Stony Brook Football Observations

[jbdphi]

No discussion of dog sounds, post game press conferences or tailgating complaints - just sticking to the football. I'm sure BL will do a better job of summarizing in fewer words.

Offensive Line:
- Had a much worse game today than they did against BYU in my opinion overall against what I would think was inferior talent.
- Didn't sustain blocks and made a lot of bad reads at the line letting guys come in unblocked to make plays, especially on the edges.
- Only one False Start but against an FCS team I would have hoped that we would get far better push here.

Tight Ends:
- Bad game for McQuillan - gave up on one deep pass play which he could have caught and let another ball go right off his hands and I'm assuming he didn't do much special on blocking either
- Didn't notice Bloom or Myers out there? I'm sure they played but I didn't see a target anything else notable

Running Back:
- Didn't help the OL or the QB with their blitz pickup - I saw Max completely miss one assignment which lead to a sack and another complete miss by Walsh which led to another negative play.
- Newsome had one great run but also had a few right into the line for no gain or loss - similar to last week's observation by BL, it seemed like the guys had the wrong cleats on? A lot of slipping and sliding out there.
- Overall forgettable performance by a unit that I thought would be pretty exciting given they were all outrushed by the QB (who isn't a runner).
- Our two big non-QB rushes of the day came on what I thought were delayed runs / draws - maybe we should have tried that a few more times?

Quarterback:
- Obviously not a good game for CW in terms of accuracy - had at least three bad overthrows on deep balls that showed very little touch / didn't put any air underneath the balls and also missed a few intermediate routes
- He did have a few real nice ones though - his first completion of the game to Davis was an incredible throw, the TD was also a nice ball and he had a few other good intermediate balls to Davis - completed two screens as well
- There were some positives though and Jim Fuller said it well - "The good news about Whitmer is he did not take unnecessary sacks or force throws into double coverage which is something he has been known to do. It is obvious that he has been instructed to tuck the ball and go if the protection is breaking down."
- One other thing I noticed is that CW did step up into the pocket several times and sometimes got a decent result out of it. He didn't get happy feet, run backwards and take a horrible sack (almost did in the first quarter but threw the ball away).

Wide Receivers:
- Davis was great and did what I would hope all of our players could do against an FCS team- got open, made catches and moved the sticks
- No other WR did anything good that I could see - Abrams came so close to making a great catch at the end of the 1st half. He did a great job of moving to the ball and getting his hands out there but couldn't reel it in. I still have hope for him.

Defensive Line:
- Far improved game as compared to BYU in my opinion (which has a lot to do with T Hill and BYU's OL).
- Campenni and Myers were both really good in the middle, disrupting all sorts of action.
- The ends made some plays as well but the stars were in the middle.
- Frank had at least two or three where he was unabated to the QB and wasn't able to finish and he needs to take advantage of those situations in the future.

Linebackers:
- A better game as well (once again, T Hill wasn't running the ball).
- A few bad pursuit angles taken on scrambles / running plays would be exploited by a better team
- Junior Joseph is making a case for more time and Vann had a good game statistically with 2 TFL's

Defensive Backs:
- I thought Obi had another pretty bad game - he seemed to be involved in most of the positive yardage plays given up - I know he has the height and the supposed speed but I'm not seeing it.
- Adams played pretty well and supported the run.
- Big completion given up by Jones should have been reversed in my opinion - Jones also got badly juked on one run but overall not too many complaints on the CBs.

Special Teams:
- This is where the game was won which is a bit sad but at least we won. Puyol kicked well and I don't put a block XP on the kicker but rather on the OL. Had a few KO's through the end zone - he's got a decent leg.
- Wain, called back shank aside, averaged almost 42 yards on 9 (yes 9) kicks of which 6 were inside the 20 - that's a pretty good game for a punter and while it isn't something to get too excited about for your team, it is an important positive
- Foxx had a great runback on the TD obviously (and had a lucky bounce to pick the ball up behind him) but also made some questionable decisions on other PR - calling a fair catch on one where he had a lot of room and not doing so when he was crowded. Our PR return team doesn't seem to do much blocking? The coverage team always seems to be unblocked and close to the returner on an average length punt.
- KO return thankfully didn't need much action and I noticed that Foxx was not there this week and Arkeel had one nice one. After Marriner got hurt they had Max back there with him?
- Kick coverage in general was decent - nothing to complain about and we definitely had better field position throughout the game.

A win is a win but this one was pretty tough to swallow. If our OL can't handle an FCS squad then I'm pretty worried how the rest of the year will go. I hope CC is healthy next week because I think he might have been able to make a few of those throws that CW missed but if he isn't, I'm fine continuing with CW. If you put Boyle behind that blocking I think you end up doing more damage to his development than positives which is what we saw last year.

 

[mets1090]

tl;dr Anything "positive" was really just the lack of a negative, the offense sucked pretty bad outside of Davis, ST won the game.


Nice post, agree with most of it. If Cochran played they probably score around 31 IMO and while it maybe still wouldn't have looked like a dominant game at least the scoreboard would look like it "should" have.

