Indefensible

[uconnbill]

All UConn has to do is win this upcoming Saturday night

 

[Jacks5556]

135 yards passing, and 73 yards passing. That is what we have seen in two games.

The delusion is real!

 

[RSTuthill]

Do you really believe that a college football coach who desperately wants to win football games makes personnel decisions based on who is getting the most NIL money? If you do I just might have an opportunity for you to buy a bridge.

It is more complex than that. You are forgetting who gave the student athlete that money. If it is the coach then there may be a reluctance to admit a mistake, if it is a big contributor, then there may be pressure from that direction. It's complicated, but in general I agree that the will to win forces coaches to be as objective as they can be. Which is not to say COMPLETELY objective.

 

[Jimdish255]

Evers showed some potential in the second half of that game and we went into the 4th quarter with the lead. There is a LOT for him to improve, but there were some flashes. The fact that Mora started Evers in the second half after 0 offensive points in the first half makes it very clear what his vision is. He's riding with Evers, which means he will take trade the short term bumps for the long term potential. Seems like the decision is to risk losing games that Fagnano might win, so that year 2 and year 3 Evers is ready to succeed. And if the defense holds up, after seeing us within 1 TD of Duke, I don't see why Evers won't be able to win games this year too

But also, are we having this conversation if Duke doesn't drop the easy pick 6 on Fagnano from the trick play?

Another post suggesting we're already playing for maybe next year. I dont understand or accept that mentality and it certainly doesn't fit the structure of College Football today or the situation we find ourselves in. But the coaches alway know best. Been hearing that about the last 4 coaches now. You are what your record says you are. We need to play to win every game. Not hope a switch suddenly flips on the guy running your offense when you're 1-5.

 

[CL82]

It is more complex than that. You are forgetting who gave the student athlete that money.

Who was it?

 

[willie99]

Hungry for wins doesn't have to mean trashing players, coaches, and the team in general after a loss.

Im disappointed in the loss but proud of the teams performance. It was a fun game to watch.

I never trash the kids, and I concur that type of behavior is unacceptable. I was just talking about we're not a moral victory fan base, not even in football

 

[UCan3]

Here is the basketball analogy I told my friend last night. Evers is Jordan Hawkins as a freshman. Wildly inconsistent. With time, he developed into a great player. With time this season, Evers will improve and if he stays healthy, we get a P4 win and at least 7 wins

in the best case scenario, maybe but he certainly hasn't made any monster dunks yet.

 

[giddyup]

Another post suggesting we're already playing for maybe next year. I dont understand or accept that mentality and it certainly doesn't fit the structure of College Football today or the situation we find ourselves in. But the coaches alway know best. Been hearing that about the last 4 coaches now. You are what your record says you are. We need to play to win every game. Not hope a switch suddenly flips on the guy running your offense when you're 1-5.

Losing teams always sell futures to cover their losses. Hope is unaccountable to the past or present reality. I’m simply amazed how many are conditioned to be satisfied by a competitive losing effort. Could have won a big game that would have changed the storyline, but didn’t.

 

[noeynox]

Another post suggesting we're already playing for maybe next year. I dont understand or accept that mentality and it certainly doesn't fit the structure of College Football today or the situation we find ourselves in. But the coaches alway know best. Been hearing that about the last 4 coaches now. You are what your record says you are. We need to play to win every game. Not hope a switch suddenly flips on the guy running your offense when you're 1-5.

Spot on. All this potential, and averaging 100 passing yards a game, with an OL that has been good, a good stable of running backs, and probably the best group of WRs we have had in forever. Be much easier to be patient if every year wasn't about "the future" for once it would be nice if the season was about the now. Really kills me that we have 2 pretty good senior offensive tackles and this is the best we could do.

 

[Jetskies]

Spot on. All this potential, and averaging 100 passing yards a game, with an OL that has been good, a good stable of running backs, and probably the best group of WRs we have had in forever. Be much easier to be patient if every year wasn't about "the future" for once it would be nice if the season was about the now. Really kills me that we have 2 pretty good senior offensive tackles and this is the best we could do.

sry for your pain about the tackles. I felt that last year w those guys + christian & noel.
i said in a post a few weeks back;

OLine play is your floor as an offense. it can ruin everything but it can't make make you excellent, no matter how excellent IT is.
QB play is the ceiling. assuming everyone else is competent (rushers rush, blockers block, catchers catch, kickers kick), your fate rests in the hands of one guy.

eesh

 

[Jetskies]

I’m simply amazed how many are conditioned to be satisfied by a competitive losing effort. Could have won a big game that would have changed the storyline, but didn’t.

i hear you loud but wat is the alternative? just be mad until we beat a tennessee or purdue? in this new world of cfb, literally no one has it as tough as us and umass. the deck is stacked more unfairly than ever before. And they love it.

