Florida Atlantic Post Game Thread

[Ctrane]

I agree with the comment on the sound system. I couldn’t hear a thing 11 rows behind the UCONN bench. And with a small crowd. It was never this bad before.

 

[UCMB88]

Great game for me. I had plans to go to Duke game but was sick so swapped airline tickets for FAU game. I was very pleased with my decision.

Game was great except for lost fumble and unsportsmanlike penalties. I sat with a grammar school buddy who I hadn’t seen in 25 years which was nice as well.

My only complaints are the lack of fans and the piss poor sound system. It is hard to hear what the penalties were. I had to look at ESPN game log. I suggest that they display the text of called penalties until they fix sound system.

This was first home game for.me since UMass a few years ago and I am happy I made the trip. Low anxiety game to watch. I just wish that fans including the students would stay until fourth quarter. All and all a great trip. I even managed to eat a few dogs from Blackies.

My wife said the exact same thing last night - there should be a text on the scoreboard of what the ref is saying. Couldn't understand anything being said over the PA really. The sound system is great if your are in the upper bowl or in the parking lot, as the speakers are all attached at the top of the stadium, but you can't make out a thing in the lower bowl.

 

[goalline]

Great night for the "old guy"! Have you noticed that some of the mid-major football teams have become the same as the mid-major basketball teams. Athletes want to play and going to the power 5 schools and sitting the bench isn't their style so much any more. Plus, the nil $$$$ is somewhat available at smaller schools. Miami of Ohio gave ND a battle. NI knocked them off 2 weeks ago and Buffalo beat them Saturday. UC is much better, but Buffalo is by no means an automatic win. Having said that, hoping for a larger crowd and a W by any score. GO HUSKIES and thanks for your posts...

 

[UCMB88]

I agree with the comment on the sound system. I couldn’t hear a thing 11 rows behind the UCONN bench. And with a small crowd. It was never this bad before.

I was 5 rows in front of you and you really can't understand anything on the PA down there. It was cool to see the MBB team one section over with their Championship trophies!

 

[giddyup]

Good call on the sound system. I just figured my hearing is slowly going bad. Muffled, low volume can’t understand a thing. Also, if you want people in early, stop with horrendous music. Know your paying audience.

 

[Waquoit]

I know we wanna see fans stay to the end but to put a positive spin on it, at least they were leaving because we were winning by so much for once instead of the other way around.

I'll never stop getting a kick out of posts from people at home talking about what they want to see from fans that actually buy tickets and go to games.

 

[noeynox]

Don't get me wrong, I loved it, but it wasn't great execution by Fagnano. He got it close but had the defender been angled a bit differently it was an easily pickable ball.

Now do Evers pass in the endzone that hit the DB in the hands. Fagnano can do no right and Evers can do no wrong according to some here.

Evers played better last night I'm happy he did, this seems to be a development year with him and hopefully he progresses into something great with time.

 

[ctbbfn]

1. The TV feed and announcers were awful.
2. I'm too lazy to invest any energy outside this board.

In the first half, it was other Robinson or Brown who had a first half touchdown and in the back corner of the end zone kneeled and did the sign of the cross. And that drew an unsportmanlike conduct flag. Was there anything else beyond what the crappy TV feed showed that would have drawn that flag. The gesture certainly wasn't towards an FAU player but the TV feed didn't show anything, there was no replay, and announcers didn't mention anything about it.

Radio announcer said as he ran back from the end zone he was yelling and pointing at the FAU bench

 

[UConnDan97]

Now do Evers pass in the endzone that hit the DB in the hands. Fagnano can do no right and Evers can do no wrong according to some here.

Evers played better last night I'm happy he did, this seems to be a development year with him and hopefully he progresses into something great with time.

Both QBs hit on their long ball attempts (very few of them, but who cares), and we should all be happy that we at least have a minimum of 2 QBs who can do that. I don't care how many hands our receivers use to catch it. I don't care if they use their face mask to catch it! We can finally go vertical...

 

[RedStickHusky]

Oh my god. I just can't.

But imagine getting HCJM to talk playoffs in a presser... Playoffs???? Playoffs??????

