The 2002 Connecticut Huskies football team the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

in the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season as an independent. It was the program's first season as a full-time member at the

NCAA Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

level. It was also the team's last season at its on-campus football stadium, Memorial Stadium. Head coach

Randy Edsall Randy Douglas Edsall (born August 27, 1958) is a retired American football coach, formerly the head football coach at the University of Connecticut from 1999 to 2010 and again from 2017 until his abrupt retirement in 2021. He also served as the h ...

was in his fourth year leading the team. Despite winning only two of their first eight games, the Huskies finished with a record of 6–6, the first time in its short FBS history that it did not compile a sub-.500 record. Although not selected for a

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

, Connecticut was

Bowl eligible Bowl eligibility in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level is the standard through which teams become available for selection to participate in postseason bowl games. When a team achieves this state, it is described as "bowl-eligible". ...

for the first time. The turning point in the season came after a hard-fought loss at Vanderbilt. Led by Caulley and sophomore

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Dan Orlovsky Daniel John Orlovsky (born August 18, 1983) is an American football analyst for ESPN and former American football quarterback who was active for twelve seasons in the NFL. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the fifth round of the 2005 NFL ...

, the Huskies tore through the remainder of the schedule by defeating the opponents by a combined 199–55. The winning streak began with the final two games played at Memorial Stadium. They closed the stadium with their two highest point totals in the stadium's history (61 against Florida Atlantic, and 63 against Kent State.) They finished the season with their first ever victory over a bowl-bound opponent by defeating Iowa State, 37–20, in

Ames, Iowa Ames () is a city in Story County, Iowa, United States, located approximately north of Des Moines in central Iowa. It is best known as the home of Iowa State University (ISU), with leading agriculture, design, engineering, and veterinary medici ...

. The Huskies offense was led by consensus Freshman All-American, Terry Caulley, who led all freshman in rushing with 1,247 yards. Despite sitting out two games with injuries, Caulley's rushing total was only 15 yards short of the team's single season record.

Schedule

References

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

UConn Huskies football seasons

Connecticut Huskies football The UConn Huskies football team is a college football team that represents the University of Connecticut in the sport of American football. The team competes in NCAA Division I FBS as an Independent. Connecticut first fielded a team in 1896, an ...

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