The View From Section 241 — Air Force

[businesslawyer]

1. Due to business travel couldn’t be at the Rent. Watched the game from the sports book at Bellagio (and then the men’s game on Delta’s in flight satellite TV system, and then the hockey OT on ESPN on an internet stream from my plane) so will do a somewhat abbreviated version this week as many of you will have noticed plenty of details that I didn’t. Haven’t read the post-game thread yet so forgive me if folks with better views this week covered it.

2. Before I forget to make the point, if our long snapper is starting again next year we should all boycott a game. Christ. At Army, in ‘22, Mora benched his punter in the middle of the game. How many terrible snaps do we have to watch before we see a change?

3. I said last week in 241 that the week after our other 2 ACC games we came out totally flat, and that it would be a test for coaches and team leadership to avoid that this week. Well, our play in the first half, despite the score, was just poor. I assume it was, again, the same thing although this time at least we came out of it at halftime. Also contributing — I think the team was absolutely shaken up by Fagnano throwing the pick on the second drive. Which is actually funny when you think about it.

4. Speaking of the Fagnano pick, not blame from me for throwing one in week 11, but what the heck was that throw? Did the ball slip out of his hand in the cold. Did he think he was going to hook up with the deeper receiver who had four guys on him? Did he overthrow the open short route by 10 yards? Very strange play.

5. You can’t be pushed around a field more than we were for the first 30 minutes yesterday. That we were up 2 at the half was unfathomable. Credit to Mal McLean for an outstanding play on the 4th and goal, and thanks to the AFA coach who twice turned it over on downs instead of taking points when everything was going well. At half time I told the Wisconsin fan sitting next to me (who said he wasn’t surprised Bell was having a great year once he got rid of the dropsies) that we couldn’t play worse than we had just played, and being up we should be fine.

6. And then the second half was much better. The offense, at home, for the second straight week scored on every possession it had in the second half, the defense with more rest played much better, and the win was relatively easy at the end. If not the classic effort that last week was against Duke, well done.

7. Didn’t we hear last week about how all the talk about northeastern teams not being able to totally rely on the pass for years was BS? LOL. First cold weather game of the year, and as only when we gave up on throwing downfield and combined running the ball down their throat with the passes being mixed in being short swing passes that let Bell gain yards with his legs that the offense clicked. Cam Edwards was great. I hope part of that was being more healthy, but he was still not given the ball the number of times that I would have liked to have seen. Whatever it costs, we need to make sure he’s back for his senior year. (I know, that’s not possible. There is a number for a major P-4 that we couldn’t meet, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed. My gut tells me he’s not looking to move, but would have to listen to what he’s offered.)

8. Box score shows another large number of tackles, but I thought Parham had one of his quieter games.

9. So we win the 3 game, 3 week homestand, and finish the year undefeated at home. And 12-1 the last two years. Quite a turnaround and hopefully drives increased season ticket sales. Haven’t read the post-game thread yet, but will see if people think there were 31k in the building or if that was a wildly inflated number.

10. We are 2-3 on the road, and have lost twice on the road to G-5 opponents. This will be FAU’s senior day. We’re a better team but it is unlikely to be an easy win. Let’s hope the players want to close out their regular season careers in style, and not let FAU stay in the game and think they can beat us.

 

[ZooCougar]

It actually looked like almost every other Air Force game this season.

Air Force starts out moving the ball. Then the other team adapts and adjusts and realizes that the Air Force defense is bad.

They’ve lost a bunch of games and most of them are relatively close.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

BL, on the pick, I believe his target was the crossing receiver (shorter of the two) and he never saw the lineman who deflected it up in the air.

That play cost quite a bit of luster on what has been a remarkable season but he still has given us far more than anyone could have expected this season.

I may elaborate later, but i was continuously getting angry yesterday with our efforts in stopping the option. I know they installed an entirely new defense for the game and I am fully aware that everyone on the staff is infinitely more qualified, but i still see it as being far from the best approach to stop it.

Bottom line: We got the W, went undefeated at home and if things turn out well next Saturday, we'll finish .500 on the road with no losses in regulation.

I'll view this season as a success.

 

[Hamms30]

BL, on the pick, I believe his target was the crossing receiver (shorter of the two) and he never saw the lineman who deflected it up in the air.

From what I remember seeing, Bell was streaking on a cross with like 3 defenders in his wake. Looks like JF threw behind him, but if he hit him in stride, Bell was going to be off to the races.

 

[ZooCougar]

They couldn’t stop a basic fullback dive.

That 11 minute drive that resulted in a turnover ok downs kind of broke Air Force. They lost their QB and the initiative. From that point forward time of possession no longer mattered.

