Official UCONN vs BYU prediction thread | Page 2 | The Boneyard
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Official UCONN vs BYU prediction thread

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If victory depends on a running game UCONN probably doesn't get it done, unless the O line has a major breakthrough. Other than Newsome there isn't apparent speed and quickness enough to squeak through the fast closing holes. If UCONN has to depend on Newsome to do most of the inside running, it is an injury lurking and could really derail the rest of the season. If the BYU secondary is decent and Sherriffs has to tuck and run and goes E & W instead of N &S, UCONN is in trouble because while he has escapability he isn't quick or fast, which make it difficult to save plays.
OTOH, Diaco has these guys believing in themselves and if UCONN uses the quick hitting passes that are supposed to be part of the O (includes TE's) in a well put together game plan that is tough for BYU to figure out what's coming next, UCONN has as good a chance as any.
At the end of the day, I think the team runs out of gas at altitude and loses another "winnable" close game: 13 - 27
 
Long flight. Late night. Short week. Borderline dirty team. Good team. Mad team. Week after triple option (like day after facing a knuckleballer).

BYU 33-17. UConn covers through the backdoor. Hope we can get through it without too many injuries but I expect some because it's BYU.
 
Dooley said:
Long flight. Late night. Short week. Borderline dirty team. Good team. Mad team. Week after triple option (like day after facing a knuckleballer).

BYU 33-17. UConn covers through the backdoor. Hope we can get through it without too many injuries but I expect some because it's BYU.
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We survived Navy blocking at the shins with no injuries. Just gotta make sure to wear a cup.
 
Based on scheduling you would think that BYU would be prohibitive favorites at home. I tried to find a reasonable argument for why we should win.

Last year 35-10 BYU. We had that 1st drive t/o for points issue last year. Not going to do that again (subtract 7 = 28 - 10). Our D is better overall including conditioning. (subtract 7 = 21 - 10).

Except for Mizzou we scored 20, 22, 18 (with out much possession time for Navy and should have scored more vs Nova & Army.) I think we are good for at least 21 from our O. 21-21.

BYU may be POd by their loss last week, but we don't want to drop 3 in a row. I think our D comes up big and gets us field position, pressure and 7 points.
Won't be easy but UConn wins 28-21.
 
This is a winnable game. Barring a bunch of bad calls by the refs and the OC we win 23-17.
 
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Think our chances vs byu are greater than that of beating navy last week.
 
BoatShow said:
We survived Navy blocking at the shins with no injuries. Just gotta make sure to wear a cup.
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It's not the groin area I'm worried about. I'm more concerned about the head/neck areas and more chop blocking. BYU is usually good for at least 1 dirty late hit a game. Add the fact that they are at home coming off of an embarrassing loss, I think they'll be a little extra dirty...ummm...motivated. I want our guys wrapped in foot thick bubble wrap.
 
Mangum should be much easier to contain defensively. I know he's a bit mobile, but he's not Taysom Hill. Offensively, UConn has been vastly improved at moving the ball, but it's still not translating into points efficiently enough, which they'll need all they can get to beat a team like BYU. I would hate to see them lose by another slim margin because of points left on the field. Diaco and Verducci need to open up the playbook offensively, trust Shirrefs completely, and play to win like they've been preaching lately; not resting their laurels on defense and playing mostly conservative offense. If they continue doing that, they're going to lose the rest of their otherwise winnable schedule. After the last two games, I'm trying to avoid blind bias, but this should be a winnable game against an injured BYU squad. UCONN just has to show up prepared to play disciplined, yet aggressive football.

UCONN 31, BYU 17
 
Unless Tanner (?) completely falls apart I think this is a tough one. You don't usually win these games if you can't score and we really struggle to score. If the other guys get into the mix 20s. And they will, we are in trouble. I think something like BYU 28. UConn 16. We desperately need someone besides Shirreffs to step up and make things happen on offense or special teams like Todman' s td at Notre Dame or 44 at Iowa State!
 
People siad the same kinda stuff when we played against Mizzou... And look at that game? Minus the special teams errors, we win.

Defense shows up on the road- big, and up front. Vann is back, and we get pressure inside and at their Freshmen QB from our LB's.

Sherriffs protects the ball and does what is needed to win. 21-17 UConn. THIS ISN'T THE BYU of OLD... Totally winable road game for us if we play like we have.
 
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Jimdish255 said:
I'm not convinced our coaches have figured out how to get the best use of our personnel. Seems we still don't come back to things that have worked, forget certain players, get in a funk playcalling wise too often, and end up putting too much on the QB's shoulders to bail us out at the end. Add to that the kicking game and the OL and we are likely 10 point dogs in the real world on the road.

Hate to say it but 27-17 Cougars. It's a process and we're not there yet.
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Sshhhhhh. Don't say things Iike that or people will get angry. It's too soon.
 
