PP postgame: Offense didn't have 'killer instinct'

[ruskin]

Yes Paul, I agree. The offense should be horse whipped for failing to correctly execute all those well-designed, tricky, aggressive, innovative plays called by your buddy George.

Between that and Emily's ebullient description of our offense having "clicked on all cylinders" I guess I'm the one living in an alternate universe.

 

[Jimdish255]

Please don't throw your guys under the bus P. The "killer instinct" wasn't an option given the negative playcalling. That's where it starts..

 

[jackl]

Play calling was abysmal. I kept waiting for a football game to break out. What is wrong with trying to throw 2 consecutive pass plays. Everyone in the Stadium was an offensive coordinator today because we knew what the next play was going to be after a pass. As undermanned as Buffalo was they used more imagination.

 

[Jax Husky]

Seriously....it was the playcalling that was lacking the killer instinct, not the players. You totally handcuffed Whitmer the entire second half after the best first half of his career.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

Play calling was abysmal. I kept waiting for a football game to break out. What is wrong with trying to throw 2 consecutive pass plays. Everyone in the Stadium was an offensive coordinator today because we knew what the next play was going to be after a pass. As undermanned as Buffalo was they used more imagination.

Yep. The worst part is Buffalo had 8 or 9 in the box almost the entire game. Not only we did not throw downfield much, we kept running up the middle playing right into their hands. Talk about a stubborn and being stupid. Deleone is way past his prime.

 

[john2153]

Every first down play we ran for 2 yards into the line except for 1 time by my count. And what do you know the 1 time we passed it was a perfect 15 yard completion.

PP played the game not to lose in the 2nd half. The fact that they had a chance at tying the game is an embarassment.

 

[TRest]

Second week in a row the other team looked to be better-coached.

 

[UCername]

I will buy Deleone Dennie's for a month if he retires. That was pathetic, we should beat that team by 30 minimum. PP should be embarrassed. Whitmer looked awesome though, saw him look off 3 guys on that pass to Lyle. F me I hope they are holding back for BE play or it will get ugly.

 

[pj]

I don't read it as calling out the players. More like calling out DeLeone, who is part of the offense and responsible for it. The point is the offense needs to put the opponent away, not count on the defense to stop them. And it's a great point.

 

[Carl Spackler]

What you brilliant folks don't realize is that Buffalo is a very well coached defensive team, our offense was picking them apart in the first half, and they adjusted in the second half, and our QB is still essentially a freshman, and threw a pass early in the second half, into the gut of a Buffalo LB, that he had no idea was standing in the middle of the field, and luckily that LB dropped it, and our QB was befuddled the rest of the half. He'll put up the film tomorrow, and learn from it. But he wasn't figuring it out on the field, and the play calling changed. Couple that with the fact that we are playing with a sprint league starting tailback, that no one seems able to surpass on the depth chart.....and as great a football player he is, he can run with every bit of heart and soul into a pile, or hit and hole and try to get by somebody, and never move it, and get tackled every time, and you get a second half like we did.

We got the W, but there's a ton to learn from - every bit of weakness on this team, in all three phases, was on display, and Rutgers will be going after it next week.

 

[gars44]

Second week in a row the other team looked to be better-coached.

Yeah. Did you notice that all the excitement on offense was on the Buffalo side? They threw passes, they ran plays, they were creative. We are living off Big East level talent in these types of wins. We won't have that in a few years. This is really a concern.

 

[huskynation]

What you brilliant folks don't realize is that Buffalo is a very well coached defensive team, our offense was picking them apart in the first half, and they adjusted in the second half, and our QB is still essentially a freshman, and threw a pass early in the second half, into the gut of a Buffalo LB, that he had no idea was standing in the middle of the field, and luckily that LB dropped it, and our QB was befuddled the rest of the half. He'll put up the film tomorrow, and learn from it. But he wasn't figuring it out on the field, and the play calling changed. Couple that with the fact that we are playing with a sprint league starting tailback, that no one seems able to surpass on the depth chart.....and as great a football player he is, he can run with every bit of heart and soul into a pile, or hit and hole and try to get by somebody, and never move it, and get tackled every time, and you get a second half like we did.

We got the W, but there's a ton to learn from - every bit of weakness on this team, in all three phases, was on display, and Rutgers will be going after it next week.

