American Athletic Coaches Talk Anonymously About Conference Foes for 2019

[Exit 4]

Pindell convinced people the offensive line is promising.

I know people are just being hopeful about the quarterbacks and hoping Edsall is playing some dopey game... that first game is gonna be something around here.

I am optimistic the D will be substantially improved. Nothing to base that on other than good things I hear about Spanos and player development. I’m more worried the OL might disappoint and Guifre will struggle to create a balanced offense to counter opposing teams that will just stuff the box. Last year never gave us the opportunity to decide if electric leggs Pindell was running because he could or because he had too. Seemed like the latter more than the former. This offense better figure out a moderate passing game if we aren’t blowing DLs off the line off on run plays.

 

[whaler11]

I am optimistic the D will be substantially improved. Nothing to base that on other than good things I hear about Spanos and player development. I’m more worried the OL might disappoint and Guifre will struggle to create a balanced offense to counter opposing teams that will just stuff the box. Last year never gave us the opportunity to decide if electric leggs Pindell was running because he could or because he had too. Seemed like the latter more than the former. This offense better figure out a moderate passing game if we aren’t blowing DLs off the line off on run plays.

Ugh the one thing I try to forget is the coordinators. It’s more depressing than the recruiting.

An offensive line coach who got the coordinator job by default with almost no skill position talent.

Whatever the defense gains the offense is going to give back. They are so thin at QB/RB/TE that everyone is going to be in non-contact jerseys at practice.

 

[Hoophound]

Ugh the one thing I try to forget is the coordinators. It’s more depressing than the recruiting.

An offensive line coach who got the coordinator job by default with almost no skill position talent.

Whatever the defense gains the offense is going to give back. They are so thin at QB/RB/TE that everyone is going to be in non-contact jerseys at practice.

I think Whaler11 is being a hair dramatic here, but just barely. There isn’t much reason to think we will be obviously better. A little better, probably. I fear what the defense gains, the QB change gives back. Pindell produced some yardage. Thompkins will be a nice addition that might help the offense quite a bit.

If Edsall is really going to get us back to respectability, I’d look toward 2020 and even then, I’m thinking 5 wins. I want to be wrong but we just don’t have good reason to expect more. We are relying on him having recruited great under the radar players. We can’t look down the roster and point to all the talent. They are all wildcards. They need to grow and develop even if they have the talent.

 

[whaler11]

I think Whaler11 is being a hair dramatic here, but just barely. There isn’t much reason to think we will be obviously better. A little better, probably. I fear what the defense gains, the QB change gives back. Pindell produced some yardage. Thompkins will be a nice addition that might help the offense quite a bit.

If Edsall is really going to get us back to respectability, I’d look toward 2020 and even then, I’m thinking 5 wins. I want to be wrong but we just don’t have good reason to expect more. We are relying on him having recruited great under the radar players. We can’t look down the roster and point to all the talent. They are all wildcards. They need to grow and develop even if they have the talent.

How in the world can you use 2020 wins a proxy for improvement? They don’t have a schedule.

 

[Hoophound]

I’m assuming that we will have a similar schedule with maybe two FCS wins and 3 “real wins”. My point was that a maximum 5 win season against pretty much any schedule is all I expect. If we somehow have an incredibly strong schedule, then I’d adjust accordingly. Regardless, it is rather obvious what I was saying. 5 wins would be progress based on what we’ve seen recently and what we know about our players.

 

[billybud]

It is preseason...a time when optimism should reign until reality dictates something different.

Read in your best Trump tweet voice:

UConn will win this year. I dont know how many but it's going to be a lot of games. And rhey will play very, very well. Believe me, I know how very good they will play.

I tell myself that every morning but just substitute my alma mater.

 

[ZooCougar]

Then Big East was better then than the AAC is now. It was a P5/BCS League.

That helped us so much in recruiting. And our recruiting on paper wasn’t all that back then. We don’t have that carrot anymore.

This is a ridiculously hard job. Without the BCS we don’t upgrade. If we win more than 3 games this season I will be shocked.

 

[pepband99]

Ugh the one thing I try to forget is the coordinators. It’s more depressing than the recruiting.

An offensive line coach who got the coordinator job by default with almost no skill position talent.

Whatever the defense gains the offense is going to give back. They are so thin at QB/RB/TE that everyone is going to be in non-contact jerseys at practice.

I'll give you the OC - the hiring process does not instill confidence here.

Spanos is different, though - I'm hoping he's more Don Brown-crazy than Bob Diaco-crazy, though. He's certainly certifiable.

I like our RB core - the O'Reilly injury was a killer last year.

QB? Lord knows. My only hope is that a combination of tenure and emphasis (from the OC) yields better OL results, which yields less impact of losing Pindell's skillset.

 

[BlueDogs]

Then Big East was better then than the AAC is now. It was a P5/BCS League.