 

[UCMB88]

1. The TV feed and announcers were awful.
2. I'm too lazy to invest any energy outside this board.

In the first half, it was other Robinson or Brown who had a first half touchdown and in the back corner of the end zone kneeled and did the sign of the cross. And that drew an unsportmanlike conduct flag. Was there anything else beyond what the crappy TV feed showed that would have drawn that flag. The gesture certainly wasn't towards an FAU player but the TV feed didn't show anything, there was no replay, and announcers didn't mention anything about it.

After Brown got up from his kneel, he pointed at the FAU bench, which is what drew the penalty. Could have been construed as him "shooting" at them??

 

[RedStickHusky]

Both QBs hit on their long ball attempts (very few of them, but who cares), and we should all be happy that we at least have a minimum of 2 QBs who can do that. I don't care how many hands our receivers use to catch it. I don't care if they use their face mask to catch it! We can finally go vertical...

We've had QBs that could have made those 50/50 throws; haven't had a lot of circus catch receivers...

 

[ZooCougar]

Don't get me wrong, I loved it, but it wasn't great execution by Fagnano. He got it close but had the defender been angled a bit differently it was an easily pickable ball.

Do you even watch football outside of UConn. There is no way you do.

Did you see Evers make that awful throw into end zone in the 1st? Or completely miss his first throw. Or miss his basic slant throw. Come on. Get real.

 

[Ctrane]

I hope the comments on the horrendous PA system gets seen by someone who can do something about it.

 

[Scoe]

Sitting in section 231 I saw complete domination, watching it in person it was a one sided street brawl. We got into FAUs head almost immediately our guys have a lot of swagger and talk a lot of trash I love it, don’t love the penalties like taking the helmet off and the gun gesture, Mora needs to clean that up.

Evers executed the game plan very well, aside from that fumble. You run the ball the way we did why not keep running it Mahomes aint throwing it with that type of running game, run the clock and hide your playbook, let the Oline eat.Cam Edwards not used a lot and no Rosa shows you how loaded our backfield is. Our receivers you wouldve dreamed about having in the Edsall 1.0 era.

The defense you can tell they really practiced their pursuit drills. They were getting into the backfield before you could even blink an eye. FAU qb was fast and quick as hell he avoided sacks, the D had great contain on him. He did not wanna get hit.

 

[SuperHuski]

Guys, this is gonna be a fun season! This is shaping up to be one of the best UConn football seasons since the Big East split. I'm soaking in every game, every minute, every play. When was the last time we throughly dominated teams like what we saw yesterday? The same way that many teams have throughly dominated us. Feels really good to be on the opposite side of this.

As good as we are now, I really think we're going to get better. It's not just that we whooped bad teams like Merrimack and FAU. It's that we out-physical them, out-speed them, out-strength them, out-athlete them. Like we were the power school and these guys were the body bag teams. I counted half a dozen times where our LBs just picked up FAU's RBs and threw them down, adults-against-kids-style.

Remember when tackling was the biggest issue on defense? I didn't expect the team to fix this as quickly as they did. This tells me two things. We have better coaches and we have players that really want to be better.

Our o-line play is amazing. Border-line elite? One sack allowed in 4 games, 2 against P4 schools. And that one sack was because the QB was dancing around the pocket for 5+ seconds. Our o-line is the reason why we currently have the the 37th best offense in FBS and the 15th best rushing offense in FBS. Again, we have three new interior linemen!!

No trick plays yesterday! OC Sammis just kept doing what was working until FAU shows that they could stop us. FAU never did, so we just kept doing it. Sounds simple, but have you watched UConn football the past few years? Also we were playing towards Ever's strengths. RPOs and run-reads. Kid was electric in HS. I watched him live once and remembered thinking, "Man, imagine if UConn had a QB like that." FAU had a spy on Evers for most of the game, effectively taking out one LB every play. This was part of the reason why had so much spacing for our running game. What's crazy was FAU had a spy and stacked the box and we still ran through them. Major props to the o-line again. FWIW, Evers not only had a strong arm, but it was accurate in HS. They didn't give him 4-stars just for his legs.

