Honey Moon is Over

[SubbaBub]

Completely on the Defense. Yes the offense played horribly as if the ballnwas coated in grease but Missouri could have scored 100 if they wanted.

No coverage and no tackling. A lousy team came in to the rent and made no bones about exploiting the obvious with no real concern about any other phase of the game.

They came in to pass on a derelict secondary that could stop a rolling marshmallow let alone an actual opponent.

 

[uconnfan68]

On offense there were some brilliant plays that were poorly executed, wide open receivers who dropped very catchable passes & very minimal running game. On defense, a totally exposed backfield. Too many mistakes to recount. A roster overhaul, which is forthcoming, is vastly overdue. The roster that HCRE is playing with is akin to playing setback & being dealt a hand of 6's & 7's.

How do you get a roster overhaul? Next year we'll be lucky to have a 1-deep line up.

 

[uconnbaseball]

Remember how awful Lock and Missouri's freshman / sophomore receivers looked against us two years ago vs. a Diaco defense?

Things will get better. I am surprised and impressed Edsall has managed to squeeze 3 wins out of this team so far considering the lack of talent recruited by Diaco and his staff.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Not a video game. TEams don't play equal games every week. Mizzou is not a good team, but last night was a way below average effort on our part.

Plus,despite TDhusky's lunacy, a good defensive team can keep you in games with an ugly offense. No offense is going to be able to compensate for our level of defense.

Obsess much, Biz. I'm gonna have to look over my shoulder at these games from now on. And, I'll need to do a better job than the UConn D-Backs.

 

[Huskygamble19]

I think it is about time we made some decent trades with Alabama.

 

[coachcap]

How do you get a roster overhaul? Next year we'll be lucky to have a 1-deep line up.

Through recruiting. I'm not looking at next year. It will take at least 2 more of HCRE's recruiting classes to see a vast improvement in play on the field in terms of the won/lost column.

 

[BlueDogs]

You noticed how the Mizzou running back(s) would make these juke moves and get past our defenders with athleticism? Well, we don't have players like that. And it was pretty obvious. From the pass catching, to the missed tackles, to the poorly thrown balls, to the inability to shut down receivers. We didn't look remotely talented enough to keep up with Missouri.

Not buying it. They were exploiting the 3 man front with a delayed counter read to the weak side off tackle. The OT would crash down and seal off our DE and the LB was out of position flowing away to strong side and then trying to recover. They ran at least a half dozen times successfully with no adjustment by our Defensibe brain trust. Total scheme exploitation made even more effective by quality players I'll grant you that. There are 1AA teams that can do a better job defending. These kids are not coached well on D, the D scheme sucks (I.e., a 10 yard cushion on wide outs) and they make no discernible effort to fix it. We have no time to deal with this crap any more. Clean out the D staff and rebuild. And, yes, recruit better. If you fail that miserably you should be out the door.

 

[hardcorehusky]

On O- Shireffs was off, the receivers dropped a dozen passes and then the O got overwhelmed. Pindell showed me nothing again. To me what was telling was that, there were very few yards after catch. The speed of Missouri was evident and when we didn't take our chances, it was lights out.

Defensively- uggh. Too much cushion created 1 on 1 tackling positions where Swann, Terry etc took poor angles. There is little team speed at any position and then the young players are playing slower because they aren't comfortable. The reality is this is the off season where we will see the RE bloodletting. I can see a few sophomores and juniors leave to get more playing time. We will be even younger next year but the culture will have changed.

Again, this reminds me of when Dan Orlovsky started as a freshman and we won 1 game. The next year we were 2 and 6 and then the light went on for everyone and we won out including going to Ames Iowa and winning there. We then went on to 8-3 and then competitive in our 1st year of the Big East.

 

[Pudge]

Unlike Houston or UCF - where a quick structural turn and one & 1/2 recruiting seasons can change a Program - UConn will need consistent focused day-to-day influx of good talented players and development over a handful of years.

The mix is not changed from 10 years ago. But I think HCRE and his Director of Program Operations have markedly done a finer job recruiting Feb to present than any other period. CT/NE + PA + NJ + MD + GA + FL + OH/TX. And Canadian. Don't look at ratings - they're meaningless. Get excited when we get a kid who had a slew of offers. But also expect the unknowns off the radar to produce. Particularly Line guys. It's gonna take time.

This year's product? You can't whine after a whipping ... particularly when you lose a piece like Newsome.

The best you can hope for?

We are gonna steam past Temple. And maybe a few others in this conference. However I expect steady consistent winning over time. The Florida and Texas Public programs CAN outgun us. But they're gonna have wide variations because they hire young upcoming coaches. Who will leave.