That helped us so much in recruiting. And our recruiting on paper wasn’t all that back then. We don’t have that carrot anymore.

This is a ridiculously hard job. Without the BCS we don’t upgrade. If we win more than 3 games this season I will be shocked.

This is true. We have killed the football program in favor of the orange bouncing ball so people can re-live the past and feel good. I do think we can build a formidable program with decent scheduling and if we can get some momentum. If Boise State in the middle of nowhere can do it, it's possible. albeit they at lest have a conference. I remain unrealistically hopeful in August until shiked and disappointed for the 9th year in a row.

Congrats to Big Red @temery

You’ve cultivated the best mix of stupidity and polite trolling found anywhere on the interwebz.

It’s beyond amazing that lab rats learn from getting shocked in experiments but actual human beings don’t.

UConn’s best tight end is at a school that hasn’t throw a pass to a tight end in like a decade. And he’d also probably be the best QB on the roster too.

I remain unrealistically hopeful in August until being shocked and disappointed for the 9th year in a row.

 

[pepband99]

UConn’s best tight end is at a school that hasn’t throw a pass to a tight end in like a decade. And he’d also probably be the best QB on the roster too.

This is bordering on new signature territory. You're either 1000% wrong or nostradamus. Leaning towards earlier, but let's see...

Never mind that GIT isn't triple-option anymore. And that Rose was a much better-regarded TE. The QB statement is insane on its face, but this is just your usual hyperbole, so I'll ignore it.

It's mid-August, and Whaler is on the negative train - season must be upon us!

 

[Husky68]

Ugh the one thing I try to forget is the coordinators. It’s more depressing than the recruiting.

An offensive line coach who got the coordinator job by default with almost no skill position talent.

Whatever the defense gains the offense is going to give back. They are so thin at QB/RB/TE that everyone is going to be in non-contact jerseys at practice.

Hard for offense to give back all the points an improved defense "should/could" save. 2019 defense gave up 50.4 pts per game as #129 and worse defense in FBS; if improved to just 120th would have given up 37.3 pts. The offense scored 22.2 pts per game and was 111th and if dropped to 121st would only drop to 19.8 pts per game.

Even the worst offense in FBS scored 13.5 pts per game (Rutgers).

So, with weak 2019 schedule (only one team rated by Massey as better then pre season #60) and such a bad defense against scoring last year and an almost equally bad scoring offense (ranking wise) looks like hard to give back any reasonable gains on better scoring defense in 2019 by the offense unless the offense does a Rutgers.

Just to show my bonafides, last year at this time I had UConn challenging for a bowl berth!

 

[whaler11]

This is bordering on new signature territory. You're either 1000% wrong or nostradamus. Leaning towards earlier, but let's see...

Never mind that GIT isn't triple-option anymore. And that Rose was a much better-regarded TE. The QB statement is insane on its face, but this is just your usual hyperbole, so I'll ignore it.

It's mid-August, and Whaler is on the negative train - season must be upon us!

it’s a bit of hyperbole but Davis would easily be the best TE on the roster and no kidding Georgia Tech changed their offense.

I’ll try to be more positive about a bad roster, inexperienced coaches hired by default because they don’t pay anyone and over a half decade of FCS recruiting.

That’s the winning formula! How could anyone be negative about that! Certainly Nostical has nailed everything - we should all be more like him.

Bucket hat closed fist brotherhood *fart noises*

 

[Drew]

This is bordering on new signature territory. You're either 1000% wrong or nostradamus. Leaning towards earlier, but let's see...

Never mind that GIT isn't triple-option anymore. And that Rose was a much better-regarded TE. The QB statement is insane on its face, but this is just your usual hyperbole, so I'll ignore it.

It's mid-August, and Whaler is on the negative train - season must be upon us!

Rose may have been a better HS TE prospect but nobody cares about that now.

Tyler Davis caught 22 balls for ~250 yards and 6 TD’s last year. Jay Rose caught 1 (!) ball last year for 17 yards. Not to mention Davis’ athleticism is infinitely better than Rose’s. There’s a reason TD had the opportunity to transfer to a school like GT and Rose is behind a former QB....

It’s ironic given how many TE/DE body types Diaco recruited his best one moved from QB to play TE.

Speaking of QB play- including Tyler Davis that was 3 (!) former QB recruits that UConn has turned into TE’s that were on the roster last year. If you want to know where a lot of our offensive problems stem from personnel wise, that’s a good place to start.

 

[CL82]

How in the world can you use 2020 wins a proxy for improvement? They don’t have a schedule.

Because wins is better than win?

Seriously, at this point I'll take any FBS wins where ever we can find them. Baby steps.

I'm hoping for 3 wins this year (which in and of itself is pretty depressing) but I fully agree that we have very little idea what we have for offense. There are some hints from REv2 that he's not unhappy, but that really all we have to go on at this point.

