According to the MTSU QB...

[SubbaBub]

...what the UConn defense shows you pre-snap is what they play.

In other words, there is no disguise. It makes it easy to be in right play to defeat the defense. It's hard to imagine a more damming appraisal of the Husky D. I knew the coaching and game planning were bad. But this is malfeasance. These coaches belong in jail.

Should he easily fixed by the next guy and AD Dave should review film of every candidate to be sure they don't do this.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Fortin was on the field for one series of plays in the first half and he was awful. He clearly is still hurt and the staff has no confidence in anyone else on the roster to play center after Walker. We had a bunch of players leave the program from the offensive line two years ago and Edsall was unable to replace them.

I realize a bunch of players including linemen left. Problem is look what schools they went to after leaving UConn. No other FBS coach saw talent in them either. We have a two deep of FCS level talent on the line.
Van Demark looked good last night, I believe Lundt will become good. I liked what I saw out of Fortin when he was healthy. But any of them can be replaced with equal or higher level talent (And yes I know this is Ryan's last season).

 

[Palatine]

Steven Krajewski at QB is Not the answer. He locks in on one receiver and makes it easy for D. Around 4 times guys were wide open and he threw instead to a guy covered.

That's your take away? No running game. Constant pressure from the opponent defensive front. Tons of dumb of penalties. Game out of control by the second quarter. Both sides of the ball being physically whipped. A high school game plan. But the problem was some missed reads.

Okay. But there may be a bigger picture here.

 

[giddyup]

You can blame individuals all you want . This and every loss we've had has been a total team effort. Our OL is a false start away from killing a drive. Our play calling period can get figured out before tge ball is snapped (this is on both sides of the ball). On the brightside,, i think we've figured out who can catch the foitball for us,, who can run the football for us, who we can look fwd to helping out on defense in the future... QB??? ehhhh.... Reality is these coaches are on borrowed time now. They've shown clearly now that since they know it's near the end, they've packed it in.

Agreed 100%. But there is a difference between an aggressive penalty and a selfish, stupid one.

 

[gopher2]

I realize a bunch of players including linemen left. Problem is look what schools they went to after leaving UConn. No other FBS coach saw talent in them either. We have a two deep of FCS level talent on the line.
Van Demark looked good last night, I believe Lundt will become good. I liked what I saw out of Fortin when he was healthy. But any of them can be replaced with equal or higher level talent (And yes I know this is Ryan's last season).

After we get a competent coaching staff, their first priority has to be fixing the Oline. Every unit on this team needs major improvement but fixing the Oline will lead to more sustained drives, more points, a less tired D and fewer blowouts. We need to hit the portal hard looking for some road graders.

 

[NEforceUConn]

Only thing different about this game is we got trounced on Friday, not Saturday.

 

[ScottVib]

I got a question.other Tyler P, do we have any other QBs that can read defenses? Honestly asking.

I don't think Tyler Phommachanh is really reading the defenses (beyond making his Zone Run reads) yet, as a true freshman.. he's just the best athlete out there and a threat that has to be accounted for by the defense so the offense was able to move a bit more.

The O-Line (particularly Walker) is bad. Passes get dropped and juggled that shouldn't. The QB forces the ball into coverage because after getting hit so many times he's anticipating contact that may or may not be there.

The defense is bad. There is no tackling. We tackled guys forward into first downs. The DBs all dive at ankles and knees with no attempt to wrap.. a spin move and the opposition is free. The coverages/blitzes and everything is on display as soon as you put one player into motion or shift. With a 7 yard cushion teams are happily taking 5 yard passes and taking their shot at beating a DB diving at an ankle to make a tackle.

The team has little discipline, penalties and stupidity is out of control. It's frustrating. As much as went well and was positive against Wyoming and Vanderbilt, seems to have gone up and smoke since the UMass game.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Since our opponents watch film (big surprise) throwing to the sideline on first down and losing 2 yards every time is a misdemeanor—but running laterally on 4th and 2 is a felony.

Those outside runs were so painful. OL is pushed 3 yards back and Mensah runs right into them.

 

[giddyup]

I don't think Tyler Phommachanh is really reading the defenses (beyond making his Zone Run reads) yet, as a true freshman.. he's just the best athlete out there and a threat that has to be accounted for by the defense so the offense was able to move a bit more.

The O-Line (particularly Walker) is bad. Passes get dropped and juggled that shouldn't. The QB forces the ball into coverage because after getting hit so many times he's anticipating contact that may or may not be there.

The defense is bad. There is no tackling. We tackled guys forward into first downs. The DBs all dive at ankles and knees with no attempt to wrap.. a spin move and the opposition is free. The coverages/blitzes and everything is on display as soon as you put one player into motion or shift. With a 7 yard cushion teams are happily taking 5 yard passes and taking their shot at beating a DB diving at an ankle to make a tackle.

The team has little discipline, penalties and stupidity is out of control. It's frustrating. As much as went well and was positive against Wyoming and Vanderbilt, seems to have gone up and smoke since the UMass game.

