Will UConn Win More Than 3 in 2018??

[Jimmy Serrano]

BTW ... you aren't entitled to FOUR National Championships; TWO National Championships in Soccer; a solid FBS Football Program; the finest Women's Basketball Program in College ever; great NE Baseball; a up&coming Men's Hockey Program ... and scores of interesting athletes in a broader spectrum of sports.

We are a tiny New England State that has accomplished much. Nope. This is not the the floor or the worst our UConn Huskies AD could be. I actually took heart when Edsall was brought back and infused professionalism back into the building; and I have some notion that Chillious can get Ollie to a full roster that we can develop to get back to the NCAA within a year (though ... Calhoun level?).

Your negativity is about your entitlement. Mine ... I was a 12 year old going to games in Memorial Stadium and sat through scores of BE Tourney games at MSG 17 years in a row. I have hope ... I have an expectations that we will achieve a level of excellence in athletics again.

Preachy preacher preaches.

 

[tduconn]

That’s one way to look at it, but there’s also the fear of a young team getting demoralized after a bad start and quitting on the season. I don’t expect an Edsall-led team to give up, but you never know if the “here we go again” mindset will start creeping into guys heads.

Agree+. Mindset is extremely fragile and who knows if a sub par performance start by four classes of athletes who hasn't experienced a +.500 season deteriorates to a belief there isn't a savior for this program........especially after 3 years of underserved hype for BD and 1+ years of underperformance by RE and his staff.

We may question RE's efforts to enhance recruiting, but if not a hint of any progress shows this year, after 50 years of UCFB support, even my balloon may be permanently deflated.

I really fear the outcome of this season.

 

[06029]

Preachy preacher preaches.

It would have been an okay post xcept he left out the trailers part of history.

In response to the original question, and following instructions, yes.

 

[Redding Husky]

1 win ... URI

5 losses ... UCF, USF, Boise, Memphis, Syracuse

6 ... ?

If we split the six toss ups, that pushes us to 4-8. But we will be underdogs in almost all of those six games. We'll be lucky to go 3-3.

 

[Pudge]

A nascent Program that goes to the Fiesta Bowl (after a few others) in 2009 after its origin in 2003 FBS is ... a Solid Football Program.

By definition

 

[huskyrob1]

Simple yes or no question. You may also post your level of confidence in your answer. My answer is yes, but not confident.

Football or Mens Basketball?

 

[RSTuthill]

A nascent Program that goes to the Fiesta Bowl (after a few others) in 2009 after its origin in 2003 FBS is ... a Solid Football Program.

By definition

Ancient history. That was 8 years ago. UConn is now a middling to lower mid-major in FB outside of the Power Five looking in. About at the level of Buffalo. UConn got to the Fiesta bowl because they had a Power Six conference waiting to take them in and optimize their trajectory. That situation no longer exists. Do you think UConn would have stepped up to 1A FB if the only offer was from one of the mid major conferences? I don't. UConn is at a tipping point. In four more years the financial implications are going to be really clear. If RE2.0 hasn't taken the Huskies to two bowls by then, the prognosis for the program won't be good.

 

[bmayuc]

I am befuddled at the folks predicting more than like 3-4 wins, and implore you to take another look and temper expectations.

Quick Breakdown:

Schedule: Kinda tough!

Defense: Its almost undoubtedly be the worst roster I've ever seen @ UConn by a large margin. No experience, No obvious all-conference types, tons of young kids that have never played and we have no clue. We are going to be relying on them this year... and this is coming off a year where we thought we had a LOT of players and got lit up. Watch out.

Offense: We lost our starting QB, our most dynamic RB, all of our good TEs, and the first offensive coordinator that has engineered an exciting offense since... Danny Orlovsky? Mayyyyyybe a random Lorenzen game? Our only positional strength is arguably OLine... Wait, our coach just jumped ship for Auburn. Our WRs might be fine, but who is throwing them the ball? Watch out.

Specials: We might have a couple good PR and KR. I liked Swann back there. Our K is fine but missed most of the important kicks he has booted in his career. P is ok(?)
I'm not trying to be chicken little but CFB rebuilds take time and this one was stripped down to the studs by Diaco.

