No Huskies in the Fall: Covid-19 concerns suspend UConn Football season.

Storrs, CT - The University of Connecticut Football program will not take the field at Rentschler in the fall as the university today announced it is suspending all football activities for the fall due to the Covid-19 pandemic. UConn, which left the American Athletic Conference to return to the Big East, was expected to play the season as an independent. With many conferences going to in-conference only schedules it already left the Huskies on the outside looking in at a difficult situation. “After receiving guidance from state and local public health officials and consulting with football student-athletes, we’ve decided that we will not compete on the gridiron this season.” UConn athletics director David Benedict announced in a press release this morning. “The safety challenges created by COVID-19 place our football student-athletes at an unacceptable level or risk. On the field, the Huskies have been in a bit of a struggle, going just 2-10 last season. While they are the first FBS team to suspend its football program, it will give returning Head Coach Randy Edsall a chance to regroup the program he once led to bowl prominence. Edsall said in a statement that all players were consulted before the university made the decision. UConn has had the grace of the virus pandemic not affecting their athletics program as a whole, which has been seen in other universities. They have not had a single positive test from a student-athlete since early July. The university will continue to support the students through their classes either in person or virtually and all members of the team remain enrolled at the school. Four games on the schedule that would have seen the Huskies travel to Illinois and Ole Miss, while hosting Indiana and fellow regional foe Maine were previous cancelled by decisions made from those schools or their conferences schedule program decision. The Huskies will consult with the Big East regarding other fall sports decisions.