Earlier this week, coach Bob Diaco pointed to a challenging schedule as a contributing reason for UConn's losing record.

Here's his evidence:

The Huskies have suffered defeats against American Athletic Conference championship contenders in Navy, Houston and South Florida. Those three programs own a combined record of 16-3 overall.

"Three of our four losses are against the No. 11, the No. 25 and the No. 27 teams in the country," Diaco said. "And they were all on the road. Only one other team in America has done that. Only one other team has played through the first half of the season that level of challenge.

"Oh, and the other loss happened to be against Syracuse; We left the ball two feet away from the end zone and they just beat Virginia Tech. So we've had a lot hard, challenging, fun, exciting (games), some great moments, some disappointing moments."

Don't expect Central Florida, which visits Rentschler Field in East Hartford Saturday at noon (ESPNNEWS) for an AAC game, to send a sympathy card to UConn (3-4, 1-3).

The Knights (3-3, 1-1) have experienced their share of challenges, too, in coach Scott Frost's first year as head coach. Frost has implemented a similar uptempo attack employed during his days as offensive coordinator at Oregon. He took over a program that went 0-12 last season.

Last week, UCF failed to hold a 25-7 lead and allowed Temple to score the game-winning touchdown with one second remaining in a difficult 26-25 loss.

"There's some things that if we would have cleaned up, that game would have been over a long time before the end of the game," Frost said. "Those are the little things that we've got to start doing to be a winning football team."

The bottom line for both teams: Neither has played well enough to rise out of the middle of the pack. Saturday's game is a chance for the Huskies, who have only five regular games remaining, and Knights to make a positive move.

For UConn, it's a matter of playing a complete game, from opening whistle to final seconds. The Huskies, notoriously slow starters, just can't see to put it all together. Or they just plain lack the talent to do so.

Diaco believes UConn's issues are very correctable.

"Very tangible things, not intangible," Diaco said. "Not try harder, or we need to have a seance or see a witch doctor. Just some real normal football, nuts and bolts, tactical and/or fundamental work."

The Huskies are making progress offensively in recent weeks, averaging 23.5 points in the last two games after scoring 19.8 in the first five. On the defensive end, they've forced five of their seven turnovers this season in the last two games.

They've remained positive and upbeat while dropping three of their last four games.

"Absolutely, we're optimistic," tight end Alec Bloom said. "We expect to win every game we go to. That doesn't change no matter who we play."

The pressure will be on UConn's offense line to protect quarterback Bryant Shirreffs, who was sacked five times and hit on several other occasions in last week's loss. The Knights rank first in the AAC and fourth in the nation in sacks per game at 3.8.

UCF has been stingy on third down, holding foes to 28.6 percent success rate, ranking 8th in the nation.

"I love watching their defense," Diaco said. "It definitely jumps off the screen for 2016. This is a well-coached defense with playmakers. Really, really impressed watching their defense in terms of the energy that they play."

With windy, cool weather and possibly rain predicted, the team that runs the ball better will likely have an advantage. The Knights appear to have the edge in that area, averaging 207.7 yards per game.

Saturday's winner will take home the ConFLiCT trophy, a prize that Diaco created last season and enthusiastically embraced but surprisingly had little to say about it when asked earlier this week. It's a rivalry that UCF has yet to embrace.

"I've had enough of the conversation externally," Diaco said. "So I'm not going to get into all that business."

The Huskies raised the trophy last year, coming away with a 40-13 road win in Orlando.

"Any rivalry game is going to be fun," Bloom said. "I think it adds a little more excitement and gets everyone more excited to play."

g.keefe@theday.com