 

[uconndogs]

I thought the game plan was a good won as it kept our offense off the field for a good chunk of the first half. Mora responded well preserving clock at the end of the first half to get the FG after the TD was called back for the silly illegal formation penalty. Then we took the kickoff and marched down to start the second half. I felt pretty confident after that.

Solid game which was all that was needed. 9-3 would be quite an achievement and 10 wins would really be something. I don’t think anyone could have accomplished more with this program than Mora has.

 

[uconnfan68]

BL, on the pick, I believe his target was the crossing receiver (shorter of the two) and he never saw the lineman who deflected it up in the air.

That play cost quite a bit of luster on what has been a remarkable season but he still has given us far more than anyone could have expected this season.

I may elaborate later, but i was continuously getting angry yesterday with our efforts in stopping the option. I know they installed an entirely new defense for the game and I am fully aware that everyone on the staff is infinitely more qualified, but i still see it as being far from the best approach to stop it.

Bottom line: We got the W, went undefeated at home and if things turn out well next Saturday, we'll finish .500 on the road with no losses in regulation.

I'll view this season as a success.

The INT was definitely tipped at the line. Unfortunately, it went straight up in the air.

 

[businesslawyer]

BL, on the pick, I believe his target was the crossing receiver (shorter of the two) and he never saw the lineman who deflected it up in the air.

That play cost quite a bit of luster on what has been a remarkable season but he still has given us far more than anyone could have expected this season.

I may elaborate later, but i was continuously getting angry yesterday with our efforts in stopping the option. I know they installed an entirely new defense for the game and I am fully aware that everyone on the staff is infinitely more qualified, but i still see it as being far from the best approach to stop it.

Bottom line: We got the W, went undefeated at home and if things turn out well next Saturday, we'll finish .500 on the road with no losses in regulation.

I'll view this season as a success.

The ball having been tipped at the line would explain it. Didn’t see it on the TV and, of course, the only game with sound was the Notre Dame — Pitt game.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I'll view this season as a success.

A success, sure. After the decade following 2010 no fan could be reasonably disappointed with a 9-3 season.

With that said, the difference between a nice story / successful season that's largely noticed by our fan base and a transformative season in contention for the G5 playoff birth is the result of 3 horrible losses.

QBs and WRs like Fagnano and Bell don't come around East Hartford much (if at all) and I think we'll all wonder what could have been had we even won 2 of those 3 OT losses.

 

[Palatine]

On the interception it looked like Bell was running free toward the left sideline about 15 yards downfield. So Fagnano was throwing toward the left sideline. A defender jumped, tipped the ball at the line of scrimmage and ball went up and to the center of the field.

After the week of Fagnano Heisman hype, I had convinced myself that he would throw an interception on the first attempt of the game. Instead he led a drive that resulted in a running TD for Joe. On the next series however.....

 

[UConnDan97]

They ran 16 more plays than us. They had the ball for 11 more minutes than us (almost an entire quarter more). We lost the turnover battle (-1).

And we still outscored them by double digits. The offense was balanced in terms of run vs pass yardage. Was it unfortunate that Joe threw the first INT of the year on a tipped pass from a roll out to his less preferred side? Sure. But the game plan worked, the passing game was relatively effective even in the cold, and the long snapper recovered from his early mistake to take care of business the rest of the way.

Successful game plan. Successful result. Successful season...

 

[noeynox]

FAU needs a win to become bowl eligible. I expect them to play REALLY hard for that and Mora will drill that into his team im sure.

 

[hardcorehusky]

1. Due to business travel couldn’t be at the Rent. Watched the game from the sports book at Bellagio (and then the men’s game on Delta’s in flight satellite TV system, and then the hockey OT on ESPN on an internet stream from my plane) so will do a somewhat abbreviated version this week as many of you will have noticed plenty of details that I didn’t. Haven’t read the post-game thread yet so forgive me if folks with better views this week covered it.

2. Before I forget to make the point, if our long snapper is starting again next year we should all boycott a game. Christ. At Army, in ‘22, Mora benched his punter in the middle of the game. How many terrible snaps do we have to watch before we see a change?

3. I said last week in 241 that the week after our other 2 ACC games we came out totally flat, and that it would be a test for coaches and team leadership to avoid that this week. Well, our play in the first half, despite the score, was just poor. I assume it was, again, the same thing although this time at least we came out of it at halftime. Also contributing — I think the team was absolutely shaken up by Fagnano throwing the pick on the second drive. Which is actually funny when you think about it.

4. Speaking of the Fagnano pick, not blame from me for throwing one in week 11, but what the heck was that throw? Did the ball slip out of his hand in the cold. Did he think he was going to hook up with the deeper receiver who had four guys on him? Did he overthrow the open short route by 10 yards? Very strange play.

