UConn football will end a glorious regular season on the road Saturday at Florida Atlantic, with a victory securing back-to-back seasons of nine wins for the first time in program history.

The Huskies (8-3) have gained a bowl berth for the third time in four seasons under head coach Jim Mora. He has revived a program that hadn’t had a winning season since 2010 and was 10-50 in the five seasons preceding his arrival in 2022.

His team is three overtime losses – on the road, by a total of 13 points – from an undefeated season.

He has injected an enthusiasm, a professionalism, an aura lacking in the dark years.

But will the Saturday game against FAU (4-6) in Boca Raton, Fla., be the last time Mora leads the Huskies onto the field?

In an article Friday addressing the college football coaching carousel, The Athletic made brief mention of Stanford and Oregon State having interest in Mora for their head coaching vacancies. The report also speculated that Akron’s Joe Moorhead, formerly head coach at Mississippi State, could be a candidate to replace Mora.

Say it ain't so, Joe. Jim is the right one for UConn.

A homecoming?

A Los Angeles native, Mora spent most of his career working on the West Coast, including head coaching stops at UCLA and with the Seattle Seahawks.

He has not addressed his future at UConn. He turned 64 on Wednesday, and at this stage of his life might not want to start from scratch with another program. Or maybe it’s a challenge he is craving. And should Stanford come knocking, could UConn make an offer that could lure Mora to stay?

This will play out in the next couple of weeks.

And a farewell

More immediate is the Saturday game against FAU, which likely will be the second-to-last career game for seniors Joe Fagnano, Skyler Bell, Cam Edwards and Bryun Parham, who have put together masterful seasons under Mora.

Entering the game. Fagnano is fourth among FBS quarterbacks with 3,002 passing yards and tied for third-most passing touchdowns (25). He has thrown just one interception on the season, the fewest in the nation.

Bell leads FBS teams with receiving touchdowns (13), receptions (93) and receptions per game (8.5). He is second in receiving yards (1,153) and third in receiving yards per game (104.8).

Edwards is No. 10 in rushing yards (1,031) and has 12 rushing touchdowns.

Parham has 10.5 sacks, putting the linebacker No. 6 in the nation. He also is fifth with 108 total tackles and 11th in tackles per game at 9.8.

UConn football is in its glory days, and Mora has gotten the most out of these seniors while preparing his underclassmen players in his NFL-style program.

UConn signed him to a contract extension last winter through Dec. 31, 2028, a pact valued at $10.01 million with opportunities for incentive and retention bonuses. That ranked him 68th in the nation in pay, according to the USA Today coaches salary database – two spots above since-fired Oregon State coach Trent Bray.

It’s too early for the glory days to end for UConn football. Mora and his staff have made the program relevant, despite the limitations of not playing in a conference and the lack of resources that other schools have.

Five years ago, no one ever would dare to dream that UConn would receive a vote in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, which it did this week. Or that an article on the school website would contain a paragraph like this one:

The Huskies have the fourth longest streak in college football of games played without losing by more than one score. The Huskies sit at 23-straight games, dating back to the 2024 season opener. Miami is first at 27 games, Ole Miss and Ohio State are second at 26 followed by UConn.

That's select company for the Huskies. Because these are the glory days.

Let them live on.