 

[LasseDK]

Offensive Line:
- Had a much worse game today than they did against BYU in my opinion overall against what I would think was inferior talent.
- Didn't sustain blocks and made a lot of bad reads at the line letting guys come in unblocked to make plays, especially on the edges.
- Only one False Start but against an FCS team I would have hoped that we would get far better push here.

Just a quick question; was #53 Knappe active doing the game?

 

[SAMCRO]

OL struggled, no doubt. It doesn't help that SB (and pretty much everyone we play going forward) is putting 8+ So close the the LOS. This is where Cochran is really effective, and Whitmer struggles. CC helps his OL out so much. He makes quicker reads and puts the ball in a spot where the intended receiver can at least attempt to catch it. That threat of a quick hit passing game alone softens up the D front a little. It keeps your OL from being outnumbered up front. But still, the OL was getting pushed back by SB's front 7/8 often. It's going to be a long season.

I thought the D played okay overall, save that last drive. SB never really threatened, couldn't sustain a drive (again, minus the last drive when our D just looked gassed). It's not what we r used to seeing over the past 5-6 years tho, and they will be tested next Saturday (when we wrap up pre-season).

ST definitely won this game. Punting was solid, coverage was great,Return for a TD was huge, Puyol made all his FG's. I missed what went wrong on the PAT that was blocked.

 

[jbdphi]

Just a quick question; was #53 Knappe active doing the game?

According to the participation list, he didn't play at all which sounds right. I don't think Angelo Pruitt played either but Adeyemi seemed to play pretty well in his stead.

 

[BNich]

Myers played, he had the false start call. It seemed every time Whitmer dropped back he only targeted Davis, unless it was a pass behind the line of scrimmage which he threw to Abrams and Foxx a couple times. WR's and TE's suffered a couple brutal drops, which you can't pin on Whitmer, but he also missed MANY wide open receivers and overthrew a ton as well.

The long completion on Jones definitely was not a catch, did not maintain possession (IMO) while still in bounds.

I though Frank looked good as did Campenni and Myers as you mentioned. They appear to be the two bright spots along the defensive line. I saw Fatukasi get some run in the 4th qtr. I still have high hopes for him.

I agree with your assessment on poor angles on scrambles. They appeared to have the QB's bottled up only to have them escaped through a hole some how for positive yards.

Can't give up 2 turnovers in your own redzone, which directly led to SB's first 10 pts. Eliminate that, catch a few more passes and it changes the complexion of this game completely. Still plenty of wrinkles to iron out. And as Diaco and the players have been saying "plenty of things to clean up."

 

[uconnflyer88]

I think our defense played excellent, our offense couldn't sustain drives which gave them no time to catch their breath on a hot and humid day

They were just worn down by the end

 

[BNich]

I think our defense played excellent, our offense couldn't sustain drives which gave them no time to catch their breath on a hot and humid day

They were just worn down by the end

Completely fair to assume. The offense only produced 29 yards in the 4th quarter which would lead to the defense spending much more time on the field in the hot humid conditions doesn't sound like a recipe for success.

 

[CTMike]

Just a quick question; was #53 Knappe active doing the game?

Coach said he should be ready to go for our next game.

 

[BNich]

Coach said he should be ready to go for our next game.

Yes I think I read he should be a full go in practice by Tuesday. Could be a needed lift at OT for the line. That remains to be seen.

 

[Palatine]

Even on the plays that Whitmer did complete a pass, he got the ball there late. There is a reason we had no run-after-catch. CW doesn't anticipate the route. He never leads the receiver. Just brutal play from QB all around.

 

[BNich]

Even on the plays that Whitmer did complete a pass, he got the ball there late. There is a reason we had no run-after-catch. CW doesn't anticipate the route. He never leads the receiver. Just brutal play from QB all around.

Only two throws I saw this on, his first completion of the game to none other than Davis. And the TD pass to again none other than Davis. He does get the ball to his receivers late.

 

[J187Money]

Couple of things I saw - they gave up 5-8 yards every time the QB went wide with blockers. Had they done more of that they would have moved the ball more consistently against us. Our LBs need to do a better job of blowing that up.

Our tackling was generally better once we got to a guy.

Turnovers are a killer. We don't spot them 10 points and maybe this game is 27-6 or something like that.

 

[TheJerk]

I think the big win over Stony Brook validates that UConn would be able to hang with Bryant.

lets not get crazy here

 

[ScottBonz]

Only two throws I saw this on, his first completion of the game to none other than Davis. And the TD pass to again none other than Davis. He does get the ball to his receivers late.

I have to agree with Palantine. The biggest problem with Whitmer is that he still plays QB like he is in highschool. He can hit a guy that is open but CC can hit a guy before he is open. CC anticipates the routes and puts the ball there when guys are coming out of their routes. When CC was under pressure last week, he hit his check downs on several occasions for some good gains (Mcquillan on 3rd and 13 I think). I didn't see Whitmer use his RB or TEs as outlets one time. If the pocket, is collapsing he just doesn't have the ability to go through the entire progression in his head to know his check downs.