impression as a coach can ask for — a dual-threat quarterback who separated himself from a crowded room, a defense that did its job against an overmatched but game FCS opponent, and a roster overhauled with 57 transfers that looked like it had been together for years, not one preseason camp.
The bigger picture for both programs starts now. UConn gets a real gut-check on where Osborne and this retooled roster stand once Football Bowl Subdivision competition shows up on the schedule. Lafayette, still stinging from an unresolved opener and now a lopsided loss, has to regroup fast in a Patriot League race it finished second in a year ago at 8-4.