UConn Huskies College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
UConn Huskies Biggest Key: Offense
Get the chains moving. The offense has the running game with RB Kevin Mensah to at least do something on first down, and the receivers are in place to come up with a decent downfield passing game.
Controlling the clock wasn’t a problem in 2019 – the Huskies owned the time of possession battle – but the offense has to do a better job of going on decent marches. The O converted just 29% of its third down tries, and that was after connecting on 42% of its chances in 2018.
Basically, the offense needs production to go along with all of the time spent controlling the clock. And on the flip side …
UConn Huskies Biggest Key: Defense
Get off the field. The run defense improved by leaps and bound from 2018 to 2019, but the third down D was still miserable. The 2018 defense allowed teams to convert 50% of their third down tries, and so did the 2019 D.
The Huskies control the clock, but they don’t do enough with the ball when they have it. The D isn’t coming up with stops, but it’s not on the field all that often. In other words …
UConn’s defense gives up a TON of big plays. In 2019, only Bowling Green and UMass allowed more yards per play. To be positive, UConn allowed seven yards per play in 2019 after giving up a whopping 8.8 per play in 2018. The bar isn’t set all that high.
Reduce the home runs and generate a few more big moments on third downs.
UConn Huskies Key Player To A Successful Season
QB Jack Zergiotis, Soph.
Or Steven Krajewski, or Micah Leon, or Tyler Phommachanh, or Miles Foerster, or someone who can be the leader for an offense that was way too inconsistent.
The rest of the skill parts aren’t bad, but the lines have to be stronger, the defense has to be better, and there needs to be a difference-maker to emerge from the pack to take over the attack.
That might take the entire season to do, but for a program rebuilding for life as an independent, its about the building things up for 2022 and beyond.
UConn Huskies Key Game To The 2021 Season
Middle Tennessee, Oct. 23
Just how much will UConn improve as the season rolls on? It’s going to be a rough run early and a brutal stretch late, but Middle Tennessee is one of the few 50/50 games that the Huskies have to win at home in late October. Lose, and that’s if for any fun this season with Clemson, UCF and Houston to close.
– UConn Huskies Schedule Analysis
2019 UConn Huskies Fun Stats
– 3rd Down Conversions: Opponents 67-of-134 (50%) – UConn 48-of-163 (39%)
– Points Per Game: Opponents 40.5 – UConn 18.9
– 3rd Quarter Scoring: Opponents 136 – UConn 45
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– UConn Huskies Schedule Analysis