 

[whaler11]

Because wins is better than win?

Seriously, at this point I'll take any FBS wins where ever we can find them. Baby steps.

I'm hoping for 3 wins this year (which in and of itself is pretty depressing) but I fully agree that we have very little idea what we have for offense. There are some hints from REv2 that he's not unhappy, but that really all we have to go on at this point.

so if they beat 5 fcs teams because they can’t put together a 2020 schedule they are improved.

i’m going to wait and see what they actually do before assigning targets against a schedule that doesnt exist

 

[CL82]

so if they beat 5 fcs teams because they can’t put together a 2020 schedule they are improved.

i’m going to wait and see what they actually do before assigning targets against a schedule that doesnt exist

Note that I said FBS wins.

I strongly doubt we are scheduling 5 FCS teams for 2020. So far we have UMass, Illinois, Maine and Indiana. Have you seen anything else?

 

[billybud]

Note that I said FBS wins.

I strongly doubt we are scheduling 5 FCS teams for 2020. So far we have UMass, Illinois, Maine and Indiana. Have you seen anything else?

Those games, on an FBS team's schedule, would seem very winnable...

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Could we just bumped every single pre-season thread post 2010 just as a refresher for what happens around here?

I can't believe I'm even reading that some users think Pindell was a problem, and were bound to improve at the position? We've had a better than league average QB maybe what in two seasons in 15 years?

Put Pindell on the late 00s teams and I think we finish top 25 every year.

 

[ZooCougar]

This is true. We have killed the football program in favor of the orange bouncing ball so people can re-live the past and feel good. I do think we can build a formidable program with decent scheduling and if we can get some momentum. If Boise State in the middle of nowhere can do it, it's possible. albeit they at lest have a conference. I remain unrealistically hopeful in August until shiked and disappointed for the 9th year in a row.

I remain unrealistically hopeful in August until being shocked and disappointed for the 9th year in a row.

Boise State did it by taking non qualifiers that the Pac12 couldn’t take.

 

[Bubba1957]

Rose may have been a better HS TE prospect but nobody cares about that now.

Tyler Davis caught 22 balls for ~250 yards and 6 TD’s last year. Jay Rose caught 1 (!) ball last year for 17 yards. Not to mention Davis’ athleticism is infinitely better than Rose’s. There’s a reason TD had the opportunity to transfer to a school like GT and Rose is behind a former QB....

It’s ironic given how many TE/DE body types Diaco recruited his best one moved from QB to play TE.

Speaking of QB play- including Tyler Davis that was 3 (!) former QB recruits that UConn has turned into TE’s that were on the roster last year. If you want to know where a lot of our offensive problems stem from personnel wise, that’s a good place to start.

Nothing against Davis, he definitely improved over his time here, but he is in no way an infinitely better athlete than Rose. I don't know how you are measuring that. The two guys Diablo inherited (kid from Tolland and the tall kid) were both way better than Davis. Not even close. Rose is more in that mold. We will see.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Our QB situation isn’t the greatest but at least we don’t have a running back/athlete playing quarterback. Both Beaudry and Krajewski will be able to pass better than Pindell and spread the field. Looking at things in retrospect I think Edsall buried Krajewski because he wanted to save Washington “from the streets.” RE mentioned that in several interviews and gave MW numerous chances to prove himself. Unfortunately, MW was released and transferred to Last Chance U.

Pindell was not the problem last year. Our WR couldn't separate from a sloth last season.

 

[billybud]

Pindell didn't have much time for the WR to separate from the defender downfield...

He was already being forced to move while the WR's were still locked on by the DB's.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

If the Morgan and Harris kids can play we’ll be vastly better at LB. Unfortunately, that’s the only position group I can project a significant improvement in. The DL and secondary were so bad last year I can’t see how they’re going to get to the point of being adequate after one year.

We are going to be significantly worse at the QB, TE, and WR spots. OL might be slightly better but I don’t think they were good last year.

 

[UConnDan97]

If the Morgan and Harris kids can play we’ll be vastly better at LB. Unfortunately, that’s the only position group I can project a significant improvement in. The DL and secondary were so bad last year I can’t see how they’re going to get to the point of being adequate after one year.

We are going to be significantly worse at the QB, TE, and WR spots. OL might be slightly better but I don’t think they were good last year.

I think the DL gets better based on the extra year of growth, especially for Travis Jones, and also the move of Kevon Jones from LB to the line.

However, QB scares the hell out of me. To any folks that think Pindell wasn't a good QB: barring a real surprise with one of the new guys, they are going to make Pindell look like he was vintage Michael Vick...

 

[Bezzz]

Pindell didn't have much time for the WR to separate from the defender downfield...

He was already being forced to move while the WR's were still locked on by the DB's.

Speaking of Pindell
Still grinding.