Maine Thoughts

[Exit 4]

The RB was Johnson.
The other person in the backfield was Tyler Davis (who was /TE) who took a dive and then got up and was suppose to be the primary receiver in a TE screen as Gresh pointed out in clip.
My "guess" is Thomas' assignment was to engage/chip CB and drag across middle. Not knocking speedy Goode off balance/path gave Sheriff no chance because he was looking down to sell the PA/Handoff to Thomas.

Seemed to be a designed gadget play at arguably the wrong time with shaky execution(but so was the Anderson TD pass against Houston),

I can't argue that it wasn't designed for Davis. Seems like it was for Davis or for Thomas should the LBs bite hard on the play action.

The play highlights how the best chance to kill an offensive play is in the first 1.5 seconds. The play was over the moment the CB blitzed and Davis fell. The CB bltiz was probably a shock to Davis.

 

[uconnphil2016]

I was able to watch that clip on super slow and noticed the following:
i) The FB totally whiffed on the blitzing corner.
ii) The FB also missed on the DE/LB who came down the line and pursued Newsome thanks to the play action.
iii) The TE stayed in to block, so with play action + FB blocking + a TE blocking you are left with only the two WR as options
iv) The WR on the bottom was running in double coverage. Wasn't going to be an easy play.
vi) Noel Thomas had just an LB to beat had the ball gone to him. Had he adjusted is route to a square out it would have been a TD as the left side was totally vacant. A sophisticated NFL team could be expected to make that adjustment in game/at the line of scrimmage, probably not reasonable here.

Bottomline, I don't think we can win with plays that have a FB, RB and TE bottled up leaving the QB with just two WR options.

It looks like the goal was maybe to have everyone head right and then have Tyler Davis leak out to the left in the flat. But, as the video shows, Tyler Davis tripped. And yeah, the FB looks like he did a poor job on his blocking assignment. Thanks for the better quality vid Medic--Noel Thomas did do a poor job on the block, but he was also supposed to be running a route. Our left guard and center were double teaming their tackle, leaving the FB blocking the other lineman. Looks like we just screwed up all around. Perhaps the plan was to double team their tackle, but an FCS lineman shouldn't require a double team. To top it all off, Shirreffs keeps his head down after the play action (not that there was really anything good for him to see). All around awful play.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Or, you could say, we kept our FB, RB & TE in to block and the QB still got blown up. Probably not going to win with that type of execution, either

Seriously. How do you send out so few receivers and still get the QB smoked in .5 seconds

The RB was Johnson.
The other person in the backfield was Tyler Davis (who was /TE) who took a dive and then got up and was suppose to be the primary receiver in a TE screen as Gresh pointed out in clip.
My "guess" is Thomas' assignment was to engage/chip CB and drag across middle. Not knocking speedy Goode off balance/path gave Sheriff no chance because he was looking down to sell the PA/Handoff to Thomas.

Seemed to be a designed gadget play at arguably the wrong time with shaky execution(but so was the Anderson TD pass against Houston),

Whoops, I just saw this...you said everything I said, just 20 minutes earlier

 

[Exit 4]

It looks like the goal was maybe to have everyone head right and then have Tyler Davis leak out to the left in the flat. But, as the video shows, Tyler Davis tripped. And yeah, the FB looks like he did a poor job on his blocking assignment. Thanks for the better quality vid Medic--Noel Thomas did do a poor job on the block, but he was also supposed to be running a route. Our left guard and center were double teaming their tackle, leaving the FB blocking the other lineman. Looks like we just screwed up all around. Perhaps the plan was to double team their tackle, but an FCS lineman shouldn't require a double team. To top it all off, Shirreffs keeps his head down after the play action (not that there was really anything good for him to see). All around awful play.

FYI - the FB was Tyler Davis. Tyler is the one that fell and the one that had to pick up one of the two blitzers.

 

[shakes65]

Not sure where to start. Traveled home this am to NYS and had a lot of time to ponder game.

There was a time we went to these games, had a little concern because some team had an SEC transfer or someone, but wound up blowing them out in the second half. I guess those days are over.

Our O-line stinks, especially veterans Knappe and Levy. guys have been there forever---they may look svelte, but they are terrible. I give them one more game, and I want to see some young eager, more talented guys if they don't show me something in a hurry. Talent and skill trumps experience.

I could not handle Diaco's comments after the game that fans must have found the game exciting. I live in NY and could only think about the comments I would face here if we lost to Maine, i.e., time to go back to the Yankee conference, and other such thoughts. I don't look for an exciting game against Stony Brook, Villanova or Maine......I enjoy only a blowout.

