The View From Section 241 — Rice

[ShakyTheMohel]

I presume NE will be the starter again next season and Mora wants to get him as many live reps as he can. It’ll either help him get better, or he’ll end up with enough rope to hang himself, in which case CW, TM, or the kid from Virgina can have an opportunity.

They aren’t worried about next season. Who knows what the qb room will look like next year.

 

[RSTuthill]

I made it up…

… ”Evers was also working through a toe sprain that started bugging him during the Buffalo game. Early last week, he was in the weight room doing his first set of trap bar deadlifts and “dropped the bar weird,” causing the 225-pound weight to land right on his injured toe.”

The engineer in me finds that explanation difficult to understand for several reasons.

 

[ZooCougar]

I was stunned that JF was not starting after the Merrimack game. I know it was Merrimack, but he was flawless that game and white hot. I would have ridden that momentum to see where it went. Sometimes you catch lightning in a bottle.

The coaches must clearly see Evers as the future with more upside, but after Saturday's game you have to either conclude he's still banged up or simply not that good. I also question whether he has the physical make up to run the ball effectively and stay healthy.

I choose not to believe he's still under center because UCONN lined up some NIL money for him. That would simply be stupid.......

They are playing Evers because they paid him and signed him out of the portal. Mora has essentially said this time and time again.

 

[AllHusky]

You are an engineer that has done some lifting then. Really having difficulty picturing his toe being underneath the plates.

 

[AllHusky]

They are playing Evers because they paid him and signed him out of the portal. Mora has essentially said this time and time again.

I have trouble with this, unless the whole system is so new/foreign to Mora that he sold his soul to get the $ for the contract.

Don’t you think a UConn fan who cared enough to give the $ for an NIL, would also care enough to understand that Mora has to make a change? Particularly in light of Evers injuries.?

No, I think that Mora believes the kids gonna pop, and when he does he exceeds the ceiling of Fagnano by alot. He just prays that it’s soon!

 

[ZooCougar]

I have trouble with this, unless the whole system is so new/foreign to Mora that he sold his soul to get the $ for the contract.

Don’t you think a UConn fan who cared enough to give the $ for an NIL, would also care enough to understand that Mora has to make a change? Particularly in light of Evers injuries.?

No, I think that Mora believes the kids gonna pop, and when he does he exceeds the ceiling of Fagnano by alot. He just prays that it’s soon!

He said when you go and get and get a player out of the portal and commit resources to him then you play him. Paraphrasing. I’m not going back and looking for those press conferences.

Also you and I don’t know what the details of the NIL contract are.

Mora supports his players. I also believe him when he says he wants his guys to be secure, but he had a QBR of 6, so come on.

 

[uconnfan68]

He said when you go and get and get a player out of the portal and commit resources to him then you play him. Paraphrasing. I’m not going back and looking for those press conferences.

Also you and I don’t know what the details of the NIL contract are.

Mora supports his players. I also believe him when he says he wants his guys to be secure, but he had a QBR of 6, so come on.

Jeez, I thought the best players in your practices might get to play. I didn't realize it was negotiated before they even got here.

 

[ZooCougar]

Jeez, I thought the best players in your practices might get to play. I didn't realize it was negotiated before they even got here.

According to Mora he practices well.

The other thing I forgot to mention is that Mora may have and likely did make some promises. And he wants to make good on those in order to build up a good track record. We simply won’t thrive unless we can be player in the portal market.

That I can accept to a certain degree.

 

[uconndogs]

They are playing Evers because they paid him and signed him out of the portal. Mora has essentially said this time and time again.

Well, if that's in fact the case, we better hope that Evers improves one hell of a lot. What a debacle NIL is........

 

[ZooCougar]

Well, if that's in fact the case, we better hope that Evers improves one hell of a lot. What a debacle NIL is........

Thankfully it’s likely year to year. NIL has mostly helped us.

 

[Bubba1957]

Tough place for me. On one hand I trust Mora and know that he's doing what's best for the team (NIL does not factor in playing time). On the other hand, the stats, QB rating and eye test don't add up to what we hear.

I'm floundering in cluelessness fandom!

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Great summation counselor as always.
I will keep asking, where's Brett Buckman? He showed some flashes in his limited end of game time, enough to me that warrants more time. Giving how unimpressive (bad) the passing game has been, adding a receiver to the rotation can't hurt. Not all the drops are Nick's fault, but most are (insert dead horse image).

 

[BlueandOG]

Tough place for me. On one hand I trust Mora and know that he's doing what's best for the team (NIL does not factor in playing time). On the other hand, the stats, QB rating and eye test don't add up to what we hear.

I'm floundering in cluelessness fandom!

I agree. I trust Mora and the coaching staff. They see the players every day. However, NE needs some time on the bench to get his stuff together. Let JF take the helm for Georgia State and UAB, get some positive momentum and stability before Cuse. Maybe maybe maybe we can get a win there.

