University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Temple University
UConn Wraps up Season at Temple
11/26/2019 3:28:00 PM | Football
The UConn football team will take the field for the final time this season as the Huskies travel to Philadelphia to face off with the Temple Owls. With a record of 7-4, Temple will be the seventh team on UConn's schedule this season that will be heading to a bowl game.
"Temple is a really good football team," Edsall said Tuesday. "Defensively, they're a very experienced team … You can see why they have been successful. They have developed that within their program, so now they have the depth and they're not forced to play a bunch of young kids like we are."
Edsall said having that type of experience and longevity in the starters is something he is hoping to build in the next few years. Overall this season, he said he believes his team got a lot better.
"I think there's improvements in pretty much every area, I really do," Edsall said. "We're better throwing the ball. We're better running the ball … Defensively, we've cut down on the number of missed tackles. We haven't given up as many points."
Junior running back Kevin Mensah enters Saturday just seven rushing yards away from his second consecutive 1,000-yard season. Should he reach that mark, he'll join Jordan Todman (2009 and 2010) as the only Huskies to record back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He will be very important to UConn's success as they try to end the season with an upset victory.
Another player they will lean on in the season finale is freshman quarterback Jack Zergiotis, who is coming off a terrific game against ECU with a career-best 418 passing yards and three touchdowns.
"I thought he just went out there and played," Edsall said. "When a bad play happened, he didn't let it phase him. He just moved onto the next one … My biggest thing is for him to be able to handle the game, and I thought he did a better job at taking what they gave him."
If the Huskies can pull off a win in their final game of the season and their final game ever in the American Athletic Conference, it will be a big boost for them as they begin to prepare for next season. Edsall said that despite the highs and lows of this season, he's proud of the progress the team has made and is hopeful for the future.
"I think there's improvements in every area," Edsall said. "Is it where I want it to be? No, but the good thing is I think we're trending in the right direction. We're trending upward, we're not trending downward, and I think that's the whole key. Hopefully we'll be able to continue that this weekend."
