Villanova Ranked 4th in FCS Preseason Poll

[Dooley]

That would be something, eh? B1G fans all over will be forced to have to defend our losses to Nova, Army and SMU. I would be interested to read/hear their take since I would be too exhausted to come up with any more excuses.

 

[Gangtackle11]

Villanova has some marquee FCS talent coming back, but they have a huge ? in their run game with 2 All -Conference OLinemen graduating & will be relying on a back up RB that will be coming back from injuries. The QB is very capable & can beat you with legs or arm. He's a 1100 yard rusher & 2800 yard passer.

I think they will be a challenge on defense as they return 8-9 starters including Buchanan trophy runner up LB Don Cherry. Their kicking game was a liability all last season.

I'd expect a very competitive game that may come down to the final possession. They are as close to a FBS team as you will find this side North Dakota State in the FCS. Just ask Syracuse (survived in double OT 27-26 & BC who won 24-14 after trailing if you don't believe.)

 

[Jimdish255]

If the QB is weapon #1 then I would hope we can at least take away his running and make someone else beat us. Bottom line is if we can't start putting up numbers and get some posession time decent teams will find a way to score eventually. That has to change.

 

[ASweet3781]

Why schedule a 1-AA opponent who you would be an underdog to?

 

[Jimdish255]

Why schedule a 1-AA opponent who you would be an underdog to?

Yale won't play us anymore.

 

[huskymedic]

Why schedule a 1-AA opponent who you would be an underdog to?

Guessing the crystal ball predicting the success of each program for 2015 was on the fritz back in 2012 when the game was scheduled.

 

[Gangtackle11]

Guessing the crystal ball predicting the success of each program for 2015 was on the fritz back in 2012 when the game was scheduled.

Villanova was 2-9 in 2011 & 8-4 in 2012 playing an FCS schedule. I'm sure no one gave a second thought to scheduling any FCS opponent back then anyway.

 

[freescooter]

I doubt we'll be underdogs. It rarely happens. And rightly so. What is scary though is we've fallen so far that it is a toss up type game. This program has totally fallen of a cliff since Edsall left. We need an Edsall type coach again I think and I'm hoping we have one. But so far I'm not seeing it.

 

[ktuck911]

Why schedule a 1-AA opponent who you would be an underdog to?

I don't think we expected to be this bad when we scheduled Nova for this game, several years ago... HOWEVER, I gotta feeling we'll be a little better than what folks think.. and I predict we'll win this game.. Our play up front will be the difference maker.. I'm calling now...

 

[Confident Carl]

I doubt we'll be underdogs. It rarely happens. And rightly so. What is scary though is we've fallen so far that it is a toss up type game. This program has totally fallen of a cliff since Edsall left. We need an Edsall type coach again I think and I'm hoping we have one. But so far I'm not seeing it.

Scooter, Keep calm, the Cavalry is Coming!

 

[CTBasketball]

I'm curious to see how our offense will be.

 

[pepband99]

The casual fan is there for the tailgate. I refuse to call doomsday before September 1 regardless of the outcome. Silly.

Exactly my thought - no need to be nervous all summer. This team will likely cause enough headaches come the fall...

 

[Ldandy]

There would be no coming back from a L to Nova by our casual fanbase. They will read/listen to the outrage (and jokes) over losing to another FCS team and will write the team off for good. That means season ticket holders only for the entire season. The good news: we can pick our seat location on a game-by-game basis!

I hope for your sake that you win this game and continue to do so throughout the season. You can't have stretches of games with attendance under 20000 in the stadium. The fan base needs to display more than ever that it will financially support UCONN now, not only if they can get in a better conference someday. A lack of legit support will make AD's nervous. Hopefully Bob can right the ship and put some W's on the board.

 

[uconnell]

I hope for your sake that you win this game and continue to do so throughout the season. You can't have stretches of games with attendance under 20000 in the stadium. The fan base needs to display more than ever that it will financially support UCONN now, not only if they can get in a better conference someday. A lack of legit support will make AD's nervous. Hopefully Bob can right the ship and put some W's on the board.

Guess you never saw Maryland's attendance before they joined the Big, of course that is not why they got the invite, but it certainly has improved since they joined. Why can't UConn? We certainly seemed to be looked at with a different set of criteria than any other school.

