500 yards a week...

[BlueMAB]

SMH

“My optimism. I believe we are going to put up 500 (yards) every week,” Pasqualoni said. ” We go in and work on gamelan and the right design. Go out and make sure they clearly understand the game plan and all the calls and go play.”

I believe this crosses the threshold from "coach speak" to "delusion". The only reason I won't use the word dementia is out of respect for people dealing with dementia.

Back to football. Is he serious? Come on coach. We averaged less than 5 yards an attempt, 7 yards a completion, and had fewer than 20 pass attempts. Is Lyle supposed to run for 400 yards a week?

 

[pj]

4 yards a play, 125 plays, 13 drives, 10 plays per drive. We can do it!

 

[Husky25]

4 yards a play, 125 plays, 13 drives, 10 plays per drive. We can do it!

Except that everytime we get to 3rd and 2 (4 yards on first down, 4 yards on 2nd) the 4 yards we get on 3rd down are negative and we have to punt.

 

[HeGotGame]

Absolutely delusional.

We have statistically the 7th worse offense in the country and we have played 1 decent team. Lets try to put up over 300 yards a week first.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

I'll take 9 more 13-10 type wins, beauty be damned.

That said, 500 yards a week? Maybe every 2 weeks.......

 

[Uconnalliance]

Sometimes people's don't always see what we see,but I guess if he sounded pessimistic then his team might not have faith in him

 

[Waquoit]

Maybe that stretch where we play Sat than Friday. That's a week.

 

[noeynox]

Oy. This is what I mean. I can't bring myself to give P n D a pass here. The offense he IS RUNNING, is not going to net you 500yds a game. It isn't what he talked about when he toolk over. Huge chunks of yardage on first and second down.. pushing the ball downfield. Will see this week I guess.

 

[freescooter]

Maybe they should try to get 250 yards first. I mean NCS total offense was 239, Maryland was 223...so 250 would be an improvement.

 

[pj]

We're averaging 4.5 yards per play ... Get that up to 5.0, be a little more consistent, don't turn the ball over or commit penalties, and you've got something -- an ability to sustain drives. That's the next step.

A few other observations: we've run on 62% of plays, which seems a little high considering we're only picking up 2.9 yards per carry. And Scott McCummings has a QB rating of 116.8 thanks to his 2 yards of interception-free passing at a 100% completion rate. http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/stats/_/id/41/connecticut-huskies.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

Oy. This is what I mean. I can't bring myself to give P n D a pass here. The offense he IS RUNNING, is not going to net you 500yds a game. It isn't what he talked about when he toolk over. Huge chunks of yardage on first and second down.. pushing the ball downfield. Will see this week I guess.

I dont want to be labeled a "Pasqualista", but when P got here, J Mac was the Best QB he had, and we saw how that worked out.

He got a Juco AA, and the Best QB in New England the very next year. Both are inexperienced, and both will probably be good given time.

If whitmer had thrown an INT late in the last game, we could easily have lost...and everyone would be complaining about how we didnt run on that particular play.

Im certainly not saying P & D deserve a pass for this offense. they dont. But i dont think that, with a new QB (new to D1 anyways), new OL scheme, and against 2 decent to good defenses out of 3 games, that we can condemn them....yet.

If this is the gameplan, and productivity on offense after week 6 or so, then i think we will have to look at a change at either OL, QB, or OC. But i think we need to let things develop a bit more.

just my humble opinion.

PS- im as upset as the next guy about the way we look on offense. but were 2-1, and i can live with that right now....even though we should be 3-0.

 

[pj]

I dont want to be labeled a "Pasqualista", but when P got here, J Mac was the Best QB he had, and we saw how that worked out.

He got a Juco AA, and the Best QB in New England the very next year. Both are inexperienced, and both will probably be good given time.

If whitmer had thrown an INT late in the last game, we could easily have lost...and everyone would be complaining about how we didnt run on that particular play.

Im certainly not saying P & D deserve a pass for this offense. they dont. But i dont think that, with a new QB (new to D1 anyways), new OL scheme, and against 2 decent to good defenses out of 3 games, that we can condemn them....yet.

If this is the gameplan, and productivity on offense after week 6 or so, then i think we will have to look at a change at either OL, QB, or OC. But i think we need to let things develop a bit more.

just my humble opinion.

PS- im as upset as the next guy about the way we look on offense. but were 2-1, and i can live with that right now....even though we should be 3-0.

I would accept most of this, but ... If the problem was developing our new-to-BCS-QB and OL, why didn't we run a more diverse offense against UMass to practice plays and develop players? At the time I was surprised but people said we were holding it back to keep NC State from scouting us. Then against NC State we ran the same things we had against UMass, or did new things in the feeblest possible way.

If the offense were only a little bit better, we would have beaten NC State and won going away against Maryland.

These next two games against WMU and Buffalo are great opportunities for the offense to develop against weaker defenses. If we don't open it up a little I'll be sorely disappointed.

 

[noeynox]

I dont want to be labeled a "Pasqualista", but when P got here, J Mac was the Best QB he had, and we saw how that worked out.

