New - bad - territory for the UCONN football program.

[Carl Spackler]

Guys - two tidbits from the Courant's head op/ed sports writer.

#1. We are 0-5 for the first time since 1977.
#2. If we go 0-6, it will be the first time since 1935.
#3. We have not won a game at Rentschler Field since Nov. 9, 2012.

For those that think we haven't had a competitive football program, in the past, and up through the past 2 seasons, let that sink in. We are not a good football team right now. We are not overly talented. We have just cut loose some coaches that made things worse.

It's going to take some incredibly hard work, by both coaches and players, I mean above and beyond normal practice, for us to overcome where we are at right now, and win some games this year. We simply can't go O'fer. We are better than that.

The most recent head coach, and his right hand man, that had the biggest part in getting us to this historic level in the past two seasons. With better coaching, we most likely aren't this bad, this season, but that's useless talk, we are this bad, and they are gone. They destroyed the psyche of the team with their approach. But they are gone.

From here on out, we will witness what Randy Edsall surely knew in 2009-2010, when he clearly was spending his private time looking for other jobs. That our recruiting and depth on the offensive side of the ball had fallen off a ledge from where it was just a few years earlier.

I will never, EVER, fault a player for giving all they got on the field. And I will never ever be content with losing. So I will cheer like hell, for my team. I will be in Dallas for the rematch so many years later with SMU. I will go to Temple, because it's an easy drive, and I'll be at home for the remaining three games.

But the AD has mandated that the current coach, if he wants the job, needs to win. That's fine for the fans. But the reality, is that whomever the next coach is going to be, is going to be entrely about recruiting.

It's not x's and o's that are going to get us back to the chamiponship competition level. It's recruiting.

For the immediate future, I"m just really hoping that we don't go a full year between home wins.

We'll have to beat Louisville at home, on Nov. 8, to beat that mark by 24 hours.

 

[Skiblets]

Guys - two tidbits from the Courant's head op/ed sports writer.

#1. We are 0-5 for the first time since 1977.
#2. If we go 0-6, it will be the first time since 1935.
#3. We have not won a game at Rentschler Field since Nov. 9, 2012.

For those that think we haven't had a competitive football program, in the past, and up through the past 2 seasons, let that sink in. We are not a good football team right now. We are not overly talented. We have just cut loose some coaches that made things worse.

It's going to take some incredibly hard work, by both coaches and players, I mean above and beyond normal practice, for us to overcome where we are at right now, and win some games this year. We simply can't go O'fer. We are better than that.

The most recent head coach, and his right hand man, that had the biggest part in getting us to this historic level in the past two seasons. With better coaching, we most likely aren't this bad, this season, but that's useless talk, we are this bad, and they are gone. They destroyed the psyche of the team with their approach. But they are gone.

From here on out, we will witness what Randy Edsall surely knew in 2009-2010, when he clearly was spending his private time looking for other jobs. That our recruiting and depth on the offensive side of the ball had fallen off a ledge from where it was just a few years earlier.

I will never, EVER, fault a player for giving all they got on the field. And I will never ever be content with losing. So I will cheer like hell, for my team. I will be in Dallas for the rematch so many years later with SMU. I will go to Temple, because it's an easy drive, and I'll be at home for the remaining three games.

But the AD has mandated that the current coach, if he wants the job, needs to win. That's fine for the fans. But the reality, is that whomever the next coach is going to be, is going to be entrely about recruiting.

It's not x's and o's that are going to get us back to the chamiponship competition level. It's recruiting.

For the immediate future, I"m just really hoping that we don't go a full year between home wins.

We'll have to beat Louisville at home, on Nov. 8, to beat that mark by 24 hours.

Wait. I thought you told us earlier this year that the cupboard was stocked with talent and size like never before in our 1A era. I'm confused

 

[noeynox]

What he said was for the first time ever we have requisite size and speed up and down the depth chart to compete! Or something like that. There was also something about the PGDl implementing the necessary systems to get to the next level. Or something like that.

The next hire needs to be a real good one. No ifs ands or buts about that.

 

[sportsart]

Carl, you really need to stop. It is PP and GDL's X's and O's that are a big cause of where we are today.

We lost an OL to child and another to grades pre PP that didn't help the OL depth. Throw in that RE was great at coaching up talent, as was Foley, yesterday's first half showed what 10 days of Foley and not GDL could do for our OL talent.

