Syracuse post game thread

[noeynox]

Mora is a very good coach and we are fortunate to have him in Storrs.
Would you rather have Belichick and his 24 year old girlfriend calling the plays?

Dear God. None of that has anything to do with happened yesterday.

Posters in this board have this weird thing where you could never question the coaches decision. Like if you get brownie points for getting into heaven if you never question why the coach does what he does.

Mora deserves a ton of credit for getting this program to where they could line up on road against Syracuse and putting a team on the field that could compete and be in position to win that game against a p4 team. A ton of credit. But that doesnt mean that the reason they didn't win it was because the coaches blew it. You really can't ask more of the defense in that scenario.

 

[Windham4th]

Dear God. None of that has anything to do with happened yesterday.

Posters in this board have this weird thing where you could never question the coaches decision. Like if you get brownie points for getting into heaven if you never question why the coach does what he does.

Mora deserves a ton of credit for getting this program to where they could line up on road against Syracuse and putting a team on the field that could compete and be in position to win that game against a p4 team. A ton of credit. But that doesnt mean that the reason they didn't win it was because the coaches blew it. You really can't ask more of the defense in that scenario.

The positive from this game is that the defense isn't what alot of people thought it was after CCSU game. Still issues, but they played good until worn down by all the aforementioned issues. Should be able handle the G5s without issue and most of what P4 throws at us. Sorry for jinxing it by saying it.

 

[temery]

Dear God. None of that has anything to do with happened yesterday.

Posters in this board have this weird thing where you could never question the coaches decision. Like if you get brownie points for getting into heaven if you never question why the coach does what he does.

Mora deserves a ton of credit for getting this program to where they could line up on road against Syracuse and putting a team on the field that could compete and be in position to win that game against a p4 team. A ton of credit. But that doesnt mean that the reason they didn't win it was because the coaches blew it. You really can't ask more of the defense in that scenario.

The problem here is those who believe posting the same criticism 50 times makes their position 50 x more correct.

Mistakes were made and Syracuse upped their game the last few minutes. What cracks me up is those "mistakes" would have been great coaching had UConn won.

Anyone who thought the refs were in the bag for Syracuse are nothing more than blind pissy little bitches spitting out their sour grapes. It happens after every loss for every team that has ever played the sport.

And anyone who can't find some positives from this game are just terrible fans.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

The game came down to whether UConn could eat up the clock and move the ball late in the 4th. They didn’t. Surprised given our talent at RB..

The game shouldn't come down to "running out the clock". It should be about putting points - and more points - on the scoreboard. You got 'em down keep 'em down. UConn can't afford to be passive, it needs to be exciting, bold , flashy. They need to attract attention.

 

[superjohn]

Attendance and financial support has far more to do with getting where we want to go than winning one or a few games. Anyone making a decision realizes that the on field product will be very different if the school has P-4 TV money to pay players and staff.

They're all tied together. You blow games and can't get wins against mediocre/weak P4 teams and not as many fans show up. Winning these games is incredibly important when it comes to fan support, financial support, and getting an invite.

Your last sentence is what we know and what Yormark knows but it's the conference schools who need to be convinced we're a legitimate football school before they move to vote us in.

 

[Scoe]

The game shouldn't come down to "running out the clock". It should be about putting points - and more points - on the scoreboard. You got 'em down keep 'em down. UConn can't afford to be passive, it needs to be exciting, bold , flashy. They need to attract attention.

When you score you burn more clock. If Cuse had a minute left well then ok run clock. But no Cuse had 3 TO and the 2 minute warning. The best defense is an offense that puts the game away.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I've posted thousands of times on the football board and would've been in the game chat if I had access. I've watched basically every game since they made the jump to D1-A. If you don't think our games against P4 teams matter in our quest to get an invite you aren't paying any attention.

Will you just shut up with questioning the program's existence after every single game? Seriously, are you ever going to drop this schtick?

 

[uconnyankee]

With all due respect no one likes to hear about silver linings when your team is not in a conference and brutally choke a game away you should have won against a P4 team.
Especially diehard fans who want to see this program get a lifeline.