I don't agree that whitmer was confused the second half. Yes he did almost throw an interception on that play, but he completed, 68 percent of his passes, 60 percent in the second half. I think after that play, the coaching staff just decided not to try to throw the ball downfield and instead to try to run out the clock. That's coaching philosophy, not the qb having trouble reading coverages.

I don't think that having 9 men in the box to stop the run, is a clever way to stop the passing game.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I don't agree that whitmer was confused the second half. Yes he did almost throw an interception on that play, but he completed, 68 percent of his passes, 60 percent in the second half. I think after that play, the coaching staff just decided not to try to throw the ball downfield and instead to try to run out the clock. That's coaching philosophy, not the qb having trouble reading coverages.

I don't think that having 9 men in the box to stop the run, is a clever way to stop the passing game.

I don't know what you call throwing a ball straight to a LB and having multiple balls batted at the LOS scrimmage, but to me - that means befuddled, and If I"m calling plays, and I've got a 17 point lead, I'm playing it safe, and counting on my big guys up front to do their job, and you know what? They did.

I'm a huge Lyle McCombs fan, but sooner than later, we need a bigger, faster back in this offense.

 

[Uconnalliance]

Can't wait for speech next week when we get totally exposed by Rutgers.

 

[kcc1442]

What you brilliant folks don't realize is that Buffalo is a very well coached defensive team, our offense was picking them apart in the first half, and they adjusted in the second half, and our QB is still essentially a freshman, and threw a pass early in the second half, into the gut of a Buffalo LB, that he had no idea was standing in the middle of the field, and luckily that LB dropped it, and our QB was befuddled the rest of the half. He'll put up the film tomorrow, and learn from it. But he wasn't figuring it out on the field, and the play calling changed. Couple that with the fact that we are playing with a sprint league starting tailback, that no one seems able to surpass on the depth chart.....and as great a football player he is, he can run with every bit of heart and soul into a pile, or hit and hole and try to get by somebody, and never move it, and get tackled every time, and you get a second half like we did.

We got the W, but there's a ton to learn from - every bit of weakness on this team, in all three phases, was on display, and Rutgers will be going after it next week.

I Don't care if they are a very well coached team.........IT is BUFFALO.....WE should expect to blow them out of the water if we want to be respected nationally......PLAIN & SIMPLE! The play calling offensively became stagnant and timid once again.....Lets play not to lose Coach Deleone says....Oh noooo CW ALMOST threw an interception.....BIG Deal!!!!! Even if he does and they turn it into a score.. ATTACK and ATTACK some more and KEEP ATTACKING...Because better teams always come out on top that way.....>STOP PLAYING WITH YOUR TAIL BETWEEN YOUR LEGS DELEONE!!!!!!!!!!! GO WIN THE GAME!!!!!!! STOP HOPING YOU COME OUT ON TOP!!!! This kind of coaching only leads to failure against good teams......And I'm not even talking really good teams.....WMU beat us because of your conservative play in the first quarter, Buffalo almost caught us.....If we want to be taken seriously and play with the big boys than dominate all the time....take advantage of the other teams weakness and ATTACK.....stop playing this wusssy BALL....THIS RUN UP THE MIDDLE, RUN UP THE MIDDLE.....PLAY NOT TO LOSE CRAP!!!!!
'

 

[huskysupporter]

I Don't care if they are a very well coached team.........IT is BUFFALO.....WE should expect to blow them out of the water if we want to be respected nationally......PLAIN & SIMPLE! The play calling offensively became stagnant and timid once again.....Lets play not to lose Coach Deleone says....Oh noooo CW ALMOST threw an interception.....BIG Deal!!!!! Even if he does and they turn it into a score.. ATTACK and ATTACK some more and KEEP ATTACKING...Because better teams always come out on top that way.....>STOP PLAYING WITH YOUR TAIL BETWEEN YOUR LEGS DELEONE!!!!!!!!!!! GO WIN THE GAME!!!!!!! STOP HOPING YOU COME OUT ON TOP!!!! This kind of coaching only leads to failure against good teams......And I'm not even talking really good teams.....WMU beat us because of your conservative play in the first quarter, Buffalo almost caught us.....If we want to be taken seriously and play with the big boys than dominate all the time....take advantage of the other teams weakness and ATTACK.....stop playing this wusssy BALL....THIS RUN UP THE MIDDLE, RUN UP THE MIDDLE.....PLAY NOT TO LOSE CRAP!!!!!
'

So you are upset that we didn't win by more? Because if we did we would gain more respect nationally?