Best case - Miracle 5-7
Worst case - 2-10

 

[JMick]

I am befuddled at the folks predicting more than like 3-4 wins, and implore you to take another look and temper expectations.

Quick Breakdown:

Schedule: Kinda tough!

Defense: Its almost undoubtedly be the worst roster I've ever seen @ UConn by a large margin. No experience, No obvious all-conference types, tons of young kids that have never played and we have no clue. We are going to be relying on them this year... and this is coming off a year where we thought we had a LOT of players and got lit up. Watch out.

Offense: We lost our starting QB, our most dynamic RB, all of our good TEs, and the first offensive coordinator that has engineered an exciting offense since... Danny Orlovsky? Mayyyyyybe a random Lorenzen game? Our only positional strength is arguably OLine... Wait, our coach just jumped ship for Auburn. Our WRs might be fine, but who is throwing them the ball? Watch out.

Specials: We might have a couple good PR and KR. I liked Swann back there. Our K is fine but missed most of the important kicks he has booted in his career. P is ok(?)
I'm not trying to be chicken little but CFB rebuilds take time and this one was stripped down to the studs by Diaco.

Best case - Miracle 5-7
Worst case - 2-10

Im more worried about RB than QB right now. But yes two wins is my honest prediction. A lot will have to go right to exceed that.

 

[huskysupporter]

Im more worried about RB than QB right now. But yes two wins is my honest prediction. A lot will have to go right to exceed that.

I’m opposite. I think Mensah is going to be a really good player.

 

[RSTuthill]

Guess I am old school. Wish the Huskies had a fullback who could lay the wood from the backfield. Another look the opponents have to defend against. Can't remember who it was but someone used that with great effectiveness against UConn last year.

 

[Urcea]

Im more worried about RB than QB right now. But yes two wins is my honest prediction. A lot will have to go right to exceed that.

Agreed. I have fair confidence in Pindell

 

[Husky25]

I normally pretty optimistic about the football team, but I think it is because I want there to be a reason to attend home games other than tailgating.

I believe the defense will be better than what I get the sense most posters here think and no it's not because they couldn't get much worse. In reality their ranking can't get much worse, but the defense in and of itself certainly could.

For one, it is difficult to reconcile some of the accolades that some of the seniors received leading up to their all-star games with their performance within the confines of the overall defense last season. Could it be an indication that the defense was not exactly marching to the same beat? I am hopeful that the sum of the parts of a full year of experience (i.e. stronger, faster, and acting on instinct) for the returning players, plus the handful of field-ready freshmen, minus those who may not have fully bought in is worth more than the group provided last year.

If the offense is competent enough to help hide some of the defense's weaknesses, that should equal at least 4 wins.

 

[Husky25]

Im more worried about RB than QB right now. But yes two wins is my honest prediction. A lot will have to go right to exceed that.

"If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it's that.." as goes the offensive line, so goes the offense.

 

[JMick]

Agreed. I have fair confidence in Pindell

I really like Washington and I don't think Pindell will be the reason we lose games. If we can't run the ball though then it won't matter who the QB is

 

[huskyrob1]

UMass will be favored. If we’d hired Whip after Edsall he’d still be here and we MIGHT be in the ACC. He’s a pretty good coach and a great offensive mind. He would have inherited a stellar defense to buy him time to get the O going. What could have been. It wasn’t a sure thing, but in retrospect, I think it would have worked out.

Don't we play UMass like six games into the season? With the team having some incoming freshman who will start right away, especially on defense, by midseason UConn will be a much better team by the time they play UMass. Yes UMass will be favored but I think UConn will upset them, maybe by a lot. Travis Jones, Pierce DeVaughn, Kevon Jones, and Uguak will not be redshirted and likely will start right away. All are very talented kids. On offense, by the time we play UMass we will have our QB, Mensah, and a pretty good receiving group. If I'm worried about anything it would be the offensive line.