I am concerned about the Fanbase, Support and Connecticut. But this was a solid decisive choice on path by Benedict. I don't have any easier answer.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Not buying it. They were exploiting the 3 man front with a delayed counter read to the weak side off tackle. The OT would crash down and seal off our DE and the LB was out of position flowing away to strong side and then trying to recover. They ran at least a half dozen times successfully with no adjustment by our Defensibe brain trust. Total scheme exploitation made even more effective by quality players I'll grant you that. There are 1AA teams that can do a better job defending. These kids are not coached well on D, the D scheme sucks (I.e., a 10 yard cushion on wide outs) and they make no discernible effort to fix it. We have no time to deal with this crap any more. Clean out the D staff and rebuild. And, yes, recruit better. If you fail that miserably you should be out the door.

Think they have actually been playing closer the los save the cb since Temple.

 

[ASweet3781]

I am wondering how much longer it will take for the people posting "We don't have the talent" on both the football and men's basketball boards to come to the realization of why that is and why the level of talent we were accustomed to seeing will never return. Connecticut is not a talent hot bed. Nearly 90% (if not more) of our recruiting pitches (Come play in the BCS, play against the teams in the area that didn't recruit you, come play your conference hoops tournament in your hometown NYC, etc etc etc) was stolen from us. Unless someone who gets paid the big bucks in Storrs comes up with an idea of how to return what was stolen from us, the problem will never ever ever be fixed regardless of who is coaching UConn football or men's basketball. 5 years ago we beat Syracuse almost every year. Even P beat them. Now they are beating Clemson and we are where we are. What changed? You know the answer. And that answer has no solution.

 

[Stainmaster]

I am wondering how much longer it will take for the people posting "We don't have the talent" on both the football and men's basketball boards to come to the realization of why that is and why the level of talent we were accustomed to seeing will never return. Connecticut is not a talent hot bed. Nearly 90% (if not more) of our recruiting pitches (Come play in the BCS, play against the teams in the area that didn't recruit you, come play your conference hoops tournament in your hometown NYC, etc etc etc) was stolen from us. Unless someone who gets paid the big bucks in Storrs comes up with an idea of how to return what was stolen from us, the problem will never ever ever be fixed regardless of who is coaching UConn football or men's basketball. 5 years ago we beat Syracuse almost every year. Even P beat them. Now they are beating Clemson and we are where we are. What changed? You know the answer. And that answer has no solution.

It certainly doesn't if the university follows your directive and runs Benedict out of town.

 

[Travelman6]

The honest question is, are they actually better than they were the past two years? To go from losing 9-6 to a poor Missouri team at the bottom of their confernce to losing 52-12 to a poor Missouri team at the bottom of their conference would seem to indicate, well, no. Virginia is another example. I mean, at least with the previous two teams, ya, they stunk it up but at least they could D it up.

For sure those previous two teams never gave up 70 or even 50. Is this team actually better? Sorry, no. 49, 70, 52. Ouch.

This stinks of a Bruce Arena 2.0 kind of situation. Take a coach back who had past success. That is it. But just like BA 2.0, who stunk it up in his second stint, the same is going on here till this point. Sometimes inviting an old coach back who had success just is not a good idea. Hope time proves me wrong, really I do and this ends up NOT being a BA 2.0 type of situation in the long run. But till this point, it is.

 

[ASweet3781]

It certainly doesn't if the university follows your directive and runs Benedict out of town.

I sincerely hope for our sake he is the star people believe he is. We need it. If not....

 

[UConnNick]

Beat Cincinnati and BC and it’s been a good year. An added bonus-listening to Edsel’s grounded comments (they’re not even winning practices) vs the celestial, insincere and phony comments of Diaco.

We don't stand an icicles chance in hell of beating BS College. By now half to 2/3 of the UConn fans that bought tickets have probably already sold them online, and it will be a home game for them, with 75 percent or better crowd support. We sold them a home game for a million bucks, and they're gonna slaughter us.

 

[Stainmaster]

The honest question is, are they actually better than they were the past two years? To go from losing 9-6 to a poor Missouri team at the bottom of their confernce to losing 52-12 to a poor Missouri team at the bottom of their conference would seem to indicate, well, no. Virginia is another example. I mean, at least with the previous two teams, ya, they stunk it up but at least they could D it up.

For sure those previous two teams never gave up 70 or even 50. Is this team actually better? Sorry, no. 49, 70, 52. Ouch.

This stinks of a Bruce Arena 2.0 kind of situation. Take a coach back who had past success. That is it. But just like BA 2.0, who stunk it up, the same is going on here. Sometimes inviting an old coach back who had success just is not a good idea. Hope time proves me wrong, really I do and this ends up NOT being a BA 2.0 type of situation.

Who recruited the bulk of the guys on two years ago's team? How about this one?

