In week nine, Liberty football will travel north to play Connecticut.
UConn recently left the American Athletic Conference to join the Big East. While the move was an upgrade for most sports, football was left out. The Big East no longer sponsors football, and Huskie football joined the Independent ranks alongside Liberty, Notre Dame, BYU, New Mexico, New Mexico State, and UMass. The Flames and the Huskies are scheduled to play each other in 2022 and 2023.
UConn hasn’t won more than three games since 2015 and has less than ten wins in the past four seasons combined. UConn’s quarterback play has been inconsistent since the 2017 departure of three-year starter Bryant Shirreffs. Jack Zergiotis tossed nine touchdowns and 11 picks as the team’s starter last season. While Zergiotis could start in 2020, a crowded QB room and an underwhelming 2019 for Zergiotis makes UConn’s starter against the Flames a bit difficult to predict.
The Huskies do return 1,000-yard back Kevin Mesah and standout receiver Cameron Ross, who caught 40 passes and four touchdowns as a freshman in 2019. The success of Ross will ultimately depend on the quality of quarterback play, which at this point, is uncertain. Mesah should see plenty of carries against the Flames.
On defense, the Huskies return 10 starters from a unit that finished 116th in the nation last season. Tyler Coyle’s transfer to Purdue leaves UConn without their leading tackler. Coyle was only one of nearly 20 players who transferred from UConn in the offseason, which makes UConn’s success in 2020 even more difficult to foresee.
Liberty will take care of business against UConn ahead of an opened date and a matchup with Western Carolina.
Projected Liberty Record: 6-3
