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

[SubbaBub]

4 makes most people happy if there is a bowl game the following year. Anything less is UConn is still a dumpster fire. I will repeat that there is little difference in talent between us and half the teams on our schedule. Coaching and commitment from the players to be better is all it takes.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

We will be in a bowl game which we will win!

 

[HuskyDogArt]

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.

I hope that we won't be in the bottom 10 next year. It was funny at first, but not at the end...

 

[RSTuthill]

We will be in a bowl game which we will win!

You didn't specify the decade.

 

[businesslawyer]

Fair question but I’m going to wait a while. I’m not one who thinks we went 1-11 because game day coaching was holding back players who were much better than 1-11 players. I think we had a severe talent deficit.

So predicting next year’s record, for me, requires seeing what we can get in the portal and Juco ranks to make both lines better. The kid from Dartmouth is a start, but upgrading the skill players on offense, which we’ve done at QB and TB (and WR may be the strongest group of players he is inheriting), isn’t going to make us much better unless we block and have enough speed on the DL to not give opposing QBs who escape the pocket enough time to surf the internet before deciding to run or throw.

 

[freescooter]

Fair assessment, biz. Agree with most of it

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Wow. Talk @bout drinking coolaide by the bucket. I see maybe 2 games right now we should win. Maybe 2 I’d call toss ups. After that, we need to improve a lot. I think it takes a year to get things right. I’ll say 3-9.

I think we win 6 or 7 games with 2 being lucky wins, and I don’t think we get blown out by anyone. Only question is what bowl, if any, do we get invited too. I would also predict post season honors for Kevon Jones, and Jackson Mitchell. The key to my prediction is how well Mora and his assistants can shore up the offensive line. Young players like Brewton, Burns, Tyler (if 100%) will shine if Mora can accomplish that. An improvement in the offensive line would also give Krajewski time throw and make better decisions when he’s in for Tyler. Mora also has a huge hole to fill with Travis leaving.

 

[ScottVib]

I think bowl predictions at this stage are way off base, but it's nice to see the hope back on the boards. This is a team that lost to UMass in a game that was less competitive and more frustrating than the final score. It lost to Holy Cross, it had its doors blown off by Army (whom folks have derided as not being very good) with the guy everyone hoped would be the starter (prior to the most recent transfer) running the offense. Yes they were surprisingly competitive against Wyoming and Vanderbilt, but they were also in a competitive game against Yale.

I think Biz is correct, we just don't know if the talent upgrade has been enough. There are massive deficiencies on both lines. The offensive line was the worst unit on a bad team last year, fixing that may in and of itself "fix" the offense. The defense, while it seemed to get better during the season (although some teams started to play more vanilla against UConn later in the year) still had issues stopping the run up the middle, pressuring the QB, setting the edge, and tackling in the secondary. Pretty much every aspect of the defense must get better and the team will graduate its best player on that side of the field.

I think some of what people are seeing is there are a few offensive skill players who were pretty flashy and did some great things, but UConn's worst talent was on the offensive line, the position I believe, that is the most important one on the field. It wasn't just bad... it was below FBS level caliber. They need a huge talent infusion here and we're excited because there are FCS graduate transfers coming in to upgrade the offensive line... that may be big compared to the current talent-level, but is also an indictment on last year's offensive line than anything else (which isn't to say that I'm not thrilled to be adding players who are massive upgrades).

We may have growing pains learning new systems and getting everyone in place. I just think there are too many unknowns to expect the massive jump in performance some folks are expecting that it would take to get to go from 1 to 6 wins. I'm hopeful, but I certainly wouldn't predict it, and wouldn't declare it a failure if the club fails to win 6 games year one.

I expect 2-3 wins; anything more than that would make me happy (year one). Less and I'd be pretty disappointed. I expect to be able to happy to be watching more games that are competitive (and hopefully a CCSU game that is not competitive in UConn's favor) and not completely frustrated watching a defense fail in even the basics, or an offensive line that is completely overmatched.

 

[DansArmy]

Let’s be realistic. 3-4 wins with minimal blow outs (1-2 max) will make everyone here happy. There is still a severe talent deficit in the program (Edsall had 1 top 100 recruiting class), and coaching will only take the team so far. Mora’s recruited well but there hasn’t been an influx of transfers that’ll transform this roster into a competitive one overnight. As long as I see creative and aggressive play calling on both sides of the ball and a team that doesn’t quit I’ll be optimistic about the future.

Maybe the team sneaks into a bowl game at 6-6 next year, but I think year 3 is a good target for getting bowl eligible. Think of how the Hurley rebuild went, you saw glimmers of hope in the first 2 seasons and year 3 you saw the process start to pay off.

 

[Austin316]

2022 : 3-9
2023 : 5-7
2024 : 7-5

I think we’re gradually going to get better. This isn’t UCLA. We aren’t in the PAC12 loaded with talent on the west coast. We’ll be better than we were and heading in the right direction towards bowl eligibility but will take a couple years to get there. If the transfer portal is abused by our staff and we get talent here that wants PT I think we can be an interesting program to watch/play for.

 

[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.

As I said, lets see who comes from the portal. Just this one get, a QB from Penn State, I an inclined to raise my guidance to the top of the band. But there may be more coming. Both lines surely need help. If there is significant upgrade to the OL and DL, I could easily see UConn getting to 4 or 5 wins. But lets wait and see who comes to Storrs. The semester starts soon so it should not be all that long for the first tranche to fill up.

 

[Husky25]

 

[outlaw]

I expect to lose my voice at 6 home games, tailgate our arses off, hit Michigan or NCST on the road, destroy central, haze all massholes when the fLagShiP rolls in, win a couple more, save some PTO for bowl season, and.. hopefully.. not be disappointed come October.

