PFF rankings - interesting

[Pudge]

HOW many of you have been to Fresno ... Fresno State?

I am hoping we are primed for this one game. That we have a QB who can take charge ... and throw accurately to move the chains. First: if you peruse their incoming class - and trust the recruiting composites are the same nationwide (and we don't have refined methodology to claim that) - they recruit 3 stars and higher composites than UCONN. California is a big state with lots of football playing high schools - and less big draw D1 University FBS programs. FRESNO is attractive. They had a rabid fanbase when I was at UCLA; and anecdotally, they outdrew most all the visiting Pac 10/Pac12 programs coming to the Rose Bowl. With the band and the entourage. I have been to Fresno in the summer: it is insufferably hot. Dry. Dusty. First game and they will have that place rocking.

No Pac 12 program goes to Fresno. So the University of ______ is a big deal. We are a Brand. They get Boise; Air Force; Hawaii. Once they got Minnesota to go there.

They had a 11-1 year not long ago; that guy Tedford is gone. The new HC DeBoer ... fairly .... the jury is still out. The
QB had great stats in 2020; he is a transfer from Washington. The Fresno team has kids from the greatest hs in the west. This year? 36 new names; 17 NLOI + 10 other HS JUCO + 9 D1 Transfer portal (incl. 3 4Star kids). so Tedford then 4-8 then 3-3 in 2020.

I don't feel that's 28 point spread. With the possible disclaimer: it is gonna be an awfully tough environment. We have a puncher's chance is we have good QB. How have we done in an away game against a good opponent on their field since 2000 in the opening game ... and I would say that record is not good.

 

[Life Is Good]

Based on 2019 data points and seemingly in-conflict w/ overall team rating of 103…




-> With the help of PFF College's advanced database,we can proceed to answer that question. Taking into account each projected starter's play-by-play grading profile and several other data points, in addition to film and scheme review, here are PFF's annual college quarterback rankings for all 130 FBS programs. And along with ranking each situation from one to 130, the quarterbacks are grouped into tiers to provide further context on where each school stands entering the fall.

TIER 6: NEEDS SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT
These quarterback situations are marred by past poor play or unpromising candidates to lead the offense in 2021.

129. CONNECTICUT: JACK ZERGIOTIS

Wasn’t Mike Beaudry #130 in 2019?

 

[huskymedic]

Wasn’t Mike Beaudry #130 in 2019?

Athlon was guessing too

-> 130. Mike Beaudry, UConn

Marvin Washington’s decision to transfer means UConn’s starting quarterback job is wide open going into the fall. Coach Randy Edsall is counting on two transfers – Beaudry and Micah Leon – to push redshirt freshman Steven Krajewski for the starting nod. Beaudry arrived at UConn after spending four years at the University of West Florida. The Orlando native did not play from 2015-16 but went 10-4 as a starter in 2017 with 3,215 passing yards and 29 touchdown tosses. Beaudry missed nearly all of the 2018 campaign due to injury. <-

 

[Exit 4]

QB play…. We need some

 

[metsfan2323]

QB play…. We need some

If we get Bryant Shirreffs/Cody Endres/Casey Cochran level QB play we are likely going bowling.

If we get Tyler Lorensen (pre-knee injury) level QB play we might get 7 or 8 wins.

If we get Danny O level QB play we might get 9 or 10.

 

[CL82]

QB play…. We need some

A good offensive line makes mediocre QBs look good while a bad one makes them look abysmal. Hopefully the o-line has beefed up and is ready to go. If they are we should look much better. We know Mensah will do his part.

 

[Pinnacle]

Realist yea masochist no

MUST BE A MASOCHIST BECAUSE HE PROBABLY CRUSHES HIS BALLS IN TIGHT RED PANTS DERRRRPPPP DERRRPPPP DERRRPPP

For the 7,774th time, I do not want this time to lose to lose 11 games by an average of 40 or so points but there is literally 0 reason to expect anything else.

Zero reason, Really?

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Zero reason, Really?

Nah dude you’re right the IG videos are better.

 

[blue93]

This team as in 2021 UConn football? How in the world could anyone proclaim that. We all haven't seen them play in a full year.

If you guys are so confident you know more than the odds makers you should be able to make a killing this season by taking the points in 11 games and betting the over for season wins total.

History has definitively shown that this board knows way less the odds makers know about UConn and I don't expect this season to be much different.

This argument works both ways though. Nobody knows what’s going to happen. If books set the win total o/u line at 4 they’d have a huge liability on their hands because the public perception of this program is so poor. Its really not that hard to pull together 3 wins with this schedule.

Every year there are teams that smash their win total over and teams that are major disappointments. We’ve been on the wrong end of that for a decade, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be the case this year.

 

[Samoo]

When I said UConn should win two or more... you said it was over the top. Yet you predict four wins. Weird.

Now you say something about "Clemons" and UCF being our only mismatches. Where did I say that? Or are you referring to someone else?

Clarence would clearly be favored if alive. He was a big man.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

This argument works both ways though. Nobody knows what’s going to happen. If books set the win total o/u line at 4 they’d have a huge liability on their hands because the public perception of this program is so poor. Its really not that hard to pull together 3 wins with this schedule.

