Buffalo Post Game Thread

[huskymedic]

Announcer said I think, that his career long was a48 yarder.

53yds x 2 last year but thought pinning them was the right call @ that point

 

[Jimdish255]

Diaco would have screwed up the end of that game. Mora didn't.

 

[Marbles90]

you give them a short field if you miss it.

Ball was on the Buff 33. Not really a “short field” if you miss.

53yds x 2 last year but thought pinning them was the right call @ that point

It sorta worked out because the ball ended up at the 10. But it was only 23 yards of field position and even with a 3 and out, Buff was still able to flip the field on the next punt anyway. But did you see that kick? Clearly, punting is not Freeman’s strength. Very lucky it ended up on the 10. It was almost blocked. And a more likely outcome was it was gonna end up in the endzone in which case you are getting 13 yards as opposed to a chance to go up 20-10. 51 yards is definitely in Freeman’s range even if it was a lower probability.

 

[ZooCougar]

This win was fugly. So many weaknesses, so much to try to fix. Tackling! Terrible. There are a couple single digit numbered DB's that are either too weak or, more likely, too afraid to come up on a ball carrier and crush him. Coaches should immediately pull them, put them on bench for duration of game.

Defense needs to practice Oklahoma's: put a 4 foot alleyway lined with chalk and two players 10-15 yds apart, facing each other, one a ball carrier, the other a defender. On GO, smash into each other, hard as you can. Then rinse, repeat til practice is an hour old.

Also, some coach needs to tell Fagnano to throw lower on his medium distance passes. No excuse for throwing the ball over the receivers. Hit the numbers or sit (and I am a fan of JF). Oh and remind your receivers (especially the TE's) to get to the first down markers before you turn, none of this catch it and make them miss.

Who are we going to play instead of him? I mean you’re not wrong but Evers couldn’t hit simple slant patterns last season.

 

[Alum86]

I think coaching staff is monitoring the BY and realized Joe F should tuck it and run.
Kudos to whomever.

 

[RedStickHusky]

Ball was on the Buff 33. Not really a “short field” if you miss.

20 yards shorter than what they ended up with... fwiw

 

[uconnfan68]

Was it that early? I didn't notice until ~30 seconds left in the game.

That would be the 30 seconds I missed because I paused the live stream for a minutes. Can’t believe they treat customers that poorly.

 

[KryHavok]

Sooo...did we cover, cuz it looks like we won by a bigger margin...what the hell is wrong with ESPN???

 

[Purple Stein]

Something is missing…they just don’t have a killer instinct.

It feels like they play scared. Offense is scared to put their foot on the opponent's throat in the fourth quarter. Defense will get in the backfield but is afraid to hit.

As a program we really have nothing to lose and I would love to see us play with more aggression and abandon.

Also, I would love it if the defense could get a stop after a score.

 

[Gburyhusky]

How are we so much worse this season? We crushed them last season. I thought we'd be better than last season.

The numbers don't support the claim that we are worse this year. Record last season after 5 games was 3-2. Record this season after 5 games is also 3-2. Last season first loss was an embarrassing blow out. This seasons 2 losses were OT games which we should have one. Remaining schedule this year is favorable.

 

[giddyup]

We left another steaming pile on the field. The staff ought to be embarrassed…again. These players are overthinking, tentative and micromanaged. It shows up many ways..arm tackling, being pushed back on their heels, delayed fills, lack of aggression. Even our O is regressing with the line not pushing the LOS and keeping their blocks, and receivers suddenly not getting open. Compound this by just plain stupid calls on O and D, and we have a mess in the making. I don’t think I could be more disgusted other than we managed a W despite the stink..

 

[Tdaley]

I know I just started posting here but have been lurking for awhile. I remember discussion on here as to whether or not we should be bringing in guys from the portal who were at "P" level programs but hardly saw the field, or guys from lower level programs that have played and performed. IIRC most people thought bringing in guys who have performed was the way to go (like we did with McDonald last year.)

I think we did a good job getting LBs and DBs from the portal. But I think we whiffed on the D Line, and if you look at the guys we brought in, it's the one position where nobody really had performed at a high level. Smiley played every season at Virginia, but looks like he was a career backup based on his numbers. Wright is a former highly rated recruit, but he barely played at ASU and SMU and only had 15 total tackles at the FCS level last year. Carroll-Jackson barely saw the field for Nebraska. He's young and I like his upside, but it was always kind of a crapshoot as to whether or not he would perform well this year. Black is a senior who has barely played anywhere he's been.

