Can everyone take a deep breath

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

As for the non-TD catch at the end of the first half, was it a TD? From the stadium, it looked like, when the WRs one foot came down (in bounds), he had both hands on the ball, and never lost possession thereafter. Yes, when that foot came down the DB may have had as much or more of the ball than the WR, but it's supposed to be a good catch if their is shared possession.

For those who saw it on TV, what happened and what was the explanation for ruling it incomplete?

I couldn’t believe that wasn’t a catch. Looked pretty cut and dry to me. Team was playing very well up until that point and it completely took the wind out of our sails. I was in the stadium but they showed many replays (not sure they’re supposed to?)

 

[whaler11]

Agree there is a difference, disagree that it matters this year. Tickets and interest and recruits are already hurting, obviously the sooner we can turn it around the better, I guess to me it's kind of a can't get much lower than this season.

And how does it ever get better unless recruiting gets better?

 

[tduconn]

Youth, size, speed, experience all contribute to success and/or failure in game results. But it all starts with recruiting, which, I know, is beating a dead horse. My concern is the number of recruits that don't have any other offers....at any level of college football. Its one thing to suggest players can be coached up.......but I guess it depends the level of high school experience from which they are coming. If the recruits are coming from the lowest ranking of HS football teams (in any state) they MAY NOT have solid HS skills from which to build. Did any of the recruits come from state championship HS playoff teams, or do they come from teams that never plays post season HS football.

Coaching plays a part also, but if that's the cause for failure, does UConn only get coaches no one else wants? Ten years is a long time to keep hiring the worse coaches in FBS if that is the sole reason for dismal records in recent past.

 

[RSTuthill]

What does wash mean? Is next year a wash also as unless he gets lot of Juco transfers or other older players his 2 deep on defense will have 13 sophomores (unless true freshman take some of these slots) and still need some freshman to step up to play.

This year UConn is playing its freshmen team so yes, this season is a wash. Next year UConn will be playing its JV team, so yes, next year will be a wash too. In 2020 UConn will have a varsity team in the AAC and will go bowling. The following year will be awesome culminating in a major bowl in January 2022.

 

[amory]

You can only go to the "starting over" excuse so many times with fans before it loses its ability to placate them.

The team isn't any better than they were under Crazy Bob or Pasqualoni. Hell, they're much worse. And yeah I understand that the problems of today are an indication of failures of the past. But let's not forget that Edsall made this mess in the first place, so he gets less rope than maybe someone else would as he tries to clean it up.

 

[Exit 4]

I said this before: where I get a little pissed is to think that Edsall had to have seen this coming with all his experience. If anyone would have a good idea of what it means to play virtually all freshman and the kind of freshman a program like ours manages to pull in, its a guy with 20 years of head coaching experience here in the northeast. And so why didn't he get more JUCOs to bridge the gap? You may laugh at this, but the staff leaves a pretty clear path on twitter and there is little to suggest a serious effort was made last Dec/Jan to pull in JUCOs.

The kind of kids were are recruiting and will continue to recruit for several years ahead are exactly the opposite of what the top programs command; the kids that need 2-3 years of S&C and coaching to develop.

Our best player is Pindell and he's a JUCO. And there is Buss whose a transfer. In fact, there is not really a player in the top 10 of this roster that is an underclassman but for Mensah. Players need development time, especially the kids we are taking in. Edsall should have known,

 

[whaler11]

I said this before: where I get a little pissed is to think that Edsall had to have seen this coming with all his experience. If anyone would have a good idea of what it means to play virtually all freshman and the kind of freshman a program like ours manages to pull in, its a guy with 20 years of head coaching experience here in the northeast. And so why didn't he get more JUCOs to bridge the gap? You may laugh at this, but the staff leaves a pretty clear path on twitter and there is little to suggest a serious effort was made last Dec/Jan to pull in JUCOs.

The kind of kids were are recruiting and will continue to recruit for several years ahead are exactly the opposite of what the top programs command; the kids that need 2-3 years of S&C and coaching to develop.

Our best player is Pindell and he's a JUCO. And there is Buss whose a transfer. In fact, there is not really a player in the top 10 of this roster that is an underclassman but for Mensah. Players need development time, especially the kids we are taking in. Edsall should have known,

How disgraceful has the coaching been here?

