{"id":17050,"date":"2011-08-11T16:30:04","date_gmt":"2011-08-11T21:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=17050"},"modified":"2011-08-11T16:25:52","modified_gmt":"2011-08-11T21:25:52","slug":"2011-connecticut-huskies-college-football-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/2011-connecticut-huskies-college-football-preview-17050\/","title":{"rendered":"2011 Connecticut Huskies College Football Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Connecticut Huskies<\/strong>
\n2010 record:\u00a0 8-5 overall, 5-2 conference<\/strong>
\n2010 Bowl Game:\u00a0 48-20 loss vs Oklahoma in Fiesta Bowl<\/strong>
\n2010 ATS:\u00a0 8-5\u00a0<\/strong>
\n2010 O\/U:\u00a0 6-7<\/strong>
\nReturning starters:\u00a0 15 total (6 on offense, 9 on defense)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Connecticut will rely heavily on a defense that returns nine starters during the 2011 campaign<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the month of August, our team of writers will be previewing the top teams heading into an exciting 2011 campaign.\u00a0 The college football handicappers at Maddux Sports are also preparing and have season-long packages readily available for clients.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take a look at the first year of the Paul Pasqualoni era in Storrs, Connecticut.<\/p>\n

Offense<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Connecticut will feature new starters at quarterback, running back and at all three interior line positions.\u00a0 The Huskies finished second in the Big East and 63rd nationally in scoring offense a year ago, averaging 26.4 points a game.<\/p>\n

The Huskies feature just one quarterback that has actually started a collegiate game, as signal-caller Mike Box is the early favorite to win out and be under center for the season opener against Fordham.<\/p>\n

If Box slips up, red-shirt freshman Scott McCummings and mid-year enrollee Mike Nebrich are the most likely candidates to fill the void.<\/p>\n

Senior D.J. Shoemate transferred from USC before the 2010 season and played in all 13 games last year at the running back position.\u00a0 He was stuck behind star Jordan Todman.\u00a0 That loss can\u2019t be underestimated, as he piled up 1,695 yards and 14 touchdowns a year ago.<\/p>\n

Some experience returns in the receiving core, led by senior Kashif Moore, who was second on the team with 36 receptions a year ago, while Isiah Moore had 15 catches and a touchdown.<\/p>\n

The offensive line is led by experienced tackles that have combined for 38 career starts.\u00a0 Both Adam Masters and Mike Ryan were key parts of a unit that allowed Todman to finish second nationally in rushing yards.<\/p>\n

Defense<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Massive experience is found on this side of the ball from a unit that finished 35th in scoring defense last year, allowing 22.0 points a game.\u00a0 It still must be noted that the two departures from the defense are huge losses, as linebackers Lawrence Wilson and Scott Lutrus combined for 91 career starts.<\/p>\n

All four starters from its 2010 defensive line and all four from its secondary will be back.\u00a0 The group really came together in its last three conference games last year, holding Syracuse, Cincinnati and South Florida to a combined 39 points.<\/p>\n

Connecticut finished with a plus-12 turnover margin a year ago and the defense will need to continue creating turnovers with inexperience at the quarterback position.<\/p>\n

Special Teams<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Senior kicker Dave Teggart is a major weapon and has a school-record 52 career field goals.\u00a0 He returns after earning All-Big East First Team honors in 2010.<\/p>\n

The punting responsibilities will once again be handled by sophomore Cole Wagner, averaging 41.3 yards per punt last year, which was third in school single-season history.<\/p>\n

Field position is likely to be controlled by the Huskies all season long, as junior Nick Williams led the country in kickoff return average a year ago.<\/p>\n

Against the Spread<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Connecticut has been a solid team to back for bettors over the past four years, posting a 30-17-1 ATS mark over that span. \u00a0Watch the college football lines page each week for the latest market moves.<\/p>\n

Bet On<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Facing Buffalo in Week 4 is likely to be money in the bank, as the Huskies have covered the last six meetings.<\/p>\n

Fade Away<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The athleticism that West Virginia possesses is often a tough matchup for a more pedestrian program, leading to Connecticut going 2-5 ATS in the last seven meetings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Connecticut Huskies 2010 record:\u00a0 8-5 overall, 5-2 conference 2010 Bowl Game:\u00a0 48-20 loss vs Oklahoma in Fiesta Bowl 2010 ATS:\u00a0 8-5\u00a0 2010 O\/U:\u00a0 6-7 Returning starters:\u00a0 15 total (6 on offense, 9 on defense) Over the month of August, our team of writers will be previewing the top teams heading into an exciting 2011 campaign.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":16531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,1444],"tags":[2497,2499,5242,5244,5243,5240,5239,5241],"class_list":["post-17050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-football","category-headlines","tag-big-east-conference","tag-connecticut-huskies","tag-d-j-shoemate","tag-dave-teggart","tag-kashif-moore","tag-mike-box","tag-paul-pasqualoni","tag-scott-mccummings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17050"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17052,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17050\/revisions\/17052"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}