Good summary of a long list of persistent deficiencies that the staff hasn’t fixed.

 

[Guru13]

I realize a bunch of players including linemen left. Problem is look what schools they went to after leaving UConn. No other FBS coach saw talent in them either. We have a two deep of FCS level talent on the line.
Van Demark looked good last night, I believe Lundt will become good. I liked what I saw out of Fortin when he was healthy. But any of them can be replaced with equal or higher level talent (And yes I know this is Ryan's last season).

I would disagree with you…. Look at Vandy and Peart for example they both started way before their junior year and developed somewhat well over the years. I would say Haynes and Ofori-Nyadu have solidified themselves of being the better of the bunch on the line, if we had the actual depth on the line of upperclassmen they wouldn’t see the field till their junior year. For the other players on the line, Lundt and walker and Fortin… it would have been nice to have upperclassmen fill in those spots on the line all in all to say, next year both Ofori-Nyadu and Haynes will be juniors and older guys on the line… new head coach need to bring in 3 Or 4 upperclassmen to fill in the LT,C, and RT spot.

 

[Tdaley]

I realize a bunch of players including linemen left. Problem is look what schools they went to after leaving UConn. No other FBS coach saw talent in them either. We have a two deep of FCS level talent on the line.
Van Demark looked good last night, I believe Lundt will become good. I liked what I saw out of Fortin when he was healthy. But any of them can be replaced with equal or higher level talent (And yes I know this is Ryan's last season).

I believe Cam DeGeorge went to Louisville. Leon was very good run blocker and clearly better than our current center. The other two were backups but they got some playing time and losing them hurt our depth. My point is that our offensive line roster is worse now than it was two years ago. Christian Haynes is a good player but Van Demark is graduating as you stated. Although they may develop into good players, to my eyes neither Lundt, Walker or even Fortin look like they are ready to start. Fixing the talent issue on our offensive line will have to be a major priority for our next coach.

 

[NowInStorrs]

We had a "drive" that consisted of three straight plays for a loss and then a punt. It almost seems like the offense is designed to lose yards with all these passes to the side and lateral runs for loss of a couple.

 

[Nicklo28]

That's your take away? No running game. Constant pressure from the opponent defensive front. Tons of dumb of penalties. Game out of control by the second quarter. Both sides of the ball being physically whipped. A high school game plan. But the problem was some missed reads.

Okay. But there may be a bigger picture here.

I agree with everything you said but I believe Steven Krajewski is not as good as people on this board think he is Tyler Phommachanh is a lot better QB and he is a true Freshmen.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

There have been countless things about the program this season that (to be kind) have been disappointing. In my eyes, without question the most disappointing has been our defensive line play.

I had considerable expectations for this unit and to be fair, I believe that I had valid reason for these expectations. During the first iteration of RE, our defensive linemen were always able to punch above their weight class so to speak. As this unit would a good amount of time within the system, considerable size and athleticism (led by someone who may be a top 50-60 pick in the upcoming NFL draft), we should have been able to at worst, perform as an equal match to the best offensive lines we would face prior to the trip to Clemson. I don’t know where the offensive lines from Holy Cross or UMass rank in comparison to the remainder of teams we’ve face so far but I do know that there is no reason either team should have been able to run the ball against us as easily as they had. In full candor, we should have been able to shred their offensive lines with just our front four, resulting in their offenses appearing as inept against us as ours did for the bulk of the game against Purdue.

Perhaps it was the superiority of Hughes as a teacher in comparison to Dottin-Carter. Beyond that I am at a loss as what we’ve seen (getting pushed all over the field against UMass, giving up a near length of the field run at a critical point against Holy Cross) would be massive failures against the better teams we’ve faced this season.

There have been major failures at every level of our defense (which is primarily why I believe nobody, especially Spanos should be retained). What is infuriating about the defensive line play is that there should have been major expectations from this unit.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

One major criticism (and this goes to the entire defensive staff) is that across the board it appears that nobody on our defense knows how to close on a ball carrier while maintaining contain leverage. I don’t see how this is possible but we have had countless missed tackles (or worse, whiffed tackles) that were followed by an additional 8, 12, 20 yards gained. We’ve seen our defensive linemen make reasonably mobile QBs look like Michael Vick. We’ve seen flare outs or bubble screens turn into 25, 35, 50+ yard gains. We’ve seen ridiculously poor fundamentals when it comes to containing and tackling the ball carrier.

An additional item that I cannot see how it continues is we often are outnumbered (usually two defenders covering three WRs on one wide flank) in a standard defensive set. This is exacerbated when the opponent is aware enough to run a WR screen, where the two defenders are easily blocked by two WRs, allowing the third (who caught the ball) a huge gain. How is it that our coaching staff hasn’t learned how to defend this?

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Those of you who love harping on the decision to not play last year....I have a question...

UConn sucked in 2018...they sucked in 2019...they sucked in 2021....do you really think cobbling together 3 or 4 games in 2020 would have changed that?

