I know I know they are no moral victories...

[noeynox]

I agree. You absolutely take the points from field goals in those situations.

Its not taking the points on 4th down that is the issue. Its the lack of trying to put the ball in the endzone prior to 4th down that is the problem. But this has been an Edsall thing forever. The closer his team gets to the endzone the tighter the playcalling. Contrast with how Illinois played near the goal line. Now you could say we had a freshman QB making his 1st start, but history tells us he plays it the same way with 5th year senior.

 

[Nostical]

Does anyone else find it mind boggling that in a game that surpassed almost everyone’s expectations, a game where we were 3 touchdown underdogs and starting a true freshman QB, that we’re now yipping about whether we should have gone for TD’s in the first Q instead of settling for FG’s? I’m far from an advocate for conservative play calling but had we gone for the TD and failed after moving that far down the field, the letdown of having nothing to show for it might have been more harmful to team psyche than the 3 points. Confidence in JZ (and the next two weeks of practice with him taking all the snaps) might influence Edsall’s thinking for the next time it’s 4th and short in the red zone, but for now let’s cut him some slack and rejoice in the possibilities.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Does anyone else find it mind boggling that in a game that surpassed almost everyone’s expectations, a game where we were 3 touchdown underdogs and starting a true freshman QB, that we’re now yipping about whether we should have gone for TD’s in the first Q instead of settling for FG’s? I’m far from an advocate for conservative play calling but had we gone for the TD and failed after moving that far down the field, the letdown of having nothing to show for it might have been more harmful to team psyche than the 3 points. Confidence in JZ (and the next two weeks of practice with him taking all the snaps) might influence Edsall’s thinking for the next time it’s 4th and short in the red zone, but for now let’s cut him some slack and rejoice in the possibilities.

One billion percent agree with your sentiment but I think most people are frustrated that we didn’t score tds on those drives less so that we didn’t go for it

 

[Nostical]

One billion percent agree with your sentiment.

That’s a first-lol.

 

[Kolumbo]

Illinois QB is very solid, grad student, transferred from Michigan, threw an INT which put them in the hole early. But they didn't panic and came back fiercely in the 2nd quarter. Some here think we weren't aggressive enough with a freshman QB. UConn could just have easily gotten routed had it played too risky with a freshman QB.

 

[freescooter]

I agree. You absolutely take the points from field goals in those situations.

And it’s not like we didn’t take shots. On the first one Z overthrew Rose in the end zone. Another time he got sacked. Do we need to get better in the red zone? Yes. Did Edsall make a mistake taking the 3? No. Another Brown I think couldn’t stay in bounds. And what we need is better run blocking. When you can’t rely on the run game down inside the 10 it is much more difficult. As I said Mensahs score was all on him.

 

[whaler11]

Its not taking the points on 4th down that is the issue. Its the lack of trying to put the ball in the endzone prior to 4th down that is the problem. But this has been an Edsall thing forever. The closer his team gets to the endzone the tighter the playcalling. Contrast with how Illinois played near the goal line. Now you could say we had a freshman QB making his 1st start, but history tells us he plays it the same way with 5th year senior.

thank you. this is painful.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

What people aren't understanding is that while we can feel hopeful going forward in taking a big picture point of view with an improved defense, possibly finding a QB, and some playmakers at receiver, on Saturday during the game, we shouldn't be coaching for a feel good outcome where we cover the spread, but to win the damn game.

We've seen countless times where Edsall gets into no turnover, field position, and we have to hope for points on defense to win. In college football in 2019 you're not going to win games that way.

I know a lot of you feel better tonight because we "only" lost by 8 points, but to me, I'd rather have lost by 20 due to some more aggressive play and at least gone down swinging instead of running Mensah and Thompkins into the back of our online all afternoon.

 

[BugsyCT]

What people aren't understanding is that while we can feel hopeful going forward in taking a big picture point of view with an improved defense, possibly finding a QB, and some playmakers at receiver, on Saturday during the game, we shouldn't be coaching for a feel good outcome where we cover the spread, but to win the damn game.

We've seen countless times where Edsall gets into no turnover, field position, and we have to hope for points on defense to win. In college football in 2019 you're not going to win games that way.