I feel that we keep being held to impossible standards in conf realignment discussions. big 12 was req'ing us to average 35k or so attendance till 2031, or whatever the number was (someone please fact check me if desired), but exact figures aside, the point is - here I am staring at half-empty P4 stadiums all over fox & ESPN (except for the top 20 programs or so).

college football is giving us the finger over and over and laughing. The financial and geographic disadvantages we face, dictate that we should be about as good as a Merrimack or Albany. And we took Duke to the 4th quarter.

I'm sorry, but I HAVE to give some modicum of credit to JM, AD David Benedict, and those folks across the athletic department.

we have to celebrate good things, if nothing else for the sake of the players.

 

[CJasmer]

i hear you loud but wat is the alternative? just be mad until we beat a tennessee or purdue? in this new world of cfb, literally no one has it as tough as us and umass. the deck is stacked more unfairly than ever before. And they love it.

I feel that we keep being held to impossible standards in conf realignment discussions. big 12 was req'ing us to average 35k or so attendance till 2031, or whatever the number was (someone please fact check me if desired), but exact figures aside, the point is - here I am staring at half-empty P4 stadiums all over fox & ESPN (except for the top 20 programs or so).

college football is giving us the finger over and over and laughing. The financial and geographic disadvantages we face, dictate that we should be about as good as a Merrimack or Albany. And we took Duke to the 4th quarter.

I'm sorry, but I HAVE to give some modicum of credit to JM, AD David Benedict, and those folks across the athletic department.

we have to celebrate good things, if nothing else for the sake of the players.

Duke is terrible this year. Wait to they start playing real teams. And by that mean not even SEC or BIG teams but watered down ACC. I think one of the issues I see on the board is UConn needs to get to a middling P4 school but to think UConn could ever compete for national Chsmpionship is silly. UConn never was competing for a National Championship when a member of Big East. Never finished in the top 25. UConn needs to get into the top 50.

 

[noeynox]

i hear you loud but wat is the alternative? just be mad until we beat a tennessee or purdue? in this new world of cfb, literally no one has it as tough as us and umass. the deck is stacked more unfairly than ever before. And they love it.

I feel that we keep being held to impossible standards in conf realignment discussions. big 12 was req'ing us to average 35k or so attendance till 2031, or whatever the number was (someone please fact check me if desired), but exact figures aside, the point is - here I am staring at half-empty P4 stadiums all over fox & ESPN (except for the top 20 programs or so).

college football is giving us the finger over and over and laughing. The financial and geographic disadvantages we face, dictate that we should be about as good as a Merrimack or Albany. And we took Duke to the 4th quarter.

I'm sorry, but I HAVE to give some modicum of credit to JM, AD David Benedict, and those folks across the athletic department.

we have to celebrate good things, if nothing else for the sake of the players.

If playing close to a sorry squad requires giving credit to people cashing 7 figure checks, what exactly is the point?

 

[CJasmer]

If playing close to a sorry squad requires giving credit to people cashing 7 figure checks, what exactly is the point?

Purdue possible. Tennessee not possible. FBS is now completely split between top 15 teams so much better than rest of field. Unless football gets into an agreement with the players like NFL- so basically treating them as employees you will see less than 10 teams with a chance for winning a national championship. Not sure how UConn football competes if somehow revenue share comes into play and you are not allowed to have boosters supplement the income to football players. Yes UConn can compete in basketball since the good P4 teams will devote most of the revenue share to football. Of course unless you have an agreement with players money from boosters will still flow in since NCAA revenue share only compensation will not be enforceable by the courts.

 

[Jetskies]

If playing close to a sorry squad requires giving credit to people cashing 7 figure checks, what exactly is the point?

the point is cheering for your school!

I want UConn to go all the way to the CFP and win it all, of course.
the guys cashing checks cash them because everyone else cashes those checks. That is what you pay people to do this work, at this desired level.

Are you saying DB is doing a crap job and deserves to make much less than equivalent AD's?
Are you saying JM (who already makes not competitive money for his experience) should make mid-level FCS coach money for doing FBS work?

I agree that systemically speaking, these checks are big (maybe too big for what this is ultimately) - that's another topic altogether. But uconn FB/BB salaries are obv not a bubble, it's relative to the market.

I know you know this, so apologies if the tone seems condescending - not the intent at all

Duke is not good, I agree. But they're also not a floor mop and will probably have a respectable, if not bowl-worthy season this year, given they're 3-0 already. That's exactly my point. We are on the cusp of being a respectable FBS program without the conference support a duke/BC/rutgers/Syracuse gets (our peers; never gonna compare us to michigan or bama).

I'm gonna celebrate what I can.

 

[CL82]

OLine play is your floor as an offense. it can ruin everything but it can't make make you excellent, no matter how excellent IT is.
QB play is the ceiling. assuming everyone else is competent, your fate rests in the hands of one guy

This is spot on and well said.

