Rice Post Game Thread

[Jimdish255]

True. But we are watchable and one lousy non call from maybe being 6-2. Personally I think Fagnano would move the team better, but the brain trust clearly wants to give Evers experience. If they stick with him, people need to adjust expectations about our O and hope Evers can improve his plus consistency. Winning with D is okay too. Not exciting, but ok.

Hope is not a plan.

 

[Jimdish255]

If people go in thinking our O will suddenly be exciting, good luck. But 17 points in a half does count. The D is our strength. Obviously we all want more of a better O, but after years of dreck on the D side, I would rather win 3-0 than lose 40-35. Fans have to decide if they want Ws or a lot of scoring. We still might put up a bunch of points against some of our remaining opponents, but if we don’t and win anyway, big deal.

I love the false choices.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

If people go in thinking our O will suddenly be exciting, good luck. But 17 points in a half does count. The D is our strength. Obviously we all want more of a better O, but after years of dreck on the D side, I would rather win 3-0 than lose 40-35. Fans have to decide if they want Ws or a lot of scoring. We still might put up a bunch of points against some of our remaining opponents, but if we don’t and win anyway, big deal.

You know we want Ws, but there's no reason we can't expect an adequate offense. You can't win on D alone.

 

[gsmooth]

If people go in thinking our O will suddenly be exciting, good luck. But 17 points in a half does count. The D is our strength. Obviously we all want more of a better O, but after years of dreck on the D side, I would rather win 3-0 than lose 40-35. Fans have to decide if they want Ws or a lot of scoring. We still might put up a bunch of points against some of our remaining opponents, but if we don’t and win anyway, big deal.

Scoring a lot and winning are not mutually exclusive. In fact they are highly correlated.

 

[CashewCrew]

I’m over Evers. I just don’t get it.

 

[cohenzone]

Scoring a lot and winning are not mutually exclusive. In fact they are highly correlated.

Yes. But winning with D is still winning. I’m pretty sure scoring more points than the other team correlates precisely with winning. I’m a NY Giant fan. I would take a 7-3 win any day.

 

[JMick]

Yes. But winning with D is still winning. I’m pretty sure scoring more points than the other team correlates precisely with winning. I’m a NY Giant fan. I would take a 7-3 win any day.

Sure but it also sucks to waste a great defensive season because the offense can't throw the ball.

 

[cohenzone]

Sure but it also sucks to waste a great defensive season because the offense can't throw the ball.

Do you really think this season is being wasted?

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

I haven’t read all of the posts..so forgive me for posting a repititive post.

I have been a supporter of developing Evers…and maybe he isn’t showing what he can do because he is banged up. But…he can’t throw well or run well. Mora seems to keep getting dual threat quarterbacks that are uni-threat. Turner…slow…Roberson…slow…and so far..Evers is slow.

If Evers can’t run the ball…play Fagnano…i get that he is here only this year…but Mora owes it to the team to try to win as many games this year as possible. And a banged up Evers isn’t the answer.

Time to focus on winning games and not developing the NIL guy.

 

[JMick]

Do you really think this season is being wasted?

Yes we are wasting the best defense we've had in over a decade because of an anemic offense. We have a defense that's good enough to be top 25 and an offense that's regressing to become a bottom 25 unit

 

[BlueWolf25]

Yes. But winning with D is still winning. I’m pretty sure scoring more points than the other team correlates precisely with winning. I’m a NY Giant fan. I would take a 7-3 win any day.

Of course the wins are good, better than a loss. But we can’t keep relying on the defense alone, especially with the weapons we have on offense that we’re wasting. We’re making it harder on ourselves to win by not making the QB change. I enjoyed the wins where we were putting up 63, 48, and 47 points and it’s not unfair to want/expect better production than we’ve gotten recently

 

[JMick]

Of course the wins are good, better than a loss. But we can’t keep relying on the defense alone, especially with the weapons we have on offense that we’re wasting. We’re making it harder on ourselves to win by not making the QB change. I enjoyed the wins where we were putting up 63, 48, and 47 points and it’s not unfair to want to expect better production than we’ve gotten recently

It's not even just the bad scoring. The defense plays lights out and then the offense has bad turnover after bad turnover. Or missed passes that don't convert on 2nd and 3rd downs that give the other team great field position. The defense is playing with the deck totally stacked against them and it's amazing they do as well as they have

 

[Bongo Fury]

You know we want Ws, but there's no reason we can't expect an adequate offense. You can't win on D alone.

One exception may be Iowa so I’ve heard.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

It's not even just the bad scoring. The defense plays lights out and then the offense has bad turnover after bad turnover. Or missed passes that don't convert on 2nd and 3rd downs that give the other team great field position. The defense is playing with the deck totally stacked against them and it's amazing they do as well as they have

I think you are giving the defense too much credit. UConn has faced bad offenses…including today. The defense has been good…but they aren’t “lights out”

 

[cohenzone]

Of course the wins are good, better than a loss. But we can’t keep relying on the defense alone, especially with the weapons we have on offense that we’re wasting. We’re making it harder on ourselves to win by not making the QB change. I enjoyed the wins where we were putting up 63, 48, and 47 points and it’s not unfair to want/expect better production than we’ve gotten recently

Clearly the staff wants Evers to get experience. I said in another thread that he doesn’t look like a dual threat QB but I don’t know if his injuries are a factor. I would not have complained if Fagnano had been used in the 2nd half, but we did score 17 and if my ancient memory is clear on this, about 5 weeks ago much of this board was wishing Fagnano hadn’t come back this year. Who knows about Welliver, but at 5-3 they would be nuts to burn his red shirt. The point is, I don’t think I can imagine more griping about a win than on this fickle board.

