UConn football, off to its best start since 2009, coming off a bye week to face Wake Forest

Storrs — Valentin Senn spent Saturday watching college football with his fellow UConn offensive linemen.That wasn't the only thing on the menu that day. Center, chef and host Wes Hoeh served up some buffalo wings."We came together as an O-line and cooked some wings and watched all the football games," Senn said Tuesday. "There were some great games on Saturday, so that was nice being a fan one time and just watching."Senn added: "He's a good cook. We were hungry, though, so we would have eaten everything."The UConn football team enjoyed a short break during its bye week, getting a few well-deserved days off.The well-rested Huskies (4-2) return to action on Saturday, hosting Wake Forest (2-4) at noon at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. They're riding a three-game winning streak, off to the football program's best start since 2009.They've already won one more game than last season."It gave us a lot of confidence," junior linebacker Donovan Branch said of the team's strong start. "I feel like as a team we definitely know from other years when we had good starts how that fell off, too, so we really don't look at it as like we're that good. We just have to stay consistent in who we are and just keep playing the way we're playing."As coach Jim Mora pointed out Tuesday, the Huskies have plenty room for improvement in all areas.Mora spent the bye week evaluating his team."We did a complete self-scout — offensively, defensively and on special teams as well, " Mora said. "Things that we were doing well, things that we need to improve on, how we can improve on them, if we were putting the players in the right position to have success, if there were guys who we needed to see emerge and find roles for."So it's an evaluation of everything that we've done."For the offensive line, a sour taste still lingers from its sub-par performance in a 29-20 win over Temple on Oct. 5.Senn says they worked on playing up to their high standard."We looked back to see what has gone well and what we need to improve," Senn said. "We definitely made some points of emphasis and tried to use that time to close some gaps that we have. But, at the same time, the things that are working, just keep working on those."The bye week was great to focus on fundamentals, because that's the most important thing. When the bullets are flying out on the field, you're always going to fall back on what's your basic training."Rest and recovery also were on the agenda.After three hard practices early last week, Mora lightened the schedule for his team.The Huskies will return to action this week as a healthier team.Starting quarterback Nick Evers (head injury), who sat out the Temple game, is "doing great," according to Mora. Defensive lineman Pryce Yates, wide receiver Skyler Bell and defensive back Cam Chadwick, who've all dealt with injuries, also are in the "doing great" category.Reserve quarterback Tucker McDonald is out for the season after having foot surgery. He suffered the injury against Buffalo on Sept. 28. He briefly appeared in three games, completing three of five passes for 20 yards.News and notesMora is rooting for Jeff Ulbrich, the interim head coach of the New York Jets. During his NFL coaching journey, he formed a close relationship with Ulbrich. Mora talked to Ulbrich last week."He's always been really special to me. When I was in San Francisco, we drafted him and we got really, really close. I got to coach him for a long time there. Then I was able to hire him — I believe it was his first real coaching job — at UCLA as our special teams coordinator/linebackers coach and then he became our defensive coordinator."And he moved into the pros with Dan Quinn at Atlanta. I've just always really been a big fan of Jeff as a person. He's just everything that you're supposed to be as a man and as a coach. …. Everything about him is exemplary."g.keefe@theday.com