 

[gtcam]

Men vs Boys
That's what I saw sitting there last night
Pure and simple
Yes the Secondary and at times the LBs were outplayed but it was like placing the HS frosh vs College - the physicality, size and speed was unbelievably noticeable.
You can't blame RE and Crocker on that, they are using what was given to them BUT the tackling and lack of tight coverage is something that I place some blame on the staff
Offensively, BS just didn't look like the BS of this season. Add to the fact that there were so many dropped passes and misplays. The O, at game start looked way over amped. Newsome was sorely missed.
It was overall UGLY but if you didn't expect this type of games this year you are kidding yourself.
On the bright side - any HS offensive player of decent ability, if they do their homework, should be excited to work with Lashlee. Any defensive player that has size and speed can step in and start next year.

 

[Pudge]

I am wondering how much longer it will take for the people posting "We don't have the talent" on both the football and men's basketball boards to come to the realization of why that is and why the level of talent we were accustomed to seeing will never return. Connecticut is not a talent hot bed. Nearly 90% (if not more) of our recruiting pitches (Come play in the BCS, play against the teams in the area that didn't recruit you, come play your conference hoops tournament in your hometown NYC, etc etc etc) was stolen from us. Unless someone who gets paid the big bucks in Storrs comes up with an idea of how to return what was stolen from us, the problem will never ever ever be fixed regardless of who is coaching UConn football or men's basketball. 5 years ago we beat Syracuse almost every year. Even P beat them. Now they are beating Clemson and we are where we are. What changed? You know the answer. And that answer has no solution.

Sure. And nobody loves peanut butter anymore either.

Over an arc of years - contrasting us to Syracuse, BC, Rutgers, Maryland - UConn CAN recruit and play at a higher level in Hoop and be at a high plane in Football. I further expect the top years in Football at the other regional schools to be sparse. Babers ain't there for long.

 

[Travelman6]

Who recruited the bulk of the guys on two years ago's team? How about this one?

And those same players by and large, the ones who have been at Uconn for a few years any way, are doing worse now, than they did two years ago or last year. Or the results seem to be pointing that way so far.

 

[Stainmaster]

And those same players by and large, the ones who have been at Uconn for a few years any way, are doing worse now, than they did two years ago or last year. Or the results seem to be pointing that way so far.

You missed the point. Pasqualoni recruits are not Diaco recruits.

 

[ASweet3781]

Over an arc of years - contrasting us to Syracuse, BC, Rutgers, Maryland - UConn CAN recruit and play at a higher level in Hoop and be at a high plane in Football.

We can recruit and play at a higher level than those schools when we were playing in a Power 5 league with Power 5 TV money and resources. We currently can't offer that. Most of our recruiting pitches we successfully were able to make are gone. Which explains why we are witnessing what we are seeing in men's hoop and football and why most of the posts on those boards the last 2 years are aghast at the lack of talent on both rosters.

 

[gtcam]

The honest question is, are they actually better than they were the past two years? To go from losing 9-6 to a poor Missouri team at the bottom of their confernce to losing 52-12 to a poor Missouri team at the bottom of their conference would seem to indicate, well, no. Virginia is another example. I mean, at least with the previous two teams, ya, they stunk it up but at least they could D it up.

For sure those previous two teams never gave up 70 or even 50. Is this team actually better? Sorry, no. 49, 70, 52. Ouch.

This stinks of a Bruce Arena 2.0 kind of situation. Take a coach back who had past success. That is it. But just like BA 2.0, who stunk it up in his second stint, the same is going on here till this point. Sometimes inviting an old coach back who had success just is not a good idea. Hope time proves me wrong, really I do and this ends up NOT being a BA 2.0 type of situation in the long run. But till this point, it is.

Arena 2.0 didn't "stunk it up" - Klinnsmann stunk it up and Arena was a willing, through a sense of duty, unlucky last minute replacement - no way any new blood high caliber World Class manager was going to step into that mess - you are very wrong on that statement
BUT the 2 situations do have some mirror qualities - RE2 will improve the situation in the next 2 years or he will be gone.
The reason the prior teams didn't give up those points is that they had very high quality defensive secondary players and linebackers - this year the cupboard is bare - don't you think that makes a slight difference?

 

[Travelman6]

That is especially where we disagree. Klinsman was the best the USMNT could have hoped for and they got rid of him way too soon. But I do not want to digress.

 

[gtcam]

That is especially where we disagree. Klinsman was the best the USMNT could have hoped for and they got rid of him way too soon. But I do not want to digress.

If you think that I am speechless
I agree, lets not digress

 

[kemba]

What changed? You know the answer. And that answer has no solution.

The coach.

The conference too.

But the coach was the biggest thing and he's back now. And recruiting seems to have stepped up from Diaco. It takes time though.

