A win is a win

[gars44]

Not much better. If not for their little freshman speed guy - who's name escapes me right now - they did little on offense.

Dad, we have a great defense. A really good defense. Perry Hills did a decent job for a true frosh. Not good, but decent. MD kept this game very close. Our passing game continues to disappoint. Agree?

 

[gars44]

If you weren't somewhat impressed by Hills today I don't know what game you were watching. That was a true freshman who spent the game getting hammered by Smallwood and Moore, and they came back from 14-0, 17-7, 24-14 and had the ball and a chance to win. The play call on 3rd down was absolutely horrendous, until then they had the momentum and a very good chance to tie/win.

My sentiments exactly.

 

[whaler11]

Weyuo - very good post, but perhaps TDH (or other yarders for that matter) will tell you you are letting logic and reason get in the way of your emotions

The problem is that if they don't get it fixed this season they lose Williams, Gratz, BWW, Moore.... and the schedule gets tougher. So if it takes too long to fix the offense, you run out of time.

 

[formerlurker]

Speaking of Williams, how are we not creating some sort of "Welker like" package for him on O?

 

[gars44]

The problem is that if they don't get it fixed this season they lose Williams, Gratz, BWW, Moore.... and the schedule gets tougher. So if it takes too long to fix the offense, you run out of time.

They are not going to fix anything. The offense looks as bad as ever. The defense is never going to be as strong as it is right now. PP and George will have this year and one more. Then we have to aspire to higher goals with our coaches. PP was a decent stop loss for the sudden RE bail out. He held the recruits, he wanted to be here, he had the experience. Last year wasn't PP's fault. We had no QB. No playmakers. But this year, we have a lot more receiving talent, supposedly a better QB than Johnny Mac. We still look absolutely pathetic on offense. We will have to endure this through the end of next season.

 

[whaler11]

They are not going to fix anything. The offense looks as bad as ever. The defense is never going to be as strong as it is right now. PP and George will have this year and one more. Then we have to aspire to higher goals with our coaches. PP was a decent stop loss for the sudden RE bail out. He held the recruits, he wanted to be here, he had the experience. Last year wasn't PP's fault. We had no QB. No playmakers. But this year, we have a lot more receiving talent, supposedly a better QB than Johnny Mac. We still look absolutely pathetic on offense. We will have to endure this through the end of next season.

Well yeah we know that, I was giving patience the benefit of the doubt. The problem is the offensive line. It probably can't be fixed with the players on the roster and not having a guy like Masters today makes it even worse.

Maryland is not even remotely good. To escape with that win makes a road game at a not terrible MAC team next week scary. Thankfully there are still a bunch of legitimately terrible teams on the schedule to make 6-7 wins possible, but they can't cough one up next week.

 

[weyuo]

The problem is that if they don't get it fixed this season they lose Williams, Gratz, BWW, Moore.... and the schedule gets tougher. So if it takes too long to fix the offense, you run out of time.

I hear ya there bro. These coaches are really gonna earn their paychecks for the next couple of years coaching up the newbies and stepping up the recruiting in a league that not only has other conferences trying to step on your throat but sports TV itself working against you. If UConn and the Big East come out of this brawl standing tall in 2014-15 it will be something people will talk about for a long time. Stay tuned folks this is better than any mystery novel I ever read.

 

[Husky68]

They are not going to fix anything. The offense looks as bad as ever. The defense is never going to be as strong as it is right now. PP and George will have this year and one more. Then we have to aspire to higher goals with our coaches. PP was a decent stop loss for the sudden RE bail out. He held the recruits, he wanted to be here, he had the experience. Last year wasn't PP's fault. We had no QB. No playmakers. But this year, we have a lot more receiving talent, supposedly a better QB than Johnny Mac. We still look absolutely pathetic on offense. We will have to endure this through the end of next season.

You got it. Play calling/schemes and player selection killing team.

