Offense Must Grow To Reach Diaco's Goal (Jacobs)

[huskymedic]

Nails it:

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-football/hc-jacobs-column-1227-20151226-column.html

 

[whaler11]

Hopefully they fix what conference Marshall is in. The Courant gets some much stuff like that wrong.


Myers was a huge loss. It goes all the way back to the pre-season scrimmages we heard bits and pieces on. They had to play 2 tight ends to help the tackles. I got
skewered for pointing out that was a red flag....

 

[noeynox]

Baylor leads the nation with 604.6 yards per game. More succinctly, American Athletic Conference rival Cincinnati is seventh at 537.8 yards. Diaco's teams aren't going to rack up those pinball numbers. He simply doesn't coach wild-eyed offense.

"We don't play football like that," Diaco said. "I want fundamentally sound, hard-nosed, smash-mouth football."

Why Bob, why? We like football like that. Actually I just want competency. Somewhat what we looked like against ECU, I'll take that as what offense should look like.

 

[Carl Spackler]

It's a good article from Jacobs. Rare thing. LIke seeing a bald eagle in the wild or a full solar eclipse.

This game is simple to understand. Everybody from UCONN was real happy to be in Florida for the post season. They got their work in during December through finals, and had a great time in Florida. The game plan? Wouldn't have done anything different. Two top 15-20 defenses in the country and two offenses that struggle? It was an evenly game planned and matched game. The difference came down to fundamentals. In the past month - since the Houston game- we went downhill on blocking and tackling - and it showed today. They've been to multiple bowl games and won double digit games for multiple seasons - and the fundamental football showed today. I think we had better athletes across the board.

It's that simple. Proper preparation prevents poor performance.

 

[whaler11]

It's a good article from Jacobs. Rare thing. LIke seeing a bald eagle in the wild or a full solar eclipse.

This game is simple to understand. Everybody from UCONN was real happy to be in Florida for the post season. They got their work in during December through finals, and had a great time in Florida. The game plan? Wouldn't have done anything different. Two top 15-20 defenses in the country and two offenses that struggle? It was an evenly game planned and matched game. The difference came down to fundamentals. In the past month - since the Houston game- we went downhill on blocking and tackling - and it showed today. They've been to multiple bowl games and won double digit games for multiple seasons - and the fundamental football showed today. I think we had better athletes across the board.

It's that simple. Proper preparation prevents poor performance.

Why must you ruin your good points with terrible cliches?

 

[Adios]

Baylor leads the nation with 604.6 yards per game. More succinctly, American Athletic Conference rival Cincinnati is seventh at 537.8 yards. Diaco's teams aren't going to rack up those pinball numbers. He simply doesn't coach wild-eyed offense.

"We don't play football like that," Diaco said. "I want fundamentally sound, hard-nosed, smash-mouth football."

Why Bob, why? We like football like that. Actually I just want competency. Somewhat what we looked like against ECU, I'll take that as what offense should look like.

He's probably trying to look pretty to the Big Ten. WTF Bob?! The play-calling is epically bad. He began to feel uncomfortable very quick in the first quarter when he saw the o-line can't block.

Diaco isn't gone next year if we drop to 4-8. He might be gone if we have back to back 4-8 seasons, though. He was hoping he had control of the boat during the game, which is not a good sign. But now his players really take over. If he doesn't develop the o-line very soon, I'll be stunned, to be honest. Edsall's o-lines look legendary now.

 

[ktuck911]

If we go 4-8 next year it will be an epic fail, and Diaco's should be gone. We should come close to or exceed 8 wins next year. I expect no less. But our offense needs to get its Sugar Honey Iced Tea together.

 

[Palatine]

Let's be honest. Many high schools have a more sophisticated passing game than Diaco. It predictable and pathetic.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Plodding makes for tough scheming. Its going to take a little patience while the OL(including TE) and QB positions develop.
.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Why must you ruin your good points with terrible cliches?

To annoy you.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Plodding makes for tough scheming. Its going to take a little patience while the OL(including TE) and QB positions develop.
.

I don't know plodding football makes for tough scheming. When you have limited chances to score points, and mistakes happen, the mistakes are amplified.

How do you think this season turns out if we played a wide open offense? If, as I wrote yesterday, we were approaching the game in such a way as trying to get closer to 20 possessions a game than 10?

I see disaster and another non-bowl season.

I saw sheriffs play yesterday and he wasn't seeing the LBs in zone coverage. He had one pick dropped, and one completed. How do you adjustfor that in the game plan?

 

[FDNY99]

Baylor leads the nation with 604.6 yards per game. More succinctly, American Athletic Conference rival Cincinnati is seventh at 537.8 yards. Diaco's teams aren't going to rack up those pinball numbers. He simply doesn't coach wild-eyed offense.

