uconnbaseball
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Just got back from the game. Maine is by far the weakest FCS we have seen since UMass in Pasqualoni's first or 2nd year (I forget which). To have won by only 3 -- barely outgaining them in terms of yardage in the process -- is depressing. This team seems a lot closer in terms of talent to the recent 3-9 and 2-10 teams than Edsall's last few teams, and the coaching was utterly mind boggling. I know Diaco did not want to show his entire defense tonight, but the Maine QB folded at the slightest bit of pressure and had some ugly overthrows of open receivers as a result. The pass rush is non-existent from the defensive front, so where was the blitzing???
With that said, the game was still fun once I gave up on expecting a dominating UConn win. I enjoyed my first trip to the Rent and will be making future visits once the offense becomes more watchable. Some positives and a lot of negatives from this game:
+ Atmosphere. A chirpy, relatively loud 27-28k is a pretty decent turnout considering this game was played on a Thursday night. Although some people were ridiculously late getting their asses into their seats (jesus casuals love tailgating), I did not notice issues with fans leaving early like I've read about here in the past. The few thousand or so fans that did leave in the 3rd quarter were certainly justified in doing so, given the level of play. By no means was The Rent intimidating tonight, but it was clearly a solid atmosphere for a college football game. I expect a nice turnout for UVA. The student section and the band were both great, by the way. The dude flubbing a 15 yard field goal was not.
+ Defensive Line. The few times we did get pressure, it seemed like one of our big guys was responsible for it. More importantly, the run defense had a dominant day without the aid of sacks or any real broken plays. Maine did rip off a few nice runs, and it isn't hard for an FBS team to shut down a running game that wasn't good at all in the CAA last year, but credit where credit is due for them showing up and doing their job.
+ Shireffs. One ugly misfire to a wide open Thomas (I think?) on the left side of the field aside, he threw the ball fairly well all night. Obviously, his running remains a strength too. Not a great quarterback, but with the necessary support he is capable of being a pretty good one.
+ Special Teams. Diaco gets for the punt return philosophy, but this team is clearly good on special teams. Love our kickers and our coverage units.
Now for the bad stuff...
- Offensive Line. Not as much room to run as there should have been (although they did at LEAST wear down Maine as the game went along), but the major problem was the pass blocking. Shireffs was running for his life all night. Beating a dead horse because everyone knows how bad they are, but watching them live was disgusting.
- Depth on offense. We have a few weapons (Thomas, Shireff's legs, some decent tight ends, Newsome), but only JUST enough to be productive given a solid OL and coaching staff (lol). One or two major injuries and we are in deep , especially at WR where no one besides Thomas looked like an FBS guy. What happened to Beals from last year?
- Pass Rush. Horrifying. Why don't we blitz more, given the size we have up front and the supposed athleticism we have at LB? Surely the blitzing cannot be due to preventing the big play, because...
- Bend and Break defense. Red zone defense was not good, we gave up multiple first downs on 3rd and longs to a quarterback who has been abysmal by FCS standards, and our safties were getting burned all night (Maine's QB missed several wide open guys downfield on top of the passes he did complete. I was a little underwhelmed by the corners based on what I anticipated going in, but they were still pretty good and had decent coverage most of the night. The safeties were beyond brutal today. If we are going to play soft defense with 6-8 yard cushions, can we not consistently give up 18-25 yard pass plays???
- Clock Management. This was subverted with the final drive of the game thank GOD, where Diaco actually used his time outs really well (and not wasting time outs for no reason earlier on in the half may well have been a life saver). Still, the first half was horrific.
- Playcalling. I don't think Verducci was quite as bad as others have said, considering the playcalling was actually pretty decent in the 2nd half (especially on the 2 minute drive, although Maine's worn out defense helped). But the conservative playcalling in the first half was despicable. Running Ron Johnson into the middle of this offensive line is never going to work against FBS teams, and did not work often vs Maine. Johnson did have a nice game overall though. Verducci is somewhat handcuffed by the OL but has enough weapons...for now, pls no injuries...to still have some success out of the shotgun. He needs to run less I-formation, even against undersized teams; we can still wear down smaller teams with the shotgun. As noted before, I also hated the conservative defense. I guess I am gonna have to get used to that.
The next three games will determine whether or not this team can compete for a bowl game. Although all three are much better than Maine, and are probably quite a bit better than us, none of them look good on paper. UVA regularly struggles with CAA teams at home (albeit much better ones than Maine) and has not won a road game since 2012. Syracuse looks like a below average team. We match up well vs. Navy and their defense will take a big step back (they always have effective QB play so I feel their losses on D will hurt more than Reynolds). If we cannot win any of these three games, this will be a brutal year...and honestly, with the schedule ramping up after this stretch, we probably need to win 2 in order to have a remotely successful year. I am not optimistic, but maybe we hit Navy with our best punch next week.