Curious, do people realize this is the obvious feeling of most people that support UConn fb, and dormant really need to be said?

The game shouldn't come down to "running out the clock". It should be about putting points - and more points - on the scoreboard. You got 'em down keep 'em down. UConn can't afford to be passive, it needs to be exciting, bold , flashy. They need to attract attention.

I’m sorry, I disagree with that 100%.
Up 11 points, about 5 minutes left, the clock is your advantage.

You eat the clock.
Run the ball. Wait until 1-2 seconds to snap, and force other team to use up any TO’s they have. You protect the ball and go for sustained drives. 3 out and taking 20-30 seconds off clock doesn’t work.

UConn did everything they needed to for all but last 5 minutes. It absolutely came down to leveraging the clock, if Syracuse doesn’t have the ball, they can’t score.

Had Uconn gotten 1 first down towards the end, likely a different turnout.

 

[JohnFSilver]

-> Fran Brown made his team run sprints: Syracuse won 27-20, but the head coach was so upset by the way his team played against UConn that he kept it on the field for postgame running. Was the punishment warranted? Well, Syracuse looked dead in the water with seven minutes left, trailing 17-6. Two quick scores flipped the game and put the Orange on top 20-17 with 48 seconds left, but they couldn’t stop UConn from driving 52 yards in 47 seconds to send the game to overtime. Brown was not a happy camper in his postgame interview, and you can understand the frustration. But the wind sprints felt a like a Pop Warner gimmick that makes Brown look like a performative disciplinarian without addressing the underlying issues. <-

Brown was ridiculous. Can't wait until they come to the rent and UConn puts up 40 on them.

 

[superjohn]

Will you just shut up with questioning the program's existence after every single game? Seriously, are you ever going to drop this schtick?

No

Unlike you I know UConn getting out of the Big East is unbelievably important to the future of UConn football and our current setup isn't sustainable for the long term future of the program.

 

[CTBasketball]

Players didn’t execute.

Sure a few play calls could’ve been changed in the 2H. Mora and Brock’s defensive plan put us in a position to win. We embarrassed their offense for 80% of the game. That is a good sign going forward given this is one of our toughest opponents.

 

[uconnyankee]

They're all tied together. You blow games and can't get wins against mediocre/weak P4 teams and not as many fans show up. Winning these games is incredibly important when it comes to fan support, financial support, and getting an invite.

Your last sentence is what we know and what Yormark knows but it's the conference schools who need to be convinced we're a legitimate football school before they move to vote us in.

Why does the programs existence hinge on every outcome? Do you really think Yormark or Phillips is going to say ‘Wow, nice win, want to join now?’

You don’t think UConn has made drastic improvements under Mora?
You don’t think UConn has changed the narrative on its program?

everyone that supports UConn knows the situation. Those who support and root for football most certainly do. Any decision to invite UConn will be based on a much bigger picture than a win or loss.

The program is headed in right direction. It’s now competitive with lower P4 programs. We have a solid HC who gets it. We have solid OC and DC.

There is genuine fatigue about every game being the reason for or against having a program and being the determining factor for getting invite.

Stop ignoring the process. Everyone knows the score. We don’t need you to keep pointing it out.

 

[Palatine]

I wish we ran the clock in the third quarter a bit. We didn't.

Can we stop with the "played not to lose" nonsense. The offense was almost two passes to every run in the second half --until SU's first TD. It was poor offense (really poor) not conservative. Not play not to lose.

On defense, we rarely went to a three man rush (prevent defense). We brought four or more virtually every play as we totally collapsed. Syracuse was not beating a prevent defense. They were beating pressure which suddenly stopped being effective as we fell apart on defense.

 

[Devland]

One reason for optimism, every year Mora has been here, the team has vastly improved as the season went on.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I was pretty upset right after the game, which is why I didn't post. After sleeping on it, it sucks that the team lost, but it played pretty well to be in the position to put the game away.

Defensively, UConn leaned heavily on blitzing to get pressure the whole game, which put a lot of pressure on the defensive backfield. Despite the passing stats, which were a little warped by the late scores, I thought the secondary played well against a good QB. Syracuse's play-calling helped us out, with a lot of trap runs that got eaten up by our blitzers.

