I think everyone, include Cade McNamera, based on his Colorado State postgame comments, knew he had to substantially outplay J.J. McCarthy, to retain the starting job after this two game split. Well, he didn't do that, and instead, McCarthy looked like the clearly better option. From a roster management standpoint, how the two fared against Hawaii made things easier, and he had to know from a locker room management standpoint, there was really no easy choice. UConn is certainly not a good team, but I don't think they are the completely inept unit we saw the past couple of seasons. They handled FCS Central Connecticut State, were winning at Utah State for a while, before playing a decent Syracuse team. That might not sound like much, but considering just how horrible the Huskies were a year ago, it's not nothing. UConn has the ability to run the ball, and stop the run...at least against teams that aren't competing for a CFP birth. They are averaging over 200 ypg on the ground, and over the past two weeks, are only giving up about 105 rushing ypg. I think Michigan might be a tad bit better in the trenches than Central Connecticut State or Syracuse. And the passing game, both offense and defense, is a disaster. They did complete 84% of their passes last week, 16-19, but for just 105 yards, a nearly impossible 6.56 ypc. And the defense let Garrett Shrader complete 20 of 23 for 292 yards, and 12.7 ypa. They were giving up roughly twice as many yards per attempt as they gained themselves. The Huskies might become a serviceable team under Jim Mora Jr., they are clearly playing hard for him, but for a team that wants to control clock, and run the ball, playing any Power 5 team right now, let alone a top end one, is a terrible matchup. |