The best WR is a transfer from the NEC and the top back before he got hurt is a D-II transfer.

How is that even frigging possible?

Edsall burned it to the ground. So guess what buddy - you can to answer to starting 11 underclassmen.

BTW the offense kind of blows too - too young I guess.

 

[uconnphil2016]

And how does it ever get better unless recruiting gets better?

This is our great paradox. Bad teams can't get better without good recruiting, recruiting can't get more than marginally better without on field success or dynamic coaches. Unfortunately, we have neither of those things. Edsall has been a great value recruiter, but our product in 2018 is not what it was in 2003--we can't pitch a dream or a rise to greatness in the same way we could before. 8 wins in the Big East was much more exciting--the idea of beating a Pitt or WVU, than winning 8 games in the AAC regardless of which conference actually had better teams. Would we even get that excited if we were an average AAC team? That's what we were during RE1--an average Big East team.

Randy's old guard mentality doesn't help. He's not alone in a profession that tends to be hugely socially conservative, but what 17 year old kid wants to constantly listen to how things used to be much better 15 years ago and that texting has ruined them? I know I sure wouldn't--I'd rather play for a younger coach who actually understands today's world than a Luddite with a 2 win program.

Randy's saving grace is that he's a value recruiter. It's always been his best attribute. I just wonder if we can even get enough value to make ourselves a competitive team, because it needs to happen fast. We're getting to the point of becoming a Kansas or Rutgers kind of thing, where the program has a stench that it can't drop that makes recruiting nearly impossible.

 

[uconnphil2016]

I said this before: where I get a little pissed is to think that Edsall had to have seen this coming with all his experience. If anyone would have a good idea of what it means to play virtually all freshman and the kind of freshman a program like ours manages to pull in, its a guy with 20 years of head coaching experience here in the northeast. And so why didn't he get more JUCOs to bridge the gap? You may laugh at this, but the staff leaves a pretty clear path on twitter and there is little to suggest a serious effort was made last Dec/Jan to pull in JUCOs.

The kind of kids were are recruiting and will continue to recruit for several years ahead are exactly the opposite of what the top programs command; the kids that need 2-3 years of S&C and coaching to develop.

Our best player is Pindell and he's a JUCO. And there is Buss whose a transfer. In fact, there is not really a player in the top 10 of this roster that is an underclassman but for Mensah. Players need development time, especially the kids we are taking in. Edsall should have known,

Part of me believes it's a matter of ego. Edsall can show how bad his successors were by doing this. You become so incredibly bad that there's nowhere to go but up and you blame it on the past. It's a decent strategy for generating job security in a program that already can't afford to go elsewhere

 

[whaler11]

This is our great paradox. Bad teams can't get better without good recruiting, recruiting can't get more than marginally better without on field success or dynamic coaches. Unfortunately, we have neither of those things. Edsall has been a great value recruiter, but our product in 2018 is not what it was in 2003--we can't pitch a dream or a rise to greatness in the same way we could before. 8 wins in the Big East was much more exciting--the idea of beating a Pitt or WVU, than winning 8 games in the AAC regardless of which conference actually had better teams. Would we even get that excited if we were an average AAC team? That's what we were during RE1--an average Big East team.

Randy's old guard mentality doesn't help. He's not alone in a profession that tends to be hugely socially conservative, but what 17 year old kid wants to constantly listen to how things used to be much better 15 years ago and that texting has ruined them? I know I sure wouldn't--I'd rather play for a younger coach who actually understands today's world than a Luddite with a 2 win program.

Randy's saving grace is that he's a value recruiter. It's always been his best attribute. I just wonder if we can even get enough value to make ourselves a competitive team, because it needs to happen fast. We're getting to the point of becoming a Kansas or Rutgers kind of thing, where the program has a stench that it can't drop that makes recruiting nearly impossible.

my initial reaction was that it was the worst hire I’d ever heard and then I sort of got ok with based on posts here - but it’s a plane crashing onto a trainwreck at this point.

 

[Exit 4]

Part of me believes it's a matter of ego. Edsall can show how bad his successors were by doing this. You become so incredibly bad that there's nowhere to go but up and you blame it on the past. It's a decent strategy for generating job security in a program that already can't afford to go elsewhere

Phil, I have a hard time looking at you now with that Jacobs pic. I won't make eye contact.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Phil, I have a hard time looking at you now with that Jacobs pic. I won't make eye contact.