"We don't play football like that," Diaco said. "I want fundamentally sound, hard-nosed, smash-mouth football."

Why Bob, why? We like football like that. Actually I just want competency. Somewhat what we looked like against ECU, I'll take that as what offense should look like.

here is what I find comical on this board..."we like football like that"...Noey Edsall NEVER played football like that and this fan base "LOVED" Edsall...he ALWAYS comes up when it comes to wins and losses (even though 7-8 win seasons were his max except for when we went to Fiesta Bowl in his swan song season). This fan base would LOVE Diaco if we won 8-9 games a year and crushed it in a bowl game. Heck if this team had driven down the field and scored a td in the last possession yesterday it would be a love fest here today. If I had a dollar for every post on here that said "I wish we would go back to the days of Edsall and pounding it down the opponents throat" the Athletic Dept would have a HUGE donation on their hands.

 

[noeynox]

here is what I find comical on this board..."we like football like that"...Noey Edsall NEVER played football like that and this fan base "LOVED" Edsall...he ALWAYS comes up when it comes to wins and losses (even though 7-8 win seasons were his max except for when we went to Fiesta Bowl in his swan song season). This fan base would LOVE Diaco if we won 8-9 games a year and crushed it in a bowl game. Heck if this team had driven down the field and scored a td in the last possession yesterday it would be a love fest here today. If I had a dollar for every post on here that said "I wish we would go back to the days of Edsall and pounding it down the opponents throat" the Athletic Dept would have a HUGE donation on their hands.

Um, I wasn't exactly an Edsall lover. I admit he did a solid job here, but felt we squandered a major opporunity when he left and we hired an older, outdated version of him.

Truth be told, I loved the 3 game run TJ Weist had at the end of his time here. I dont need wide open offense but I would love to see about a 60th ranked offense.

 

[Hoophound]

The game is rapidly moving away from ground and pound. It may succeed here, but I think it will have its limitations when combined with the bend don't break. That seems to be a formula for 6-9 wins and big losses to strong offensive teams.

I'd definitely like to see the offense be a little more modern, not because I think ground and pound is boring (it is) but because elite teams play good defense AND score points. Low scoring games should never be the goal of the offense in modern sports, that is very old fashioned.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

There may be a few people on this board who would like to see basketball scores (kind of like VT-Tulsa yesterday) when the final gun sounds but I will wager that there are at least as many who prefer actual football to the powderpuff nonsense that many schools are attempting,

The bottom line is that if we start winning consistently we will grow a fan base and if we don't, we won't. This will be the case if the bulk of our games end 20 -13 or if they end 53-45. The guy we hired has a firm belief in how he wants to do things and has shown some ability to build in this manner. As long as he continues to improve the program he will remain here so those who want the scoreboard to move like the counter on a pinball machine will need to either accept this or they will spend a lot of time griping.

 

[FDNY99]

There may be a few people on this board who would like to see basketball scores (kind of like VT-Tulsa yesterday) when the final gun sounds but I will wager that there are at least as many who prefer actual football to the powderpuff nonsense that many schools are attempting,

The bottom line is that if we start winning consistently we will grow a fan base and if we don't, we won't. This will be the case if the bulk of our games end 20 -13 or if they end 53-45. The guy we hired has a firm belief in how he wants to do things and has shown some ability to build in this manner. As long as he continues to improve the program he will remain here so those who want the scoreboard to move like the counter on a pinball machine will need to either accept this or they will spend a lot of time griping.

VERY well put @FfldCntyFan !!!

 

[Stainmaster]

I like winning football. Doesn't matter whether it's smashmouth or pound and ground.

 

[weyuo]

For one thing the offense is too slow. Opposing defenses have plenty of time to recover and set up for the next play. That has to change. They have to give the offensive line any and every advantage possible and taking 25-30 seconds to get the next play started isn't doing anyone any good.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

I don't know plodding football makes for tough scheming. When you have limited chances to score points, and mistakes happen, the mistakes are amplified.

How do you think this season turns out if we played a wide open offense? If, as I wrote yesterday, we were approaching the game in such a way as trying to get closer to 20 possessions a game than 10?

I see disaster and another non-bowl season.

I saw sheriffs play yesterday and he wasn't seeing the LBs in zone coverage. He had one pick dropped, and one completed. How do you adjustfor that in the game plan?