You can't tell me that if Foley was always our OL coach and TJ, instead of GDL was our OC, we would not be in much better shape than we are now.

RU is a perfect example of why coaching is more important, overall, than recruiting. They had great recruiting classes and mediocre performance on the field because Shady was terrible at coaching players up, something RE and his coaches were very good at, i.e., Foley and Hughes.

PP and GDL coached as if they had top NFL players learning their system and treated them like while doing it. They never, ever adjusted and figured they could beat results into them. They were obviously very wrong and the team paid for it.

If Foley was the OL coach all along and TJ was our OC after RE left we go bowling the past 2 years and probably this year.

RE found a way to win with the talent he had. PP lost due to the inability to understand what talent he had and how to best utilize them.

The cupboard, after RE left, had middle class dishes in it when he left. The kind he was good at shining up to middle to upper class status. PP came in and cracked most of them and didn't know how to fix them.

 

[cheech63]

Carl, you really need to stop. It is PP and GDL's X's and O's that are a big cause of where we are today.

We lost an OL to child smut and another to grades pre PP that didn't help the OL depth. Throw in that RE was great at coaching up talent, as was Foley, yesterday's first half showed what 10 days of Foley and not GDL could do for our OL talent.

You can't tell me that if Foley was always our OL coach and TJ, instead of GDL was our OC, we would not be in much better shape than we are now.

RU is a perfect example of why coaching is more important, overall, than recruiting. They had great recruiting classes and mediocre performance on the field because Shady was terrible at coaching players up, something RE and his coaches were very good at, i.e., Foley and Hughes.

PP and GDL coached as if they had top NFL players learning their system and treated them like while doing it. They never, ever adjusted and figured they could beat results into them. They were obviously very wrong and the team paid for it.

If Foley was the OL coach all along and TJ was our OC after RE left we go bowling the past 2 years and probably this year.

RE found a way to win with the talent he had. PP lost due to the inability to understand what talent he had and how to best utilize them.

The cupboard, after RE left, had middle class dishes in it when he left. The kind he was good at shining up to middle to upper class status. PP came in and cracked most of them and didn't know how to fix them.

Anybody old enough to remember the famous saying by dandy Don Meredith,from Monday Night Football ?
TURN OUT THE LIGHTS...........THE PARTIES OVERRRRRRRRR. Just trying to lighten the mood.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

The problem with Carl.....he talks down to people, is proven wrong, then takes the complete opposite stand of his original position and proclaims himself a genius.

Other than that.....he's right about most of this.

 

[metsfan2323]

But the AD has mandated that the current coach, if he wants the job, needs to win. That's fine for the fans. But the reality, is that whomever the next coach is going to be, is going to be entrely about recruiting.

No, recruiting is just one aspect of being a good head coach, saying "entirely about recruiting" is stupid

It's not x's and o's that are going to get us back to the chamiponship competition level. It's recruiting.

Good God this line is moronic, more than any other sport football is about scheming, game planning and practice. Coaches aren't working until midnight looking at recruiting tapes.

 

[weyuo]

Carl, you really need to stop. It is PP and GDL's X's and O's that are a big cause of where we are today.

We lost an OL to child smut and another to grades pre PP that didn't help the OL depth. Throw in that RE was great at coaching up talent, as was Foley, yesterday's first half showed what 10 days of Foley and not GDL could do for our OL talent.

Yesterday also showed that they ran out of gas which means not enough quality depth. The whole team seemed to run out of gas and that's been a problem for the last 3 years. Too many times in recent years they had the momentum to win it going into the 4th quarter only to run out of steam and let the opponent off the hook. So quality depth all around is a huge problem. Is that on the coaches or on location? Will UConn ever be able to bring in a head coach & staff that can attract enough out of region talent to shore up the 2 and 3 deep? That's really the question. UConn has had it's share go to the NFL but they need to upgrade the skill of their backups.

 

[sportsart]

Yesterday also showed that they ran out of gas which means not enough quality depth. The whole team seemed to run out of gas and that's been a problem for the last 3 years. Too many times in recent years they had the momentum to win it going into the 4th quarter only to run out of steam and let the opponent off the hook. So quality depth all around is a huge problem. Is that on the coaches or on location? Will UConn ever be able to bring in a head coach & staff that can attract enough out of region talent to shore up the 2 and 3 deep? That's really the question. UConn has had it's share go to the NFL but they need to upgrade the skill of their backups.