Every year there are teams that smash their win total over and teams that are major disappointments. We’ve been on the wrong end of that for a decade, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be the case this year.

Look, I hope you're right. I don't think that it's totally unreasonable they beat Holy Cross, Yale, UMass and steal another along the way. The other thing I'm looking for is for the team to come out against Houston and not be totally demoralized after the Clemson and UCF back to back.

We're going to be at a talent deficit against every FBS team we play aside from maybe UMass due to years of poor recruiting. There's only so much coaching up you can do.

More so than anything, and this goes without saying, the QB play is beyond suspect. If we had a Sherriffs or Pindell I'd be more optimistic but I'm not sold on anything I've seen from Zergiotis or Krajewski that leads me to believe they can be even an average FBS QB.

 

[Jimdish255]

We would seem to be too young overall and too thin at certain positions (ol) too get overly optimistic. But there may still be progress. Now next year and the year after the cupboard looks pretty well stocked. Expecting a big jump.

 

[Drew]

My prediction is for 4 wins - which I also think is the absolute ceiling.

How can you even take a post seriously saying UCF and Clemons are our only mismatches, when we open as 27 point underdogs to Fresno?

It’s funny because if you surveyed these people that say we can beat Fresno for how many of them are laying down good money on UConn +27 I bet you it would be less than 5%

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

If we get Bryant Shirreffs/Cody Endres/Casey Cochran level QB play we are likely going bowling.

If we get Tyler Lorensen (pre-knee injury) level QB play we might get 7 or 8 wins.

If we get Danny O level QB play we might get 9 or 10.

Well the bad news is we’re going to have Jack Zergiotis level play

 

[CL82]

It’s funny because if you surveyed these people that say we can beat Fresno for how many of them are laying down good money on UConn +27 I bet you it would be less than 5%

Lol, true.

I think we can beat them and no I haven't taken the points. The seven years have damaged my confidence generally and last years lay off has pretty much killed it. Still, as I suspected would happen as the the season got closer, I'm starting to believe we will be substantially better. So I guess hope never dies.

 

[BlueDogs]

Zerg is not the droid we are looking for. Just never improved his game over the season. Not accurate enough, doesn’t see and read the field well, and makes a lot of bad decisions. You can cure number 3, but not 1 and 2. We have to aspire to move beyond “at least he doesn’t make bad mistakes. I’d hand the ball to K with the mission to make some plays with his arm.

 

[hardcorehusky]

Zerg is not the droid we are looking for. Just never improved his game over the season. Not accurate enough, doesn’t see and read the field well, and makes a lot of bad decisions. You can cure number 3, but not 1 and 2. We have to aspire to move beyond “at least he doesn’t make bad mistakes. I’d hand the ball to K with the mission to make some plays with his arm.

Totally disagree here. He did improve toward the end. The looped pass over the defense to I think Mensah for a 90+ yard td against Houston or ECU was not a throw he could make earlier in the year. It was something RE or Giufre pointed out at the time. He had trouble in the red zone and in short yardage but that is an area of improvement. Remember, he came from Canada where the game is different. For a 1st time QB in America, he had his moments and lots of room to improve.

 

[RSTuthill]

Hahaha ... UConn should take another year off. They might get up to #75.

 

[RSTuthill]

QB play…. We need some

I remember Mike Beaudry's first pass against Wagner and thinking, nope, UConn doesn't have a QB this year. You could just tell. They had him hand off the first two plays from scrimmage, and I was thinking that they didn't have confidence in him to pass. Then we saw his first pass and saw the future for the season.

 

[LIUCHusky]

Hahaha ... UConn should take another year off. They might get up to #75.

Thanks for your contribution.

 

[Hoophound]

I remember Mike Beaudry's first pass against Wagner and thinking, nope, UConn doesn't have a QB this year. You could just tell. They had him hand off the first two plays from scrimmage, and I was thinking that they didn't have confidence in him to pass. Then we saw his first pass and saw the future for the season.

That really was disheartening. I thought he’d be better.

 

[metsfan2323]

Totally disagree here. He did improve toward the end. The looped pass over the defense to I think Mensah for a 90+ yard td against Houston or ECU was not a throw he could make earlier in the year. It was something RE or Giufre pointed out at the time. He had trouble in the red zone and in short yardage but that is an area of improvement. Remember, he came from Canada where the game is different. For a 1st time QB in America, he had his moments and lots of room to improve.

I'm glad I'm not the only one on this board with a good memory. Z definitely had enough good moments for us to believe he can be a good QB. I don't care what you think of the ECU defense, throwing for over 400 yards against them as a true freshmen is impressive. Z flashed a plus arm with a quick release and very good pocket awareness for a true freshman, there is no doubt in my mind that he can build off that and be a very good QB, hopefully this year. That said, if someone is good enough to beat him in the competition for the job then good for us and the team.

notice how I said nothing bad about his competition as I don't care who wins the job. Some of you can't help but post negative comments about Z and I don't get it. He was solid for a freshman, he has talent and he deserves better support from this board.

