2021 UConn Huskies football team
The 2021 UConn Huskies football team represented the University of Connecticut (UConn) in the 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Huskies competed as an independent, having left the American Athletic Conference following the 2019 season. They played their home games at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut.
| 2021 UConn Huskies football | |
|---|---|
| Conference | Independent |
| Record | 1–11 |
| Head coach |
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| Offensive coordinator | Frank Giufre (2nd season) |
| Offensive scheme | Multiple |
| Defensive coordinator | Lou Spanos (2nd season; first 2 games) Jarren Horton (1st season) |
| Base defense | 4–3 |
| Home stadium | Rentschler Field |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | W | L | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 8 Notre Dame | – | 11 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 19 BYU | – | 10 | – | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Army | – | 9 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Liberty | – | 8 | – | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New Mexico State | – | 2 | – | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UMass | – | 1 | – | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UConn | – | 1 | – | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rankings from AP Poll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On September 5, following the team's 38–28 loss to FCS-school Holy Cross, head coach Randy Edsall announced he would be retiring at the end of the season. The following day, the school announced that Edsall had resigned effective immediately and defensive coordinator Lou Spanos was named the interim head coach.
On November 11, former UCLA coach Jim L. Mora was named the school's 31st head coach beginning with the 2022 season. Shortly after the hire he helped serve as an offensive assistant for the remainder of the season.
The team finished the season 1–11.
In June 2020, it was announced that UConn's other sports programs would be joining the Big East Conference. Since the Big East does not sponsor football and the American did not want to keep UConn as a football-only school, it was decided that the football program would compete as an independent. The move to the Big East was primarily due to the university wanting to focus more on the men's and women's basketball programs, feeling the move to the American had hindered those programs.