I'm not crazy about hiring DC for HC. Sounds like more boring football.

[TouchdownHusky]

As long as you have a good D and STs if you can run the ball and kill clock you will usually win! Everyone today is obsessed with high flying offense's that look pretty when they click but I'm a traditionalist. I hate all the new rules favoring the O!

And this just in from the President of the Woody Hayes: Three yards and a cloud of dust fan club.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

TDH, I enjoy that you can discuss our opposing views rationally. I am sure we both agree that the most fun thing to watch is winning games, regardless of how it happens. Can't wait for August already. Cheers !

Indeed. Happy holidays, Jax.

 

[BugsyCT]

It's not about how we win, it's about how often we win and who we win against.

If Diaco can get this thing turned around, fannies will return to the seats and all the positive mojo the program lost post-Fiesta Bowl will start to come back.

 

[uconnbill]

Only on the boneyard would someone complain about the HC before he even is announced at the press conference. I thought I was the Debbie downer, wow!

Don't worry you still are

 

[NickyNewark]

And this just in from the President of the Woody Hayes: Three yards and a cloud of dust fan club.

Very funny....I was thinking more along the lines of a Stanford or MSU in CFB or the NY Giants/Seattle/49er type O in the NFL, not "50s" OSU bland !!.... come on TDHusky expand your mind a little and don't think so narrowly? Lets think B1G. Under cold, gray November sky's in NE the "hawk" ain't real kind to high,tight spiral's spinning downfield in late afternoon or evening!!

 

[BlueMAB]

Very funny....I was thinking more along the lines of a Stanford or MSU in CFB or the NY Giants/Seattle/49er type O in the NFL, not "50s" OSU bland !!.... come on TDHusky expand your mind a little and don't think so narrowly? Lets think B1G. Under cold, gray November sky's in NE the "hawk" ain't real kind to high,tight spiral's spinning downfield in late afternoon or evening!!

Don't waste your time. TDH would rather score 50 and lose than 10 and win.

 

[JaYnYcE]

That's one example. Every Cowboys, Steelers, Giants, or Ravens title was based on an amazing defense. Of course you have to run a competent offense, but that doesn't mean you have to be throwing the ball all over. Think of Stanford v Oregon this year when the Cardinal stuffed them on D and just ran the ball down their throats at 7 yards a clip. Twas truly a thing of beauty. A strong ball control offense to compliment a smothering D is the recipe I like.

That philosophy failed against Oklahoma.

 

[UConnDan97]

That philosophy failed against Oklahoma.

Yeah, it was the philosophy that killed us that game. Yup. Because it's always a bad idea to run the ball with an NFL running back and an NFL fullback blocking for him in an important game (Todman had 121 yards of rushing).

That, or maybe it was the fact that we threw not one but TWO pick-6's to Oklahoma and our quarterback went 19 for 39. It was definitely one or the other...

(that's not an indictment on Frazer; Oklahoma was every bit a top10 team with a lot of pro talent that year and ended the year as the hottest team in football, but it doesn't help when we give away 14 points)

 

[junglehusky]

No conference chucks it around more than the Big 12. They are the epitome of TDH's fantasy - defense is clearly an afterthought.

How many national championships have the Big12 won of late?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Yeah, it was the philosophy that killed us that game. Yup. Because it's always a bad idea to run the ball with an NFL running back and an NFL fullback blocking for him in an important game (Todman had 121 yards of rushing).

That, or maybe it was the fact that we threw not one but TWO pick-6's to Oklahoma and our quarterback went 19 for 39. It was definitely one or the other...

(that's not an indictment on Frazer; Oklahoma was every bit a top10 team with a lot of pro talent that year and ended the year as the hottest team in football, but it doesn't help when we give away 14 points)

If I remember correctly both of those pick six's bounced off our WR's hands (and there were quite a few other drops in that game). Zach was far from perfect when he was here but our pass catchers did very little to help him in that game.

 

[Waquoit]

Yeah, it was the philosophy that killed us that game...

Don't feed the trolls.

 

[Jax Husky]

If I remember correctly both of those pick six's bounced off our WR's hands (and there were quite a few other drops in that game). Zach was far from perfect when he was here but our pass catchers did very little to help him in that game.

And therein lies some of the issue I have with a pass happy offense. It is often more unpredictable, with many more variables. The passing game was actually what killed UConn in that Fiesta bowl. Add to that, the fact that Oklahoma was just all around a more talented team, and it really isn't a good argument against my point (that I prefer a ball control offense and smothering D).

