UConn vs Fresno State Odds, Picks and How to Watch

• Fresno State will play host to UConn in the Week 0  season-opener at 2 pm ET on Saturday, August 28th
• Fresno State has averaged at least 30 points per game in each of the last three seasons; UConn did not play in 2020 because of Covid-19 concerns but continued to practice
• See the odds, analysis and best bet on the game by scrolling below

Fresno State welcomes UConn back onto the field when the two meet in the season opener for both at 2 pm ET Saturday in Fresno. UConn was one of two FBS teams that did not play in 2020 because of health concerns relating to the COVID-19.

Fresno State has averaged at least 30 points a game in each of the last three seasons and returns offensive threats Jake Haener at QB and running back Ronnie Rivers. The Bulldogs received one vote in the preseason media poll to win the West Division of the Mountain West Conference.

The game will be televised by the CBS Sports Network.

UConn vs Fresno State Odds

Odds from DraftKings on Aug. 26th

UConn is in its second year as an independent (its first on the football field) after leaving the American Athletic Conference, where it struggled. The Huskies won only two conference games and six overall from 2017-19 before opting out of 2020. The Huskies were 0-8 in the AAC in both 2018 and 2019.

Fresno State coach Kalen DeBoer is in his second season replacing offensive mastermind Jeff Tedford, who retired because of health concerns. Bulldogs’ offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb has set a goal of scoring 41.3 points per game.

Fresno State’s Haener Stands Out

Fresno State returns three of the top skill position players in the Mountain West Conference in junior quarterback Jake Haener, senior running back Ronnie Rivers and senior wide receiver Jalen Cropper.

Haener threw for 2,021 yards with 14 touchdowns and six interceptions in the Bulldogs’ abbreviated six-game schedule in 2020, and he averaged a league-best 336.8 yards per game. Haener threw for at least 275 yards in five games, and in the final three had 422 yards against Utah State, 485 against Nevada and 350 against New Mexico.

A transfer from Washington, Haener did not join the Bulldogs until fall camp of 2020 and should have a greater grip on a veteran offensive unit that returns nine starters this season. Haener is off to the best six-game start of any Fresno State quarterback since David Carr in 2000.  Carr was the first player taken in the 2000 NFL draft, by Houston.

Rushing to Success

Both UConn’s Kevin Mensah and Fresno State’s Rivers have solid resumés entering their senior seasons.

Mensah, 5’9, 202, in on the verge of becoming the first running back in school history with three 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He snuck into double figures in 2018 and 2019, rushing for 1,045 and 1,013 yards in those seasons, respectively. His 2,619 career yards are sixth most in program history,  and with a big finish could reach school record of 3,800, set by Donald Brown from 2006-08.

Mensah had 164 yards and five touchdowns in a 56-35 victory over UMass on Oct. 26, 2019, the last game the Huskies won.

Rivers, a first-team running back in the league preseason poll by the media,  averaged 84.5 yards rushing with a 5.1-yard average in 2020 and took advantage of the NCAA “free year” policy to return for his fifth season. He had 1,054 all-purpose yards in 2018 and 1,251 in 2019. Cropper had 37 receptions for 525 yards and five touchdowns last season.

Rivers, 5’9, 195, also excels out of the backfield. He has 116 career receptions and nine receiving touchdowns. Rivers had 1,000 yards from scrimmage in 2018 and 2019 and had 772 in only six games last season, when he averaged 13 carries and 4.5 receptions per game.

UConn’s Long Layoff

UConn has not played in 625 days, since closing the 2019 season with 49-17 loss to Temple to finish 2-10.  The Huskies’ defense was among the worst in the FBS that season, giving up 40.5 points a game, which ranked 128th out of the 130 FBS schools. They gave up 56 points apiece to Central Florida and Navy and gave up 48 or more points in four other games.

The previous season, the Huskies allowed 50.4 points and 617.5 yards per game, worst in the FBS. They gave up an average of 8.8 yards per play. The average dropped to 7.7 yards per play in 2019. Coach Randy Edsall is in his the third season of his second stint as head coach after taking the Huskies to five bowl games in his previous 11 seasons.

Sophomores Jack Zergiotis and Steven Krajewski are the top two candidates for the starting quarterback, but Edsall had not announced a starter in mid-week. Both started in 2019, and Zergiotis has practice with the first offense most of the fall camp

Zergiotis started the season opener but was  benched for Krajewski early in third third game, a 38-3 loss to Indiana. Krajewski threw for 273 yards off the bench against Central Florida the next week to earn the starting spot, but a fractured collarbone cost him six weeks and Zergiotis regained the job. Zergiotis threw for 1,782 yards with nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions as a true freshman.

By the Numbers

Fresno State was 3-3 overall and ATS last season while playing only two home games in a Mountain West-only schedule. The Bulldogs were 2-2 as a favorite. The last time they laid this big a number was in 2018, when they beat UNLV 48-3 as a 27-point favorite and beat San Jose State 31-13 as a 32-point favorite.

UConn was 2-10 in 2019, 5-7 ATS. The Huskies covered as a 42-point dog to Central Florida and lost as a 34-point dog to Tulane and Cincinnati.  They failed to cover as 27-point dogs to Indiana and Temple.

Idle weeks can be good for rest and recovery; idle seasons, not as much. UConn was one of the worst teams in a not-very-good conference in 2019, and it seems hard to imagine the lack of reps in 2020 will generate much improvement. Fresno State has a solid offense, and Haener will be working against a secondary in which three of the starting spots have not been determined.

• The pick: Fresno State -27.5 (-110)