With that said, the game was still fun once I gave up on expecting a dominating UConn win. I enjoyed my first trip to the Rent and will be making future visits once the offense becomes more watchable. Some positives and a lot of negatives from this game:
+ Atmosphere. A chirpy, relatively loud 27-28k is a pretty decent turnout considering this game was played on a Thursday night. Although some people were ridiculously late getting their asses into their seats (jesus casuals love tailgating), I did not notice issues with fans leaving early like I've read about here in the past. The few thousand or so fans that did leave in the 3rd quarter were certainly justified in doing so, given the level of play. By no means was The Rent intimidating tonight, but it was clearly a solid atmosphere for a college football game. I expect a nice turnout for UVA. The student section and the band were both great, by the way. The dude flubbing a 15 yard field goal was not.
+ Defensive Line. The few times we did get pressure, it seemed like one of our big guys was responsible for it. More importantly, the run defense had a dominant day without the aid of sacks or any real broken plays. Maine did rip off a few nice runs, and it isn't hard for an FBS team to shut down a running game that wasn't good at all in the CAA last year, but credit where credit is due for them showing up and doing their job.
+ Shireffs. One ugly misfire to a wide open Thomas (I think?) on the left side of the field aside, he threw the ball fairly well all night. Obviously, his running remains a strength too. Not a great quarterback, but with the necessary support he is capable of being a pretty good one.
+ Special Teams. Diaco gets for the punt return philosophy, but this team is clearly good on special teams. Love our kickers and our coverage units.
Now for the bad stuff...
- Offensive Line. Not as much room to run as there should have been (although they did at LEAST wear down Maine as the game went along), but the major problem was the pass blocking. Shireffs was running for his life all night. Beating a dead horse because everyone knows how bad they are, but watching them live was disgusting.
- Depth on offense. We have a few weapons (Thomas, Shireff's legs, some decent tight ends, Newsome), but only JUST enough to be productive given a solid OL and coaching staff (lol). One or two major injuries and we are in deep , especially at WR where no one besides Thomas looked like an FBS guy. What happened to Beals from last year?
- Pass Rush. Horrifying. Why don't we blitz more, given the size we have up front and the supposed athleticism we have at LB? Surely the blitzing cannot be due to preventing the big play, because...
- Bend and Break defense. Red zone defense was not good, we gave up multiple first downs on 3rd and longs to a quarterback who has been abysmal by FCS standards, and our safties were getting burned all night (Maine's QB missed several wide open guys downfield on top of the passes he did complete. I was a little underwhelmed by the corners based on what I anticipated going in, but they were still pretty good and had decent coverage most of the night. The safeties were beyond brutal today. If we are going to play soft defense with 6-8 yard cushions, can we not consistently give up 18-25 yard pass plays???
- Clock Management. This was subverted with the final drive of the game thank GOD, where Diaco actually used his time outs really well (and not wasting time outs for no reason earlier on in the half may well have been a life saver). Still, the first half was horrific.
- Playcalling. I don't think Verducci was quite as bad as others have said, considering the playcalling was actually pretty decent in the 2nd half (especially on the 2 minute drive, although Maine's worn out defense helped). But the conservative playcalling in the first half was despicable. Running Ron Johnson into the middle of this offensive line is never going to work against FBS teams, and did not work often vs Maine. Johnson did have a nice game overall though. Verducci is somewhat handcuffed by the OL but has enough weapons...for now, pls no injuries...to still have some success out of the shotgun. He needs to run less I-formation, even against undersized teams; we can still wear down smaller teams with the shotgun. As noted before, I also hated the conservative defense. I guess I am gonna have to get used to that.
The next three games will determine whether or not this team can compete for a bowl game. Although all three are much better than Maine, and are probably quite a bit better than us, none of them look good on paper. UVA regularly struggles with CAA teams at home (albeit much better ones than Maine) and has not won a road game since 2012. Syracuse looks like a below average team. We match up well vs. Navy and their defense will take a big step back (they always have effective QB play so I feel their losses on D will hurt more than Reynolds). If we cannot win any of these three games, this will be a brutal year...and honestly, with the schedule ramping up after this stretch, we probably need to win 2 in order to have a remotely successful year. I am not optimistic, but maybe we hit Navy with our best punch next week.