Maine Thoughts

[freescooter]

This wasn't Vince Lombardi football btw. Bart Starr could and did throw the ball. This attack, and I use the term loosely, is more like something out of the 1920s. Maybe someone could tell Verducci and Diaco that it's no longer a penalty to throw 2 incomplete passes in a series. They changed it in 1927 I think.

 

[BlueDogs]

I agree with most of this but would add that our backs are very slow to hit holes. On more than a few occasions the line opened creases but by the time the back got there a safety had come up and closed it off. I don't know if it is the players or the plays but I noticed it last year and again this year. Almost seems that they would benefit from either a lead blocker/fullback or quicker developing runs. Or it could be the backs themselves. Brown Todman Brockington all hit the hole very quickly. Caulley too obviously. These guys don't.

Yes, yes, yes. The Oline was creating some seams and holes, not nearly as dominant as they should have, but they were present. They closed quickly with fill because the box was stacked. Newsome in particular is actually terrible getting to the LOS. RJ was attacking the LOS and did a decent job. His problem starts 2 yards after the LOS - he misses the counter- flow holes and just goes downhill and the breaks outside. I try and keep in mind this is game 1, but the inability to run against a middling FCS defense is very disconcerting.

 

[Exit 4]

Quite frankly, throw on 1st and second down and use play action. BS was not my choice for QB but he really needs hands on coaching - he barely ever looks down field and when he does he is locked on one receiver.
We had a debate on another thread if NCST was moving him to FB or TE - truth is we will never know what would have played out - but they saw he did not have the instincts to QB and that's the take away. Then take his clock management blunders and it's a pretty strong case - Diaco went the wrong route.
Impressed with Diggs - need to blitz him 8-10 times a game.

Yes, well I don't see Diaco going to Anderson until we either lose 3 games in a row or we actually have a 4 score lead in a game. For Sept and Oct, its going to be Sherriffs. Next spring, maybe Donovan Williams get win the QB job.

 

[Alum86]

# 5. pass blocking is poor. Seems to have regressed. Spot on.
#10 The 2 best players on the team. Wain and Puyol. They both could be playing Sundays next year. At least be given a shot

Was disappointed in the O, but kinda taken aback by our pass D.

 

[Confident Carl]

1. Not only does Frank Verducci need to go, but I don't want his sorry behind to ever set foot in CT again. If he lands again on the Crusty Retread Coaching Carousel and has to fly into BDL to visit a recruit, I want friggin' air marshals tackling and detaining him. This offense is dying for more creativity - we have weapons that need to be used. For , Myers and Newsome have shown that they can make plays and run with the ball for multiple seasons against much tougher competition. You'd think they would get more than one target each.
2. Looking at Verducci (and remembering Cummings in '14), I really have to question the nepotism and favoritism in Diaco's staff. Verducci was on Hayden Fry's staff while Diaco played at Iowa, the recently retired Don Patterson was the first guy together to ever hire Diaco, and that first year I remember some random yarn about how the Diacos and the Cummingses went on family vacations together. Is it just me, or is that a batshiet insane way to put together a staff? Granted we have some good people on board - given his pedigree, I am willing to give Campbell more than one game to have his WRs showing a pulse, and Poindexter+Brown generally have okay track records (tonight notwithstanding). But for all future hires, I want wide open national searches geared towards hiring the best man only, not whoever picked up Diaco's bar tab on a recruiting trip at CMU 10 years ago.
3. I am not ready to start thinking about the "Fire Diaco" bandwagon that has started up again. @ Freescooter, today was your super bowl buddy. Enjoy it. Not that my word counts for much in the real world or here, but I am giving him a chance to see some stuff change over the next few games. I want to see a defense prepared to go on the attack, I want to see offensive variety that utilizes the threats we have on the roster. I believe that there is talent on this team; last year wouldn't have happened if we didn't. But something has to change in how it is being managed.
4. I really hope I am wrong on this, but in terms of the little things re. timing (the clusterf that was the end of the first half, messing up the timing of that last FG), I am quite worried that Diaco cannot improve there. If we can win in spite of it like tonight and last year, it becomes less of an issue, but it is still a pretty big issue.
5. Every time Shirreffs goes down I fear for his health. Tonight showed that he is not going to reach the Orlovsky pantheon as a thrower, but he willed this team down the field when very few others had the gumption to join him. For all of the misfired balls that made me cringe earlier in the game, he was completing them when it counted. Additionally, this could've been the Maine D tiring out, but as the game went on I saw him become a lot more crafty on his sneaks. He is definitely a plus-plus runner as a QB, but that's a blessing and a curse. The reason he's racking up such high yardage totals is because a) our WRs have issues getting open and b) this combination of the OL can't pass block.
6. It's astonishing how bare the cupboard looked at WR tonight besides our man Noel. Beals seems to be still running into that freshman wall after a great first half, and Mayala was nowhere to be seen -- the latter being especially disappointing given how much PT Diaco gave him last year. The fact that WRs not named Thomas combined for 1 reception for 18 yards is not acceptable for an FBS team. However, credit where credit is due; Lemelle could not have stepped up at a bigger time, especially for someone who's been put through the ringer by the program.
7. Things looked slightly better for the OL with Vechery at LG. LT and RG are issues that will need to be addressed soon. At least Knappe isn't racking up too many penalties.
8. Front seven was fine. Mikal Myers certainly earned his captaincy. I was disappointed not to see Carrezola blaze through and make some big plays like he did against an arguably better Villanova team last year. Also, not to extrapolate too much from one game, but Vontae Diggs is now my pick for this year's breakout defender. He had some very impressive stops and showed great fluidity.
9. This team misses Andrew Adams a ton. Watkins is not an FBS starter by any means. John Green giveth and taketh away, with the great deflection followed up by the worst penalty of the game. We need consistency between starters and backups. I would like to see more of McAllister in the coming weeks.
10. Hats off to our special teams. Puyol is a boss, Wain let some of the best punts of his career fly, and Zecchino didn't do one thing to make me notice him (which means he's doing a perfect job in my book).
11. Lastly, for all of the drama queens out there, this is not rock bottom for the program. Things have been much worse, both way back in the annals of our history and in the past few seasons. You're drunk -- down a few glasses of water and pick up some PediaLyte in the morning.

