Head Coach: Jim Mora Jr is entering his 3rd season with the program with a 9-16 record. He has an amazing first year where he got the Huskies back to their first bowl since 2015 but things regressed this past year. He will be looking to get the Huskies back on track this year. Fun fact about Jim Mora Jr, he was the forgotten in between man after Mike Holmgren retired but before Pete Carroll got there, it was 1 very forgettable year.
Program Outlook: UConn football’s existence has been a strange one for some time now. UConn was in the AAC but it didn’t mesh with the goals of their basketball program, and they opted to go independent. Honestly it felt like they kind of just kept the program around because disbanding it would hurt more than keeping it. Now with UMass going to the MAC, UConn is likely going to be the only non-Notre Dame independent from now on. There’s good news on the horizon though, they started to invest more heavily in the football program and the Mora hire is evidence of that.
How does the 2024 Roster look?: It’s improving. UConn will see some turnover with several key contributors gone but they’ve brought in a pretty nice portal class that could help give them a boost. The QB competition is up in the air. Joe Fagnano is a candidate who I thought looked good in the quarter he was healthy for last year but is limited overall. There’s 2 promising freshmen who could take the reigns or incoming transfer Nick Evers could take the job, he’s moved around a few times now to only throw one pass so it’s hard to tell what hasn’t clicked at previous destinations. Receiver was a position UConn attacked in the portal, they kept games close using power football the last couple years but after the games flipped from one score wins to one score losses, along with some really good interior linemen gone, it became apparent the Huskies need more of a passing game. UConn is switching up their defensive philosophy, moving to a 3-3-5. Thanks to the portal they have a lot of options up front and in the secondary.
Screenshot from fbschedules.com1
2024 Schedule Thoughts: My first thought is this is one of the weirdest schedules I’ve ever seen. UConn will go OVER HALF THE SEASON without playing a road game. That entire middle stretch with nothing but byes and home games is truly incredible, and I do believe will be an advantage. Although the trade off is they will play 2 of the first 3 games of the season on the road and the last 3 games on the road, but even then the UAB is the only somewhat long trip they have. The other scheduling quirk is they managed to play all 3 of the AAC’s Owls. The schedule itself isn’t bad, there’s a lot of winnable games here. Everyone besides Rice and Maryland has either a first year head coach or didn’t make a bowl last year. The path to UConn returning to a bowl doesn’t require much improvement.
Vegas Projection: UConn’s win total is set at 4.5 with the odds leaning toward the under. It’s an over I’m considering, it’s not a huge stretch of the imagination to see UConn being able to pull together 5 wins with this schedule.
2024 Best Case: UConn finds the right solution at QB from the start to help their offense operate. It doesn’t help them beat Maryland in the opener but they’re competitive throughout. UConn wins their next game and then pulls off an upset at Duke to put the nation on notice. The momentum doesn’t end there, the Huskies sweep the entire 6 game home stretch which includes another win over a ACC opponent and beating each of the American’s Owls. UConn takes down UAB before the winning streak ends against Fran Brown’s Orange, but that’s no bother. UConn beats UMass to finish with their first ever 10 win season. They even follow it up with a bowl win, and just like that the future has never looked better for UConn football.
2024 Worst Case: Instead of improving UConn continues to regress, they beat Merrimack but it’s sandwiched between blowout losses to Maryland and Duke. It gets worse, however. They fail to capitalize on the 6 game home stretch, not winning a single game, not even Temple! The Huskies finish the collapse down the stretch with 3 more losses including to UMass who makes a bowl for the first ever. Boston College, Syracuse
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