Can UConn football team improve running game over final stretch of season? 'Definitely a focus' (Adamec)

[huskymedic]

-> "We all have our concerns and everything, but we're making a cognizant effort to improve on that aspect," UConn quarterback Nick Evers said. "We have a great O-Line and great leaders on the O-Line. Those boys are all working together well. We just have to connect a few loose ends. I have full faith in all my running backs to go make something happen. <-

-> Mora said he knew why the running game is struggling but declined to expand on a question for a strategic reasons. "I think it's something we'll let our opponents figure out," Mora said. "It would behoove us as a UConn football team or UConn Nation not for me to talk about why I think we are struggling and give an opponent and opportunity to listen and go, 'This is why he thinks they're struggling. Let's zero in on that.'

"I'm concerned yes, but discouraged no. Everyone in this building realizes we are not running the ball to our standard. What is great about our players is that they take ownership. It bothers them as much as it bothers anybody. The role of the coach is to give them answers. I believe we have a good staff offensively that has come up with some things and really looked at it hard. There are some reasons why we're not running it as well as we had earlier and we hope we have been able to fix those." <-

 

[Chin Diesel]

-> "We all have our concerns and everything, but we're making a cognizant effort to improve on that aspect," UConn quarterback Nick Evers said. "We have a great O-Line and great leaders on the O-Line. Those boys are all working together well. We just have to connect a few loose ends. I have full faith in all my running backs to go make something happen. <-

-> Mora said he knew why the running game is struggling but declined to expand on a question for a strategic reasons. "I think it's something we'll let our opponents figure out," Mora said. "It would behoove us as a UConn football team or UConn Nation not for me to talk about why I think we are struggling and give an opponent and opportunity to listen and go, 'This is why he thinks they're struggling. Let's zero in on that.'

"I'm concerned yes, but discouraged no. Everyone in this building realizes we are not running the ball to our standard. What is great about our players is that they take ownership. It bothers them as much as it bothers anybody. The role of the coach is to give them answers. I believe we have a good staff offensively that has come up with some things and really looked at it hard. There are some reasons why we're not running it as well as we had earlier and we hope we have been able to fix those." <-

Well, the proof is in the pudding regarding adjustments to the running game. Hopefully once Rice sees UConn's adjustments and Rice adjusts to it, UConn has a counter to the counter.

 

[husky10]

To my untrained eyes, it appeared that Wake's DT's were getting upfield and cutoff the outside read run plays in the backfield. We ran one straight ahead dive that allowed the RB to get behind these DT's and into the defensive backfield, but after this play, I never saw us attempt a dive play again. I thought if we could consistently run it down their throats, it would force wake to adjust, keep their DTs home, and open up the outside read run.

 

[gioff2323]

I’m worried about how this OL performs against decent talent. It wasn’t just wake. Temple owned our OL.

 

[ZooCougar]

I’m worried about how this OL performs against decent talent. It wasn’t just wake. Temple owned our OL.

All of Temple’s starrting DL are NFL UDFA caliber at a minimum. They may be better than Wake in that dept.

 

[UConnDan97]

Well, the proof is in the pudding regarding adjustments to the running game. Hopefully once Rice sees UConn's adjustments and Rice adjusts to it, UConn has a counter to the counter.

But then what if they have a counter to our counter of the counter???

 

[gioff2323]

All of Temple’s starrting DL are NFL UDFA caliber at a minimum. They may be better than Wake in that dept.

We can’t schedule Merrimack every week.

There’s a post here about our OL being on a watch list for top groups. A top group doesn’t get manhandled by UDFA types.

 

[CL82]

But then what if they have a counter to our counter of the counter???

We'd have to break out our counter counter. It's good to have a counter counter that you can count on.

 

[ZooCougar]

We can’t schedule Merrimack every week.

There’s a post here about our OL being on a watch list for top groups. A top group doesn’t get manhandled by UDFA types.

Not everyone on our OL is UDFA caliber.

Temple’s DL was better than Wake’s sorry but you are wildly off the mark here.

 

[gioff2323]

I’ve said all year I had concerns with OL. They’ve done well against undersized, undermanned units but not good against p4 or good teams. This was a unit put on a watch list as a top unit. I didn’t put them there. But if you want to know why running game has stalled, which is the thread, I think it’s because the OL is not a strength.

You think I’m wildly off the mark. I’m not even sure we are disagreeing?

 

[Jetskies]

We can’t schedule Merrimack every week.

i meannn, we kinda have already.

the 2024 uconn schedule is a bunch of merrimacks in disguises - mustache, glasses, you name it. Save for the 4 power programs, it's a buffet of bad.

and i'm OK with that, this year. We needed winnable games and boy did our schedule deliver.
No apologies for that.

I said it before but i'll say it again - this ascension of UConn that everyone desires, will come in stages (if it comes).

• First stage is beat the bad /meh G5 teams who used to destroy us. (Wyoming, Utah St, Middle Tenn, USF, etc.)
• Second stage is compete and win "periodically" (30-40%) against meh P4's and G5 elites - eg. Duke, Cuse, Liberty, Boise, etc.
• Third Stage is beat these same teams consistently (50-70%)
• Fourth stage is get an upset against a T25 program.

and keep going on that, till we get the invite.
We are still in stage 1.

 

[gioff2323]

i meannn can't we tho?

the 2024 uconn schedule is a bunch of merrimacks in disguises - mustache, glasses, you name it. Save for the 4 power programs, it's a buffet of bad.

and i'm OK with that, this year. We needed winnable games and boy did our schedule deliver.
No apologies for that.

I said it before but i'll say it again - this ascension of UConn that everyone desires, will come in stages (if it comes).

• First stage is beat the bad /meh G5 teams who used to destroy us. (Wyoming, Utah St, Middle Tenn, USF, etc.)
• Second stage is compete and win "periodically" (30-40%) against meh P4's and G5 elites - eg. Duke, Cuse, Liberty, Boise, etc.
• Third Stage is beat these same teams consistently (50-70%)
• Fourth stage is get an upset against a T25 program.

and keep going on that, till we get the invite.
We are still in stage 1.

We’ve accomplished stage 4

 

[Jetskies]

We’ve accomplished stage 4

that's true, isn't it. we beat liberty in 2022. i forgot about that. is there another that I was forgetting?

 

[ScottVib]

Beat undefeated and top-15 Houston to get bowl eligible in 2015 and a couple of others from before that.