Mainly Offense Analysis.. Defense deserves a trophy.

[Guru13]

What a tough loss losing to army. Part of me thinks our players did not give their all, part of me thinks we will get another game and our players will definitely ball out to end out the season. I am not fond of how we played the second half, but these refs sometimes are a thorn in the flesh because there was some bluntly some bogus calls that they did not call. Uconn did put themselves in that position of not beating the refs by not scoring points in the 1st half to go up 21-7 during those goal line stands. So to start.. Charlton will probably open up the playbook a lot more next year, but I am glad to see how well he progresses with better skill players next year.

QB. I still stand that ZT is probably going be the qb for us. Only qb past couple years get to 6 wins, but he is a freshmen who is still learning college ball. We are expecting way too much out of a young quarterback. As a passer, he does have the best arm out of any qbs we have seen the past couple of years, only thing is he stares down way too much, is not to good at throwing lateral sideline to sideline, but he does throw a good deep ball. He needs to learn how to read through his progression going into the offseason.

RBS. I feel sorry for them not getting more touches in the second half, but Rosa is still Rosa. He will only get better and learn how to take better angles and following his leadblocks. Burns deserves to have his name on a wall, a kid from Miami who was the only transfer who had the biggest impact on the offense we have seen. Hoping he can leave Uconn at 7-6, it will be great. Houston is going to be back and I am excited for the backfield next year.

OLINE. Still consistent even though we had some costly penalties on the whole o-line today. I do not blame the lost entirely on them, they did what they could do and manage. Army is a team that does a lot of pre snap movements on the line and do not directly line up over linemen. Our Oline is gonna be great next with another year in the weight room. What I am hoping to see next year with our o-line is for them to be maulers all across the board. This year they improved both pass and run blocking, props to them for this season

WR/TE. TE #83 has to be the most penalized receiver on the team... like I have never seen a skill player penalized so many times. Drop passes did not help the team today, even though we made some catches that we needed to do, it was not enough to beat this army team.

Defense
Defense needs a trophy for this season I do not really have much to say besides seeing improvement all across the board. ... Props to Mora for changing up our defense and minimizing a lot of back to back big plays because last year was a disaster. We still have weaknesses in the secondary position and linebacker core. I think we will be fine if we get better players and development from our secondary.

 

[Palatine]

Zion doesn't see the field well enough. That is why Charlton -correctly- doesn't allow him to throw the ball to the middle of the field. It's also why he is a one read QB, if his primary receiver isn't open, he doesn't seem to be able to find his second read. His accuracy is so-so. He rarely throws receivers open by leading them to the empty spot.

That doesn't mean he cannot improve. But improve he must. These are issues that must be solved for him to become a competent division one QB. If he is unable to address these deficits, the UConn offense will be stalled as it is right now.

Zion has done a decent job as a game manager of a very poor passing game. He cut way down on his turnovers. He has made his legs a useful offensive weapon. Over the year he has gotten better. The coaches praise his intelligence and maturity. But that is not enough to make him the starting QB of a good offense. Good QBs don't protect the ball, they threaten the secondary by reading the defense, anticipating receivers and fitting the ball in tight windows. He's a long long way from there.

IMHO, QB is the #1 offensive issue that must be addressed in the off season. It all starts there.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

ZT has a tendency to stare down receivers. This was the cause of both int's today, the one last week late in the first half and his first pass attempt of the season at Utah St.

Al McGuire used to say "the best thing about freshman is they become sophomores". Whether he earns the starting job next year or not he should be noticeably better in his decision making and his ability to look off DB's.

In my opinion the biggest difference in the game today was discipline, experience and continuity in coaching staffs. I personally believe that with nearly everyone returning and another year with our staff the team will take a major step forward next season.

 

[fleaflicker]

6 wins exceeded expectations bowl bid would exceed expectations If season ends with no bowl bid still exceeds expectations coaches raised expectations from hopeless, to hopeful going forward looking for 8 and 4 season next year...It has been a pleasure to read all the comments so many of you have expressed which have been mostly positive. For a 1st time member of the BONEYARD I thank you for the great posts. Stay safe and go Huskies.

