UConn game Saturday

[SpeedyBull]

Day before the game and no actual football talk?  I'll take a stab at this.

It appears UConn has a very accurate QB in Bryant Shirrefs. He's thrown a few interceptions but also 6 touchdowns. Their homerun threat is Arkeel Newsome who is also a dangerous kick returner.  Unlike in years past they have not run the ball well and are averaging less than 4 ypc.  They average 324 ypg and 19.8 ppg. Their opponents have been Villanova (20-15), Army (22-17), Missouri (6-9), Navy (18-28), BYU (13-30) and UCF (40-13).

Anyways, I was wondering how UConn all-of-a-sudden exploded for 40 points against UCF and if they found their offense.  

Safety on the dumb play by the UCF KR -2 points.

Touchdown on a 2 play 9 yard drive after UCF turnover - 7 points

Touchdown on a 2 play 34 yard drive after UCF turnover - 7 points

FG after an 8 play 25 yard drive after a 71 yard KR - 3 points

Touchdown on a 2 play 16 yard drive after UCF muffed a punt - 7 points

 

26 points on 84 yards of offense. Kudos to them for taking full advantage (something our teams have struggled to do the last few years) but they still only had 2 good drives of sustained offense all game.  

 

We don't turn the ball over and we play good coverage and stay away from Arkeel Newsome then we should have a better than 50% chance of winning this game.

Given the opponent, it really appears that UCF lost the game more than UCONN won it. I think our D will be able to handle UCONN and keep them contained to 14-21pts. I think our Offense won't have quite the showing we did vs Syracuse unless we get some of those nice turnovers. That punt recovery last game was great boost and unexpected points. This should be a good game. I would think we may do 28-35pts on offense. 

The one unknown is with this shooting incident if more people are involved and have that on their mind it could be a distraction. But that is more of a discussion for the other 3 or so threads. 

[El_Toro_86]

Given the opponent, it really appears that UCF lost the game more than UCONN won it. I think our D will be able to handle UCONN and keep them contained to 14-21pts. I think our Offense won't have quite the showing we did vs Syracuse unless we get some of those nice turnovers. That punt recovery last game was great boost and unexpected points. This should be a good game. I would think we may do 28-35pts on offense. 
The one unknown is with this shooting incident if more people are involved and have that on their mind it could be a distraction. But that is more of a discussion for the other 3 or so threads. 

Will be hard pressed to get to 28 points

[GaUSFBull]

Thanks for the writeup, Sanjay.  Most pre-game talk has been a variation of "one win is just an outlier, two or more is a trend" or "can't get excited until we win another game."  

I think this will either be a slugfest, or a game in which whoever has the ball last wins.  

[Flowers4Heisman]

This is a big test for CWT and Co.

If the victory last week wasn't a fluke, then they should be able to score more than 3 pts on Uconn and come away with a comfortable win.

 

 

 

[2000bull]

Thanks for the writeup, Sanjay.  Most pre-game talk has been a variation of "one win is just an outlier, two or more is a trend" or "can't get excited until we win another game."  

I think this will either be a slugfest, or a game in which whoever has the ball last wins.  

with our team, it just depends on which team and coach show up

[bullsbucsfan426]

We aren't a team that turns over the ball much. As long as we turn our drives into points we should be fine. I'm still worried about field position. 

Useful stat-we drove more than 75 yards for scores 5 times against Syracuse. If we continue that uconn won't have a chance to get untracked offensively. 

Edited October 16, 2015 by bullsbucsfan426

[SpeedyBull]

Will be hard pressed to get to 28 points

Why? to date we have averaged 28.8pts per game (this season). While we did face an easy opener, we also faced some good defense. We seem to be clicking after that last game, and while I do  not expect another blowout like that, why is 4 touchdowns so unrealistic??

[raptorcj]

Why? to date we have averaged 28.8pts per game (this season). While we did face an easy opener, we also faced some good defense. We seem to be clicking after that last game, and while I do  not expect another blowout like that, why is 4 touchdowns so unrealistic??

I feel it's more about reliability than realism for most here. I think we've seen we CAN score that much, the question is whether we can repeat those long sustained drives and keep our low turnover rate low against UConn's D. IMO they're better than any we've faced so far, maybe with the exception of the 'noles. The O is coming into their identity, so this game will be an important test of their ability to reproduce the effort & heart.

I'm definitely looking forward to this game!

[emrober5]

The more I research UCONN the better I feel about the game. If we have any semblance of an offense we should win. I think our defense will hold them under 20 easily. Like 10-13 points.

 

Now, after saying that we will probably get blown out.

[El_Toro_86]

Why? to date we have averaged 28.8pts per game (this season). While we did face an easy opener, we also faced some good defense. We seem to be clicking after that last game, and while I do  not expect another blowout like that, why is 4 touchdowns so unrealistic??

First off, it's their homecoming and they will be fired up and play with a lot of energy.  Remember, they're in the same situation as us.  They believe they've turned the corner and are looking to validate it with us.  I know game temps will only be in the 50s, but we always seem to be a step slow in cooler games.  Diaco is a good DC and now that he's seen what we do, I believe he'll game plan to slow us down.  They don't run a lot of stunts and blitzes like Cuse, instead they have big 300lb DTs that clog the middle and a 290lb DE.  We broke a lot of big plays on Cuse because we caught them in blitzes and burned them.  Still not sold on Flowers ability to throw when we have to.

Also, when was the last time we scored 28 points against UConnn?

I hope the Bulls go out tomorrow and make me look like an idiot for typing all of this, however, I don't believe that will happen.

Go Bulls and prove me wrong.