Syracuse post game thread

[UCan3]

Respectfully, Evers isn’t our best QB.. He’s neither very effective as a n RPO QB nor pure pocket passer. However, as a change of pace under the circumstance it may have been worth running some RPO which they hadn't seen rather than icing your QB and receiver corps. And, player self confidence matters immensely.

How can we come to this conclusion because we really haven’t seen him play this year except for that one game we looked really good!

Watching Justin Fields with the Jets yesterday reminded me a little bit of Evers. With the Steelers, he looked a little bit like Evers.

Give him a year to develop and he looks great.

I also like when Evers came off the bench w/ CCSU, he played with energy and passion, and there’s nothing evident that he’s upset about coming off the bench.

I think we just have to give these players an opportunity to show us what they’ve got. Last year I didn’t like it that Joe sat on the bench when he was obviously the best choice to go in there and make things happen.

This year, I’m taking the same position - player reversed. Joe had too many off the mark passes and our offense was stalled - second half. We needd to start shaking things up because what we’ve been doing all these years just isn’t working at the QB position.

Forget about the players psyche and pulling the rug out from under them in that hole line of thinking.

Just put players on the field that give us the best chance to win and don’t be afraid to mix it up.

 

[NickDanger]

One other thought - putting a W on the shoulders of D is always a formula for disaster. The game statistically favors the O always. So stupid.

What does "statistically favoring the O" mean? Can you offer an example of the statistics you are using?

 

[businesslawyer]

How can we come to this conclusion because we really haven’t seen him play this year except for that one game we looked really good!

Watching Justin Fields with the Jets yesterday reminded me a little bit of Evers. With the Steelers, he looked a little bit like Evers.

Give him a year to develop and he looks great.

I also like when Evers came off the bench w/ CCSU, he played with energy and passion, and there’s nothing evident that he’s upset about coming off the bench.

I think we just have to give these players an opportunity to show us what they’ve got. Last year I didn’t like it that Joe sat on the bench when he was obviously the best choice to go in there and make things happen.

This year, I’m taking the same position - player reversed. Joe had too many off the mark passes and our offense was stalled - second half. We needd to start shaking things up because what we’ve been doing all these years just isn’t working at the QB position.

Forget about the players psyche and pulling the rug out from under them in that hole line of thinking.

Just put players on the field that give us the best chance to win and don’t be afraid to mix it up.

I guaranty you the coaches played the QB who they thought gave us the best chance of winning on 100% of snaps yesterday.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Fagnano was far from great but if those dropped balls which were thrown on the money were caught, Joe has a great game and UConn wins.

 

[Hoophound]

Fagnano was far from great but if those dropped balls which were thrown on the money were caught, Joe has a great game and UConn wins.

Three issues:

1 Drops. (and when Fagnano threw on the run rather than get the 1st down running)
2. Benching Mel Brown the second half (5 total carries, what???)
3. Conservative defense killed us on long balls late. Angeli was slinging it all of a sudden and they were wide open.

The drops were brutal in retrospect. One more series for our offense in the duration of the game likely would have won it.

 

[BlueandOG]

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.

You're correct, but I think we are gaining in football. NIL saved us. Connecticut is a wealthy state that loves UConn sports. We have a forward-looking AD who jumped on NIL early. Mora is familiar with the NIL structure because it is similar to free agency in the NFL.

Players will come to UConn for playing opportunities and money. Sklyer Bell, our best player, passed on a chance to play at Michigan to stay at UConn. Our D is MUCH better than last year thanks to NIL.

 

[BlueandOG]

If we finish 9-3 with 3 Losses to the ACC teams the season is a success. It would be annoying. But a success.

Diminishing winning the G5 games is just ignorant. Ignoring how fortunate we were to win vs Temple and UAB last year. And ignorant to win predictably hovering at about 50% for several of the games on our schedule this season. If we win them all the season is a success. It’s not a sure thing at all.

I am OK with 9-3 and losing to all the ACC teams IF we destroy the G5 teams. Crush them, no mercy. We have to start looking like a juggernaut to earn national respect.

 

[psilotic]

It's hard to believe a football team could have had a worse time than us in upstate NY this past weekend, so thank you Ravens.
Also, in case it hasn't been posted, here's one thought that came to mind

 

[ktuck911]

Fagnano was far from great but if those dropped balls which were thrown on the money were caught, Joe has a great game and UConn wins.

