Offense MUST produce immediately

[06029]

I disagree. The offense doesn't need to be Air Coryell (for you old timers). They just need to move the chains a little and not turn the ball over five times like against SMU.

If we didn't shoot ourselves in the foot last year, we would have been 5-7 or 6-6.

Or, if the other teams did not shoot themselves in the foot, it could have been 0-12 or 1-11.

I'm not into re-living nightmare seasons, but which 3 or 4 games do you see a win if not for shooting in the feet last season?

OL, OL, OL. It all starts and ends there. Bad OL play = turnovers. Bad OL play = QB's getting hurt bad. Bad OL play = 3 and out over and over which = a tired D. You hope for growth and improvement everywhere, but the OL needs to be significantly better.

 

[weyuo]

Why do you keep qualifying the two QB's with credentials? Furthermore, why do you continue to give Whitmer the wrong credentials? Whaler has already corrected you on this and yet you continue to propogate the error to support some sort of fake evidence that Shirreffs is coming from a better place. Whitmer was a 4-star recruit and the #19th ranked pro-style QB in the nation when the Illini signed him. Shirreffs was a 2-star, unrated kid at even his state level, with only one other D-1 offer (UAB).

Look, I hope the kid comes out like gangbusters. But stop typing bogus stuff as the reason why he SHOULD be better than Whitmer, because quite frankly, there is no reason yet to believe that...

Taken from UConn's roster:

10 Chandler Whitmer 6-0/192 Quarterback RS SR Newnan, Ga. (Butler CC)

So why do you insist on ignoring the fact that he DIDN'T come from Illinois, he came from a community college!! Wake up dummy!!

 

[freescooter]

I always thought Widmer had some tools but he also had a tendency to be a little careless with the football. We saw that from his first blue white

 

[Confident Carl]

Why do you keep qualifying the two QB's with credentials? Furthermore, why do you continue to give Whitmer the wrong credentials? Whaler has already corrected you on this and yet you continue to propogate the error to support some sort of fake evidence that Shirreffs is coming from a better place. Whitmer was a 4-star recruit and the #19th ranked pro-style QB in the nation when the Illini signed him. Shirreffs was a 2-star, unrated kid at even his state level, with only one other D-1 offer (UAB).

Look, I hope the kid comes out like gangbusters. But stop typing bogus stuff as the reason why he SHOULD be better than Whitmer, because quite frankly, there is no reason yet to believe that...

Agree UD, which is why I say don't rule out Tim Boyle. I stated in an earlier post that he may surprise some people. He is healthy, experienced, has a cannon of an arm and he has some mobility. BS will be running a lot and susceptible to injury. I won't be surprised if Tim Boyle is a big contributor this season.

 

[Husky25]

Whitmer was probably a very good FBS football player. He was handled poorly (to put it lightly) by two individuals by whom the college game went speeding by.

They couldn't recruit. They could develop. They couldn't coach. It angers me to little, if any, end.

 

[TheDoggPound]

Whitmer wouldn't have won with a competent line anyways. Guy played with the jitters and no it wasn't because of the O-Line even when protection was good he would find a way to screw it up.

 

[tjhusky]

Or, if the other teams did not shoot themselves in the foot, it could have been 0-12 or 1-11.

I'm not into re-living nightmare seasons, but which 3 or 4 games do you see a win if not for shooting in the feet last season?

OL, OL, OL. It all starts and ends there. Bad OL play = turnovers. Bad OL play = QB's getting hurt bad. Bad OL play = 3 and out over and over which = a tired D. You hope for growth and improvement everywhere, but the OL needs to be significantly better.

Yes. If OL can hold and we can at least run a few series it will greatly help the D. They could use more time on the sidelines not only to rest but work with the coaches to make adjustments if needed.

I think we won't even know how good our D can be until our O gets better.

 

[Stainmaster]

Whitmer wouldn't have won with a competent line anyways. Guy played with the jitters and no it wasn't because of the O-Line even when protection was good he would find a way to screw it up.

The <5% of the time he had protection, his jitters came from not knowing what to do when he had more than three seconds in the pocket.

 

[Redding Husky]

Or, if the other teams did not shoot themselves in the foot, it could have been 0-12 or 1-11.

I'm not into re-living nightmare seasons, but which 3 or 4 games do you see a win if not for shooting in the feet last season?

OL, OL, OL. It all starts and ends there. Bad OL play = turnovers. Bad OL play = QB's getting hurt bad. Bad OL play = 3 and out over and over which = a tired D. You hope for growth and improvement everywhere, but the OL needs to be significantly better.

Losses that easily could have been wins:

USF, 17-14
Tulane, 12-3
Army, 35-21 (two TD's, but we could have won)
SMU, 27-20

 

[whaler11]

Taken from UConn's roster:

10 Chandler Whitmer 6-0/192 Quarterback RS SR Newnan, Ga. (Butler CC)

So why do you insist on ignoring the fact that he DIDN'T come from Illinois, he came from a community college!! Wake up dummy!!

Somehow NC State to UConn is inherently better than Illinois to CC to UConn and Dan is the dummy.

You do realize that WHITMER ACTUALLY PLAYED IN ACTUAL FOOTBALL GAMES THE YEAR PRIOR TO TAKING OVER?!

 

[BlueDogs]

Whitmer was probably a very good FBS football player. He was handled poorly (to put it lightly) by two individuals by whom the college game went speeding by.

They couldn't recruit. They could develop. They couldn't coach. It angers me to little, if any, end.

