It's fun to look back at expectations, which in hindsight, seemed reasonable. I thought 6 wins was probable and even with all of the misfortune this year, we still could have gotten to 6 wins. Look at the games:
BYU - Loss. Better team. Stony Brook - Win, but shouldn't have been close. Boise State - Loss, but competitive game. 24-21 with 11 minutes to go in 4th and UConn had the ball. USF - Loss. First road game and loss by 3. Temple - Loss. 7-3 at half. Temple played better in 2nd half, but don't think they had better talent. Tulane - Loss. 12-3. Could have been a win. ECU - Loss on the road by 10 to a good ECU team. UCF - Win. Bad weather, but UConn played inspired football. Army - Loss. UConn couldn't stop the option and offense was challenged. In my mind, this loss was on the coaching. Cincinnati - Loss. Blowout after a bye weak. No positives from this game.
UConn still could have won 6 games: SB, USF, Tulane, Army, SMU, and one good win which ended up being UCF.
With all the injuries this year, especially Casey Cochran and Byron Jones, it's not surprising this team struggled. We all knew that the offense was dependent on Cochran as we saw Whitmer and Boyle last year. No Cochran and the offense couldn't move the ball.
The ECU and UCF games showed improvement and provided hope. We definitely saw the team improve. Unfortunately, the Army and Cincy games have taken the hope away. What's most concerning is that the Army game was a major disappointment and we had a bye week to prepare for Cincinnati. Not only did we lay an egg against Cincy, but we found out that two RS Juniors had left the team.
The last 2 games are critical. We need to play Memphis tough and beat SMU.