Syracuse post game thread

[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.

 

[ZooCougar]

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

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.

You can disagree all you want.

But your understanding of modern football is outdated.

11 points is nothing in the modern game. And you saw why yesterday.

You don’t have an argument.

 

[Kolumbo]

This isn't complicated. Maybe it wasn't a must win game at opening kick-off but it became a must win game up 17-6 with 7 minutes left. Let's just say the football program blew it.

UConn is in a unique situation unlike any other program. Many outsiders still perceive UConn as a fledgling program that no conference wants. No, one game doesn't make a difference for most programs and it doesn't make a difference whether UConn lands in a conference, but a long series of games do. We know the financial disadvantage we are at just trying to win a single P4 game but outsiders don't care. They only care about W's.

Under our beloved HC Jim Mora and I mean that 100%

2022 1-3 vs P4 beating bcu
2023 0-4 vs P4
2024 1-4 vs P4 including 3 close losses and the Fenway Bowl victory
2025 0-1 vs P4 so far with games against bcu and duke remaining. We don't know how good those 3 ACC teams will perform this year but the W over cuse which was circling the hole would have gone a long way to giving UConn some much needed cred.

UConn plays 3 ACC, 3 American, 2 CUSA, 2 MAC, and 1 MWC programs. It's a very winnable schedule for most programs. UConn absolutely has to beat duke or bcu and not sheet the bed against G5 programs. The cuse game was a mega lost opportunity.

 

[noeynox]

You can disagree all you want.

But your understanding of modern football is outdated.

11 points is nothing in the modern game. And you saw why yesterday.

You don’t have an argument.

Running that reverse on 3rd and 10, is hoping to make a play rather than trying to make play a happen. Whatever, on to Delaware.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

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 stand by the statement: the game shouldn't come down to running out the clock.

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.

They chose your approach: how'd that work out for them? Offensively or defensively. For 40 minutes or so, that game was not an upset, the better talent was imposing it's will. Keep punching, don't start to gradually turtle. When you have an opponent on the ropes, finish him.

 

[ZooCougar]

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.

The last line sums up the poor judgement of the coaches yesterday.

A first down was more valuable than burning off twenty seconds.

Couple this with the fact that the defense was getting tired and this tactical error seems even more egregious.

There were 3-4 four instances of this that sunk us yesterday.

 

[Skies2018]

I think it’s fairly obvious that JF is not the caliber of QB who can take us to where we need to be. Guys a decent game manager and avoids big mistakes but to beat P4 teams you need someone who has the balls to make runs and big plays. He simply does not have that mindset. Wouldn’t kill us to give Nick or Tucker a shot. What do we have to lose besides more games?

 

[TouchdownHusky]

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 as an offense that puts the game away.

Well said. Kinda what I was saying.

 

[ZooCougar]

I think it’s fairly obvious that JF is not the caliber of QB who can take us to where we need to be. Guys a decent game manager and avoids big mistakes but to beat P4 teams you need someone who has the balls to make runs and big plays. He simply does not have that mindset. Wouldn’t kill us to give Nick or Tucker a shot. What do we have to lose besides more games?

Whatever he is, he’s better than the other choices.

Did you not watch last season?

 

[RitzLuce1]

This isn't complicated. Maybe it wasn't a must win game at opening kick-off but it became a must win game up 17-6 with 7 minutes left. Let's just say the football program blew it.

UConn is in a unique situation unlike any other program. Many outsiders still perceive UConn as a fledgling program that no conference wants. No, one game doesn't make a difference for most programs and it doesn't make a difference whether UConn lands in a conference, but a long series of games do. We know the financial disadvantage we are at just trying to win a single P4 game but outsiders don't care. They only care about W's.

Under our beloved HC Jim Mora and I mean that 100%

2022 1-3 vs P4 beating bcu
2023 0-4 vs P4
2024 1-4 vs P4 including 3 close losses and the Fenway Bowl victory
2025 0-1 vs P4 so far with games against bcu and duke remaining. We don't know how good those 3 ACC teams will perform this year but the W over cuse which was circling the hole would have gone a long way to giving UConn some much needed cred.

UConn plays 3 ACC, 3 American, 2 CUSA, 2 MAC, and 1 MWC programs. It's a very winnable schedule for most programs. UConn absolutely has to beat duke or bcu and not sheet the bed against G5 programs. The cuse game was a mega lost opportunity.

How about take it one game at a time. People obsess over the ACC games and just assume the rest will be easy or don’t count for the success of the season.

If Fagano plays like he did yesterday, all of the road games will be in jeopardy. As it is, UConn is about 50-50 to win on the road against Buffalo, Rice, and Florida Atlantic. It’s very possible they could “sheet the bed”.

 

[Kolumbo]

How about take it one game at a time. People obsess over the ACC games and just assume the rest will be easy or don’t count for the success of the season.

If Fagano plays like he did yesterday, all of the road games will be in jeopardy. As it is, UConn is about 50-50 to win on the road against Buffalo, Rice, and Florida Atlantic. It’s very possible they could “sheet the bed”.

This supports my main point, that not closing yesterday was a disaster for this program. UConn should go bowling this year but could very well be sitting on the couch. A P4 road win means something. At Buffalo or Rice or FAU, not so much.