Am I The Only One Alarmed By Apparent Low Expectations by Players?

[EJHarrington]

I've seen quotes in the paper in the last week by Jimmy Bennett and Chandler Whitmer that suggest they believe a 6-6 record and a Bowl invitation will be a successful year.

In my opinion, that is a mediocre year and will likely get PP fired.

Did anyone else get that sense if they saw those quotes?

 

[huskymedic]

Alarmed - no.

Wishing that someone coached them on how to play the media and fans - yes.

Rings just as hollow to me when a player comes out and says we are going to win the National Championship game.

Just win!

 

[CL82]

Didn't see them myself yet but I share your concern. The swagger is gone. Two 5-7 campaigns and one of the worst offenses in college football will do that to you though.

 

[EJHarrington]

Alarmed - no.

Wishing that someone coached them on how to play the media and fans - yes.

Rings just as hollow to me when a player comes out and says we are going to win the National Championship game.

Just win!

OK, thanks for easing my mind...

 

[FDNY99]

I took frim Bennett's comments about being 6-6 with a trip to a bowl game was better than 5-7 pertained to last season..his comments about losing games at home were I think a better indication of how these guys are out to play with a chip on their shoulder...Whitmer's comments about the offense under Weist have been encouraging. My opinion is that 2 embarrassing blowout losses at home to MD, Mich, Louisville and Rutgers coupled with a 7-5 record and P is 50/50 stay or be fired...a loss to Towson and the above 2 blowout losses with a 7-5 record..he is gone..anything below 7-5 he will be gone. A 6-6 record with close losses 50/50 he comes back.

 

[huskymedic]

I took frim Bennett's comments about being 6-6 with a trip to a bowl game was better than 5-7 pertained to last season..his comments about losing games at home were I think a better indication of how these guys are out to play with a chip on their shoulder...Whitmer's comments about the offense under Weist have been encouraging.

Agree - it's all in the context and how the question was presented:.

"You don't want to go out flat like you did last year, 5-7," Bennett said. "You don't want to lose senior night, you don't want to lose your last game of the season. Bang, bang and bowl game, BCS, anything. We want to go to a bowl game. That's the big goal this year. Everyone would like to go to the BCS but just 5-7 sucks; 6-6 isn't much better but it is a whole lot better than 5-7. We want to go to a bowl game and we as an offensive line, want to show we're not what we showed last year. "

 

[CL82]

Agree, but it still feels like diminished expectations.

 

[UConnDan97]

Maybe they've been reading the Boneyard too much...

 

[temery]

Maybe they've been reading the Boneyard too much...

HFD is their Dr. Dani Santino.

 

[Rumrunner]

You're reading his words incorrectly.

The 6-6 statement is read properly in the context of the you can't lose "your last game." He was referencing the prior season.

He is stating 6-6 isn't much better, but when you have the opportunity to beat Cincy and become bowl eligible, 5-7 sucks a lot worse than 6-6. And last year they lost that game, and that type of performance is not acceptable.

Nothing wrong there.

 

[rich1122]

We need a 9 win season. No more excuses. We will still have the the best D in the league. Whitmer has a year under his belt and the O line has had a chance to gel. P has had a chance to in influence the program with many of his recruits as well. New OC.

Otherwise it's time that we go in another direction. Less than 9 is unacceptable.

From a PP GDL dove by the way.

 

[Palatine]

I've seen quotes in the paper in the last week by Jimmy Bennett and Chandler Whitmer that suggest they believe a 6-6 record and a Bowl invitation will be a successful year.

In my opinion, that is a mediocre year and will likely get PP fired.

Did anyone else get that sense if they saw those quotes?

I am not "alarmed" by it.

 

[metsfan2323]

We need a 9 win season. No more excuses. We will still have the the best D in the league. Whitmer has a year under his belt and the O line has had a chance to gel. P has had a chance to in influence the program with many of his recruits as well. New OC.

Otherwise it's time that we go in another direction. Less than 9 is unacceptable.

From a PP GDL dove by the way.

So at 8 - 4 you would fire P. Thank you Mr. Steinbrenner. I hope for 9 too, but he buys another year with 7 wins.

 

[rich1122]

8 no probably not, . 7 out. We can win every home game.

 

[SubbaBub]

So at 8 - 4 you would fire P. Thank you Mr. Steinbrenner. I hope for 9 too, but he buys another year with 7 wins.

We've covered this... a lot. Would depend on which 8, the bowl game, and the ability to get a better coach to the AAC, er...I mean Big Ten.

