observations from last night...

[Marty Jackson]

This was not the team that played MD and Towson. Once this team got some confidence, they were outplaying Michigan on both sides. I don't know if it was the opponent, or if the team is starting to get PP's system, but this team looked good. offense was moving the ball, defense was making big stops and getting pressure on the QB. I don't think it's a fluke that this team has caused so many turnovers.

If this team shows up the rest of the way, 7-8 wins is still a possibility.

The crowd was awesome last night. full house right until the end. energized, up on big plays, and never gave up. even on 4-29. yes the loss was disappointing after being up by 2 scores, but there are a lot of positives from last night.

next game will be very telling. i think this team took a big step last night.

 

[upstater]

This was not the team that played MD and Towson. Once this team got some confidence, they were outplaying Michigan on both sides. I don't know if it was the opponent, or if the team is starting to get PP's system, but this team looked good. offense was moving the ball, defense was making big stops and getting pressure on the QB. I don't think it's a fluke that this team has caused so many turnovers.

If this team shows up the rest of the way, 7-8 wins is still a possibility.

The crowd was awesome last night. full house right until the end. energized, up on big plays, and never gave up. even on 4-29. yes the loss was disappointing after being up by 2 scores, but there are a lot of positives from last night.

next game will be very telling. i think this team took a big step last night.

Oh, I do think this is the team that played Maryland. Maryland had a lot more weapons than Michigan, and could throw the ball. In both games, UConn caused turnovers, which is a good thing. In both games, the UConn offense struggled mightily and put too much pressure on the defense. In both games, the UConn defense was unable to find an answer for runs to the outside, which should be relatively easy to defend.

I don't see that much of a difference other than the opponent. michigan is going to have a very long tough year with that offense. A RB who is not very good and a QB who looked shellshocked back there. In any football game, it's the little details that make the difference between opponents of similar aptitude. And both these teams were bad at the small details.

 

[coachcap]

The team effort was light years over that of the previous 2 contests. The crowd was electric. The atmosphere was perfect. UConn needs to close the deal & win this type of game though.

 

[Kgun7]

Scouts came to see Lewan and Toussaint ... But left impressed by Stephen and Smallwood.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

I observed Maryland in year 3 under FHCRE is much better than we are in year 3 under Future FHCPP....but I guess I knew that last week.

Last night I saw a young team with talent and heart but no competent leadership at the top. A coach who thinks adjustments are a fairytale, and a QB who doesn't know how to read progressions. But I guess I knew that last year.:

 

[jdb50]

Agreed, we will not know if the team that played toe to toe with Michigan in a very emotional game can go on the road and beat Buffalo. I hope we don't see a repeat of the team that last year beat Maryland in an emotional game and then went to Western Michigan. Tone set by coaching staff is big. Players not throwing picks with game on line, bigger.

That atmosphere last night with a team for us that has no real stars, no electric players with a track record, but a team with heart and a very small margin for error shows the potential for football in this State. We have a loud rabid fanbase when there is a decent effort and something to play for. This team needs to get some wins to bring that atmosphere for Louisville and Rutgers games. They also need to run Max more. Have to get a running game going.

 

[upstater]

Agreed, we will not know if the team that played toe to toe with Michigan in a very emotional game can go on the road and beat Buffalo. I hope we don't see a repeat of the team that last year beat Maryland in an emotional game and then went to Western Michigan. Tone set by coaching staff is big. Players not throwing picks with game on line, bigger.

That atmosphere last night with a team for us that has no real stars, no electric players with a track record, but a team with heart and a very small margin for error shows the potential for football in this State. We have a loud rabid fanbase when there is a decent effort and something to play for. This team needs to get some wins to bring that atmosphere for Louisville and Rutgers games. They also need to run Max more. Have to get a running game going.

Buffalo has a QB and WR who have a mind meld. The WR Neutz is practically the entire Buffalo offense. He is a good one. Let's see if PP figures out a way to take him out of the game. If not, look out.

 

[husky91]

What? Whitmer was awful outside of 1-2 series at most. When they needed a long sustained drive the most the kid threw a terrible pick. I like Boyle going into next year, he looks the part. Yes, the O lone is not great, but on 3rd and 13 you can't take a 16 yard sack. Terrible.

The UConn defense was great, inspired.

I agree the tailgate and crowd are awesome, only negative that sideline reporter. She genuinely seems dumb and the promotions and interviews are terrible. Erin Andrews and Alex Flanagan don't have to worry her replacing them.

This was not the team that played MD and Towson. Once this team got some confidence, they were outplaying Michigan on both sides. I don't know if it was the opponent, or if the team is starting to get PP's system, but this team looked good. offense was moving the ball, defense was making big stops and getting pressure on the QB. I don't think it's a fluke that this team has caused so many turnovers.

