Quick Thoughts

[RedSoloCup]

Bonus Quick Thought:

Get a fourth down video package.

It seems beyond bush league when the opponent is going on 4th down and the scoreboard is flashing THIRD DOWN!!!

I thought that the stadium production left a lot to be desired, yet again.

The 3rd and 4th down music was not consistent, and they would start it late much of the time. Video of previous plays and adverts during actual play.

I like to be able to watch the video board when my sight line is bad on a play.

 

[HomeKing93]

Not much to add to the great points made. Solid effort all around by the Huskies, and by the folks in the fried dough truck as well, although I probably should skip having one next week!

 

[FDNY99]

1. Villanova played poorly, it's still a good win.

2. BS is promising. If he gets hurt all bets are off. He had the offense completely organized. That alone is a huge improvement.

3. When they needed big plays they got two from sophomores.

4. If I was a Villanova fan I wouldn't sleep for a week kicking off down 5 with 1:45 left and only 2 time outs.

5. Summers and Stewart both made huge tackles in open space in the first half. They quietly shut down two drives.

6. Carrezola was the most impactful player on defense.

7. The OL has a long way to go if they are going to be competitive post Army.

8. Crowd was pretty decent. It wasn't impactful but some people hung til the end. The student section was fuller than I anticipated.

9. Bob won my heart going on fourth. Then quickly stabbed me in the heart kicking the second time. Please Bob - go for it. Even if you fail it's better than a net 19 yard punt. Show some confidence.

Modest improvement - just looking like an FBS outfit was encouraging. Wasn't pretty but a good win.

Whaler Stewart made a really key play when he reached back and knocked down that Robinson pass on 3rd down in the second half.

 

[Waquoit]

I don't think Stewart is getting enough love. He was all over the place. My main concern is our 3rd down defense. Nova converted too many 3rd and longs.

 

[huskymedic]

My main concern is our 3rd down defense. Nova converted too many 3rd and longs.

Yup -- Achilles Heel past few years, just not under current staff.

 

[J187Money]

I don't think Stewart is getting enough love. He was all over the place. My main concern is our 3rd down defense. Nova converted too many 3rd and longs.

Right - he wasn't perfect but was WAY better.

 

[Stainmaster]

Stewart made a couple of nice plays, but there were still so many mistakes. He needs to clean his game up - expectations are higher for a senior who was once seen as an SEC-level recruit.

 

[uconnphil2016]

I will have to watch again but it looked to me like Johnson lingered in front of a nova player and made his motion at him. The ref was right in front of him so I am assuming he said something. But I can be wrong, didn't see replay.

I don't need to see Fatusaki replay. He has throwing haymakers at nova guy. And landed a couple to the back of his head.

Yeah, I was sitting in the endzone and Fatukasi appeared to just go off on the guy with little to no provocation. It was a boneheaded move that has no place on a football field or anywhere else for that matter. This might not be the right thing to say, but I suppose I'm happier with a player stepping over the line and getting in a scuffle as opposed to the lack of energy that plagued us during the PP years.

 

[Stainmaster]

Yeah, I was sitting in the endzone and Fatukasi appeared to just go off on the guy with little to no provocation. It was a boneheaded move that has no place on a football field or anywhere else for that matter. This might not be the right thing to say, but I suppose I'm happier with a player stepping over the line and getting in a scuffle as opposed to the lack of energy that plagued us during the PP years.

I agree with where you're coming from. The intention and fire behind it was welcome, but not the actual act of punching a dude on the other team.

 

[blue93]

Breakfast tasted better than normal this morning. This feels like the first time in years that we went out and won ourselves a game. UCF was nice and all, but it just had the feel that the Knights wanted no part of being there. Last night was a gritty team win. Room for improvement, but they met/exceeded my expectations, which is nice for a change.

 

[Waquoit]

I agree with where you're coming from. The intention and fire behind it was welcome, but not the actual act of punching a dude on the other team.

That was so bogus. It reminded me of arena football.

 

[ctchamps]

Great thread. It wasn't just the win that I'm celebrating. The top ten FCS teams would beat a lot of lower level FBS teams and Nova has the potential to be a top ten FCS team.

Lot of great points.

I'd add that UConn made terrific defensive adjustments in the second half which, barring a good kick off run and a wtf penalty could have kept a terrific offensive team from putting any points on the scoreboard. Most of Nova's total yardage came in the second quarter.