 

[blue93]

Zerg is not the droid we are looking for. Just never improved his game over the season. Not accurate enough, doesn’t see and read the field well, and makes a lot of bad decisions. You can cure number 3, but not 1 and 2. We have to aspire to move beyond “at least he doesn’t make bad mistakes. I’d hand the ball to K with the mission to make some plays with his arm.

News flash, 99% of freshman QBs that we’re able to pull in won’t be ready for fbs football. That’s just the way it is. That doesn’t mean he can’t get better with some development.

 

[Husky68]

News flash, 99% of freshman QBs that we’re able to pull in won’t be ready for fbs football. That’s just the way it is. That doesn’t mean he can’t get better with some development.

But he had "IT". Why else start the 3rd string real freshman QB over red shirt 2nd string freshman if he wasn't ready to play FBS?

 

[blue93]

But he had "IT". Why else start the 3rd string real freshman QB over red shirt 2nd string freshman if he wasn't ready to play FBS?

Because nobody else separated themselves as the guy. Tim Boyle sucked when he got thrown to the wolves here but somehow he’s carving out a career as an NFL backup. Maybe a small sample size as a young college QB doesn’t mean that much?

 

[BlueDogs]

Because nobody else separated themselves as the guy. Tim Boyle sucked when he got thrown to the wolves here but somehow he’s carving out a career as an NFL backup. Maybe a small sample size as a young college QB doesn’t mean that much?

Boyle was grossly mismanaged. 90% of coaches are fixated on “ no turnover- mistake free” football, Instead of managing risk to allow playmaking.

 

[RSTuthill]

I'm glad I'm not the only one on this board with a good memory. Z definitely had enough good moments for us to believe he can be a good QB. I don't care what you think of the ECU defense, throwing for over 400 yards against them as a true freshmen is impressive. Z flashed a plus arm with a quick release and very good pocket awareness for a true freshman, there is no doubt in my mind that he can build off that and be a very good QB, hopefully this year. That said, if someone is good enough to beat him in the competition for the job then good for us and the team.

notice how I said nothing bad about his competition as I don't care who wins the job. Some of you can't help but post negative comments about Z and I don't get it. He was solid for a freshman, he has talent and he deserves better support from this board.

I am also an agnostic when it comes to the question of winning the starting QB job. The only exception to that was the kid that PP mismanaged and who ended up going to Fordham. The center at the time was dating his competitor's sister. Whenever he came in you could count on at least one bad snap.

It is entirely possible that Zergiotis with two more years of maturity and conditioning could be the alltime surprise of the program. A free redshirt year preceded by a year of finding out what the difference in HS and FBS ball really is. Not the same as a free year of actually playing, but good nonetheless.

 

[freescooter]

News flash, 99% of freshman QBs that we’re able to pull in won’t be ready for fbs football. That’s just the way it is. That doesn’t mean he can’t get better with some development.

I think that’s right. Very few true freshmen started last year. Occasionally you see somebody but it is very rare even among really high level recruits.

I thought Z looked good at times but totally lost at others. But he seemed to have the right mentality and some physical skills. I didn’t see the game Krajewski played, so I don’t really have a clear sense of his level.

One thing I will say though is I don’t really get Edsall not brining in a JUCO or grad transfer to help stabilize the position.

 

[Exit 4]

I think that’s right. Very few true freshmen started last year. Occasionally you see somebody but it is very rare even among really high level recruits.

I thought Z looked good at times but totally lost at others. But he seemed to have the right mentality and some physical skills. I didn’t see the game Krajewski played, so I don’t really have a clear sense of his level.

One thing I will say though is I don’t really get Edsall not brining in a JUCO or grad transfer to help stabilize the position.

Judging by Twitter stalking they did look into several possibilities over since December. What it seem to me is that they were aiming higher than in the past, looking for a player that would clearly come in with talent above what we currently have. And so it seems they didn’t feel it necessary or useful to bring in another QB that frankly would be unlikely to moved past what we have now.

Short answer - they tried.

They also looked some OL and DL grad help.

 

[Chief00]

College Football: PFF ELO rankings for all 130 FBS teams heading into the 2021 season

The Alabama Crimson Tide rank No. 1 in PFF's ELO rankings despite losing Mac Jones, DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle, among others, to the 2021 NFL Draft.

www.pff.com

This is a bit old, but haven't seen it on here.

103. CONNECTICUT HUSKIES

Of note:
104. SYRACUSE ORANGE
106. VANDERBILT COMMODORES
121. MIDDLE TENNESSEE BLUE RAIDERS
126. MASSACHUSETTS MINUTEMEN

Other opponents:
85. FRESNO STATE BULLDOGS
80. PURDUE BOILERMAKERS
67. ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS
90. WYOMING COWBOYS

2. CLEMSON TIGERS​

34. UCF KNIGHTS
76. HOUSTON COUGARS

Chief takes all these rankings with a grain of salt. However, big picture, if your current team is ranked #103 but your 2022 recruiting is ranked #56; that’s the big “Pivot” that Chief often tries to educate our beloved Casual Fans about.