C
Chief00
This is not meant to be the usual comprehensive dissection of a game that people expect when they read Chief Briefs. Rather, just some observations.
There are some guys on defense now who can make plays. DJ Morgan really shined as did Coyle. I also thought moving Kevon Jones to DE worked well. Watts really has great speed for a DE. On the Illinois touchdown run, he got suckered but he showed great effort and speed chasing the ball carrier down from behind. The dude from Edmonton, #98 seems bigger than last year and he demonstrated good athleticism. Travis Jones clogs up the inside when he is in the game. He gets doubled all the time and now that we have the start of some guys turning into play makers that will give them the space to make it happen.
Overall, we tackled with physicality, something that was missing under Crocker. You see the progress under Spanos and Matt King with the heavy metal.
On offense, it seemed we averaged less than one yard per carry. However, our play calling until the second half was conservative or suicidal. We lost the game in the first half when we refused to gamble and settled for field goals with ultra conservative Edsall play calling despite turnover momentum. The defensive time out killed us at the end of the first half and that led to Illinois deciding to attempt a field goal.
After the first half, I thought our QB looked pretty good. I liked his spiral and how the ball came out of his hand. He also seemed to place the ball well with accuracy. I recognize the casual fan will focus on his interceptions but Chief is telling you what the eye test tells me.
The receivers after some early drops looked good. Chief thought we missed an opened Donovan Williams a few times. I think he could be a good weapon, if we only used him.
The OL did not move people on the running plays. The early Peart injury may have hurt. However, there was also not a lot of jail breaks to the QB, so their pass protection was ok. Chief doesn’t like the idea of an OL Coach doubling as the Offensive Coordinator. That’s basically what DeLeone did and how did that turn out? Bad idea.
In closing, Chief talked to a couple basketball players and the subject of the student lot came up. Basically, this Herbst led malfeasance needs to stop now that she is thankfully gone from power and is merely gaming the state’s pension system at the taxpayers expense as a professor. Stop kicking the students out 45 minutes before game time.
The idea students don’t travel from Storrs is a total myth. They come to East Hartford but go back to Storrs in scores of buses packed by thousands of students before the game starts. There are many simple ways to get the students in the stadium and not by kicking them disrespectfully out of the parking lot. Chief will now be taking some steps personally to solve this problem for a variety of reasons but also to stop the damage it does to our basketball recruiting. Enough of this police state thing that Herbst imposed. Chief tells the kids, I don’t blame the police, they are just following orders. But given where many recruits and current players come from that’s not what they are going to see in their eyes.
There are some guys on defense now who can make plays. DJ Morgan really shined as did Coyle. I also thought moving Kevon Jones to DE worked well. Watts really has great speed for a DE. On the Illinois touchdown run, he got suckered but he showed great effort and speed chasing the ball carrier down from behind. The dude from Edmonton, #98 seems bigger than last year and he demonstrated good athleticism. Travis Jones clogs up the inside when he is in the game. He gets doubled all the time and now that we have the start of some guys turning into play makers that will give them the space to make it happen.
Overall, we tackled with physicality, something that was missing under Crocker. You see the progress under Spanos and Matt King with the heavy metal.
On offense, it seemed we averaged less than one yard per carry. However, our play calling until the second half was conservative or suicidal. We lost the game in the first half when we refused to gamble and settled for field goals with ultra conservative Edsall play calling despite turnover momentum. The defensive time out killed us at the end of the first half and that led to Illinois deciding to attempt a field goal.
After the first half, I thought our QB looked pretty good. I liked his spiral and how the ball came out of his hand. He also seemed to place the ball well with accuracy. I recognize the casual fan will focus on his interceptions but Chief is telling you what the eye test tells me.
The receivers after some early drops looked good. Chief thought we missed an opened Donovan Williams a few times. I think he could be a good weapon, if we only used him.
The OL did not move people on the running plays. The early Peart injury may have hurt. However, there was also not a lot of jail breaks to the QB, so their pass protection was ok. Chief doesn’t like the idea of an OL Coach doubling as the Offensive Coordinator. That’s basically what DeLeone did and how did that turn out? Bad idea.
In closing, Chief talked to a couple basketball players and the subject of the student lot came up. Basically, this Herbst led malfeasance needs to stop now that she is thankfully gone from power and is merely gaming the state’s pension system at the taxpayers expense as a professor. Stop kicking the students out 45 minutes before game time.
The idea students don’t travel from Storrs is a total myth. They come to East Hartford but go back to Storrs in scores of buses packed by thousands of students before the game starts. There are many simple ways to get the students in the stadium and not by kicking them disrespectfully out of the parking lot. Chief will now be taking some steps personally to solve this problem for a variety of reasons but also to stop the damage it does to our basketball recruiting. Enough of this police state thing that Herbst imposed. Chief tells the kids, I don’t blame the police, they are just following orders. But given where many recruits and current players come from that’s not what they are going to see in their eyes.
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