1. Too much tight end, neither can break a tackle, allows tight defensive alignment. No FB hurts running. Not enough WR sets.
2. LM too many carries, does not make plays. Rutgers, Louisville, Pitt each have two running backs at least better. Need to see what others can do.
3. Wildcat just isn't it.
4. Need medium patterns not just dinks to TE and post patterns.
5. Call some 1st down passes.

PP will not change. If had Brady/Hernandez/Gronkowski this would be the offense to run.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

Dad, we have a great defense. A really good defense. Perry Hills did a decent job for a true frosh. Not good, but decent. MD kept this game very close. Our passing game continues to disappoint. Agree?

Yes absolutely agree but I think we need to be patient with Whitmer.

 

[pj]

We just have to see how Whitmer develops. If we don't get any more injuries and the offense develops then 8-4 is still the likely scenario. Not as great as I was hoping, but better than the pundits expected.

 

[Gate97]

I know that Whitmer was an Illinois recruit, but it seems to be a pretty common misconception that he played JUCO last year. Butler Community College is a far cry from a JUCO. Really not that same level of play that JUCO is, so we have to temper our expectations around him since he is essentially a redshirt freshman in terms of experience.

 

[huskymedic]

I know that Whitmer was an Illinois recruit, but it seems to be a pretty common misconception that he played JUCO last year. Butler Community College is a far cry from a JUCO. Really not that same level of play that JUCO is, so we have to temper our expectations around him since he is essentially a redshirt freshman in terms of experience.

Not sure what you mean? It's a Junior College but not a Junior College - help me understand?

 

[Adios]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/_/id/2032/arkansas-state-red-wolves

Malzahn would take us to the promised land. Look at the yards his team gains and against whom.

 

[Gate97]

Not sure what you mean? It's a Junior College but not a Junior College - help me understand?

Sorry, obviously wasn't that clear...from what I understand and have read, within the NJCAA there are different conferences. There's also a separate JUCO league in California that operates outside of the NJCAA umbrella. Butler plays in the Kansas Jayhawks conference which they tend to dominate but the level of comp in that league really isn't the top of the NJCAA and relative to some of the JUCO football factories. I think Kansas league is the Conference USA or Big East of the JUCO ranks...competitive ball but a far cry from the SEC.

 

[huskymedic]

Sorry, obviously wasn't that clear...from what I understand and have read, within the NJCAA there are different conferences. There's also a separate JUCO league in California that operates outside of the NJCAA umbrella. Butler plays in the Kansas Jayhawks conference which they tend to dominate but the level of comp in that league really isn't the top of the NJCAA and relative to some of the JUCO football factories. I think Kansas league is the Conference USA or Big East of the JUCO ranks...competitive ball but a far cry from the SEC.

But in the NJCAA Butler came in ranked second to Navarro College in Tx. I would say they are the Big 12 to the SEC. Where do yo put Dean Junior College in your hierarchy?

 

[IMind]

OK, Whitmer was supposed to be a pretty good JUCO. Perry Hills is a true freshman. You didn't think he looked better than Whitmer?

Perry Hills? Not so much Diggs... yes... you take away that one circus catch by Diggs and Perry Hills' passing numbers are pretty similar to the UMass QB's.

 

[RedStickHusky]

Offense was actually better today. Two decent td drives and only the one turnover. What really bothered me though, is the way we tried to turtle (pun intended) with a 10 pt lead in the 3rd qtr. Our last td drive was clutch - and mostly wildcat. Our three and out at the 4 minute mark with a 3 point lead - not so clutch.

 

[emshorts]

unless we get some diversity in the offense we're going to lose a lot more close games esp in conference play. no play action, no screen plays, hell we don't even throw on 1st downs.

 

[rich1122]

Some on the board have the audacity to complain about a ROAD WIN against an ACC team. Wow. Take them any way you can get them.

 

[SAMCRO]

IMO, these last two weeks are a preview to what all of our BE games will look/feel like. We are going to have a lot of 3 point games. The D is so good it will keep us in games. Our O is not good and will keep us from taking over games. I fully expect a season full of close games. So, everyone on this board should all go get physicals, get you cholesterol checked, and start taking care of hearts. We're in for a nerve racking year.

