Maine Thoughts

[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 genius 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.

 

[Husky25]

Put it this way: Shirreffs finished with 20 rushing attempts. Arkell Newsome had 15. That's bad. Some of that is on Shirreffs, who appears to be short on patience in the pocket.

Shirreffs admitted that only 5 of his 20 rushes had a rush option. If this is the case, Verducci actually called for at least 38 passes plays.

 

[BlueDogs]

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.

Yeah, I think you're correct basically. You need the TEs not to just run 5 yard drag routes in front of the LBs but also take routes that split zones and get behind the LB set depth with slants, etc. Need to stretch the zone behind them and make them be responsible for what is behind and forcing them to look around. The TEs cannot be 100% blocking dummies.

 

[D/$$$]

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.

Once he leaves the pocket, his brain focus' on gaining yards by running. he missed his only pass-on-the-run attempt......badly. If this facet doesn't improve (like now) teams will pulverize us. If he cannot pass on the move, he Has to be replaced.

 

[Husky25]

Once he leaves the pocket, his brain focus' on gaining yards by running. he missed his only pass-on-the-run attempt.badly. If this facet doesn't improve (like now) teams will pulverize us. If he cannot pass on the move, he Has to be replaced.

I'll bet he has one read on bootlegs. I have an issue with that Shirreffs doesn't seem to want to throw the ball away. It is admirable to gain yards on every play, but on the runs he loses yards, the play book is bigger for 2nd & 10 than 2nd & 14 or worse.

 

[Exit 4]

I'll bet he has one read on bootlegs. I have an issue with that Shirreffs doesn't seem to want to throw the ball away. It is admirable to gain yards on every play, but on the runs he loses yards, the play book is bigger for 2nd & 10 than 2nd & 14 or worse.

I'd be tempted to spend the next two weeks of practice doing nothing but 6-10 yard slant throws to the slot receivers and releasing TEs with the DE blitzing from all angles. He needs confidence to stand in and throw the classic blitz defeating route. It will be a long season without this release valve.

 

[D/$$$]

I'd be tempted to spend the next two weeks of practice doing nothing but 6-10 yard slant throws to the slot receivers and releasing TEs with the DE blitzing from all angles. He needs confidence to stand in and throw the classic blitz defeating route. It will be a long season without this release valve.

Agree. this will help the OL with the running game, as well as set up for the occasional down-field opportunity.

 

[noeynox]

People need to relax on Verducci. He is running exactly the offense Diaco wants here. One that minimizes risks and controls the clock. This offense is meant to compliment the defense and win tight games.

 

[businesslawyer]

Once he leaves the pocket, his brain focus' on gaining yards by running. he missed his only pass-on-the-run attempt.badly. If this facet doesn't improve (like now) teams will pulverize us. If he cannot pass on the move, he Has to be replaced.

Where do we get these loons from? He just went 16 for 23 with no picks while running for 95 yards. Is it fair to say once he started running he stopped looking downfield enough? Absolutely. But talk about replacing him if unbelievably dumb.

 

[CL82]

Where do we get these loons from? He just went 16 for 23 with no picks while running for 95 yards. Is it fair to say once he started running he stopped looking downfield enough? Absolutely. But talk about replacing him if unbelievably dumb.

Looking forward to the View from 241 on Maine. It is refreshing to see someone being critical, without being hysterical.

 

[businesslawyer]

Looking forward to the View from 241 on Maine. It is refreshing to see someone being critical, without being hysterical.

Will try to post tonight or first thing tomorrow a.m.