I know a lot of you feel better tonight because we "only" lost by 8 points, but to me, I'd rather have lost by 20 due to some more aggressive play and at least gone down swinging instead of running Mensah and Thompkins into the back of our online all afternoon.

Were we playing to cover the spread, or playing to stay in the game to give us a chance to win later? We were down by one score in the 4th quarter. Would it have been better to be down by 20 in the 4th after taking more chances in the 1st qtr but failing and have 2-3K people left in the stands? That would really have been better?

I'll grant you that those 3rd down & short calls leading up to the FGs were not good calls. I think they both were run sweeps that got snuffed out. But you have to have the athletes to be able to throw caution to the wind all the time to make big plays. We had a freshman QB making his first start. He had his moments and throws a nice ball but also committed some ill-advised turnovers that young players make.

If you think we lost this game because of choosing 1st qtr FGs instead of TDs, then I don't what to tell you. Some of you seem to have the need to cherry-pick things to be disappointed about.

If we lost because of anything it was because we got hit in the mouth 2nd quarter and didn't hit back the rest of the half.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Were we playing to cover the spread, or playing to stay in the game to give us a chance to win later? We were down by one score in the 4th quarter. Would it have been better to be down by 20 in the 4th after taking more chances in the 1st qtr but failing and have 2-3K people left in the stands? That would really have been better?

I'll grant you that those 3rd down & short calls leading up to the FGs were not good calls. I think they both were run sweeps that got snuffed out. But you have to have the athletes to be able to throw caution to the wind all the time to make big plays. We had a freshman QB making his first start. He had his moments and throws a nice ball but also committed some ill-advised turnovers that young players make.

If you think we lost this game because of choosing 1st qtr FGs instead of TDs, then I don't what to tell you. Some of you seem to have the need to cherry-pick things to be disappointed about.

If we lost because of anything it was because we got hit in the mouth 2nd quarter and didn't hit back the rest of the half.

I don't see many people lamenting the fact we didn't go for TDs on 4th downs as opposed to kicking the FGs. I think it was the conservative nature of the play calling that led up to the FGs and continued into the 2nd quarter that was puzzling.

You are absolutely correct that we were in a position to tie to the game come the final drive and for that the team deserves kudos for their effort all afternoon, but when we had the lead, had the momentum, I would have liked to see us open it up more. It's like when Edsall has any lead he treats it like an end of game situation and tries to run clock.

 

[uconndogs]

There’s no doubt this is progress. Just the defense alone is light years ahead of the total steaming mess that was last season.

That we may have two serviceable if not decent QBs is also an excellent sign. That a true fresh QB could step in and play like that taking his first college snaps suggests we might have something special. Time will tell.

Edsall is starting to build a roster. I know he’s a plodder, but I’m not sure what else we can do right now. Just 3 or 4 wins this season would create some momentum and then maybe after that we can get a little bit of a roll going. I think we have a shot against USF and UMASS and maybe we surprise someone. At IU looks like a tall task.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I don't see many people lamenting the fact we didn't go for TDs on 4th downs as opposed to kicking the FGs. I think it was the conservative nature of the play calling that led up to the FGs and continued into the 2nd quarter that was puzzling.

You are absolutely correct that we were in a position to tie to the game come the final drive and for that the team deserves kudos for their effort all afternoon, but when we had the lead, had the momentum, I would have liked to see us open it up more. It's like when Edsall has any lead he treats it like an end of game situation and tries to run clock.

Also anytime we get in the red zone he seems to think “well this is deep enough downfield, if we don’t turn it over at least we’ll get three”. We actually have some playmakers at WR right now and a big athletic TE this year. Time to go hard.

I’m (not mad) about not for it on fourth down. More annoyed about 1st 2nd and 3rd down.

 

[Hornet22]

-If you told me before the game we'd lose by 8 with a chance to tie it in the 4th id say its a huge success
-It still sucks because it felt like a couple plays go different and we win
-Theres still a ton of positives
-It's exciting this game there'es actually a point in breaking it down and figuring out why we lost verus last year were almost every game came down to we were completlely overmatched
-Means nothing if we don't build on this, win a few games and play other good teams on our schedule well

Agreed. Here’s the thing. When you have a freshman QB throwing nice passes to freshmen receivers (not named Ardell) and considering the Portal can be used to supplement with the Brown’s of the world, just shows that Edsall knows how to mine for talent. Someone said all we do is bring in FCS caliber guys.

