After starting the season with a loss to Michigan in the Big House, things weren't looking good in Storrs. The Huskies haven't seen good quarterback play since 2004, the last season Dan Orlovsky suited up for UConn. Zach Fraser, Connecticut's senior signal caller, has only completed 52.7% of his passes in 2010, the worst mark of his career.
The Huskies lost to Temple in the third week of the season, and after seven games UConn was 3-4. How does a team with four losses get to the Fiesta Bowl, you ask? The Big East is an abysmal football conference, and Connecticut was able to execute a bruising rushing attack to take the conference crown and the automatic BCS bid. Junior RB Jordan Todman has rushed for 1,574 yards on the season, scoring 14 touchdowns and accounting for the majority of the Connecticut offense.
UConn does have some strengths, much to the surprise of the casual fan. The Huskies have only turned the ball over 17 times all season, including only seven interceptions. Connecticut is efficient in the red zone, converting 93% of their possessions from that distance into points. With those types of statistics, its no wonder that head coach Randy Edsall was able to lead his team to the Fiesta Bowl.
Connecticut is not as talented as Oklahoma, nor do they have the athletes or the fanbase. But UConn has a better shot in this game than Cincinnati did last year against Florida - the coach is still in town and the team is looking to steal a BCS win for their proud school. If Todman can break a few solid runs off early, this could be an interesting game.