If a football falls in the forest and there's no one there to catch it, does anybody really care?

Such is the case with UConn football. Interest was tepid enough before the Fresno Fiasco, which reinforced all the negative narratives about the teetering program.

My particular concern isn't about the on-field product, but how said product gets shared with the masses. Or doesn't, in this case.

No players were made available to the media after the game. The reason, I've been told, is that no media members asked for any specific player so none were made available. This is called hiding behind a procedural technicality for the sake of convenience and expediency.

It's not necessarily the act itself, but the underlying mindset that calls into question whether the program is aware of — or cares about — its perception problem. On a day with the most attention on the program in two years, nobody heard from a player. How are the paying customers supposed to familiarize themselves with the players when nobody really knows who they are?

I had no issues with UConn coach Randy Edsall's reluctance to divulge his starting quarterback until game time. It's a football thing. Competitive advantage and all that. But once the game ended, Jack Zergiotis should have been front and center during the postgame Zoom with the media, regardless of whether anybody asked for him.

It's common sense. He's the quarterback. The face of the team. The face that was hidden for competitive reasons all week. There is no reason to shield the face of the team to a fan base that's mostly ambivalent. Plus, there's the everlasting consideration that if one craves adulation in victory, one must remain accountable in defeat.

Straight up: Most sports fans in Connecticut right now can't name five players on this team. Among the best ways for fans to familiarize themselves with the players — and perhaps get inclined to buy more tickets — is through the media. Most of us are happy to tell the players' stories. We just need more opportunities.

This information age allows most of us in media companies to track the topics and stories that move the needle the most to readers. Here at The Day, UConn football barely registers a murmur. I can't speak for other outlets, but I suspect that's the case mostly everywhere.

So if you choose to dismiss this as being whiny — as is usually the case when such columns are written — go for it. Free country. The truth is actually quite simple: Given the rather extensive lack of interest in the program, we can always focus on something else at no risk of losing readers or clicks. It's in the football program's best interest open the door and let us in. Shielding the players from the media might have allowed the traveling party to exit Fresno faster, but sent a machete through the bigger picture.

Let me also suggest that we'd carve Geno Auriemma and Dan Hurley if they hid the players after a tough loss.

This bothers me because I have a soft spot for UConn football. I like Edsall and always have. Lest we forget he took his program to the Fiesta Bowl during his first trip through here, not long after taking over when his office was a trailer outside creaky Memorial Stadium. He is a good man who stands and all the right things.

But just because I like Edsall doesn't mean I need to agree with everything he does.

Still, I'm more likely to give the football program a sympathetic ear, given how it endured the university's dismissive wave while pandering to basketball in the move back to the Big East. Basketball gets no pass for the same reason the gospel of Luke advises us, "To whom much is given, much will be required."

Basketball should be held to a higher standard because it has been blessed with more.

I hope football succeeds here again. As has been written many times: More success means more fans, more revenues and more clicks for us. It's a win-win. But along the way, the paying customers need to get reacquainted with the program. It's a process, notably aided by winning.

In fairness: Tuesday's weekly media meeting produced a number of players available for interviews and less ambiguity on the depth chart. This was good news. Let's keep the momentum going. This program needs it.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro