Huskies Take on Memphis in Final Road Trip of Year
UConn is in Memphis for their final road trip of 2014, when they take on the conference leader at the Liberty Bowl at 4PM, on ESPNews.
The Huskies (2-8, 1-5 AAC) defeated the Tigers (8-3, 6-1) 45-10 to close the 2013 season at Rentschler Field. Since that time, the teams have gone in completely different directions, UConn in their first year under head coach Bob Diaco and Memphis, now in their third season under the new regime of Justin Fuente.
“We’re excited to play in a meaningful game for Memphis, the challenge of that and how exciting that is,” Diaco said on Tuesday during his meeting with the media. “I’m sure the atmosphere is going to be electric. It will be a great challenge for our football team, so we’re really looking forward to that. The energy has been high in preparation for that.”
Quarterback Tim Boyle will be making his first start away from The Rent since the 62-17 loss to UCF on October 26th, a season ago. The sophomore knows what he needs to focus on when heading on the road.
“The biggest thing is communication, just because it gets loud in a hostile environment and the fans don’t want you to succeed,” Boyle said on Tuesday. “You need to block out fans and focus on the task at hand and that’s converting 1st and 2nd downs, even 4th down sometimes. I think the biggest thing for this team right now is just communication and trying to execute the little things.”
The Huskies defense once again will face a very good quarterback in Paxton Lynch, who is coming off a four touchdown performance in their 31-20 win over USF, a week ago, where he threw for 232 yards and two scores and also ran for 44 and another two.
“Great quarterback, I mean, he is awesome, he’s fun to watch,” Diaco raved on Tuesday. “He’s big, he’s driving it, it’s clear, this dude is in charge. He throws it on the move, in the pocket, keeps plays alive, can run and he victimizes when he runs the ball.”
Boyle and the Huskies know full well that the AAC Championship trophy has been brought to Memphis.
“I think that puts a lot of pressure on Memphis, not a lot of pressure on us,” Boyle said. “Memphis is a great team, as everyone can see, they’ve done a great job, put together a great team. We just need to go down there and give them a run for their money. I think we just need to play our best football and hopefully we come out with a win.”
A win this afternoon will give the Huskies their third of 2014 and would spoil any celebrations planned at the Liberty Bowl.
PREDICTION: UConn 27 Memphis 24
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