 

[businesslawyer]

Great summation counselor as always.
I will keep asking, where's Brett Buckman? He showed some flashes in his limited end of game time, enough to me that warrants more time. Giving how unimpressive (bad) the passing game has been, adding a receiver to the rotation can't hurt. Not all the drops are Nick's fault, but most are (insert dead horse image).

He’s been in the rotation, was on Saturday, and is probably getting the 4th most snaps among WRs. We have three who from what we’ve seen are probably better than him. Nothing surprising here.

 

[AllHusky]

He said when you go and get and get a player out of the portal and commit resources to him then you play him. Paraphrasing. I’m not going back and looking for those press conferences.

Also you and I don’t know what the details of the NIL contract are.

Mora supports his players. I also believe him when he says he wants his guys to be secure, but he had a QBR of 6, so come on.

I think things have changed since those press conferences, and I do believe Mora has a relationship with the NIL donors, and I don’t believe these donors wouldn’t understand if Mora made a change at this time. My belief is that Mora sees something that gives him hope for success sooner rather than later with Nick Evers. I don’t think he is being held hostage by NIL agreements. He and Benedict have too much to lose by not playing the athletes that give us the best chance to win.

 

[freescooter]

The engineer in me finds that explanation difficult to understand for several reasons.

Crazy injuries happen all the time. Casey Cochran’s career was ended when he got a concussion getting hit in the head in the weight room! My neighbor’s daughter gave up marching in the flag corps after she got her 3rd concussion from getting hit by a flag staff. We know a woman who ended her soccer career after tripping over a piece of equipment and hitting her head on a goal. The equipment was supposed to be on the bench but someone moved it. I tend to believe any strange injury is possible. Seen too many.

 

[UConnDan97]

I think things have changed since those press conferences, and I do believe Mora has a relationship with the NIL donors, and I don’t believe these donors wouldn’t understand if Mora made a change at this time. My belief is that Mora sees something that gives him hope for success sooner rather than later with Nick Evers. I don’t think he is being held hostage by NIL agreements. He and Benedict have too much to lose by not playing the athletes that give us the best chance to win.

This!

The idea that a coach would risk his career and the careers of his staff to appease a small amount (relative to Bama) of NIL money to a single player is ludicrous!

At this point in the season, whatever minutes Evers is getting is due to Mora's belief in him...

 

[ZooCougar]

I think things have changed since those press conferences, and I do believe Mora has a relationship with the NIL donors, and I don’t believe these donors wouldn’t understand if Mora made a change at this time. My belief is that Mora sees something that gives him hope for success sooner rather than later with Nick Evers. I don’t think he is being held hostage by NIL agreements. He and Benedict have too much to lose by not playing the athletes that give us the best chance to win.

It’s not the donors he is keeping his promise on. It’s the player.

 

[AllHusky]

“Nick, you will start no matter how you play.”

You could be right. I prefer to think Coach Mora sees something that will hopefully propel us to a series of 1-0 weeks!

 

[ZooCougar]

“Nick, you will start no matter how you play.”

You could be right. I prefer to think Coach Mora sees something that will hopefully propel us to a series of 1-0 weeks!

I think it’s more like he’s gonna play if he is healthy. The fact that we didn’t even see a different QB for a series, particularly when Fagnano has been at his best off the bench is very curious.

 

[UConnDan97]

“Nick, you will start no matter how you play.”

You could be right. I prefer to think Coach Mora sees something that will hopefully propel us to a series of 1-0 weeks!

He's not right. But it allows him to sleep at night.

Mora sees them both play every week against each other, working with the SAME receivers and against the SAME defense. When he says Evers looks good in practice, I believe him.

Why that isn't translating to the field, I don't know. But the idea that a coach is starting someone for an entire year because he "made a promise to that player" is pretty crazy even for this board...

 

[ZooCougar]

I think the tag line for this week’s win comes down to this: we caught a big break in that Rice had to play without its starting QB, and Rice caught a big break that we were able to play with ours. Is that harsh on Evers? Well, yes for being trite. But against a lousy G-5 team, he went 9 for 24 throwing (37.5%), for a mere 128 yards (just over 5 yards a throw), with a pick, and 11 carries for minus three yards. Is JF a cure for cancer? Absolutely not. But it boggled my mind we didn’t make a change at halftime, even knowing how clear Mora is in his own mind that Evers is the clear #1. Whether you blamed it on Evers or not, the offense was so unbelievably pitiful (more on that in a moment) that is was shocking to me we didn’t do something. (In fairness to Mora, his goal is to win football games and we did. But sheesh. The first half of that game was as unwatchable a competitive football game as I think I’ve ever seen. No criticism from me for anyone who bailed. To me, the story that our QB play was that unbelievably bad is the lead — not that we managed a 7 point win that came down to the end against a really bad team, playing without its QB, at home. (Please don’t think that means I don’t care that we won — I was there through the last attempt at a pass and 30 laterals.)