If this team shows up the rest of the way, 7-8 wins is still a possibility.

The crowd was awesome last night. full house right until the end. energized, up on big plays, and never gave up. even on 4-29. yes the loss was disappointing after being up by 2 scores, but there are a lot of positives from last night.

next game will be very telling. i think this team took a big step last night.

 

[huskysupporter]

Not sure where you are getting That UCONN beat Michigan on both sides. Our offense is anemic and couldn't capitalize on numerous Michigan mistakes. The O Line is simply not good, and it is not Just coaching.

The D, save for interior pass rush seems to really be gelling, though.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[CTBasketball]

Scouts came to see Lewan and Toussaint ... But left impressed by Stephen and Smallwood.

What game were you watching? Our linebackers couldn't stop the run all night long.

 

[geordi]

Don't know how you can say that! Michigan out gained us 2-1. We couldn't move the ball on a sustained drive. We scored three times on a short field. If it weren't for the turnovers, we lose 24-0. 49 yards rushing????

 

[upstater]

What game were you watching? Our linebackers couldn't stop the run all night long.

WHAT??????!??!?!

Our linebackers stonewalled Touissant. He was 11 for 37 at one point.

In the second half when they were gassed, yes they gave up 2 TDs. The first one had a linebacker take out the QB on an option. Just a good play by the RB. It happens. On the second one, our defensive scheme had Ashiru setting the edge, which should never ever happen.

 

[junglehusky]

We didn't look good. Neither did our opponent, and if you assume our opponent was a legit top 10 team that would inflate your appraisal of our team. We looked competent for maybe 65% of the game, which was an improvement from the previous game where we looked competent for a quarter or so. On defense, while we managed to get 3 sacks, force some turnovers and limit Michigan to 24 points instead of 40 something, that's just returning to baseline for us. How sad is it that a credible defensive performance would be considered a surprise, after tough defense was our hallmark for so many years. On offense, we still are lacking on what used to be our hallmark there, which was a credible running game and a solid O-line. If our coaching staff had coached those units up, combined with the improvements in the passing game, we'd be 2-1 or 3-0 today. The core problem, which is having GDL's fingerprints on the blocking and not enough depth / experience on the O-line in year 3 of this staff, were still contributing factors to the anemic run game and Whitmer getting pressured / sacked.

 

[uconndogs]

I though Ashiru played well, Smallwood not up to his very lofty standards but OK, and I don't think RD is nearly fast enough to play at a high level.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Ashiru played very well but we did something a lot last night that really pissed me off (and did not help him). We kept throwing imbalanced defensive lines at them, forcing the OLB to be the edge defender, basically as a DE. When Michigan saw this and attacked it (most of Touissant's long runs, including a TD) we had basically schemed ourselves out of position.

One thing that was glaring last ni ght is that their QB could not hit a moving target (IIRC he had two completions, one on a questionable catch out of at least a dozen attempts, most which missed by quite a bit). If we overplayed the run, forcing (daring) him to throw and held tight coverage, even at the risk of getting beat deep, their offense would not have done much.

On defense they couldn't cover our TE or a RB if that RB got more than five yards downfield. They must have feared getting beat deep as a safety was always well back in the secondary (yet that didn't always guarantee he would provide deep support).

A reasonably talented, well coach team should be able to handle Michigan as they have quite a few holes on both sides of the ball.

 

[Carl Spackler]

This was not the team that played MD and Towson. Once this team got some confidence, they were outplaying Michigan on both sides. I don't know if it was the opponent, or if the team is starting to get PP's system, but this team looked good. offense was moving the ball, defense was making big stops and getting pressure on the QB. I don't think it's a fluke that this team has caused so many turnovers.

If this team shows up the rest of the way, 7-8 wins is still a possibility.

The crowd was awesome last night. full house right until the end. energized, up on big plays, and never gave up. even on 4-29. yes the loss was disappointing after being up by 2 scores, but there are a lot of positives from last night.

next game will be very telling. i think this team took a big step last night.

You got that right. Last year, we had an incredibly emotional and energetic game, followed by a road trip to wasteland Western Michigan and we sleepwalked and got beat. This year, we go from the game last night, to a road trip to..............sparkling, dynamo of energy stadium, and opponent - Buffalo.

And you can bet whatever you want that Buffalo is going to be fired up as hell to beat UCONN.

 

[uconndogs]

Buffalo will be a tough W for this team coming off last night. No doubt about it......

 

[FDNY99]

That our OL coach still sucks...Knew that last year.!