Rice Post Game Thread

[gsmooth]

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

correct. And this is with good skill position players with the RB committee of Robinson, Edward, and Brown, very good WRs in Skyler Bell and TJ Sheffield and a solid offensive line.

 

[ZooCougar]

I am NY Giant fan as well, believe me I would love a 7-3 win, too. Getting the win is important and they got it. And this year's team is light years ahead of any Randy Edsall 2.0's teams that were getting blow out against opponents the caliber of this Rice team.

Having said that, the offense with 0.9 yds/rush in the first half and Evers finishing the game with 9/24 for 128 yards and a QBR of 6.6 is going to lose more ball games than win, especially against better competition-it's not sustainable to winning which is what you are prioritizing, what we all want. The defense will breakdown eventually if the offense does not sustain longer drives.

Right now, UConn has two very good perimeter WRs in Bell and Sheffield, best ever since Edsall 1.0 and they are not getting utilized due to the lousy play at the QB position.

It’s only his 6th start though. If we keep giving him reps he’ll be passing for 180 yards a game in 2026. Sometimes you gotta let those late bloomers marinate for a season or three.

 

[AllHusky]

Loved the Bell catch down the field after getting mugged and no PI call.

Yeah that was special. Skyler just said I am catching this ball!! Awesome determination.

 

[AllHusky]

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

Can Evers lose his NIL money?

 

[AllHusky]

Not worth burning the red shirt. My gut is telling me he's the guy next year.

He can play 4 games and keep RS I believe

 

[UConnDan97]

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

I don't know what the story would have been with a different guy. Might have been different. Might have been the same.

What I know is that we locked them down with the 11 that they put in front of us...

 

[RedStickHusky]

We knew going in that Rice, like Temple, has a strong front 7. Still, in the box, we had 18 first downs to their 10, total yds were 309(181/128) to 178(88/90) in our favor, turnovers show as 2-1 for them but ours was meaningless on the last play. You'd look at that box and say we probably won by a TD our more... It's nice that expectations are raised and it's frustrating to see some of the obvious big misses but we aren't suddenly turning into Ohio St. Still in progress but we're having a season to this point most of us would have been happy with preseason.

 

[Devland]

I think the wind was a big factor in both offenses lack of success in the game.

 

[Forte]

It very well might be. What would UConn be developing Nick Evers for anyways that is worth sacrificing this year in a way? Develop him for next year? From what we have been told is that UConn is putting even more NIL money towards football to the tune of 1.5M. Use that to get a much better QB. Skylar Bell and TJ Sheffield are great playmaking weapons but UConn needs someone that can get them the ball consistently.

Player demand is going to go up every year now. That extra NIL is going to mostly go to paying even more for the same players to keep who we have from being poached by a power conference.. It's not going to compound like some thing to get more players. The cost of getting good players or even keeping good players is going to skyrocket YOY.

 

[rich1122]

Jayden MacDonald 2024 MVP

 

[JMick]

Can Evers lose his NIL money?

I don't think there's any way someone on this board could answer that question. No one knows what these contacts look like. My guess is theyre one year contracts but maybe they're tied to a scholarship or something

 

[UCan3]

I don't think there's any way someone on this board could answer that question. No one knows what these contacts look like. My guess is theyre one year contracts but maybe they're tied to a scholarship or something

I always saw Evers as a bridge player until Welliver is ready.

Evers one passing highlight yesterday…He had one rainbow pass in the air that was actually a terrible pass that Bell bailed him out with the ridiculous catch. Wasn’t sure why no PI on that one either… At least a flag….

We can debate this all day but we all know if Evers can’t run, than he becomes extraordinarily average.

In any game he can’t establish the passing game early and then can’t run for yards, Joe should start 2nd half.

 

[businesslawyer]

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
’

There has to be a distinction between what the defense does and whether you think it could do it against better competition. A defense couldn‘t play better than ours did last night. That is the definition of light’s out. Is our defense so good it could look like that against better competition, or even against Rice with its starting QB? Probably not. But you can only totally shut down the team you’re playing that day. And we did.

 

[Urcea]

The “unrealistic expectations” guys on here are nuts. No, I don’t expect 50 points every game. Yes, I do expect our QB to have over 50% passing and a positive TD-to-INT ratio. Not rocket science stuff

 

[Hamms30]

He can play 4 games and keep RS I believe

And he played in the Merrimack game. So 3 games left and we have 4 games left in the season and a potential bowl game.

 

[RedStickHusky]

or even against Rice with its starting QB?

Did ever get an explanation of whether that was a straight up QB switch or an injury situation?

 

[LIUCHusky]

I think the wind was a big factor in both offenses lack of success in the game.

It is surprising you are the first to mention this. The wind was a huge factor regarding the passing game.

