UConn sports fans, mainly basketball-centric, give grudging acceptance to the idea that football “drives the bus.” It is only through football, they’re told, that UConn would be delivered from this sporting Elba, otherwise known as the American Athletic Conference.

It may seem counterintuitive, given that basketball’s overwhelming success ought to count for something. But then, well, UConn basketball’s excellence notwithstanding, the Huskies are still stuck in the wilderness.

But what happens if, when driving the bus, football sends it careening off a cliff?

We ponder such a question today, in the wake of the public relations airball — self-inflicted, too — to which the football program rendered UConn earlier this week.

A tweet that originated from the UConn football office alluded to a budding rivalry between UConn and Central Florida, the “Civil Conflict,” with a trophy given to the winner of the game each year. The tweet sent at 3:17 p.m. Monday: “First day back on campus for #UConnFootball! And just 130 days until the next Civil Conflict with @UCF_Football!”

The tweet also featured a photo of the trophy and the logos of the two programs, only one of which was correct.

Turns out Central Florida officials were — here’s an understatement — surprised by the tweet. They gave a statement to Brandon Helwig, who covers UCF for rivals.com, saying, “We have no involvement with the trophy or creating a rivalry game with UConn.”

UCF officials reiterated Wednesday that no such deal exists between the programs or athletic departments. Moreover, the UConn-originated tweet didn’t even use the correct UCF logo.

Several sources at UConn said Wednesday that nobody else in the athletic department had any idea this tweet was forthcoming.

Straight up: Bob Diaco, the coach, decided to unilaterally concoct a rivalry with a school 1,200 miles away and turned UConn football into a laughingstock. UConn has been mocked nationally on many websites and message boards the last two days.

It’s natural, too, to wonder what UConn’s opponents before this season’s UCF game — Villanova, Army, Missouri, Navy, BYU — might be thinking. Is UConn really looking past us?

This is a program that is 15-33 since Randy Edsall left. Attendance is declining. Mike Freimuth of the Connecticut Regional Development Authority, which runs Rentschler Field through Global Spectrum, told CPTV Sports’ Beyond The Beat two weeks ago that Rentschler Field lost money last year. And now we have a coach whose intentions may have been genuine, but whose execution was a swing and a miss, leading to dizzying levels of embarrassment.

This is what drives our bus?

Can the bus pull over?

Too many people at UConn work too damn hard to fortify its reputation to have a second-year football coach with a 2-10 record turn the place into a punching bag. Bob Diaco’s job is to win football games. Soon. Very soon. Leave marketing, public relations, rivalries and tweets to others whose job descriptions and resumes suggest they are better qualified.

Once again: I have deep respect for Warde Manuel, UConn’s athletic director. Kevin Ollie and Mike Cavanaugh were home runs. But it is not unfair to suggest that Diaco better prove himself soon, lest we conclude Manuel’s most important hire was a disaster.

One more thing: This whole contrivance of a rivalry game further underscores the need to schedule a game with Boston College, which is really UConn’s only true football rival. I know. Been here a million times.

Let’s say this: Both sides have done regrettable things in recent years. But isn’t it about time the posturing stopped, given that neither program can fill its home stadium anymore?

BC drew a lively crowd for its upset of Southern Cal last September. It has a loyal student section. But Alumni Stadium was about 4,000 short of a sellout. If you can’t fill your stadium on a Saturday night with a brand name, you have issues. Anybody want to argue that UConn at BC wouldn’t fill the place, not only with butts in the seats but with good, healthy sporting vitriol?

UConn’s attendance at Rentschler has been worse. Freimuth’s quote on Beyond The Beat: “We’ve hit a down cycle at Rentschler. The football team has struggled the last couple of years. It’s hard to hold anybody accountable for the performance of that building. We lost money last year for the first time in several years.”

Anyone want to argue that BC at UConn wouldn’t fill Rentschler and create a buzz that, you know, the Villanova game won’t?

Both programs ought to cut the manure forthwith. They need each other.

It’s just that Diaco should let his superiors handle the negotiations. And just coach football. It’s safer that way.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro. Twitter: @BCgenius