The View From Section 241 — Rice

[businesslawyer]

Different format this week, and late getting this posted, in each case because I’m just so damn ticked off.

1. Losing games as a double digit favorite just can’t happen very often if you’re trying to dig yourself out of a hole. When it happens, it normally means you’re being either outcoached or outhusted or both, and that was certainly the case Saturday. Frankly, it’s hard for me to tell whether it was one, the other, or both. Our offense looked so putrid but for the opening play and the last five minutes of the half that it wasn’t clear to me whether Rice knew what plays we were running or just were working harder than we were. But on a lot of the incomplete passes, or too short passes, I didn’t see open receivers down field. It was as if they were playing with 12 to our 11.

2. In the history of college football overtimes, the best I can tell no division 1 school had lost two OT games in a single season. We’ve lost 3 in 5 road games. Statistically that puts this in the manna from heaven level of probability. Great. I’m assuming the staff has metrics that were used, and I’m not smarter than supercomputers, but in a college OT the advantage of playing defense first is so huge that I would think if you play D first in the first OT you would almost always want to go for 2 rather than force a second OT, where you’ll now be at a disadvantage, in the second OT.

3. The defense was actually fairly good for 60 minutes but for 2 totally misplayed plays for long TDs. “But OTHER than that Mrs. Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?”

4. We’ve played really well (despite the late collapse at the Dome) in both games against ACC opponents, and then in each case followed it up with a game in which we played like we thought we were levels above our opponent. And pulled defeat from the jaws of victory. That’s on the upper class leaders of a team as well as the coaching staff. Probably more on the upper class leaders.

5. When your kicker hits 11 straight FG attempts, you could almost be certain that when he finally misses it will cost you a game. Curious whether we travel with different cleats for different field conditions and any thought of I DON’T KNOW, DOING SOMETHING after Freeman slipped the first time.

6. I’m assuming Edwards’ carries are way, way down because of the various injuries he’s dealing with, and that’s fine, but Rosa gets 2 carries for 10 yards and no more? And Flowers gets carries ahead of Lundburgh—Coleman who has looked so good in his cameos? WTF.

7. We can go back to what I said about Mora on day one. We hired a competent football coach, and if he leaves us tomorrow we owe him a lot for the shape the program is in now compared to what he took over. But he was not a genius with any track record at all of his teams being more than good. And even if we go 8-4 again, I will repeat what I said last year before the bowl game — last year, at 8-4, we didn’t have a single win as good as our best 3 wins in ‘22 when we went 6-6 (Fresno State, BC and Liberty). One can easily argue that the roster isn’t any better than we were in Mora’s first year with mostly the prior guys’ players. Just that we have better coaching.

8. I didn’t read the post-game thread because I was too depressed to hear all the ugliness I’m sure was there, but one point that we need to accept as a fan base — it’s hard to win on the road. We went 8-4 last year because we only had 5 road games and while we went 2-0 on the road against the G5, the win at UAB required a real improbable comeback and the other was against UMass, which should hardly count. It is probable that you move any of the three losses to the Rent and we win the games. But you don’t get to play all your games at home (unless you’re Duke and Carolina playing hoops in the NCAA tourney).

That’s it. Saturday made me hate the fact that I care so much about this damn team. I’m not sure even a win on this Saturday is going to keep me from being as depressed as I’ve been for the last 48 hours until we get our shot at Duke.

 

[LIUCHusky]

Different format this week, and late getting this posted, in each case because I’m just so damn ticked off.

1. Losing games as a double digit favorite just can’t happen very often if you’re trying to dig yourself out of a hole. When it happens, it normally means you’re being either outcoached or outhusted or both, and that was certainly the case Saturday. Frankly, it’s hard for me to tell whether it was one, the other, or both. Our offense looked so putrid but for the opening play and the last five minutes of the half that it wasn’t clear to me whether Rice knew what plays we were running or just were working harder than we were. But on a lot of the incomplete passes, or too short passes, I didn’t see open receivers down field. It was as if they were playing with 12 to our 11.

