Tulane 9th American Athletic4-8
Connecticut 12th American Athletic3-9

Tulane @ Connecticut preview

Rentschler Field

Last Meeting ( Nov 7, 2015 ) Connecticut 7, Tulane 3


The season can't come to a close soon enough for Connecticut, which rides a five-game losing streak and hasn't scored a touchdown in the last 10 quarters. The Huskies, the lowest-scoring team in the FBS, look to salvage something positive when they host Tulane in the season finale for both teams Saturday.

UConn gave quarterback Donovan Williams his second straight start last week at Boston College but the freshman threw three interceptions and the Huskies were limited to 121 yards of offense in the 30-0 whitewashing. "It's hard to win and when you don't have production on one side of the ball it becomes impossible," UConn coach Bob Diaco told reporters after the game. "It'll be fixed." While the Huskies struggle, Tulane remains winless in the American Athletic Conference and is nearly as bad offensively. The Green Wave are winless since beating Massachusetts 31-24 on Oct. 1 and had to rally from a two-touchdown deficit to do so.

TV: 4 p.m. ET, ESPN News. LINE: Pick

ABOUT TULANE (3-8, 0-7 AAC): Tulane is solid defensively for the most part, but even that unit let the Wave down against Temple as the Owls went on touchdown drives of 75, 78 and 84 yards in the second half of last week's 31-0 shellacking. The week before, Tulane moved the ball well against rugged Houston, passing for 241 passing yards on 42 attempts, but the inconsistency struck again as Glen Cuiellette was 3-for-12 passing for 17 yards against Temple. Dontrell Hilliard leads the Green Wave with 759 yards on the ground with nine touchdowns.

ABOUT UCONN (3-8, 1-6): The Huskies average 15 points and were outscored 92-3 in their last three outings. Last week, UConn recorded minus-6 yards on 17 attempts and gone 42 drives without a touchdown. The Huskies' lone offensive bright spot is wide receiver Noel Thomas, who boasts a program-record 91 receptions on the season, but recorded only eight catches for 61 yards in the past two games with Williams at quarterback.

EXTRA POINTS

1. UConn won last year at Tulane 7-3 and the Green Wave prevailed in Connecticut 12-3 in 2014.

2. The Green Wave average 225.6 yards on the ground this season (25th in the nation), but is 111th among the 128 FBS teams in scoring (22.8 points).

3. Tulane is third in the AAC in total defense at 369.6 yards per contest.

PREDICTION: UConn 20, Tulane 17

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