East Hartford - It would have been a long fade into irrelevance, a thought unspoken Saturday at Rentschler Field, but plenty palpable. Think about it: A loss to Syracuse would have pretty much imperiled the 2011 football season, if there'd even been a season.

Except that now there's a season. Bowl eligibility remains alive. There's a reason to return to Rentschler in two weeks to see the UConn Huskies, whose margin for error is thin enough to be spread across a saltine, but whose resolve on Saturday was thick enough to be served with a baked potato at Morton's.

The Huskies scored 21 points in the second half, more than they'd scored in most games this season, and beat the Orange 28-21. They are 4-5 and in need of two wins to be bowl eligible. You can joke about how everyone is bowl eligible now. Except that everyone isn't. You still have to win a few.

At 21-21, though, it was looking as though their wins would be too few. Then Sio Moore picked off a pass a step in front of the Syracuse sideline, an instinctive, athletic play perhaps only he could make among the players dressed in blue. Then lineman Steve Greene fell on a fumble following a somewhat, you know, optimistic play call that asked Scott McCummings, the designated running quarterback, to throw. This just in: Never ask a guy to do something he can't with the game tied.

But then McCummings scored the eventual game-winner.

Season on. A reason to come back. Good thing, too.

Because the idea that a crowd close to Saturday's 38,769 would have showed up in two weeks for Louisville is folly, had the Huskies lost. Hard to fathom that 38,769 were actually here Saturday. But maybe there was just enough Orange in the crowd to boost the numbers.

Basketball will have started in earnest by the time UConn and Louisville play football in two weeks. The weather will be colder. Doubtful that many hearty souls would have shown up for a mostly meaningless game.

Now it's not so meaningless. And that's huge for a program with two home games remaining. Nobody likes to see apathy and empty seats. And with UConn football not yet in the hearts of the fandom - certainly not like basketball - Rentschler would have been more a depressing sight than it was for the epically failed Whale Bowl last winter.

The story du jour was supposed to be how UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni beat his old school. Pasqualoni spent 18 years at Syracuse. Coach P would have none of it.

"Everyone I know really, essentially, is out of there," he said. " ... It's really not about me at all."

It really wasn't. It was about keeping a bunch of kids engaged enough in the 10-day span since losing a hideous game at Pittsburgh. It was about coaching focus, too, given that many of the coaches' homes are still without power. It was about keeping a season relevant. It was about giving fans from central and northern Connecticut still without power a reason to forget the travails of Connecticut Light & Powerless.

Maybe, too, it was about showing that Pasqualoni isn't nearly ready for the rocking chair. Even casual debate among UConn followers inevitably leads to speculation about Pasqualoni's future, even though he hasn't recruited his own guys yet. Silly. But it's dismissed as "the world we live in," whatever that means.

We can debate the state of the Huskies when he showed up. It's in vogue now to kill Randy Edsall, who only built this. But while Edsall left some players here, especially on defense, there's no denying Pasqualoni has no quarterback. It's made UConn the lethal combination of bad and dull at times this season.

But they're still breathing. With two home games remaining. That counts. The Huskies could get to six wins and into a bowl game. In other seasons, that might be met with a yawn. Not this one. There's still a reason to pay attention. More importantly, there's still a reason to show up.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.