Boston College Looking For Revenge: UConn Football Offense and Defense Preview

Boston College returns home from a quick trip down south on top of the world. Sitting in the top half of the conference, the Eagles now set their sights on redemption. UConn arrives for Homecoming almost a year to the day of an infamous 13-3 loss, the worst in the Jeff Hafley era.

The teams come to this game significantly different than they did last season. BC is 4-3 riding a three game win streak. They have a potent offense with the utmost confidence. UConn is 1-6 this year after winning making a bowl game last year. They’ve lost to two ACC opponents so far in NC State and Duke as well.

Offense

The Huskies offense is averaging about 20 points per game and is rated 123rd in SP+. They’re among the worst in the country in yardage as well with 329.3 per game. Not good overall.

Ta’Quan Roberson is the man at quarterback. The redshirt junior took the reigns after Joe Fagnano went down in the second week of the season. The Penn State transfer himself suffered a season-ending injury last season when he was set to start. Roberson has been completing about 60% of his passes and has 8 touchdowns to 3 interceptions. He has two rushing touchdowns as well but has only netted 57 yards at 1.9 a clip. He’s coming off one of his best performances last week and did run in a 24 yard score.

Three targets occupy Roberson’s attention in a surprisingly even distribution. Sophomore tight end Justin Joly has 26 catches for 319 yards. Junior Cameron Ross has 28 for 317 and Delaware transfer Brett Buckman has 29 for 313. All three have one touchdown apiece. The 6-3 Joly scored the lone touchdown in last year’s game, while Ross was dealing with injuries last season.

On the ground, Victor Rosa returns to lead the pack, but suffered an ankle injury just last week. Rosa has 400 yards on the season, but in his stead Camryn Edwards shined against USF last week for 129 yards and a touchdown both running and receiving. Rosa did return to the game but Edwards was the hot hand.

Defense

Captaining Jim Mora’s team defense is linebacker Jackson Mitchell. The defensive captain dominated the Eagles last season with a sack and an interception. He easily leads the team with 70 tackles, and fills up the rest of the stat sheet with a fumble recovery, touchdown, and an interception.

The team has been a rollercoaster when it comes to rushing yards allowed, allowing about 4.3 on the average rush. The BC rushing offense should have a good chance of emulating the strong rushing attack USF just displayed. The Bulls comfortably ran for over 250 yards.

Generating pressure has been a bit of an issue this season. They only have nine sacks on the season with no one guy really dominating. Their top man last year Eric Watts hasn’t had the same sort of production yet. His fellow lineman Pryce Yates leads with 2.5 this time around.

In the secondary, another returner in safety Durante Jones is second on the team in tackles. The junior defensive back picked off BC last season as well. As did Chris Shearin, who leads the team with two picks this season. It’s a veteran group in the backend.

With games against top-25 sides Tennessee and James Madison coming up, you can expect an all out effort and full confidence from the Huskies. This is a different Eagles team that has all it needs to take care of business.