He got a Juco AA, and the Best QB in New England the very next year. Both are inexperienced, and both will probably be good given time.

If whitmer had thrown an INT late in the last game, we could easily have lost...and everyone would be complaining about how we didnt run on that particular play.

Im certainly not saying P & D deserve a pass for this offense. they dont. But i dont think that, with a new QB (new to D1 anyways), new OL scheme, and against 2 decent to good defenses out of 3 games, that we can condemn them....yet.

If this is the gameplan, and productivity on offense after week 6 or so, then i think we will have to look at a change at either OL, QB, or OC. But i think we need to let things develop a bit more.

just my humble opinion.

PS- im as upset as the next guy about the way we look on offense. but were 2-1, and i can live with that right now....even though we should be 3-0.

Can't say I disagree with anything you wrote, but you have to admit there is a disconnect between stating you want 500yds of offense every game, and running a 160lb back into the heart of a defense repeatedly on 1st and second down. Sometimes its better to just say you will do what you think gives you the best chance to win given the opponent. When faced with a large deficit like at Cincy last year, they were forced to open up the offense and it didn't look too bad, and yielded some nice results. I guess I got my hopes up in light of that season ending performance.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

Can't say I disagree with anything you wrote, but you have to admit there is a disconnect between stating you want 500yds of offense every game, and running a 160lb back into the heart of a defense repeatedly on 1st and second down. Sometimes its better to just say you will do what you think gives you the best chance to win given the opponent. When faced with a large deficit like at Cincy last year, they were forced to open up the offense and it didn't look too bad, and yielded some nice results. I guess I got my hopes up in light of that season ending performance.

im in agreement right back atcha my friend.

I thought that in the umass game, 2 of the most effective plays were runs to nicky williams. one was a sweep, and i forget the other (maybe a drag, or option pitch ?).
I believe we got about 30 yards in those 2 plays...and 1 was almost a TD.
I dont have any idea why we havent done that again yet. as a matter of fact, im not sure why we havent done that about 12 times per game since ???????????

and i agree about the cincy game. it was a fun watch. hopefully we can get the passing game going at some point. I think we will.

I hope we can hone that part of the game during the next 2 weeks.

 

[whaler11]

Can't say I disagree with anything you wrote, but you have to admit there is a disconnect between stating you want 500yds of offense every game, and running a 160lb back into the heart of a defense repeatedly on 1st and second down. Sometimes its better to just say you will do what you think gives you the best chance to win given the opponent. When faced with a large deficit like at Cincy last year, they were forced to open up the offense and it didn't look too bad, and yielded some nice results. I guess I got my hopes up in light of that season ending performance.

There is a disconnect with almost everything coaches say and do. I don't get why people care what they say - what they do is what matters.

 

[whaler11]

im in agreement right back atcha my friend.

I thought that in the umass game, 2 of the most effective plays were runs to nicky williams. one was a sweep, and i forget the other (maybe a drag, or option pitch ?).
I believe we got about 30 yards in those 2 plays...and 1 was almost a TD.
I dont have any idea why we havent done that again yet. as a matter of fact, im not sure why we havent done that about 12 times per game since ???????????

and i agree about the cincy game. it was a fun watch. hopefully we can get the passing game going at some point. I think we will.

I hope we can hone that part of the game during the next 2 weeks.

Things that work against UMass don't work as well against BCS defenses. Those types of plays run too much only lead to turnovers and negative yardage if you go to the well too much.

As for what worked against Cincy, you can see what they had last year and what they have this year right? They lost their two best offensive lineman. When you don't think you can block it limits what you can do.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

Things that work against UMass don't work as well against BCS defenses. Those types of plays run too much only lead to turnovers and negative yardage if you go to the well too much.

As for what worked against Cincy, you can see what they had last year and what they have this year right? They lost their two best offensive lineman. When you don't think you can block it limits what you can do.

I was exaggerating when i said 12 times per game...but i would have liked to see if it could work once in either of the last 2 games.

the other point....i agree. i was stating an opinion about what i WANT to see- not necessarily what i think will be best for us.

either way, if you read my original post, you will see that i pretty much already said what you're saying.
look up

 

[noeynox]

There is a disconnect with almost everything coaches say and do. I don't get why people care what they say - what they do is what matters.

Yeah I think that is where the term coachspeak comes from but, defensively, P brought what he promised. There were times last year the offense was headed toward an identity of balance. Yeah, we lost some of those games, Cincy, WMU, but I thought they were working toward a system. Yeah we lost the the top two linemen, but so what? That in itself shouldn't lead to what so far looks like a total change in philosophy.

Time will tell, and I don't so much care as I enjoy talking UConn football. I actually like differing view points. If we win the rest of our games exactly like we did Maryland, I'll be ecstatic. I just don't believe you can win consistently this way. Would love to be proven wrong.

 

[whaler11]

Yeah I think that is where the term coachspeak comes from but, defensively, P brought what he promised. There were times last year the offense was headed toward an identity of balance. Yeah, we lost some of those games, Cincy, WMU, but I thought they were working toward a system. Yeah we lost the the top two linemen, but so what? That in itself shouldn't lead to what so far looks like a total change in philosophy.

