When it was time to play the 2016 Expectations Game for UConn, I had to pause and think “wait, is UConn still in the AAC?”
Clearly I’m joking, but with all the rumors and reports about UConn being a candidate for Big 12 expansion it kind of seems the Huskies left the American years ago.
No UConn players on the All-Big 12 Preseason Team. I’m going to take this as a bad sign.
— Boneyardigans (@UConnFanDotCom) July 13, 2016
UConn officials and fans would love to make the move to a Power 5 conference; and who knows, maybe the Huskies are playing for a spot in the Big 12 this season.
But if that’s the case, the Huskies may want to plan on staying put for a while.
In 2015 UConn went 6-7 and earned a trip to its first bowl game in five years (which they lost) under new coach Bob Diaco, who brought his bruising defensive style from Notre Dame. The Huskies were the only team to knock off Houston (cough, without Greg Ward, cough) and scared Missouri on the road.
The UConn schedule was not kind. Mizzou, Navy and BYU were clumped together early in the season, and UConn needed the Houston win to become bowl eligible before ending the season against Temple.
It’s déjà vu in 2016. The Huskies kick off the season with Maine, but then enter a brutal six-game stretch: at Navy, home against Virginia and Syracuse, at Houston, back home for Cincinnati and then back on the road to take on upstart USF.
That’s not to say the Huskies will lose all six games, but there are certainly no gimmies. Virginia has a new coach and Syracuse is rebuilding, but both could be non-conference losses. In the AAC part of the schedule, Navy has a ton of talent to replace from last year’s great season, Houston might want to put up 70 points in a revenge game and Cincinnati always seems to be around the top of the conference standings.
But what about that great Huskies defense we just talked about? That defense which only allowed 30-plus points twice all season and ranked 20th nationally in passing yards allowed despite being in a conference where passing is a way of life? Oh yeah, it’s back.
Well, most of it anyway. The Huskies will have four of their six top defensive linemen back along with three linebackers and three top defensive backs, including cornerback Jamar Summers who had eight interceptions last year. Junior defensive linemen Folorunso Fatukasi and Luke Carrezola loved to be in the backfield, combining for 19.5 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks.
So if UConn won six games last year on the back of its defense, which returns a ton of talent, why are people questioning if the Huskies are poised to make another bowl run? Have you noticed we haven’t talked about the offense yet?
The 2015 Huskies offense was brutal. Twenty points against FBS Villanova. A measly six against Missouri. A touchdown at Tulane and, for an encore, UConn scored just 10 points in the bowl game against Marshall. The only times UConn lit up the scoreboard were against the who’s who of the who’s not defensively – UCF and ECU.
Maybe with the much-improved defense UConn doesn’t really need a powerful offense to succeed. Look at last year’s schedule and there is certainly a trend. The Huskies won five of six games when scoring more than 20 points and lost all but one game when failing to hit the 20-point mark. So, yeah, you need to score points to win in the AAC.
Where does that leave the Huskies in 2016? Looking to improve on defense while trying to do more than three yards and a cloud of dust when they have the ball. If that happens, there are a lot of “toss-up” games that could go UConn’s way. Virginia, Cincinnati, ECU, and even Temple are there for the taking if returning quarterback Bryant Shirreffs can limit turnovers and someone can run the ball effectively.
If that doesn’t happen, the 2016 resume won’t look particularly appealing to anyone, especially the Big 12.
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