The QB Issue

[UConnJim]

I'd rather see JF start, but let's not pretend like there's a whole lot of daylight between these two QBs. Makes for great discussion board fodder but on any given day either one of these guys could outperform the other.

There's no right choice when you're rolling the dice until you've seen the outcome.

Evers may have more upside, but Fagnano has more experience. Evers has eligibility after this season and Fagnano does not. Evers was injured for the Merrimack game and Fagnano was not.

I would think that Evers would have to be fully cleared and have an incredible practice week to start this week. And, the schedule for the following 3 weeks are Florida Atlantic, Buffalo, and Temple at home so much easier opponents coming up to help him develop.

 

[ZooCougar]

Evers may have more upside, but Fagnano has more experience. Evers has eligibility after this season and Fagnano does not. Evers was injured for the Merrimack game and Fagnano was not.

I would think that Evers would have to be fully cleared and have an incredible practice week to start this week. And, the schedule for the following 3 weeks are Florida Atlantic, Buffalo, and Temple at home so much easier opponents coming up to help him develop.

We think he has upside.

It’s all just a theory at this point.

 

[CL82]

I will stick with what I have been saying for 25 years. Anyone who believes that a head football coach speaks for the purpose of disseminating truth gets exactly what they deserve.

I have no predictions for the season, but I’ll believe Evers is starting Saturday when I see him walk on the field and not before. Far, far more likely, Mora is keeping the “starter” designation on him but assumes either he won’t be healthy enough or won’t be ready enough on Saturday, knowing that JF isn’t going to make anyone forget Tom Brady and Evers is likely to get another chance soon enough.

Or Fagnano has a great game, giving more fuel to the fire that he should be QB 1. No matter how it turns out, though, there is zero to be gained by flip-flopping in his position that Evers is the designated starter.

 

[ZooCougar]

Having Fagnano is a luxury. It means Evers can get 100% well and have a full cycle of game prep before starting again.

Now if Fagano goes out plays great against Duke then you can say there will be a controversy.

 

[mets1090]

I would probably start Fagnano just because a positive or negative outcome against Duke resolves the situation in either direction. If he does well in an unfair test, he's the guy. If he does poorly, you give Evers FAU, Buffalo, and Temple at home to shed the rust against some bad teams and show he's the guy long term. If he lays an egg in those 3 games and you're 1-5 or 2-4, you go to Fagnano after the bye week to try to save the season.

If you start Evers and it's Maryland all over again, he's now 0-2 in a pair of games where UConn was a combined 38 point underdog and to me that basically doesn't answer any questions and isn't overly helpful in his development.

The only qualifying statement here is that there is a bit of a sliding scale depending on how clear cut it was that Evers won the job in camp.

• If you were close to 50/50 on it and only went with Evers because he's the guy you gave the bag to, then you start Fagnano because he has tipped the scale in his favor.
• If it was 75/25, I think Fagnano has done enough to earn a real if somewhat unfair audition against Duke. You start Fagnano and give him the chance at a miracle performance to win the job.
• If it was never close and Evers was always 100% the guy, I am fine starting him as soon as he is healthy and understanding results against Duke are irrelevant.

 

[Bongo Fury]

Practice doesn’t always correlate to games. It took them nearly 2 seasons to give Casey a real chance.

 

[Skiblets]

Gotta go with Joe this Saturday. He's like 35 years old and has a ton of reps. He was trending well against NC State until he got hurt last year.

Evers may have gotten a bag but that doesn't mean he's given the starting role after how he looked against MD.

 

[uconnric]

Gotta go with Joe this Saturday. He's like 35 years old and has a ton of reps. He was trending well against NC State until he got hurt last year.

Evers may have gotten a bag but that doesn't mean he's given the starting role after how he looked against MD.

I'd like to go with Joe also, but maybe Mora thinks we need more of a running threat at qb against Duke.

 

[Patman]

Agree, but he did say Evers is the starter and wouldn’t lose by injury.
If Joe starts at Duke and has a similar game as Merrimack, would love to have that issue headed into following week. I think Mora would too.

Joe beats Duke the conversation changes but we aren't there yet.