Time will tell, and I don't so much care as I enjoy talking UConn football. I actually like differing view points. If we win the rest of our games exactly like we did Maryland, I'll be ecstatic. I just don't believe you can win consistently this way. Would love to be proven wrong.

I think the impact of losing Petrus and Ryan can't be overstated. The lifeblood of this program has always been the offensive line. Mediocre backs like Brockington and Bellamy could look good - nevermind guys like Caulley, Todman and Brown. McCombs is averaging almost a yard less per carry (3.4 versus 4.2) than he did last season and that is with one third of this season to date against maybe the worst team in the country. His longest carry in 70 attempts is 15 yards - that is insane.

I think they are scared to death to open it up - last year when they did, McEntee took dozens of sacks - with a better offensive line. Whitmer clearly has had trouble with interceptions and nothing causes more interceptions than QB pressure. As ugly as it has been so far, I don't know if they have a choice. The defense has been so good that as long as you don't give up short fields they aren't going to give up many points. Everyone acknowledges that the defense suffers when the offense doesn't string together first downs... but if they come out throwing and it doesn't work it only further swings the time of possession against them.

I don't profess to be an expert in Xs and Os or playcalling - but I can't see why they don't at least attempt to give another back some carries. All they are accomplishing is running McCombs into the ground, it was amazing he played his best late in the Maryland game but as the weeks and carries pile up how can he play at a high level?

I'd really like them to find a way to get Griffin and Delahunt more involved. I can even live with some Wildcat if they are more selective about when they use it, they seem to have a knack for killing whatever little rhythm they find.

To a point they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. If they open it up and it backfires they risk pissing away a game that they could win ugly. If they don't then they continue to annoy and turn the fanbase off. Maybe they can come home and try a different approach against Buffalo, but they need this game against WMU BADLY for a number of reasons, not the least of which is they need to find a way to get bowl eligible this season.

In a vacuum this season has been exactly what I expected. Blow out UMass, drop a close game to NCSU and beat Maryland. The problem is that it's been so ugly that it's difficult to extrapolate positive results in the swing games ahead. It's hard to imagine that the defense could continue to play at this ridiculous level, the losses of Jennings and Joseph are huge and if BWW struggles with his leg again this season they can't continue to dominate like this. It's just as hard to imagine that the offense is going to improve unless that offensive line becomes better than the sum of it's parts or Whitmer and a couple of the receivers break out. If you had to pick an over/under on UConn's leading receiver for the season - would you even set it at 500 yards?

 

[noeynox]

Good post Whaler. I especially agree with not getting the other backs carries. I guess P wasn't lying about the Jaguar thing. He likes to ride one guy till he breaks down (hope it doesn't happen). What I noticed about the OL this past weekend was that Guz Cruz seemed good at pulling and hitting someone and looked strong at the point of attack at times, against the Valano kid. I came away thinking maybe he should be starting over Steve Greene.

This WMU game is a must. I'm still hoping this offense can find a groove as the season moves forward.

With the WR's, I'm shocked more of an effort has been made to get Mike Smith the ball. He had over 600 yds two years ago, which shows he can produce at this level.

 

[Husky68]

If he's trying to run an offense that gets 500 yards per game he should mention that to Deleone.

 

[Waquoit]

With the WR's, I'm shocked more of an effort has been made to get Mike Smith the ball. He had over 600 yds two years ago, which shows he can produce at this level.

Yeah, but I wish he brought it every play.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Neither PP or Dele can coach a modern day offense. Two years now that is certainly obvious. No excuse, no rationalizing, they simply have shown no ability to do so. Also their ability to recruit players for that side of the ball is quickly becoming suspect. In another year (if we are stuck with ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz) is should become obvious that they are poor recruiters. Time for them to go is sooner not later.

 

[pj]

Neither PP or Dele can coach a modern day offense. Two years now that is certainly obvious. No excuse, no rationalizing, they simply have shown no ability to do so. Also their ability to recruit players for that side of the ball is quickly becoming suspect. In another year (if we are stuck with ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz) is should become obvious that they are poor recruiters. Time for them to go is sooner not later.

It's not two years, it's one year and 3 games. And although the 2012 recruiting class was defense heavy (but Cochran, Whitmer, and Joseph Williams filled holes), we have an outstanding group of offensive players in the class of 2013. Lagow, Dhameer Bradley, Noel Thomas and a good group of tight ends headed by Tommy Myers will give us a talented QB-slot receiver-WR-TE combination. If we pick up TE Jordan Fuchs, a RB, and a couple more OL to go with the two we have, it will be an outstanding offensive class.

If the OL recruiting picks up a bit, by 2014 we should have one of the better offenses in college football.

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

Apparently people would prefer if Pasqualoni came out and said, "I don't know, the Boneyard pretty much has it right, our offense is terrible, and even if I try passing on first down, chances are good Whitmer's gonna do something stupid or get sacked, so we should probably just give the ball to Nick Williams and pray for a miracle. I think we'll all take 90 yards of offense a game."