NEW BRITAIN — The main motivation for athletic departments with teams in the Football Championship Subdivision to schedule games against teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision is money.
Central Connecticut, for instance, will be paid $275,000 by UConn for visiting Rentschler Field Saturday as the Huskies’ opponent for coach Jim Mora’s first home game.
CCSU agrees to this sort of game for the same reason UConn has agreed to play Sept. 12 at Michigan, a road trip that will definitely bring in a check for $1.8 million and likely a lopsided loss.
There is football value for the underdog in these arrangements, too, particularly early in the season. Saturday’s game is Central’s season opener. UConn lost last week at Utah State, 31-20.
“You want to play the best people you can play,” Central coach Ryan McCarthy said. “It hardens you up for your conference slate. It just so happens we play the defending conference champion in week 2.”
The Blue Devils’ focus this season is climbing back toward the top of the Northeast Conference and next week’s home game against Sacred Heart actually means much more than the trip to East Hartford.
Still, Central is embracing a chance to throw its best punch at UConn, a team that is rebuilding under Mora after a decade-plus of struggles — even in games like this. Holy Cross, also of the FCS, upset the Huskies at Rentschler Field last season.
“We’ll definitely show up,” Central senior running back Nas Smith said. “Everybody loves a challenge. We’re not really worried about the other team. We’re just worried about ourselves. If we do what we can do, we’ll put ourselves in position to win the game.”
UConn, turning to true freshman Zion Turner as quarterback in the wake of Ta’Quan Roberson’s season-ending injury, is a 16-point favorite. The teams haven’t met since 1995, a 54-9 UConn victory when both programs were in Division I-AA, that era’s equivalent of FCS.
UConn made the jump to major college football, peaking in 2010 with a Fiesta Bowl appearance to close Randy Edsall’s first stint as coach. The Huskies then fizzled under Paul Pasqualoni, Bob Diaco and through Edsall’s return.
Mora, who coached the Falcons and Seahawks and was also a longtime NFL assistant, is coaching a team for the first time since his six year run at UCLA in 2012-17.
“I kind of am at the point in my career where I look at it as the next game on the schedule,” McCarthy said. “But, obviously, looking across, seeing Jim — I used to watch Jim Mora in the NFL on Sunday, so that will be pretty neat. But in the end, it’s football and they’re going to put 11 on the field, we’re going to put 11 on the field and we’ll see what happens.”
FBS teams are better funded and award 85 scholarships, compared to 63 for FCS teams.
McCarthy, previously the Blue Devils’ offensive coordinator under Pete Rossomando, is in his fourth year as coach. Prior to that, he was an assistant at Albany for 13 years.
McCarthy led Central to the 2019 NEC championship and the FCS playoffs with an 11-2 record in his debut season. Central, like UConn, didn’t play in 2020 due to the pandemic. Last season, the Blue Devils’ finished 4-7, starting 1-6 and winning three of their final four games.
“We proved that when things go downhill, we don’t give up,” said Smith, who rushed for 507 yards on 125 carries in 2021. “It wasn’t the type of year Central usually has but we stayed together and just said, ‘Hold the rope.’ That was the saying. You can see that helped us out as we moved into this year.”
Most eyes from the faction of the state that cares about college football are on Mora and UConn, a curiosity building about whether the football program at Connecticut’s flagship university can actually be turned around.
There’s interest, too, with many state alums, in whether Central can steal the show. That will likely mean playing nearly mistake-free football, forcing a couple turnovers, somehow compensating for the disparity in size and strength along the line of scrimmage, maybe succeeding with a trick play here and there.
Smith is, well, central to Central’s hopes.
“What I see from him is a model of consistency,” McCarthy said. “His longest run last year was 26 yards. I think he knows what he is. He’s shifty. He’s an in-between-the-tackles back. He’s going to get those hard yards. But offensively, we need to be more explosive. … Obviously you want to be able to line up and run the football, but we’ve got to have some plays of 20 yards or more. We’ll need some plays to separate from this groups. It’s not going to be 2, 3, 4 yards and a cloud of dust. I don’t see that happening. We’re going to have to open up and stretch them, not only vertically but horizontally.”
Smith is 5 feet 11, and listed at 223 pounds. He said he’s down to 205 though, feeling quicker this season. He grew up in Auburn, N.Y., where he has remained active in the community during his first two years in college (Alfred University) and his three years at Central.
Smith was named the “Big Brother” award winner by the United Way of Cayuga County during celebrations marking Juneteenth and the life of Harriet Tubman, who is buried in Auburn. He has worked with area youth, mixing various NIL opportunities and sponsorships with mentoring opportunities. He founded Team Get Right, which focuses on athletics and mentorship programs, with two friends.
“Auburn is a small town and people look up to me, and look out for me,” Smith said. “I just try to give back that support. I feel like that’s my purpose on this Earth, to give back and help people out.”
His purpose on the field Saturday, along with that of senior quarterback Romelo Williams, also a second-year starter, is to confuse and elude the UConn defense.
“Nas, that’s my guy,” said Williams, who last season passed for 1,403 yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions. “He’s a great player and a great leader. I think what sets Nas apart is the mental part of the game. He knows the protections as well as I do.”
Of playing UConn, Williams said, “It’s a great opportunity. Challenges come with great opportunity.”
Central is experienced along the offensive line, with four starters returning.
The Blue Devils are familiar with the UConn program. They attended some practices in recent years, when Edsall opened doors to the outside world that Diaco had closed. Several coaches, McCarthy included, have worked at prospect camps run by UConn. Numerous Central players have attended those camps. McCarthy and Mora have never met but many of their assistants know each other.
“A lot of the kids here were over there at one point, being evaluated,” McCarthy said. “So they’ve seen it. They know. That gives them a little extra motivation and a chip on their shoulder.”
About 21,000 tickets have been distributed for the game. Most, of course, will be UConn fans. But not all.
“Everybody around campus is talking about it, the parents and players from Connecticut, a lot of alumni,” Smith said. “It’s a big game, obviously. They’ve got the new era, the new coach. We’re trying to come back off a down year. I believe this year is going to be different.”
McCarthy said last year it was hard to get players to focus on earlier games that truly mattered with a Week 4 road game at Miami on the schedule. That was a 69-0 loss, part of the early-to-midseason swoon. This year, Central can gear up for its opener and let loose, trying to spoil UConn’s party while preparing itself for its own season’s journey.
“Any time you have a chance to play a program or a team that is perceived to be at a level above, it takes very little to motivate,” McCarthy said.
mike.anthony@hearstmediact.com; @ManthonyHearst