I get it that we don't want to show our upcoming opponents that much in our arsenal and that we ought to be able to stomp on these teams or at least wear them down with basic power FB...........but deciding a game on a field goal with our defense unable to pressure the QB and feeling downright lucky to win, well that leaves me pretty pessimistic when I think of Navy, Virginia, 'Cuse, Cinci, Houston, Temple, et al.

Last, I don't want to see these dudes flexing their muscles and posing for Mr. Atlas on the big screen again until they win a meaningful game. Something tells me that all this hype about the weight room, body fat, and diet provides a false impression that they are ready to show me the kind of football that knocked off Notre Dame and South Carolina in 2009. The backup Maine receiver went up between two safeties to score, their defense pressured our QB and their defenders hit pretty hard. Wonder what kind of weight room and diet program they have in Orono?

 

[huskymedic]

Tyler Davis is the H-Back/F-Back. He was the primary receiver. @Kgun7 - thoughts?

 

[Bezzz]

Tyler Davis is the H-Back/F-Back. He was the primary receiver. @Kgun7 - thoughts?

View attachment 15308

What the heck is Peart doing there?

 

[huskymedic]

What the heck is Peart doing there?

Moment in time screen shot...

 

[UConn66]

Agree with most but point 6. How many vertical passes did we even attempt?

Verducci can go F himself. He's a moron and is literally teaching things incorrectly. I also have a fear of nepotism taking over the staff.

How much time did the QB have to throw, for God's sake? Why the hell did he have to run? Lighten up.

 

[Chief00]

Shirreff bailed on some plays early and took some wicked hits. He is not going to last the season if he is taking hits like that against Maine. Imagine what Virginia will do to him?

It was a team effort of badness last night. My biggest concern is how sloppy the execution looked, because I fear that while the play calling is atrocious, the players can't even run the plays that are called. You don't need Bill Walsh calling your plays to beat Maine. Half the inside runs looked like simple counters, so the run blocking should also be simple one direction, open up pre-assigned gaps against a designated defender. Yet there were almost no gaps being created against a weak opponent.

The receivers are rounding their cuts instead of sharp, angular cuts. This makes it much easier to defend them. It honestly felt like some of the receivers were jogging on patterns. These are fundamentals, and effort. If those are problems, it doesn't matter what plays are being called.

On defense, the backs NEED to turn around in coverage. Several Maine passes were quacking and with the exception of a handful of plays, the defensive backs didn't even try to make a play on the ball.

If a QB is a leader and his OL isn't blocking - he gets in their face.

 

[huskysupporter]

If a QB is a leader and his OL isn't blocking - he gets in their face.

Um, no he doesn't. Where on earth did you get that from?

 

[Chief00]

Maybe it's old school but Tom Brady and Peyton Manning would both do that. Not to show anyone up but in the huddle they would get the message out.

Um, no he doesn't. Where on earth did you get that from?

hool

 

[Devland]

You guy are ridiculous. Don't ever judge a team based on one game, especially not the first game of the year. I am sure the conservative play calling was driven by a belief, or a least a hope, that our massive OL could simply knock Maine back and we'd run all over them. While they waited too long to scrap it, they did adjust, and the offense moved the ball pretty well. If not for the fumble and return, we win this by 10-13, and people are less cranky.

I was concerned that the defense seemed unprepared to face a vertical passing game. That has to be fixed ASAP. This bend don't break D cannot give up big plays like it did. Run defense was fine. Why they couldn't pressure the QB against a team with little chance to run is a concern.

I am concerned that Shireff's can't seem to stay in the pocket for more than a second, and that most of the time when he starts moving he's trying to run rather than buy time to throw down field. Show the kid some Fran Tarkinton video please. He did it almost perfectly once, and had a wide open Thomas with 30 yards of clear green in front of him, and blew the throw. I love his grit, and toughness and his will to win, but he's got to stand still, deliver the ball and take the hit once in awhile or everyone will blitz us. At a minimum, keep the play alive with your feet and complete it with your arm.

Special teams were excellent.

This also creates a problem for the OL in pass protection. It makes it very hard for them to pass protect if they have no idea where the QB is. The QB's role in pass protection is vastly underrated.

 

[Tdaley]

