D Should Be a Smidge Better By Now

[Palatine]

When is the last time you heard the announcer say, "all out blitz" or "8-man front." We never do anything to confuse the offense. And we never confuse the offense.

 

[uconnfan68]

The defensive numbers are unfathomable.

UCF - 56 pts, 652 ttl yds
Boise - 62 pts, 818 ttl yds
URI - 49 pts, 550 ttl yds
Syracuse - 51 pts, 636 ttl yds
Cincy - 49 pts, 659 ttl yds
Memphis - 55 pts, 634 ttl yds

So we're holding steady at an average of 53.6 pts/game and 658 yds/game. And all these games (except URI) had the opponent take the foot off the gas pedal 4th qtr or earlier.

In 6 games we've forced 13 punts for 14 total return yds.

Granted that most of those teams are pretty good, but yes - it's bad. Very bad. Historically bad. It can't continue like this into next season, even into the latter half of this season. There has to be signs of improvement and we've yet to see it. After USF the schedule lightens up so the D will at least be facing opponents that shouldn't totally overwhelm them, so there's hope that they can at least look competent.

This statement from Putterman's column concerned me though:

"Several Huskies said Saturday that five blowout losses have players discouraged. Fortt said some seem to have “given up,” while running back Zavier Scott suggested UConn must learn to be more resilient."

These guys have more games to play. No question it's been demoralizing to say the least but they need to stay with it and keep battling, keep working, keep improving. Build on the little things and get better.

Every team until Memphis was UNDEFEATED when we played them. Some still are. And don't forget a whole bunch of kids were sat for redshirts, decreasing depth at many positions. I agree tackling could be better, but that kid from Memphis was averaging almost 12yd/carrry BEFORE we played him, and leading the nation in rushing (or second). Give these freshmen and sophomores a break.

 

[BlueDogs]

Every team until Memphis was UNDEFEATED when we played them. Some still are. And don't forget a whole bunch of kids were sat for redshirts, decreasing depth at many positions. I agree tackling could be better, but that kid from Memphis was averaging almost 12yd/carrry BEFORE we played him, and leading the nation in rushing (or second). Give these freshmen and sophomores a break.

This is not just about this year. Last year was a disaster too. No. This is much deeper than a youth and inexperience problem. If they were losing giving up 30+ that’s inexperience. Giving up 50+ (and a lot worse if teams kept the hammer on) and the ability for any team to score virtually on any series is a massive failure. It starts with those in charge. There is no excuse for this debacle. None whatsoever.

 

[UCFBfan]

posted this a few weeks back. Are these young players "benefiting" from this experience. Everyone talks about game reps, but I worry these kids are simply going to be demoralized to the point of wondering do they bounce back mentally.

Do we have any other choice but to play them?? We are a team that is in the middle of building from the ground up. We don't have any upper class men to play that wouldn't cause our young people as to be demoralized.

I hear what your saying and it makes sense if we had others to play. Unfortunately, we don't so these kids are going to take their lumps and all we can do is hope it adds a chip on their shoulder to prove in a season or two that they are talented but just not strong enough right now.

 

[huskysupporter]

This defense is the absolute worst d I have ever seen in my 25 years of being a fan of college football. Horrendous.

You can make all the excuses about their experience. But I have seen very few flashes that make me confident. That’s awesome the D Line are only freshman, but if you threw me at d tackle and had 3 other woefully out of shape boneyarders complete the d line, we would do no worse than what we have out there right now.

Where is the playing until the whistle? Where is everyone running to the ball? Where is the intensity? Someone show some emotion!!!!

Make a mistake? Make an aggressive mistake!!! Hit somebody!!!!

There comes a time where you can blame inexperience or lack of strength.

Get anyone in there who will play with intensity. I don’t care who.

I will be there every Saturday and watch when they are away, but I am beyond dissapointed by the defenses play. And I initially predicted 1-2 wins.

 

[uconnric]

I'm going with the comments of HCRE. In most cases, the players were coached correctly. They were in the right place to make a play. But we're just not big enough, strong enough, or fast enough to get it done. IMHO, we have Division II or Division III athletes.

I don't like to criticize, because I know the guys playing are doing it better than I could have done when I was their age.

It's not the talent level as much as it is the lack of strength, esp. with the dbs yesterday.

