Tough game. I'm hardly impressed but at least we got the W and showed some balls after the fumble and getting down 7.
We were not the better team tonight in any phase of the game, except special teams (which were outstanding by the way) but still avoided the complete embarrassment.
And I have to give Maine a lot of credit. They came in to win this game and damn near pulled it off.
Agreed. A bit vanilla offense. Predictable. Pre-season is over.I Line was terrible tonight, but I put some of the blame on play calling. Unimaginative at best. It seemed to me that Maine played to win, UConn played it safe.
The best runs of the night were to the left side of the line throughout the night. I am not sure why it was so hard to run behind two of the largest lineman on the team. The right side of the line should dominate a team like Maine.
I thought the Richard Levy Project was going to end after the second series. He must have missed 3-4 blocks in that span. I think he even crossed over and into the left side without touching anybody. I don't see him getting to the second level on a LB. Verducci needs to throw more on first down to help these guys out. The first time was mid-third quarter.Levy and Hopkins were the weak parts of the line last night.
Vechery did well after he replaced Hopkins.
Unfortunately, he's not a QB. Pretty good running back, plays hard but not particularly smart. Has very poor vision and doesn't appear to go through any progressions with receivers. His lack of height doesn't help but it's more mindset and lack of QB talent.Shireffs can't throw, easy to defend.