UConn Football vs. Cincinnati: How to Watch, By The Numbers, Keys To Game

KICKOFF: 12:00 PM

TV: ESPNews

ANNOUNCERS: Bill Roth (play-by-play), Brian Kinchen (analyst)

RADIO: UConn IMG Radio Network (WTIC 1080 AM, WILI 1400 AM, WAVZ 1300 AM, WGCH 1490 AM); TuneIn; Sirius 119, XM 202

ANNOUNCERS: Joe D'Ambrosio (play-by-play), Dan Orlovsky (color analyst), Ken Sweitzer (sideline)

POINT SPREAD: Cincinnati - 5.5

SERIES HISTORY: This is the 14th time the UConn Huskies and Cincinnati Bearcats have met on the gridiron with the Bearcats holding a 10-3 advantage. UConn was 2-6 against Cincinnati in the former BIG EAST football conference and 1-3 in the American Athletic Conference.

UCONN DEPTH CHART FOR CINCINNATI

By the Numbers:

10 - The number of consecutive games Quayvon Skanes had caught a pass in before being shut out against Boston College at Fenway Park last Saturday night

55 - Passing yards allowed by UConn against BC. Good for the season average but didn’t really mean a whole lot to the outcome of the game, especially when giving up over 300 rushing yards

433 - Points allowed by UConn in 2017, a school record

34% - Win probability for the Huskies according to Football Study Hall

9 - Points scored by Cincinnati in last year’s meeting, a 20-9 victory that would be UConn’s last of the season and the final triumph of the Bob Diaco era.

2 - Running backs on top of the Huskies’ leading rushers list: Arkeel Newsome (797) and freshman Kevin Mensah (620). Hergy Mayala is the team’s leading wide receiver with 584 yards on 39 receptions.

7 - The Huskies had seven players over 300 receiving yards, with Quayvon Skanes, Nate Hopkins, Keyion Dixon, and Aaron McLean all over the mark. Last year the team had one. They had six in 2012 but that was the only other time they had more than four in a season in the FBS era. Some lean receiving years in that history.

What to Watch For

Not exactly bragging rights

UConn and Cincinnati are in the mix for the honor of worst team in the conference along with Tulsa and East Carolina, two teams that UConn is 1-1 against. Cinci just lost to ECU by 28 and to Temple, who the Huskies have beaten, the week before. It’ll come down to Tulsa vs. Temple and this game.

The winner of this game gets to raise itself above the others and claim not-worst in the AAC. The stakes could be higher, but there they are.

Ending on a good note

We’ve been saying for the past few years how the members of the senior class dealt with a ton of craziness, mostly the bad kind, during their time in Storrs. Unfortunately, this year is no different. The fifth-year seniors have played for three head coaches plus an interim, with four different defensive coordinators and five offensive coordinators. That’s tough.

These guys have seen a lot, and it’d be nice for this season not to end the way 2016 did, with an embarrassing home loss to Tulane that cemented last place in the conference.

Anything Can Happen

When two bad teams meet, crazy things can happen. It’s not worth really looking at whose run defense or passing offense is better, because matchups don’t really matter here. For what it’s worth, Cincinnati seems to have spread its crappiness out evenly, with a ranking of 102 in offensive efficiency and 82nd in defensive efficiency. UConn, as we know, has concentrated it on the defense, which is ranked 127th in the country compared to a 68th-ranked offense. The Husky defense has been passable against bad offenses, so maybe they have a slight edge.

Game Three for David Pindell

Pindell looked pretty solid in the UCF game and at the start of the BC game, but things spiraled a bit downhill for most of the last three quarters at Fenway Park. Perhaps it was the combination of rain and a good opposing defense, but it was not an encouraging performance. In Pindell’s third start since taking back over due to Bryant Shirreffs’ injury, he’s going to need to show something or else there’ll be heavy speculation about the starting job going into next year.