Jim Mora knows UConn football season-opener with Utah State is no ‘warmup game’
When UConn football head coach Jim Mora looked at the team’s 2022 schedule, his first thought was: ‘Hey, where’s our warmup game?’
Mora, used to having preseason games while coaching at the NFL level, won’t get that luxury at UConn this season. The Huskies will fly straight into the fire with a game at Utah State to open the season on Aug. 27. The Aggies received votes in both the AP preseason Top 25 and the USA Today coaches poll after finishing 11-3 and winning the Mountain West Conference last season.
“And then I realized, you know what, we’re their warmup game,” Mora said. “So they’re looking at us as just kind of fodder.”
Fodder: food like dried hay or feed given to cattle.
The Aggies play top-ranked Alabama on Sept. 3, a week after hosting UConn.
Utah State is one of four teams on UConn’s schedule that received votes in the AP Top 25. The others: Michigan (No. 8), North Carolina State (No. 13) and Fresno State (32 votes).
“Bring ‘em on,” Mora said. “Put the ball down and let’s play.”
“If you’re a true competitor, you want to judge yourself against the best. (We’ve) got a whole locker room full of true competitors in there. Put it down and let’s play. And let’s see where we stand at the end of the game,” Mora said after Wednesday’s practice.
Like coaches throughout the country, Mora doesn’t know any more than what he has seen in practice and in meetings to this point. He is happy with the energy and confidence the team has displayed through its 16 fall practices.
“But until we’re in live action, it’s still an unknown,” he said. “I have a good feeling about where we are, and I think we’ll react correctly because I think we’ve built something here in the last six months that we’ll be able to weather some adversity and handle some success. I don’t think we’ll have cracks, but it’s not until you go out and you really experience them in a live situation that you truly know.”
One thing Mora knows now is that Las Vegas has the Huskies as 27.5-point underdogs against Utah State. His wife broke the news and it stuck with him.
“I’ve never been a 27-point underdog in my life,” Mora said, “and I’m not real happy about it.”
He doesn’t fixate on it, but he knows it’s there. Mora noted that he is not the type to be motivated by outside influences, he’d rather motivate his team by trying to be the best. He’s never paid attention to the betting line, nor will he ever place a bet.
“I don’t really want to know that stuff. That’s not the world that I live in, I’m just trying to win the next down,” Mora said. “I don’t necessarily like it. I understand it – [Utah State] is a top 25 team, man. They were 11-3, they lit it up on offense last year. They kicked the dog out of some really good teams, they were in the [Jimmy Kimmel LA] bowl game and played Oregon State – a good Pac-12 team – and got after them.” (Utah State won, 24-13).
“We don’t know what we are yet. So I understand it,” Mora said. “And we’ll find out.”
Starting quarterback decision to be kept ‘close to the vest’: The air is finally starting to clear surrounding the UConn quarterback competition, but the starter won’t be announced prior to the Week Zero date with Utah State. The team is in a position now where Mora and staff are “getting really ready to make a decision.”
“This first couple of weeks you’re just preparing for practice,” Mora said, “but now we’re preparing for a game. So being able to take what you learn in a meeting and really apply it out on the field an hour later, and really master it, that’s also part of the evaluation process.”
He continued, “It only makes sense from a competitive advantage for us to not let Utah State know who’s gonna play quarterback. Now, they don’t have any film on these guys anyway, but I’m still going to play it close to the vest.”
