The Huskies hope to end Saturday with UConn's first 10-win season at football's FBS level.
Gordon Sammis will be one and done as the head coach of UConn after the Fenway Bowl against Army on Saturday.
Sammis took over as interim head coach following the departure of Jim Mora to Colorado State. Mora led the Huskies to back-to-back nine-win seasons, and in 2024, the Huskies won their first bowl game since 2010 with a 27-14 victory against North Carolina, also at the Fenway Bowl.
After the game, Sammis will be off to TCU as the offensive coordinator, and new head coach Jason Candle will move into the role full-time.
Sammis has been quiet about the game and did not confirm who would start at quarterback for UConn (9-3) against Army (6-6) in what could be a record-setting game for the Huskies. This group is looking to be the first UConn team to win 10 games at the FBS level.
“We’ve got a plan, a couple of guys ready to go,” Sammis said of the QB situation. “The beauty of having this time off, we can have guys with multiple reps ready, we can have multiple plans to be able to do what we have to do to win the game.”
With a shot at being selected in the NFL Draft in April, Joe Fagnano opted of the bowl game. The starter could be Nick Evers. This season at UConn – his second with the Huskies – Evers completed 10 of 15 pass attempts for 105 yards; last season, he played in nine games.
A four-star prospect coming out of high school in Texas in 2022, he started his career at Oklahoma, then transferred to Wisconsin, before landing at UConn.
Consensus All-American Skyler Bell, who is putting off his draft prep to play one more time with the Huskies, said his team is ready, even without Fagnano.
“There’s always gonna be some different things when you play with a different quarterback, but everything’s the same, we’re still running the same offense, same plays,” Bell said last week, according to the Hartford Courant. “It’s just getting the chemistry down. Obviously I haven’t gotten as many reps with the other quarterbacks, but it doesn’t take too much time. .. But I think we’re going to be fine on Saturday because it’s next man up.”
For Army, this is the sixth bowl game under head coach Jeff Monken. The Black Knights are 5-1 in bowls and 88-63 overall with Monken at the helm.
The two teams have played nine times, with the most recent game coming Nov. 19, 2022, in West Point, N.Y. Army won 34-17.
About the Fenway Bowl
Who: Army (6-6) vs. UConn (9-3)
When: Saturday, 2:15 p.m.
Where: Fenway Park, Boston
Television: ESPN
Streaming: ESPN App
Announcers: Wes Durham (play by play), Steve Addazio (analyst), Dana Boyle(sideline)
Radio: Fox Sports Radio 97.9 FM (Hartford); UConn Sports Network from Learfield
Radio announcers: Mike Crispino(play by play), Wayne Norman (analyst), Adam Giardino (sideline)
SiriusXM: Channel 380
Online: The Varsity Network App
Gametime weather forecast: Mostly sunny, 25 degrees
6 Things to Know
- The temperature will be cold. A cold blast is socking the East Coast, and Boston won’t be spared. The Weather Channel calls for 25 degrees at kickoff time of 2:15 p.m., and the Fenway Park grounds crew will have some work to do. About 3 inches of snow fell in Boston Friday night into Saturday morning.
- UConn could set more school records for offense. Already this season, the Huskies set program records for passing yards (3,613) and passing completions (297). Their 5,521 yards of total offense is second in school history, 209 games off the record. With 30 passing touchdowns, they are three behind the school mark. UConn’s 443 points on the season are 18 points shy of the program record.
- UConn has something in common with No. 1 Indiana. The Huskies and Hoosiers are the only teams not to lose in overtime this season. Indiana is undefeated, and the Huskies’ three losses all came in overtime by a combined 13 points.
- For Army, the Fenway Bowl will be its 12th-ever bowl game, and the Black Knights have an 8-3 record. Army lost to Navy in a 17-16 heartbreaker in the regular-season finale. In their previous two bowl appearances this decade (2021, 2024) that came after losing to Navy, Army is 2-0.
- With 22 more rushing touchdowns, Army quarterback Cale Hellums will surpass 1,200 on the season. Only seven other Army players have reached that mark.
- Golden Knights slotback Noah Short has 1,129 career rushing yards and 900 career receiving yards. He is 100 yards shy of becoming the first player in Army history to reach 1,000 yards in each.
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