If CR broke in our favor, I'd fire him regardless of record.

 

[Dooley]

I think 8 wins is the floor this season for a 100% guaranteed PP 2014 return. 8 wins means they will beat the 6 teams on their schedule that they should beat (Towson, Buffalo, USF, SMU, Temple and Memphis) plus win 2 of the tough games (MD, UM, Cinci, UCF, RU, UL). That would get us into a decent bowl where it would be upon us fans to buy the bejesus out of our ticket allotment to quell the negative perception out there that we don't go to games.

I think 7 wins would lower the odds of a PP 2014 return to anywhere between 40%-60% and would likely depend on how Warde gauges the pulse of the team, the recruiting efforts, and if the losses were competitively fought for (i.e. - no blowouts). If Warde is mixed on the afore-mentioned criteria, the final decision will be made by whether or not Warde feels he can raise the head coach budget and bring in an "impact" name or coach.

Anything less than 7 wins and I think there is 0% chance of PP returning in 2014.

 

[rich1122]

5-5-7 wins is not acceptable.

5-5-8 maybe

5-5-9 we are on the correct track.

 

[Kevin Caliendo]

that kind of thought process comes from the coach. Can you imagine a kid coached by Saban or Holtz or equivalent saying something like that publicly? That kid probably wouldn't be playing for a while.

 

[Dooley]

If CR broke in our favor, I'd fire him regardless of record.

That sure would be a welcomed wildcard, wouldn't it? Yeah, if Delany's office called today, PP gets fired anything short of a 10+ win, BCS season. Bring in a real head turner and excitement who would completely shadow BCU, the Fruit and our other northeast rivals.

 

[kcc1442]

To some degree i agree with the OP. I have seen many interviews now of guys who have said things to the tune of, we are not happy with the performance we expected better than 5 wins the last 2 years (which is good) but then they say we want to go to a bowl game this year, I heard/read someone say we want to get to that 7 win mark...(this I don't like)...(it's definitely not setting the bar high enough)...I think guys could easily say "We don't just want to go bowling we want to do damage. We want to compete in every game and win many of them. We don't just want to win 7 games we want more than that. We want to win the Big East and go to a big time bowl game." That can all be said without coming off as pompous, cocky, or arrogant....

Now with all that said this is just what they say to the media. I trust that each one of them aspires to go undefeated and goes into every game with the intensity level to do that.......Just wish they would reek some more swag and confidence.

 

[huskymedic]

Seems to me that they get it. All saying the same thing in their own way.

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/video/#!/news/sports/UConn-Football-Media-Day/219052031

 

[Husky68]

I don't want a bunch of "our aim of course is to win BE (opps) AAC and go to BCS bowl". Last 2 years not good enough, go to bowl game is legit aim. There are 10 teams now in ACC so being 1 of 2 or 3 tied at 5-2 isn't going to work as in past so beating 8 (don't play Houston) other teams to win AAC and go to BCS is not the "success" goal for this team but the "all teams want to" goal.
I like a quiet confidence rather than big talk, think guys are showing that, good enough for me. Play smart and make the other teams sore/weary after playing UConn (like Cinncy was a few years back when we played them) and wins and good bowl game will come.

 

[Marty Jackson]

You're reading his words incorrectly.

The 6-6 statement is read properly in the context of the you can't lose "your last game." He was referencing the prior season.

He is stating 6-6 isn't much better, but when you have the opportunity to beat Cincy and become bowl eligible, 5-7 sucks a lot worse than 6-6. And last year they lost that game, and that type of performance is not acceptable.

Nothing wrong there.

Thank you for some level headed response.
I'm fearful that if we don't beat Towson by a larger margin than umass, this board will go into meltdown mode...
And I think there are a lot hoping for it.

 

[jdb50]

There is a lot of change this year with TJ, coach Buggs, HH as well as quite a bit of personel change on D so I don't think a melt down is in order if we win against Towson by less than the UMass score. We need to make improvement each week and build a solid program. Let's see how it goes.

 

[weyuo]

A Bowl or bust!! If P can't get them to a bowl this year he needs to go. I think he can. I think he will. If you want to see the Rent packed then they simply have to go on a winning streak from day one that carries them past the half way mark in the season. That puts fannies in seats. You want a large contingent of UCONN faithful at a bowl game then win all your games, get ranked decently and go into a bowl game fighting for a top 10 final ranking. Winning is the only thing that solves all the problems around here. Winning pays the expenses, winning gets you invited to B1G-ger and better places, winning will even clean out most of the doldrums in the Boneyard.