If we play like this all season, we are screwed beyond belief. Fortunately, we have looked like around 16 different teams during Diaco's tenure, so next week could be either a decisive win or a tornado of feces and I wouldn't be surprised either way. We shall see.

I came close to changing my avatar today. I am confident about one thing and that is most of what you said is true.
I came home very disappointed for many of the reasons you articulated above. If Shirreffs keeps running
like he's doing nut cracker drills he won't make it through mid season. Tough gritty kid but Maine's QB looked like a QB, ours
looks like a full back.

 

[freescooter]

Chief.
Diggs was another guy who had good and bad moments. He was badly out of position on several running plays and got beat at least twice on passes. On the other hand he made a few really good plays including the sack late.

 

[Exit 4]

Tough gritty kid but Maine's QB looked like a QB, ours
looks like a full back.

<- Yep. I recall Sherriff's standing in the pocket and delivering a 3 second throw on the slant only once in the game (which didn't connect to Thomas). Every other time he ran the ball. Maybe Chief will get Anderson next week after Sherriff's is injured from playing QB/FB.

 

[UConnNick]

Agree with most but point 6. How many vertical passes did we even attempt?

Verducci can go F himself. He's a moron and is literally teaching things incorrectly. I also have a fear of nepotism taking over the staff.

I really hope you're wrong about the nepotism, but if Bobby D is doing nothing but surrounding himself with like-minded yes men, I fear this season could degenerate into an unmitigated disaster. If Verducci is DeLeone reincarnated, the only conference we'll be looking forward to getting an invite from at season's end will be the Sun Belt. Judging from last night's respective performances by the two teams, I doubt we can compete with Appalachian State.

 

[The Funster]

We were 2nd best at point of attack on both sides of the ball. Our O line was a head taller and heavier than their D line yet we couldn't run block in the 1st half and couldn't pass block the whole game. I fear that BS will not survive the season unless the line improves. The D line got very little pressure on the QB. Overall, Maine's lines played with more intensity.

Where were the TEs? 2 TE offense is easy to scheme if the TEs don't release and become passing targets.

Clock management was poor. The end of the 1st half was embarrassing.

 

[warbler1055]

There is nothing wrong with wishing to have a good running game plan. The problem is all the pieces have to be in place. In the last 3 years, we have consistently showed that the offensive scheme did not work for a running game with the OC and the players. Play calling was so predictable that everybody knew what it was to be. To have Maine in the backfield and nailed the backs was so disheartening. BS had no time whatsoever so he ran for his life.