Fagnano does not have nearly the arm strength to carry UConn against a P4, but there has to be something the coaches can do about his accuracy throwing off the run. Anytime he tries to make a throw that requires power, he sprays the ball. He is what he is physically, but I think he is a smart QB and a tweak on his form could make a huge difference. Only 1 sack on 44 passing attempts is a credit to the pass protection and Fagnano's judgment.

The coaches had a great came plan and then blew it at the end. We had to pass on the second to last drive when we were first and 1 on the Syracuse 39. We needed a first down more than the 20 seconds. By signaling we weren't passing, Syracuse could stack the line, and force the series we had, resulting in a Net 24 yard punt. Each team scored a TD in regulation after that possession, which is a tip off that maybe it was too soon to try to run out the clock.

Whaler used to constantly point out how stupid the clock management is by many football and basketball coaches, and we were that team yesterday.

 

[BlueandOG]

I wish we ran the clock in the third quarter a bit. We didn't.

Can we stop with the "played not to lose" nonsense. The offense was almost two passes to every run in the second half --until SU's first TD. It was poor offense (really poor) not conservative. Not play not to lose.

On defense, we rarely went to a three man rush (prevent defense). We brought four or more virtually every play as we totally collapsed. Syracuse was not beating a prevent defense. They were beating pressure which suddenly stopped being effective as we fell apart on defense.

You've made me reconsider my initial thoughts. Rather than playing not to lose, as I initially thought, maybe it was just poor play calling combined with poor offensive execution. The core issue is the same: we did not convert enough first downs in the second half, which prevented us from scoring, which allowed Cuse to hang in the game. One more score would have iced the game.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

No

Unlike you I know UConn getting out of the Big East is unbelievably important to the future of UConn athletics, and the possibility of our basketball programs competing at the highest level down the road; and our current setup isn't sustainable for the long term future of the program.

Fixed it for you.

 

[superjohn]

Fixed it for you.

I disagree with that, that's why I wrote it the way I did.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I disagree with that, that's why I wrote it the way I did.

I know you disagree. It will take a couple of decades and it will happen incrementally (remember when the BE only got three bids a couple years ago?), but those in power will continue to marginalize other conferences, including the Big East.

I have a strong suspicion that you will not be very happy if by the time you reach my age the prospects of UConn winning another men's basketball title are similar to the current prospects of say Temple ever winning one.

 

[RSTuthill]

The year of UConn's greatest success, there was one play that defined the season. Against Pittsburgh, UConn up by 2, with a minute left, ball on the UConn 19, fourth and 1, UConn went for it. Jordan Todman went right up the middle for 4. End of game. Carpe diem.

 

[Jimdish255]

But that's part of college football. It's not some UConn-specific problem, games like that happen practically every week. K-State just blew a 10 pt lead in the fourth to a meh Army team. On the G5 side of things, Troy was up 16-3 on a ranked Clemson squad at half, similar to our score, and Clemson rallied back over the third to win while Troy stopped responding

So you're saying UConn wasn't hanging around with Syracuse because they messed up during 18% of the total game time? Well what about the 82% where we were outplaying Syracuse?

By your logic we should be 82% happy, scored 82% of the points, and won 82% of the prizes.

We didn't and it's because as all good coaches know the decisions you make down the stretch, especially with a lead are crucial. Many of us believe we are better prepared and in a better position talent-wise to win these games than we have been in over a decade. I credit Benedict and Mora and everyone who supports the program even if it's just showing up late from their tailgate. And that level of preparation of in game management is what we should be expecting moving forward. So it's because of that progress our expectations have grown. And it's why we have every right to be frustrated with a loss like this.

 

[Jimdish255]

The problem here is those who believe posting the same criticism 50 times makes their position 50 x more correct.
What cracks me up is those "mistakes" would have been great coaching had UConn won.

And if rain wasn't wet I'd be outside cutting my grass today.

 

[Alum86]

If you are going to Turtle, Turtle. Don’t throw bad passes on first down, run, then another bad pass up 11 with around 10 to go. Stopping the clock helped them.
Then we went full on Turtle late and fooled nobody.

