Maryland Football opponent preview: UConn

After beating UConn in a thrashing by a score of 50-7 in 2024, the Terps will play the second leg of the home and home series in week two this season when they travel up to Storrs, Connecticut to take on the Huskies. 

UConn, which is coming off of two straight nine or more win seasons for the first time in school history will be looking to continue to do more of the same with new head coach Jason Candle after Jim Mora left for Colorado State. Candle is in his 11th season as a head coach with an all-time record of 81-44 with all ten of his previous seasons being at Toledo. 

Offense

Key Players: QB Kalieb Osborne, RB Kenji Christian

Scoring: 35.3 ppg 

Passing: 284.4 ypg

Rushing: 160.8 ypg

Turnovers: .2 turnovers per game

The Huskies the past few years have very much been a pass heavy team with the success they had in former QB Joey Fagnano. However, under Candle, you can very much expect them to look like a more balanced offense. 

Osborne will look to battle with fellow transfer quarterback Jake Merklinger for the starting spot this season. However, many expect Osborne to win the battle thanks to his familiarity with Candle. Last year, Osborne was mainly used as a runner with Toledo where he finished the season with 282 yards and two touchdowns while also going 32/52 for 427 yards and three touchdowns as a passer. 

Along with Osborne, another key former Rocket that followed Candle is Christian. Christian was the Rockets RB2 last season running for 528 yards and four touchdowns while also adding 193 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown to his name. With Osborne and Christian following Candle, the duo will look to use their familiarity with Candle to run the backfield in 2026 and lead the Huskies to have an explosive offense like they had in 2025. 

Defense

Key Players: LB K’Von Sherman, DT Esean Carter

Scoring: 27 ppg

Passing: 218.5 ypg

Rushing: 199.5 ypg

Turnovers: 1.3 turnovers per game

Like the offense, the Huskies' defense will be dealing with lots of turnover in their starting lineup. A total of 26 players on the defensive side of the ball transferred into UConn to start off the Candle era in Storrs. While UConn under Mora was not very well known for their defense, it would be safe to expect that to change under Candle with how his teams were at Toledo. In the last six years, the highest that Toledo has ranked nationally in defensive scoring is 55th and was as low as fourth just last season after allowing only 13.3 points per game. 

The Huskies will look to be led by their front seven which will be led by Sherman and Carter. Both are former All-MAC players at Toledo under Candle as Sherman was first team All-MAC last season and Carter was third team All-MAC last season. Sherman finished the 2025 season with 94 total tackles, 14.5 TFLs, and 4.5 sacks while also adding a fumble recovery to his name. Carter had 36 total tackles, 3.5 TFLs, and three sacks in 2025 as well. 17 of the 26 transfers on the defensive side of the ball will be a part of the Huskies front seven and will look to bring the aggressiveness Candle’s defenses played with at Toledo to Storrs at UConn in 2025. 

While the front seven has lots of proven guys joining the fold for the Huskies, their secondary, like the offense, will be filled with unproven guys that have not played much or produced much in their careers. Some of the most notable transfers will be Jayden Davis out of Fresno State, Renick Dorialis from Rutgers, Tyler McKinstry from Toledo, and Braedyn Moore from Wisconsin. With all of the unproven faces in the secondary for the Huskies, there could either be quite a few surprises for them, or they could end up playing like your typical unproven defense in 2026. 

What to watch for

In Malik Washington’s second season, he will have a new offensive coordinator in Clint Trickett calling the plays for him this season. Against a defense that is very heavy in the front seven when it comes to talent, the Terps will likely look to air the ball out more than usual against the Huskies. With UConn being the Terps first FBS opponent, it will be a decent litmus test for Washington and his brand new wide receiver core to see how they fare against a fairly new and unproven secondary unit that will likely still be gelling together.