Its going to be a long, long season folks

[ATLDYKA]

Lets face it, if this is a 1AA caliber team like Towson from last year we get killed. Outside of Davis I think we have seen our last few NFL caliber players move on from the Edsall era. These players that have been brought in by the PP regime are just not that good and we need to face that. It is going to take Diaco time to bring in the talent and that will take a few years.

Offense - For those who still think Whitmer is the answer after today's game. Well you are as delusional as the former coaching staff. I counted at least 6 passes where he had wide open receivers and over threw them by a good 10 yards. You have to give them a chance to catch the ball. I will say that he at least ran the ball better today.
The OL line- just awful. The SB line was in our backfield the entire game. This is a 1AA team folks. They gave our running game no chance. The pass protection at times was decent but just no consistent enough.
I have seen enough of the drops by McQuillan, Foxx and Abrams. Time for either Myers or Bloom and would much rather see Bradley, Thomas and Lucas. We can move Foxx to special teams or gadget plays only.

Defense - I would like to say that they were good seeing that they really only gave up 6 points without the offensive turnovers but I can't. I think it was just a matter of the Stony Brook offense being that bad. Not enough pass rush, too many open receivers when we are dropping 8 guys and our DB's being beat only to be bailed out by horrible passes by their QB. For those that are in love with Obi, I'm juts not seeing it, he get's beat far too often and if often out of place on defense. The one guy I do like is Joseph.

I still have to question play calling at several times during the game. I felt we tried to pass way too much but I suppose that could be the result of poor blocking.

We can't get Casey back soon enough and even if he does come back the talent just isn't there. Sorry folks. Hope I'm wrong but it is going to be a real struggle this year to win games.

 

[gopher2]

Agree this is a 1AA team and not a very good one at that. 1-11 is a real possibility. So far the offense is much worse than it has been over the last 3 years. Today we couldn't sustain drives or make big plays against a so-so 1AA opponent. I fear for the future of this program.

 

[rich1122]

Not buying the Hope and Change thing anymore.

 

[BlueDogs]

Today's game might be a win, but Diaco just lost a lot of fan support. Overall, the game was atrociously played. There are so many problems it would take too long to list to repeat. Joe D was praising the D post game. Are f'in kidding? Sorry, that was not a dominant defensive effort against an outmanned 1AA club. Coverage was terrible. Outside contain non-existent. The pass rush was weak (3 sacks) but hardly any consistent pass pressure. The only strong part of the D was between the tackles on the run.

As far as the O-line run blocking, just pathetic. They could not move a second rate 1AA defensive line off the line of scrimmage. Diaco's platooning of RBs is just stupid. None of them can get any rhythm. The pass plays are horrendous. Maybe one pass on the middle of the field. No TE play across the middle.

Overall, pathetically poor game. Uninspiring, uninteresting and underwhelming. Diaco better get his act together or the honeymoon is going to be over quick.

 

[minidarren]

Not buying the Hope and Change thing anymore.

Should have lost that with Obama 2008.

 

[NavinRJohnson]

We are seeing how far this program fell under PP. There is a lack of talent on this club and if there is talent it needs to be developed from scratch.

 

[jdb50]

Our outside contain is really a problem. Just wow. Then throw in the wide open receivers especially on their last scoring drive. As we struggled to sustain a drive on offense it really hit home how big a rebuild this is. We did not have much of a talent advantage at most positions against a FCS team with 20 less scholarship players.

 

[uconnell]

Geeze like no team ever improves over the course of a season. These players have had 3 coaches in alittle over a year. One of whom was PP, buff said.

 

[dsturdy5]

Remember when P was struggling to win with Edsall's players coming off of a Fiesta Bowl? You know, guys who have gone on to the NFL and we had to give him time to win with HIS guys? Why can't we give Diaco time to weed through P's guys, who went 3-9 last year, and get his own in here?

 

[DoctorWho85]

Remember when P was struggling to win with Edsall's players coming off of a Fiesta Bowl? You know, guys who have gone on to the NFL and we had to give him time to win with HIS guys? Why can't we give Diaco time to weed through P's guys, who went 3-9 last year, and get his own in here?

It's true Diaco should be given at least some slack this year, but this is a BAD FCS team that had a total of 1 third down conversion until the 4th quarter of their second game. This team got manhandled on the line on both sides of the ball. I understand that the D-line's job is to hold blocks and let the LB's to clean up, but theoretically, UConn should be bigger in all facets of the game and they flat looked unprepared.

Does this mean I'm giving up on the season? Not even close. I will be greatly disappointed if we don't make it back to a bowl game this year, but as a fan I am willing to withhold judgement on Diaco until at least he's through his first full year.

