mets1090
Probably returning some video tapes...
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Excellent
Hail to Jacobs!
- Thread starter Mr Blueskin
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Really? Did we not have multiple players kicked off the team when he was here?
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Amen. Jacobs should be put on a pedestal
Waquoit
Mr. Positive
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So if I read you correctly Coach P, like many, really needs a Bowl Job.
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That's going a bit too far.
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That's an excellent question. But let's look at one difference between Rutgers and UConn. How many times did Jamison get hit and stay up and get a few extra yards? Now ask yourself that same question about McCombs, Hyppolite, and DeLorenzo.
You can't scheme your way out of a talent gap. And I honestly saw a significantly more talented Rutgers team across the field. I don't like it. And I don't think it absolves the coaches of poor decisions. But all coaches make bad choices from time to time, I think (they're human, after all). But people on this board are acting like this is 100% on Pasqualoni and DeLeone, and I think that's a naive way of looking at it, personally.
FfldCntyFan
Texas: Property of UConn Men's Basketball program
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I'm curious as to what the talent gap was with WMU (and in which direction).
Altering what was a very effective blocking scheme is entirely on the coaches.
Taking three TO's into halftime in order to attempt a 51 yard field goal is entirely on the coaches.
Not finding some way to win back to back games by the midpoint of their second season here is entirely on the coaches.
Turning the Buffalo game from approaching a blowout to the point where one mistake by our defense or one successful trick play on their part would have put that game in overtime is entirely on the coaches.
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I have to agree on all of these points...plus I'd add running up the gut on almost every 1st down is on the coaches. And while I agree with Loop that you can't scheme around alack of talent, and on the offensive side of the ball we do lack talent, you can use schemes that highlight the talent you do have. When your oline struggles with run blocking and you have a 165 pound tailback, running up the middle into an 8 or 9 man front doesn't maximize your talents...
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All football coaches care about the fans. All of them.
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Again, I'm not saying the coaches are without blame.
But let's look at some of these. For one, let's look at Western Michigan. With their senior QB. Who time and time again eluded pressure and made accurate throws on the run. Good decisions. The difference between Carder and Whitmer is significant. And maybe Whitmer can grow into it -- he's only a RS Soph.
Sure, the 51 yard FG wasn't great, but again, as I said, all coaches mess up. It's the nature of the game.
As far as Buffalo goes, okay, yeah, should we have been so conservative and taken our foot off the gas? Probably not. But we did win. Wins count for something, ugly or not.
Again -- I'm not implying that the coaches are without blame. But people act like we have some sort of Orange Bowl-caliber team talent-wise, and I just don't believe that's the case. Is the OL unable to block because of schemes or simply because we don't have the talent/mass? Is our running game sad because oo the OL or because we don't have a great RB? Is Whitmer making bad decisions because it's always 3rd and long or because our receivers get no separation or because he's just not that experienced and makes bad decisions?
These are complex questions and I refuse to believe the answer is always "DeLeone's fault." That's all. I am not trying to be an apologist. I am trying to be a realist with realistic expectations for this team and what it's capable of.
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How dare you present rational thought when the rest of us are in a emotional disarray and lynch mob frenzy?
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We are playing well below our talent level. Way below it.
I've posted recently in the last few weeks that the players should not be absolved for what is going on here. But the coaches are not putting them in the best position to succeed (on offense). Running LM up the middle on dives as much as we have is not putting him in the best position to succeed. Having CW throw on 3rd and long most of the time is not putting him in a position to succeed. Continuing to ask OLinemen to play a scheme that they are A) incapable of grasping and B) incapable of executing is not putting them in a position to succeed. Not utilizing a proven commodity at TE is not putting him in position to succeed.
I can go on about clock management, burning redshirts when you don't have to, losing close games, not winning 2 games in a row, and other things that haven't shown any improvement in year 2, but why bother. Go read the Cuse board. We are saying the same things they said 10 years ago. GDL will not be fired by P. The good news for us is that by time we get to the Dome we'll have about 26 timeouts in our back pocket.
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ok. on a box
FfldCntyFan
Texas: Property of UConn Men's Basketball program
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I don't believe that we are an Orange Bowl caliber team but I do believe that if we appear to be so completely inept on offense I have a difficult time placing this on the talent.
