- Joined
- Aug 29, 2011
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So we got a win. AWESOME!! It was so great to see the players so full of energy and passion.
Make no mistake though, the reason we won, is that we were able to be mentally tough, focused, execute in the elements and play as a team. That, undoubtedly, bringing that back to UCONN football, has been Diaco's greatest strength in what he's done with this program so far in less than year, turning it around - the mental attitude as players and as a team - and it showed on Saturday.
Both teams were numb, frozen, wet, cold, hurting and playing with the same frozen, wet slippery ball and footing. We stayed together as a team, played mentally tough in the conditions, and beat them.
We protected home field, and hot damn, is that good to see again. Need to continue it.
But reality check: Without the weather? Hypothetical, because we had the weather, and we will continue to have that late season home field advantage - forever. Got to embrace it and love it, and it was pure joy for me - to see Casey Cochran in short sleeves and headset, channeling TJ Weist - but even he put a shell on soon enough, and even better to see all the players reveling in playing in that weather.
It was still a one possession game, at the end, with our D on the field to close it out. It's simple fact of football, that when you do that, you will lose more than you win - this time - we won. Offense got to start learning to close out games - that's the next step.
Back to fundamentals - blocking and tackling. It's getting better. I was so happy early on when #39 stuffed that 4th down run, and did it playing assignment perfect and technique perfect. This is the same player, that I put up a nice picture frame series, of him knocking himself out of a game, with poor fundamentals trying to make a tackle early in the season.
GOt to keep that up. Much better tackling technique since September - for sure - across the board. Still need to get better. I think Diaco used words "club and wrap" in the press before - different words than I and I'm sure others learned, but still same thing. Head up, open arms, wrap, lock and twist.
Assignment perfect? That's the discipline that the academy football will test you on. Our D will get a test in defending the option, in defending the run game, that they haven't seen so far this season. If you get caught screwing up your gap, leverage, assignment - you get beat. If you don't, it's simply a contest of who makes the play and who doesn't, and I'm hoping that we, on Defense - can do that, and I'm pretty sure we have the athletes that can make more plays than they do.
On offense - another example, two actually. OT's Knappe and Levy. The guys are demonstrating the ability to line up in good football position, move the feet well, and still hit with force. Getting better. THe backs are picking up the pressures much, much better than early on. It's improving.
None of it, as anywhere near good enough, and I hope they come back to practice this week, ready to work harder than ever before.
Make no mistake though, the reason we won, is that we were able to be mentally tough, focused, execute in the elements and play as a team. That, undoubtedly, bringing that back to UCONN football, has been Diaco's greatest strength in what he's done with this program so far in less than year, turning it around - the mental attitude as players and as a team - and it showed on Saturday.
Both teams were numb, frozen, wet, cold, hurting and playing with the same frozen, wet slippery ball and footing. We stayed together as a team, played mentally tough in the conditions, and beat them.
We protected home field, and hot damn, is that good to see again. Need to continue it.
But reality check: Without the weather? Hypothetical, because we had the weather, and we will continue to have that late season home field advantage - forever. Got to embrace it and love it, and it was pure joy for me - to see Casey Cochran in short sleeves and headset, channeling TJ Weist - but even he put a shell on soon enough, and even better to see all the players reveling in playing in that weather.
It was still a one possession game, at the end, with our D on the field to close it out. It's simple fact of football, that when you do that, you will lose more than you win - this time - we won. Offense got to start learning to close out games - that's the next step.
Back to fundamentals - blocking and tackling. It's getting better. I was so happy early on when #39 stuffed that 4th down run, and did it playing assignment perfect and technique perfect. This is the same player, that I put up a nice picture frame series, of him knocking himself out of a game, with poor fundamentals trying to make a tackle early in the season.
GOt to keep that up. Much better tackling technique since September - for sure - across the board. Still need to get better. I think Diaco used words "club and wrap" in the press before - different words than I and I'm sure others learned, but still same thing. Head up, open arms, wrap, lock and twist.
Assignment perfect? That's the discipline that the academy football will test you on. Our D will get a test in defending the option, in defending the run game, that they haven't seen so far this season. If you get caught screwing up your gap, leverage, assignment - you get beat. If you don't, it's simply a contest of who makes the play and who doesn't, and I'm hoping that we, on Defense - can do that, and I'm pretty sure we have the athletes that can make more plays than they do.
On offense - another example, two actually. OT's Knappe and Levy. The guys are demonstrating the ability to line up in good football position, move the feet well, and still hit with force. Getting better. THe backs are picking up the pressures much, much better than early on. It's improving.
None of it, as anywhere near good enough, and I hope they come back to practice this week, ready to work harder than ever before.