 

[gtcam]

ZT is a freshman thrown into the limelight before he was ready. Has he improved? Yes. Does he need to improve much further? Yes
I think where the wheels fell off today was in the 2nd half when the OC decided to force the offense into a place that was not a good fit for ZT and exposed his current limitations.
Will he the QB next year? Nobody knows yet I thank him for the effort he has given as well as all the UConn football team for overcoming devastating injuries to produce a .500 season. HCJM deserves what he needs to continue taking the program to great heights.
.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Zion doesn't see the field well enough. That is why Charlton -correctly- doesn't allow him to throw the ball to the middle of the field. It's also why he is a one read QB, if his primary receiver isn't open, he doesn't seem to be able to find his second read. His accuracy is so-so. He rarely throws receivers open by leading them to the empty spot.

That doesn't mean he cannot improve. But improve he must. These are issues that must be solved for him to become a competent division one QB. If he is unable to address these deficits, the UConn offense will be stalled as it is right now.

Zion has done a decent job as a game manager of a very poor passing game. He cut way down on his turnovers. He has made his legs a useful offensive weapon. Over the year he has gotten better. The coaches praise his intelligence and maturity. But that is not enough to make him the starting QB of a good offense. Good QBs don't protect the ball, they threaten the secondary by reading the defense, anticipating receivers and fitting the ball in tight windows. He's a long long way from there.

IMHO, QB is the #1 offensive issue that must be addressed in the off season. It all starts there.

Hate to say palatine is right, but turner needs more film work. Charlton has tried to protect him all year, and that Comes with consequences.

Good season for team and Turner considering circumstances. But QB position needs to be better and play the entire playbook.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Hate to say palatine is right, but turner needs more film work. Charlton has tried to protect him all year, and that Comes with consequences.

Good season for team and Turner considering circumstances. But QB position needs to be better and play the entire playbook.

It's amazing how bad the Qb situation was this year. Starter goes down and the only option is a true freshman who after 11 starts still can't be counted to pass for more than a 100 yards. Granted...the receivers were no help today.


I guess Tyler Phommachanh and Millen weren't actually available to start this year. It should be interesting to see who is in the Qb room next year.

 

[Palatine]

Hate to say palatine is right, but turner needs more film work. Charlton has tried to protect him all year, and that Comes with consequences.

Good season for team and Turner considering circumstances. But QB position needs to be better and play the entire playbook.

Palatine is usually right, get used it. Make peace with it.

 

[TMB4405]

Overall it’s been an incredible season and the offense was good despite a muted passing attack. One thing about game yesterday from being there live was Turner could have loosened things up by keeping it on the read option just a few more times. Army basically was not respecting it. Charlton or someone should have told him to just keep it. Also not sure if it was mentioned already but on his long run the seam pattern was so open we would have walked into end zone even with a bad pass.

 

[freescooter]

I am less enamored with Zion than may people. I give him credit for his managerial skills but he really hasn’t improved. And he played a full season so by the end he really should not be making the same mistakes. I don’t think the “true freshman” excuse really applies after maybe 5 games where you’ve been #1. That means first team reps in practice, first team attention in meetings not to even mention playing almost every offensive play. You can’t throw for under 100 yards week in week out and be more than a pretty average football team. Indeed, that we managed to be average with a virtually non-existent t passing attack is one of the remarkable things about this season. And while average is a huge step forward for us after the last decade, to get to the next level we really need a legitimate passing threat.

I don’t know the prognosis for Robeson but if it is at all questionable I hope we are looking hard for someone in the portal. And I’m told the kid we signed from Central Mass is a legit D1 prospect.

 

[PNolanFan]

going into next year i feel great about the offense honestly, if you look at contributors I think we should be able to bring back most of the offense and if Mora is able to bring in a similar talent infusion as last year we will have position battles pretty much everywhere. Defense was great this year but will probably lose more than the offense I think so may need to focus on that in the transfer portal

 

[DoctorWho85]

The offense will be ok next year as long as they fix the multiple snap infractions they have every game. Either Zion is going to take a step up or Roberson will win the job back.

