In Saturday’s 20-14 win over Tulsa, the UConn defense had their best performance of the season, holding the Hurricane scoreless over the first 52-minutes of game action. However, that’s not to say mistakes weren’t made or that big plays were not given up. As head coach Randy Edsall described over the phone on Sunday after watching the film, there were still a number of times their opponent was able to take advantage and exploit a weakness.

“The one thing that’s a concern defensively, we gave up 13-explosive plays for 305-yards,” Edsall explained. “They had 8-runs of 12-yards or more for 143-yards and 5-passes of 20-yards or more for 162-yards. They had 72-total plays, but 59 of them went for 148-yards and 13-plays for 305-yards. That’s where we need to get better defensively.”

What covered for those momentary lapses were key third down stops. Despite Tulsa converting 40-percent on third down (6-of-15), the Huskies didn’t allow two consecutive third down conversions until the second-to-last drive of the game. In the first half, the only times Tulsa even threatened, CB Jordan Swann made his first career interception in the red zone and they also missed a 44-yard field goal.

It was an overall performance that will need to be re-created on Saturday, as the Huskies host their second-ever SEC opponent at The Rent. Despite a 2-5 record, Mizzou is explosive and possesses exactly the type of offense that has given UConn issues. The Tigers have three receivers who will present major challenges for the Huskies secondary. Junior Emanuel Hall leads the nation with 28.4 yards-per-catch (YPC) and has pulled in all four of his touchdowns over the last three weeks, including a stat line of 4-receptions, 141-yards and 2-touchdowns on the road at third-ranked Georgia. He’s averaging just under 120-yards receiving in his last three games and has pulled in catches of 58, 63 and 45-yards in each. At 6’3″, he also has the size to create issues.

Starting opposite Hall at wideout is another explosive playmaker, Missouri’s leading receiver, senior J’Mon Moore, who pulled in 11-catches for 174-yards and a score in last week’s win over Idaho. Moore is 20th in the nation with 18.71 yards-per-catch and has 31-receptions on the year for 580-yards and 5-touchdowns. He also stands at 6’3″, so there could be some match-up problems on both sides of the Huskies secondary.

Then there’s Johnathon Johnson, a sophomore who has catches of 65, 26, 75, 26 and 50-yards, with the final four each coming over the last four games. He’s second on the team with 27-receptions and has found the end zone three times, while averaging more than 15-yards per reception. At 5’10”, Johnson seems to be the smallest, but fastest of the three main weapons in the receiving corps.

Delivering the ball to the trio is junior quarterback Drew Lock, who made the first meaningful appearance of his career in the Tigers 9-6 win over the Huskies two seasons ago in Columbia. From the same hometown (Lee’s Summit, MO) as Huskies freshman WR Cam Hairston, Lock is averaging 494 yards per game in his non-P5 match-ups this year. In those same games, the Tigers are averaging 70-points per game.

Leading the nation with 16.85 yards per completion, Lock is going to present a major challenge. He is second in the nation with 23-passing touchdowns and is ninth with 313 passing yards per game.

The Huskies will likely get a break as it looks like Missouri will be without their leading rusher Damarea Crockett, who missed last week’s game against Idaho and was rumored to have had surgery on Friday. Without Crockett, against Idaho the Tigers relied mainly on freshman Larry Rountree III (12-car, 97-yards) and junior Ish Witter (9-car, 41-yards, 2-TD’s), who had 17-carries in this match-up two years ago.

As UConn hopes to improve to 2-0 all-time at The Rent against the SEC (40-21 win over Vanderbilt), getting pressure will be paramount as they are also going to need the best secondary performance of the year by a group that may be young, but who are also getting a lot of experience over a very short period of time.

MATT SCHONVISKY / SITE CREATOR