UConn Football is Back

The Connecticut Huskies are going bowling for the first time since 2010 - when they faced off against Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. This time around they’ll see a 9-3 Marshall team in a matchup in the St. Petersburg Bowl in Florida.

The Huskies were projected to finish in the basement of the AAC in multiple preseason polls and after a promising 2-0 start, they dropped to 3-5, and with ECU, Houston, and Temple still on the schedule, a bowl game didn’t look like it was in the picture. But if there’s one thing that stands out about UConn athletics, it’s that you can never count the Huskies out.

I have to give it to Bob Diaco. After finishing 2-10 in his first season with the team last year, and losing what looked to be the “QB of the future” in Casey Cochran (concussions), I thought that it could be another couple of years until UConn football would be competitive again.

From 2007-2010, UConn football went 33-19 finishing with at least 8 wins each season and reaching 4 straight bowl games. What stands out on those teams was UConn’s reliable defense. Those were teams led by dominant defensive players like Danny Lansanah, Scott Lutrus, Tyvon Branch, Darius Butler, Robert McClain, Lindsey Witten, Sio Moore, Dwayne Gratz, Blidi Wreh-Wilson, etc. Their defense always seemed to keep them in games, getting to the quarterback and making big plays, which was especially important considering they themselves never really had a great quarterback. During that same 4-year span, UConn quarterbacks threw just as many interceptions as touchdowns (45).

There are a lot of parallels that one can draw between this year's UConn team and those of the Randy Edsall era. And the best part is, UConn is returning a lot of firepower next season. I’ll start out with the defense. On the front 7, they’ll return Cole Ormsby, Folorunso Fatukasi, Junior Joseph, Cameron Stapleton, and Luke Carrezola. Carrezola and Fatukasi (both sophomore’s) lead the team with 12.5 combined sacks. This is an incredibly athletic group with a bunch of guys who can move around and play in different formations. Linebacker, Graham Stewart, will be a huge loss for this defense. The transfer from Florida is a ballhawk with a high motor who will most likely get a shot to play on Sunday’s. However, EJ Levenberry, is a transfer from Florida State who sat out this season but will be eligible to play next year and will be looked big upon to fill the shoes of Stewart.

Lindsey Witten (#9) led the Huskies with 11.5 sacks in 2009

In the secondary, the Huskies will lose safety Andrew Adams, who has 9 career interceptions. That loss will hurt just as much as Stewart, but cornerback, Jamar Summers, who’s currently tied for 5th in the nation with 5 interceptions, will be looked upon to become the staple of this secondary.

Bottom line: UConn’s defense is back

Offensively, sophomore quarterback, Bryant Shirreffs, was the big surprise. The NC State transfer fended off Timmy Boyle for the starting job. He tossed for 9 touchdowns but it was his ability to move around in the pocket (420 rush yards, 3 rush TD) that made him such a threat. Combine his running ability with the likes of Arkeel Newsome (1,500+ total yards, 8 total TD) and Ron Johnson (220 rush yards, 4 rush TD) and the Huskies had a formidable rushing attack. The real question coming into the year: who would the quarterback be throwing to? They graduated their top 2 receivers (Geremy Davis & Deshon Foxx) and prior to the season it was announced that starting TE, Sean McQuillan, had been arrested and removed from the football team. Enter Noel Thomas. The 6’1 junior emerged as The Shirreffs top target and reminds me of a young Marcus Easley...Sophomore’s Tommy Myers and Alec Bloom filled in for McQuillan and their NFL size (6’5, 250 & 6’6, 260, respectively) provided additional beef in the blocking game. Shirreffs, Newsome, Johnson, Thomas, Myers, and Bloom are all set to return next season.

Bottom line: UConn has an offense

UConn will return their trio of backs in 2016

The future looks bright and the Bob Diaco era is off to a promising start. Win or lose to Marshall in the St. Petersburg Bowl, there is no reason that UConn football can’t compete for an AAC championship in the near future.

The Power (Curse) of 3

The 2014-2015 college football season ended with a bang as #4 Ohio State beat #2 Oregon in the National Championship. While Buckeye RB, Ezekiel Elliot, stole the show, it was 3rd string QB, Cardale Jones, who many people had their eyes on, as the young man was brilliant in just his 3rd career start. However, looking ahead to next season, and Ohio State head coach, Urban Meyer, will have a tough task of picking between Braxton Miller, JT Barrett, and Cardale Jones as his starting QB, that is to say they all come back. But is that decision a blessing or a curse?