 

[Waquoit]

The passing game was actually what killed UConn in that Fiesta bowl.

Having the team coached by a Maryland man was a bigger issue.

 

[UConnDan97]

If I remember correctly both of those pick six's bounced off our WR's hands (and there were quite a few other drops in that game). Zach was far from perfect when he was here but our pass catchers did very little to help him in that game.

You're absolutely right about that, no doubt about it. In fact, if I recall correctly, one of the passes bounced off of a chest (an even bigger error than off the hands). That's why I put my disclaimer that I wasn't trying to call out Zach. But my point was that if you have an NFL quality running back (Todman) and an NFL quality fullback (Sherman) and at least two offensive lineman that ended up in the NFL (Zach Hurd - Raiders, Mike Ryan - Bengals)......then you run the ball!!! I know, I know....I shouldn't have fed that troll by responding to his original post, but whatever...

 

[BlueMAB]

Yeah, the head coach "not being invested in the game" was what caused our two WRs to drop catchable balls that resulted in pick 6's to effectively end the game.

Even with nothing but pride on the line late in the game we couldn't punch it in the endzone.

Not because OU was just bigger, faster, and better. But because Edsall had his eyes on Maryland.

 

[BlueMAB]

You're absolutely right about that, no doubt about it. In fact, if I recall correctly, one of the passes bounced off of a chest (an even bigger error than off the hands). That's why I put my disclaimer that I wasn't trying to call out Zach. But my point was that if you have an NFL quality running back (Todman) and an NFL quality fullback (Sherman) and at least two offensive lineman that ended up in the NFL (Zach Hurd - Raiders, Mike Ryan - Bengals)......then you run the ball!!! I know, I know....I shouldn't have fed that troll by responding to his original post, but whatever...

Todman ran the ball 32 times for 121 yards.

From early in the 3rd quarter and on we were down 17+ points making it tough to run the ball while trying to come back.

Why not stop rewriting the past and let's look toward the future.

 

[UConnDan97]

Todman ran the ball 32 times for 121 yards.

From early in the 3rd quarter and on we were down 17+ points making it tough to run the ball while trying to come back.

Why not stop rewriting the past and let's look toward the future.

What's your story?

I'm only rewriting the past because some people have seemingly forgotten it. Nobody would be happier to move forward in our conversations than I would be. But somehow, it has been a steady dose of "what about the other candidates" or "boring football". I'm excited about the future. I'm proud of our past. That's all...

 

[BlueMAB]

What's your story?

I'm only rewriting the past because some people have seemingly forgotten it. Nobody would be happier to move forward in our conversations than I would be. But somehow, it has been a steady dose of "what about the other candidates" or "boring football". I'm excited about the future. I'm proud of our past. That's all...

there were two posts about the fiesta bowl that stood out. one said we lost because the coach's head wasn't in the game, the other implied we lost because we didn't run the ball enough.

both are incorrect. that's my story.

we lost to OU because they were bigger, better, faster, and stronger. they had speed at the skill positions, and they pushed us around on the lines. it had nothing to do with our coaching, our strategy, and everything to do with talent, size and speed. the fans showed up in force (i was there) and neither the fans nor the team had anything to be ashamed of.

moving on, i'm excited for our future. the talk about boring football kills me too. show me a lovable loser and i'll show you a loser. i don't care what the offense looks like as long as we win. i would prefer balance, i would like to be able to toss it around, but i know if we can't run the ball we aren't going to win. we play in new england in a wind tunnel. we need to be able to run the ball and stop the run. that's our recipe for success, everything after that is secondary.

 

[UConnDan97]

there were two posts about the fiesta bowl that stood out. one said we lost because the coach's head wasn't in the game, the other implied we lost because we didn't run the ball enough.

both are incorrect. that's my story.

we lost to OU because they were bigger, better, faster, and stronger. they had speed at the skill positions, and they pushed us around on the lines. it had nothing to do with our coaching, our strategy, and everything to do with talent, size and speed. the fans showed up in force (i was there) and neither the fans nor the team had anything to be ashamed of.

moving on, i'm excited for our future. the talk about boring football kills me too. show me a lovable loser and i'll show you a loser. i don't care what the offense looks like as long as we win. i would prefer balance, i would like to be able to toss it around, but i know if we can't run the ball we aren't going to win. we play in new england in a wind tunnel. we need to be able to run the ball and stop the run. that's our recipe for success, everything after that is secondary.

