Storrs — It's become part of UConn football coach Bob Diaco's routine.

Diaco steps to the podium during his weekly meeting with the media and talks about a disappointing loss.

The latest debacle was a 30-0 loss at Boston College on Saturday when about the only thing UConn did right was not get lost on the way to Chestnut Hill, Mass.

"It's like a broken record," Diaco said Tuesday.

The Huskies have progressively gone downhill since beating Cincinnati on Oct. 8. They went from being competitive in losses to South Florida (42-27) and Central Florida (24-16) to just plain stinking against East Carolina, Temple and Boston College, getting outscored 92-3. Their five-game losing streak matches the longest in Diaco's three seasons in Storrs.

UConn's season will end on Saturday (4 p.m., ESPNews) after it hosts Tulane, two teams heading in the wrong direction at 3-8, at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. It will be Senior Day for 18 Huskies.

Diaco admits that UConn has played poorly, but insists the Huskies are not as bad as they've looked on game day.

"The area of the offense has made everything look terrible," he said. "I'll have to take the fact that perception is reality. I've heard that said and I've said it myself that perception is reality. It is not actually the reality of our program that everything is a mess. ... It does seem like that, though."

Disappointing doesn't begin to describe UConn's season. The Huskies regressed despite returning 16 starters, including 10 on offense, from a team that earned a bowl bid in 2015 and finished 6-7 overall, a significant improvement over 2-10 from Diaco's first season.

When asked if he's the right man to lead the team going forward, Diaco responded: "Yeah, I definitely am. But I don't feel compelled to defend that. We're in year three of a spectacularly challenging schedule that is a spectacularly challenging job.

"I don't know what all the other first three years of a head coach at UConn records were like."

The previous coach, Paul Pasqualoni, was fired four games into the 2013 season after posting a 10-18 record. Diaco's record is 11-25 overall.

Diaco said that he knows what's wrong and the work to fix the issues is already underway.

It starts with repairing a broken-down offense that hasn't scored a touchdown since the second quarter against Central Florida on Oct. 22. The Huskies rank last (128th) in the FBS in scoring offense at 15 points per game and 122nd in total offense at 321.1 yards.

"I take full accountability," Diaco said.

Diaco continues to insist the Huskies have the talent to be more competitive. He gave passing grades to the defense, which he says has held seven of their 11 opponents under their season scoring average, and special teams. He's proud of the program's culture.

"There's a lot of really, really strong areas that will continue to grow and continue to get stronger," Diaco said. "But the offense has to get fixed. I have to fix it. What I created up to this point has created this miserable slide that is the fall of 2016.

"The work that we've done brought the team back to a bowl in two years after where it was, which is spectacular. But now we've slid back. ... The fixes already have begun and it's going to happen as swiftly as it can happen. Brighter days ahead."

Diaco is pleased with the progress of freshman quarterback Donovan Williams, who's guided the offense to just three points, thrown three interceptions and completed 25 of 50 passes in two starts. But he didn't feel like it was appropriate to talk about the future of offensive coordinator David Corley, who's been in charge for the last three games, at this time.

"I'm super excited about Donovan," Diaco said. "I'm so glad that he's experiencing everything that he's experiencing."

As far as the disgruntled UConn fan base, Diaco said he insulates himself from the outside world during football season and hasn't heard the noise. He's just happy that they care about the program to voice their opinion.

"To have people on fire for UConn football, that's not a negative thing," Diaco said. "That's a positive thing."

g.keefe@theday.com