East Hartford - There are dumber things in sports than pronouncing certainties from the spring football game. It's just that none come to mind at the moment. Nah. The spring football game is an ode to Bill Belichick: It is what it is.

It is a scrimmage. A controlled environment. Vanilla playbook. Running time. And while this kid or that kid might have shown some potential, all the other vagaries of the day shroud the truth. It was what it was: a privilege to be outside in sunny, 70-degree weather at Rentschler Field, appreciating how we made it through another venomous winter.

They had their spring game, UConn football did, under a Rockwellian sky at the Rent. Yes. Another mention of the weather. Because it underscored the program's progress under new coach Bob Diaco: hope and renewal in the spring season of hope and renewal.

How they'll do come late August and through the fall is anyone's guess. But the newness, much like the air Saturday, is so fresh and so welcome. How fitting, really, that the day mirrored the outlook.

And so now Diaco and his program begin what Pat Riley calls "the innocent climb." And we're going with him. Literally. Diaco's bandwagon is big enough for everyone. That's why he bought 300 pizzas for the students last week before the men's and women's basketball teams went to their Final Fours. The message: We're football. See us? We're all in, too.

That's why Diaco addressed the students that night, asking for their support. Then he turned to his players, demanding they reciprocate. Yo, fellas: If the students are there for you, you need to be there for them.

That's why Diaco has decided the team will enter Rentschler Field this season down the stairs through the student section. Love it. Clemson touches the rock and runs down the hill. Now UConn high-fives its way to the Rentschler lawn. A made-for-TV snippet.

"I'd like people to come into the game earlier then they otherwise would, in particular the students," Diaco said Saturday after the spring game. "(UConn) warmed up on a different side (of the field) last year, the home team under the scoreboard, the visitors by the student section. I'm guessing the idea would be a hostile environment for the other team.

"That's not how our team rolls," Diaco said. "We do positive energy. We want the students to energize our team. Let's let the other team run to the other side. We want to go through the student body in hopes they come in and engage the players an hour or so before kickoff. A little extra heartbeat for the players."

This is Diaco. He wants to make you a believer. He wants to make everyone a believer. We'll see how much positive energy pulsates after Brigham Young and Boise State, two of the first three games. But it's hard to deny this is the right message at the right time in a program that needs positivity. A program that needs to be sold on its own campus and then its own state before any dalliance nationally.

"It's a culture change," senior Byron Jones said.

We'll never get the 61,000 or 72,000 that Ohio State and Penn State respectively drew for their spring games. But that doesn't mean UConn football can't have a niche. We are not a basketball state. We are a UConn state. Now we see the grand test for the power of positive energy.

Football has never been more visible than in the few months under Diaco. No longer are the players schlepping from class to the Shenkman Center in anonymity. They are engaged. He even cut practice short last week so the players could be there when the UConn women returned from Nashville.

"Coach (Auriemma) hit me up and thanked me for bringing the team. The reality of it is that we got more than we gave," Diaco said. "Listening to those two young ladies (Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley) at the end of that talk sobbing, pouring out their hearts about how much they love the game, how much they love their school, how much they love their teammates and how much they love their coach was priceless for our guys to hear and for me to hear. It was well worth the missed practice time."

It's been a happy week at UConn. Men's basketball title. Women's basketball title. And new hope for football.

"So many layers of positive things," Diaco said. "The brand was national, but it's so hot right now that from coast to coast as you are on the road recruiting, everybody in the country knows UConn."

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.