Way too early question: What are your expectations for next season?

[RioDog]

Coulda had 3 wins total last year in midst of the chaos. Hope better coaching could get us to 3 again. Maybe squeak out another. Anything beyond that is gravy. Bowl eligibility would be a minor miracle.

Consistently not embarrassing would be good enough for me in year 1 of the Mora era.

Prediction: 4-8

 

[shizzle787]

4-8

 

[06029]

I see 8 winnable games on the schedule 2 that can go either way (BC, NC State) and 1 where we can possibly win (Fresno) and 1 where we will definitely not win unless Mora pulls off a miracle (Michigan). Realistically I see 6 wins next year and if the offense gets going right away 7 or 8. I think 3 or 4 is our minimum. We definitely see improvement on all offense. There's no where to go but up. This will do nothing but help the defensive stats. I think a 6-6 record next year is right on target.

This sounds so much like RutgersAl.

what are the 8 winnable games and why are they winnable?

 

[HeGotGame]

Hard to look at the schedule and roster and see more than 2 wins.

 

[Buffett10]

Anything less than 35 ppg for the defense and I’d be ecstatic.

 

[UCFBfan]

That's what I thought..then I had a bad case of deja vu. I think "not blown out by halftime" was my hope for last season.

This was my hope for last year too. Win 3-4 games and just be competitive in the rest. Outside of Clemson, I wanted to see us be in the game and have a chance to win for a good chunk of it. Didn't happen.....

So this upcoming year, here's what I want to see:

1) Crush CCSU by 20+. Let's finally beat a FCS like we should.
2) Win 2 more games. FIU and UMass are the two I'm looking at on the schedule as possible wins. Nothing is a "winnable" game anymore with this team.
3) Stay competitive in the games we should be competitive in and maybe pull off a random win.

I'd love to see these things. I'm not being naive. No way we go from what we were this year to magically winning 4-5 games. I think 3 is possible. I just want enjoyable football!

 

[shizzle787]

This was my hope for last year too. Win 3-4 games and just be competitive in the rest. Outside of Clemson, I wanted to see us be in the game and have a chance to win for a good chunk of it. Didn't happen.....

So this upcoming year, here's what I want to see:

1) Crush CCSU by 20+. Let's finally beat a FCS like we should.
2) Win 2 more games. FIU and UMass are the two I'm looking at on the schedule as possible wins. Nothing is a "winnable" game anymore with this team.
3) Stay competitive in the games we should be competitive in and maybe pull off a random win.

I'd love to see these things. I'm not being naive. No way we go from what we were this year to magically winning 4-5 games. I think 3 is possible. I just want enjoyable football!

If we had gone 5-7 this year it wouldn't have been a miracle. We blew it against Vandy and Wyoming and couldn't close the deal against lesser opponents in HC and UMass.

 

[Chief00]

With UConn Football, I have learned to develop no expectations. It’s probably a defense mechanism to avoid disappointment.
I believe the AD tried to offer an early way to buy or reserve season tickets, capitalizing on the Mora hire.
If that is correct, did anyone locked their tickets up early? That would be the real poll.

 

[RSTuthill]

Well ... let's see who comes from the portal. The Feb signing period may provide some great prospects but no one likely to play right away, or at least make a big impact. UConn won one game this year and is losing its best player on each side of the ball. So as it stands now they could go 0-12. That is a definite possibility. But I think that 2 or 3 wins would be more realistic. I am quite sure that respected professional observers would fall into this range. The lower end of the "exceeds expectations" range would be 4 wins. Four wins would represent a sea change and trigger unbridled enthusiam and bowling predictions in 2023 on this board.

Zero possibility of getting 5 wins or more.

 

[hardcorehusky]

This sounds so much like RutgersAl.

what are the 8 winnable games and why are they winnable?

Here's the RutgersAL prediction: 11-1 with a close loss to Michigan.

 

[Husky92]

I know we’ve been beaten down as a fan base, but only two wins would be a failure by HCJM. That would show no improvement to me. Zero. Three would be a passing grade, but still a disappointment. I expect 4 or more. Period. That’s really the only thing that would show me improvement.