Contrast that with the LBs, where we brought in guys like King (1st team all AAC) and Parham (over 100 tackles at SJSU in 2023.) Or the DBs where we brought in guys like Mills who had an interception in the playoff, Latu who had at least played meaningful snaps at Wisconsin, etc. Obviously all 3 groups have made mistakes throughout the season, but the D Line is the clear weakness. Just looking at the numbers this should have always been the expectation (and I think for a lot of us, it was.)

I'm hoping we prioritize guys that have performed well at lower levels over guys who were former highly rated recruits when we hit the portal this off-season.

We do seem to have better results with guys that got a lot of snaps with G-5 schools than guys that did not play a lot of downs at P4 schools. McDonald was a home run transfer last year for our staff.

 

[FightOnCT]

We do seem to have better results with guys that got a lot of snaps with G-5 schools than guys that did not play a lot of downs at P4 schools. McDonald was a home run transfer last year for our staff.

We play mostly G5 opponents, it’s sometimes better to get guys who are established to play well against them than unproven P4 bench guys.

Of course, there are some exceptions.

 

[Jetskies]

how did the DLine do today? i missed the game.

 

[Chin Diesel]

It was actually showing us at 3-2 and them at 2-3 when we were up 17-10 and had just gotten the ball back, lol. I was shocked nobody ever corrected it. Got to the point I thought the students creating the graphic for the broadcast were just trolling their own fan base as a way of saying, "we suck."

I got so conditioned to seeing the 3-2 during the game that when I made my initial post in this thread, I put down a comment about UConn going to 4-2 on the season. Then I saw someone else put down how the win made UConn 3-2 and I had to go back to check the schedule and realize, yes, the in-game scoreboard was wrong for a long period of time before the game ended.

 

[Chin Diesel]

The team is wildly erratic.

At times they look two to three scores better than everyone and then they lapse into periods of incompetence. The defense at times looked like they simply didn’t care anymore.

Hard to celebrate a win with these concerns.

Nice observation. When UConn goes on scoring drives, it doesn't look spectacular or like they are doing anything crazy. It just looks like good, solid football. Same thing with the defense when it's playing well.

And then each side of the ball will have a 2-3 possession stretch where they look like they're D3 back ups.

Same players. Same coaches. Just maddeningly inconsistent results.

 

[towerman]

Our March towards a bowl game?

 

[Milo65]

The Good

• A win on the road
• No turnovers Again
• No penalties
• Defense held them to 17 points
• Deep RB Room played well when Edwards went down
• Last drive was textbook
• 49 yard kick is good, Freeman hits both
• Clock management at the end of the game
• Only one sack against the statistically best sack defense
• 165 yds rushing
• Held Buffalo to 125 yds passing
• Outstretched touchdown by Edwards
• Skylar YAC on that touchdown

The Bad

• Could not run clock in the 4th
• Get a D lineman back, lose another to injury
• Edwards dinged up
• Shanked punt
• Joe leads the team in rushing
• Edwards bottled up most of the day

The Ugly

• Grabbing not tackling, LB’s running past the ball carriers instead of stuffing the hole
• Missed turnover opportunities
• Missed tackle on the fake punt
• Blocked punt
• Gave up 204 yds rushing
• Turtle mode for much of the fourth quarter

 

[Kowalski]

Ball was on the Buff 33. Not really a “short field” if you miss.


It sorta worked out because the ball ended up at the 10. But it was only 23 yards of field position and even with a 3 and out, Buff was still able to flip the field on the next punt anyway. But did you see that kick? Clearly, punting is not Freeman’s strength. Very lucky it ended up on the 10. It was almost blocked. And a more likely outcome was it was gonna end up in the endzone in which case you are getting 13 yards as opposed to a chance to go up 20-10. 51 yards is definitely in Freeman’s range even if it was a lower probability.

I agree. It only worked out in the sense that Freeman’s punt was about as good as anyone could expect & Uconn ended up winning. Buffalo flipped positions anyway on the next punt and then got it back near mid field & went on to score.

Of course it’s no guarantee but a field goal there would have prevented needing late game heroics to pull out a W. I just thought a FG attempt there, especially with Freeman, would have been well worth the risk of losing about 15 - 25 yards of field position.

Good thing is none of it matters now because they won.

 

[UCan3]

The Good

• A win on the road
• No turnovers Again
• No penalties
• Defense held them to 17 points
• Deep RB Room played well when Edwards went down
• Last drive was textbook
• 49 yard kick is good, Freeman hits both
• Clock management at the end of the game
• Only one sack against the statistically best sack defense
• 165 yds rushing
• Held Buffalo to 125 yds passing
• Outstretched touchdown by Edwards
• Skylar YAC on that touchdown

The Bad

• Could not run clock in the 4th
• Get a D lineman back, lose another to injury
• Edwards dinged up
• Shanked punt
• Joe leads the team in rushing
• Edwards bottled up most of the day

The Ugly

• Grabbing not tackling, LB’s running past the ball carriers instead of stuffing the hole
• Missed turnover opportunities
• Missed tackle on the fake punt
• Blocked punt
• Gave up 204 yds rushing
• Turtle mode for much of the fourth quarter

Letting up that last TD was hard to watch. I really wanted the D to finish that superb series. Instead receiver goes into end zone untouched.