 

[huskymedic]

Matt Schonvisky ‏@MattSchonvisky 30m 30 minutes ago
On #UConn play calling last night. Final stats show 50 run/23 pass. Sacks=2. Shirreffs said out of his 20 runs, only 5 had run options

Matt Schonvisky ‏@MattSchonvisky 29m 29 minutes ago
So taking Shirreffs at his word, play calling was actually 33 run/40 pass. He knows he needs to make better decisions & talked after game

Matt Schonvisky ‏@MattSchonvisky 28m 28 minutes ago
"I'll have to watch the film. Sometimes there was some miscommunication, sometimes I would say I slipped out of the pocket too fast and then

Matt Schonvisky ‏@MattSchonvisky 27m 27 minutes ago
later in the game, I felt much more comfortable sitting in the pocket. I think it was a combination of things, but it's definitely something

Matt Schonvisky ‏@MattSchonvisky 27m 27 minutes ago
we can improve on and right now we are 1-0 and now we just need to look at what we can do better and the errors we can minimize. I feel good

 

[The Funster]

BS quotes is just having his line's back. This was not a matter of moving around in the pocket. He was constantly flushed from the pocket.

 

[huskymedic]

BS quotes is just having his line's back. This was not a matter of moving around in the pocket. He was constantly flushed from the pocket.

He has happy feet... I have no problem if you say it was self preservation (and he's one tuff SOB) but if he "panics" and doesn't go through proper progressions - the play calling isn't the problem.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Shirreff bailed on some plays early and took some wicked hits. He is not going to last the season if he is taking hits like that against Maine. Imagine what Virginia will do to him?

It was a team effort of badness last night. My biggest concern is how sloppy the execution looked, because I fear that while the play calling is atrocious, the players can't even run the plays that are called. You don't need Bill Walsh calling your plays to beat Maine. Half the inside runs looked like simple counters, so the run blocking should also be simple one direction, open up pre-assigned gaps against a designated defender. Yet there were almost no gaps being created against a weak opponent.

The receivers are rounding their cuts instead of sharp, angular cuts. This makes it much easier to defend them. It honestly felt like some of the receivers were jogging on patterns. These are fundamentals, and effort. If those are problems, it doesn't matter what plays are being called.

On defense, the backs NEED to turn around in coverage. Several Maine passes were quacking and with the exception of a handful of plays, the defensive backs didn't even try to make a play on the ball.

 

[Exit 4]

There is nothing wrong with wishing to have a good running game plan. The problem is all the pieces have to be in place. In the last 3 years, we have consistently showed that the offensive scheme did not work for a running game with the OC and the players. Play calling was so predictable that everybody knew that what it was to be. To have Maine in the backfield and nailed the backs was so disheartening. BS had no time whatsoever so he ran for his life.

Yes, but to cool the blitzing, Sherriff has to do a little more scrambling to pass rather than scrambling to run. He and this offense have to develop plays to take the heat off the blitz and that means keeping the eyes downfield for those open receivers. Need to use that arm.

 

[Exit 4]

Meanwhile this 30 year old had a helleva debute.
University of Maine Athletics

 

[uconndogs]

The forced fumble and TD was probably a 14 point turn and UCONN was lucky to escape with the W. Actually getting the W showed some poise.

We won for one reason and one reason only. Our OL physically wore UMaine down so that late in the game we could get what we needed from the run game. I don't think a single pass was directed to a WR other than Thomas and the one pass to Lamell. So that is discouraging. I expected BS to be much more poised, but it seemed he bailed out very early on numerous plays.

That the frosh Peart and Watkins played poorly is on no surprise. They may end up being very good players, but few play well and consistently out the gate. Nature of the beast.

I think our front seven on D are slow. There is no pass rush. Diggs took a while to settle in and looked pretty bad out the gate last night.

That this board is in meltdown mold is pretty funny and that preliminary talk about Diaco's job is already starting is borderline hilarious. Welcome to college football.

 

[Exit 4]

Matt Schonvisky ‏@MattSchonvisky 30m 30 minutes ago
On #UConn play calling last night. Final stats show 50 run/23 pass. Sacks=2. Shirreffs said out of his 20 runs, only 5 had run options

Matt Schonvisky ‏@MattSchonvisky 29m 29 minutes ago
So taking Shirreffs at his word, play calling was actually 33 run/40 pass. He knows he needs to make better decisions & talked after game

Matt Schonvisky ‏@MattSchonvisky 28m 28 minutes ago
"I'll have to watch the film. Sometimes there was some miscommunication, sometimes I would say I slipped out of the pocket too fast and then

Matt Schonvisky ‏@MattSchonvisky 27m 27 minutes ago
later in the game, I felt much more comfortable sitting in the pocket. I think it was a combination of things, but it's definitely something

Matt Schonvisky ‏@MattSchonvisky 27m 27 minutes ago
we can improve on and right now we are 1-0 and now we just need to look at what we can do better and the errors we can minimize. I feel good

Well, saying the right things if you ask me.

