Brian Brewton attempts a stiff arm in the game against N.C. State (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
Huskies Need Something From Their WRs
THE STORY: Jim Mora had to rebuild the receiving corps in the transfer portal, and the opener against N.C. State left a lot to be desired.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: UConn brought in three transfer wide receivers in Geordon Porter, James Burns and Brett Buckman to go with holdover Cameron Ross. The result? Not much production as there were five drops by wide receivers in the loss and a weak passing game with Joe Fagnano, who threw for 113 yards on 14-of-26 passing.
• How far will Mora go to get production from his wide receivers? The Huskies have 16 players at the position, many of whom are preferred walk-ons.
• The wide receivers, outside of tackling, are our biggest concern after Week 1. Fagnano completed five of 13 passes to wide receivers for 45 yards: Buckman had two catches for 19 yards, Porter and Burns each had one catch and Ross, who is the leading returning receiver, had one catch for 14 yards.
• Have no fear, the tight end is here. Justin Joly, who had a strong debut last season as a true freshman, led the Huskies with four catches for 45 yards. Tight end is an interesting position as Mora has listed every player on the depth chart. The Huskies have Joly as a receiving tight end and holdover Bo Estes as an in-line blocking tight end. The Huskies also have Michigan transfer Louis Hansen in the rotation and former TCU quarterback-turned-tight end Alexander Honig, from Germany, in development.
• What do they say about the grass being greener on other side? The reason Mora had to go with so many transfers is because UConn lost Keelan Marion and Aaron Turner to Power 5 teams. Marion, who transferred to BYU, had one catch in the opener. Turner, who is at Cincinnati, had three receptions for 14 yards and a touchdown.
WHAT DID MORA SAY? “Five drops. You can’t drop the ball. A receiver’s job is to catch the ball. We had five drops and that’s unacceptable. I expected better.
“We have to win 50-50 balls. We have to win contested throws. If we get a hand in there, we have to find a way to make the catches. I thought they blocked well, but you can’t drop the ball and think you’re going to have success on offense.”
ABOUT GEORGIA STATE: N.C. State had the best defense in the ACC last year. This week’s opponent, Georgia State, gave up 408 passing yards and 520 yards of total offense to Rhode Island in a 42-35 victory last week.
LINE MOVES: The Huskies are underdogs this week at +2.5 to +3 in the betting markets. The line began at 4.5 (though we did see a crazy +7 at one book) and is trending downward. Action Network reports that 93% of the bets are on the Huskies to cover so far. We have no idea how comprehensive and accurate that number is, but if that continues, the line is going to drop even more.
WAS IT A GOOD ATMOSPHERE? Only at UConn can the best-attended game in 10 years turn into a kerfuffle.
• UConn announced more than 36,000 fans attended the game, but Rentschler Field operations said only about 24,000 tickets were scanned.
• Why the huge difference? Neither number jives with what the stadium looked like. UConn, as is standard industry practice, uses tickets sold or distributed. Some tickets go unused but are accounted for as paid. Rentschler Field apparently can’t get an accurate count because around 1,000 fans don’t have their tickets scanned during games for a variety of reasons.
• It would appear they missed about 5,000 people from that count on Thursday night. In any case, Mora and UConn seem to be thrilled with the atmosphere.
— John Silver
📰 MORNING READS
• UConn was selected as one of the top schools in the nation for sports fans by USA Today. Here’s the list, and we’re quick to note that the No. 1 team in the nation in this regard is not in a Power 5 conference.
• The best women’s basketball player in the world is a UConn alum, but not the one you think. Legendary UConn forward Breanna Stewart tied Diana Taurasi for the most 40-point games in WNBA history last night. Stewart had 40 points and nine rebounds and set a WNBA record for the most points in a season in her first as a member of the New York Liberty.
• The men’s soccer team bounced back from its first loss with a 3-1 win over Siena last night. Lucas Almeida, Ayoub Lajhar and Eli Conway scored for the Huskies (3-1).
