2025 Fenway Bowl Preview: Can UConn repeat as Fenway Bowl champions?

After a 2025 regular season that saw the UConn Huskies go 9-3, Connecticut is back in the Fenway Bowl. This time, instead of an ACC opponent, the Huskies face off against the Army Black Knights.

2025 Fenway Bowl Preview

Army comes off of a tight loss to Navy at M&T Bank Stadium in their annual showdown, while UConn comes off of a busy few weeks. Head coach Jim Mora has departed for a position at Colorado State, and in his place comes Jason Candle, former head coach at Toledo.

Yet this game marks one last hoorah for a group with a ton of changes pending. While both offensive coordinator and interim head coach Gordon Sammis and defensive coordinator Matt Brock will coach the Fenway Bowl, neither are returning past next season. Same goes for quarterback Joe Fagnano (inactive for Fenway Bowl), running back Cam Edwards, wide receiver Skyler Bell, and many others.

Before this program endures a 180-transition, they’ll have one more chance to make their mark on program history. That is, to achieve the first 10-win season in program history since joining FBS.

Will UConn pick up the win without their starting quarterback, or will Army end their season with an exclamation point?

Matchup History

UConn has faced Army nine times in its history and eight times since joining FBS. They currently hold a 5-4 record against the Black Knights.

The Huskies won their first four, and five of their first six FBS meetings with Army. However, the Black Knights have since responded with back-to-back victories and have won three of four. Their most recent affair came in Mora’s first season with the Huskies in 2022, where UConn fell 34-17.

These two teams have also faced off at a baseball stadium once before, when Army picked up a 35-21 victory over UConn at Yankee Stadium in 2014. In that game, the Black Knights passed just three times. Instead, they ran for 332 yards and five touchdowns in the win. And over a decade later, Army will again lean on their ground attack in hopes of picking up their ninth bowl victory.

Stat to Know

With a win, UConn would become the first program in Fenway Bowl history to repeat as champions in consecutive seasons. They would become just the 18th program in history to win the same bowl game in back-to-back seasons.

Intriguing Storyline: Who will start at QB for UConn?

Though UConn’s offense was one of the most explosive in the country this past regular season, that shouldn’t be the expectation in this matchup. Quarterback Joe Fagnano — who threw for over 3400 passing yards (10th best in FBS), 28 touchdowns (7th) and just one interception — will not play in the Fenway Bowl. He will instead prepare to participate in other exhibition events to make his case for the NFL. So, who will take Fagnano’s place as the starter?

Backup Nick Evers, who originally was the starter to begin 2024 as a transfer from Wisconsin, would be the next guy up. However, he’s expected to transfer, and was among the most notable omissions from the Fenway Bowl roster. It would be on to QB3 Tucker McDonald — who the Huskies have tried to mix in quite a bit this season and last — but he’s dealing with an injury. Even skill position players who have thrown passes this season such as wide receiver John Neider, who was a high school quarterback, and tight end Alex Honig are entering the transfer portal, leaving their status in question.

At Fenway Bowl media availability, Coach Sammis addressed the gaping hole at quarterback and shared, “we got a couple options … we got a couple guys ready to go,” though never officially declared a starter.

Perhaps a by-committee approach for the Huskies? The most likely option given the scenario would be redshirt freshman Ksaan Farrar, a three-star recruit out of Virginia Becha who ran twice for 17 yards in UConn’s blowout win over FIU earlier this season.

With the lack of options at quarterback, Sammis even joked that he could step in there, only if necessary.

“If I have to I’ll go out there and finish the game,” he said.

Players to Watch

Skyler Bell, UConn

While initial reports suggested otherwise, Bell recently announced that he will play in the 2025 Fenway Bowl in what will most likely be his last hoorah as a UConn Husky.

After joining the program in 2024, Bell is coming off of his best collegiate season where he was a consensus All-American. Bell is a playmaker, and even though UConn is thin at quarterback, they’ll still find ways to get him involved in the offense.

The Huskies are 5-2 when Bell has 100+ yards, and score 30 points per game. Army has faced less than 28.5 pass attempts per game this season, the 29th fewest in the FBS. They may not be prepared to keep him contained.

