Connecticut Huskies 2019 College Football Preview

College Football Predictions – Connecticut Huskies College Football Preview

2018 Recap

Record – 1-11

ATS – 2-10

There’s no easy way to say it.

The Huskies put on one of the worst displays in the history of college football. They only managed to defeat FCS foe Rhode Island and their average score during the campaign was a loss to the tune of 50-22. At least there was a method to the madness. Or so we hope. Connecticut played a LOT of freshmen last year and put a really young team on the field, hoping that it would start to pay dividends in 2019.


2019 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating

East Division – #6

American Athletic Conference – #12


Connecticut Huskies 2019 Outlook

OFFENSE

The Huskies had a dangerous dual-threat QB last year and couldn’t take advantage. David Pindell rushed for over 1,100 (!) yards and 10 TDs whilst throwing 19 TD passes. That kind of production will not be easy to replace. The leading candidate for the starting QB role is last year’s back-up Marvin Washington (24 attempts LY) and it remains to be seen what the offense will look like when he is under center. We worry a lot about Washington’s ability to MATRICULATE the ball down the field in the passing game as no WR on the roster had more than 11 (!) grabs in 2018. Not good. Now on the other hand, the RB group looks just fine with junior Kevin Mensah back for duty (1,042, 4.6, 6 TD LY) and there is decent depth behind him including Toledo transfer Art Thompkins. The offensive line paved the way for a respectable 4.7 YPC last year and they return four starters to the front.

The rushing attack looks promising but we have a sneaky suspicion that the Huskies will yet again do something “innovative” and fail to utilize their team strength (RB, OL) and get plastered on a regular basis. UConn tallied 22.2 PPG last year and that sounds about where they will end up in 2019.

DEFENSE

Hyperbole can’t do it justice. It’s good enough to say that the Huskies had the worst defense in college football history a season ago, or at the very minimum, the 2018 stop unit is now on the MOUNT RUSHMORE of defensive ineptitude. Oops. Couldn’t resist the hyperbole. They allowed 50.4 PPG which was the most of any team ever, gave up over 600 yards per contest (335 on the ground) and yielded an impossible 8.8 yards per play. They only booked 11 sacks in 12 games. WHOA NELLIE.

New DC Lou Spanos comes over from ROLL TIDE and has a lot of work to do. We’re happy to report that they played a lot of youngsters last year and bring back 10 starters. Those young guys should take a step forward given the experience they got last year, and will hopefully take advantage of better (?) coaching. It seems like a FOOLS ERRAND to talk too much about the personnel at this point as it’s unclear how much talent they have on the depth chart, as well as which of the youngsters will make an impact in 2019.

We project at least at TD/game improvement in scoring defense, and possibly more, but they are still going to be one of the weaker defenses in the AAC.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Not bad. They need to break in a new PK but have one of the better punters in the AAC in Luke Magliozzi (38.8 yard net LY). Both primary KRs are back for duty but they need to do a better job on punt returns (4.67, #11 AAC LY).

Schedule Analysis

Overall – It doesn’t get much better than starting with something called Wagner. After that they have three or four winnable games.

Potential ATS Trouble Spot – Nothing noted.

Season Win Total

Over 2.5 +100

Under 2.5 -120

MEGALOCKS says:

We don’t plan on going DUMPSTER DIVING and usually avoid taking a position on season win totals this low. Three wins feels doable, but they better not lose to Wagner. <grabs popcorn>

MEGAmazing Tidbits

The University of Connecticut began playing football in 1896 when the school was known as Storrs Agricultural College.

Our pal SKIP HOLTZ did a fine job with the Huskies from 1994-1998 compiling a record of 34-23 (.596).


MEGALOCKS ATS Outlook: Neutral

It looks like the Huskies are going to need another full season before we can take them seriously. The defense will most certainly show improvement (duh) but now it’s the offense that concerns us. The Huskies have only won seven games over the past three seasons and it feels like another long year ahead. Maybe they can SHOCK THE WORLD and pull a big upset along the way? It would be good to see these guys have a few nice moments after what they went through last year.

Connecticut will be big underdogs in a lot of games and might be able to stay within some of those numbers if the defense plays significantly better. Not impossible. FADING these guys will mean typically taking the worst of the number and laying massive chalk. Not our style. We don’t plan on backing them too often at the windows BUT will keep an open mind and see how they look in September. 


Want more Connecticut football?

WEBSITE

http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/m-footbl/conn-m-footbl-body.html

FORUM

http://the-boneyard.com/forums/uconn-football.2/

https://connecticut.forums.rivals.com/forums/uconn-football.12/

NEWS

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-football/

http://www.theuconnblog.com/

http://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/41/uconn-huskies

http://bleacherreport.com/uconn-football

http://www.registercitizen.com/uconn-football

TWITTER

Hashtag – #UConnNation

Accounts to follow

https://twitter.com/UConnFootball