2015
UCONN
College Football
Betting Preview
Schedule and Odds
There weren’t many high points to Connecticut’s 2014 season after finishing 2-10. A win over UCF was nice, but that’s all that can be said for the Huskies as their other win came by a 19-16 Scoreline against Stony Brook. Their over/under is 3 wins (at 5 Dimes), which means there isn’t much hope yet again for this football team. Something will have to change on the offensive side for them to surpass that mark.
Bob Diaco is in Year 2 of the rebuild and while he is a defensive coach, needs to figure out how to run the offense because scoring less than 16 points per Game isn’t going to cut it, even in the AAC. They hired Frank Verducci as the new coordinator, who comes from Northern Iowa and used to work with Diaco at Notre Dame.
The main hope is that NC State transfer Bryant Shirreffs can become the starting quarterback for the next few years. He looked great in the spring Game, but is still challenging last year’s backup, Tim Boyle, for the job. Shirreffs won’t have much help returning to work with as Noel Thomas and Dhameer Bradley are expected to be his top receiving options after tight end Sean McQuillan was arrested in April and is no longer on the team. The running Game has some experience with Ron Johnson and Arkeel Newsome, but the offensive line will need to improve for those backs to find decent running lanes. This offense won’t win a lot of Games by itself, but if Shirreffs can show some promise, this group won’t be as bad as a year ago.
UConn was mediocre on the defensive side last year and that was considered good. With seven starters returning, this group should once again lead the team. The Huskies will have decent depth and experience at each level.
Kenton Adeyemi and Julian Campenni are solid on the line, Marquise Vann and Graham Stewart bring plenty of experience at linebacker and Andrew Adams brings All-AAC talent to safety. All five of those guys are experienced seniors and will lead the group.
Due to their Schedule, UConn could easily start the season with two straight wins. Then again, they won two Games all of last year and nothing is guaranteed. Road Games at Missouri and BYU aren’t great, but with a favorable AAC Schedule, it wouldn’t be surprising for the Huskies to hit the over on three wins. Home Games against South Florida and East Carolina are somewhat favorable, while they travel to Tulane.
Connecticut will be better this year, but how many wins they reach will mostly depend on the quarterback position. If Bryant Shirreffs is as good as the spring hype, they could double last season’s win total (Four).
2015 Connecticut Football Schedule
Sept. 3 vs. Villanova
Sept. 12 vs. Army
Sept. 19 at Missouri
Sept. 26 vs. Navy
Oct. 2 at BYU
Oct. 10 at UCF
Oct. 17 vs. South Florida
Oct. 24 at Cincinnati
Oct. 30 vs. East Carolina
Nov. 7 at Tulane
Nov. 21 vs. Houston
Nov. 28 at Temple