Option type plays are so much harder to defend against in CFB because these plays force defenses to make quick decisions and exploit both hesitation and overcommitment by defenders. Most college defenders simply don't have the talent and experience to correctly read an offense like what we're running. This is a double-edge sword though since option-type offenses take time (and repetition) to become proficient. On every RPO, Evers is reading the Mike LB (usually) to see if he's committing to the run while at the same time processing the routes and spacing of the other skill players. On run-reads, Evers is reading the DE to see if he should keep it or give it to the RB. Lots to take in, lots to process in a short time. He's going to get better.

The one-handed grab by RS FR Shamar Porter stood out. I mean -- CMON! He makes it look so natural too. I really, really hope that kid gets #2 WR reps. Every team is keying-in on Bell, often adding a safety over the top. Porter would feast in 1v1 matchups with our level of competition. Remember, he was a 4-star that went to a SEC school. If he came to UConn as a frosh, he would've been UConn's highest rated recruit ever. (Though Nick Evers and Julien Simon were rated higher in HS if we're gonna play that game.) The thing I see special about Porter is his natural instincts. The way he uses his hands/arms to space himself. The way he adjust his routes instead of blindly running to a spot. And his plus, plus soft hands. His potential is a #1 WR on a good P4 team. We might need to open the NIL pocketbooks to keep him next year.

So as good as the past three games have been, the type of offense and defense we're running allows for much higher ceilings as we become more and more proficient in running them. What's different this time, for those that have been hurt by UConn football one too many times, is that we have the personnel to execute more complex schemes. We just need the coaches to continually be better and makes the kids better. Seems like this is happening.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

one additional comment and one question…

The team seemed faster and stronger than FAU. This surprised me…usually Florida directional-ish schools have very good athletes who didn’t get into the big three Florida schools and went to very good high schools. Nice to see the uptick in talent on the team.

What the hell happened to Tom Herman? I used to think he was a top coach…but his team yesterday did not look like a well coached team. Kiffin was 26-13 at FAU…he proved you can win there.

 

[AllHusky]

Never know how coaches react to getting kicked to the curb. Didn't he have some semi controversial ways of interacting with his players? Seems like some guys understand the process and cope with life after their zenith, and move on to other jobs, and have a decent post high point career, some seem to have trouble dealing with getting let go. He had 4 bowl victories in 4 years at Texas, after a great 2 year run at Houston, and got fired. Sounds like he did pretty good to me! We'll see if he can climb the ladder again or get fired at FAU like Taggart.

 

[Windham4th]

Do you even watch football outside of UConn. There is no way you do.

Did you see Evers make that awful throw into end zone in the 1st? Or completely miss his first throw. Or miss his basic slant throw. Come on. Get real.

What does my comment have to do with Evers or other games? Stop lashing out at people for no reason Douchy McDouche.

Fagnano threw up an OK ball into the endzone. He isn't a genius QB because Porter made an outstanding catch.

Besides I only watched because I really love those announcers. Teams playing were irrelevant to me.

 

[RSTuthill]

That having been said, we’re obviously a significantly better team than we were last year. Let’s beat Buffalo and Temple at home and go on from there.

Precisely.

Buffalo is not likely to allow UConn to run wild on the ground. So the rubber is about to meet the road when it comes to the pass/run ratio. But we can be cautiously optimistic that UConn's passing game can take the next step and force defenders out of the box.

 

[freescooter]

The running game may not be as flashy as the passing game, but when it works, it sure is a beautiful thing to behold!

Honestly I love running games. I think it does 2 things. First it wears out the defense. But it also just demoralizes them just not be able to stop the other guy play after play.

 

[RSTuthill]

Good call on the sound system. I just figured my hearing is slowly going bad. Muffled, low volume can’t understand a thing. Also, if you want people in early, stop with horrendous music. Know your paying audience.

Good luck with that.

 

[Jimdish255]

Happy with what we saw last night. Team played well and it was apparent we had the better athletes on the field. Most importantly for me it confirmed we've improved our offensive line. That's the only way you dominate the stat sheet consistently which we are starting to do, and probably should have done against Duke. Not the players fault FAU is not the team they were a few years ago.

