Rutgers at Connecticut Spread

Written by Jack Jones

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights face a pivotal road game this Saturday when they travel to take on the Connecticut Huskies. The Scarlet Knights are currently in a first-place tie with Louisville in the Big East standings. This is certainly a team they don’t mind facing as Rutgers has won three straight over the Huskies, and five of the last six in this series overall. They Scarlet Knights were victorious 27-24 at home last season over UConn, outscoring the Huskies 10-0 in the final period to steal away the win. San San Te kicked a game-winning 34-yard field goal with 13 seconds left to play.

Taking a look at the college football spreads for Week 13, I find a line of Rutgers -3 over Connecticut and a total set of 40 points.

Rutgers

The Scarlet Knights have certainly turned things around this season, and they are now in prime position to represent the Big East in a BCS bowl. Rutgers (8-3, 4-2 Big East) has won three straight to put themselves in a first-place tie with Louisville. There are also three teams that are a half-game behind these two, so this race is far from over. Taking care of the lowly Huskies Saturday would certainly put them in the driver’s seat.

Rutgers is coming off their biggest win of the season, a 20-3 home victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats. They had trailed Cincinnati in the conference standings coming into that game. The Bearcats were without starting quarterback Zach Collaros, but that shouldn’t take much away from the effort they put forth defensively. The Scarlet Knights held Cincinnati to just 225 total yards, while racking up 385 yards of offense. Freshman Jawan Jamison rushed for a career-high 200 yards and two touchdowns on 34 carries to lead the way for Rutgers.

This team sits atop the conference standings despite raking just 101st in the country in total offense (328.0 yards/game). The Scarlet Knights epitomize a team that wins with defense. They ranks 15th in the FBS in total defense (313.4 yards/game). Chas Dodd is completing 57.3 percent of his passes for 1,257 yards with nine touchdowns and six interceptions. Jamison has rushed for 747 yards and six scores, while Mohamed Sanu has a whopping 100 receptions for 1,011 yards and seven scores. Sanu has already shattered the Big East single-season receptions record.

Connecticut

The Huskies are one of the few teams in the Big East that is living up to expectations. They have struggled all season as they were expected to with he departure of former head coach Randy Edsall. Under Edsall, this team used to find different ways to win despite not being able to match the talent level of the rest of the Big East. That simply has not happened for them this year. Connecticut (4-6, 2-3 Big East) is now fighting just to become bowl eligible as another loss would put an end to those hopes.

UConn is coming off a 20-34 home loss to Louisville. They fell behind 14-0 early, but fought back to make it a 14-10 game by halftime. The Cardinals would pull away with two touchdowns in the third quarter. Quarterback Johnny McEntee could not get on target, completing just 18 of 43 passes for 253 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Khasif Moore had a big day receiving, catching seven balls for 110 yards and a score. The Huskies only allowed 299 total yards, but they gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown, and also a fumble return for a score. Those two plays proved to be the difference.

Like Rutgers, the Huskies have not been able to move the ball with any kind of consistency this season. They rank just 104th in the land in total offense (319.8 yards/game). Their stop unit has played well, ranking 48th in total defense (365.1 yards/game). While they are 7th against the run (93.5 yards/game), they are just 101st against the pass (271.6 yards/game). McEntee is completing 50.9 percent of his passes for 1,768 yards with 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Lyle McCombs is yet another 1,000-yard rusher in a long list of them recently for UConn. The freshman has rushed for 1,014 yards and five scores on the season.

Betting Trends

The Scarlet Knights are 8-3-1 ATS in their last 12 games overall, but just 1-6 ATS in their last 7 vs. a team with a losing record.

The Huskies are 36-15 ATS in their last 51 games following a S.U. loss, 29-13 ATS in their last 42 home games, and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games as a home underdog. However, Uconn is just 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games overall.

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