The sheer stupidity of the coaching staff on full display

[uconndogs]

The "jugular" was running time and kicking a chip shot field goal to go up by three scores.

These guys are lost during the game and it is a very clear pattern.

 

[businesslawyer]

the picked pass was not a dumb call. You can argue it either way (wasn't it the great Cheech Marin in "Tin Cup" who famously said "sometimes par is good enough") but it just wasn't dumb. They knew it had a high chance of success of puttingthe game away and it just didn't happen.

If you want to pin something on the staff last night, blame them for their clock management. We came out of the locker room for the second half detemined to be conservative, and protect the lead, which is certainly a reasonable strategy there, except that if you're doing that you have to take the play clock down on almost every snap and shorten the number of plays in the game. We didn't. We consistently ran offensive plays with an average of 10 seconds left on the play clock, and each time we were stopped we raced the punting team out and snapped it to Wagner with 20 seconds left on the play clock. It would have served us right to lose the game in the last 40 seconds, which never, never would have been there had we even moved more slowly just punting the ball.

 

[Palatine]

the picked pass was not a dumb call. You can argue it either way (wasn't it the great Cheech Marin in "Tin Cup" who famously said "sometimes par is good enough") but it just wasn't dumb. They knew it had a high chance of success of putting the game away and it just didn't happen.

They put the game "away" if they run McCombs into the middle. So, it was dumb.

If you want to pin something on the staff last night, blame them for their clock management. We came out of the locker room for the second half detemined to be conservative, and protect the lead, which is certainly a reasonable strategy there, except that if you're doing that you have to take the play clock down on almost every snap and shorten the number of plays in the game. We didn't. We consistently ran offensive plays with an average of 10 seconds left on the play clock, and each time we were stopped we raced the punting team out and snapped it to Wagner with 20 seconds left on the play clock. It would have served us right to lose the game in the last 40 seconds, which never, never would have been there had we even moved more slowly just punting the ball.

Actually the third quarter is when I wanted them to be aggressive but I get your point. But the not using the victory formation is begging for trouble. It makes me suspect that the coaches don't understand the clock.

 

[ZooCougar]

P and D should have their football coach licenses revoked after last night's 4th quarter decision making.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The stupidity of the coaching staff was spending the entire third quarter doing what hadn't been working all season instead of doing what did work in the first half. Even if a FG would have been enough, there is no way to complain about trying to get a TD there (especially with the grief we gave the staff on setting for FG's in pat situations where a FG was no less valuable than a TD would have been). Complaining about that call is disingenuous unless you are willing to claim that if successful, you still would have claimed it was too great of a risk for the reward.

 

[BlueDogs]

If it is possible to Prove you dont deserve to have a job by winning this is it. They shut it down in the second half because they don't trust the kids even though they prove they could be trusted to execute. The staff was selfish. Instead of building momentum, they shut it down to save their own hides. What a waste of an opportunity to make the kids believe they can put up production.

 

[noeynox]

I had zero problem with the pass to Griffin that should have been a td instead of a pick. You could have run mccombs and missed the field goal thus being in the same position. Not lining up in the victory formation for the second season in a row is what is most telling about this staff. Its the inattention to detail, not using timeouts wisely, trying to run the clock out against Temple from the first quarter on. That is the type of stuff that convinces you these guys are just not right for the job. Manuel being a football guy has to see this. These guys look lost on the small stuff.

 

[BG79]

The bottom line is NOBODY would be complaining about that play call if Whitmer had completed the easiest pass he had all night, A layup. In fact NOBODY would be complaining about that call if Whitmer had just thrown an incompletion, why he chose to throw it to the other team I have no idea.

BTW there are no guarantees the field goal would be good. Bad snap, block, a repeat of the Temple game.

GDL and P need to be let go after the season, but blaming them for that horribly executed pass when our QB was having a great night seems like piling on.

I wish I could thumbs this up more. That was actually a very good call, it was unpredictable and resulted with a wide open receiver in what shouldve been an easy touchdown. It was Whitmer that completely choked there but its not to say that running the ball and kicking the field goal are 100%. Fumbles can still occur during that and like you pointed out the field goal is no certain thing.

The thing I worry most about especially with this coaching staff is that they will now use that situation as reason to turtle and "play it safe" for even longer now.

 

[coachcap]

Palantine, I agree with many of your sentiments,BUT, not this one. I have absolutely no problem with the coaching staff calling for that pass to Griffin. It was gutsy, & if completed, would have iced the game. Griffin was WIDE open, but Whitmer totally overthrew that ball. For those of you complaining about that call: I hope that none of you were fans of UConn going after Mike Leach when FHCRE flew the coop. That type of play call is a major part of Leach's offensive philosophy. (Pass the opposition to death) Loved the call,not the outcome.

 

[rich1122]

I thought it was a great call. If nobody open throw it out of bounds and kick the field goal. Kid made a huge mistake, but hey kids make mistakes. What does that have to do with calling the right play?

While we did not score I thought that it was the best 2nd half effort we gave. The passing game looked very very good. If Whitmer has time he is pretty good, Couple of passes that he threaded, The last pass convinced me that in two years he is going to be pretty good.

PP is officially saved after this no matter what happens.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Funny how Rod Gilmore was like take a knee, take a knee the game is over what are you doing running the football lol. That throw was awful, but you do have to look at the situation, your up 14 a FG makes it a 3 possession game, so getting a TD there doesnt matter.

I think it matters to the psyche of a team that has struggled to produce all season. He showed faith in them and opted for a little aggression during a half of powder-puff play-calling. How many times in the past have we cried about conservative play-calling in big moments? I am no fan of this coaching staff, but i loved that call.