When our tempo was fast FAU just couldn't keep up. Sitting down low when the line of scrimmage was in front of us the push we got at the point of attack was apparent. That's all our backs needed. Defenders were frozen and we have shifty RB's that don't take long to go from lateral to vertical. I'm thinking some guys just have a vision thing where they react quickly and others don't. Fortunately we have those guys.

Not sure what happened with Cam. For long stretches he wasnt near the OC on the sidelines during our possessions. But he wasn't with the training staff either. Hopefully whatever is holding him back is temporary because it brings us up a level when he's at full capability. Having Rosa back in a game or two would be nice but the risk of turnovers from a bad hand will justifiably keep them cautious.

Evers was asked to mostly run last night and it was a good gameplan. We didn't need to risk longer passes because of the run game and the push we were getting. He ran well generally and maybe could have protected himself better a couple of times but a strong B on his efforts there. The short balls were more accurate and it looked like he purposely wanted to get his passes ahead of receivers on certain routes as if that was emphasized during the week. While he was "better" passing, honestly he wasn't asked to do to much so we really don't know if his overall passing game is improving. I'm still not convinced Fagnano doesn't roll these guys in the same way, or that Nick is at the same level in his game management, decisions and accuracy in his passing game. Last night wasn't going to give us that but we WILL need it in crucial situations in closer games.

Nice to see the aggression on D. Those guys were pumped all game. Some occasional pressure and really liked the proximity of DB's to receivers on coverage. It's a fun group to watch and they're approaching ballhawk status. I don't know if we're less predictable than some of the vanilla D we've seen in the past or just have better athletes.

Just by luck we were right next to the basketball team in the stadium. It's great to see them there and very much appreciate the coaches and AD making them available like this. It's called leveraging success and it's very helpful.

A couple of negatives. The sound system was terrible. Couldn't understand any of the gobbledygook coming out of it. This is a tangible part of the game experience and the technology today can provide so much better it's insane ours is so bad. Secondly: I get my eyes aren't what they used to be but if we're going to be in this stadium for another 5-10 years at least get 2 larger video boards at either end of the stadium with better resolution. It's another area where technology has advanced greatly. Football fans and society aren't what we were 50 years ago. People have a choice to stay home and watch or DVR multiple games on their big screen OLEDs with home theater sound. My sister was asking me way too often what was going on when that information should have been clearly communicated to all the fans in the Stadium. It wasn't her fault. And every fan shouldn't be expected to be a savant to figure out what those wacky refs were doing. We can improve the current experience in this stadium if we can get some moderate reinvestment to do so. Let's find out what's available and improve on that.

 

[businesslawyer]

one additional comment and one question…

The team seemed faster and stronger than FAU. This surprised me…usually Florida directional-ish schools have very good athletes who didn’t get into the big three Florida schools and went to very good high schools. Nice to see the uptick in talent on the team.

What the hell happened to Tom Herman? I used to think he was a top coach…but his team yesterday did not look like a well coached team. Kiffin was 26-13 at FAU…he proved you can win there.

I wouldn’t even pretend you can judge a coach from his team playing a horrific game. Is Mora a better coach today than he was on the bus coming back from College Park 3 weeks ago? Almost certainly not.

 

[huskymedic]

… My only complaints are the lack of fans and the piss poor sound system. It is hard to hear what the penalties were. I had to look at ESPN game log. I suggest that they display the text of called penalties until they fix sound system

Bingo. The sound system is an embarrassment. It’s like Charlie Brown’s teacher. You cannot understand anything.

Good call on the sound system. I just figured my hearing is slowly going bad. Muffled, low volume can’t understand a thing.