Three and outs cause gas shortages just as much as lack of depth. Lack of extended drives appears to be more of the cause.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

Who are the coaches that made it worse ???

 

[gars44]

Carl, you really need to stop. It is PP and GDL's X's and O's that are a big cause of where we are today.

The cupboard, after RE left, had middle class dishes in it when he left. The kind he was good at shining up to middle to upper class status. PP came in and cracked most of them and didn't know how to fix them.

I agree that PP and GDL figured out how to do less with what they had. But the cupboard was bare when RE left - we had at best one skill player on offense, Ryan Griffin, no QB, a 167 lb scat back who is maybe a lower middle class type of dish - he would not be starting at any upper echelon school, and probably not starting at 80% of P5 schools - and that's about it. I don't think RE would have done any better in 2011. 2012 and 2013 really showed the flaws in the PP/GDL system. Yesterday you saw what could have been. Good hands people would have won that game for us. We don't have enough depth to lose a guy like Shakim Phillips. If he played we win that game yesterday.

 

[Calhoun's Court]

Lets face it this thing is becoming a big ol' dumpster fire.

The biggest hit is to the UCONN brand. Not to mention the hit to recruiting.


Let's be optimistic and say 2-10. We still have to overcome a crapfest conference, a lack of talent and an appathetic fanbase.



I know winning will take care of some of this. But we sure didn't need to be staring down a double digit loss season to go along with conference issues and coaching instability.

There are members on here complaining about late arrivals and early exits.

This brand of football keeps up UCONN is going to have a hard time selling 60% of the place out for most oponents.

It seems no matter what way we turn we are looking at 10 miles of bad road.

I'm in it for the long haul but I'm afraid we could be down for a few years regardless of what coach walks in the door.

 

[whaler11]

Yesterday also showed that they ran out of gas which means not enough quality depth. The whole team seemed to run out of gas and that's been a problem for the last 3 years. Too many times in recent years they had the momentum to win it going into the 4th quarter only to run out of steam and let the opponent off the hook. So quality depth all around is a huge problem. Is that on the coaches or on location? Will UConn ever be able to bring in a head coach & staff that can attract enough out of region talent to shore up the 2 and 3 deep? That's really the question. UConn has had it's share go to the NFL but they need to upgrade the skill of their backups.

Which could be a legitimate argument if the team they were playing didn't have a paper thin roster as well.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Alright now. Enough time has passed to properly put this game behind, and the confusion, anger, frustration, as well as the enthusiasm and energy I felt - all that emotion of a beautiful fall game day, and the chance to win a frigging game for once is over. I freely admit that I'm a complex individual. A lot of stuff I write doesn't make sense. So what. It's a free world, in theory, and this is an internet board.

I was completely snowballed, blinded and mistaken about many things. #1, is that Pasqualoni still knew what he was doing. In fact, now - I wonder if he ever did, but just was able to manage to recruit some very, very good players. Back in the 1980s, I can tell you that if Syracuse came calling, and you were a high school player, it was a big freaking deal. You can make an argument that his fall at Syracuse did start when he missed on Mike Vick. As for George Deleone, I had hoped, beyond reason, that a former UCONN player, a fellow UCONN alum, a guy that had coached THAT long, would be able to do something good and not destroy our own program. I was wrong. His ancient approach to the game, learned in the age of unapproachable screamer head coaches, completely destroyed the emotional and energetic approach to the game of our team, and his systems didn't work.

So what changed on Saturday? The emotion of the game. The basics of hitting. Blocking on offense. THe players were there to play. Deshon Foxx was behind the bench doing pushups. The kid gave everything he's got. Everybody else did too. You cannot say the same thing of this team vs. Buffalo two weeks ago. There is no reason to think that won't continue, to play like they did Saturday, even with the losing. These guys will play for their coaches they have now, and for each other, their brothers.

We started a freshmen QB, that made plenty o freshmen mistakes. BUt you know else? He looked like he's got serious potential. Why? Because he looked stone cold in charge on the field, and he led that team down the field, and put them in position to put points on the board. He moved the chains. People watching the Patsy's yesterday? Tom Brady's last 4 minutes of that game - that's the PINNACLE of what an ice cold, stone cold, QB does. MIstakes? So what - line up and play the next play. Always in charge.

As many things that went wrong for Boyle, and for the offense in general, I never once got the feeling that he wasn't in charge on the field, from start to finish, and that's HUGE - especially for a freshmen.

