It’s been a rough start to the season for the UConn football team, which was hoping to use the momentum from last year’s nine-win campaign and bowl triumph over North Carolina to catapult to even bigger things in 2025.

But the Huskies melted down late against Syracuse in Week 2, and then capitulated once again at Delaware on Saturday, losing two games by a combined six points and suffering back-to-back losses for the first time since 2023.

Two ‘almost’ wins certainly aren’t good enough for head coach Jim Mora, and he made a point to mention that after the 44-41 overtime defeat Saturday.

“The problem is the ‘almost,’” Mora said. “The coulda, woulda, shoulda, might’ve, the what-if plays … ‘If only.’ Those are the plays that hold you back from being a good football team. If you cannot make those plays, then you’re almost good. We’re not really interested in being almost good, that’s not our goal. We have to purge that thought process from this program. Right now, we’re not good enough. ‘Almost’ gets you beat.”

It also isn’t a great look for the football Huskies, forever fighting for respect, to lose to the Blue Hens, competing in their first season in FBS. Delaware has been an FCS power for years and was predicted by many to adapt well to the FBS level, but that isn’t going to move the needle for the average UConn fan. The average fan might look at the loss and conclude, same old UConn football. When does basketball season start?

So this week is important for the Huskies, and according to ESPN.com, UConn couldn’t have hand-picked a better opponent to have a get-right game against.

Ball State, UConn’s next foe, came in at No. 3 in ESPN’s latest ‘Bottom 10,’ a ranking of the worst teams in college football.

UConn knows what it’s like to be a fixture in ESPN’s Bottom 10, as the Huskies, callously nicknamed ‘UCan’t’ by the publication, were frequently in the rankings over the years and sometimes battled for the No. 1 spot. That has changed under Mora, but a loss on Saturday might be enough to put them right back in that position.

The Cardinals are 1-2, though the two losses came in ‘buy’ games against Purdue and Auburn. The program cashed in $2.5 million for playing those two games, which it lost 31-0 and 42-3, respectively. They are coming off of a 34-29 win over FCS school New Hampshire on Saturday, but that didn’t do much to change their perception in the college football world at large, as The Athletic also ranks them among the worst programs in the sport, 131st out of 136 FBS teams after Week 3.

The stats aren’t pretty for Ball State, either, as the Cardinals rank dead last in the NCAA in total offense through three weeks, averaging 228 yards per game. They also rank 128th in yards per play, and 122nd in total defense, allowing 439 yards per game. Of course, those numbers came largely against Power-5 foes.

Ball State finished 3-9 last season and hasn’t had a winning campaign since 2020, when it rolled to an unexpected MAC title and beat San Jose State in a bowl game to finish 7-1.

UConn will kick off against the Cardinals at 3:30 p.m. at Rentschler Field. The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.