After a dismal three-game stretch that included three heartbreaking losses to West Virginia, Rutgers and Cincinnati the UConn football team has reeled off back-to-back wins to become bowl-eligible for the third consecutive year.
The Huskies (6-5, 2-4 Big East) look to make it three in a row as they close out the season at home against South Florida on Saturday night at 8 p.m. at Rentschler Field.
Although the sixth win made the Huskies bowl-eligible, coach Randy Edsall wants to make sure his team finishes off the season on a positive note.
"As I mentioned to the team this morning, I think our whole focus is to get win number seven, and to finish with the three game winning streak," Edsall said.
After a promising five-game winning streak to start the season that had the Bulls (7-4, 3-3) ranked in the top 20, they have fallen on tougher times. Two straight lopsided losses to Rutgers and Miami have the Bulls going in the opposite direction of UConn.
South Florida's issues can in part be blamed on the loss of senior quarterback Matt Grothe to an ACL tear earlier in the season. Since then, their offense has been under the direction of true freshman B.J. Daniels who, while playing well for a freshman, cannot match the experience of Grothe.
Although Daniels is not Grothe, Edsall knows that he is still capable of breaking a big play.
"They're both pretty similar and if it is not to their liking they can move around, scramble and take off and run with the football," Edsall said. "You need to have discipline when they're moving around back there and you cannot come out of coverage."
The Husky defense has not been nearly as reliable as in years past as evidenced by the fact that they allowed nearly 500 total yards to Syracuse last week. A lot of the damage this season has been done by the big play - which was what hurt the Huskies last year in their 17-13 loss to South Florida in Tampa.
Dontavia Bogan amassed 142 yards on kick returns to consistently give the Bulls good field position.
"Last year, he really hurt us from kick-off return standpoin," Edsall said. "We have to have a good week to prepare and get ready for this very athletic and fast team on Saturday night."
A night game in New England in December is certainly going to be cold. Add that to the fact that there's a 30 percent chance of snow and the environment for the visitors from the South might prove to favor the Huskies substantially.
According to Edsall, the snowy forecast doesn't change his gameplan.
"Sounds good to me. I told our guys this morning that the weather is not going win the game for us," Edsall said. "We're still going to have to go out and play and execute and do the things that we are capable of doing to move the ball offensively and shut them down defensively."
Saturday will be the final home game for 10 seniors including Andre Dixon, Brad Kanuch, Lindsey Witten and Marcus Easley.
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