UConn Football 2011 Schedule

I'm sure some of you are aware by now that the Big East has released its football schedule for the 2011 season here: http://www.bigeast.org/News/tabid/435/Article/221247/BIG-EAST-Announces-2011-Football-Schedule.aspx

I just wanted to go over my thoughts and expectations of UConn's schedule for next season. The first thing that stands out to me is the season opener on Thursday, Sept. 1. It seems odd to me that the season opener is not only on a Thursday, but it's against Fordham, an FCS school. Not exactly my idea of a marquee game for a Thursday that'll fill up Rentschler, although I'm sure there will be many fans curious to see how Paul Pasqualoni's team is going to look like. Other than that, UConn's out of conference schedule is seemingly a walk in the park for a team that won the Big East last season and made its first BCS appearance in university history. Yes, the Big East had an off season, but it would appear UConn should go undefeated in its out of conference games.

The Huskies will be playing Fordham at home, at Vanderbilt, Iowa State at home, at Buffalo, and then Western Michigan at home. The best record of these teams belonging to Western Michigan at 6-6. Fordham went 5-6 in the FCS, Iowa State went 5-7, and Buffalo and Vanderbilt each went 2-10. Buffalo and Vanderbilt also played UConn last season in which they both lost 45-21 and 40-21 respectively.

My prediction for next season is that UConn will definitely become bowl eligible, earning 5 wins against their non-conference opponents mentioned above. I don't see why UConn shouldn't be able to get to at least 7 wins next season. At home the Huskies need to watch out for USF and Louisville. On the road two decisive games that could help determine UConn's standing in the conference is at West Virginia on Oct. 8 and at Pitt. on Oct. 26.