Braxton Miller

The case for Braxton Miller: Braxton Miller was a very highly touted recruit coming to Ohio State and showed promise immediately tossing 13 TD's and just 4 INT's as a freshman while adding an additional 715 yards and 7 TD's on the ground. While the team struggled (finishing a 6-6 regular season with a loss in the Gator Bowl to Florida) the future looked bright as the Buckeyes hired Urban Meyer prior to the 2012 campaign. Despite being ineligible for the postseason, Miller made a case for the Buckeyes to be one of the best teams in the nation leading them to a 12-0 record while tossing for over 2,000 yards, running for more than 1,200 yards and amassing 28 total TD's en route to an All-Big Ten first team selection as well as winning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. The sky was the limit in 2013 as the Buckeyes were a favorite to win the National Championship as they came in preseason ranked #2 and Miller was a Heisman favorite. However, Miller got injured early on in the season and all that hype quickly vanished as they dropped to #4 and stayed there for a while despite going 12-0 in the regular season. Kenny Guiton, who replaced Miller, threw for 14 TD's and just 2 INT's while running for another 5 TD's in the 8 games he saw action in during the 2013 season. He graduated and was invited to the Buffalo Bills training camp but failed to make the roster and is now playing with the Los Angeles Kiss of the Arena Football League. Miller would get healthy but lost in the Big Ten Championship to Michigan State completing just 8 of 21 passes and then would lose again in the Orange Bowl to Clemson throwing 2 INT's. There was much speculation of whether Meyer should have stuck with the hot hand at the time in Guiton, but, nontheless, Miller finished off the season throwing for 24 TD's, 7 INT's and adding an additional 1,000+ yards and 12 TD's on the ground and again was awarded an All-Big Ten first team selection as well as Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. Coming into the 2014 season with Guiton gone there was no real competition for the starting job, but that changed when Miller hurt his shoulder and was deemed to miss the entire 2014 season. Enter JT Barrett.

JT Barrett

The Case for JT Barrett: Barrett is a 6'2, 225 pound redshirt sophomore who has a similar game to Miller in the respects that his mobility is very much a strong part of his game. He struggled early on as Ohio State only beat Navy 34-17 in the opener and then lost to Virginia Tech at home in a game where Barrett went 9 of 29 throwing just 1 TD and 3 INT's but more importantly all hope of winning a National Championship was lost as a tough Big Ten schedule was still to come. However, from there on out, Barrett was spectacular. He threw 6 TD's following the lost to VT and then would toss 11 TD's and 0 INT's in the three games after that in wins over Cincinnati, Maryland, and Rutgers. There was even an 8 game stretch where Barrett threw 26 TD's and just 4 INT's, winning all 8 games. Late in the second half of the Michigan game, Barrett broke his ankle and Ohio State fans hearts sunk once again despite what was looking like an 11-1 season. Miller would finish off the year with over 2,800 passing yards, 34 TD's, 10 INT's, 930 rush yards, and 11 rush TD. But now it was time to turn things over to QB3. Enter 12 Gauge.

The Case for Cardale Jones: Jones is a 6'5, 250 pound monster who's arm, mobility, and size remind me of a young Jamarcus Russell - when he was in his prime...As a freshman in 2013 Jones appeared in 3 games attempting just 2 passes but running 17 times for 128 yards (7.5 YPC) and 1 TD. Prior to the Michigan game, Jones had appeared in 6 games this past season completing 8 of 14 passes for 111 yards, 2 TD's and 0 INT's while running 24 times for 188 yards (7.8 YPC). His relief session for Barrett in the Michigan game went well and the Buckeyes won and were headed to a Big Ten Championship with a potential playoff appearance on the line but the questions were how would Jones fare? Jones fared just fine in his first career start completing 70% of his passes for 257 yards, 3 TD's, and maybe more importantly 0 INT's in a 59-0 rout of Wisconsin. While the numbers were impressive, there was no chance he could beat #1 Alabama and Nick Saban with a National Championship appearance on the line. But the man they call 12 Gauge for his gun of an arm did just that passing for over 240 yards and rushing for more than 40 remaining calm and collected as the Buckeyes advanced to the BCS National Championship where he was again impressive in an upset win over Oregon piling up 280 total yards and scoring 2 TD's.

Cardale Jones

The cases have been made, it’s up to you to diagnose the information and formulate your depth chart (mine might go Jones, Miller, Barrett). But for now, congratulations to Ohio State. Although I've had a love for the Ducks in their recent reign, I found myself rooting for Cardale Jones because what he has done is truly something we may never see again in the college football. I just wish it was any other team other than Ohio State #GoBlue!