2013-14 NCAA Previews (AAC) – Cougars
It wasn’t all that long ago that Connecticut participated in a BCS bowl (2010 Orange). Sure they may have snuck in representing the worst of the AQ conference but they were generally having successful seasons with solid 8-5 record under their former coach.
Connecticut Huskies (Team Link)
Coach: Paul Pasqualoni
2012 Record: 5-7
Odds of winning BCS Championship: +2000 (the Field)
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They were also a team that others didn’t really want to play because they were very physical.
Then coach Randy Edsall left for Maryland and everything he built seems to have unravelled. Rather than take a coach with a bright future looking to make his mark they tabbed Paul Pasqualoni, who ran the Syracuse program for a while.. I think the thinking was that they needed someone who was familiar with football in the Northeast but it is looking more and more like the wrong hire. There is just no life to the program it seems.
This season I think they can return to their winning ways…even if just barely. The key will once again being fundamentally sound and coming up with at least a couple of conference wins on the road. This team should close well with their schedule.
The Huskies ranked last in the conference last year scoring just 18ppg. They were last in rushing and total offense and to be honest I am not sure how they weren’t last in passing offense too. This team needs to run the ball effectively to win games and they look fairly well constructed to do so with a line returning 3 senior starters.
It’s a nice place to start.
The offense is hoping for a big year from its smallest star, running back Lyle McCombs. Though not the most imposing player on the roster he has proven to be quite effective with about 2000 over his first two seasons. He will need to have a bounce back season of at least 1000 yards or more for the Huskies to realize their goals.
They also need returning QB Chandler Whitmer, to flip his numbers and connect for more TDs while reducing his turnover count. He is not blessed with the most imposing receiving corps but they do have experience – 4 juniors in that unit.
On defense the Huskies return only 4 starters from one of the better defenses in the Big East last season. In fact, even though they finished third in the conference in points allowed they were actually 19th in the country in scoring defense giving up just a little less than 20ppg.
It might be hard to repeat that performance this season but at least they have middle linebacker Yawin Smallwood to rely on. Smallwood led the team in tackles last year but is the only starting linebacker returning. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
It would help if they could force more turnovers than they did last season to try and balance mistakes by the offense. They don’t usually have next level stars on D but the guys they do have get the job done.
2013-14 Record Projection: 7-5
The new American Athletic Conference is an interesting one to watch this season. You kind of have two divisions, one of the old Big East and the other of teams formerly of Conference USA, and it be will neat to see who will prevail. In the old league the Huskies more than held their own but were overtaken by the likes of Rutgers, Louisville and Cincinnati recently. This season not much is expected of UConn but I think they can at least put up a winning record.
Either way I think the coach is gone and it will be interesting to see who might come in next. The Northeast is a tricky football market but with Boston College in lean times it is ripe for some kind of takeover ig they can get the right hire.
There probably won’t much reason to take notice of Connecticut this season as they will probably win the games they are supposed and lose the other and not much more. It is going to be kind of a bland season in Storrs.
2013 Huskies Schedule
AUG 29 – Towson
SEP 14 – Maryland
SEP 21 – Michigan
SEP 28 – @Buffalo
OCT 12 – South Florida
OCT 19 – @Cincinnati
OCT 26 – @UCF
NOV 8 – Louisville
NOV 16 – @SMU
NOV 23 – @Temple
NOV 30 – Rutgers
DEC 7 – Memphis