Yes - I did get all preachy and *Te. I created the Debbie Stick ™ for the naysayers and negative Nancy's. I did say that I thought we had the best roster we've ever had top to bottom. I was wrong.

We have big issues in our talent level on the offensive side of the ball. The kind of issues, that if you tried to ignore the recruiting done by Randy Edsall in his later years, the attrition that happened, and hoped like hell that every single one of the freshmen brought in the last two years would be great players from day 1. If you did that, and I did, you could convince yourself that we were looking real good.

Yes - I was wrong, and I was out of line and overboard. SO duckING what. I'm not here for a popularity contest or to win credibility points. I like to write, and I found a place to write about something I like. I want to win and I was enthusiastic about it. I still am.

It remains to be seen, if the quality of play we saw on Saturday can be repeated against a much higher level of opponent.

The evidence to date, suggests that is the case, because we were with Maryland until mistakes killed us. Our own mistakes. We were beating Michigan for the duration of most of the game, until our own mistakes beat us. We left a minimum of 20 points, OFF the board against USF because of our own mistakes on the field.

Buffalo? The team spoke loudly and clearly that P and D era was over. We never had a chance in that game. Towson? We just weren't prepared, mentally, emotionally, physically. Again - P and D, and their approach.

So - the things that can change - from outside influence - HAVE changed.

It's now up to the players and coaches, to correct the thigns they can correct. What do you do when you drop balls? you go out to the practice field, and you catch hundreds of balls over and over. What do you do when you screw up a time clock/ two minute drill. You practice situational football and coach and teach, and learn from every possible scenario you can imagine.

There is no doubt that there is a big hole in this roster in the depth charts, that I was able to convince myself was not there prior to the season. There are good young players on this roster, and we have some good upperclassmen.

We need to learn how to win again. They will need to do it on the road. If they cannot beat Louisville at home in a few weeks, it will have been a full year since we won a game at home. That sucks.

I will still be there though. And I'm sure there will be plenty of other fans there, wanting to see this team succeed.

But make no mistake, the ability to recruit successfully, is priority #1 for this program moving forward.

So - simply for me - I'm pissed off, pissed off yet again at another loss. THe good parts of the day on Saturday have worn off, and the mistakes remain.

But with that said - if you all managed to read all of it and not shut down on me, there is but one thing to say moving forward.

There is hope for the future now. There was not, two weeks ago.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

Guys - two tidbits from the Courant's head op/ed sports writer.

#1. We are 0-5 for the first time since 1977.
#2. If we go 0-6, it will be the first time since 1935.
#3. We have not won a game at Rentschler Field since Nov. 9, 2012.

For those that think we haven't had a competitive football program, in the past, and up through the past 2 seasons, let that sink in. We are not a good football team right now. We are not overly talented. We have just cut loose some coaches that made things worse.

It's going to take some incredibly hard work, by both coaches and players, I mean above and beyond normal practice, for us to overcome where we are at right now, and win some games this year. We simply can't go O'fer. We are better than that.

The most recent head coach, and his right hand man, that had the biggest part in getting us to this historic level in the past two seasons. With better coaching, we most likely aren't this bad, this season, but that's useless talk, we are this bad, and they are gone. They destroyed the psyche of the team with their approach. But they are gone.

From here on out, we will witness what Randy Edsall surely knew in 2009-2010, when he clearly was spending his private time looking for other jobs. That our recruiting and depth on the offensive side of the ball had fallen off a ledge from where it was just a few years earlier.

I will never, EVER, fault a player for giving all they got on the field. And I will never ever be content with losing. So I will cheer like hell, for my team. I will be in Dallas for the rematch so many years later with SMU. I will go to Temple, because it's an easy drive, and I'll be at home for the remaining three games.

But the AD has mandated that the current coach, if he wants the job, needs to win. That's fine for the fans. But the reality, is that whomever the next coach is going to be, is going to be entrely about recruiting.

It's not x's and o's that are going to get us back to the chamiponship competition level. It's recruiting.

For the immediate future, I"m just really hoping that we don't go a full year between home wins.

We'll have to beat Louisville at home, on Nov. 8, to beat that mark by 24 hours.

Carl:

If we beat UL, it would be a BIG UPSET (almost as big as the almost upset Jacksonville had vs Denver.). I think we might be winless at home this year - unless TJ has magic and Boyle is Aaron Rogers!!

 

[ZooCougar]

Most of us weren't snowed by PGDL. And all of us can state the obvious in less than 600 words.