5. You can’t be pushed around a field more than we were for the first 30 minutes yesterday. That we were up 2 at the half was unfathomable. Credit to Mal McLean for an outstanding play on the 4th and goal, and thanks to the AFA coach who twice turned it over on downs instead of taking points when everything was going well. At half time I told the Wisconsin fan sitting next to me (who said he wasn’t surprised Bell was having a great year once he got rid of the dropsies) that we couldn’t play worse than we had just played, and being up we should be fine.

6. And then the second half was much better. The offense, at home, for the second straight week scored on every possession it had in the second half, the defense with more rest played much better, and the win was relatively easy at the end. If not the classic effort that last week was against Duke, well done.

7. Didn’t we hear last week about how all the talk about northeastern teams not being able to totally rely on the pass for years was BS? LOL. First cold weather game of the year, and as only when we gave up on throwing downfield and combined running the ball down their throat with the passes being mixed in being short swing passes that let Bell gain yards with his legs that the offense clicked. Cam Edwards was great. I hope part of that was being more healthy, but he was still not given the ball the number of times that I would have liked to have seen. Whatever it costs, we need to make sure he’s back for his senior year. (I know, that’s not possible. There is a number for a major P-4 that we couldn’t meet, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed. My gut tells me he’s not looking to move, but would have to listen to what he’s offered.)

8. Box score shows another large number of tackles, but I thought Parham had one of his quieter games.

9. So we win the 3 game, 3 week homestand, and finish the year undefeated at home. And 12-1 the last two years. Quite a turnaround and hopefully drives increased season ticket sales. Haven’t read the post-game thread yet, but will see if people think there were 31k in the building or if that was a wildly inflated number.

10. We are 2-3 on the road, and have lost twice on the road to G-5 opponents. This will be FAU’s senior day. We’re a better team but it is unlikely to be an easy win. Let’s hope the players want to close out their regular season careers in style, and not let FAU stay in the game and think they can beat us.

To point 2: our LS is young and should improve. It seems to happen on his early snaps.
To Point 3: we started on D and they went 3 and out, then they kicked a 14 yard punt and we drove for a TD from their 40 on our first possession. That does not denote coming out flat. What did happen was the O sat for about 12 minutes of Sametime and couldn't get a rhythm due to drops and good D. Had Sammis called for more runs early, the first half would have looked different.
To Point 5: looked like pass was deflected and fluttered. The issue to me was Fagnano trying to throw the ball through the hands of an oncoming rushed with his hands up.
AFA had safeties 20 yards off line of scrimmage. They wanted UConn to pass underneath and we ultimately were able to do that combined with lots of WR bubble screens and one nice conventional screen.
The reverse on a kickoff was fun to see and the kids on the sideline were whooping and hollering after that one.
The attendance figures to me were spot on. If people weren't in their seats, they were watching from end zones and under concourse. Kudos to the fans for showing up. Now the students need to learn and show up like the rest of us!

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

What a one-handed catch by Bell!! Our seats in the second row in 123 gave us the most perfect line of vision on the catch. Our whole section gave out a loud gasp because we all saw the ball coming in on a frozen rope and all of a sudden Skyler was moving forward with it in one motion. Incredible reaction by Skyler to go along with amazing hand strength. I hope it gets more recognition across media channels. It was definitely an NFL caliber play!!

 

[Chin Diesel]

To point 2: our LS is young and should improve. It seems to happen on his early snaps.
To Point 3: we started on D and they went 3 and out, then they kicked a 14 yard punt and we drove for a TD from their 40 on our first possession. That does not denote coming out flat. What did happen was the O sat for about 12 minutes of Sametime and couldn't get a rhythm due to drops and good D. Had Sammis called for more runs early, the first half would have looked different.
To Point 5: looked like pass was deflected and fluttered. The issue to me was Fagnano trying to throw the ball through the hands of an oncoming rushed with his hands up.
AFA had safeties 20 yards off line of scrimmage. They wanted UConn to pass underneath and we ultimately were able to do that combined with lots of WR bubble screens and one nice conventional screen.
The reverse on a kickoff was fun to see and the kids on the sideline were whooping and hollering after that one.
The attendance figures to me were spot on. If people weren't in their seats, they were watching from end zones and under concourse. Kudos to the fans for showing up. Now the students need to learn and show up like the rest of us!

I disagree with the nuance on the long snapper "should" improve. There's no guarantee he should improve and there is no way I would go in to next season without scouring the portal.

Between FG attempts, PAT'S and punt snaps, there were as many bad snaps as there were good ones yesterday.

