Central Connecticut looked a little small on defense. I am pretty sure if we were on the team,
JeremyCuse,
Cuseregular,
Consigliere and I would have started on the defensive line.
Roger N and
Dcuse could have helped out at linebacker. Add
DCCuse to that list. And
RayInVa would have dominated at free safety.
The announcers and production values of the highlight package are stunning. Not remotely up to the level of the HS football broadcasts we have for local football in CNY. Did they randomly pick a play by play and a color person from the stands?
Reading the Boneyard, some of them think we are awful defending the run. No idea why, we were solid against it last year (28th in the country) and if anything, are better this season.
Their QB is a true frosh who looks very confused and unsure of himself. He is going to have a brutal time trying to deal with the Syracuse 3-3-5. Even Cunningham was completely befuddled by it.
I expect UConn will try and run and fail. Their OL is a lot smaller and less talented than UL’s was. Their RBs are a lot smaller and less talented than UL’s were. Their two 3 WRs are all hurt and they are left with a bunch of slow, weak backups there. If they have to pass, they are going to get a lot of sacks and interceptions. Hard to imagine them getting more than 14 points against us.
Their defense is IMHO quite a bit better than their offensive unit. From what I saw in the Utah State game, their DL and LBs are decent and they appear to be well coached. Not much depth and they will get worn down but they are respectable. Their CBs are small, weak and do not appear to be really athletic. They are going to have a hard time covering our WRs and will need to get help from their safeties, with a lot of zone coverage, to avoid a lot of long TDs. If they do that, we will run for huge yardage play after play.
I think playing on grass will help mask the huge disparity in speed. I think SU is very likely going to be mentally uninspired playing in an empty stadium against a team not many respect. I expect the UConn players will be sky high for the game and they might even keep the score respectable to halftime.
But we are too big, strong and deep to lose this game. 38-14 sounds about right to me. 250 yards rushing and 250 yards passing. Hope we get a chance to rest Shrader and Tucker most of the second half, so we are close to 100% for Purdue.