I liked what I saw from Fagnano, and I was one of his biggest critics last year. Seems like a different and much improved QB. I don’t know who worked with him in the off season but someone on the coaching staff was doing something right. So assuming of course Mora saw the same progress for Fagnano, you have to wonder about Evers prospects for improvement going forward.
I agree. I think we have enough to win. We gotta grow a pair in order to turn the corner. I know we're supposed keep our composure as competitors out there, but did anyone else pick up on WR Jasaiah Gathings' facial expression on the bench near the end of the game??? I didn't look at that as being a sore loser. To me it seemed like a competitor that doesn't like or hates losing. WE NEED MORE OF THAT IN ORDER TO TURN THE CORNER. NO MORE ACCEPTING MEDIOCRITY (DURING PRACTICE)...Gotta develop a killer instinct. Enough is enough.
My positive takeaway is that at least I’m not on the Conf Realignment board! Talking about something real here!
Good Analysis. From what I saw, Merrimack had size and definitely looked good against the run. I'm not sure this is the blow out that people are hoping for. For me, I am just hoping for a win. A convincing win would be better but a complete blow out is not likely to happen considering where our offense is at this time. I do hope our defense is dominating.
I noticed on a couple of the scramble/ completions that Maryland got that our DBs and LBs looked like they didn’t get enough depth to keep the coverage. On one play in particular, they had a line directly across the field, but the completion went into the dead area they had forgotten about. I think it’s about them looking into the backfield too much and forgetting about the receivers, if that makes any sense.
Here's a question for you. Who has more college football programs the states of Texas + Florida, or the states of New York + CT + Massachusetts?
The Dakotas are surrounded by Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana. Connecticut has more HS football talent than any of those states.
If we have so many programs why are we near the bottom in top recruits produced? What do you think our problem is?
We didn't generate a big pass rush and got picked apart in the zone because of it. It looked like we had multiple guys covering one guy in a specific zone and it left people open. I just don't think the spacing was very good and guys were probably a bit unclear of where exactly they needed to be. It's game 1 year 1 stuff with a new scheme.
We were getting gashed on the run. On the pass, we lost outside contain and had no rush, and our multitude of DBs were cushion crazy. 3-3 is a hollowed-out speed defense that doesn’t work unless you have super athletes.
Curious - got a current link/data backing that statement?
That is misleading since are they including prep schools? CT best players are in prep schools and may not be originally from CT.
Are you sure about that? Minnesota’s population is almost twice that of Connecticut’s.
But it was not one game. It goes back to last year at a minimum in the Mora era. If you think yesterday's game was an indication of how this team will be this year, it will be a big disappointment. Both offense and defense were dismal. Maryland may be good, but it should never have gotten away like it did. I did not expect a win, but a respectable showing. It was not. This program should be in the upper eschelons of the G5 by now, and they are nowhere near it.
Hockey is the premiere sport in Minnesota high schools
I was just going off of your list that included Pitt, Rutgers, Syracuse, and Maryland. All of which are also not in New England, but Penn State falls approximately in the middle of all of them.
If you go by P4 recruits, Connecticut has a slight edge.
The issue I see the team did not looked well coached. The secondary for 2nd year in a row can not cover or tackle. Too many cheap shots on sliding QBs. UConn has little room for error.
Again you are including prep schools. Are those kids originally from CT?
In the Northeast, football recruits aren't as developed as in places like Texas and Georgia. For UConn, there are tons of football players within 300 miles of UConn. Unfortunately, UConn does not have the football tradition to get the top recruits and you can only change that by winning. Kind of like how Calhoun had to go outside of the footprint to recruit players to change the narrative about UConn basketball.
The issue is even before Calhoun, UConn still had a history in basketball. For football UConn does not have that history. In fact outside the ivory league there is really no tradition in college football in New England. If you are a star recruit you are going SEC or BIG. It would be like CT star basketball kid selecting UNH over UConn.
Um….ok
Being down 4 projected starters on D (Yates, Dixon-Williams, Engram & Akles) in addition to a dinged up LB who was a game day decision (McDonald) to start the game sure didn’t help the cause. Depth will always be an issue.
... and losing 2 more due to targeting calls during the game. It really isn't mentioned enough that our D out there was short-handed...
Thx - I actually forgot to include Durante Jones who was out to for the first half… so that made 5 MIA w/ McDonald not @ full strength.
Maryland was treating the game as a scrimmage allowing their QB2 to get time during the first half. Maryland could have easy scored 70 points.