 

[John]

Fixed it for you.

Some fans like the idea of a one trick pony athletic department

 

[UCan3]

The positive from this game is that the defense isn't what alot of people thought it was after CCSU game. Still issues, but they played good until worn down by all the aforementioned issues. Should be able handle the G5s without issue and most of what P4 throws at us. Sorry for jinxing it by saying it.

I agree they did let up a lot in terms of the passing game, but those three outs in the second half were just one too many for the defense. You can only bottle up a team for so long. I put most of that on the play calling, but Joe could've helped us a bit more as well.

 

[ZooCougar]

Dear God. None of that has anything to do with happened yesterday.

Posters in this board have this weird thing where you could never question the coaches decision. Like if you get brownie points for getting into heaven if you never question why the coach does what he does.

Mora deserves a ton of credit for getting this program to where they could line up on road against Syracuse and putting a team on the field that could compete and be in position to win that game against a p4 team. A ton of credit. But that doesnt mean that the reason they didn't win it was because the coaches blew it. You really can't ask more of the defense in that scenario.

“I trust in ___________.”

The olde Boneyard refrain, they’ve been saying it since before Edsall ghosted the team.

It’s like they think Football is preordained to have it’s version of Calhoun and they form a cult around it.

Criticism, even harsh criticism doesn’t equate to wanting a coach fired. Although I have never been sold on Gordon Sammis. I like a little and I don’t like quite a bit.

 

[superjohn]

Some fans like the idea of a one trick pony athletic department

I hate that but there's two sports that matter and we're the best in the country at one of them and below P4 standards in the most important one.

 

[ZooCougar]

I wish we ran the clock in the third quarter a bit. We didn't.

Can we stop with the "played not to lose" nonsense. The offense was almost two passes to every run in the second half --until SU's first TD. It was poor offense (really poor) not conservative. Not play not to lose.

On defense, we rarely went to a three man rush (prevent defense). We brought four or more virtually every play as we totally collapsed. Syracuse was not beating a prevent defense. They were beating pressure which suddenly stopped being effective as we fell apart on defense.

It’s not nonsense. They simply stopped playing football. Once you start doing something other than trying to gain yards and score you open yourself up to EXACTLY what happened yesterday.

That’s how you win. You keep going until the time is gone or it truly is over.

 

[ZooCougar]

Why does the programs existence hinge on every outcome? Do you really think Yormark or Phillips is going to say ‘Wow, nice win, want to join now?’

You don’t think UConn has made drastic improvements under Mora?
You don’t think UConn has changed the narrative on its program?

everyone that supports UConn knows the situation. Those who support and root for football most certainly do. Any decision to invite UConn will be based on a much bigger picture than a win or loss.

The program is headed in right direction. It’s now competitive with lower P4 programs. We have a solid HC who gets it. We have solid OC and DC.

There is genuine fatigue about every game being the reason for or against having a program and being the determining factor for getting invite.

Stop ignoring the process. Everyone knows the score. We don’t need you to keep pointing it out.

The idea that every game is a referendum is a bunch of nonsense.

That being said. Syracuse is AWFUL. And we lost to them. We still might win more ACC games than the Fruit will this year.

Most of us want to be better than the P4 dregs.

We had the horses to do it yesterday but the players and the staff, mostly the staff screwed up bad.

People have a very valid reason to be frustrated.

 

[noeynox]

The problem here is those who believe posting the same criticism 50 times makes their position 50 x more correct.

Mistakes were made and Syracuse upped their game the last few minutes. What cracks me up is those "mistakes" would have been great coaching had UConn won.

Anyone who thought the refs were in the bag for Syracuse are nothing more than blind pissy little bitches spitting out their sour grapes. It happens after every loss for every team that has ever played the sport.

And anyone who can't find some positives from this game are just terrible fans.

They turtle up yesterday and it's okay to say that and still believe Jim Mora and this staff have done an outstanding job here. Mora himself called out the coaching and sounded like he wasn't happy, but as the head coach the bucks stops with him.