UConn football is there. This is as bad as it can get for a program.
To wit:
1) The team has looked terrible. Most likely UConn is one of the 5-10 worst FBS programs this year. The team held on to beat a bad FCS school, and got destroyed the week before against a borderline Top25 team. We are not competitive, and there is no near term fix on the horizon. Uconn could lose the rest of its games, and there may not be a game the rest of the year where UConn will be favored. SMU and Army are the leading candidates.
2) This is not a young team that could rapidly improve. The cupboard is not well stocked, and without the conference affiliation, Diaco has resorted to a lot of under-the-radar recruiting.
3) Diaco has looked lost the first two games and in the press conferences. We knew there would be some bumps with a first time HC, but i did not expect this. The team is playing significantly worse than it was playing under Weist. Wins over Temple, Rutgers and Memphis look pretty good now.
4) Cochran was a devastating loss for the program. I know that his own health is the priority, but this was a huge loss for the program at absolutely the worst time. A healthy Cochran could have chucked enough to Davis to keep us in and probably win a few against the bottom tier AAC teams. Whitmer has gotten worse since arriving at UConn, and Boyle is not ready. I am underwhelmed by the OC, and do not expect much improvement at the QB position this year. UConn is not a competitive program without Cochran.
5) The conference situation is horrendous. The AAC has ONE victory over a D1 opponent this year. This conference is really bad.
This program is in really serious trouble at the absolutely worst time for this to be happening. I expect Diaco to get better, but the rest of the problems are going to take years to sort out. UConn is a long way from the team that could easily beat South Carolina in a bowl game. I don't think there is much we can do other than take the lumps and hope Diaco can turn it around. If he can not, the rest of the problems may become permanent.