Mel Kiper and Todd McShay: "How did UConn give up any points?"

[Jimmy Serrano]

Fair enough. That's kind of my point. You can't prove it. Which is fine. But the problem is that the Boneyard Mob basically says that anybody who disagrees is an idiot. I have said countless times that I don't think GDL is a great OC, but people act like I'm some kind of idiot because I also think we have some glaring offensive talent issues, and that Desmond Conner and John Silver are moronic hacks because they don't repeat the same "It's all GDL" nonsense.

I'm just saying that it's okay to take a nuanced view of things. I don't think everything is as black and white as everybody pretends it is.

Guy, it's an Internet message board. People are going to express opinions. Some you may agree with, others you may not.

My opinion is that GDL sucks hard and we had a drop off in talent. I've expressed this in the past, and I think you and I agree.

 

[sportsart]

You make an interesting point but I don't think you've proven it.

1. "If GDL is such a genius at such and such, he'd be successful in the NFL." Like Nick Saban was? College != Pros. One could be a successful coach in the NCAA's without having the ability to transfer it to the NFL.

2. "Few college teams use zone blocking scheme, as it's too complicated." From what I can tell, zone blocking is definitely used by some major universities. Not sure if Syracuse used it when GDL was successful (this actually happened, btw). Minnesota, Michigan, and Iowa use it. Also, have you heard of this school, Alabama? According to this article on Grantland, the scholars down in Tuscaloosa have figured it out, but maybe it's a little too advanced for UConn players.

3. "UConn does better with power blocking." Maybe, but you haven't shown it. You could've just as easily shown that an OL with Zach Hurd, Will Beatty, and Adam Masters is better than one without them. Which I suspect is probably true.

Again, I'm not saying GDL is the greatest OC ever. I'm just challenging the conventional Boneyard Knowledge that our offensive problems are strictly scheme and we have all kinds of offensive talent that's gone to waste.

Why I even respond to this I'll never know.

Michigan ran a spread with Denard Robinson for 3-4 years and are now going back to pro style for 2013.

Minnesota? Really?

You talk about Alabama and their run zone blocking. But then you say maybe it's too advanced for our players. (which is what I said)

I'm not qualified to know but I believe our pass protection had a zone blocking element to it as well. Not good. He complicated something Foley knew how to make shine with the talent he had. Not perfect but certainly better.

Maybe you are unaware of our success running the ball very well during the Edsall era. While there may have been a bad year running the ball it doesn't stand out in my mind.

When you lack talent the way to make up for it is through strength and conditioning (our combine results over the years has been terrific). Our OL, through the years before GDL, would wear down opponents and by the 4th quarter the other team was gassed.

When GDL came that stopped. Figure it out. Wrong scheme for the wrong caliber of player.

That makes him a bad coach. He's stubborn, slow to change and to quote people who know better than me, he's a pr*ck.

I still hold out hope he is in the NFL by August.

 

[ZooCougar]

What's good Irish Loop? Surely not your defense of Deleone and the offensive scheme. Getting sensitive again doesn't work very well here or in the papers.

It's time for a hanging.

 

[concerned143]

These are Randy's guys. His crew recruited some great defensive players and developed them as we'll. lets see if PP is as successful

 

[Palatine]

These are Randy's guys. His crew recruited some great defensive players and developed them as we'll. lets see if PP is as successful

PP certainly deserves credit for player development. Blidi gave PP and his coaches a lot of credit for his development.

 

[Husky25]

PP certainly deserves credit for player development. Blidi gave PP and his coaches a lot of credit for his development.

In my opinion, it's not Coach Pasqualoni's job to develop individual talent. That is the job of the position coaches. His job is to put the individuals together for the greater good of team success. Perhaps that's the problem. Pasqualoni is not fulfilling the roll he was hired to perform!!!

To be honest Pal, I'm surprised you are a football fan. It's pretty Socialist game, when you stop and think about it.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

That's the point, with that defense and schedule we didn't need an explosive and talented offense. We simply needed a competent running game to set up some play action. Instead, we had all this craziness with the wildcat, zone blocking schemes, a tiny workhorse RB and a complete inability to move the ball. GDL was incompetent and the fact that he is still the OL coach scares me to death,

And there's the blueprint for history to keep repeating itself. Until UConn has an offense that can put up thirty on any given game day this mediocrity is not going away. You can't lose at home by 12-10 (vs UNC in '09) or 10-7 (vs NC State last year) and continue to believe that the whole "defenses win championships" thing is gonna work at UConn. Things turn around only when the offense turns around. The rest is just off season bar room drowning of sorrows til another 5-7 season is in the books. Defenses may win championships but exciting offenses put fans in the stands, viewers in front of their televisions and . . . better caliber playmakers in the UConn recruiting fold.

 

[B1GEast]

When GDL came that stopped. Figure it out. Wrong scheme for the wrong caliber of player.

That makes him a bad coach. He's stubborn, slow to change and to quote people who know better than me, he's a pr*ck.

I still hold out hope he is in the NFL by August.

I don't know who's more stubborn, GDL for continuing to run that offense or coach p for allowing GDL to keep running that offense.