 

[Greathusky]

We are seeing how far this program fell under PP. There is a lack of talent on this club and if there is talent it needs to be developed from scratch.

Yeah we are in for the long haul with this program. But like JC in 1985, it doable and he did it. I have faith that Diaco will too given time and patience.

 

[EJHarrington]

Give me a break with the Diaco criticism. He inherited a poorly coached team with not a lot of talent. I have already accepted I'm not going to a Bowl game (again) this year. His honeymoon with me will last even through next season and maybe longer. The guy is not a god; he can't just snap fingers and make a bad football team good overnight.

Maybe we can get Tricky Dick Blumenthal to sue Pasqualoni for gross negligence and recoup some of the millions wasted on him.

 

[Dooley]

Today was ugly. Absolutely. But take a look at some of the scores across college football. There are a lot of schools, with bigger names than UCONN, that have struggled to beat inferior (on paper) opponents.

Again - I'm not saying today wasn't ugly. All I'm saying is that we aren't the only program playing ugly football.

 

[John]

Yeah we are in for the long haul with this program. But like JC in 1985, it doable and he did it. I have faith that Diaco will too given time and patience.

The conference situation needs to get solved first

 

[UConnJim]

I disagree. There is talent on this team, but Diaco has decided that the first 3 games are exhibition games to build depth. In addition, the offensive and defensive schemes are hurting the team right now.

No pass rush? We are rushing 3 DTs and 4 players at most, none of them with speed. Diaco likes size, but he is not utilizing all the DEs that've we've recruited that he moved to LB. There are no blitzes and I don't know why. The coaches need to make adjustments.

Containment? SB could run around their right side as their TE lined up outside our DE and could easily block him in. To me, that was a scheme problem.

Offense: at the end of last year, under Weist, the offense found a rhythm, and looked pretty good. In my opinion, the talent on O is better than last year. Unfortunately, I don't like the offensive schemes and philosophy right now. We are too predictable and plain vanilla. The offense today was inside run, Whitmer scramble, medium to long pass. No quick slants to take the pressure off the OL and QB and to force the LBs to move off the line of scrimmage. Weist had Casey throwing slants to our WRs that hit them in stride for good gains. And why aren't we getting the ball to our speed players?

Maybe all of this is part of the plan, but I am confused and concerned with the coaching.

 

[06029]

Not buying the Hope and Change thing anymore.

As one that has not bought into BD, I must say that you need to get a grip. A wn is a win s a win. This one had to be a win no matter what and It was.

This will be my only post this week no matter what whacky BD says. I am stepping away from the keyboard. Conference play is only 1 game away. Until then, I will watch and look for the game to game improvement.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Today's game might be a win, but Diaco just lost a lot of fan support. Overall, the game was atrociously played. There are so many problems it would take too long to list to repeat. Joe D was praising the D post game. Are f'in kidding? Sorry, that was not a dominant defensive effort against an outmanned 1AA club. Coverage was terrible. Outside contain non-existent. The pass rush was weak (3 sacks) but hardly any consistent pass pressure. The only strong part of the D was between the tackles on the run.

As far as the O-line run blocking, just pathetic. They could not move a second rate 1AA defensive line off the line of scrimmage. Diaco's platooning of RBs is just stupid. None of them can get any rhythm. The pass plays are horrendous. Maybe one pass on the middle of the field. No TE play across the middle.

Overall, pathetically poor game. Uninspiring, uninteresting and underwhelming. Diaco better get his act together or the honeymoon is going to be over quick.

Awww come on man! This was just the warm up for the fall version of the spring game! Boise even wears a shade of blue and white! This is a new era of football, where you go into the season with no intention of actually game planning for your opponent until the first three games are over!

The only thing I'm waiting for honestly right now, besides opening day, is how long it takes Diaco to figure out that he's got an All American freshmen that really should be getting the ball. He failed bad in blocking but all rookies need time and experience for that,, but you don't coach what that kid's got. Maybe when the season starts he'll get 20 carries in a game.

 

[CTMike]

The conference situation needs to get solved first

Let's just say - hypothetically - that another conference called up WM recently and said : show us the Pasqualoni years were a mistake. Show us what you've got under new coach Diaco. Show us that Connecticut supports UConn Football, and let's talk after the season.

These two games have been like watching the death of UConn athletics, play by painful play.

I'm not giving up on Diaco. His approach (I hope) will pay long term dividends. But we are already on life support - we don't have all the time in the world to find real success on the field.

 

[metsfan2323]

Hopefully the vanilla style we are seeing is just Diaco saving the real game plan for the non preseason games. I know that is grasping at straws but I'll take a straw for now. He has actually said we aren't game planning yet. I would like to suggest that he plan for the Boise game.