Worse than that my friend. They destroyed that kid mentally and physically. Of all things I saw, that was the most despicable aspect of PPGDL. They were not only incompetent, they didn't care 2 sh1ts about abusing the athletes. I made this comment many times, but at the risk of repetition, the beating they let Whitmer take in Syracuse was unconscionable, and they kept putting in positions to get clocked when he was clearly injured . The were bad people IMHO.

 

[UConnDan97]

Somehow NC State to UConn is inherently better than Illinois to CC to UConn and Dan is the dummy.

You do realize that WHITMER ACTUALLY PLAYED IN ACTUAL FOOTBALL GAMES THE YEAR PRIOR TO TAKING OVER?!

I would have responded to him before you but I was too busy "waking up"...

 

[Confident Carl]

Taken from UConn's roster:

10 Chandler Whitmer 6-0/192 Quarterback RS SR Newnan, Ga. (Butler CC)

So why do you insist on ignoring the fact that he DIDN'T come from Illinois, he came from a community college!! Wake up dummy!!

Weyo, the fact that he went to Butler CC only means that he had the desire to start for a D-1 program and honed his game there so he would be signed by an FBS school. It worked for him and his predecessor at Butler, Zak Mechlenburger who starred at LSU and who is now with the TN Titans. Zak started at Georgia, went to Butler CC for a year and then finished up at LSU.

IMO, Whitmer had the best arm of any quarterback (Boyle's may be better) at UCONN since Danny O. The Swiss cheese O Line was pitiful and he got the snot beat out of him. Here is a good article I found that illustrates what a great kid Chandler is. If given the time CW had game.

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-football/hc-uconn-football-notebook-1121-20141120-story.html

 

[Confident Carl]

Whitmer wouldn't have won with a competent line anyways. Guy played with the jitters and no it wasn't because of the O-Line even when protection was good he would find a way to screw it up.

You would have the jitters too if this happened to you on a regular basis

 

[Nostical]

The most despicable aspect of PPGDL---they were not only incompetent, they didn't care 2 sh1ts about abusing the athletes. They were bad people.

It was worse than you think. I had several player's family members tell me how much PP and GDL were "ruining" their kids. This wasn't merely griping about kids not getting a chance to play. It was about a constant, incessant psychological and physical degrading/demoralizing of their sons. One mother called me in tears while I was on a business trip to Montana. They were frustrated and desperate. It was shameful.

 

[gioff23]

I can't think of a position on O where we shouldn't be better. (For the record, I think the point someone was trying to make was that BS saw the field of play (w/o recognizing it was a 1-AA game), the other roamed the sidelines in sweatpants).

Frankly, other than CB, I am not sure there is a position on either side of the ball where we should not see improved play. I really don't see how we end up at 0-6. Then again, I did not see a way we could end up 2-10 last year.

 

[Dogged]

Agree UD, which is why I say don't rule out Tim Boyle. I stated in an earlier post that he may surprise some people. He is healthy, experienced, has a cannon of an arm and he has some mobility. BS will be running a lot and susceptible to injury. I won't be surprised if Tim Boyle is a big contributor this season.

Carl I appreciate your consistent optimism. I am hopeful too. It's definitely about the O line but lots of people coming back. As the other Carl says it's all in the preparation.

But I don't think Tim's cannon arm is going to help us unless he's allowed to shoot some defenders with it.

 

[freescooter]

Tim Boyle ruled Tim Boyle out. Sometimes you can have all the physical tools but are missing something. You can go down the list of guys over the years. Boyle is one of those guys. 1 td 11 int. 2 years in a row worst rating of any qb with 5 starts or more. Diaco didn't go out and land a JUCO backup because he wanted a #3.

 

[HomeKing93]

It was no secret that our OL was inexperienced last year. According to Phil Steele, we started 2014 with 33 career starts from our OL - near the bottom of the FBS. But I didn't believe that we were the only team with an inexperienced OL in 2014. Ten teams outside of the P5 had the same number of career OL starts and fewer than we did in 2014: http://www.philsteele.com/Blogs/2014/JUNE14/DBJune10.html

As you can guess, all of those teams were better on offense than we were last season. There's no doubt that the fumbles were a problem. But in my opinion, a good offensive coach can find ways to score even with an inexperienced OL. We clearly did not have that coach last year.

 

[BlueDogs]

It was worse than you think. I had several player's family members tell me how much PP and GDL were "ruining" their kids. This wasn't merely griping about kids not getting a chance to play. It was about a constant, incessant psychological and physical degrading/demoralizing of their sons. One mother called me in tears while I was on a business trip to Montana. They were frustrated and desperate. It was shameful.

Wow. I suspected as much from afar, but that is shameful. Should have been fired on the spot.

 

[ktuck911]

It was worse than you think. I had several player's family members tell me how much PP and GDL were "ruining" their kids. This wasn't merely griping about kids not getting a chance to play. It was about a constant, incessant psychological and physical degrading/demoralizing of their sons. One mother called me in tears while I was on a business trip to Montana. They were frustrated and desperate. It was shameful.

Wow....one last thanks alot Hathaway. Here to hoping u get no higher than a D2 level AD job in ur future endeavors....

 

[ktuck911]

You would have the jitters too if this happened to you on a regular basis
View attachment 9998

Its safe to say our OL sucked.... IMO, it can't get any worse.... at least it shouldn't. We turn half those offensive snaps around the was because of horrible pass protection the end result wouldve been different. I see us benefitting this season. We have 6 legitimately winnable games this year. If we look like anything on offense we get those wins.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

I always thought Widmer had some tools but he also had a tendency to be a little careless with the football. We saw that from his first blue white

This and with a poor OL(including TEs) its what you get. And I do very much appreciate him getting us through the season.