There is one WR in college football who was top two in receptions, yards and touchdowns in 2025.

Not Jeremiah Smith.
Not Ryan Williams.
Not Makai Lemon.

His name is Skyler Bell, and what he accomplished for @UConnFootball this season was extraordinary. pic.twitter.com/4FKbd15Y2D

— Chase Coburn (@coolsportskid) December 15, 2025

Cale Hellums, Army

The Black Knights rarely throw the football. They are last in FBS with just 9.1 attempts per game, and their starter in Cale Hellums has attempted just 79 passes all season. He’s thrown 40 completions, three touchdowns and three interceptions in those opportunities. But what makes him dangerous is the threat he posses as a runner, especially in head coach Jeff Monken’s creative scheme.

Hellums is second in the country with 289 rush attempts, 15th with 1178 yards and fourth with 16 rushing touchdowns. However, UConn has proven they can stop players like Hellums.

When they faced Liam Szarka and Air Force, they gave up only 16 points. So now the onus is on Monken and Hellums; how will they manipulate the Huskies defensive scheme and get its rushing game going? In any strategy, it will certainly start with Hellums at the forefront.

Key to a Victory for Army

The Black Knights need to force turnovers on the Huskies and win the turnover battle in this matchup. Army already does a superb job at controlling clock and dictating the pace of the game. Yet, the Huskies have always kept themselves in games this season by making explosives and maximizing on their chances. That is why they’re one of two teams in the country without a loss in regulation in 2025 (Indiana).

The Huskies have only committed two turnovers all season, and have thrown only one interception — both are the best marks in the FBS. They also have the fourth-best turnover margin.

However, Army is 11th in the country in turnover margin, and don’t give the ball away much themselves. Without Fagnano in the game and with UConn most likely rolling with a redshirt freshman (among others), Army will have their chances to force takeaways, and they need to take advantage.

Key to a Victory for Connecticut

UConn needs to control the time of possession in this game. Like most military academies, Army is a run-heavy offense. They have less passing yards per game than any team (136th) in the FBS in 2025 with just 73.8.

The Huskies are familiar with this style of offense, however. They’ve faced Rice (135th), Ball State (130th), and Air Force (129th), and all of those teams control a great portion of clock, as well. This season, UConn has faced seven of the 67 teams nationwide with an average time of possession that is greater than 30:00 (over half the game). All of UConn’s losses (Syracuse, Delaware, Rice) are against teams who play with this approach.

Army is second in the entire country in time of possession at over 34 minutes on average. In four of their six wins, the Black Knights have had the ball for more than 36 minutes. They like to run the ball and keep opposing offenses off the field. UConn, meanwhile, is in the lower half of time of possession, but have made up for it by making big plays through the air.

Without Fagnano, that might not be in the cards. UConn needs to run up the gut with Cam Edwards and establish itself on the ground to control the time of possession and while doing so take control of the game.

Prediction

Predictive markets are on opposite sides of the spectrum with this matchup.

ESPN analytics favor UConn with a 58.7-percent chance of victory, while DraftKings and Fanduel each have the Black Knights as a touchdown favorite or greater.

For me, this is Army’s game to lose. They have their quarterback and the center of their offense — UConn doesn’t.

What is Skyler Bell without Joe Fagnano. And even worse, without his QB2 or QB3? Part of what made Bell so dangerous was his connection with Fagnano, as they both fed off of each other. Will he be the same asset with a redshirt freshman who has never attempted a collegiate pass?

Instead, it will most likely come down to which team can run the football better, which is a simple answer.

UConn’s Cam Edwards is an explosive rusher. However, what the Huskies are able to accomplish on the ground without fellow running backs Mel Brown, Victor Rosa and MJ Flowers — not to mention without two starting offensive linemen — is nowhere near what Army can do with Hellums and company. Edwards has been great, but unlike last season, this rushing offense fed off of the passing attack. If the passing attack isn’t anywhere as fearful, Army will probably key in on Edwards and contain him.

UConn certainly has a chance, especially given that this is the farewell tour for most of this roster and staff alike. However, Army has a greater part of its offensive nucleus intact, and that will be the difference.