In my novice viewpoint a defensive adjustment was made to deemphasize the focus on the pass and focus on the run. Part of that adjustment was changing the emphasis on Stewart's play. In the first half he was assigned the role of a pass rusher which put him at a disadvantage to miss the angles. I don't believe there was one play in the second half where that was the case. He was either playing man for man with one of the backs or assigned the role of following Robertson. I believe the Nova offensive ability was negated by UConn's defensive adjustment.

 

[Dooley]

1. Villanova played poorly, it's still a good win.

2. BS is promising. If he gets hurt all bets are off. He had the offense completely organized. That alone is a huge improvement.

3. When they needed big plays they got two from sophomores.

4. If I was a Villanova fan I wouldn't sleep for a week kicking off down 5 with 1:45 left and only 2 time outs.

5. Summers and Stewart both made huge tackles in open space in the first half. They quietly shut down two drives.

6. Carrezola was the most impactful player on defense.

7. The OL has a long way to go if they are going to be competitive post Army.

8. Crowd was pretty decent. It wasn't impactful but some people hung til the end. The student section was fuller than I anticipated.

9. Bob won my heart going on fourth. Then quickly stabbed me in the heart kicking the second time. Please Bob - go for it. Even if you fail it's better than a net 19 yard punt. Show some confidence.

Modest improvement - just looking like an FBS outfit was encouraging. Wasn't pretty but a good win.

Agree with every single thing on your list. Kicking off down 5 with 1:45 left and only 2 TOs was one of the most puzzling coaching decisions I've seen. And G-Damm it, when we have the ball inside the opponent's 35 yard line, we should ALWAYS go for it on 4th and short. Punting for a net of 15-whatever yards is not worth it.

One thing I'd add is that the depth chart for RB should not be 1 and 1A any longer. It should read: 1- Ron Johnson; 2 - Arkeel Newsome. We have our new Donald Brown here.

Carrezola reminds me so much of Mike Vrabel, it's scary. Even has the left arm sleeve too. I thought he was the best player on D too.

 

[Devland]

1. Villanova played poorly, it's still a good win.

2. BS is promising. If he gets hurt all bets are off. He had the offense completely organized. That alone is a huge improvement.

3. When they needed big plays they got two from sophomores.

4. If I was a Villanova fan I wouldn't sleep for a week kicking off down 5 with 1:45 left and only 2 time outs.

5. Summers and Stewart both made huge tackles in open space in the first half. They quietly shut down two drives.

6. Carrezola was the most impactful player on defense.

7. The OL has a long way to go if they are going to be competitive post Army.

8. Crowd was pretty decent. It wasn't impactful but some people hung til the end. The student section was fuller than I anticipated.

9. Bob won my heart going on fourth. Then quickly stabbed me in the heart kicking the second time. Please Bob - go for it. Even if you fail it's better than a net 19 yard punt. Show some confidence.

Modest improvement - just looking like an FBS outfit was encouraging. Wasn't pretty but a good win.

I understand Villanova's logic with not onside kicking and it may have worked if they had stopped Johnson on third down. The onside kick is a low percentage play. If they fail with the onside kick UConn gets the ball around midfield. If they hold UConn to a three and out , Uconn punts and Nova most likely gets the ball with 1:10 deep in their own territory. If they had stopped Johnson on third down and Uconn punts Nova more likely gets the ball closer to midfield with 1:10 left. With the clock stopping on first downs, 1:10 in college is a lot longer than in the NFL. I think he was playing percentages. UConn is not an offensive juggernaut so he was guessing the odds of stopping UConn on a three and out was greater than recovering an onside kick and he was probably correct.

 

[whaler11]

I understand Villanova's logic with not onside kicking and it may have worked if they had stopped Johnson on third down. The onside kick is a low percentage play. If they fail with the onside kick UConn gets the ball around midfield. If they hold UConn to a three and out , Uconn punts and Nova most likely gets the ball with 1:10 deep in their own territory. If they had stopped Johnson on third down and Uconn punts Nova more likely gets the ball closer to midfield with 1:10 left. With the clock stopping on first downs, 1:10 in college is a lot longer than in the NFL. I think he was playing percentages. UConn is not an offensive juggernaut so he was guessing the odds of stopping UConn on a three and out was greater than recovering an onside kick.

They only had 2 time outs right? That leaves them less than 30 seconds and none left. Realistically 20 seconds and they need 7.

Three time outs I guess - but I'm pretty sure they only had 2.

