The 2018 UConn defense is officially the worst in major college football history

Nick Bromberg
·College football and motorsports writer
Temple wide receiver Isaiah Wright (13) scores the first of many TDs his team had in a 57-7 win over UConn. (AP Photo/Stephen Dunn)
Temple wide receiver Isaiah Wright (13) scores the first of many TDs his team had in a 57-7 win over UConn. (AP Photo/Stephen Dunn)

Connecticut’s defense set two records on Saturday against Temple. They are not good records.

Temple beat the Huskies 57-7 and rolled up 516 yards on UConn’s defense, allowing UConn, 1-11, to set the FBS record for most points allowed per game in a season and the most yards given up per game.

Let’s start with the points. UConn entered the game allowing 49.8 points per game, just shy of the record of 50.27 held by Louisiana in 1997. The 57 points given up to the Owls — who scored 40 in the first half — pushes UConn’s season total to 50.41 points per game and just ahead of the old record. Couple that per game record with college football’s current 12-game regular season and the Husky defense allowed the most points of any defense in a single season.

The yardage record was previously held by Kansas, who allowed just over 560 yards per game in 2015. UConn broke that with ease. The Huskies gave up a total of 7,410 yards in 2018. Or, if you prefer, 617.5 yards per game. The Huskies’ defense gave up nearly nine yards per play this season. It’s never any good when teams are getting close to a first down on an average play.

UConn’s best defensive effort came in a 22-17 loss to UMass on Oct. 27. The Huskies allowed just 444 yards in that game and gave up just 6.5 yards per play. The points, yards, and yards per play were all season lows.

The worst performance came in a 62-7 Week 2 loss at Boise State. The Broncos had 818 yards of offense on just 78 plays. Boise State had 37 first downs and four passing touchdowns and four rushing touchdowns.

UConn coach Randy Edsall has said his team’s defensive struggles are because he has so many young players on defense. That may only go so far when you’re talking about a historically bad defense.

At least Edsall got a $2,000 bonus in the win because UConn had more third-down conversions than Temple did.

UConn is now 4-20 in Edsall’s second stint with the school. He was hired to replace Bob Diaco after Diaco was fired following the 2016 season. In Edsall’s first 11 seasons with the school before leaving for Maryland he was 70-61.

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

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