Turtle mode to me is let’s ride Cam and forget we have 3-5 RBI’s and some superb receivers. Cam getting 2-4 yards is what happens when the other team knows our offensive plans of handing him the ball over and over again. Won’t cut it all game.

When Cam went out w. Ankle we kind of shined as we marched down the field. Loved that series of playcalling that had joe running it, Swedish kid with speed and moves cutting up D, and our receivers making plays. Nice to see Rosa in his dual role RB/Receiver - he played well yesterday.

This point has ZERO to do with Cam but playcalling. Teams are prepping for Cam all week. Give them something they don’t expect.

The Good, I would add:
1) No sacks allowed by offensive live.
2) Joe as the leading rusher maybe not the greatest sign but so glad he has decided to run when the play calls for it. Defenses will not have to have him accounted for - that’s helps our RBs.
3) Can someone acknowledge our receiving crew showed up when it counted? Clutch catches - wow!
4) Referees - as least we got as fair of a shake in the road as you’re going to get. Loved the way they resisted the PI Calls. Made for smooth, competitive game.

 

[JMick]

The Good

• A win on the road
• No turnovers Again
• No penalties
• Defense held them to 17 points
• Deep RB Room played well when Edwards went down
• Last drive was textbook
• 49 yard kick is good, Freeman hits both
• Clock management at the end of the game
• Only one sack against the statistically best sack defense
• 165 yds rushing
• Held Buffalo to 125 yds passing
• Outstretched touchdown by Edwards
• Skylar YAC on that touchdown

The Bad

• Could not run clock in the 4th
• Get a D lineman back, lose another to injury
• Edwards dinged up
• Shanked punt
• Joe leads the team in rushing
• Edwards bottled up most of the day

The Ugly

• Grabbing not tackling, LB’s running past the ball carriers instead of stuffing the hole
• Missed turnover opportunities
• Missed tackle on the fake punt
• Blocked punt
• Gave up 204 yds rushing
• Turtle mode for much of the fourth quarter

The missed turnovers are killer. We must have dropped 8-10 interceptions already this year. Of course it happens and there's a reason DBs don't play wide receiver, but it's been excessive

 

[Stinger92860]

Similar thoughts. It appears to me that King and Parham are our two best LBs (not counting the hybrid LB/DEs, Branch and Key). I don’t think we have them on the field together much, if at all.

And I’d love to know if, on the Buffalo tieing TD, someone blew an assignment or the blitz we called left us no way to defend that little pass. I’m guessing the former but it’s just a guess.

On that TD, in real time, I thought they had too many blitzing, but I would need to see a replay. It looked like 7/8 blitzing, but not sure.

 

[huskymedic]

… And I’d love to know if, on the Buffalo tieing TD, someone blew an assignment or the blitz we called left us no way to defend that little pass. I’m guessing the former but it’s just a guess.

On that TD, in real time, I thought they had too many blitzing, but I would need to see a replay. It looked like 7/8 blitzing, but not sure.

 

[Stinger92860]

So 8 at the line, 5 blitzed and 3 dropped, but no one covered the right side where the throw was delivered. That cannot be designed coverage.

 

[ScottVib]

re: Freeman punt:
I liked the call; yes it was almost blocked... he's setup 5 yards shorter than a normal punter, it was always going to be a rushed kick, with a goal to getting it out of bounds inside the 10. It achieved exactly what was intended.


re: D-Line/LBs
In general I think the D-Line was adequate; the problem on defense and the rush defense is the linebackers. There seems to be one of two modes for them; rush into the backfield and over pursue the play. Frequently in this approach the backer is actively avoiding contact, rather than taking on and defeating the block, as a result they are taking themselves out of the play. The few times where the LBs did not penetrate, they struggled to get off the block themselves, but they did tend to bunch up the play keeping things to 4 yard gains rather than say... 62 yards and a score. One thing that has been incredibly frustrating to see is the number of times UConn uses pressure, gets folks into the backfield, but the attempted stop has stopped feet and a lunge/reach. Brock seems to be using a ton of pressure to try to get penetration and to help the defensive backs; but the defenders are struggling to breakdown and make a good form tackle.