As UConn takes on SMU later today in Dallas, it will be just the third time this match-up has taken place on the gridiron, but going inside, behind the scenes, these are two teams that are very familiar with one another and what they want to do on the offensive side of the football. That stems from Mustangs HC Chad Morris and the Huskies new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee. The two have known each other for quite some time and it goes back to the Gus Malzahn coaching tree.

“I’ve known Rhett for, goodness, many, many years,” Morris said on Monday over the phone. “Obviously he played for Gus [Malzahn] and through my connections with him I’ve been able to meet Rhett and visit with him. Our staff at Clemson would share ideas and still to this day, when we were here at SMU and they were at Auburn together. We basically run the same offense, it’s pretty much identical. One of the difficulties of stopping this offense is just the mis-directions which are tied into the play action shot game down the field, so you can’t get lulled to sleep with your eyes in the backfield. This is a two-back, run-oriented offense that believes in taking play-action shots, that’s what they do. To see him take that team and over the first three weeks, as they’ve built that offense and continue to get confidence, they were effective in throwing the football and running the ball on Sunday. It’s a process, it’s step-by-step and he’s as good an offensive coach as there is in the country and I think you’ll see that moving forward with this team.”

Lashlee’s arrival at UConn has sparked a dramatic turnaround on the offensive side of the football. Entering Saturday, the Huskies have risen to 24th in the nation in total offense and are averaging 27.7 points per game. As a point of reference, no UConn offense has finished higher than 108th in total offense since 2010 and the points are up from 14.8 a game, just a year ago.

“They are a two-back oriented football team,” Morris continued. “They want to run the football, with a lot of tempo and take play-action shots down the field. They got better last week, battled back and showed the resiliency of their quarterback. He [Bryant Shirreffs] stood in there, took some hits, very tough and he’s a really good runner. I remember him from when he was in high school in Georgia. This young man is a quality football player and is an offense that is gaining confidence. They have a really good combination of running backs. Nate Hopkins is a man right up the road from here in Flower Mound, TX that provides size and Arkeel Newsome provides the speed. We are seeing an offense that is showing a lot of improvements and gaining a lot of confidence.”

During the week, UConn head coach Randy Edsall acknowledged the similarities on offense between the two teams and that the Huskies defense will be ready as they’ve seen this style of play everyday since the spring, but he also stressed it comes down to personnel and execution, just like it does every week. Morris echoed those same sentiments.

“From our defensive standpoint, it’s the same thing I shared with our offensive staff,” Morris said. “You guys go against this offense every day, you see the same plays, understand the ins and outs of what they do, but at the end of the day, it’s still about alignment, assignment and technique. You still have to tackle in space, cover well, make plays on the ball and understand what you’re doing. I’m challenging our defense to be simple, but be good at something and make sure we have an identify of who we are.”

Defensively, this week will be a challenge, especially for the Huskies young secondary. The pass defense struggled even more on Saturday which sparks a change in the lineup at one corner spot as redshirt freshman Tahj Herring-Wilson steps in for senior transfer Tre’ Bell. UConn has surrendered more than 413-yards per game through the air, which is 63-yards more than any other team in the nation. Edsall’s mantra of ‘doing your job’ is key if the Huskies have any chance to slow down the SMU passing attack that’s led by QB Ben Hicks. As Morris mentioned, mis-direction is one of the key challenges when facing their offense and being out of position is exactly what has plagued the secondary over the first three games.

“I know they’ve struggled on the back end with their pass defense,” Morris confirmed. “I also know Coach [Edsall] has made some comments to that and they are looking at different combinations of guys on the back end, but make no mistake, Coach [Billy] Crocker, their defensive coordinator is one of the best coordinators in the country. He came from Villanova where they had one of the top defenses in college football each of the last three years. They run an odd stack defense, a 3-3-5. It’s a new defensive scheme for these guys, but you see at times that they are going to come in and play extremely hard. They are trying to find their identity and they had a chance to shut down East Carolina late in the game [on Sunday]. They will come in with a lot of confidence as far as just trying to get better in something each week.”

Morris also acknowledged that it’s likely through the air that his offense will have success on Saturday, especially with the job UConn does against the run. Familiarity though is a two-way street in this case and Morris knows his guys will have to execute at another level as well.

“This is a defense that is going to take away the inside run, they won’t let you run inside the tackles just because of their alignment,” Morris said. “We need to do a really good job of attacking the weaknesses and doing what we do and continue to get better at what we do. We’ll have our hands full. Offensively we will have to play well. The one thing I can say about them defensively and Coach Crocker is they go against this offense everyday [just like us]. This isn’t going to be some earth shattering new offense that they’ve seen, they see it everyday. There are so many similarities, so I know they’ll be ready.”

They’ll need to be. As SMU puts up more than 48-points per game, this game has the makings of another high-scoring affair.

MATT SCHONVISKY / SITE CREATOR