 

[ruskin]

I don't know what you call throwing a ball straight to a LB and having multiple balls batted at the LOS scrimmage, but to me - that means befuddled, and If I"m calling plays, and I've got a 17 point lead, I'm playing it safe, and counting on my big guys up front to do their job, and you know what? They did.

UConn had 2 first downs, 29 yards punted five times on the five possessions after taking a 24-7 lead while not using up a lot of clock. That's not "doing the job" by any measure but I don't blame the line. I blame the "scheme" and the adults in the charge.

 

[huskysupporter]

UConn had 2 first downs, 29 yards punted five times on the five possessions after taking a 24-7 lead while not using up a lot of clock. That's not "doing the job" by any measure but I don't blame the line. I blame the "scheme" and the adults in the charge.

I thought the tackles played well, and when asked to pull, the guards were great. The interior of the line did not play well at all, I don't care what the scheme is.

It's no secret, the offense likes to run. And this sets up play action perfectly. When we ran play action we had success. I have zero idea why we don't do it more. I had the same issues with FHCRE. Teams are stacking 8 in the box, and the FS is cheating run. RUN MORE PLAY ACTION!!!! We don't need to run the fun n gun, run and shoot . . . etc. The passing game can be very successful relying on the tight ends and intermediate passes.

And as an O Line guy, please stop with the zone blocking. Get back to inside traps and pulling linemen on sweeps. Our interior linemen are not fit to run the zone blocking schemes.

 

[ruskin]

supporter, I agree 100 percent with your offensive suggestions, I'd also add more bootleg/waggles. Did Whitmer roll out once today (I mean, besides the illfated QB draw late in the game)

 

[kcc1442]

So you are upset that we didn't win by more? Because if we did we would gain more respect nationally?

I'm upset about how we called the game and handled ourselves when we saw even the smallest most remote amount of success against what should be considered a small time team (24-7)......A team that we should schedule knowing that it is simple a fine tuning game to gear up for the competitive games on our schedule......I'm pissed off we created a game against a team that should be a walk over......Do I think if we blew them out we gain respect nationally....hell no....I'm not delusional....but do we creep further and further from gaining respect by playing the way we did....yes....Would a Top 25 team/Big east Contending or winning/Nationally respected team ever win by 7 to BUFFALO @ home......NO......Bottom line is take care of business like professional/high class college football teams would against inferior competition.....We need to do that both from a player and coaching side and we just didn't do that.....Not even close....

 

[Calhoun's Court]

They can only run the risk adverse plays that are called by George "Snoozeball" Deleone

So what does he expect?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

What you brilliant folks don't realize is that Buffalo is a very well coached defensive team, our offense was picking them apart in the first half, and they adjusted in the second half,

Using your genius theory, all a team needs to do is play possum in the first half, at that point they can make halftime adjustments and the opponent will be powerless to do anything to counteract these adjustments.

I wish I played football for UConn in the 1980's, I would then know tidbits of information such as the halftime adjustments comment above.

Personally, I believe that the staff didn't have any desire to go for the jugular and I am beginning to believe that it is due to some personal difference between a coach and Ryan Griffin. I stated about a half dozen times during the first quarter that we needed to run a TE down the seam only to watch a number of other plays work to some (but not enough) effectiveness. The first time we did it (early in the second quarter) we hit for a TD. We could have run that all game and they would have had trouble defending it. They also would have had to keep an LB over the middle and a safety center deep, which would have opened up about a dozen other possibilities. We have a real weapon at that position and from all appearances we refuse to use him.

 

[DDaileyuconn]

I posted on 2013, r play calling was not 2 loose after being up 24-7, and great field position, we should have won 50-17, but we r uconn with coach P, only 2 win these 20-16 games

 

[john2153]

Buffalo is so well coached defensively they allowed that juggernaut Morgan St to score 34 points and rack up over 365 total yards just 2 weeks ago.

 

[Calhoun's Court]

Buffalo is so well coached defensively they allowed that juggernaut Morgan St to score 34 points and rack up over 365 total yards just 2 weeks ago.

The way some are talking up Buffalo here I thought we played the Bills today and not the Bulls.