2. In the history of college football overtimes, the best I can tell no division 1 school had lost two OT games in a single season. We’ve lost 3 in 5 road games. Statistically that puts this in the manna from heaven level of probability. Great. I’m assuming the staff has metrics that were used, and I’m not smarter than supercomputers, but in a college OT the advantage of playing defense first is so huge that I would think if you play D first in the first OT you would almost always want to go for 2 rather than force a second OT, where you’ll now be at a disadvantage, in the second OT.

3. The defense was actually fairly good for 60 minutes but for 2 totally misplayed plays for long TDs. “But OTHER than that Mrs. Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?”

4. We’ve played really well (despite the late collapse at the Dome) in both games against ACC opponents, and then in each case followed it up with a game in which we played like we were above our opponent. And pulled defeat from the jaws of victory. That’s on the upper class leaders of a team as well as the coaching staff. Probably more on the upper class leaders.

5. When your kicker hits 11 straight FG attempts, you could almost be certain that when he finally misses it will cost you a game. Curious whether we travel with different cleats for different field conditions and any thought of I DON’T KNOW, DOING SOMETHING after Freeman slipped the first time.

6. I’m assuming Edwards’ carries are way, way down because of the various injuries he’s dealing with, and that’s fine, but Rosa gets 2 carries for 10 yards and no more? And Flowers gets carries ahead of Lundburgh—Coleman who has looked so good in his cameos? WTF.

7. We can go back to what I said about Mora on day one. We hired a competent football coach, and if he leaves us tomorrow we owe him a lot for the shape the program is in now compared to what he took over. But he was not a genius with any track record at all of his teams being more than good. And even if we go 8-4 again, I will repeat what I said last year before the bowl game — last year, at 8-4, we didn’t have a single win as good as our best 3 wins in ‘22 when we went 6-6 (Fresno State, BC and Liberty). One can easily argue that the roster isn’t any better than we were in Mora’s first year with mostly the prior guys’ players. Just that we have better coaching.

8. I didn’t read the post-game thread because I was too depressed to hear all the ugliness I’m sure was there, but one point that we need to accept as a fan base — it’s hard to win on the road. We went 8-4 last year because we only had 5 road games and while we went 2-0 on the road against the G5, the win at UAB required a really improbably comeback and the other was against UMass, which should hardly count. It is probable that you move any of the three losses to the Rent and we win the games. But you don’t get to play all your games at home (unless you’re Duke and Carolina playing hoops in the NCAA tourney).

That’s it. Saturday made me hate the fact that I care so much about this damn team. I’m not sure even a win on this Saturday is going to keep me from being as depressed as I’ve been for the last 48 hours until we get our shot at Duke.

Don’t ever hate the fact that you care so much about this team. We need more passionate fans like you.

 

[businesslawyer]

Don’t ever hate the fact that you care so much about this team. We need more passionate fans like you.

LOL. Not worried about what “you” or “we” need. I need to not be so damn miserable when we play like we don’t care.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Double edged sword with Mora.

For where we were as a program after Edsall v2.0, hiring Mora out of left field was a major surprise and boon for the program.

I think that organizationally and program wise Mora has exceeded most expectations - my issues with him are on Gameday where he's been a disappointment.

Issues with clock management and game management are costing UConn wins. Maybe we wouldn't be in the position as a program to win those games without him, but it's absolutely a valid criticism that his Gameday management has been poor.

UConn FB for as long as we are independent each loss is going to be an odd mix of referendums on the program vs. hey we should just be happy to not be terrible and Mora is the best we can do.

In my opinion Mora will be here as long as he wants and we should generally be happy about that, but it's a loser attitude to think that he's above criticism because we lose games we absolutely have no business losing.

 

[giddyup]

Mora is a fine coach. He reps the school well, and has pulled the program out of the gutter. He isn’t going to get us extraordinary results. Didn’t at UCLA and won’t here. Don’t like his OC or DC. They are too inconsistent and I think get out schemed in-game. But it is what it is. The window on achieving something special with very friendly schedule this year closed. Next year is going to be painful on both side of the ball. The rebuild needs to be rebuilt. Had we won 10 games, I’d like our chances legging up with some solid adds. Ain’t the case. It’s a bummer.