 

[Nextmanup]

Don't we play UMass like six games into the season? With the team having some incoming freshman who will start right away, especially on defense, by midseason UConn will be a much better team by the time they play UMass. Yes UMass will be favored but I think UConn will upset them, maybe by a lot. Travis Jones, Pierce DeVaughn, Kevon Jones, and Uguak will not be redshirted and likely will start right away. All are very talented kids. On offense, by the time we play UMass we will have our QB, Mensah, and a pretty good receiving group. If I'm worried about anything it would be the offensive line.

The offensive line will be bigger and stronger by the time the first game is played. Saw on an unofficial updated depth chart posted on one of our other sites.. maybe fieldhouse that some of the OL are up 10-20 pounds already.. we are only out 3 months from the last game last season. We have 6 more months to go of Strength and conditioning so I am not worried about the OL..

I am worried about the defense getting it together. With all the changes on the D and tons of kids leaving I’m hoping they can get it together.. we have a good group of kids coming in. I’m sure some will be getting playing time right away. The boys playing on D have put on some weight as well.. I think we are all going to be surprised on the improvement!! Can’t wait for the spring game to see the changes!!

 

[huskysupporter]

Don't we play UMass like six games into the season? With the team having some incoming freshman who will start right away, especially on defense, by midseason UConn will be a much better team by the time they play UMass. Yes UMass will be favored but I think UConn will upset them, maybe by a lot. Travis Jones, Pierce DeVaughn, Kevon Jones, and Uguak will not be redshirted and likely will start right away. All are very talented kids. On offense, by the time we play UMass we will have our QB, Mensah, and a pretty good receiving group. If I'm worried about anything it would be the offensive line.

If four true freshman are starting on defense we are in for a longer season than even I thought.

 

[History Geek]

If four true freshman are starting on defense we are in for a longer season than even I thought.

UNBRIDLED OPTIMISM ON

Unless they are really good!

Unbridled optimism off.

 

[huskyrob1]

If four true freshman are starting on defense we are in for a longer season than even I thought.

Then for Christ sake find another team to root for. Obviously you're not too enthusiastic with the incoming class. Edsall would love to redshirt a couple of them, but he has no choice.

 

[History Geek]

Then for Christ sake find another team to root for. Obviously you're not too enthusiastic with the incoming class. Edsall would love to redshirt a couple of them, but he has no choice.

Yes, redshirting them all is optimal but next year we have to play the best available. If that means true frosh so be it. I do agree with huskysupporter that this means boys going against men, which likely will lead to some ugliness.

Unless they are mature for their age. That would be nice. I truly think Travis Jones can do it.

 

[huskysupporter]

Then for Christ sake find another team to root for. Obviously you're not too enthusiastic with the incoming class. Edsall would love to redshirt a couple of them, but he has no choice.

I actually like the incoming class. Lots of potential and athleticism. You seemed to indicate four true freshman in the front 7 will start. That is not an ideal situation especially at those positions. These aren’t five star recruits, they are recruits with a ton of potential. They need to be refined.

I’ll use Kyle Van Denmark as an example. He is going to to be a great player. He knew his assignments and showed great technique at times. He also got beat a ton due to not being big or strong enough. Was he one of our best O Lineman? Yep.

 

[huskysupporter]

Yes, redshirting them all is optimal but next year we have to play the best available. If that means true frosh so be it. I do agree with huskysupporter that this means boys going against men, which likely will lead to some ugliness.

I agree with all of this. That was my point.

 

[RSTuthill]

Guys, might I suggest that if you have been spending enough time evaluating the recruited talent in this class -- beyond reading what the sites say -- to the point that you can offer a really expert opinion, then unless you are in the business, you really need to develop a hobby or a couple of lifetime sports you can actually do rather than watch. The rest of us care ... but we don't care THAT much.

 

[History Geek]

Guys, might I suggest that if you have been spending enough time evaluating the recruited talent in this class -- beyond reading what the sites say -- to the point that you can offer a really expert opinion, then unless you are in the business, you really need to develop a hobby or a couple of lifetime sports you can actually do rather than watch. The rest of us care ... but we don't care THAT much.

Nah, I’m good. Thanks though.