O.K., let’s get to the day and game in more detail. One thing I learned is that controlling a tailgate with 11 people is far more than 3 times the work as doing my normal work for 2-4. Everyone wants to help, damn them. We didn’t get out of the parking lot until the game was already 15 minutes underway, and it wasn’t until I unpacked the car last night that I had any idea whether anything that was supposed to come back home with me did. Luckily, being 15 minutes late meant I missed absolutely nothing except seeing an extra 15 minutes of unwatchable football.

I’m sure the Defense caught a break with their QB being out, but you can’t be more dominant than they were. Less than 200 yards of total offense allowed, 2/17 on combined third and fourth downs and a shutout but for the offense giving the ball away in FG range and a special teams TD. Price Yates played most of the game and had a large impact. He started playing for Barton but finished playing for Gourdine, who I assume got hurt at some point. Tui and McDonald were outstanding, as always. Chadwick and Jordan Wright both played corner, sending Malcolm Bell back to the bench (after a number of games here he filled in more than adequately). Just a great team performance up and down the lineup.

Not a good game for special team. Yes, the wind was a huge factor but we lose yardage every week in the punting game. The KR return TD we gave up followed about a 50 yard return on the kick before. (By the way, on both of those we kicked into the wind and to Freeman’s credit the kicks reached the goal line). Freeman had another really good game, missing the 53 or so yarder notwithstanding (on a day that was so windy, even with the wind at his back that was a low percentage attempt). Sheffield did a very good job in the wind deciding which punts to try to get to and which not to, and getting some return yards.

The offense was beyond pitiful the first half — we would not have scored on Merrimack the way we played in the first half — and but for two huge individual efforts was only slightly better in the second. But Durrell Robinson turning what should have been a 6-8 yard gain into a 68 yard TD, and then Skyler Bell catching the heave into the wind into the red zone, which was a spectacular play that reflected on the pass not at all (other than credit for someone giving him a chance to make a play for the first time in weeks), was enough to win. Barely. I talked about the QB above, and won’t do so again, but we went for a fifth straight half unable to run the ball a lick. And then, even beyond the one that Robinson broke, the second half was a bit better. But if we’re going to get to 8-4 we have to be better than we were yesterday.

So there we are. 5-3, with nowhere near a halfway decent win to our name, but 5-3 nonetheless. The way we are playing offense winning in Southern Ontario is a pipe dream, but we’ll be favored in the other 3 and should be able to win. Of course, that requires winning twice on the road, where I’m not sure that we’ve won more than twice combined in 5 years or so, but UMass and UAB are both terrible football teams. But get it done, and find a bowl stuck with taking us, and being 8-4 with a chance to beat at least a decent G-5 team in a bowl game is more than most of us would have asked for at the beginning of the season. Certainly more than I would have asked for. Despite knowing how far we have to go, and not being sure being an independent with de minimus TV money leaves us much of.a chance of getting there. But doing what we can requires being ready on Friday night to get to 5-1 on this bizarre six game homestand, and 6-1 at home for the year.

Great post as always.

On offense we have to accept the fact that this is a different team without the key linemen that we lost. Honestly I don’t know what we can expect if anything from the Syracuse game. A good running game travels well but we aren’t in the same world that we were in against UB and FAU.

Hopefully we have enough juice to deal with Georgia State, UMass and UAB. Worst case scenario is that we lose the next three and head into UMass with them having a shot to ruin our season.

Fagnano isn’t great and he also has accuracy issues, but tends to connect more, and with our defense connecting 2-3 times and finding someone like Sheffield in space is enough to get us where we need to be. We have nice group of receivers and tight ends. I would like to use them.

STs. Freeman is nice. And man it’s great to have Sheffield back there, he catches so well and confidently. I don’t cringe when we receive punts.

Defense is about as good as you can expect and you can tell that unit knows what it wants to do.

 

[ZooCougar]

He's not right. But it allows him to sleep at night.

Mora sees them both play every week against each other, working with the SAME receivers and against the SAME defense. When he says Evers looks good in practice, I believe him.

Why that isn't translating to the field, I don't know. But the idea that a coach is starting someone for an entire year because he "made a promise to that player" is pretty crazy even for this board...

It’s not crazy. And it’s been talked about in the other places that talk about UConn football. Sorry but you couldn’t be more wrong here. The idea that he sees something is incredibly suspicious at this point. Practice is just practice.

 

[AllHusky]

He's not right. But it allows him to sleep at night.

Mora sees them both play every week against each other, working with the SAME receivers and against the SAME defense. When he says Evers looks good in practice, I believe him.

Why that isn't translating to the field, I don't know. But the idea that a coach is starting someone for an entire year because he "made a promise to that player" is pretty crazy even for this board...

Agreed. I have a ton of faith in both DB and Mora, praying that this gambit pays off. We are 1 win away from playing with house money for the year. Again sooner rather than later works!

 

[uconnfan68]

According to Mora he practices well.

The other thing I forgot to mention is that Mora may have and likely did make some promises. And he wants to make good on those in order to build up a good track record. We simply won’t thrive unless we can be player in the portal market.

That I can accept to a certain degree.

The only promise he should make is best player plays.