 

[Jimdish255]

I'd be shocked if we start a guy who's 0-1 in a blowout coming off a concussion, over the guy who's 1-0, healthy, just blew out our last opponent and is ranked top 10 in the nation. If your coach starts the first guy and we get behind 3-4 scores that coach loses a ton of credibility. Evers PT is likely to be situational and only if needed, but hopefully not.

 

[CL82]

I'd be shocked if we start a guy who's 0-1 in a blowout coming off a concussion, over the guy who's 1-0, healthy, just blew out our last opponent and is ranked top 10 in the nation. If your coach starts the first guy and we get behind 3-4 scores that coach loses a ton of credibility. Evers PT is likely to be situational and only if needed, but hopefully not.

 

[gioff2323]

Death, taxes and arguing over who starts at QB for the U.

Although, I never thought we’d start micromanaging a 40 yard td pass to go up 35 before the half.

Good times.

 

[UCan3]

I'd like to go with Joe also, but maybe Mora thinks we need more of a running threat at qb against Duke.

This whole “we need a running“ QB has me bit baffled…. We played Marland and did a fine job protecting the QB. I am not even sure we have given up a sack yet this year. We might need one soon who knows? but this doesn’t need to be priority #1.

This whole Mora schitcik “I stand behind QB“ and never want him to look over shoulder? Dude, we are one of the worst teams in college according to pollsters without solid play at the QB for 7 or more years. What Joe did last week regardless of who we played was impressive!

Let Joe start w/ hot hand.

 

[gioff2323]

This whole “we need a running“ QB has me bit baffled…. We played Marland and did a fine job protecting the QB. I am not even sure we have given up a sack yet this year. We might need one soon who knows? but this doesn’t need to be priority #1.

This whole Mora schitcik “I stand behind QB“ and never want him to look over shoulder? Dude, we are one of the worst teams in college according to pollsters without solid play at the QB for 7 or more years. What Joe did last week regardless of who we played was impressive!

Let Joe start w/ hot hand.

Thanks Mrs F.

 

[Patman]

This whole “we need a running“ QB has me bit baffled…. We played Marland and did a fine job protecting the QB. I am not even sure we have given up a sack yet this year. We might need one soon who knows? but this doesn’t need to be priority #1.

Its been like this forever, a lot of it is that we got burned frequently by such types of runners at WVU, or USF, or so on. "if only we had a dual threat QB"... I don't remember how we beat RG3 twice because UConn traditionally got destroyed by running QBs.

 

[huskymedic]

I don't remember how we beat RG3 twice because UConn traditionally got destroyed by running QBs.

Scott Lutrus & Greg Lloyd

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Scott Lutrus & Greg Lloyd

Lawrence "Bama" Wilson

 

[JohnFSilver]

Worst throw ever according to the lunatics.

It was a good risk taking, great throw, and even better catch.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Evers must look unbelievable!!

If that is true either we are going to go 9-3 or Mora could lose the locker room. I'm in the "start JF" camp

Mora ain't gonna lose the lockerroom. I bet JF starts.

 

[giddyup]

Its been like this forever, a lot of it is that we got burned frequently by such types of runners at WVU, or USF, or so on. "if only we had a dual threat QB"... I don't remember how we beat RG3 twice because UConn traditionally got destroyed by running QBs.

We used to get shredded up the middle on QB options. We were good on pass rush back in the day but our line was a step slow for elite QB run option guys. I remember Pat White used to gash us big time.

 

[UConnDan97]

Scott Lutrus & Greg Lloyd

I'm clearly partial to Lloyd when he hit people... especially during the Notre Dame game...

 

[Windham4th]

Joe Fagnano is going to pull his mask off and it will be Steven Krajewski under there. Don't be blinded by the Merrimack game.

 

[Hamms30]

Joe Fagnano is going to pull his mask off and it will be Steven Krajewski under there. Don't be blinded by the Merrimack game.

And I'd have gotten away with it too!! .. If it weren't for you meddling Boneyarders....

If it's Joe, he needs the fanbase behind him. If it's NIck, he needs the fanbase behind him. We're underdogs in this game, so everybody needs to be rowing in the same direction from the start if we're going to have a chance.

 

[CL82]

Mora ain't gonna lose the lockerroom. I bet JF starts.

The clue to that was that he said that Evers wasn't fully healthy to start this week. If Joe has another good performance this week, , it will be tough to walk away from that.