KICKOFF: 12 p.m. ET
TV: CBS Sports Network (live stream at 12 p.m.); (game will be shown on tape-delay at 7 p.m. on television)
ANNOUNCERS: Rich Waltz (play-by-play), Aaron Murray (color analyst)
RADIO: UConn IMG Radio Network; TuneIn; 97.9 ESPN Hartford, WINE 940 AM, WGCH 1490 AM, WICC 600 AM, WAVZ 1300 AM, WATR 1320 AM WILI 1400 AM and 95.3 FM
ANNOUNCERS: Mike Crispino (play-by-play), Wayne Norman (color analyst), Adam Giardino (sideline), Bob Joyce (pregame host)
RECORDS: UConn (1-3, 0-1); USF (1-3, 0-1)
POINT SPREAD: USF -11
OVER/UNDER: 49
SERIES HISTORY: The UConn Huskies and USF Bulls will meet for the 17th time on the gridiron this weekend. USF holds an 11-5 advantage in the previous meetings. USF also holds a 9-5 advantage since 2005 as conference opponents.
Pregame Coverage
Steven Krajewski out 6-8 weeks, Mike Beaudry to start against USF
Randy Edsall explains the revolving door at quarterback
Fun With Numbers
1 - Number of wins by UConn in home conference openers (1-5)
9 - USF has lost its last nine games against FBS opponents. The Bulls last FBS win came against UConn last season.
0 - Number of future matchups between USF and UConn, as Randy Edsall doesn’t give a shot about future schedules despite mentioning one week prior that there is an effort to play UCF in the future.
3 - Mike Beaudry, the starting quarterback against USF, is one of three quarterbacks to play for UConn this year.
79% - Amount of UConn’s total offense credited to true freshmen or redshirt freshmen.
What to watch for
Quarterback questions
No position on UConn’s roster has experienced more turbulence than quarterback this season. The Huskies have played three different players at the position and are now back at square one with Mike Beaudry. The grad transfer won the job out of camp but got injured against Wagner and missed the last three games.
In that time, Edsall named two new “permanent” starting quarterbacks but poor play from Jack Zergiotis and an injury to Steven Krajewski means its Beaudry’s turn again. While he wasn’t bad against Wagner, he’s limited — he isn’t going to wow anyone with his arms or legs. But if the ground game can get going and he can avoid mistakes, Beaudry can at least run a functional offense — something the Huskies have lacked the past two weeks.
Ground game gone
At the start of the season, the run game was expected to be the focal point of UConn’s offense. But through four games, the Huskies have struggled to get much going on the ground. They’re averaging just 2.9 yards per carry after averaging 4.8 YPC in 2018. The blocking up front hasn’t been great and there hasn’t been much of a passing game to help balance it out. But if UConn’s offense is going to get back on track, it starts on the ground.
Home sweet home
After a solid showing at home against Wagner (despite what the final score may indicate) and a promising performance in a loss to Illinois, UConn came crashing down to Earth with bad performances on the road against Indiana and UCF.
While the Huskies haven’t been good no matter the venue, they have been better at home than on the road. Since 2013, 14 of UConn’s 18 wins have come at home. With a struggling USF team coming in — one that only beat a much worse Huskies team by eight in Tampa last season — Saturday represents a great chance for Randy Edsall to get his squad back on an upward trajectory.