 

[Excalibur]

I understand Villanova's logic with not onside kicking and it may have worked if they had stopped Johnson on third down. The onside kick is a low percentage play. If they fail with the onside kick UConn gets the ball around midfield. If they hold UConn to a three and out , Uconn punts and Nova most likely gets the ball with 1:10 deep in their own territory. If they had stopped Johnson on third down and Uconn punts Nova more likely gets the ball closer to midfield with 1:10 left. With the clock stopping on first downs, 1:10 in college is a lot longer than in the NFL. I think he was playing percentages. UConn is not an offensive juggernaut so he was guessing the odds of stopping UConn on a three and out was greater than recovering an onside kick and he was probably correct.

With less than 3 timeouts, it's a bad gamble. If we get stopped on third down we could have run the clock down under one minute. The third down snap occurred at 1:27. Figure 4 seconds for the play, and :39 before we snap it for the punt, and :08 for the punt play itself. They would have had less than :45 on the clock when they got the ball back, needing a touchdown.

 

[Excalibur]

They only had 2 time outs right? That leaves them less than 30 seconds and none left. Realistically 20 seconds and they need 7.

Three time outs I guess - but I'm pretty sure they only had 2.

They only had two because they had to burn one when Robertson lost his helmet.

 

[Devland]

They only had 2 time outs right? That leaves them less than 30 seconds and none left. Realistically 20 seconds and they need 7.

Three time outs I guess - but I'm pretty sure they only had 2.

There was 1:27 with the clock stopped before the third and one. If Johnson is stopped, Nova uses their final time out and UConn punts with around 1:20 left. Here is how it could have went: 1st down- clock is not running at start from change of possession then after the play 25 seconds run, 2nd down- Nova calls time out after play, 3rd down- Time out , 4th down punt. .

 

[whaler11]

There was 1:27 with the clock stopped before the third and one. If Johnson is stopped, Nova uses their final time out and UConn punts with around 1:20 left. Here is how it could have went: 1st down- clock is not running at start from change of possession then after the play 25 seconds run 2nd down- Nova calls time out after play, 3rd down- Time out , 4th down punt.

I don't think they had a time out left to use on third down....

 

[Excalibur]

There was 1:27 with the clock stopped before the third and one. If Johnson is stopped, Nova uses their final time out and UConn punts with around 1:20 left. Here is how it could have went: 1st down- clock is not running at start from change of possession then after the play 25 seconds run, 2nd down- Nova calls time out after play, 3rd down- Time out , 4th down punt. Nova didn't call a time out of first down.

They burned their last one on second down.

 

[Devland]

They burned their last one on second down.

My bad I was thinking of another series. There was a Nova fan behind me yelling for a timeout. So If Uconn punts Nova gets the ball around mid field with around 50 seconds. If the punt is not blocked. After all the blocks last year I am gun shy on kicks.

 

[whaler11]

My bad I was thinking of another series. There was a Nova fan behind me yelling for a timeout. So If Uconn punts Nova gets the ball around mid field with around 50 seconds. If the punt is not blocked. After all the blocks last year I am gun shy on kicks.

Clock is 40 seconds. Best case is 55 seconds less - 35 seconds would have been the max and probably 25/30.

 

[Devland]

Clock is 40 seconds. Best case is 55 seconds less - 35 seconds would have been the max and probably 25/30.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

How about our tight end play. If these guys continue to grow watch out. This could have been exploited more tonight. Same for arkeel. That touchdown was what we knew he could do!!

The question on Newsome is if he can run between the tackles at 5 ' 7". Diaco seemed to try it a few times, though, its obvious that Johnson is option 1 and DeLorenzo is Option 2 when it comes to North/South running. The screen he scored on was a thing of beauty as as soon as he cleared the first line, he just exploded and on TV it was easy to see he was going to score. Having a QB who can move and throw while moving will also help out the offense as they won't be able to 100% focus on the RB. Do need to get the WR's more involved; but, I did like the play of the TE's a lot.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

From my perspective, 1,400 miles away on SNY:
13. The "bend, don't break" D mindset needs adjustment. We have good players in the secondary which should allow our DL and LBs to be more aggressive

One thought on defense, could they have been getting ready for Army in this game, especially with a good runner like Robertson under center? Playing against an option team like Army requires more disciple, gap coverage, etc. and less aggressiveness. Being over aggressive against an option team will leave holes, holes that can be exploited. Maybe the defense, which clearly has talent, will be let loose against a more traditional offense like Missouri and BYU?