Dear Diary,
I feel remarkably ill as I write this. My gentlemen’s bet against Luke Owens failed. UConn didn’t cover the 22.5 point spread against Syracuse which meant that I needed to drink the Will Levis’ mayonnaise and coffee concoction. It was about as dreadful as you can imagine. I’m trying to put that in the past, but I’m truly shaken to the core. While the loss hurt, again, there were some positives.
Running Up The Stat Sheet
While the Huskies are 1-2, two of their players are dominating the stat sheet. The first being junior linebacker Jackson Mitchell from Ridgefield, CT. He’s currently the top tackler in the nation with 39 total tackles to go with 1.5 sacks and 1 forced fumble. Mitchell is the Huskies clear cut top defender and has stepped up as the leader of their defense.
On offense, the Huskies’ engine has been running back Nate Carter. Behind a revamped offensive line that’s anchored by Jake Guidone and Christian Haynes, Carter has rushed for 384 yards through three games. That puts him at third in the nation with rush yards. He’s truly been a beast that’s kept the Huskies in games this season offensively.
A Brawl In The Big House
I’m not here to sugarcoat it or try and make myself feel good; this games going to most likely be a one sided brawl. The biggest key to this game is to make sure you fly out of Ann Arbor with everyone still healthy. But, I’m not ready to completely discount the Huskies. We’ve seen crazy upsets over the years and Michigan has been on the short end of a wild upset. Back in 2007, App State traveled north to The Big House and upset Michigan 34-32.
While I don’t exactly think that the Huskies will pull off an immaculate upset, I think that they could keep the game competitive early on. If UConn can establish the run right off the rip with Nate Carter and then let Zion Turner settle in, then they’ll be in decent shape offensively. On the other hand though, Michigan is lethal in the run game. With the nations top offensive line, they’ve rushed for 502 yards in two games. This just means that Jackson Mitchell and the defensive line trio will have to be on their A game.
All in all, I’m just praying that UConn comes out of the game with no injuries and that they don’t give up. Last season we saw too often that players would hang their heads when the going got tough. Knock on wood, but this team hasn’t shown that yet, even after a tough loss to Syracuse.
This Michigan game kicks off a mini gauntlet for the Huskies as they play the Wolverines Saturday, North Carolina State on the 24th, and Fresno State on October 1st. Good luck to the Huskies; go make Connecticut proud.