A couple of negatives. The sound system was terrible. Couldn't understand any of the gobbledygook coming out of it. This is a tangible part of the game experience and the technology today can provide so much better it's insane ours is so bad. Secondly: I get my eyes aren't what they used to be but if we're going to be in this stadium for another 5-10 years at least get 2 larger video boards at either end of the stadium with better resolution. It's another area where technology has advanced greatly. Football fans and society aren't what we were 50 years ago. People have a choice to stay home and watch or DVR multiple games on their big screen OLEDs with home theater sound. My sister was asking me way too often what was going on when that information should have been clearly communicated to all the fans in the Stadium. It wasn't her fault. And every fan shouldn't be expected to be a savant to figure out what those wacky refs were doing. We can improve the current experience in this stadium if we can get some moderate reinvestment to do so. Let's find out what's available and improve on that.

Nothing a few bucks can’t resolve (Populous Comprehensive Building Assessment from 2 years ago - pgs 55>59):

Sound - Noted Defects & Issues: The bowl loudspeakers are original to the venue according to the operator. Many seasons of freezing and heating are taking their toll on the internal components of the speakers, including possible crossover network failures, high frequency and low frequency driver failures to material and adhesive issues. For high frequency failures, this significantly compromises speech intelligibility, which is obviously desirable for entertainment events but critically important during emergency and inclement weather for providing direction to patrons seated in the bowl

Recommendations 1. Repair defective existing bowl loudspeakers until full replacement can be done. a. If the fidelity and performance of the current bowl loudspeakers (in good repair) are adequate to stakeholders and patrons, then new, updated versions of the loudspeaker product would be a cost effective solution.... 4. Replace the aging, partially defective Yamaha M7 bowl sound mixer with a more cost effective model; Yamaha CL series, A&H QU or SQ series

 

[goalline]

Great night for the "old guy"! Have you noticed that some of the mid-major football teams have become the same as the mid-major basketball teams. Athletes want to play and going to the power 5 schools and sitting the bench isn't their style so much any more. Plus, the nil $$$$ is somewhat available at smaller schools. Miami of Ohio gave ND a battle. NI knocked them off 2 weeks ago and Buffalo beat them Saturday. UC is much better, but Buffalo is by no means an automatic win. Having said that, hoping for a larger crowd and a W by any score. GO HUSKIES and thanks for your posts...

PS James Madison beat North Carolina, a 10 and 1/2 pt. favorite 70 to 50...

 

[Tdaley]

1. The TV feed and announcers were awful.
2. I'm too lazy to invest any energy outside this board.

In the first half, it was other Robinson or Brown who had a first half touchdown and in the back corner of the end zone kneeled and did the sign of the cross. And that drew an unsportmanlike conduct flag. Was there anything else beyond what the crappy TV feed showed that would have drawn that flag. The gesture certainly wasn't towards an FAU player but the TV feed didn't show anything, there was no replay, and announcers didn't mention anything about it.

Awful call. That is all that Brown did on that touchdown. Robinson did a little dance after his touchdowns but there was never a call. Get rid of the rule. Referees don't uniformly enforce the rule. Its way too subjective. It is unfair to punish a team for what a referee thinks is unsportmanlike celebration when we see it over and over again other games every weekend and NEVER called.

 

[businesslawyer]

PS James Madison beat North Carolina, a 10 and 1/2 pt. favorite 70 to 50...

Cam Ross with 7 catches for 107 and a TD against the Heels. Not a big, physical #1, but the best receiver we’d had since Noel Thomas. But we had no idea how to get him the ball.

 

[Jimdish255]

After Brown got up from his kneel, he pointed at the FAU bench, which is what drew the penalty. Could have been construed as him "shooting" at them??

They can "construe" anything they want to but that was silly. Do we not even have the concept of a warning in CFB? And especially after they decided to ignore a late hit 5 yards out of bounds after the guy was already down.

 

[Jimdish255]

one additional comment and one question…

The team seemed faster and stronger than FAU. This surprised me…usually Florida directional-ish schools have very good athletes who didn’t get into the big three Florida schools and went to very good high schools. Nice to see the uptick in talent on the team.

What the hell happened to Tom Herman? I used to think he was a top coach…but his team yesterday did not look like a well coached team. Kiffin was 26-13 at FAU…he proved you can win there.

Kiffin could recruit based on reputation. FAU is a nice campus to take a stroll on but not as impressive as UConn.