 

[Vowelguy]

2 wins blah
3 wins ok
4 wins yay!

 

[HuskyDogArt]

I'm drinking the Kool-Aid...12-0. After this year...if we win 4 games I'll think we went 12-0...if we win 5, I'll say we won the National championship!

Ok, I'll put down the whiskey...

 

[DoctorWho85]

This sounds so much like RutgersAl.

what are the 8 winnable games and why are they winnable?

Pretty much the entire schedule is winnable outside of Michigan and maybe Fresno. Syracuse sucks, NC State seems to play to the level of their opponent, BC is BC, Army is decent but is a winnable game, CCSU is a gimme game, Utah St is the first game of the season so it's very much winnable for both teams, FIU pretty much wants to close it's football program and it shows and UMass will be a competitive game, but I believe we have the edge with coaching.

 

[gtcam]

Comparative to recent seasons- anything north of 3 wins is Nirvana

 

[Dove]

I would put the eggnog down for a bit.

Nobody in their right mind puts down eggnog. Nobody.

 

[ZooCougar]

I thought about making this a poll, but I really don’t want to limit people’s answers. I think the last decade has taught us to be less unbridled in our enthusiasm. I am drinking the Jim Mora Kool-Aid by the pitcher. I like his hires and I am hopeful for the future. There really is no way to know how much improvement we could possibly have until we see the end results from the transfer portal, but so far what do you think would be “acceptable change?”

3-5 wins.

 

[PackTheRent]

FIU and CCSU are wins. Lose to UMASS, Liberty, Ball State, Utah State by 10-14 points. Michigan by 35 points, and BC/NC St/Fresno/Syracuse/Army by 24-30 points.

We double the win production from 2021 and Mora demands a raise since the "cupboard was bare" when he got here.

 

[History Geek]

Nobody in their right mind puts down eggnog. Nobody.

Now I’m going to get some

 

[06029]

Pretty much the entire schedule is winnable outside of Michigan and maybe Fresno. Syracuse sucks, NC State seems to play to the level of their opponent, BC is BC, Army is decent but is a winnable game, CCSU is a gimme game, Utah St is the first game of the season so it's very much winnable for both teams, FIU pretty much wants to close it's football program and it shows and UMass will be a competitive game, but I believe we have the edge with coaching.

So UMass is a harder game than the 3 ACC teams and Army?

 

[Purple Stein]

4-8

Realistically, a new coach taking over a dumpster fire, 3 or 4 wins. I'm seeing 3-9 for next season and an upward trajectory toward 7 or 8 wins shortly thereafter.

 

[UC Harpua]

5-7. I think there will be a very big turnaround given the transfers and the new coaching vibes

 

[kemba]

A lot depends on the qb transfers. Qb can cover up a lot of issues so if one of them can really play I’m not ruling out 4+ wins. If qb play is the same or only a slight improvement I’d say 2-3.

 

[bmayuc]

Pretty much the entire schedule is winnable outside of Michigan and maybe Fresno. Syracuse sucks, NC State seems to play to the level of their opponent, BC is BC, Army is decent but is a winnable game, CCSU is a gimme game, Utah St is the first game of the season so it's very much winnable for both teams, FIU pretty much wants to close it's football program and it shows and UMass will be a competitive game, but I believe we have the edge with coaching.

Such good satire.

In reality, I think we are looking good for 2-3 wins. But my expectations are a professionally run organization, with no embarrassing retirement/resignations after the first game, no losses to FCS teams or worse, and hopefully no national laughingstock losses.

I would be ecstatic over this result.

 

[jbdphi]

Moving the ball on offense with play calls that aren’t from 5-10 (or 20+) years ago. Scoring points against opponents 1’s. Making stops on defense and putting pressure on their QB more than a few times a game. Making less stupid mistakes / penalties. These things should all contribute to more competitive games that are much more fun to watch.

If that translates to 3-5 wins I’d be pleasantly surprised with year one of HCJM. If it’s less than 3 wins then I’d be a bit disappointed.