 

[freescooter]

Losses to Army and Villanova will absolutely result lead to dismal attendance. Casual fans are going to find something else to do if the product on the field is dreadful again. Just like every other sport if the team is bad the gate suffers. And it will take time to rebuild. Which is a big reason I disagree with Diaco's approach of not even trying to win last year. 6 wins last year would have been huge boost for the program. With South Florida Army and SMU and Tulane it should have been within reach. Not guaranteed of course but possible. Bring in a Juco qb if you didn't think what you had would work. Play to win every game.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Losses to Army and Villanova will absolutely result lead to dismal attendance. Casual fans are going to find something else to do if the product on the field is dreadful again. Just like every other sport if the team is bad the gate suffers. And it will take time to rebuild. Which is a big reason I disagree with Diaco's approach of not even trying to win last year. 6 wins last year would have been huge boost for the program. With South Florida Army and SMU and Tulane it should have been within reach. Not guaranteed of course but possible. Bring in a Juco qb if you didn't think what you had would work. Play to win every game.

This is a very good debate.

 

[freescooter]

I fear that the long term damage to the program of 2-3 more years of losing will create a huge hole we may take years to escape. Even if we had gone6-6 or even 5-7 last year and took a little step back this year it would have been more tolerable. Another 2-3 win year this year and any remaining good will will be gone. It could take a decade to rebuild the fan base.

 

[bobbyinaz]

I fear that the long term damage to the program of 2-3 more years of losing will create a huge hole we may take years to escape. Even if we had gone6-6 or even 5-7 last year and took a little step back this year it would have been more tolerable. Another 2-3 win year this year and any remaining good will will be gone. It could take a decade to rebuild the fan base.

This is a very real concern.

Another 2-3 win season will make it 5 consecutive losing bowless seasons. All of a sudden making a BCS bowl & winning conference championships becomes nothing more than a distant memory and UConn football starts to be perceived as nothing more than a perennial loser & punching bag by people in Connecticut & around the college football world. This perception becomes VERY difficult to overcome.

While we all love to laugh at Rutgers and the fact that they have won nothing, their recent football history is looked at by many across the country as one of a Top 30ish program. Many average college football fans across the country couldn't tell you that Rutgers was a losing program for 100 years. All they know is that they have won some games over the last 7-10 years, have played in a handful of bowl games & have won a bunch of them.

With another couple losing seasons, UConn football falls into an abyss that may take years to climb out of

 

[Ldandy]

Guess you never saw Maryland's attendance before they joined the Big, of course that is not why they got the invite, but it certainly has improved since they joined. Why can't UConn? We certainly seemed to be looked at with a different set of criteria than any other school.

I don't disagree that UMD's attendance has improved since joining The B1G, and that UCONN would likely see a similar bump should they get an invite to join the conference. Unfortunately I agree that you are being looked at with a different set of criteria than many other potential candidates. There is no compelling reason for the conference to expand, therefore any growth would need to raise the shares of all current members significantly as to render all other concerns irrelevant.

The Eastern Expansion of RU and UMD was not universally popular among B1G Schools. It required strong political maneuvering by Delany in order to get The Western Half of the league to sign off on it. UCONN would face the same challenge, but without the same guarantee of growing the pot like seen before. Drawing poorly at home will not help the perception of UCONN as a road draw for teams like Illinois or Purdue. The time is now. UCONN Fans need to double down and show the college football world that they will support their team first and foremost regardless of who's across the field.

 

[whaler11]

People come back fast. The Royals lost for 2 decades. One and half good seasons and their games average a 12.4 rating in the market. They are going to try and elect an entire all star team.

If you win and are entertaining they will come back fast.

 

[freescooter]

2 points. First the worse you are the harder it is to turn it around. Second being bad in the Big or even the old Big East is not as bad as being bad in the American.

 

[whaler11]

2 points. First the worse you are the harder it is to turn it around. Second being bad in the Big or even the old Big East is not as bad as being bad in the American.

It's almost impossible to be worse than they were last year. So at least you've got that.

 

[freescooter]

The concern being use of "almost."

 

[SonsOfNutmeg]

Not to overestimate losing to a FCS school (never mind the 4th ranked one), but I really feel like IF (and big "if") we lost to Villanova in our home opener it would be disasterous for this program. Diaco may lose the team, and forget about the Season ticket holders's and other casual fans who might have come to a game in 2015 and beyond. Honestly, its kind of a scary thought. I'm not one to think the sky is falling, especially under Diaco. I think he's smart, has a plan, and has the kids believing in him and what his vision of this UConn program will and CAN be, but we really need to turn on the wins this year if we have any hope of being taken seriously (which I could care less about), and/or ever have a shot at getting out of this conference and into the B1G, ACC, or Big 12.

 

[Gangtackle11]

Early scouting report on Villanova from the Hartford Courant.

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn...ll-insider-villanova-0619-20150618-story.html