Yes, the talent doesn't really match what they have attempted but they've been around football (as coaches) since Urban Meyer was in grade school. They should be able to assess the talent and formulate something that would utilize the few strengths we have and work a little better than what we have seen.
Save a QB who most fans despised, a quality TB & FB (along with a competent backup), we brought back almost the entirety of the Fiesta Bowl team for this staff's first season yet they couldn't finish .500.
Per our HC, the problem is Red Zone efficiency (we are @ 40% and he believes a quality team need sto be 55% or better). The way I see it, a bigger problem is the lack of appearances in the Red Zone.
Per our OC, third down is the issue (we aren't executing well enough on third down to sustain drives). I happen to believe that if we had a few more first down plays that gained moer than a yard or two we would have more situations where we got the first down before third down or were in a third and short.
If (as the HC/OC claim and you apparantly agree) the problem is that the players cannot get the job done, what are our options? Do we say "the players aren't very good so if we go 3-9 this year, so be it"? Should we expect the coaches to find a way to alter our approach so that perhaps we can score a few more points per game? Can we expect the coaches to at any time state "we need to do a better job of getting the kids in a position to succeed" or does the "they did not executeir assignments" wash their hands of culpability?
Yes, the talent doesn't really match what they have attempted but they've been around football (as coaches) since Urban Meyer was in grade school. They should be able to assess the talent and formulate something that would utilize the few strengths we have and work a little better than what we have seen.
Save a QB who most fans despised, a quality TB & FB (along with a competent backup), we brought back almost the entirety of the Fiesta Bowl team for this staff's first season yet they couldn't finish .500.
Per our HC, the problem is Red Zone efficiency (we are @ 40% and he believes a quality team need sto be 55% or better). The way I see it, a bigger problem is the lack of appearances in the Red Zone.
Per our OC, third down is the issue (we aren't executing well enough on third down to sustain drives). I happen to believe that if we had a few more first down plays that gained moer than a yard or two we would have more situations where we got the first down before third down or were in a third and short.
If (as the HC/OC claim and you apparantly agree) the problem is that the players cannot get the job done, what are our options? Do we say "the players aren't very good so if we go 3-9 this year, so be it"? Should we expect the coaches to find a way to alter our approach so that perhaps we can score a few more points per game? Can we expect the coaches to at any time state "we need to do a better job of getting the kids in a position to succeed" or does the "they did not executeir assignments" wash their hands of culpability?
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You're saying there was an obvious talent gap between Rutgers and us when we were on offense, so don't you think that's more of a reason not to just try running up the middle every 1st and 2nd down? When your out gunned, you need to try to out wit your opponent. All we did was go through the motions of Football 101 play calling. That's my biggest gripe with the play calling. Playing that way is fine against UMass, but against Rutgers it looked like we didn't even try to win the game. Last season I thought we called good plays but failed to execute due to lack of talent, this season Deleone's just going through the motions. We're not taking advantage of McCombs shiftiness, we're running him up the middle. Even our wildcat last year I thought we called plays to keep the defense off balance, now we're just having McCummings hand it off up the middle
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It doesn't matter how good or bad our players are. The defense knows what's coming and they just have to execute in order to get our offense off the field.
Our initiative is sacrificed on every posession.
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WMU, nor Buffalo have 4-5* players. We have lost to WMU twice and we barely hung in against Buffalo. There are only 8 teams with a more inept running game. When do you get worried?
I will support the players but GDL deserves no support. If PP continues to support GDL, then he deserves to lose his job.
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You make a lot of valid points in your post, but you need to stop touting this. We had so much more offensive talent on the Fiesta Bowl team it wasn't funny. It's not so much the number of players we lost in 2011, it's the positions they played. The dropoff from Frazer is Mac is bad enough. But our backfield in 2010 was Todman (with Frey as backup) and Sherman compared to 2011 with McCombs (no backup) and Rueben Frank. And I haven't mentioned the OLinemen or Mike Smith........not even close.
Husky25
Dink & Dunk beat the Greatest Show on Turf.
