On Saturday afternoon, UConn football will make its long-awaited return to the field after a almost 2-year hiatus. Since becoming the first FBS school to cancel their 2020 season in wake of the COVID pandemic on August 5th, 2020, Randy Edsall has been looking ahead to the 2021 season and getting back on the field. Edsall has been a busy man since they last played a game, mostly working to improve the roster on the recruiting trail and replacing the wave of 19 transfers who left the program at the end of 2019 after a 2-10 season. Without a lot of information and a host of new faces, let’s take a look at the season opener on Saturday for the Huskies.
Overview
The first game will probably look pretty familiar to anyone who has seen UConn play over the last several seasons. The Huskies travel to Fresno State to play the Bulldogs as nearly 4 TD underdogs (-27.5). The Bulldogs are expected to contend for the Mountain West Conference (MWC) Championship this year and return to their regularly-scheduled bowl appearances. Over the last 10 seasons, they have made a bowl game in 6 of them, including winning the MWC 3-times over that span.
Fresno State is led by a pair of seniors on the offensive side of the ball. RB Ronnie Rivers, who has a career average of 5.2 yards per carry, and QB Jake Haener, who complete 64.7% of his passes in the shortened season last year while throwing for 2,000+ yards and 14 TDs. With the over/under set at 62.5, the experts are predicting a lot of offense and some shaky defense on both sides, making the offenses the focus of the day.
Offense
The Huskies have some familiar names on offense as well. They are led by senior RB Kevin Mensah, who despite all the Ls in his career, has amassed 2,619 yards and 19 TD in 35 games, including back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons in 2018 and 2019. He’ll line up beside either a sophomore QB, but which one remains unknown. QBs Steven Krajewski and Jack Zergiotis have been battling for the starting job all spring and Randy Edsall refused to name a starter when the depth chart was released. I think Zergiotis is likely to see the first snap of the game, but after that, who knows.
The QBs will have at least 1 really strong target in the passing game in WR Cam Ross. He was a surprise star in his freshman season, leading the Huskies with 60 catches and 723 receiving yards. The #2 receiver is another sophomore (red-shirt), Heron Maurisseau, who had just 10 catches for 113 yards in 2019, but has had a few encouraging moments that make me think the potential is there. The other receiving option is senior Southington-native Jay Rose, who has just 278 yards on 28 receptions in his career, but had his best season in 2019.
Defense
It’s a very young defense for the Huskies, with just 1 senior and 4 juniors in the starting lineup, so frankly, I’m not sure what to expect except lots of opponent yards. The line has size, starting DTs are a combined 613 lbs, and may be the most solid grouping on that side of the ball. The secondary scares me quite a bit, but I’ll reserve judgment until I can see them more in a live game. It may be tough to really judge the D in week 1, but hopefully there will be positive signs pointing towards the future.
Special Teams
There isn’t much to say here except they are very, very young – sense a theme? The Huskies have 2 kickers and 1 punter on the depth chart for the game and all 3 are true freshman. Joe McFadden is the starting kicker against Fresno State and the punter is listed as Haydn Kerr or Joe McFadden, so that will be interesting to watch. I’m guessing there will be a number of punts in the game, so lots of work to go around.
Prediction
Fresno State 49, UConn Huskies 21
While the first game of the season is normally difficult to predict, this one is especially tough. Between a huge turnover at the end of 2019 and a full season hiatus, I’m not sure whether to expect a young hungry UConn team looking to prove themselves or a rusty, continuation of the last few seasons with sloppy play throughout. Overall I don’t expect much this season and especially don’t expect much at Fresno State in week 1. I think the Huskies barely miss covering the -27.5, but they don’t get completely embarrassed.