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- The UConn Huskies football team has represented the University of Connecticut in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football since the team's founding in 1896. The Huskies have played in six post-season bowl games, all following their transition from Division I-AA to Division I-A in 2000. UConn's longest bowl invitation streak is four seasons, from 2007 to 2010. The UConn Huskies football program enjoyed its greatest period of success during the first head coaching tenure of Randy Edsall (1999–2011). Prior to his hiring, UConn only appeared in two post-season football contests, during the 1998 NCAA Division I-AA playoffs. Under Edsall, the Huskies played in five bowl games including one Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowl game. The team also shared two Big East Conference championships and were ranked at various times in the Associated Press (AP), Coaches', and Harris polls, as well as the BCS standings. Subsequent to Edsall's initial departure after the 2010 season, UConn has played in only one bowl game: in 2015, under former head coach Bob Diaco. Multiple future National Football League (NFL) draft picks have had superior performances for Connecticut in bowl games, including the first UConn player ever to be picked in the first round of the draft: running back Donald Brown. Brown made appearances in the 2007 Meineke Car Care Bowl, where he led all Connecticut rushers with 72 yards—tied for fifth-best in UConn bowl game history—and the 2009 International Bowl, where he rushed for 261 yards and a touchdown and was named the game's most valuable player (MVP)—the best rushing performance in Connecticut bowl game history. Dan Orlovsky earned MVP honors for his UConn-bowl game-best passing performance in 2004; he was drafted in the fifth round of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. Wide receiver Marcus Easley was drafted in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills. The Huskies' first post-season bowl game was in 2004, when they participated in the 2004 Motor City Bowl in Detroit, Michigan on December 27 against the Toledo Rockets. The most recent UConn bowl game occurred on December 26, 2015, when the Huskies faced the Marshall Thundering Herd in the 2015 St. Petersburg Bowl. A loss in that game brought Connecticut to an overall bowl record of three wins and three losses, a .500 winning percentage. Following a 6–6 regular-season record in 2022, UConn was selected to play in the 2022 Myrtle Beach Bowl, scheduled for December 19, 2022. *This bowl game's name has changed one or moretimes since UConn's last appearance. See the linkedarticles for the name change history. (en)
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