 

[Greedo]

New coaches rarely come in and take over a team that is this down and turn them into a .500 team in their first year. It’s just incredibly unrealistic. To me, the number of wins doesn’t really matter, I just want to see growth in the level of play from last year. There will be games that disappoint us, and there will be games that surprise us. Like I said, I don’t see .500 or better as realistic, the closer we can get to .500 the better, but I’m not expecting to be particularly close next year. There will be a lot of new faces, let’s get everyone gelling next year and improve, and then hit the ground running the year after.

 

[Block C]

I have no clue what to expect. With the influx in wr and qb depth coming in. I would hope to be competitive even if it means 4-8 that’s a huge improvement. If we go 6-6 I would be very happy.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

New coaches rarely come in and take over a team that is this down and turn them into a .500 team in their first year. It’s just incredibly unrealistic. To me, the number of wins doesn’t really matter, I just want to see growth in the level of play from last year. There will be games that disappoint us, and there will be games that surprise us. Like I said, I don’t see .500 or better as realistic, the closer we can get to .500 the better, but I’m not expecting to be particularly close next year. There will be a lot of new faces, let’s get everyone gelling next year and improve, and then hit the ground running the year after.

If Mora and his staff keep on recruiting 3 and 4 star players, they’ll play 500 ball at the very least, and with luck maybe better than that.

 

[Greedo]

If Mora and his staff keep on recruiting 3 and 4 star players, they’ll play 500 ball at the very least, and with luck maybe better than that.

I hope you’re right. I think they’ll need a season to gel and will struggle next year, but will have a big leap the year after. I hope I’m wrong though.

 

[ScottVib]

If Mora and his staff keep on recruiting 3 and 4 star players, they’ll play 500 ball at the very least, and with luck maybe better than that.

If they don't get better on the OLine, you'll see those same recruits and the talented returning players running for their lives again. If they don't get better on defense they may lose 48-31 instead of 48-10, even if the offense was fixed. The skill position players get all the attention and the nice highlights, but the line is where wins are built and UConn's line may have been the worst unit in FBS last year (and that coach was also the OC ).

I love the positivity, but setting an expected floor of .500 for this team is setting yourself up for disappointment. Between new systems to learn, necessary talent upgrades and honestly the culture that needs to be established (it's hard to get used to winning and not going into the tank everytime the team hits adversity, something the returning players have seen all too often), I'd expect a step forward... not the giant leap it would take to get all the way from barely beating Yale to being a .500 team with 5 FBS wins.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

If they don't get better on the OLine, you'll see those same recruits and the talented returning players running for their lives again. If they don't get better on defense they may lose 48-31 instead of 48-10, even if the offense was fixed. The skill position players get all the attention and the nice highlights, but the line is where wins are built and UConn's line may have been the worst unit in FBS last year (and that coach was also the OC ).

I love the positivity, but setting an expected floor of .500 for this team is setting yourself up for disappointment. Between new systems to learn, necessary talent upgrades and honestly the culture that needs to be established (it's hard to get used to winning and not going into the tank everytime the team hits adversity, something the returning players have seen all too often), I'd expect a step forward... not the giant leap it would take to get all the way from barely beating Yale to being a .500 team with 5 FBS wins.

You’ll be critical of UConn football no matter what, it’s your nature.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

I hope you’re right. I think they’ll need a season to gel and will struggle next year, but will have a big leap the year after. I hope I’m wrong though.

Did UCF take a year to gel after they lost 11 games?

 

[storrsroars]

L @Utah State
W CCSU
L Syracuse
L @Michigan
L @NC State
L Fresno State
W @FIU
L @Ball State
W Boston College
W UMass
L Liberty
L @Army

4-8

Btw, was the effect of the most recent CR on our future schedules brought up anywhere? Asking as it looks like at least BYU and Liberty are trimming down their schedules, meaning they're unlikely to do much with UConn in future. I'd be wondering if the 2023 game vs Liberty is in potential jeopardy.

Virginia cancels future football series with BYU, Liberty

The Virginia Cavaliers have canceled future football series with the BYU Cougars and the Liberty Flames, FBSchedules.com has learned.

fbschedules.com

 

[huskysupporter]

If Mora and his staff keep on recruiting 3 and 4 star players, they’ll play 500 ball at the very least, and with luck maybe better than that.

He hasn’t pulled in a four star yet though and I think it will be very difficult to do so. All previous staffs recruited four stars as well with no luck.

 

[huskysupporter]

How is it possible people are checking off BC as a win? We will be four touchdown underdogs at least in that one. Isn’t Jurcovic coming back too?

 

[ScottVib]

You’ll be critical of UConn football no matter what, it’s your nature.

So critical is expecting a step forward... but not a jump all the way to .500? There's a difference between what I expect to happen and what I hope to happen. (Ironically I'm known as the optimist within my group of season ticket holders)

To be clear, I hope you're right, but if that is the floor of your expectations, I fear that you'll be disappointed. More importantly, I don't think that, that level of expectation is fair considering where this team is coming from and the work ahead of it.

To ask the question, would you be disappointed if this team wins "only" 4 games next year? Why or Why Not?


I set my expectation at the minimum acceptable level of performance, based on what we know about the team now, not what I hope might be possible, or any additional talent that may or may not come in. Overshooting the expectation should signify a good performance by the team and recognizes that performance. Repeatedly missing expectations is the kind of thing that puts a coach on the hot seat... I'd argue that missing your expectation by 33% is still a successful season for this team, as currently constructed, your mileage may vary.

 

[storrsroars]

How is it possible people are checking off BC as a win? We will be four touchdown underdogs at least in that one. Isn’t Jurcovic coming back too?

Other than during RE 2.0, most years had one surprising win. Michigan, ND, Houston, etc. So why not.