UConn Is Improving In Football For The First Time In A Really Long Time (SB Nation)

[Drew]

UConn's finally improving. Now to score points!

"UConn had regressed, at least a little bit, for five consecutive years heading into 2015. That's both difficult to do and terrifying. The entire, ill-advised Paul Pasqualoni era had been one of minor slippage, but the fifth year of regression had a purpose.

When former Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco arrived on campus in 2014, he basically stripped the depth chart down to its studs. He played a bunch of freshmen and sophomores, and UConn went from playing semi-competitive, pointless football to stinking for a cause.

In 2015, we came to understand that purpose. Granted, the Huskies' offense was still bad -- after ranking 31st in Off. S&P+ in 2009, they have now ranked 94th or worse for five consecutive years and 113th or worse for four straight -- but the defense was legitimately strong. The Huskies rose back to 38th in Def. S&P+ and, with help from a plodding tempo, held eight opponents to 17 or fewer points. And they pulled off this improvement with help from a lot of sophomores and juniors."

 

[CTMike]

I feel like Butters when he finds out he's the 11th most attractive boy in his 4th grade class. Woo hoo!

 

[Duncan Idaho]

four years

 

[uconnphil2016]

One thing--how do we have an equal probability of beating Houston and beating Boston College according to the S&P? So weird. BC is tied for our second least likely win according to them.

 

[uconndogs]

Hathaway must have been drunk.

 

[BoatShow]

Heading into 2015 5 years looking back would have been 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010. Typo unless they really know what's up and that 09 Papa John's Bowl team was better than the Fiesta Bowl team!

 

[Adios]

Minor slippage? Sure didn't feel that way.

 

[uconnric]

One thing--how do we have an equal probability of beating Houston and beating Boston College according to the S&P? So weird. BC is tied for our second least likely win according to them.

BC up there will be a tough game. They have some talent and probably weren't as bad as their record last year.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Honest question how many games do we win without Shirreffs last year?

 

[pepband99]

UConn's finally improving. Now to score points!

"UConn had regressed, at least a little bit, for five consecutive years heading into 2015. That's both difficult to do and terrifying. The entire, ill-advised Paul Pasqualoni era had been one of minor slippage, but the fifth year of regression had a purpose.

When former Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco arrived on campus in 2014, he basically stripped the depth chart down to its studs. He played a bunch of freshmen and sophomores, and UConn went from playing semi-competitive, pointless football to stinking for a cause.

In 2015, we came to understand that purpose. Granted, the Huskies' offense was still bad -- after ranking 31st in Off. S&P+ in 2009, they have now ranked 94th or worse for five consecutive years and 113th or worse for four straight -- but the defense was legitimately strong. The Huskies rose back to 38th in Def. S&P+ and, with help from a plodding tempo, held eight opponents to 17 or fewer points. And they pulled off this improvement with help from a lot of sophomores and juniors."

What really excites me - take a look at the version he links from 2015...

If the running game catches hold, then there's possible for improvement into the 90s or so on offense, and if the run defense improves as I expect, then maybe the defense will creep back into the 50s or 60s in Def. S&P+. Average that out, and maybe this becomes a top-80 team.

But that's too big a leap to count on, especially considering how bad the offense has been for going on five years now. The odds are much better than UConn improves to around 100th, and while that's something you can build off of, it won't result in many 2015 wins, not with only four opponents who ranked worse than 73rd last year.

Even with an offensive "metrics" dud (mostly due to the last 2 games), our defense carried us. Same story going into this year, but with a defense that only need tread water in a lot of places...

 

[uconnphil2016]

Honest question how many games do we win without Shirreffs last year?

Well, let's see...I think it's safe to say Boyle did win the Houston game, so we can count that one. I'd give us one of two between Nova and Army. UCF would remain a win and one of ECU/Tulane. So maybe four? I totally agree though, Serrano--Shirreffs is so important to this team and the way that he plays terrifies me because we're one injury away from being a pretty poor team considering our lack of QB depth. We can thank our boy PP for that. Imagine if Shirreffs had never transferred??? The cupboard sure was empty.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Well, let's see...I think it's safe to say Boyle did win the Houston game, so we can count that one. I'd give us one of two between Nova and Army. UCF would remain a win and one of ECU/Tulane. So maybe four? I totally agree though, Serrano--Shirreffs is so important to this team and the way that he plays terrifies me because we're one injury away from being a pretty poor team considering our lack of QB depth. We can thank our boy PP for that. Imagine if Shirreffs had never transferred??? The cupboard sure was empty.

Yeah I would say 3. That Houston game was just not gonna be the Cougars night. Over the course of the season I'd say we would've seen more games like Temple. Gotta keep him clean this year.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Yeah I would say 3. That Houston game was just not gonna be the Cougars night. Over the course of the season I'd say we would've seen more games like Temple. Gotta keep him clean this year.

Hopefully an improved o line does just that. I unfortunately was dumb enough to travel down to philly to watch the Temple game in person. Bought the tix before Shirreffs got injured. It was two and a half hours of unadulterated self-punishment

 

[CTMike]

Honest question how many games do we win without Shirreffs last year?

Tell me you are trying to bait Pal...

 

[31GuardTrap]

Hathaway must have been drunk.

"This guy is dead."
"Cross him off the list then."

 

[31GuardTrap]

Hopefully an improved o line does just that. I unfortunately was dumb enough to travel down to philly to watch the Temple game in person. Bought the tix before Shirreffs got injured. It was two and a half hours of unadulterated self-punishment

Me too.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Tell me you are trying to bait Pal...

If I was going to troll Pal I'd use Hil-liar as the bait.

 

[UConn66]

Hathaway must have been drunk.

Don't forget Larry McHugh taking care of his old buddy!