University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
University of Cincinnati
Tough Competition Continues with No. 17 Cincinnati
11/5/2019 5:14:00 PM | Football
One week after losing to a tough Navy team that is now ranked 25th in the country, the UConn football team is set to take on another top-25 opponent in Cincinnati this weekend.
Cincinnati will be the sixth team that UConn has played this season who is on its way to playing in a bowl game. Head coach Randy Edsall said a tough schedule like that is a good learning experience for the players to make them better in the future.
"The schedule is what it is," Edsall said Tuesday. "That's where it should help these guys moving forward. You see what you're playing and now you have to step it up and do things to get yourself to that level."
Edsall said that he feels the American Athletic Conference is a lot better than people give it credit for, especially with four teams currently ranked (No. 17 Cincinnati, No. 19 Memphis, No. 23 SMU and No. 25 Navy). UConn has played or will play two of those four and also played a UCF team that was ranked at the time. Add in teams like Indiana and Illinois who are having solid years, and suddenly UConn's schedule looks very challenging.
"We want to play the best in order to get better," quarterback Jack Zergiotis said. "If we're playing these bowl-eligible teams, our goal is to also be bowl-eligible. Unfortunately, this season, we won't be there, but next season, I think we'll have a shot for sure."
Cincinnati has had a very successful season with its only loss coming to Ohio State. The Bearcats got a scare last week though when ECU nearly pulled off an upset. Cincinnati escaped with a 46-43 win, but ECU quarterback Holton Ahlers threw for 535 yards and four touchdowns. Edsall said watching film from that game will be key.
"There's always things that you see on film that you pick off and you try to utilize, but now your guys have to go out and execute," Edsall said. "That's why you study tape. You look for things and you look for matchups that you think you can get and you design a game plan around that. But now what you gotta do is go out and execute."
Zergiotis said that ECU did a good job of mixing conservative passes and deep plays, something he will look to emulate this week.
"ECU took what Cincy gave them and they also took their shots downfield and made some plays downfield," Zergiotis said. "Hopefully that's something we can do as well, just make plays downfield and stuff like that."
Edsall said Cincinnati is one of the most physical teams they play this season. He said that will be a challenge because the Huskies aren't as physical, and being physical isn't necessarily something you can teach.
"You can practice physical, but you're either tough or you're not," Edsall said. "It's hard to make somebody who's not tough tough … A lot of it is strength and confidence."