We got pushed around by older, stronger lineman and our dbs and linebackers weren't strong enough to make tackles. We play Stoughton schedule, this will continue to be a tough season.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

There is no depth. LBs were moved to DL. Lb group as whole got smaller. There is also injuries on D.
Whaler told everyone it was going to be a shshow. So backups to players that shouldn't even see the field this year are playing.

 

[Tdaley]

Part of our problem is that we are essentially running a 4 -1- 6 defense against teams that run the ball well. Although they play very hard, neither Hahan nor Swenson are linebackers. The reason that our defense looked marginally better against UCF than Cincinnati and Memphis is that UCF is more of a passing team than running team while the two other teams are better running teams. Beavers was moved to defensive end, Eli Thomas got hurt, and our linebacking play has gone from terrible to God awful ! The lack of players on our roster still appears to be the biggest problem for this team. Its too bad that TJ Gardner hasn't progressed enough to earn playing time. Lets hope Edsall and his staff has a good week of recruiting.

 

[gioff23]

Every team until Memphis was UNDEFEATED when we played them. Some still are. And don't forget a whole bunch of kids were sat for redshirts, decreasing depth at many positions. I agree tackling could be better, but that kid from Memphis was averaging almost 12yd/carrry BEFORE we played him, and leading the nation in rushing (or second). Give these freshmen and sophomores a break.

The problem with your argument is that those stats don't tell the whole story. Each of those teams, other than URI, took their foot off the gas pedal, effectively at the half. In other words, those horrendous numbers could be far worse. I support the youth movement, but at some point we all have to question the effort and the results, even for kids.

 

[Exit 4]

We dont seem to be any better with Beavers toying with DE. With Eli Thomas out, I'd like to go 4-3-4 with Atkins/T.Jones/Uguak/Pace (with Garson on third at DE and with C.Thomas/Murphy/Fines spelling interior guys) up front with Beavers/K.Jones/Hahn or Eli Thomas if healthy at LB and then back to Tahj/Fortt(with Robinson getting many snaps)/Coyle/Lucien or Lazarus, in the secondary. Swenson comes in on 3rd and long for which ever LB is not playing well.

Beavers and Eli Thomas can also take a handful of snaps at DE during the game to give our D different looks, but it won't be their base starting point.

Whatever we are doing, it has gotten worse with respect to RBs busting through the A and B gaps unscathed with a full head of steam leaving our undersized safeties grappling with heavy loads. The 4-2 is not enough beef, especially when one of the DEs is someone like Beavers or Eli Thomas.

Of course, we are already doinig most of what I just outlined and really, nothing is going to change until these boys can up their strength in order to shed blocks. We get blocked out so quick.

 

[uconnfan68]

This defense is the absolute worst d I have ever seen in my 25 years of being a fan of college football. Horrendous.

You can make all the excuses about their experience. But I have seen very few flashes that make me confident. That’s awesome the D Line are only freshman, but if you threw me at d tackle and had 3 other woefully out of shape boneyarders complete the d line, we would do no worse than what we have out there right now.

Where is the playing until the whistle? Where is everyone running to the ball? Where is the intensity? Someone show some emotion!!!!

Make a mistake? Make an aggressive mistake!!! Hit somebody!!!!

There comes a time where you can blame inexperience or lack of strength.

Get anyone in there who will play with intensity. I don’t care who.

I will be there every Saturday and watch when they are away, but I am beyond dissapointed by the defenses play. And I initially predicted 1-2 wins.

I still remember watching Ty Martin and Reyes as freshmen. They were carved up too. Both ended up as pretty decent DLs. I’d be thrilled if these guys repeat that, but probably won’t see it until next year.

 

[Rewster]

Randy’s recruiting trip should include:

Going to the dorms to re-recruit current players
Going to 2019 commitments to re-recruit
Going to Herbst’s office to lower academics standards(as described by RE)
Going to Juco’s to recruit
Going to high schools to recruit

 

[Duncan Idaho]

These are not rs freshmen. Many DL that hasn't had a single off season of work outs
How many 1st year players have played on D this year? We have actually gotten smaller with the personnel moves.They are getting physically beat up at just about every position. Not enough was brought in to cover this up. Remember Swann against Missouri? Its like that all over the field.