 

[emshorts]

everyone has made valid points concerning the int..... in 3 of the previous 4 games whitmer has 6 int's in the 4th qtr alone. call it bad luck, misfortune, or whatever else u may, but the stats don't lie. so to go for the jugular when a run call may, might, or could have put us up by 3 scores was dumb. so the game ends up being a nailbiter & now whitmer has 7 int's in the 4th qtr...

 

[Palatine]

I thought it was a great call. If nobody open throw it out of bounds and kick the field goal. Kid made a huge mistake, but hey kids make mistakes. What does that have to do with calling the right play?

While we did not score I thought that it was the best 2nd half effort we gave. The passing game looked very very good. If Whitmer has time he is pretty good, Couple of passes that he threaded, The last pass convinced me that in two years he is going to be pretty good.

PP is officially saved after this no matter what happens.

Who put the kid in a situation where he could make mistake that huge? The coaching staff. The problem with this staff is it doesn't understand the game situations.

With five minutes left, a field goal is as good as a TD because it makes it a three score game and ends the contest. Why didn't the staff understand that?

 

[J187Money]

Who put the kid in a situation where he could make mistake that huge? The coaching staff. The problem with this staff is it doesn't understand the game situations.

With five minutes left, a field goal is as good as a TD because it makes it a three score game and ends the contest. Why didn't the staff understand that?

Maybe because if he goes the FG route and Christen misses it he has about 100 guys from here chasing him down the street with pitchforks.

*I* wouldn't have made that call. I would have run and kicked the FG. BUT, I like the fact that they "thought" aggressively for once and went for it. If this signals a shift in the mindset (as the 3rd down pass in the last drive did), and knowing we are probably stuck with these guys for another year anyway, I'd much rather have the coaching staff and the team develop a killer instinct. So I will NOT fault them for it.

 

[coachRD]

If it is possible to Prove you dont deserve to have a job by winning this is it. They shut it down in the second half because they don't trust the kids even though they prove they could be trusted to execute. The staff was selfish. Instead of building momentum, they shut it down to save their own hides. What a waste of an opportunity to make the kids believe they can put up production.

THIS, exactly! Well said.

 

[huskymedic]

Who put the kid in a situation where he could make mistake that huge? The coaching staff. The problem with this staff is it doesn't understand the game situations.

With five minutes left, a field goal is as good as a TD because it makes it a three score game and ends the contest. Why didn't the staff understand that?

Because no lead is ever safe w/ UConn!

 

[cohenzone]

How many of the critics were at the game? Of all the calls I had issues with, that was not one of them. The play was perfect and the ball overthrown by a mile and the real bad luck was that the DB was way out of position to be anywhere near that throw. Can anyone guarantee a field goal?

Crap, I had a load more issues with the 3rd quarter conservatism.after we passed them silly in the first half. I had trouble with running a wide sweep with Hypolitte on 3rd and one. I even had problems with the play that salted the game, namely the pass on third down that could have been both incomplete and a clock stopper. That throw was actually much more risky than the INT play. The first drive of the game was a thing of beauty. Looked big time. Isn't the football rule of thumb that keep doing what works until they stop it? I heard PP's post game where he said they needed to establish the run in the 3rd period. Why?

BTW, not a knock on the kid because he is what he is, but LM as a #1 back is a little problem. Not overpowering and no breakaway. I thought this Williams (?) frosh had that ability and hasn't his redshirt been burned?

 

[Waquoit]

P and D should have their football coach licenses revoked after last night's 4th quarter decision making.

What about the decision to stop running the offense in the 3rd quarter as well? That was a bad half. And that not even counting the momentum-killing Wildcat.

 

[ZooCougar]

What about the decision to stop running the offense in the 3rd quarter as well? That was a bad half. And that not even counting the momentum-killing Wildcat.

Griffin has career first half.

Solution: Stop throwing to Griffin.

 

[Waquoit]

Griffin has career first half.

Solution: Stop throwing to Griffin.

And the critics say they don't make adjustments at the half.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

And the critics say they don't make adjustments at the half.

Actually I believe they have a cap on how many times they can throw to Ryan during a game (usually three) but GDL was taking a nap until halftime last night (after all it was a late start) so nobody was around to cut the TE passes off until the second half.

 

[emshorts]

it's absolutely mind blowing how we've only scored 3 pts in the second half of the past 5 games. 2nd half adjustments are embarrasingly non-existent. it's as if they don't want to hurt the other teams feelings by scoring.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Why do people love that play call in that spot? It happened on 2nd down. I would argue you have a better chance of winning the game by running the ball twice and kicking the FG. If there was ever a time to play conservative there it was. Kick a FG and its a 3 score game. Score a TD and its a 3 score game. We played scared the entire 3rd quarter and we show balls there? We can't call TO's appropriately in a 2 minute drill but we call them to get the punt unit out.

This staff is embarrassing.

 

[coachRD]

Why do people love that play call in that spot? It happened on 2nd down. I would argue you have a better chance of winning the game by running the ball twice and kicking the FG. If there was ever a time to play conservative there it was. Kick a FG and its a 3 score game. Score a TD and its a 3 score game. We played scared the entire 3rd quarter and we show balls there? We can't call TO's appropriately in a 2 minute drill but we call them to get the punt unit out.

This staff is embarrassing.

Your comment is spot-on.

 

[huskymedic]

Why do people love that play call in that spot? It happened on 2nd down. I would argue you have a better chance of winning the game by running the ball twice and kicking the FG. If there was ever a time to play conservative there it was. Kick a FG and its a 3 score game. Score a TD and its a 3 score game. We played scared the entire 3rd quarter and we show balls there?

I'm convinced it was an STFU to the BY...