SubbaBub said:
Sshhhhhh. Don't say things Iike that or people will get angry. It's too soon.
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The people disagreeing with you are largely in agreement with Jim's last sentence "It's a process and we're not there yet." Correct me if I'm wrong, but your position is that we are there personnel-wise and playbook-wise but in-game coaching decisions are the reason we lost both to Mizzou and Navy.

I think the staff has tried some new things and some of them work and some of them don't.

As far as BYU, I think we might be able to hang with them if this was at the Rent again, but short week + long travel for us + boost for BYU being at home will be significant. We'll probably need to execute some special plays the coaches hopefully have cooked up and maybe catch a break or two, otherwise I think BYU 24 UConn 19.
 
Just to be clear I'm not down on the coaches or the players at this point. We could be 4-0 right now with a couple of plays and a couple of calls made correctly. But it is true that coaches and players are growing in this system together. And they're working with some obvious weaknesses. Consider our most important o-lineman on a maligned unit out for the season. Maybe this week we get some big plays but I hesitate to put too much of it on the QB's shoulders because we need him to last the season. If it comes down to needing a win for a bowl game then all bets are off. It's year 2 for HCBD but year 1 for Verducci.
 
junglehusky said:
The people disagreeing with you are largely in agreement with Jim's last sentence "It's a process and we're not there yet." Correct me if I'm wrong, but your position is that we are there personnel-wise and playbook-wise but in-game coaching decisions are the reason we lost both to Mizzou and Navy.

I think the staff has tried some new things and some of them work and some of them don't.

As far as BYU, I think we might be able to hang with them if this was at the Rent again, but short week + long travel for us + boost for BYU being at home will be significant. We'll probably need to execute some special plays the coaches hopefully have cooked up and maybe catch a break or two, otherwise I think BYU 24 UConn 19.
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Actually, Jim has it correct. They haven't figured out how to use the talent. The game management will continue to hurt the team even if they ever figure out the talent thing. There are dozens of posts agreeing with the bit and pieces. Only a few see the pattern for what it is.

Is having Davis on the sidelines for 3rd down last year any different than not feeding Thomas this year?

Are the blocking problems in general last year any different than the ST blocking problems this year?

We are not turning the ball over like drunks this year and we have a QB that can make more plays and get the ball put quicker. We've improved on OL, but not by a tremendous amount as it's still sub par.

Relative to last season there had to be progress, didn't there? I'm not trying to be negative, I predicted a bowl bid and was one of the few who did. I think the talent is there for it against this schedule.

There are a few discrete items holding this team back. Maybe they don't beat navy by only getting run over a little bit instead of a lot, but an extra 7 points would have made it closer. Maybe they don't beat Missouri by doing something different than all those fakes, but it would have been closer.

We talk about marginal teams and the difference between winning and losing. You can't have coaches tilting the scale in the wrong direction. BD has had his thumb on the wrong side for 2 weeks.

All remaining games are winnable. USF, UCF, Tulane, and ECU are very winnable. They won't be won with the game decision making we've seen lately.
 
Jimdish255 said:
If it comes down to needing a win for a bowl game then all bets are off. It's year 2 for HCBD but year 1 for Verducci.
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. I've seen a few people use this excuse but my question is how many years are enough before the "it's only year X" excuse is no longer valid? 2?5? 12? I think this team has made progress though there are still head scratching decisions and the clock management can make you want to scream. Taking a knee against Army? The Mizzou fake figgie? Just to give a couple of examples. And it isn't like we have beaten Ohio State and Alabama. Both opponents were in the game until the final minutes. But still if we continue to progress, win some games I'm on board for Year III. But the question remains at what point does the new kid excuse cease to be acceptable and performance actually matter?
 
Suba said what I was trying for but much much better. Couldn't agree more, except I didn't predict a bowl.
 
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The whole Navy game depended on how the defense would respond to Navy's triple-option. When the D let them march straight down the field without stopping any 3rd down plays it was apparent that it was going to be a long day for the Huskies. I think the same will hold true with the BYU game. Stop the 1st few BYU offensive possessions, not every 3rd try, but some of them, and we will definitely be in this game till the end. Defense leads the way: UCONN 30 BYU 13
 
28 - 17 UConn, I think this the game we start turning those field goals/4th down attempts into TDs.
 
After (finally) getting to watch the UConn/Navy game today, and seeing some things I couldn't from section 210, I think we have a solid chance for a W. Take away some sub-par officiating, a drop and penalty by Lucas and a few other gaffs, and the Navy game was anybody's. Arkeel is feeling his oats, and if the OL gives him the chance, he's going for big yardage this week. Shireffs continues to improve and Noel and Tyraiq will be huge.
UConn 27, BYU 20
 
18 point underdogs. Not buying it.

Got a growing feeling that this is the game that'll put the stamp on the program that it's "back". UConn 20 -18.
 
Dogs 24-23. Hungry Huskies refuse to give in to pressure and make the plays to win.
 
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24-10 Huskies. A few days after the win, we get a "hold the date" notice from the Boca Raton Bowl suggesting that we hold Dec 22. 2015 open "just in case."
 
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