 

[UCFBfan]

If you are questioning whether or not bringing back RE was a bad idea after 8 games, I have nothing to say to you. It’s ridiculous. This staff is game planning with players they didn’t recruit and don’t fit perfectly into their current system. They might fit after a year of being in it but for the most part, it’s not their players. Anyone who knows college football knows that you can’t judge a new coach on their first year or two. Until they get their players in and their systems up and running it’s stupid to call hiring that coach a mistake.

This isn’t a world where you can just turn it around with the snap of your fingers. This program has known only how to lose ever since RE left. They’ve done it in almost every possible way over the past 6 years. That alone takes work to erase. On top of that, the talent left behind, minus a handful of players, leaves it hard to make an instant turn around.

College football is becoming like most things in life. People want instant results and if it doesn’t happen they want everyone gone and to reset. It doesn’t work that way yet we see it time and again in sports. Anyone who follows soccer can tell you that this is becoming an epidemic in top leagues. You don’t win your first few games and your team is in danger of relegation, you get the boot. It’s stupid and to see posters here saying that hiring RE was a mistake because our team looked awful last night is also stupid.

We aren’t in the BE anymore and we will have to fight for recruits. However, I have more faith in RE being successful then I do in any of the other options out there. He has built this program from nothing and even when we had the ability to use the BCS lure, he still brought in under recruited players and made them studs. I have total faith he’ll get it done here again as well. However, it’ll take another season. Bottom line. If you can’t handle it, time to find a new team to bandwagon on.

 

[Scoe]

If you are questioning whether or not bringing back RE was a bad idea after 8 games, I have nothing to say to you. It’s ridiculous. This staff is game planning with players they didn’t recruit and don’t fit perfectly into their current system. They might fit after a year of being in it but for the most part, it’s not their players. Anyone who knows college football knows that you can’t judge a new coach on their first year or two. Until they get their players in and their systems up and running it’s stupid to call hiring that coach a mistake.

This isn’t a world where you can just turn it around with the snap of your fingers. This program has known only how to lose ever since RE left. They’ve done it in almost every possible way over the past 6 years. That alone takes work to erase. On top of that, the talent left behind, minus a handful of players, leaves it hard to make an instant turn around.

College football is becoming like most things in life. People want instant results and if it doesn’t happen they want everyone gone and to reset. It doesn’t work that way yet we see it time and again in sports. Anyone who follows soccer can tell you that this is becoming an epidemic in top leagues. You don’t win your first few games and your team is in danger of relegation, you get the boot. It’s stupid and to see posters here saying that hiring RE was a mistake because our team looked awful last night is also stupid.

We aren’t in the BE anymore and we will have to fight for recruits. However, I have more faith in RE being successful then I do in any of the other options out there. He has built this program from nothing and even when we had the ability to use the BCS lure, he still brought in under recruited players and made them studs. I have total faith he’ll get it done here again as well. However, it’ll take another season.
Bottom line. If you can’t handle it, time to find a new team to bandwagon on.

Hiring Edsal was the only choice we weren't turning this around in 1 season it might take another season after this year too and I dont ever recall having a honey moon.

 

[Scoe]

For those who were asking before the season started, eight games.

The beginning of the season showed hope because offense and special teams looked dramatically better. Most fans accepted it's a process and not every unit progresses at the same rate.

2/3 the way through season one and Edsall has put a choke on the offense, specials have slightly regressed and defense still stinks.

Edsall has puckered up each of the past four games becoming more and more conservative and trending towards a Diaco mindset of minimizing any risks.

It's 2017. You have to put 40 points on the board to be a 7+ win team and have a defense that creates turnovers as a means of keeping the other team of getting 41 points.

I guess we should have signed Diaco to an extension

 

[BugsyCT]

We don't stand an icicles chance in hell of beating BS College. By now half to 2/3 of the UConn fans that bought tickets have probably already sold them online, and it will be a home game for them, with 75 percent or better crowd support. We sold them a home game for a million bucks, and they're gonna slaughter us.

I blame Diaco and only Diaco for that.

 

[ZOOCONN]

Special teams have been average at best. But Edsall needs to amp up the recruiting for UConn. We have to give him a chance to get 2 recruiting classes under his belt. The need for team speed has never been more evident. I will say this, that this off season will be the most important in UConn football or at least in recent memory. The staff needs to do whatever it takes to get the 4-star guys because 2 and 3 star guys aren't enough for success. Edsall's overall record is below 500 avg. so even he will have to exceed any expectations.

the fact that you just said we need 4 star guys shows how little you know about recruiting. stars mean DICK, its how you develop the talent that you can get. thats the other thing, the talent they CAN get even if we were 7-0 we still wouldnt get 4 star kids. we are a G5 school that has been pathetic on the football field for close to a decade. we need to focus on kids that we can develop and turn into hidden gems. thats just where we are. edsall always did well with developing talent and i trust he will do the same now.