Agreed here... BUT, being a 7th year guy... Grow a pair... LEAD... Tell Sammis "Forget sitting on the ball til the clock runs down" knowing that we probably average gainiing maybe 1 yard over 3 plays in that late series ...

I just don't like what happened.. not putting that part on Fagnano at all ( coaching )... Doesn't sit well with me...

My hope is we learn from that... At this level of college football, we can't afford to give anything away...

Aren't we trying to show well enough to gain a P4 level conference affiliation??? Didn't show that to me late this past Saturday...

And shout out to Coach Fran Brown for making his guys work more afterwards.... To me, that shows he didn't think we deserved to be even close to them in that game.... AND, on top of that, knowing this alone, we should look at that as disrespect, in terms of our effort. We should have a chip on our shoulder and be even more ready to go this coming week...

 

[JcHusky95]

You're correct, but I think we are gaining in football. NIL saved us. Connecticut is a wealthy state that loves UConn sports. We have a forward-looking AD who jumped on NIL early. Mora is familiar with the NIL structure because it is similar to free agency in the NFL.

Players will come to UConn for playing opportunities and money. Sklyer Bell, our best player, passed on a chance to play at Michigan to stay at UConn. Our D is MUCH better than last year thanks to NIL.

Skyler Bell coming back to UConn after being offered (heard 500k) from Mich is huge! And yeah CT is a rich state with resources. Now imagine if UConn is in a P4 conference. It’ll ensure the survival of not just the football program but really ensure the basketball will remain where it is today I think. Good for women’s basketball too imo. Just saying.

 

[ktuck911]

Skyler Bell coming back to UConn after being offered (heard 500k) from Mich is huge! And yeah CT is a rich state with resources. Now imagine if UConn is in a P4 conference. It’ll ensure the survival of not just the football program but really ensure the basketball will remain where it is today I think. Good for women’s basketball too imo. Just saying.

I sure hope the rest of our WR corp WAKES UP and follow Skyler's lead too... EFFORT for 40 minutes....

 

[Nostical]

I didn't expect us to go undefeated.

Well, I did--lol. Now I’ll have to be satisfied with 11-1 and a footnote saying “UConn’s only loss was on the road in overtime to Syracuse.”

At dinner after the game on Saturday, I told our waiter that we'd just lost a perfectly winnable game and badly needed to see the cocktail and wine list! He then motioned to the table next to ours and said “that’s our qb Steve Angeli and his dad, and a few other players with their dads.”.
Well, if you know my wife, that's all she had to hear. She immediately got up and approached the table with a smile, congratulating them on their "comeback that broke our hearts”—lol.
After I finished ordering the wine, I noticed she was still over there chatting away with the group and decided to join her. One of the players who grew up in Fairfield County said he and Cam Edwards are still great buddies who loved seeing each other before the game.
When I asked what they were all thinking as the game entered the 4thQ, one dad said “It wasn’t pretty! We kept bitching about passing up those two early chip-shot field goals. The coaches underestimated this UConn team—and so did the players!” The table nodded in agreement. They all expressed that UConn was for real and would be a tough out for anyone. Another player said he knew Skyler Bell when he played at The Taft school in CT. "He’s "elite”--and we went hard after him, like Michigan did."

All in all, it was an unexpected and enjoyable encounter with a good bunch of guys—who were understandably all in a good mood! For me, it captured some of the rivalry and revelry that make college football so great.

(At the time I didn’t know about the wind-sprints. I would’ve loved to have heard their perspective—especially since they were being so candid!)

Bottom line, losing that game absolutely sucked. But around that table it was clear that ‘Cuse was also expecting to lose— until they didn’t!

On to Delaware!

 

[LBird33]

Respectfully, Evers isn’t our best QB.. He’s neither very effective as a n RPO QB nor pure pocket passer. However, as a change of pace under the circumstance it may have been worth running some RPO which they hadn't seen rather than icing your QB and receiver corps. And, player self confidence matters immensely.

Every year this board or certain people on this board argue for the back up QB to start it’s kinda funny. Never fails

 

[cullaville]

Skyler Bell coming back to UConn after being offered (heard 500k) from Mich is huge! And yeah CT is a rich state with resources. Now imagine if UConn is in a P4 conference. It’ll ensure the survival of not just the football program but really ensure the basketball will remain where it is today I think. Good for women’s basketball too imo. Just saying.

