Season Prediction for 2014
The Bob Diaco era starts on Friday night, and I can’t remember a more anticipated season opener. The fanbase seems to be very optimistic that the 2014 UConn Huskies can make a run at a bowl game. Some even think that UConn can contend for the AAC title. There are a small percentage of fans who are thinking that there’s just too much to fix from the Pasqualoni era, and aren’t expecting much record-wise for this season. Bob Diaco is the complete opposite of Paul Pasqualoni. I believe everyone is in agreement that the change in approach is a really good thing, and hopefully we see results in the form of wins this season.
Schedule
The 2014 schedule, although not as good as last season, still brings a number of solid teams to East Hartford. Starting with BYU, the Huskies will welcome Boise St., UCF, Cincinnati, Temple, Stonybrook, & SMU. UConn has road trips set for USF, Tulane, East Carolina, & Memphis. In addition, the Huskies will play a “road game” against Army at Yankee Stadium.
At first glance, there are no powerhouses on this schedule. There is not one team UConn will face that they can’t play with. I expect them to be in every game this season, not because I think UConn is so good, but more because I feel these teams are nothing special. The favorites in the AAC all come to visit East Hartford, and that means something, and does create an advantage for UConn. Not one team on this schedule will come to East Hartford and run us out of the building.
As for the away schedule, traveling to ECU is the one that jumps out at me the most. That will be a tough game for UConn to win, as I’m sure that stadium will be packed and rowdy for the Thursday night, ESPN national TV audience. As for the other 3 road games, I honestly don’t think those teams are any good. I’ll admit, I know nothing about Tulane, and I just assume they suck. Memphis is not that good, period. USF is USF, and they have zero home field advantage playing in that NFL stadium. Not intimidating at all.
Finally, the neutral site game against Army at Yankee stadium should be a fun one to attend. The reality is, we have more talent than Army. We have better football players than Army. If that game was played 100 times, UConn should win at least 97 of them. Only way we lose that game is if we beat ourselves.
Bottom Line
As I stated before, UConn should be in every game this season. I think there are five must-wins on the schedule, and those are Stonybrook, Temple, Tulane, Army, & Memphis. I just can’t see UConn losing any one of those games. I think the road trip to ECU will be too tough to overcome. I also believe UCF is still too far ahead of where were trying to be as a team this season. I look at those two games as the games that we are most unlikely to win, so I’ll predict them as losses. That leaves us with five games, that in my opinion, will dictate whether or not we look at this season as a successful building block season, or a successful winning season that results in a bowl game. BYU, Boise St., SMU, & Cincinnati all come here, while USF is on the road. I believe we go to South Florida & win. My gut tells me we split the home games (beat BYU & Boise St, lose to Cincy & SMU). That would put us at 8-4 and into a bowl game. It won’t lead us to a national ranking at all during the season, but it will restore the progress this program had after the Fiesta Bowl 3 years ago.
I am so pumped for Friday night. Let’s get this thing started the right way. #HuskyUp
@UConn813
