SBN 1-130 rankings | The Boneyard

SBN 1-130 rankings

I'm just hoping to break the S&P top 100 this year. I don't think it's likely, though.
 
Based on our defense last year 124 makes sense.

The 3-3-5 was an unequivocal disaster.
 
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Anyone who follows this team closely knew this was coming. The issue is that if we win 3 games, the 'causal fans' (as Chief likes to call them) will be saying RE is a failure and the football program is doomed forever.

It's also insane how few 'key starters' we have from the BD era of recruiting. Peart and Mayala are basically it, right? Skanes and Dixon should be decent and they're BD guys, but I don't see much hope elsewhere. Look up BD's 2015 recruiting class...literally brutal. That recruiting class is killing us right now. 23 players in that class and I believe only 12 of them are still with the program. Of those 12, many have had little to no impact (Cespedes, Okounam, Freeborn, Chris Lee (not sure if he's still with us?). Only Mayala, Beals, Terry, Murphy, Peart and McLean have had much of an impact. Tyler Davis has seen the field and hopefully will more next year but hasn't done much thus far.
 
wethyhusky said:
Well, we lost our offensive coordinator, starting QB, play making RB, and any experience from a pretty bad defense. Did you expect them to put us in the top 40?
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The returning defense production is what's dragging the score/rank down (I know, no schlit Sherlock) - returning offense production actually grades out pretty well (Top 3 in AAC). The projection based on returning production accounts for a little more than 50 percent of UConn's total score/ranking of 124. Recruiting two year average is 30% and recent 5 year history is under 20%.

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I’m an Edsall fan, but this defense is a head scratcher for me. While it did get somewhat better as the season went on, for the most part it was a total disaster.

I’m very concerned for next season. We have nothing proven at LB. I don’t know how you consistently put pressure on a QB in a 3-3-5 without great play at that position.
 
We lost a home game to the 125th ranked team. We might ranked too high.
 
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CTBballfan243 said:
It will take a few recruiting classes to get the right personnel to play the 3-3-5. Just need to be patient. If there is one thing we (UConn) have plenty of is time. We are’nt going anywhere so just stay the course.
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Idk about the time thing. I think the next round of realignment is in 4-5 years and we can’t be an embarrassment in both revenue sports at that time.
 
History Geek said:
Idk about the time thing. I think the next round of realignment is in 4-5 years and we can’t be an embarrassment in both revenue sports at that time.
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IMO, realignment is done. If anything we will see contraction in the power conference ranks and not expansion.
 
uconndogs said:
I’m an Edsall fan, but this defense is a head scratcher for me. While it did get somewhat better as the season went on, for the most part it was a total disaster.

I’m very concerned for next season. We have nothing proven at LB. I don’t know how you consistently put pressure on a QB in a 3-3-5 without great play at that position.
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they kind of talked about it last year. They wanted to throw out different looks and bring pressure but every time they did our DB's got beat.

If you look at what Crocker did at Villanova he was blitzing all the time from every position on the field. One of the DB's will also be the "husky back" that can spend a lot of time in the box, effectively making it a 3-4 on running downs. I just don't think we had the experience or personnel to run all the looks we wanted to. Unfortunately I don't think we'll have it this year either. Expect at least a year 3 for Crocker regardless of level of improvement
 
JMick said:
they kind of talked about it last year. They wanted to throw out different looks and bring pressure but every time they did our DB's got beat.
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Well it's not like when we brought pressure we actually got any pressure.
 
CTBballfan243 said:
It will take a few recruiting classes to get the right personnel to play the 3-3-5. Just need to be patient. If there is one thing we (UConn) have plenty of is time. We are’nt going anywhere so just stay the course.
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Add it we had nowhere near enough depth at DB. You need a lot of DBs to run a 3-3-5 which I think hurt us throughout the year because our secondary was gassed by the 3rd quarter
 
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The "Diaco Consequences" are a real hurdle. He did not bring in talent, particularly on D.
I do not agree with the criticism of the 3-3-5 at all. We had three guys (Luke, Foley and Junior) who could actually play on defense. Lining them up differently would not make a difference. I don't know who 4th lineman should have been out there other than Murphy. Then there would have been no one to rotate in. We had more bodies in the secondary and the 3-3-5 defense theoretically, can be more effective against the pass. It comes down to talent. This incoming class will have to contribute a lot on defense. So much of playing defense is instinctual, can you run to the ball and hit somebody? It's easier to get on the field on defense if you can do those things. The goal is to put 11 guys on the field who can do those things and let the others watch.
 
Well, yup, UConn's current DC ran the 3-3-5 in his previous jobs. But that is probably why RE hired him. For two reasons. The spread offenses that UConn would face in the AAC requires 5 DB's, and the immediate fact that there was/is a shortage of personnel for the DL and LB corps that wasn't gonna get fixed in less than 3-4 years.

One thing I like about OC Dunn when he came in was that he said that what they do exactly would depend in large part on their assessment of the offensive players. Then I think he used a term like modify rather than overhaul the playbook.

So, while I am as frustrated as anyone else, I see signs the thought processes of this staff are right where they should be. I see an optimization process. Who have we got, what can they do, how much can we teach them before the season begins, and given that level of resources, what strategy and tactics will be effective? Just like the business world.
 
Redding Husky said:
I lost two houses in my divorce. But if I had a house, I'd bet it on the fact we'll finish higher than #124 at the end of the season.
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I love the sentiment, but have you seen our defensive roster? It is... not fun to look at.
 
The real head scratcher here is that there are still folks here and away from the BY that either did not hear/read what Edsall said before the season regarding the Defense or they are just simply refusing to want to believe what he said. Folks...they KNEW the defense was going to be bad.
They KNEW it was going to take a few recruiting classes to get the D to the level they want it.
This is no secret but yet....for many...it still appears so.
 
wethyhusky said:
Well, we lost our offensive coordinator, starting QB, play making RB, and any experience from a pretty bad defense. Did you expect them to put us in the top 40?
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I have a feeling this is being overblown. When you think about it, the entire defensive side of the ball, no matter what class, had less than 1 season in a new scheme. None were operating on instinct and half were an ill-fit.
 
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Bubba1957 said:
So much of playing defense is instinctual, can you run to the ball and hit somebody? It's easier to get on the field on defense if you can do those things. The goal is to put 11 guys on the field who can do those things and let the others watch.
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I think one of the only clear attributes in Edsall’s incoming class is that on tape these kids run to the ball and don’t shy from contact. While we missed out on a few clear tackling machines in Rayam, D Mathews and Chris Mitchell, by and large I see more pure tackling ability than in Diaco’s classes. Looking back Diaco's kids often were in on gang tackles, Edsall has more guys with solo tackling ability. Are we faster? I think so- but going to have to wait until they are on the field to really judge the speed issue.
 
Just for kicks, here's the 2018 Schedule with S&P+ rankings:

UCF: #17
Boise State: #26
URI: Not Ranked
Syracuse: #71
Cincinnati: #88
Memphis: #42
USF: #56
UMass: #102
Tulsa: #108
SMU: #74
ECU: #125
Temple: #81

Average (excluding URI): #71.81
UConn: #124

Other AAC Teams not on the schedule this year:
Houston: #59
Navy: #85
Tulane: #98
 
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