The football team practices at the field by D lot and are getting ready for their next games. (Charlotte Lao/The Daily Campus)
The Huskies weekend road trip to take on Boise State is the furthest west the Huskies will have traveled in program history.
It’s probably a good thing that they’re going to be as far away from the location of their Week 1 throttling as possible. Very out of sight, hopefully very out of mind.
Fresh off a 56-17 loss on their home turf against No.21 UCF UConn has the difficult task of trying to rebound against another top 25 team.
To no one’s surprise, the Huskies were carved up defensively by an offense that ranked number one in the nation last year. UConn’s defense featured seven starting freshman last week and it showed. Cornerback Keyshawn Paul had a practically rough night. The true freshman was the favorite target of UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton and was on the wrong end of two touchdown receptions.
Instead of getting a chance to rebound against a softer opponent, UConn has the distinction of being the only team in college football this season to face two ranked opponents in their first two weeks.
Fresh off a 56-20 win against Troy, Boise State once again looks one of college football’s elite teams. Senior Quarterback Brett Rypien is the FBS’ current career leader in passing yards and passed the 10,000-yard mark for his career against Troy. After just missing out on Mountain West All-Conference first team honors last season, Rypien began his 2018 campaign with a 305-yard and four touchdown performance.
Running back Alexander Mattison was also a near first team All-Conference selection last season. The junior tailback has the ability to explode for 100 rushing yards on any given night. A Huskies’ defensive line that fetures three freshman will have their work cut out for them Saturday night. If the Huskies hope to pull off a miracle in Boise they have to contain two deadly options on offense.
Quaterback David Pindell carried the Huskies on his back against UCF and still managed to rush for a program-record 157 yards while doing it. While his work with his legs stick out, Pindell didn’t have a bad day throwing. A interception in the closing moments of the second half stick out, but Pindell showed flashes of accuracy and precision that could make him one of the better dual threats in football. If the Huskies want to have any hope of beating the Broncos, they’ll need Pindell to do all that and more.
Despite the final score, the Huskies offense did manage to carve up UCF’s defense for 486 yards. The Huskies should have found the endzone more often against UCF. If Pindell has a repeat performance against another elite team… and the Huskies capitalize on their trips to the redzone… and the baby-faced defense somehow contains the Broncos’ explosive offense….there’s a chance… however small…. That UConn keeps this game within two touchdowns.
The Huskies and Broncos will kickoff on Albertsons Stadiums’ famous blue turf at 10:15 pm Saturday night. The game can be found on ESPNU.
Bryan Lambert is a staff writer for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at bryan.lambert@uconn.edu.