Yes there are many wealthy individuals in CT. That does not mean they all support UCONN athletics. Their alma maters may not be UCONN - many people that live in CT come here for other parts of the country for opportunities in CT and NYC.

Also there may be a lot of wealthy individuals as a % of the population but other states such as Florida, Texas, California etc have a much larger base of individuals to solicit funds from to support their Universities and most likely can receive much more in donations.

 

[tiger paw]

Was not the spread 7 or 7 1/2 ? Maybe Fan Dual or Bet 365 called the shots.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Fagnano was far from great but if those dropped balls which were thrown on the money were caught, Joe has a great game and UConn wins.

One thing about having a QB with a weak arm is that his throws should be really easy to catch. This is not Brett Favre in his prime arm strength. Fagnano's passes come in like butterflies. No excuse for dropping them.

 

[UCan3]

I guaranty you the coaches played the QB who they thought gave us the best chance of winning on 100% of snaps yesterday.

on that we agree 100%....

And the result was similar to most of these games that we get into - starting to feel a little bit like a nightmare....

 

[UCan3]

Every year this board or certain people on this board argue for the back up QB to start it’s kinda funny. Never fails

find me a board where you don't read something like this..... dang S fans calling for Syracuse's quarterback to be pulled and the coach to be fired a week or two ago...

But I also think it's a little funny that some of us fail to recognize that we continue to lose close game after close game after close game but no let's leave everything exactly like we've been doing it... Reminds me if the movie Naked gun (original) nothing to see here folks, keep walking" LOL

Now that's funny

 

[temery]

find me a board where you don't read something like this..... dang S fans calling for Syracuse's quarterback to be pulled and the coach to be fired a week or two ago...

But I also think it's a little funny that some of us fail to recognize that we continue to lose close game after close game after close game but no let's leave everything exactly like we've been doing it... Reminds me if the movie Naked gun (original) nothing to see here folks, keep walking" LOL

Now that's funny

What close game, after close game, after close game are your talking about?

 

[FightOnCT]

What close game, after close game, after close game are your talking about?

Coming up consistently short against P4 opponents. I was fine with it last year but at a certain point you have to at least take one to show progress. Everybody already knows we can beat lesser G5s (no jinxing) but this was a frustrating missed opportunity for a program looking to prove itself.

I said before, if Ohio can beat West Virginia, why can’t we beat the teams we have? We usually get more chances than they do in a season.

 

[ZooCougar]

What close game, after close game, after close game are your talking about?

He's talking about the games against P4s that we lose closely.

 

[ZooCougar]

on that we agree 100%....

And the result was similar to most of these games that we get into - starting to feel a little bit like a nightmare....

Nick started some of those games too. The simple fact of the matter is that there wasn't a QB on the roster that could do better and was more prepared.

 

[UCan3]

What close game, after close game, after close game are your talking about?

With all due respect, Temery.

Let’s think about the quality teams (at full strength) we’ve played these last 2 years and lost… All other wins except maybe Buffalo, not a lot of top 60 teams we’ve played and won..

But here we go…

Wake Forest
Duke
Syracuse

Total of points that separated us? Think it was 11 points total.

Now we start this year, leading by 11 pts 4th quarter - and we lose in OT.

I am not posting this to be glilb.

But please, if we start to have 4+ 3 and outs 2nd half and our QB is missing players over and over…. We have 2-3 quality QBs on this team. Please play them as needed to mix it up.

Think Clingan and Sanogo.

We have to start mixing with the UConn formula - we’ve got dang good players that deserve better from our coaching staff.

I love our team.

 

[uconndogs]

One thing about having a QB with a weak arm is that his throws should be really easy to catch. This is not Brett Favre in his prime arm strength. Fagnano's passes come in like butterflies. No excuse for dropping them.

We see that about as differently as it could possibly be. I think the kid has good arm stregnth and often needs to take a little off the ball.

 

[UCan3]

Nick started some of those games too. The simple fact of the matter is that there wasn't a QB on the roster that could do better and was more prepared.

This isn’t a Joe versus Nick take…

This is a Joe AND Nick, playing together as the situation calls for.