Jason Candle will lead UConn onto the football field for the first time on Saturday when Lafayette visits the Huskies at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.

Game time is at noon.

It’s a debut that has been nine months in the making since Candle was hired away from Toledo to replace the departed Jim Mora. The Huskies finished 9-4 last season, their second consecutive nine-win campaign.

But this is a new Huskies team that will take the field on Saturday.

Gone to the NFL are quarterback Joe Fagnano and All-American wide receiver Skyler Bell.

Leading rusher Cam Edwards, a Connecticut native, took his 2,690 yards and 27 touchdowns amassed in 36 games at UConn to Michigan State and the Power 4 spotlight.

And Mora, the architect of a team that qualified for a bowl game in three of his four seasons at UConn, is now walking the sideline at Colorado State.

Mora left the program in much better shape, in general, than how he found it . But he didn’t leave Candle with a ready-made roster, giving the new coach a chance to put his stamp on the program immediately.

Between graduations, the transfer portal and the exodus of players – 19 of them -- who joined Mora in Fort Collins, Colo., Candle and his coaching staff needed to add dozens of players to the roster and brought in 87. Among those additions are 60 players who came through the transfer portal, including 21 of them from Candle’s Toledo program.

Offensive lineman Ty Chan, named one of four UConn captains, is the only starter returning from the 2025 team.

As of late Thursday night, Candle had yet to name a starting quarterback.

Players from the small Easton, Pa., school traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to meet Georgetown in a Week 0 opener for each.

The Leopards will put their uniforms on for a second game on Saturday, but play in their first game. How?

The Hoyas took a 13-7 lead at halftime in the rain,  but the game couldn’t restart because of lightning. After a lengthy delay, the game was ruled a no-contest, with no current plans to reschedule.

The Leopards are coached by John Troxell, who is entering his fifth season with the school. The team finished 8-4 in 2025, and after the season, Troxell received a contract extension through the 2031 campaign.