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That's not exactly true. Desmond Connor quoted Coach Deleone as saying that he is aware that his play calling is not fan-friendly ("That may not be fan-friendly but it’s going to be a way to win a game in that situation. For us it’s about winning a game." - G. Deleone -10-2-2012). When I read between the lines, I read obstinence...as in, Tough for them. I'm the one with the clipboard and whistle.
Unfortunately for Coach Deleone, he is plying his trade in Connecticut and this is not the NFL where viewership is virtually guarunteed. As soon as the novelty wore off the FBS jump (circa 2007), college football in this state became just another form of entertainment vying for the casual fans' entertainment dollar. Deleone's brand of offense is forcing that dollar elsewhere and that way of winning games almost blew it vs a historically sub-par MAC opponent.
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great post
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Agreed there is a talent gap. The UConn offense has some tremendous athletes and usually coaches can turn this raw potential into effective defenses. Kind of like lock down defenders in hoops. Don't let defenders get into your body, run hard, read your keys and take care of your assignment, swarm to the ball and arrive there in a bad mood. Oh and take no plays off.
On offense, there is an element of "being blessed" with special talents. Dean Smith had Michael Jordan . . . how much coaching was involved with him. Jordan was always a scorer and talent extraodinare (Smith actually held in back in the Carolina scheme). Point? Need playmakers on offense. Speed, hands, instinct (Max D's missed cut against Rutgers?), arm strength,etc. All the things that NFL scouts look for at the next level.
Bottom line is UConn is not getting their share of talent (Not the BCS kind). Thats not to say they're getting none. There are and have been some excellent players on the Huskies roster over the years. Just not enough.
And that take us back to coaching. HCPP has got to get it done in February as well as in the fall. I, for one, just am not seeing it. Bad hire, needs to go.
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Whitmer did not face Carder.
Carder played against our D which is NOT lacking in talent.
Whitmer faced a defense ranked 93 out of 120!
Note to self: The coaches were the primary reason we lost to WMU this year.
Husky25
Dink & Dunk beat the Greatest Show on Turf.
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Game, set, and match. Don't have to go any further than this. I also wrote in other threads about this, most recently in response to anoter poster as follows:
weyuo said: Have you guys ever stopped to think that just maybe it's the talent that needs to catch up to the coaching and not the other way around?
Me: Not for a second. It's not about the Xs and Os. It's about the Jimmys and Joes.
As coaches, I would expect them to put their players in the best possible position to succeed. You can shave just so much off the corners of a square peg to fit into a round hole, but at the end of the day it still won't fit properly.
I liken it to the movie, We Are Marshall? Instead of making his undersized, under-talented team stand toe-to-toe with their opponents, he installed a Veer (Triple Option. Think: Eric Crouch era Nebraska) to help minimize mismatches.
Don't misunderstand me. I don't think UConn should have revamped their entire offense in either the spring of 2011, or 2012. I do think the coaches' schemes (especially in college) should be flexible enough to take advantage of their teams' abilities in any givien year.
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Loop, I appreciate the fact you're willing to take a stand and come back and state your position. But my feeling is "the people who write the checks deserve better". If people want to stick with P/GDL and continue subsidizing them after this season, they are more than welcome to. I won't be. Our family will continue to support UConn no matter what, but in other ways besides the football ticket seat donation.
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I'm going to try not to go into a player by player breakdown around here. We're not playing division 1-A football with a standard division 1-A tailback, I expect that as soon as the coachign staff can chagne that, they will. This isn't news. Since about, oh 2004 through 2011, we had stellar play out of the fullback position - two players that moved on to the NFL to be starters. Our 2012 fullbacks, are not going to raise the eyebrows of NFL scouts, with the contact they're generating with their blocking assignments. I think Osiecki got his bell rung at some point, and if not for that, I really thought he'd be a starter this week. He's still on the depth chart, so we'll see how that position shakes out the rest of the way.
THose are two very important positions, when it comes to a power running game. Our best lead blocker to date in 2012, out of the backfield, has been the same guy that is our #1 tailback, when he's not actually carrying the pig, and that makes me angry. Yes, I'm calling out some players that need to get a job done on the field.