Well Ross and Drayton performed well against a B1G opponent that gets 3 and a few 4 star guys. Edsall gets overlooked guys and now that he has a better developmental infrastructure surrounding said players the light is bright at the end of the tunnel. Again, supplement the youth with the Morgan’s of the world until your crop of freshmen develop and mature. Next you can start redshirting guys and before you know it a competitive team is hatched.

But make no mistake about it, that was a still a young Edsall team that went toe to toe with a superior opponent.

He knows what he’s doing. Score for bringing in Spanos and King.

Ps. The entire defense is coming back next year.

 

[Hornet22]

There’s no doubt this is progress. Just the defense alone is light years ahead of the total steaming mess that was last season.

That we may have two serviceable if not decent QBs is also an excellent sign. That a true fresh QB could step in and play like that taking his first college snaps suggests we might have something special. Time will tell.

Edsall is starting to build a roster. I know he’s a plodder, but I’m not sure what else we can do right now. Just 3 or 4 wins this season would create some momentum and then maybe after that we can get a little bit of a roll going. I think we have a shot against USF and UMASS and maybe we surprise someone. At IU looks like a tall task.

ECU at home is winnable too

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

There’s no doubt this is progress. Just the defense alone is light years ahead of the total steaming mess that was last season.

That we may have two serviceable if not decent QBs is also an excellent sign. That a true fresh QB could step in and play like that taking his first college snaps suggests we might have something special. Time will tell.

Edsall is starting to build a roster. I know he’s a plodder, but I’m not sure what else we can do right now. Just 3 or 4 wins this season would create some momentum and then maybe after that we can get a little bit of a roll going. I think we have a shot against USF and UMASS and maybe we surprise someone. At IU looks like a tall task.

Yeah Indiana is definitely strong this year then we have to go down to Orlando. 2-2 going into the USF game would be fantastic

 

[uconndogs]

Yeah Indiana is definitely strong this year then we have to go down to Orlando. 2-2 going into the USF game would be fantastic

I just don’t see the wins before USF. The big challenge for Edsall this season will be maintaining focus and motivation so that there is momentum for next season. That won’t be easy in what looks like a 9 loss season.

 

[Purple Stein]

I think we stink, but we stink less than we've stunk.

I took the over on 2.5 wins, which was hard. I feel more confident that we'll get to that over.

Indiana is significantly better than Illinois and will probably crush us.

 

[noeynox]

thank you. this is painful.

You'd think this would not need explaining.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I don't think we need a 5 page thread for this. Yesterday was definitely, 100%, absolutely a moral victory, and I will take it. UConn lost to a Big 10 team by one score and had the ball twice in the 4th quarter with a chance to tie it. That is a solid performance by the Huskies.

 

[Adios]

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Our ranks on O and D after Wagner and Illinois. Greatest weakness is the rushing offense. That's an impressive turnaround from last year thus far. Crocker is doing fine at Elon. Spanos is obviously a great pickup.

 

[BlueDogs]

Yeah, take risks, like when Diaco went for the TD against Missouri . Some of you are complete mental cases with your armchair quarterbacking. Those field goals were absolutely appropriate at the time and not why we lost the game. Take risks, he took a risk against Wagner and it nearly cost us the game.

It’s not the field goals. It’s the calls leading to grill goals.

 

[kemba]

It’s not the field goals. It’s the calls leading to grill goals.

First field goal we took some shots at the endzone and then the 3rd down play we took a sack. It was not conservative. 2nd field goal we tried to run for it and got stopped. I didn't really like that 3rd down call but we're talking about one drive, and really one play in the first quarter. There's certainly been many games that Edsall got the lead and turtled up with the playcalling but this wasn't really one of them.

 

[metsfan2323]

There's certainly been many games that Edsall got the lead and turtled up with the playcalling but this wasn't really one of them.

Agreed, especially when you consider we are playing with a first time starting freshmen QB who ran with the third team most of the summer and you lose your right tackle early in the game, those circumstances limit the playbook.

 

[Redding Husky]

I really don't care about the results (W's). I'm just giddy that the trend is up for the first time since 2010. When this euphoria fades, I'll start thinking about W's.