 

[Griggs]

3-0 against owls.

only team left is Southern Connecticut State

 

[cohenzone]

The "D" was great - But this game - not going to look back and say - it was a turning point! We didn't make any strides - Showed that we regressed a bit! If this was game 1 - how many of us are thinking this is going to be a long season! So we won, we got a lot of players back. Our QB play was awful. That reminds me of years past. the Temple game we had excitement from our "D" in winning that one. The Buffalo game showcased an offense. The WF game showed we get no respect. This game says UConn has a very long way to go! I trust in Mora and will continue to do so. He knows what he is doing and I wonder with the logistics of NIL and revenue sharing taking place off the field... How much that impacts what talent is showed this late in the season on the field. I might get killed for this comment... But this is a new era and we should think at minimum there must be some kind of impact!

If people didn’t think we have a long way to go, they are not paying attention. A work in progress. If people aren’t prepared ahead of time for a possible ugly game, this is not the team for you. Winning ugly is way better than losing a shoot out. Just my feeling after 25 years of seasons tickets with 10 years of pretty pathetic and most of a little crowd gone by the end of the 3rd quarter.

 

[CL82]

I think the wind was a big factor in both offenses lack of success in the game.

I also wonder if it would've had a bigger impact Fagnano, given the fact that his passes tend to be lobs.

 

[Stinger92860]

At least Evers ran a few times this week, but he looked slow.
Awful call late in the 1st half on Stafford that let Rice out of trouble.
They also have Rice on a play where the QB clearly went out a yard short. Glass that got reversed.
Where is Brett Buckman. We need people to make plays and it sends like he could help Bell.
Saved the best for last. GREAT D today. Lots of blocked passes and tackles for loss or tackles for very little.

It looks like Evers is not going pick up more than a few yards when running. He has no spurtability. If running is Evers strength then I’d rather go with Fagnano.

 

[Stinger92860]

Not worth burning the red shirt. My gut is telling me he's the guy next year.

Unless the rules have changed, can’t Welliver can play in 4 games and keep the RS? We have 4 regular season games left. Might as well take a look at some point during a game.

 

[cohenzone]

There has to be a distinction between what the defense does and whether you think it could do it against better competition. A defense couldn‘t play better than ours did last night. That is the definition of light’s out. Is our defense so good it could look like that against better competition, or even against Rice with its starting QB? Probably not. But you can only totally shut down the team you’re playing that day. And we did.

I looked at what our opponents are averaging overall and what they scored against us. I discounted a few of what looked like aberrations on a few schedules, Maryland and Rice to be specific. Only MD scored above their average vs us and only Duke was right at their average. Obviously injuries and other game by game situations have an impact. Merrimack is also at a different level

The first # is season average, the second score vs us. It seems pretty clear that our D pretty much outperforms the D our opponents face each week. Maybe not “lights out” a pretty effective dimmer

Merrimack 27 per game. Vs us 17
MD. 28, eliminate Uconn. 25 Vs us 50
Duke. 26. 26
FAU 25. 14
Buffalo. 22. 3
Temple. 26. 20
Wake. 27. 23
Rice. 20 minus Tex South. 11. 10

The D effectively shut Rice out. A FG after a turnover on the 25 and a TD kickoff return.

 

[UCan3]

I looked at what our opponents are averaging overall and what they scored against us. I discounted a few of what looked like aberrations on a few schedules, Maryland and Rice to be specific. Only MD scored above their average vs us and only Duke was right at their average. Obviously injuries and other game by game situations have an impact. Merrimack is also at a different level

The first # is season average, the second score vs us. It seems pretty clear that our D pretty much outperforms the D our opponents face each week. Maybe not “lights out” a pretty effective dimmer

Merrimack 27 per game. Vs us 17
MD. 28, eliminate Uconn. 25 Vs us 50
Duke. 26. 26
FAU 25. 14
Buffalo. 22. 3
Temple. 26. 20
Wake. 27. 23
Rice. 20 minus Tex South. 11. 10

The D effectively shut Rice out. A FG after a turnover on the 25 and a TD kickoff return.

The stats this doesn’t capture is how long each opposing team’s Defense is on the field and turnovers AND ts I would love to see is the average yard line that the opponents Offenses in each game start drives. Second, how long the Defenses are on the field.

I agree 100% with B Lawyer, our D played essentially a perfect game.

I wish Mora would be a bit more open to mixing up Offense - Put Joe in game Evers can’t effectively run the ball - have some fun trying to shake things up.

The only reason we aren’t 3-5 right now is our defense - the unsung hero’s of this season.

 

[king conn]

It is surprising you are the first to mention this. The wind was a huge factor regarding the passing game.

Probably because Mora said in the press conference that the wind had little to no effect on the passing game, only the kicking game