 

[Palatine]

The offense will be ok next year as long as they fix the multiple snap infractions they have every game. Either Zion is going to take a step up or Roberson will win the job back.

Our QB for next year might not be on the current roster.

 

[businesslawyer]

Our QB for next year might not be on the current roster.

I would hope to be significantly better in the air next year even if next year’s QB is from this year’s crop. But I fully agree with you that if Mora can improve the team by bringing a QB in from the portal, he will do so.

 

[CCSUblue]

Our QB for next year might not be on the current roster.

Remind me, are we allowed to speculate on players on other rosters entering the portal? Wondering if there is a certain player in the sunshine state that was a preseason draft candidate and who may have lost his starting job would come home.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

ZT is a freshman thrown into the limelight before he was ready. Has he improved? Yes. Does he need to improve much further? Yes
I think where the wheels fell off today was in the 2nd half when the OC decided to force the offense into a place that was not a good fit for ZT and exposed his current limitations.
Will he the QB next year? Nobody knows yet I thank him for the effort he has given as well as all the UConn football team for overcoming devastating injuries to produce a .500 season. HCJM deserves what he needs to continue taking the program to great heights.
.

We lost to Army not because of QB issues or QB limitations. We lost because we could not score a TD once we got near the goal line. Army stacked the box with like 8 or 9 guys and shut the door. I would blame play calling for the loss. It was like FHCRE was phoning in the plays. The poster “Scrutineer” said it best “The first and goal calls from the one did me in. Army had what, nine guys in the box, and we didn't run wide or roll out and throw or roll out and pitch to a back?
We suddenly went macho Edsall on every play.”

We could have tried running wide with either ZT, Millen with his speed, Burns or Rosa.

 

[pepband99]

Palatine is usually right, get used it. Make peace with it.

When it comes to preaching for a QB change, this is much more a case of a broken clock being right twice.

 

[businesslawyer]

Remind me, are we allowed to speculate on players on other rosters entering the portal? Wondering if there is a certain player in the sunshine state that was a preseason draft candidate and who may have lost his starting job would come home.

I don’t think there has ever been a rule about speculating on transfers IN to the program. Just about talking about players transferring OUT.

Having said that, if a. Moderator is looking at this, the rule to not talk about players transferring out made sense 25 years ago when players all the time stayed at a school for their career without ever having an impact on the court or field, and there was no portal, but does it still make sense? With the portal and attitude about hanging around and not playing, is anyone really hurting a player’s feeling when they ask if they might not go somewhere else for playing time. To take an obvious example from hoops, we have a forward who had been on the roster for 3 years without a single meaningful minute. Last offseason, whether we mentioned his name and the possibility of his going into the portal for playing time or not, 100% of fans were asking themselves that question.

It just seems to me that the purpose of the rule has long since passed.

 

[Palatine]

When it comes to preaching for a QB change, this is much more a case of a broken clock being right twice.

I preach for any unproductive player to be held accountable. It's a little subtle for many to understand. Ponder it for a while.

 

[pepband99]

I preach for any unproductive player to be held accountable. It's a little subtle for many to understand. Ponder it for a while.

I'll ponder it, Mrs. Endres.

 

[Luna]

Zt is the best quarterback we’ve had in a long time… we don’t win 6 games without him this year… he’s a winner and will start next year

 

[freescooter]

I’m not particularly in love with Zion. I think he has some serious limitations. Locks onto receivers, slow to make decisions, didn’t really improve from game 1 to game 12.But he won 6 games and he is a tough kid. Reminds me of the old Viking qb Joe Kapp. Could pas, couldn’t run but led the Vikes to the Super Bowl. And I’d love to see him with an offensive coordinator who had a clue. I don’t consider Charlton to be in a class with George DeLeon or Guiffre but who is? I even think he was likely a good organizer. But he wasn’t a great play caller.