It's All About Next Week

[Nostical]

Well I wasn't at all happy either with what I saw Friday night and can understand questioning various coaching tactics and decisions, but it's really a bit absurd to be castigating BD for what he tried to accomplish. My take is that BD had a plan to see who he could count on when the bright lights were on. Consider this for example. What if HCBD had stayed with one or two running backs, wide receivers or tight ends all game (like PP did with Lyle) and when questioned after the game said" I went with the guys I felt had the best chance of getting us the win." Here's what the naysayers would have written-- "We never got a chance to see what Arkeel or Ron Johnson could do in game. We never tested several of our young wide receivers, or tight ends". Consider that all of our tight ends got a chance to play as did all of our running backs. Think about that. And as for our two QB's--I'm sure a lot was learned there too. Facing a very good defense gave the staff a chance to test their strategy about using both of them. I too shook my head when CW came in at the end of that nice CC drive. So too will the coaches now reevaluate the idea.("What were we thinking?"). In the meantime, he buoyed up our players, wasn't a sphinx on the sideline, and set a realistic tone---We've got lots of work to do. This was the first step on that journey.

Look, in a perfect world, Stony Brook would have been our first game and all that we tested wouldn't have been viewed under the prism of facing a top 25 team with a stellar QB.

So now the task ahead is clearer. We need to take what we learned from defeat, go with the personnel that performed better under the lights, and crush Stony Brook. BYU needs to take its impressive effort and Heisman-like QB into Austin and beat back the revenge minded Longhorns, who will also also playing for their new "change the culture" coach, Charlie Strong. Beating StonyBrook 42-10 will erase the Towson stench of last year. BYU beating Texas will affirm that we lost to a probable top 15 team. Then it's on to Boise St.with a rational chance.

Then again, if we lose or struggle mightily against Stonybrook and BYU gets crushed by Texas, well.....I don't even want to go there!

 

[coachcap]

In retrospect, I think playing 50 players will pay huge dividends down the line. Marriner & Newsome were fan eye openers & left us wanting to see more. The same could be said for various others at different positions (tight end comes to mind). Coach D. also found out who was wanting-leave Deshon Foxx as a returner & play more deserving players at wideout for example.
Saturday's tilt against Stonybrook will be more indicative to Coach's feel about playing time & act as a prelude for a set roster against Boise.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I agree with you guys. Diaco was clearly trying to see what he has. My only frustration at the moment is that we really won't know what this team is for a few weeks. Playing BYU as a huge underdog, then Stony Brook as a prohibitive favorite wont tell us much. I did like the way the team settled down and played tough in the 2nd half. If they can beat SB comfortably, my confidence will rise. But really we need to play and win a game against a comparable team.

 

[Milo65]

As much as I wanted UConn to win, I think most of us felt that we would lose. The hope was that we would at least compete, that didn't happen. Our frustrations (at least mine) was that this game was over 6 minutes in. The team did fight hard and did show some bright spots, but we have to remember FHCPP killed this program! There is a lot of cleaning up to do.

I think we have two winnable games ahead of us. Stoney Brook and Boise State. If we can win them both, I think most of us would be happy being 2-1 after 3 games.

 

[junglehusky]

Too much thoughtful reasoning in this thread.

 

[BNich]

Good post Nostical.

 

[ucjoet]

Well I wasn't at all happy either with what I saw Friday night and can understand questioning various coaching tactics and decisions, but it's really a bit absurd to be castigating BD for what he tried to accomplish. My take is that BD had a plan to see who he could count on when the bright lights were on. Consider this for example. What if HCBD had stayed with one or two running backs, wide receivers or tight ends all game (like PP did with Lyle) and when questioned after the game said" I went with the guys I felt had the best chance of getting us the win." Here's what the naysayers would have written-- "We never got a chance to see what Arkeel or Ron Johnson could do in game. We never tested several of our young wide receivers, or tight ends". Consider that all of our tight ends got a chance to play as did all of our running backs. Think about that. And as for our two QB's--I'm sure a lot was learned there too. Facing a very good defense gave the staff a chance to test their strategy about using both of them. I too shook my head when CW came in at the end of that nice CC drive. So too will the coaches now reevaluate the idea.("What were we thinking?"). In the meantime, he buoyed up our players, wasn't a sphinx on the sideline, and set a realistic tone---We've got lots of work to do. This was the first step on that journey.

Look, in a perfect world, Stony Brook would have been our first game and all that we tested wouldn't have been viewed under the prism of facing a top 25 team with a stellar QB.

So now the task ahead is clearer. We need to take what we learned from defeat, go with the personnel that performed better under the lights, and crush Stony Brook. BYU needs to take its impressive effort and Heisman-like QB into Austin and beat back the revenge minded Longhorns, who will also also playing for their new "change the culture" coach, Charlie Strong. Beating StonyBrook 42-10 will erase the Towson stench of last year. BYU beating Texas will affirm that we lost to a probable top 15 team. Then it's on to Boise St.with a rational chance.

Then again, if we lose or struggle mightily against Stonybrook and BYU gets crushed by Texas, well.....I don't even want to go there!

Great post . was thinking the exact same thing.

 

[Bonehead]

Good post Nostical. Interested in seeing more Mariner, Johnson, Newsome and Abrams on offense.