 

[businesslawyer]

A success, sure. After the decade following 2010 no fan could be reasonably disappointed with a 9-3 season.

With that said, the difference between a nice story / successful season that's largely noticed by our fan base and a transformative season in contention for the G5 playoff birth is the result of 3 horrible losses.

QBs and WRs like Fagnano and Bell don't come around East Hartford much (if at all) and I think we'll all wonder what could have been had we even won 2 of those 3 OT losses.

The G5 playoff bid has to go to a conference champion. We would have to qualify against P-4 teams that didn’t win a conference championship.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

The G5 playoff bid has to go to a conference champion. We would have to qualify against P-4 teams that didn’t win a conference championship.

Good call out - I didn't realize that. We would have to have been an at large.

With that said leaving a 12-0 team out of a 12 team playoff - even if all the metrics / rankings supported that - would be a pretty bad.

 

[uconnfan68]

Good call out - I didn't realize that. We would have to have been an at large.

With that said leaving a 12-0 team out of a 12 team playoff - even if all the metrics / rankings supported that - would be a pretty bad.

They’ll find some rule to apply retroactively.

 

[Samoo]

I disagree with the nuance on the long snapper "should" improve. There's no guarantee he should improve and there is no way I would go in to next season without scour9ng the portal.

Between FG attempts, PAT'S and punt snaps, there were as many bad snaps as there were good ones yesterday.

Who was the long snapper? Crofut?

 

[hardcorehusky]

I disagree with the nuance on the long snapper "should" improve. There's no guarantee he should improve and there is no way I would go in to next season without scouring the portal.

Between FG attempts, PAT'S and punt snaps, there were as many bad snaps as there were good ones yesterday.

So you are saying with an off-season of practice, he can't improve. He has hit his ceiling while in college?

 

[UConnJim]

It seemed Air Force decided to defend against the long pass and UConn didn't adjust until the second half. Then UConn ran the ball and used the short passing game and had success. I think the issue with the passing game yesterday was due to how Air Force decided to defend UConn more than cold weather.

 

[ZooCougar]

Good call out - I didn't realize that. We would have to have been an at large.

With that said leaving a 12-0 team out of a 12 team playoff - even if all the metrics / rankings supported that - would be a pretty bad.

 

[Marbles90]

The ball having been tipped at the line would explain it. Didn’t see it on the TV and, of course, the only game with sound was the Notre Dame — Pitt game.

Having sound wouldn’t have mattered. I was at the game but watched a replay later last night. Those two guys on TV were so clueless. Everyone in the stadium could see it was tipped. “I don’t know where he was trying to throw that one. There is no receiver close.”

But the best sequence was coming back from commercial after the first TD and they show a replay of the TD. They then rave about the amazing block thrown by backup QB Ksaan Fararr “who for some reason was in the game and lined up in the backfield.” Huh? It CLEARLY it was not #8 on the field, it was #0 - Edwards. Just bizarre they could not see that or figure that out.

And also, before the refs confirmed the TD on replay, the color dude was saying if JF hit the outside of the pylon with the ball, it’s not a TD, he needed to hit the inside. Nice knowing the rules, my friend…lol

 

[businesslawyer]

Having sound wouldn’t have mattered. I was at the game but watched a replay later last night. Those two guys on TV were so clueless. Everyone in the stadium could see it was tipped. “I don’t know where he was trying to throw that one. There is no receiver close.”

But the best sequence was coming back from commercial after the first TD and they show a replay of the TD. They then rave about the amazing block thrown by backup QB Ksaan Fararr “who for some reason was in the game and lined up in the backfield.” Huh? It CLEARLY it was not #8 on the field, it was #0 - Edwards. Just bizarre they could not see that or figure that out.

And also, before the refs confirmed the TD on replay, the color dude was saying if JF hit the outside of the pylon with the ball, it’s not a TD, he needed to hit the inside. Nice knowing the rules, my friend…lol

In fairness to the announcers getting a number wrong, our numbers are not at all as discernible as they should be. It’s often very difficult to make them out for anyone.

 

[Marbles90]

In fairness to the announcers getting a number wrong, our numbers are not at all as discernible as they should be. It’s often very difficult to make them out for anyone.

You are giving them way way too much credit. Here is a screenshot from when they came back from commercial. That’s number 8 Ksaan Farrar?? A backup QB who has seen the field once all season suddenly lining up in the backfield to block??

I can understand if it was an honest mistake made live. But this is how they came back from a 2:30 break. It was a replay highlighting Farrar and gushing about bringing a backup in to block for JF when it is clearly Cam Edwards - the starting running back in the backfield.