 

[Tdaley]

Our power running game is just not going to work when the other team has 9 guys in the box. This is on Diaco and not just the OC . We are running the offence that Bob wants to run. The problem is it does not fit our personal. We have poor offensive line that is improving but is not going ever block well enough with the defense alignments its going to face every week even if its only Maine. Sherreffs has been put in a very difficult position. A better designed offence would use the shut-gun formation more often with quicker passes and getting Newsome the ball in space. Why are we throwing a swing passes to Tyler Davis instead of Newsome. Diaco's fascination with tight ends and H backs is mind numbing. I understand that they can be part of a effective offense but it should not be to the exclusion of other things that we can do well. Diaco is being too stubborn here. He is trying to force his system rather than tailor it to his personnel.

 

[Exit 4]

BS quotes is just having his line's back. This was not a matter of moving around in the pocket. He was constantly flushed from the pocket.

There is no way around it, he will be flushed all year - however to make it productive - he has to keep is eyes downfield in the process. Its not an easy task, but until he makes more completions that are more than 8 yards down field, the defenses are going to stack the box, blitz and be downright aggressive. Passing is the way to punish and reign in aggressive defenses. Got to burn them.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Spot on with the nepotism. Verducci was basically cleaning jock straps at Northern Iowa and then becomes our offensive coordinator? Stupid hire. Unless there's a massive change throughout the season, he'll likely be gone after this year. I have no problem with playing a conservative offense, but we do need to go downfield from time to time. Maine recognized that we wouldn't do that and they stacked the box & blitzed and it killed us

 

[HuskyHawk]

There is no way around it, he will be flushed all year - however to make it productive - he has to keep is eyes downfield in the process. Its not an easy task, but until he makes more completions that are more than 8 yards down field, the defenses are going to stack the box, blitz and be downright aggressive. Passing is the way to punish and reign in aggressive defenses. Got to burn them.

Agreed. He seems to recognize that sometimes he was under pressure, and sometimes he abandoned the pocket much too quickly. Now, when he does, correctly start scrambling he must keep the goal of getting the ball downfield via the air, and not just turn it into a running play. Hopefully he can improve at that, and if he does, become a pretty dangerous guy. If he starts burning people downfield, it will actually open things up for him to get some even longer QB runs.

 

[BlueDogs]

We were 2nd best at point of attack on both sides of the ball. Our O line was a head taller and heavier than their D line yet we couldn't run block in the 1st half and couldn't pass block the whole game. I fear that BS will not survive the season unless the line improves. The D line got very little pressure on the QB. Overall, Maine's lines played with more intensity.

Where were the TEs? 2 TE offense is easy to scheme if the TEs don't release and become passing targets.

Clock management was poor. The end of the 1st half was embarrassing.

Exactly, a 2 TE set is useless if they never release and catch passes to freeze the linebackers and secondary. It's like they didn't even use the scheme for what it was designed to do.

 

[Exit 4]

Exactly, a 2 TE set is useless if they never release and catch passes to freeze the linebackers and secondary. It's like they didn't even use the scheme for what it was designed to do.

I have to rewatch, but it seemed they tried to use it to seal off the back side on run plays with pulling guards or they used the TE to pull and play full back. Either way, our TE cannot block effectively, so this plan doesn't work. Plus, so we are no threat to throw the ball to our WR in this formation, the safeties and LBS just plowed into the box and shut down the scheme with ease. Our TEs cannot block enough to make this work, so it probably should just be abandoned for the most part.

 

[businesslawyer]

I think that may have been the intention going in, but when it's 14-14 pretty deep in the second half, that should have and probably did go out the window they just couldn't play call and couldn't execute.

It's amazing how when things don't go well people's perceptions don't match the reality. From the moment that we converted a third and long to Noel Thomas to lead to our second TD, they never stopped us again. We had two TD drives, a good drive ruined by the ridiculous trick play (both the call and the execution) and then the FG drive. Four drives in a row where they didn't stop us at all -- we only stopped ourselves once. So at no point were we at 14-14 and called plays that weren't working at all.