 

[CJasmer]

the point is cheering for your school!

I want UConn to go all the way to the CFP and win it all, of course.
the guys cashing checks cash them because everyone else cashes those checks. That is what you pay people to do this work, at this desired level.

Are you saying DB is doing a crap job and deserves to make much less than equivalent AD's?
Are you saying JM (who already makes not competitive money for his experience) should make mid-level FCS coach money for doing FBS work?

I agree that systemically speaking, these checks are big (maybe too big for what this is ultimately) - that's another topic altogether. But uconn FB/BB salaries are obv not a bubble, it's relative to the market.

I know you know this, so apologies if the tone seems condescending - not the intent at all

Duke is not good, I agree. But they're also not a floor mop and will probably have a respectable, if not bowl-worthy season this year, given they're 3-0 already. That's exactly my point. We are on the cusp of being a respectable FBS program without the conference support a duke/BC/rutgers/Syracuse gets (our peers; never gonna compare us to michigan or bama).

I'm gonna celebrate what I can.

Duke will much worse than last year. Not even close. Teams like Duke are the minor league for P4 power teams.

 

[CJasmer]

Duke will much worse than last year. Not even close. Teams like Duke are the minor league for P4 power teams.

I assume you are joking about winning national championship in football. UConn does not have fan support, money, resources to compete at that level. The goal is to become consistent top 50 team.

 

[CJasmer]

i hear you loud but wat is the alternative? just be mad until we beat a tennessee or purdue? in this new world of cfb, literally no one has it as tough as us and umass. the deck is stacked more unfairly than ever before. And they love it.

I feel that we keep being held to impossible standards in conf realignment discussions. big 12 was req'ing us to average 35k or so attendance till 2031, or whatever the number was (someone please fact check me if desired), but exact figures aside, the point is - here I am staring at half-empty P4 stadiums all over fox & ESPN (except for the top 20 programs or so).

college football is giving us the finger over and over and laughing. The financial and geographic disadvantages we face, dictate that we should be about as good as a Merrimack or Albany. And we took Duke to the 4th quarter.

I'm sorry, but I HAVE to give some modicum of credit to JM, AD David Benedict, and those folks across the athletic department.

we have to celebrate good things, if nothing else for the sake of the players.

Big level or real FBS teams average over 60K per game. UConn sells out stadium around 38k. Good for best of G5

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Reading some of these comments makes it clear as to how few on here actually played the game (No, Madden doesn't count).

We beat friggin Merrimack and somehow people think that makes our backup QB Johnny Unitas.

We did not concede the game by playing Evers. We weren't sacrificing the current season in hopes of being better next year, we were fielding the lineup that we felt would give us the best opportunity to win, on the road, against a P-4 school that was favored by 18 1/2 points and we nearly won.

Too many here are spending far too much time trying to manufacture things to complain about.

 

[CJasmer]

Reading some of these comments makes it clear as to how few on here actually played the game (No, Madden doesn't count).

We beat friggin Merrimack and somehow people think that makes our backup QB Johnny Unitas.

We did not concede the game by playing Evers. We weren't sacrificing the current season in hopes of being better next year, we were fielding the lineup that we felt would give us the best opportunity to win, on the road, against a P-4 school that was favored by 18 1/2 points and we nearly won.

Too many here are spending far too much time trying to manufacture things to complain about.

Duke is a bad team. Nothing like last year. But overall UConn football team is better this year. Perhaps Evers will be good at running the football and only passing on play action.

 

[Jacks5556]

Losing teams always sell futures to cover their losses. Hope is unaccountable to the past or present reality. I’m simply amazed how many are conditioned to be satisfied by a competitive losing effort. Could have won a big game that would have changed the storyline, but didn’t.

100% Well said!

 

[gioff2323]

Advocating could have, would have scenarios is a fools game. It’s right up there with declaring completely defensible decisions to be indefensible.

 

[ZooCougar]

Reading some of these comments makes it clear as to how few on here actually played the game (No, Madden doesn't count).

We beat friggin Merrimack and somehow people think that makes our backup QB Johnny Unitas.

We did not concede the game by playing Evers. We weren't sacrificing the current season in hopes of being better next year, we were fielding the lineup that we felt would give us the best opportunity to win, on the road, against a P-4 school that was favored by 18 1/2 points and we nearly won.

Too many here are spending far too much time trying to manufacture things to complain about.

Absolutely NOBODY is saying Joe Fagnano is Unitas. This is being intellectually dishonest.

Fagnano isn't the greatest but he throws more catchable passes than Nick Evers. This isn't even something that is debatable. It's simply not.

We also used a ton of resources bringing in some better Wide Receivers. I would really like to see us start using them more.

A QB that hasn't even generated 200 yards passing across two games is PITIFUL. I don't care about how inexperienced he is. Most serviceable QBs can get to that number by accident.

Go take a reality pill and get a grip.