PC’s PICKS: NCAA Week 1, Part 2
Connecticut head coach Randy Edsall turned 60 this week.
Edsall is back for Year 2 of his second tour of duty with the Huskies, trying to rebuild the program he originally built before heading to what he thought would be greener pastures in Maryland in 2011.
It's finally here. IT'S GAMEDAY!
7PM | ESPNU | #RiseAsOne pic.twitter.com/juHidHxdLJ
— UConn Football (@UConnFootball) August 30, 2018
REBUILDING A WINNER: Head coach Randy Edsall and Connecticut look to rebound from a 3-9 campaign in 2017 and get the program back to where it was before his departure to Maryland.
The Terrapins parted ways with Edsall after four seasons and change and a 22-34 mark in the span where Maryland had spurned the Atlantic Coast Conference to join the Big Ten.
In his first stint at UConn, Edsall had guided the Huskies to a 74-70 record over the course of 12 seasons during which he transitioned the program from I-AA to big-time college football and turned the team into a perennial Big East contender.
In his absence, UConn ran through two coaches and deteriorated as time went, despite it seeming as though the program had been set up well to compete in the very navigable American Athletic Conference.
Edsall, now, seems to be more pragmatic about Connecticut’s place in the pantheon of college ball.
“It’s a totally different situation this time around [compared to the heyday of the late 2000s], but that doesn’t mean you can’t be successful,” Edsall told the Hartford Courant.
By the same token, though, he believes the Huskies can get to a place where they are, at least consistent winners.
“This can be a successful program,” he said. “It’s like if you go and start a business and you move on and sell the business, and then you see that business going downhill and then you have an opportunity to buy it back. You want to buy that business and build it back up. I’ve seen what having a successful program can do not only for this institution, but for the people of this state. So we’ll do everything we can to get it back to where it was. ”
Read the Courants’s UConn preview here and the Associated Press’ here.
The Huskies are 2-3 all-time versus Central Florida and they won’t be evening that number tonight. In fact, it likely won’t be close as UCF looks to blow off some steam from an offseason that saw the school’s fantastic 2017 campaign become a punchline.
Josh Heupel, the former Heisman Trophy finalist while a quarterback at Oklahoma, takes over at UCF after Scott Frost’s departure for his alma mater Nebraska.
McKenzie Milton, now a junior, returns at quarterback for the Knights and is coming off a 4,000-yard 2017 that saw him complete 67 percent of his passes. He and Heupel are already bros.
UCF-UConn kicks off at 7 p.m. ET on ESPNU.
How UCF's McKenzie Milton became perhaps the best QB in the country: https://t.co/hQ0grsVAw1
Why Randy Edsall isn't afraid to say college players should get more money: https://t.co/btTBNUUqih pic.twitter.com/SizWjV7h2m
— The Athletic CFB (@TheAthleticCFB) August 30, 2018
HEISMAN WORTHY?: Central Florida quarterback McKenzie Milton, a Hawaii native, is back for another year as the Knights aim to continue their winning ways following head coach Scott Frost's exodus to Nebraska.
“I was excited when they announced him as head coach,” Milton told the Orlando Sentinel. “I heard about his résumé and who he worked with and what he did as a player … I think it’s big having some advice from a guy like that.”
Aside from Milton, who may be in the Heisman conversation himself, the Kinghts’ offensive line returns a bevy of hefties who have a combined 79 starts between them. Running back Adrian Killins, Jr., averages a staggering 6.4 yards a carry.
For more on UCF, see this preview over at SB Nation.
UConn, meanwhile, has just 10 seniors and a pair of returning starters on defense. Under center will be David Pindell who started four times a year ago while the Huskies finished 3-9.
Expect the Knights to win and win big – possibly even very, very big on the road in Storrs.
Thanks to Hawaii and Wyoming, I’m perfect on the NCAA season so far.
Here are tonight’s picks for a pretty light Opening Night, Part 2:
Central Florida*+ (-23) at Connecticut
New Mexico State at Minnesota* (-20.5)
Northwestern* at Purdue (-1.5)
Wake Forest (-6) at Tulane*
*denotes pick versus the spread.
+denotes pick that is one of my LOCKS.
