Tale of the Tape: UCONN offense vs BYU

[Dooley]

Outstanding breakdown of what we watched on Friday night. Give it a read.

http://www.theuconnblog.com/2014/9/1/6092643/tale-of-the-tape-uconn-vs-byu

 

[huskymedic]

Outstanding breakdown of what we watched on Friday night. Give it a read.

http://www.theuconnblog.com/2014/9/1/6092643/tale-of-the-tape-uconn-vs-byu

http://the-boneyard.com/threads/a-callahans-tale-of-the-tape.64147/

 

[DoctorWho85]

Was a really good break down of the game. I'm book marking that for sure.

My only gripe is that they're still holding the "cupboard is bare" statement over our heads. There is a lot of talent on this team, albeit all young. PP may have been a disaster in pretty much every area on the field, but he definitely had solid recruiting classes.

 

[freescooter]

Can't disagree with much in that report. I think he hit every major point.

 

[Dooley]

http://the-boneyard.com/threads/a-callahans-tale-of-the-tape.64147/

Oops. Sorry everyone, missed the original thread. My bad.

 

[huskymedic]

Oops. Sorry everyone, missed the original thread. My bad.

No issue - just pointing you to the other comments as well.

 

[Palatine]

Pretty fair analysis especially this --Cochran repeatedly delivered with BYU rushers bearing down on him, while Whitmer struggled to operate in almost every muddled pocket he faced. Most of the Boneyard knew that already, glad others are noted it.

 

[Husky25]

Was a really good break down of the game. I'm book marking that for sure.

My only gripe is that they're still holding the "cupboard is bare" statement over our heads. There is a lot of talent on this team, albeit all young. PP may have been a disaster in pretty much every area on the field, but he definitely had solid recruiting classes.

I don't know if this can be said with any certainty. There's the cream of the crop and there's the players you know won't go anywhere, but everyone else is pretty much in the middle. There's no real difference between a 2 or 3 star player IMO.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I don't know if this can be said with any certainty. There's the cream of the crop and there's the players you know won't go anywhere, but everyone else is pretty much in the middle. There's no real difference between a 2 or 3 star player IMO.

I maintained in the offseason, and still do, that the game this weekend, will be the real marker of where we are as a team, and what kind of recruiting classes we've had in the past few years. I don't think we were particularly overmatched against BYU, but it's hard to tell, because the game was so disjointed on our part. The most bothersome drive on D, was the carving up we allowed after scoring our TD late in the second quarter. Was that mental? Was it physical? Not enough data. But it was critical. 21-7 at half, with momentum and the ball, coming out of the half, vs. 28-7. THe offense? Just too much substitution, and disjointed attack, to know where we are physically. We weren't able to put up more than 10 points against BYU. That's all we know for now.

Truthfully, the team had every opportunity to cave mentally and physically during the game, from the opening drive to the end, and that in itself is light years ahead of where we were last season, but at some point, you got to start learning what it feels like to actually stomp on another team and win, or it becomes more and more difficult to maintain that team attitude. We need to get there sooner than later.

 

[DoctorWho85]

I don't know if this can be said with any certainty. There's the cream of the crop and there's the players you know won't go anywhere, but everyone else is pretty much in the middle. There's no real difference between a 2 or 3 star player IMO.

I'm not saying that PP brought in the next Dwight Freeney or Donovan McNabb, I'm saying that the players he did bring in were generally considered to be better than what Edsall was able to give overall. The problem with the current stock of players is not talent, it's that they were not coached to there full potential. Edsall had a knack at spotting 0-2 star kids and turning them into consistent, well disciplined players, a lot which were drafted. All I'm merely getting at, is in due time I think that the players left by PP aren't as talentless as everyone makes them out to be because of his awful coaching.

 

[Husky25]

I maintained in the offseason, and still do, that the game this weekend, will be the real marker of where we are as a team, and what kind of recruiting classes we've had in the past few years. I don't think we were particularly overmatched against BYU, but it's hard to tell, because the game was so disjointed on our part. The most bothersome drive on D, was the carving up we allowed after scoring our TD late in the second quarter. Was that mental? Was it physical? Not enough data. But it was critical. 21-7 at half, with momentum and the ball, coming out of the half, vs. 28-7. THe offense? Just too much substitution, and disjointed attack, to know where we are physically. We weren't able to put up more than 10 points against BYU. That's all we know for now.

Truthfully, the team had every opportunity to cave mentally and physically during the game, from the opening drive to the end, and that in itself is light years ahead of where we were last season, but at some point, you got to start learning what it feels like to actually stomp on another team and win, or it becomes more and more difficult to maintain that team attitude. We need to get there sooner than later.

That is why I am not Chicken Littling UConn Football right now.

BYU going down the field on the first drive like a hot knife through butter, the fumble, BYU's second TD and the Interception after a big play by Newsome pretty much negated any game plan Diaco may have had.

