For those who enjoy a clash of styles and systems, you can’t do much better than the Missouri Tigers at Connecticut Huskies this Saturday evening.
Missouri? Wide open and full-throttle. 5 wide receivers on many downs. Flaky results against the SEC and other Power-5 schools, but enough big-time talent to overwhelm smaller schools and put up 60 or 70 points against cupcakes.
UConn? Not much talent. No chance at a top 25 ranking. But a tough, disciplined and hard-nosed team from a tough, disciplined, hard-nosed conference, the American Athletic.
It’s not as highly-touted a league as the SEC though, which is probably why Missouri is almost a 2-touchdown favorite despite holding a 2-5 record compared to UConn’s mark of 3-4 on the season.
Who: Missouri Tigers at University of Connecticut Huskies
When: Saturday, October 28th, 6:30 PM EST
Where: Pratt & Whitney Stadium, East Hartford, CT
Lines: Mizzou (-13) at UConn (+13) / O/U Total: (76)
Let’s engage in some macro-analysis. The AAC has gotten the shaft in the media for several years, producing teams like the 2016 Houston Cougars (who whipped Oklahoma and Louisville) and talents like now-NFL QB Paxton Lynch. Yet the league still gets very little respect, and that’s apparent when looking at the odds for Mizzou-UConn.
Connecticut has, it can be argued, more quality wins than Missouri in 2017. The Huskies opened the year with a win over Holy Cross – no big deal. Then they lost 4 in a row. But over the past 2 weeks, Bob Diaco’s team has beaten a pair of decent AAC opponents, Temple and Tulsa.
Who has Mizzou beaten? Low-level FCS cupcake SEMO…and the terrible Idaho Vandals. That’s it.
The only way to defend the 13-point spread is to say that UConn matches up poorly against spread-passing teams who can rack up points. It seems like a fair argument. The Huskies gave up 700+ yards and 70 points to the Memphis Tigers just a couple of weeks ago.
But Memphis possesses a dynamic, physical offense, not a 1-dimensional High School scheme like Mizzou. Missouri can score 50+ on very bad teams. Drew Lock is a fine passer and has speed on the outside. But can the Tigers blow away an ACC school that has improved enough to win 2 conference games in a row?
Take Connecticut and the points. Missouri could potentially protect Lock well enough to prevail by 3 or 4 touchdowns at home, but we’re thinking the Hartford crowd will help inspire a pass rush and keep this one close for at least 3 1/2 quarters.