Ball State Post Game Thread

[Windham4th]

The odds of Brock changing his scheme mid-season are 0 to none. The players are out of position in the scheme they have put in place for months. Imagine how scattered they'd be in a new scheme next week.

 

[Windham4th]

What we really need is Neider to throw passes to himself. We'd be unstoppable

 

[BugsyCT]

Agreed. I feel like this is the make or break game for how the rest of the season goes. A win on the road gets us to 3-2 with a home game against FIU, then a bye before BC. Maybe some positive momentum. A loss and I struggle to see how we get to 6 wins.

Buffalo has Roberson at QB (although he got hurt today) and they’ve struggled mightily on offense. If our defense can’t play a decent game here, I don’t think they’re stopping anyone else

Buffalo blew a 17-0 lead in the last 10 minutes of the game. Losing Roberson late 3rd qtr probably didn't help either.

I know everyone's disappointed in how our defense is playing but there's still a lot of season left to fix it. We're still 2-2 when we could/should easily be 4-0. UB will still remember the drubbing we gave them last year so they'll be ready to play. It's up to our coaches to get this figured out and the D able to make stops at crucial times.

Still hopeful about this season.

 

[BonaConn]

I’m a little surprised by the doom and gloom here. Yeah, Ball State isn’t that good, but that game never felt out of our control. Up until late in the game, the defense fixed quite a bit of its mistakes against Delaware.

-21 was way too big of a line and it’s probably why some are disappointed here. Just like we were a couple bounces from beating Cuse/UD, we were a couple bounces from blowing that game wide open and covering. Not much has changed for me, we should beat everyone left except BC and Duke

 

[Chin Diesel]

Buffalo blew a 17-0 lead in the last 10 minutes of the game. Losing Roberson late 3rd qtr probably didn't help either.

I know everyone's disappointed in how our defense is playing but there's still a lot of season left to fix it. We're still 2-2 when we could/should easily be 4-0. UB will still remember the drubbing we gave them last year so they'll be ready to play. It's up to our coaches to get this figured out and the D able to make stops at crucial times.

Still hopeful about this season.

I don’t know what would he worse......
1. Roberson having the game of his life and the game we all expected him to play when he came to UConn.....
Or, behind door #2...Having some California kid named Gunnar Gray becoming the upteenth back up look like an All-conference level QB.

 

[TMB4405]

I was curious how the team would react after last week. It was not very good. I was hoping we put a beatdown on them to set tone for rest of the season. Two weeks in a row now the Qb run has killed us (as it has for an eternity), and we can never get off the field on defense. Its weird because it seems if they are locked in they can play. See 3.5 quarters against SU. The last TD drive we allowed was alarming to me because a group that is mentally locked in and wants to finish them off does not allow that QB scramble and the last TD was even worse. At least we escaped. Next week huge. Wondering if team is all in or not. Just feels like something is off.

 

[REB1094]

Defense is a different story. I’d hate to know how many times they’ve let up a TD on a drive after UConn scores.

Thought this would be interesting to dive into. Here is every defensive possession after UConn scores (TD & FG) not counting CCSU

In total: 16 defensive possessions after scoring. 8 of those 16 times, we’ve given up a TD. 2 times we gave up a field goal. So overall, 62.5% of the time we give up points. We’ve forced 3 turnovers, and forced 3 punts

Syracuse: 50% scoring possessions (2/4), 50% no score (2/4)
Forced TO, FG, forced punt, gave up TD (counting this as first possession on OT and not the QB kneel at the end of regulation)

Delaware: 71% scoring possession (5/7), 29% no score (2/7)
Gave up TD, gave up TD, forced punt, gave up TD, gave up TD, forced TO (missed FG), gave up TD (OT)

Ball St: 60% scoring possession (3/5), 40% no score (2/5)
Forced punt, gave up TD, gave up FG, interception, gave up TD.

 

[AllHusky]

thought this would be interesting to dive into. Here is every defensive possession after UConn scores a TD not counting CCSU

In total: 16 defensive possessions after scoring. 8 of those 16 times, we’ve given up a TD. 2 times we gave up a field goal. So overall, 62.5% of the time we give up points. We’ve forced 3 turnovers, and forced 3 punts

Syracuse: 50% scoring possessions (2/4), 50% no score (2/4)
Forced TO, FG, forced punt, gave up TD (counting this as first possession on OT and not the QB knee at the end of regulation)

Delaware: 71% scoring possession (5/7), 29% no score (2/7)
Gave up TD, gave up TD, forced punt, gave up TD, gave up TD, forced TO (missed FG), gave up TD (OT)

Ball St: 60% scoring possession (3/5), 40 no score (2/5)
Forced punt, gave up TD, gave up FG, interception, gave up TD.

Wonder what the National average is for that stat? I just tried to find it, no luck. My impression has always been that a team that allows a score after they score is one whose defense is not ready to play when they take the field. Almost like too much pressure. Clearly if we had one stop after a score more per game, the season would look a lot different.(ie Syr 1/4 instead of 2/4, Del 4/7 instead of 5/7). Clearly a "no SH_t Sherlock" statement by me, appreciate REB1094 doing the digging

 

[ZooCougar]

We actually outplayed Syracuse for most of the game and they are pretty good. I think they just beat Clemson

Do you have eyes?

Turnstile defense.

 

[UConnDan97]

I share everyone's concerns about the D, but for now I'll look at it this way. Ball State is probably not a bottom 10 team. Their 2 blowout losses came against P2 teams. Syracuse just beat Clemson on the road, and Delaware thumped our future opponent FIU by 22, also on the road. So overall. I think our competition to date has been better than their ratings would suggest. Plus, as was pointed out, we are still down a couple of key players on D. I believe Brock is a good DC and that we will see improvement going foward. That is how I'll look at our situation.....for now.

THIS!

2 points separates us from undefeated right now, and nobody has beaten us in regulation. Again, every game feels like an existential crisis, but let's take the win and keep building...

 

[ZooCougar]

If we were actually good, we wouldn’t choose plays having receivers look directly into the sun for the ball. Counted at least 2 instances just in this game, and more in the others too. Just unacceptable.

I think we have all the tools on offense. I just don’t think that Gordon Sammis knows how to break down and exploit opposing defenses.

 

[RSTuthill]

THIS!

2 points separates us from undefeated right now, and nobody has beaten us in regulation. Again, every game feels like an existential crisis, but let's take the win and keep building...

Every game? How about every first down? How long did it take UConn to keep the drive alive in the last two drives before they got big plays? They were hanging by a thread 3rd and long multiple times. In contrast Ball State just ripped off big gainer after big gainer. The guy sitting close to us says "Well, that should lock down the win." I said, "Nope, we are gonna need one or two more." And we did.

 

[Nameless]

FIU is as bad as Ball State. UConn will probably beat FAU as well.

Rice is going to THUMP UConn. The Owls are much improved. Air Force has been a disappointment but is, at best, a toss-up.

Just curious, what have you seen from Rice that makes you think they are going to "THUMP" UConn?

They won @UL 14-12. They lost to UH 35-9. They beat an FCS team 38-17 and won @Charlotte 28-17.

They're currently 3-1 but I can easily see them finishing in the 4-8, 6-6 range. The only competent team they've played blew them out of the water, and they haven't scored a lot in 2 of their 4 games.

I think our offense is better than theirs, but like most of us I don't trust our defense. If I thought our D was competent I would have this marked as an easy W. Instead I have this one marked as a tossup. But I don't see them smoking us. They're not that good