AFTER STRONG FINISH TO SEASON, UCONN HAS A LOT OF WORK AHEAD

   Last season was a tough test for the University of Connecticut‘s football team. Last October, cornerback Jasper Howard was stabbed into death in front of the Student Union on campus during one of the Late Night events there. This death rocked the foundation of the team. Living in Connecticut and being a student at the University of Connecticut at Storrs, I saw the toll it took on the team. UConn lost the next three games in heart breaking fashion. First, they lost to West Virginia (23) by 4 points (“Connecticut 2009 Schedule-…”). Then, they lost to Rutgers (a game I went to) in the final seconds by 4 points in a game dedicated to the slain player (“Connecticut 2009 Schedule-…”). Finally, they almost beat Cincinnati (5), but lost by 2 (“Connecticut 2009 Schedule-…”). The thought after those losses is the team is done, both physically and emotionally. The team would not be in a bowl that year. But then, there came a trip to South Bend versus a down Notre Dame team. I watched this game with my father. It went into a second overtime. Notre Dame had kicked a field goal to make it 30-27 (“Connecticut Huskies vs. Notre Dame…”). UConn had to score. They drove down the field and Andre Dixon scored from four yards out (“Connecticut Huskies vs. Notre Dame…”). I went insane and my father cried, it was a great moment. I remember thinking “UConn finally made it”.
   With this happy thought in my mind, I was gleefully anticipating the season for Connecticut this year. Connecticut has returned a lot of starters and is a dark horse to win the Big East Championship and the at large bid. The first opponent was Michigan last Saturday at Michigan in the newly renovated Big House. The coach of Michigan is Rich Rodriguez, who is on the hot seat. If Connecticut had beat Michigan and embarrassed Rich Rodriguez in his house, it would have really put UConn on the national radar and put one of the final nails in Rich Rod’s coffin. In the game, UConn woke up to a bad dream they had a few years ago. I am talking about the 2007 Big East Championship game versus West Virginia where Rich Rodriguez was the coach and Pat White (QB) ran over the defense. Denard Robinson channeled its inner Pat White. Denard Robinson ran his way to almost 150 yards and a school record (“Connecticut Huskies vs. Michigan…”). Michigan scored the first three touchdowns unanswered. Connecticut responded with a field goal and a touchdown. UConn entered the half down by 11 points. After the half, UConn held Michigan to a field goal and drove down the field. On the second fourth down attempt around the goal line, Shoemate got the first down, but fumbled. Michigan recovered. Then, I changed the channel, because the game was over.
   Watching the first 60% of the game, there are some glaring problems. The first problem I saw was the hands of the wide receivers. There were a lot of dropped passes, especially mid to deep passes by Frazer. It was definitely a damper at the beginning of the first half. I look for Edsall to concentrate on this aspect of the game this week in practice in preparation for Texas Southern. Another source of trouble was Frazer himself. The receivers did drop balls, but there were a selection of unpleasant passes. I do not know if that was because of the immense size of the Michigan crowd or rust from not playing for more than a half year. We will find out Saturday. The last troubling aspect of the loss to Michigan was the defense. They could not stop Robinson if their lives depended on it. They gave up 30 points. The defense was one of the best in the nation last year and if UConn wants the Big East at-large bid this year, the defense needs to be successful. One of the main reasons for this is, if you don’t know this, Connecticut is cold in late fall and early winter. So, the probability of a potent offense in the latter weeks of the college season is not good.
   Sorry, the analysis is late. I needed some time to remove my emotions from the loss against Michigan. We will see what happens at the Rent (that is we call Rentschler Field) tomorrow against Texas Southern.

Sincerely,
Rob (uconn2012)

Works Cited

Associated Press. "Connecticut Huskies vs. Michigan Wolverines - Recap - September 04, 2010 - ESPN." ESPN: The Worldwide Leader In Sports. 4 Sept. 2010. Web. 10 Sept. 2010. <http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=302470130>.

Associated Press. "Connecticut Huskies vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Recap - November 21, 2009 - ESPN." ESPN: The Worldwide Leader In Sports. 21 Nov. 2009. Web. 10 Sept. 2010. <http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=293250087>.

"Connecticut 2009 Schedule - Huskies Home and Away - ESPN." ESPN: The Worldwide Leader In Sports. 6 Jan. 2010. Web. 10 Sept. 2010. <http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/schedule/_/id/41/year/2009/connecticut-huskies>.