No need to make eye contact. Just look out from Hartford to Hamden, New Haven to Newington, Thompson to Torrington, and you will see my spirit

 

[Exit 4]

my initial reaction was that it was the worst hire I’d ever heard and then I sort of got ok with based on posts here - but it’s a plane crashing onto a trainwreck at this point.

I think I was mixed at the time. Wanted something exotic, but loved that Randy was tried and true and would be an adult.

Skipping the JUCO bridge, in my eyes, has been a colossal misstep. Going to the JUCO well this winter is better than not, but it means we are one year behind where we should have been.

 

[SubbaBub]

There is being young.
There is being inexperienced.
There is being bad.
There is being the worst defense in the country.


And there is what are, likely the worst D1 offense of all time.

You can be all of the first 4 things without being the last. I think it's fair to hold the staff accountable for the level of bad defense we are seeing. Being young doesn't mean you are required to give up 50 ppg to all comers.

The only thing limiting the number of points given up right now is the clock.

 

[Exit 4]

There is being young.
There is being inexperienced.
There is being bad.
There is being the worst defense in the country.


And there is what are, likely the worst D1 offense of all time.

You can be all of the first 4 things without being the last. I think it's fair to hold the staff accountable for the level of bad defense we are seeing. Being young doesn't mean you are required to give up 50 ppg to all comers.

The only thing limiting the number of points given up right now is the clock.

Rumor has it the clock at the Rent has been made to run 5% faster for the remaining games of the year shaving off about 3 mins over the four quarters. Whose gonna notice that each second is just .95 of a whole second?

 

[Dooley]

Rumor has it the clock at the Rent has been made to run 5% faster for the remaining games of the year shaving off about 3 mins over the four quarters. Whose gonna notice that each second is just .95 of a whole second?

You have no idea how badly I wish this was true. Running clock and situational football practices just like our old PP Spring Games!

 

[Dooley]

There is being young.
There is being inexperienced.
There is being bad.
There is being the worst defense in the country.


And there is what are, likely the worst D1 offense of all time.

You can be all of the first 4 things without being the last. I think it's fair to hold the staff accountable for the level of bad defense we are seeing. Being young doesn't mean you are required to give up 50 ppg to all comers.

The only thing limiting the number of points given up right now is the clock.

Exactly right. This defense is historically awful. I'm dead serious - our D would have a very difficult time stopping high school offenses in any fairly hot hotbed of HS football. Hope a few years of S&C will add the necessary muscle and speed needed to compete at the FBS level.

 

[Tdaley]

As for the non-TD catch at the end of the first half, was it a TD? From the stadium, it looked like, when the WRs one foot came down (in bounds), he had both hands on the ball, and never lost possession thereafter. Yes, when that foot came down the DB may have had as much or more of the ball than the WR, but it's supposed to be a good catch if their is shared possession.

For those who saw it on TV, what happened and what was the explanation for ruling it incomplete?

I was at the game did but I did re-watched the first half on Sunday. To me it was a catch. The TV announcers thought it would not be reversed because when McLean was falling to the ground there was some movement of the ball. It was one of those plays that we see get call both ways each year. It was a tough break for a team that certainly doesn't need the close calls to go against them.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[uconnfan68]

Combined records of first 5 teams we played is 19-3. UCF and Cincinnati are still undefeated.

And all were undefeated when we played them.

 

[whaler11]

You have no idea how badly I wish this was true. Running clock and situational football practices just like our old PP Spring Games!

The spring game first and goals were worse than the first 5 games this season.

 

[Block C]

What does everyone expect with freshman you need to let them grow by there third year you will see a difference. Stop freaking lol. This program will turn around

 

[DAC17]

There's a bigger problem, guys. Yes, the schedule has been hard. Yes, the players are inexperienced and too small for D1 football.

However, the fact that this comes on top of 6 poor seasons, with increasingly disappointed and uncaring fans, will make it extremely hard to come back from. And how do you convince good recruits to come here when they get one look at the pitiful attendance? Tell me what brings even 30,000 people back into the Rent over the next couple of years. In the meantime, the program continues to bleed money that, frankly, the state doesn't have.

I don't know how this ends well. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Husk1881]

Do you still after that hose-job the Browns got yesterday?