Our right side of the offensive line, is powerful, especially with a TE in close, and when we run our sets that have the receivers cracking down on the edge. When we can pull the LG in behind them, and actually get a successful lead block - we have been quite successful runnign the ball.
Our left side of the line, has frankly - if you want to be blunt - been soft, but they're getting more and more game experience, and getting a little bit more physical.
The key to our offense success this year, that I thought it would be, way back in teh srping - the center, has been replaced, with a guy, that I think was leading the pack through the spring until he got knocked out with an injury,and I guy that worked right behind Petrus in practices for a long time.
I think we're setting up well to play out the second half of this season. The wildcard - is up in the ducking booth. If that guy, can simply get these guys practicing, and confident in playign to their strengths, and then put them in position toplay to their strengths on game day, I think we're in good shape.
We have not had a timing oriented, passing offense that works, on top of a successful running game at any point in Big East conference play, in our history. I expect that to change the rest of the way this season.
THose are two very important positions, when it comes to a power running game. Our best lead blocker to date in 2012, out of the backfield, has been the same guy that is our #1 tailback, when he's not actually carrying the pig, and that makes me angry. Yes, I'm calling out some players that need to get a job done on the field.
Our right side of the offensive line, is powerful, especially with a TE in close, and when we run our sets that have the receivers cracking down on the edge. When we can pull the LG in behind them, and actually get a successful lead block - we have been quite successful runnign the ball.
Our left side of the line, has frankly - if you want to be blunt - been soft, but they're getting more and more game experience, and getting a little bit more physical.
The key to our offense success this year, that I thought it would be, way back in teh srping - the center, has been replaced, with a guy, that I think was leading the pack through the spring until he got knocked out with an injury,and I guy that worked right behind Petrus in practices for a long time.
I think we're setting up well to play out the second half of this season. The wildcard - is up in the ducking booth. If that guy, can simply get these guys practicing, and confident in playign to their strengths, and then put them in position toplay to their strengths on game day, I think we're in good shape.
We have not had a timing oriented, passing offense that works, on top of a successful running game at any point in Big East conference play, in our history. I expect that to change the rest of the way this season.
junglehusky
Molotov Cocktail of Ugliness
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You can see here how it would be difficult for Dez Connor to write a piece that's motivated by the fanbase's reactions / frustrations with the coaching staff, but Jeff Jacobs can. Jacobs made a point that folks can judge the mood of the hardcore fans from message boards (i.e. the boneyard) and social media but it's harder to judge the casual fans. Well I bet you can look at the empty seats of late arrivers in the 4th quarter and early leavers in the 4th for a pretty good metric, along with season ticket sales.
Other random thoughts... uconnfan68 vs Husky68 fight! Were you guys ex-roommates back in the day or something?
Maybe one was shipping out to "Nam while the other was protesting and doing sit-ins.
I'll be the first to admit - I had to look Katahdin on wikipedia. Before that I was scratching my head saying "Why are the referencing the furniture store in New Haven?" (And - I had assumed that the furniture store was spelled Katahdian, owned by Persians who branched out from the rug business into the furniture business. So I learned two things from that.)
Other random thoughts... uconnfan68 vs Husky68 fight! Were you guys ex-roommates back in the day or something?
Maybe one was shipping out to "Nam while the other was protesting and doing sit-ins.I'll be the first to admit - I had to look Katahdin on wikipedia. Before that I was scratching my head saying "Why are the referencing the furniture store in New Haven?" (And - I had assumed that the furniture store was spelled Katahdian, owned by Persians who branched out from the rug business into the furniture business. So I learned two things from that.)
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#1. Why do I need to criticize coaches too? Is that mandatory?
#2. I am a little upset by booing of players... college players. I would consider that immaturity.
#3. I'm a little upset some players feel the need to publicly criticize their coaches and teammates. I would consider that immaturity.
# That you consider me immature for pointing out things like that... well, I consider the source. You're probably just a senile old man, as evidenced by the number in your handle.
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We don't have Orange Bowl level talent, but at least lower-level if not at best mid-level bowl talent(our D definitely does), and the way things are going it's gonna be a dogfight the rest of the way just to get bowl-eligible. Good coaching staffs know how to take the talent they have and put their players in the best position to succeed. And we're just not seeing that translate on the field every week.
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