2008 Connecticut Huskies College Football Predictions
2008 Connecticut Huskies College Football Predictions Courtesy of Alex Smart, An Expert College Football Handicapper featured on Touthouse.com. If you are betting college football games this season, Buy Alex’s College Football Picks.
Connecticut Huskies (9-4, 5-2 in 2007, 2nd place in Big East)
Many people thought that HC Randy Edsall and the Huskies were frauds in 2007 when they were ranked in the Top-15 in the country. When push came to shove, UConn wasn’t quite ready to play with the big boys in the Big East. However, a favorable schedule and 17 returning starters should be more than enough to send the Huskies bowling yet again in ’08.
2007 Highlight: For a team coming from Tampa Bay, Florida, the #10 South Florida Bulls had to feel out of their element when they traveled to East Hartford to take on the Huskies. The blustery weather conditions gave UConn the perfect homefield advantage, and a strong defensive effort highlighted by a first half shut-out gave the home team a 22-15 upset victory. RB Andre Dixon had his best game of the season, running for 167 yards on 32 carries.
2007 Lowlight: The equation was frighteningly simple for Connecticut: Win in Morgantown and you go to your first ever BCS game. The good news was that the Huskies jumped out of the blocks to an early 7-0 lead against #3 West Virginia. The bad news was that the defense hadn’t been exposed to high doses of Pat White quite yet. White paced the Mountaineers offense with 293 total yards and three touchdowns. His 186 yards might’ve led the team, but five different players rushed for at least 50 yards. In all, the 517 rushing yards racked up by the Mounties ultimately led to the 66-21 annihilation they handed the hapless Huskies.
Offensive Outlook: There aren’t many glaring weaknesses for this unit, which returns nine starters from their team that averaged 26.5 PPG a year ago. Tyler Lorenzen, younger brother of NFL QB Jared Lorenzen, will be back under center for his senior season. His best friends will be RBs Andre Dixon and Donald Brown, who combined for almost 1,700 yards and 11 TDs last year. Former QB DJ Hernandez has been converted to a receiver, and should have a productive senior season in the slot.
Defensive Outlook: If you take out that West Virginia game, the Huskies defense did quite well in 2007 allowing just 13.9 PPG; eight starters return from that unit. A name to watch this year on the D-Line is redshirt freshman Jarrell Miller, who should find plenty of one-on-one opportunities with a senior-laden defensive line surrounding him. The sophomore linebacking duo of Scott Lutrus and Lawrence Wilson are both rising stars in this conference and will be the cornerstone of Edsall’s defense for years to come.
2008 Preview: With the unbalanced Big East schedule, the Huskies are subject to four Big East road games in ’08. A three-game road trip in the middle of the season to Louisville, North Carolina, and Rutgers could prove disastrous. Everyone in Connecticut has its eyes locked onto their November 1st rematch with West Virginia.
2008 will be a success if… the Huskies can keep up their defensive intensity. Defense was what won this team games early in the season, and was what cost them games towards the end of it. The offense should be good enough to win plenty of games, but the defense absolutely must be towards the top of the Big East if Edsall expects his Huskies to take the next step towards becoming a contender for a BCS birth.
The Huskies were a nice story in 2007, but bad losses down the stretch leaves cause for concern for the upcoming season. UConn will go bowling, but Huskies fans shouldn’t expect a much better bowl bid than their Meineke Bowl spot a year ago.
Prediction: 7-5, 5th place in Big East
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