It’s been a rough football season

 

[RSTuthill]

I dunno, I don't think I will start to get excited until or if the end of the season comes and the Huskies are 1-11. But I am also not going to any more games, either. There are LOTS of things to do besides sitting on ones butt all afternoon on a beautiful Saturday.

 

[Kemba429]

I wish we played Rutgers this season

 

[whaler11]

I wish we played Rutgers this season

Guy who makes the lines at the South Point had them as 2 pt faves over UConn on a neutral field as of last week.

 

[freescooter]

I actually think we are in a similar situation to what Rutgers was in at the end of the Terry Shea era. Like Diaco, Shea recruited what were basically 1AA players. It took Schiano really 4 years to build the program. I think they won 1 game the first year, 2 in year 2 then like 4, and 5 before becoming at worst a competent program. Over the rest of his tenure they won like 7,8,9 and 11 games though I think there was one bad year with 4-5 wins in there, Rutgers became at worst a competitive program during his tenure. But many of the things they said about Shea’s teams apply to Diaco’s recruits.

The other thing is something Edsall said and I heard Jim Grobe also say about succeeding at Wake. Unlike at a Clemson or Alabama or Michigan, At UConn and Wake and some others you recruit athletes and teach them to play football. It takes a while to build but your best teams come when you have redshirt juniors and seniors at key positions especially on the oline d line and at linebacker. But that obviously takes time to build. And when the previous regime’ recruits don’t cut it it is even worse.

 

[Hornet22]

There's a bigger problem, guys. Yes, the schedule has been hard. Yes, the players are inexperienced and too small for D1 football.

However, the fact that this comes on top of 6 poor seasons, with increasingly disappointed and uncaring fans, will make it extremely hard to come back from. And how do you convince good recruits to come here when they get one look at the pitiful attendance? Tell me what brings even 30,000 people back into the Rent over the next couple of years. In the meantime, the program continues to bleed money that, frankly, the state doesn't have.

I don't know how this ends well. I hope I'm wrong.

Here’s what I think- and of course this goes along with the team starting to play better next year and really shining the year after- just as powerful as the narratives have been talking about how terrible we are now, the rags to riches phenomenon will be in play. Society as a hole enjoys stories like “the worst defense in FBS history,” blah blah blah. That’s why these reporters are headlining this story because records and feats get people curious. On the flip side society also enjoys reading stories and hopping on bandwagons of teams that are ranked last as we are then turning it around and playing scrappy.
These same reporters will gladly eat some crow and detail how bad this team/defense was and how admittedly Randy’s plan and patience paid off.
People will curiously want to see what originally looked like trash to what has blossomed into a competitive team.
It’s human nature.
The new narratives from the players will be, “A few years back we were getting our butts kicked and not many people believed in us but we stuck together as a team and a program and had faith in our coaches, blah blah blah.”
And the future UConn students who probably are paying more attention to their high schools right now will walk in to a team that’s playing better with some buzz surrounding them. So they will show up.
Again, we have to improve these next two years for all that to happen.
That’s what I’m waiting patiently for.
Rags to Riches fellas.

 

[DAC17]

Here’s what I think- and of course this goes along with the team starting to play better next year and really shining the year after- just as powerful as the narratives have been talking about how terrible we are now, the rags to riches phenomenon will be in play. Society as a hole enjoys stories like “the worst defense in FBS history,” blah blah blah. That’s why these reporters are headlining this story because records and feats get people curious. On the flip side society also enjoys reading stories and hopping on bandwagons of teams that are ranked last as we are then turning it around and playing scrappy.
These same reporters will gladly eat some crow and detail how bad this team/defense was and how admittedly Randy’s plan and patience paid off.
People will curiously want to see what originally looked like trash to what has blossomed into a competitive team.
It’s human nature.
The new narratives from the players will be, “A few years back we were getting our butts kicked and not many people believed in us but we stuck together as a team and a program and had faith in our coaches, blah blah blah.”
And the future UConn students who probably are paying more attention to their high schools right now will walk in to a team that’s playing better with some buzz surrounding them. So they will show up.
Again, we have to improve these next two years for all that to happen.
That’s what I’m waiting patiently for.
Rags to Riches fellas.

Hornet22: I hope you’re right, and that the school can keep the funding going during the downtime, but the state as a whole is going to have to make some tough choices in the next couple of years.