It's Thursday night Sept. 3, 7:30pm. ESPN has started their monologue and the cameras start to scan the stadium. Maybe 30,000 but as Villanova wins the coin flip and chooses to kick a buzz through the crowd turns into a yell and then a roar as Arkeel Newsome receives the kick, slashes...dashes and is finally taken down at the.....OPPONENTS 40!!! Sherrifs comes in and promptly hands off to Johnson who bulls his way for 5 yards. Play action pass to Bloom gets them their 1st first down of the season and puts them on Nova's 25. A counter by Johnson gains them another 4 and then the one thing everyone has been waiting for happens. Sherrifs fakes the hand off to Johnson, rolls out...still moving he starts directing one of the receivers with his finger then....takes off for the end zone flag. He Races! He Stretches! He Reaches! "Touchdown Huskies" is Joe D's refrain. The place goes crazy but suddenly turns silent. A cheap shot by one of Villanova's DB's sends Sherrifs head bouncing off of one the the sideline cameras and he's down and not moving.
He finally gets up, heads to the locker room. The fans start to clap and cheer but the tension in the air is stifling. Then the D takes the field. Not only are all eleven on the field seeing red but their anger is multiplied by the wildly amped up crowd. Nova's running play on first down is stuffed. The QB gets flushed out on second down and just tosses the bean to the closest sideline. On third down Nova tries a screen. Obi punches at it...grabs for it...dives and it bounces of his hands rolling out of bounds.
Tim Boyle takes the field. Everyone in the stands, those watching at home and most on the Huskies sideline have their heart in their throat and a sickening lump in their stomach. Slowly, methodically Boyle starts to push the offense down the field with timely rushes to the outside, quick slants to speedy receivers that, By God, hold on to the pass and bull rushes up the middle. Then...miracle #2 happens. Lamelle trips up his defender, gains two steps, three steps, four steps on him and Boyle spots Brian streaking down the sideline and launches one. Lamelle catches it at the 10 takes 3 steps and dives into the end zone.
The D just squeezes Villanova's offense like a python crushing the life out of a thrashing, then twitching pig. Boyle, under Verducci's tutelage, marches the Huskies down the field twice more for rushing touchdowns but most importantly tripling Nova's time of possession. The fourth quarter sees RS Freshman Tyler Davis taking his first snaps as a Husky and a very enthusiastic crowd wills him down the field to a passing touch down and a 35-0 final.
UConn's defense allows 1 TD and a field goal to Army. Sherrifs, whose bell was merely rung but kept out of the rest of the Nova game as a precaution(and because the D was just swarming and suffocating) starts vs Army. UConn rushes for a couple of TD's, Sherrifs finally records his first passing TD as a Husky then follows that up with a running TD of his own. Final: UConn 28 Army 10. The Boneyard starts believing in the running game but wonder out loud about the passing.
The next couple games don't go so well(to say the least). As much as Diaco & Co try and bring the team down from their high horse and get them prepared for a very physical matchup with Mizzou it doesn't work. The wheels come off. The O-line resembles last years squad. The D-backs get burned bad. By the time it's over it looks like a repeat of the Fiesta bowl. A short week to prepare for Navy's option is not enough. The D can only hold them to 28 but the offense coughs up a couple and generally just looks unsure of itself. Then they go to Utah
scratching their heads and get pounded.
2-3 and now 8 days to prepare for the "Civil Conflict". One would think 8 days to prepare for UCF is a good thing but it just adds 24 hours of the media circus surrounding Diaco's self proclaimed rivalry which puts Diaco on edge with the press and pizzes the team off in a destructive way. The game gets real ugly real fast. The more UCF gets into UConn's head the worse things get. Pushing...shoving...punching. Flagrant fouls, coaches screaming at refs, refs screaming back. UCF wins it but most on the UConn side of things see it as UConn lost one they shouldn't have. Maybe the sparks of a rivalry...maybe.
At 2-4 USF rolls into town and the taste of last years game and how that should have been a win if they only spread the ball around more eats at everyone on the team especially Coach Diaco. Maybe it's an inspired locker room chat or the fact that they are back home for the first time in three weeks(Utah, then Florida brutal travel) that turns the switch but something does and the team, lead by Sherrifs rolls to a 35-10 win.
Now UConn is 3-4 and have to head to Cincinnati. The team is beat tired. They haven't had a week off since the season started and now all the knicks, scrapes, bumps and bruises start to hurt just a little worse. They play slow and it shows. Now their 3-5 and looking down the barrel of another bowl-less season.
And now it's ECU at the Rent? The P & W Stadium? Whatever the media and fans settle on calling it this is the defining game of the season. Win this, win next week at Tulane and your back in the bowl hunt at 5-5. Lose this one and there's no wiggle room at all and with 6 losses no guarantee at all your going bowling. This is the game where guys have to suck it up and give 110% no matter how much it hurts.
Tulane. I believe UConn will win this game whether they are 3-6 or 4-5. If they are 4-5 then obviously they should win handily with more inspired play. Either way this will be UConn's 4th win of the season doubling last year's total and some in the Boneyard will feel justified in proclaiming the program is heading in the right direction.... with 4 wins(ugh).
Finally!!!... a much needed bye week. Good timing too as Houston just might be one of the best teams in the AAC. With fingers crossed, a raucous, capacity crowd at the Rent wills a 5-5 UConn team to a stunning victory over the Cougars and only one game away from their first trip to a bowl game in 5 years.
Look out Temple! Either way UConn wins this to finish the regular season.
Worst case scenario: 5-7 Best case: 7-5 and a bowl invite.