I find some things a bit encouraging though:

14-10 from the second quarter on and 7-3 After half time. As you said UConn could have given up, but they didn't. And yes, Mendenhall took his foot off the gas, but rarely under the previous full time regime did UConn's D play better in the second half than first. Probably attributable to better conditioning and coaching adjustments at halftime.

8 Penalties for 90 yard. Most of them were stupid (personal fouls) are/or correctable (False Start and Holding). It's tough to put yourself in a 20 yard hole on the first play of a drive, or have to go 90 yards for a score. I thought the refs played a big part in the flow of the game...(BYU had 15 penalties for 150 yards, but I personally think they played a little on the dirty side).

Arkeel Newsome's shoulder. That happened right in front of me. He knocked the BYU defender back 3 or 4 yards. H should have gotten more plays, and Diaco indicated today that he will.

UConn left points on the field. The Cochran interception erased at least three points (probably 7 the way he was moving the offense) and I don't think BYU comes down so easily for their 3rd score at 14-3 or 14-7. The fake field goal was puzzling. Even if you don't think your scholarship RSsoph kicker can make a 40 yarder, a back up punter is even less likely to run for a first down on 4th & 16. I do not find the Field goal in the 4th quarter as puzzling as some on this board. It was 4th & 12 and the way Whitmer was playing, I had even less confidence he'd convert for the 1st than Feagles a half hour earlier. Take the points in that situation. Plus, we found out that Puyol can at least hit a 35 yarder...

 

[Husky25]

I'm not saying that PP brought in the next Dwight Freeney or Donovan McNabb, I'm saying that the players he did bring in were generally considered to be better than what Edsall was able to give overall. The problem with the current stock of players is not talent, it's that they were not coached to there full potential. Edsall had a knack at spotting 0-2 star kids and turning them into consistent, well disciplined players, a lot which were drafted. All I'm merely getting at, is in due time I think that the players left by PP aren't as talentless as everyone makes them out to be because of his awful coaching.

I agree with you that the cupboard is not bare, but what makes Former Coach Edsall's recruiting classes any worse than Former "Coach" Pasqualoni's? Disregarding the inherently subjectivityof the star system, they both lived in the same 2/3 star range, and Edsall even landed a couple 4-star recruits. Not panning out doesn't take away the fact that Edsall convinced them to come to a sleepy town in the Northeast Connecticut woods.

To me recruiting and development go hand-in-hand and it doesn't end until you reach the field. That is why it seemed like Edsall found all these diamonds in he rough. Many 4 and 5 star recruits are so because they have already developed by the time they are recruited. They are literally men among high school boys as juniors. Some fame out as well because they are so developed in high school that they don't put in the work to develop any further. Edsall used to redshirt 90% of his freshmen in order to develop them into college players and get on par with the 4-5 star players out of high school. Pasqualoni did no thing whatsoever. Lutrus put on 20 pounds of muscle his RS year. Compare him to Xavier Hemingway who tried to play offensive tackle at an FBS level at 270 pounds. The last three years were a collective dumpster fire, but UConn did manage to put players in NFL. There was individual talent. In the flip side to that coin. If Pasqualoni was somehow successful in getting Silas Redd here after the PSU debacle, he is not included in the Redskins' opening week 53. Not a chance.

 

[DoctorWho85]

I agree with you that the cupboard is not bare, but what makes Former Coach Edsall's recruiting classes any worse than Former "Coach" Pasqualoni's? Disregarding the inherently subjectivityof the star system, they both lived in the same 2/3 star range, and Edsall even landed a couple 4-star recruits. Not panning out doesn't take away the fact that Edsall convinced them to come to a sleepy town in the Northeast Connecticut woods.

To me recruiting and development go hand-in-hand and it doesn't end until you reach the field. That is why it seemed like Edsall found all these diamonds in he rough. Many 4 and 5 star recruits are so because they have already developed by the time they are recruited. They are literally men among high school boys as juniors. Some fame out as well because they are so developed in high school that they don't put in the work to develop any further. Edsall used to redshirt 90% of his freshmen in order to develop them into college players and get on par with the 4-5 star players out of high school. Pasqualoni did no thing whatsoever. Lutrus put on 20 pounds of muscle his RS year. Compare him to Xavier Hemingway who tried to play offensive tackle at an FBS level at 270 pounds. The last three years were a collective dumpster fire, but UConn did manage to put players in NFL. There was individual talent. In the flip side to that coin. If Pasqualoni was somehow successful in getting Silas Redd here after the PSU debacle, he is not included in the Redskins' opening week 53. Not a chance.

I think we are arguing the same point. There's talent on the team and only time will tell if it all pans out. Diaco is known for his recruiting and the hope is he brings in more "highly rated" recruits. I personally like Edsall's way of recruiting which is to get kids that fit his system and can be coached up. From 2015's class Diaco seems to be taking that approach and I think it's really going to help jump start this program back into the national spot light.

 

[jdb50]

I don't think Mendenhall took his foot of the gas much. When the BYU offense came out with Hill still at QB with 6 minutes to go it sure said they wanted to increase the margin of victory. The fact that we couldn't stop them was very aggravating to me but it's a new week. Let's go DOGS!