Being slow limits your options don't you think? We cant play a wide open offense. Agreed it would have been awful. Several years ago near the end of practice Zach Hurd jumped the snap on a goal line drill. Edsall made him run laps around the OB lines of the field. Here was a guy who was at the end of practice ,6-7, 323 lbs in full gear and did this to the quick and made it seem effortless. We have no one now that plays significant minutes that comes close to that. We need better athletes.
Sherriffs is out there because there is not a single player (RB, OL TE) on that side of the ball that can be considered a decent blocker coupled with a lack of a QB competition given the circumstances. Hopefully that will improve next year.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Being slow limits your options don't you think? We cant play a wide open offense. Agreed it would have been awful. Several years ago near the end of practice Zach Hurd jumped the snap on a goal line drill. Edsall made him run laps around the OB lines of the field. Here was a guy who was at the end of practice ,6-7, 323 lbs in full gear and did this to the quick and made it seem effortless. We have no one now that plays significant minutes that comes close to that. We need better athletes.
Sherriffs is out there because there is not a single player (RB, OL TE) on that side of the ball that can be considered a decent blocker coupled with a lack of a QB competition given the circumstances. Hopefully that will improve next year.

Perhaps our definition of "tough" scheming was not mutually understood. I don't think it's all that tough, when you have the limits we have - sometimes too many choices in a game plan is a problem too you know? You just get exposed real quick, when mistakes are made.

We seem to be doing a decent job of scheming with the limits we've got. We are most definitely limited. I think. It's pretty much understood, by most that know what they're looking at, that we're slow and can't block for on offense. Slowing down the game entirely, so that the other offense can't move fast - is a sound strategy. I knew we were in trouble from I think the very first 3rd and short when the RG got beat by the DT like he wasn't there.

It's pretty remarkable that I think we squeezed a 6-7 season out of this team and the schedule we played. Just got to keep recruiting. Edsall always looked at track and field as a measure in recruiting, and it showed in the ability to keep running, and keep the feet moving and be balanced. Your story illustrates it. Hopefully Diaco is recruiting players that have the requisite ability on offense too. Hopefully we'll get a QB competition going sooner or later. We'll get more of a look next season I think - for the offense.

what bothered me most yesterday, was the poor tackling.

 

[junglehusky]

Let's be honest. Many high schools have a more sophisticated passing game than Diaco. It predictable and pathetic.

Did you even read the article?

 

[FDNY99]

Let's be honest. Many high schools have a more sophisticated passing game than Diaco. It predictable and pathetic.

They also have more sophisticated passing games than your BFF George DeLeone ran here...what's your point?

 

[Storrsbred]

There may be a few people on this board who would like to see basketball scores (kind of like VT-Tulsa yesterday) when the final gun sounds but I will wager that there are at least as many who prefer actual football to the powderpuff nonsense that many schools are attempting,

The bottom line is that if we start winning consistently we will grow a fan base and if we don't, we won't. This will be the case if the bulk of our games end 20 -13 or if they end 53-45. The guy we hired has a firm belief in how he wants to do things and has shown some ability to build in this manner. As long as he continues to improve the program he will remain here so those who want the scoreboard to move like the counter on a pinball machine will need to either accept this or they will spend a lot of time griping.

I don't get why it always has to be either/ or. That mindset is BS. Good teams, not just the top tier, can do both.

 

[Tenspro2002]

There may be a few people on this board who would like to see basketball scores (kind of like VT-Tulsa yesterday) when the final gun sounds but I will wager that there are at least as many who prefer actual football to the powderpuff nonsense that many schools are attempting,

The bottom line is that if we start winning consistently we will grow a fan base and if we don't, we won't. This will be the case if the bulk of our games end 20 -13 or if they end 53-45. The guy we hired has a firm belief in how he wants to do things and has shown some ability to build in this manner. As long as he continues to improve the program he will remain here so those who want the scoreboard to move like the counter on a pinball machine will need to either accept this or they will spend a lot of time griping.

I agree with you that if we win, that will grow the fanbase, regardless of whether we do it in high-scoring or low-scoring fashion.

I disagree with the other side. If our record is mediocre, doing so with at least an exciting, innovative style of football will maintain the fans' attention. If our record isn't great and it looks like we're playing 1940's football in the 2010's and not appearing like we're trying to win, the fans will disappear and never come back.

 

[noeynox]

I don't get why it always has to be either/ or. That mindset is BS. Good teams, not just the top tier, can do both.

Look at Marshall. Doc Holliday is a helluva coach. It took him a few years, but he is an example of a coach that can coach a balanced team. Decent defense, decent offense. I don't like the idea that it has to be 17-13 wins, or 10-9, losses.

The optimist in me believes Diaco is headed down this path even if it isn't a wide open offense. Like I said, we had flashes this year where we played okay offense, ECU in particular comes to mind but the USF game, and the Navy games we moved the ball well also. Have to finish more of these drives with TDs than FG attempts but that is obvious.