 

[uconnfan68]

Mora is a fine coach. He reps the school well, and has pulled the program out of the gutter. He isn’t going to get us extraordinary results. Didn’t at UCLA and won’t here. Don’t like his OC or DC. They are too inconsistent and I think get out schemed in-game. But it is what it is. The window on achieving something special with very friendly schedule this year closed. Next year is going to be painful on both side of the ball. The rebuild needs to be rebuilt. Had we won 10 games, I’d like our chances legging up with some solid adds. Ain’t the case. It’s a bummer.

^ yeah, that.
Hoping we can rebuild with some speed, strength, and passion (without the antics).

 

[Husker Husky]

UConn as well as every other program is in new territory, where free agency has added a level of difficulty unheard of. HC's and their staff are simply not able to field a team that will sustain. The elite schools will be paying millions and millions, while the UConns will need to look for lightening in a bottle. My observation is that UConn will need to look for the 4/5* recruit that is #2 or #3 on a depth chart and looking to move. That means, you no longer need to try to spot talent from schools like Maine when you can try to pull from the SEC/Big X benches. Of course, UConn will be in the company of virtually every FBS school in doing that.

 

[uconndogs]

In many ways I think Mora is the perfect coach for UCONN at this time. He's experienced and he seemed to adapt to this new era of college football with the portal and NIL perfectly - open and transparent with his players.

I don't know how you essentially turnover an entire defense and expect that defense to be very good. That said, this defense has had some very good stretches, but we simply do not have the talent we had last season across the front seven. Unless DB and Mora have a pot of money no one else knows about, it's going to be very hard for UCONN to progress from this current level of play.

I don't think the Rice loss is indicative of much more than a pretty good team coming in flat to a road game they were fully expected to win. Not an excuse, but it happens. I expect us to get bowl eligible at home against UAB and then come out super jacked for Duke. Duke is at Clemson the previous week which I think works to our advantage.

Biz, as always, some good insights. Thanks.

 

[Stinger92860]

I would like to see our Defense hit and tackle as well as Rice did. There was a huge difference in tackling and IMHO contributed significantly to the loss. We could/should have won in regulation.

 

[ZooCougar]

Different format this week, and late getting this posted, in each case because I’m just so damn ticked off.

1. Losing games as a double digit favorite just can’t happen very often if you’re trying to dig yourself out of a hole. When it happens, it normally means you’re being either outcoached or outhusted or both, and that was certainly the case Saturday. Frankly, it’s hard for me to tell whether it was one, the other, or both. Our offense looked so putrid but for the opening play and the last five minutes of the half that it wasn’t clear to me whether Rice knew what plays we were running or just were working harder than we were. But on a lot of the incomplete passes, or too short passes, I didn’t see open receivers down field. It was as if they were playing with 12 to our 11.

2. In the history of college football overtimes, the best I can tell no division 1 school had lost two OT games in a single season. We’ve lost 3 in 5 road games. Statistically that puts this in the manna from heaven level of probability. Great. I’m assuming the staff has metrics that were used, and I’m not smarter than supercomputers, but in a college OT the advantage of playing defense first is so huge that I would think if you play D first in the first OT you would almost always want to go for 2 rather than force a second OT, where you’ll now be at a disadvantage, in the second OT.

3. The defense was actually fairly good for 60 minutes but for 2 totally misplayed plays for long TDs. “But OTHER than that Mrs. Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?”

4. We’ve played really well (despite the late collapse at the Dome) in both games against ACC opponents, and then in each case followed it up with a game in which we played like we thought we were levels above our opponent. And pulled defeat from the jaws of victory. That’s on the upper class leaders of a team as well as the coaching staff. Probably more on the upper class leaders.

5. When your kicker hits 11 straight FG attempts, you could almost be certain that when he finally misses it will cost you a game. Curious whether we travel with different cleats for different field conditions and any thought of I DON’T KNOW, DOING SOMETHING after Freeman slipped the first time.

6. I’m assuming Edwards’ carries are way, way down because of the various injuries he’s dealing with, and that’s fine, but Rosa gets 2 carries for 10 yards and no more? And Flowers gets carries ahead of Lundburgh—Coleman who has looked so good in his cameos? WTF.

