Bye bye bye (week)

N’Sync aside, its a UConn bye week and there’s not much going on in terms of UConn football.  The Huskies will get to take a week to rest, rehab and get ready for their Nov. 21 matchup with Notre Dame.  In addition to giving UConn extra preparation time, it gives the coaching staff some time to sit down and evaluate the rest of the season.  Sitting at 4-5 with three games left, UConn needs to reach 6-6 to be bowl eligible so the Huskies need wins in 2 of their last 3 games.  While a win over Syracuse may be a given, USF and Notre Dame should prove to be quite a challenge.

Here’s a few things UConn should have been doing this bye week if they want to come away with a W from South Bend.

1)  Don’t let Zach buy into the hype
The story for next week is going to be Zach Frazer returning to Notre Dame, the school that recruited him and then found out Jimmy Clausen was a much better fit at quarterback.  Frazer transferred to UConn and has since led the Huskies to mediocrity.  The media is going to be pitting this as a “Zach against his old school” matchup, especially with Frazer being named the starter after Cody Endres’ injury kept him out for the season.  Frazer can’t let this phase him and has to go out and play this like he would any other football game.

2)  What happened to the defense?
Granted Cincinnati has a good offense but 47 points?  Come on!  This was a defense that was at one point ranked top-10 nationally and they give up over 500 yards to Zach Collaros alone.  The D needs to figure out what’s wrong and do it quickly.  Lindsey Witten and the UConn pass rush was a beast earlier in the season but we haven’t heard a peep from them since.  With the loss of Jasper Howard the UConn secondary is noticeably suffering.  Blidi Wreh-Wilson is tasked with the unfortunate job of replacing Howard as a starter and hopefully he is able to overcome his struggles so far.

3) Work on getting the ball to Marcus Easley
It’s a shame this kid is gone after this year.  He’s had a touchdown catch in five consecutive games and while I scoffed when Chip Malafronte said he had NFL potential I’m not so sure if he isn’t right anymore.  Easley is a big guy and should be Frazer’s No. 1 target heading forward.

4) Dwayne Difton?
Whatever happened to Difton?  He was supposed to be the next big thing but he has seen limited minutes.  He didn’t look horrible earlier this season against URI so I don’t know why Edsall hasn’t put him out on the field.  Never this season has UConn had a real cohesive group of wide outs so I don’t see a problem with cycling through six or seven different guys each game if at the very least it gets some fresh legs out there and makes someone on the field have to cover their man a bit tighter.

This kid was supposed to be a stud? What happened?!

With all that being said the season isn’t a wash… yet, but a win at Notre Dame is looking like a must have if UConn wants to end the season on a high note with a bowl invitation.  And I’m no psychic but if UConn goes 6-6 pack your bags, I think we may be heading to the Little Ceasar’s Pizza Bowl (formerly known as the Motor City Bowl before Detroit’s economy collapsed).

Advertisement