Just to be clear, I hope you don't believe that I was suggesting in my post that we should have run it more than we did. I was simply defending the reasons behind running it as much as we had. The running game was clearly our best weapon that year, and there was no reason to "poo-poo" the decision to run it. I'm not criticizing the use of Frazer or of the passing game, especially when we got behind big after the third quarter.

I'll move on with you. I'm also excited about the future. And I'm with you about the talk of boring football. It's never boring when you can run it on a team. And as Casey showed late in the season, it's certainly not boring to throw it either. Like you said; "as long as we win"...

 

[BlueMAB]

Just to be clear, I hope you don't believe that I was suggesting in my post that we should have run it more than we did. I was simply defending the reasons behind running it as much as we had. The running game was clearly our best weapon that year, and there was no reason to "poo-poo" the decision to run it. I'm not criticizing the use of Frazer or of the passing game, especially when we got behind big after the third quarter.

I'll move on with you. I'm also excited about the future. And I'm with you about the talk of boring football. It's never boring when you can run it on a team. And as Casey showed late in the season, it's certainly not boring to throw it either. Like you said; "as long as we win"...

my mistake, i misunderstood your point.

 

[Waquoit]

there were two posts about the fiesta bowl that stood out. one said we lost because the coach's head wasn't in the game, the other implied we lost because we didn't run the ball enough.

Of course we lost because OK was better. But the coach didn't give his all. On our first set of downs we had the first down but a horrible spot put us just short. HCRE didn't even blink (or complain or go for it or nothing). He had a plane to catch.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

You're absolutely right about that, no doubt about it. In fact, if I recall correctly, one of the passes bounced off of a chest (an even bigger error than off the hands). That's why I put my disclaimer that I wasn't trying to call out Zach. But my point was that if you have an NFL quality running back (Todman) and an NFL quality fullback (Sherman) and at least two offensive lineman that ended up in the NFL (Zach Hurd - Raiders, Mike Ryan - Bengals)......then you run the ball!!! I know, I know....I shouldn't have fed that troll by responding to his original post, but whatever...

Yeah and the running game got stuffed because Randy decides on fourth and about a foot . . . to run a non-NFL back off tackle in what turned out to be the slowest developing play ever and it got stuffed. Even with another block, we'd still be waiting for the back to turn in a north/south direction.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

No conference chucks it around more than the Big 12. They are the epitome of TDH's fantasy - defense is clearly an afterthought.

How many national championships have the Big12 won of late?

And how many have the Big East won. Or the American Athletic Conference. Or UConn for that matter. As for the Big 12, well. . . every last one of those teams is in a Power 5 conference . . . .UConn? As for them not playing defense . . . Oklahoma kicked the crap out of UConn who's only TD's were on a pick six and a KO return. In fact UConn was the only team (win or lose) on New Year's Day 2011 not to have scored at least one offensive TD. Now there's a couple of afterthoughts.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

And therein lies some of the issue I have with a pass happy offense. It is often more unpredictable, with many more variables. The passing game was actually what killed UConn in that Fiesta bowl. Add to that, the fact that Oklahoma was just all around a more talented team, and it really isn't a good argument against my point (that I prefer a ball control offense and smothering D).

It was pretty predictable for OKlahoma. They were fairly "pass happy" that season. If I remember, their leading receiver had 100+ receptions and the second leading receiver has 70+. So to recap, Oklahoma shut down the vaunted UConn ball control offense and put up huge numbers against UConn's smothering D.

 

[JaYnYcE]

Yeah, it was the philosophy that killed us that game. Yup. Because it's always a bad idea to run the ball with an NFL running back and an NFL fullback blocking for him in an important game (Todman had 121 yards of rushing).

That, or maybe it was the fact that we threw not one but TWO pick-6's to Oklahoma and our quarterback went 19 for 39. It was definitely one or the other...

(that's not an indictment on Frazer; Oklahoma was every bit a top10 team with a lot of pro talent that year and ended the year as the hottest team in football, but it doesn't help when we give away 14 points)

Todman couldn't even get in the end zone. Oklahoma knew what our make up was, strong defense and running the ball.

You're absolutely right about that, no doubt about it. In fact, if I recall correctly, one of the passes bounced off of a chest (an even bigger error than off the hands). That's why I put my disclaimer that I wasn't trying to call out Zach. But my point was that if you have an NFL quality running back (Todman) and an NFL quality fullback (Sherman) and at least two offensive lineman that ended up in the NFL (Zach Hurd - Raiders, Mike Ryan - Bengals)......then you run the ball!!! I know, I know....I shouldn't have fed that troll by responding to his original post, but whatever...

How did running the ball do against Wake Forrest in 2007?