My re watching of the game last night convinced me that the o-line was not all that bad. Richard Levy looks great at the guard position. Tommy Hopkins had some trouble and Peart missed a few plays but looked great on other plays like on Newsome's touchdown where he drove his guy 5 yards into the end zone. Teams like Maine can't match up against UConn size wise. So to combat the great size difference, they try to utilize various blitz packages to stop the run and the pass. The worst thing that we can do in these case is just what Bob did in the first half. He ran a very vanilla and predictable offence with Shirreffs under center handing the ball off to Newsome. Alabama can get away with that kind of offense but UConn can not. In the second half, UConn open up the playbook, put Sherreffs in the shotgun formation and throw more passes. Basically Maine could not stop ours offensive in the 2nd half except when we poorly executed the fake run of Johnson to the right and a pass back to the left to apparently Thomas. Tyler Davis and Noel Thomas missed their blocks which led to the fumble. One of my biggest complaint with Diaco and Verducci is that they seem have coached Shirreffs to pull the ball down and run with it he he reads blitz. Well maybe that made sense last year and certainly two years ago when Chandler Whitmer was getting killed behind a terrible offensive line but it doesn't make sense now where you have an improving offensive line. You miss too many chances to hit wide open receivers when your line picks up the blitz. On Maine's first touchdown Vontae Diggs blitz from the left side of the field. The Maine quarterback read blitz left and threw is pass to the left to wide open receiver. That is very basic quarterback fundamental. Casey Cochran did that very well when he played for Weist a few years ago. Shirreffs needs to stay in the pocket more and make the same kind of reads for this offense to get better. Many times its not going to turn out to be a positive play and Shirreffs will have to throw the ball away. But he has to learn that skill for this offense to get better.

 

[huskysupporter]

Maybe it's old school but Tom Brady and Peyton Manning would both do that. Not to show anyone up but in the huddle they would get the message out.

hool

It is stupid and not effective. A leader grabs his o lineman and gives him a pep talk. Not yell at them for missing a block.

 

[Palatine]

Sherriff doesn't look like he has improved at all.

He seems to determine who he will throw to before the snap. He rarely comes off his primary to secondary receiver. He throws into double and triple coverage. If the primary is covered he forces the ball or he runs. He ran 20 times on Thursday.

Maine quickly learned he doesn't audible. This allowed them to leave the slot receiver uncovered and have the slot CB play 10 or 15 yards off the LOS. Sherriff never once took advantage of a completely uncovered receiver, a gimme five, ten or more yards. Perhaps, Diaco doesn't let him audible, that would be consistent with BD's risk adverse nature.

Sherriff is still very inaccurate. Has a tendency to rush. And cannot burn the blitz. This all comes down to poise. He still hasn't developed it.

 

[warbler1055]

Please guys, you need to stop this bashing of BS. Remembered he had NO TIME, Maine was in the backfield and BD had to run for his life. This went on for most of the game. There was NO PROTECTION. So he ran and on broken plays, BS save the day and the game. I was fearing for possible concussion for BS. Remember Casey Cochran? No protection for quarterback is HCBD and Verducci game plan?

 

[sub legacy]

I'm gonna give them the "we treated this like a preseason game so we didn't want to expose our hand too early" excuse for the Maine game (although they barely deserve the benefit of doubt on Game 1 of Year 3). But if they continue to play this overly conservative brand of football in Game 2 and beyond, then it's going to be tough to believe this staff and program is anywhere near turning a corner.

 

[jbdphi]

Please guys, you need to stop this bashing of BS. Remembered he had NO TIME, Maine was in the backfield and BD had to run for his life. This went on for most of the game. There was NO PROTECTION. So he ran and on broken plays, BS save the day and the game. I was fearing for possible concussion for BS. Remember Casey Cochran? No protection for quarterback is HCBD and Verducci game plan?

Unfortunately this isn't 100% correct. I just watched the replay and there were several situations (mostly in the first half) where the play was not an obvious designed run where BS made an initial read, saw his first option wasn't open, and then tucked and ran despite not having much in the way of pressure.

A good example of this was on our second possession of the game, 3rd and 4 (9:30 left in the 1st quarter):
- BS drops back and has good pass protection
- Primary receiver was the slot (I think it's Thomas) who was covered
- BS immediately takes off to try and get the 1st down on his own
- Tackled short of the sticks by a LB and CB, neither of whom were rushing the passer

In the HCBD system, all it takes are a few plays where the wrong decision is made or there is a bad execution to kill a drive and this is an example of one. We had 3rd and manageable and screwed it up. Punter comes on.

I still think BS is the best QB we've had in a long time but he can and did make mistakes during the game as he admitted afterwards. What I'm encouraged by is that he got much better at trusting his protection in the second half. There were several plays where he progressed through at least two options and made a good pass.

Hopefully the improvement translates to Navy.

 

[jayfromfla]

Peart was a disappointment. On some plays he was completely beaten. Overall Oline was business as usual.

 

[uconnflyer88]

I know we're all upset and rightfully so....but it could always be worse:

 

[J187Money]

Go read the game thread on the LSU board. Makes the BYers look like amateurs when it comes to hysteria.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I know we're all upset and rightfully so....but it could always be worse:

Wow shines new light on that UVA game. By that I mean there will be no space on the ledge of the founders bridge if we lose.

 

[uconnphil2016]

I know we're all upset and rightfully so....but it could always be worse:

Insane that three of these teams are P5. A fourth if you include mississippi state going down to South alabama. Unreal.