Whether UConn played or not last year has had absolutely no impact on where this team is today. As we have seen after 9 games this season....playing more isn't improving their performance. This is just not a good team.

 

[superjohn]

Just blow this whole thing up now. The fans have suffered enough. Every single one of these coaches needs to get out of town asap. 12/1/21 can't come fast enough for UCONN football.

Umm, that's what was decided after the Holy Cross game. People on this board created the narrative that Spanos or any of these other guys would be back.

 

[uconnbill]

UConn has to do one thing Edsall refused to do and that is hit the transfer portal and hit it hard. All the schools using it and yet UConn doesn't. Time to go out and bring in 10-15 if possible with defensive back, offensive lineman, a quarterback, another running back and more depth in others areas.

 

[superjohn]

Those of you who love harping on the decision to not play last year....I have a question...

UConn sucked in 2018...they sucked in 2019...they sucked in 2021....do you really think cobbling together 3 or 4 games in 2020 would have changed that?

Whether UConn played or not last year has had absolutely no impact on where this team is today. As we have seen after 9 games this season....playing more isn't improving their performance. This is just not a good team.

There were people on this board who said not playing any games for a whole season would be good for them and the team would be better for it, that's totally insane.

They were going to suck no matter what because of Edsall but thinking they would get better from not playing is an insane take.

 

[ktuck911]

It was still a game at halftime, but the offense collapsed in the second half which really stressed the defense. UConn had 4 possessions in the second half and here were the plays run and time of possession:

4 plays 1:21
5 plays 1:42
3 plays 0:39
7 plays 3:38 (game already over)

I’m not defending the play of the defense, but the offense could not get any rest for the D. The D was gassed.

Always the case. We gotta get away from this style if play....because we clearly haven't perfected it in practice... and it doesn't appear our practices are as physical as they once were. It's clear when we play the games.
One last thing. Our OL needs to grow a pair. It's not a tough bunch. Not in games from what I've seen.

The only thing that has worked against this was when we used Mazzone and our creative play calling to make up for our poor OLine. Unfortunately, the current numbnuts keep calling plays as if we have a decent OLine

Can't argue with you on this brother. Offense looks offensive since Mazzone's influence disappeared. Very vanilla....very

 

[ktuck911]

UConn has to do one thing Edsall refused to do and that is hit the transfer portal and hit it hard. All the schools using it and yet UConn doesn't. Time to go out and bring in 10-15 if possible with defensive back, offensive lineman, a quarterback, another running back and more depth in others areas.

That and get the right assistant coaches... retreads allowed here. Ones who've seen quite a bit

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

There were people on this board who said not playing any games for a whole season would be good for them and the team would be better for it, that's totally insane.

They were going to suck no matter what because of Edsall but thinking they would get better from not playing is an insane take.

It's not "insane".

No one knows if cobbling 3 or 4 games together in a tough covid environment would have been better than focusing on physical and mental development on a set schedule.

It turns out....it doesn't matter. It wasn't playing games....or physical development this team needed. It was better coaching and more talent.

 

[giddyup]

One major criticism (and this goes to the entire defensive staff) is that across the board it appears that nobody on our defense knows how to close on a ball carrier while maintaining contain leverage. I don’t see how this is possible but we have had countless missed tackles (or worse, whiffed tackles) that were followed by an additional 8, 12, 20 yards gained. We’ve seen our defensive linemen make reasonably mobile QBs look like Michael Vick. We’ve seen flare outs or bubble screens turn into 25, 35, 50+ yard gains. We’ve seen ridiculously poor fundamentals when it comes to containing and tackling the ball carrier.

An additional item that I cannot see how it continues is we often are outnumbered (usually two defenders covering three WRs on one wide flank) in a standard defensive set. This is exacerbated when the opponent is aware enough to run a WR screen, where the two defenders are easily blocked by two WRs, allowing the third (who caught the ball) a huge gain. How is it that our coaching staff hasn’t learned how to defend this?

The coaching is horrifically ineffective. They may be too slow, too weak, etc.. but if you have two arms you can tackle (heck you got players missing one hand that make better tackles). The persistent allowance of submarine, turn a shoulder and don’t use your arms to tackle is symptomatic of utter incompetence by staff or unwillingness to hold players accountable for executing basic football plays. Same goes with DBs not turning to find the ball, LBs and DEs that can contain or take angles or get off blocks. They have done nothing to help these kids get better, putting aside talent issues.

 

[buddy]

Those of you who love harping on the decision to not play last year....I have a question...

UConn sucked in 2018...they sucked in 2019...they sucked in 2021....do you really think cobbling together 3 or 4 games in 2020 would have changed that?

Whether UConn played or not last year has had absolutely no impact on where this team is today. As we have seen after 9 games this season....playing more isn't improving their performance. This is just not a good team.

We all would have seen how bad they were and maybe RE would have been fired last year instead! The canceled season was a cover up by RE on how bad they really were/are.