7. We can go back to what I said about Mora on day one. We hired a competent football coach, and if he leaves us tomorrow we owe him a lot for the shape the program is in now compared to what he took over. But he was not a genius with any track record at all of his teams being more than good. And even if we go 8-4 again, I will repeat what I said last year before the bowl game — last year, at 8-4, we didn’t have a single win as good as our best 3 wins in ‘22 when we went 6-6 (Fresno State, BC and Liberty). One can easily argue that the roster isn’t any better than we were in Mora’s first year with mostly the prior guys’ players. Just that we have better coaching.

8. I didn’t read the post-game thread because I was too depressed to hear all the ugliness I’m sure was there, but one point that we need to accept as a fan base — it’s hard to win on the road. We went 8-4 last year because we only had 5 road games and while we went 2-0 on the road against the G5, the win at UAB required a real improbable comeback and the other was against UMass, which should hardly count. It is probable that you move any of the three losses to the Rent and we win the games. But you don’t get to play all your games at home (unless you’re Duke and Carolina playing hoops in the NCAA tourney).

That’s it. Saturday made me hate the fact that I care so much about this damn team. I’m not sure even a win on this Saturday is going to keep me from being as depressed as I’ve been for the last 48 hours until we get our shot at Duke.

PFF or SP+ said the defense had 30 missed tackles.

 

[uconnfan68]

I would like to see our Defense hit and tackle as well as Rice did. There was a huge difference in tackling and IMHO contributed significantly to the loss. We could/should have won in regulation.

Again.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Does Mora make occasional mistakes. Sure, Heck, pro coaches make mistakes too. I've seen nothing to the level of red pants when we played @ Navy. I feel like Mora has done a very good job. In our situation, we have no conference and no championship to play for. Our best players with eligibility remaining frequently leave for greener pastures, pun intended. Ditto the coaches, though maybe with less frequency. Every year we recruit high school kids and college kids to create, at times, a whole new offense or defense. We've been very lucky to have the stability of Fagnano for the last few years in what is otherwise a team of constant turnover. You take the best players you can get and sometimes they work out, sometimes they don't. This is our reality.
All that said, given how poor our D was doing against the run, you probably do go for 2. Is the adage that you go for the tie at home and win on the road?

 

[uconnyankee]

Good write up. You touched on some good points and I agree.
These losses are so frustrating it’s painful coming here because it’s so extreme.

I think a solid win vs UAB will help right the ship. I’ve said that a winning culture is hard to produce and learning to win is a process.

This team is a bunch of pieces put together from the portal and HS recruits making it tougher. I love what Mora has done here. Is he perfect? No. He is a players coach and I think people overlook at what a Skyler Bell staying and having success in this system means.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I can say without question that nobody is more angry or irritated with the result of the Rice game than I am.

We had i believe five consecutive possessions where we stalled due to viewing second down as a throwaway down. After gaining four, five, six yards on a first down during that drive, the play call was either well downfield or to the sideline where JF took one read and threw the ball away. I don't know if the instruction was look for a big play and if it isn't there, get rid of the ball quickly or he took it upon himself to not look for checkdowns but regardless, we cannot throw away that many downs in a game like that. It appeared we believed we could pick up a first down at will from third and anything less than seven or eight yards, only two fail far too many times.

Our defense doesn't handle motion or misdirection well. It killed us against Delaware and it killed us against Rice. Correcting this will be critical if we want to get anywhere as a program.

We had serious problems with the interior of Rice's DL (they had a couple guys rotating who were a decent amount over 300 lbs and strong) and they were able to blow up our edges when we tried to run outside. Our center is small for this level (listed at 273), and while our RT is listed at a good size, he appears to be a little less thick than ideal for an offensive lineman. Fortunately most of our linemen are set to return (and we have a few nice sized youngsters on the roster) so we should be able to expect something a bit better from our line next year.

I hate thinking this but I have a strong suspicion that we go into some games believing we will win just by showing up. I hope that I am wrong here but from what we've seen this may well be the case.

On to UAB.