 

[huskysupporter]

Some on the board have the audacity to complain about a ROAD WIN against an ACC team. Wow. Take them any way you can get them.

+1,000,000.

It's a win. Whether it was 24-21, 56-55, 3-0, or 56-0. It is all the same.

 

[UConnDan97]

IMO, these last two weeks are a preview to what all of our BE games will look/feel like. We are going to have a lot of 3 point games. The D is so good it will keep us in games. Our O is not good and will keep us from taking over games. I fully expect a season full of close games. So, everyone on this board should all go get physicals, get you cholesterol checked, and start taking care of hearts. We're in for a nerve racking year.

Not just that. Once I heard that many on our team were suffering from the flu (and some couldn't play because of it) and we still went down there and took care of business, I felt even better about it. As much complaining as I had heard about Taylor Mack last week, he did a nice job handling his business yesterday in place of BWW. Our best cornerback was out, our third best DE (Jennings) was out with injury, we lost our second best DE (Joseph) during the game, and arguably our best DT (Stephen) was not at 100%.

Our defense at 80% is still better than most anything that Maryland will see all year! And we have to say that the offense put 17 on the board (missed FG would have made that 20) and orchestrated a key drive to push it to 24-14. Even with Masters out, the line looked a little more competent in the run game and did better in pass protection. Whitmer is still only in game #3 of his FBS career. There are a lot of positives to take away from yesterday, but none more than a road win against an ACC opponent with our former coach at the helm.

Well done, Huskies!!

 

[tduconn]

I think RE is building at Maryland what he couldn't build at UConn. It's early at his dream job, but if the talking heads are correct, he had "top 40" recruiting class last year, and the '13 class some are suggesting to look quite good. I think it showed to some extent, he had a number of young players in the line up (had to, a lot of experienced players left the team), and they played pretty good against a highly regarded UConn defense. The QB is in his third game as a freshman.......(no red shirt?), no junior college experience, and played a lot better than many of UConns "experience QB's" over the last seven years.

I agree with many comments. The play calling is horrible. RE did not leave too much talent behind in the offense when he left. Maybe PP & GD have high ideals for the offense, but not the players to execute the offense. This is not a knock on the players because I firmly believe they all have the desire and ambition to succeed.......just maybe not talent level of better teams. (on offense)

Maybe PP's classes are better than RE's at UConn.......I'll give them that concept as I'm not the expert to give a definitive critique. Even if thats the case, so far the coaches have opinioned they are not yet good enough to start as freshmen.

I'd love to see different players, and play calling that reminds us all that we are watching a college game and a not high school scrimmage. If UConn was loaded with highly regarded classes every year, and we were offered the same type of offense, I'd be screaming for the coaches heads. But they aren't, so I won't.

I'll just show up every game, scream until I'm hoarse, and hope for the best from the players and coaches. (and that's before opening kickoff). Maybe someday we'll be lucky enough to witness an offensive powerhouse.........but with realignment and conference perceptions, it may be very difficult to achieve. I guess we may have a good idea when the '13 recruiting class is announced and analyzed for its potential.

 

[gars44]

+1,000,000.

It's a win. Whether it was 24-21, 56-55, 3-0, or 56-0. It is all the same.

It's not all the same. We lost a winnable game against NC State b/c we have no offense. We beat a very bad MD team, a depleted team that lost its all ACC QB to transfer (b/c he didn't like RE) and their second string guy to injury. MD played a true freshman, who looked better than Whitmer (who in his defense is just as raw). But 56-0 is not the same as 24-21. Ask Alabama.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

It's not all the same. We lost a winnable game against NC State b/c we have no offense. We beat a very bad MD team, a depleted team that lost its all ACC QB to transfer (b/c he didn't like RE) and their second string guy to injury. MD played a true freshman, who looked better than Whitmer (who in his defense is just as raw). But 56-0 is not the same as 24-21. Ask Alabama.

+ 1,000,001. Everyone is happy with the win at Maryland. What folks are concerned about is how this projects going forward for the rest of the season. They will not be able to do this all with just the defense & special teams.