 

[cohenzone]

I think you are giving the defense too much credit. UConn has faced bad offenses…including today. The defense has been good…but they aren’t “lights out”

They are pretty darn good. Honestly, this fan base wants something now that is clearly not there now and are still 5-3. And in reality, as an Indy, I don’t know what a realistic expectation is. in today’s rapid transfer rule young good players are maybe more likely to leave us than stay and relying on transfers in is pretty iffy. That’s why I think we need to be ok with winning no matter how. Maybe one of the QBs shows something we haven’t seen so far, which puts a lot of pressure on the D.

 

[Bomber36]

Just got home from the hockey game (3-2 win) and all I call say is two wins, no matter how close, feels like a successful Saturday for UConn!

 

[Bomber36]

That was a fugly win.

Better than a fugly loss! Let’s go!

 

[JMick]

I think you are giving the defense too much credit. UConn has faced bad offenses…including today. The defense has been good…but they aren’t “lights out”

You're not giving them enough credit. How many long drives have we really given up all year that the opposing team has scored a TD on? Pretty much every TD we give up is the result of a bad turnover or terrible field position.

Total scoring is 45th even with that being the case and including the Maryland game and it being our first game in a new scheme.

Yards per play is 36th. In our last three games we rank 3rd in yards per play. If you take out Maryland we're top 25 overall.

38th in opponents first downs. Top 25 over our last three.

7th in 3rd down conversions allowed. 5th in 3rd down %

13th in 4th down conversions allowed, 22nd by %

Even with the terrible offense we're still 46th in opponents time of possession.

2nd in opponents punts per play.

The defense is really, really good.

 

[UConnDan97]

I think you are giving the defense too much credit. UConn has faced bad offenses…including today. The defense has been good…but they aren’t “lights out”

We gave the other team, which averaged 23 points per game, 2 extra possessions due to turnovers and we held them to 3 points total.

The defense was "lights out"...

 

[Bomber36]

You're not giving them enough credit. How many long drives have we really given up all year that the opposing team has scored a TD on? Pretty much every TD we give up is the result of a bad turnover or terrible field position.

Total scoring is 45th even with that being the case and including the Maryland game and it being our first game in a new scheme.

Yards per play is 36th. In our last three games we rank 3rd in yards per play. If you take out Maryland we're top 25 overall.

38th in opponents first downs. Top 25 over our last three.

7th in 3rd down conversions allowed. 5th in 3rd down %

13th in 4th down conversions allowed, 22nd by %

Even with the terrible offense we're still 46th in opponents time of possession.

2nd in opponents punts per play.

The defense is really, really good.

Agreed…with a bad D, like in past years, we lose this game by at least 3 tds.

 

[ZooCougar]

We gave the other team, which averaged 23 points per game, 2 extra possessions due to turnovers and we held them to 3 points total.

The defense was "lights out"...

With their normal QB, it's a different story.

 

[Palatine]

I'm happy. We won. Wins have been hard to come by the last decade or so. Not to be taken for granted.

The defense played very well. I thought I saw Rice try the play we couldn't stop last week. The one were the QB holds the ball for a couple of hours before deciding whether to hand off or throw. It didn't work with Rice's lesser talent. Thank Goodness.

 

[JohnFSilver]

That was a fugly win.

Looks beautiful in the win column.

 

[Jacks5556]

We pretty much have to spend half our NIL money on the best QB we can get next year and have them compete with Welliver. We can't have another year of this type of QB play

Lol

 

[Bomber36]

Looks beautiful in the win column.

As I’ve always said…in Football, a w is a w. Winning ain’t easy.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

We gave the other team, which averaged 23 points per game, 2 extra possessions due to turnovers and we held them to 3 points total.

The defense was "lights out"...

they were missing their starting QB and started a true freshman…who was obviously over his head. I think the defense has been good..but it’s not ”lights out
’

 

[Kembafan]

Start Fagnano the rest of the way. Or even Welliver. But not this.

 

[uconnbill]

I'm just glad that Robinson juked someone out of their shoes, Skyler made a big catch while a defender was committing a felony assault, and our defense is the reincarnation of the '86 Bears...

They didn't throw the flag that time either. I was yelling at the back judge and side judge as they both missed it

 

[Kembafan]

I think you are giving the defense too much credit. UConn has faced bad offenses…including today. The defense has been good…but they aren’t “lights out”

You're right about facing bad offenses, but the defense still deserves nothing but praise. These Ws would not happen without them. The offense certainly isn't getting it done.