The View From Section 241 — UAB

[businesslawyer]

I remember being in the Rent in (from memory) ‘03 when we fell behind Western Michigan 17-0, and were backed up inside our own 5. I remember a friend asking me and my son why we weren’t concerned. We both thought our team with Orlovsky was better than them and had more than enough time to make it right, and they did. I remember in ‘13 when, at 0-9, we fell behind Temple 21-0 on the road, and had every reason to just give up on the game and the season. And then we won 28-21, and won out the season from there. And, for the rest of my time, I’ll remember going downstairs at halftime today, down 20-3 and having been totally outplayed, and anger eating. I knew the game wasn’t over, but I didn’t give us much of a chance either. And then we snuck closer, and then out of nowhere (because they remained as iffy in the first half as they were last week) the defense came back big time. And then the forced QB change and about 9 minutes of perfect football, marred only by the missed FG that, instead of icing the game, left the outcome in some doubt until the last 30 seconds. We’ll get into all of this in more depth in a minute, but no one should lose the fact that we played perfect defensively in the 4th Q, without which what happened on offense wouldn’t even have mattered.

O.K., so let’s start with offense. We had really good drives to start each half, but otherwise, until the QB change, struggled mightily. This is what I’ll say — I thought Evers the last two games played better, and was completing a higher percentage of passes and making some intelligent runs. But — well, two buts actually, and neither could be ignored. The first is that he simply doesn’t look at secondary receivers. He doesn’t. If the play works he can get it to the guy he has in mind before the snap, but that won’t always be where the highest percentage or yardage is. And the second, not unrelated, is that even when he is completing an acceptable percentage of passes, the yardage per throw and yardage per reception is so damn low that you can’t run an effective offense with it. It’s one thing when a QB has a bad game — like against Rice — but our problem is that even when he has a good game throwing the ball, it isn’t enough. And unless we can simply overpower an opponent and run it down their throats — difficult to do down two starting OL and when the defense isn’t worried about passing because even if the QB hits the receiver we’re not gaining enough yards to hurt them — we are stuck struggling on offense. And then, with the QB change, everything changed. Not that JF was perfect either. Far from it. But even being far from perfect, him being in lets WRs make plays (and Bell, despite the drops, made maybe the biggest play of the game with the long reception on the left sideline), and opens up the running game more, and, if nothing else, seems to increase everyone elses’ confidence and competence. Yes, Mora sees them at practice every day, and Mora knows a trillion times what I know about football, but I’m not an idiot either and we really need to stop having this debate and let Fagnano finish the season out. There’s every chance that isn’t an issue depending on Evers’ injury anyway. And, while it won’t be what we’re talking about, kudos for Edwards and the OL for the last run.

Not a good enough day for special teams. We didn’t punt a lot, but Freeman obviously missed a crucial kick (not beating on the kid — he hadn’t missed from under 50 in like two months but it is what it is) and, again, we’re giving up far more return yards than we’re getting (this week on punts). But the game wasn’t won, lost, or even heavily influenced by special teams this week.

So the defense was simply handled by UAB for the first half, largely the way Georgia State handled it. We mostly contain huge plays, but running against us is way too easy and when you combine that with the ability to complete short passes — well, you go from owning defensive third downs, as we did for most of the season, to suddenly allowing teams to convert half of their third downs. And then the second half occurred. And we contained the run, pressured and sacked the QB, generated takeaways and made plays. Two entirely different halves defensively, but the second half was great and without it we wouldn’t be talking about QB play because nothing JF did would have mattered. Credit where it is due. It’s a shame we’re losing as many D starters as we are, because this unit is good. Also, don’t know what happened to Jordan Wright, but at some point Malcolm Bell took over (and, as when he took over for Chadwick, did well).

So that’s it. Unlike our first six wins this year, this one was on the road and this one required a once a decade type comeback. Both great to watch and more of an accomplishment than some of the others. I’m sorry that, on another thread, some people think I’m being harsh when I point out that none of the 7 teams we’ve beaten our good. I don’t know why. I’m not doubting that this team is obviously better than what we’ve been putting up with since 2010, I’m not doubting how much fun the six game homestand was and I’m not minimizing how exciting the second half was today. But facts are still facts. Look at the ratings of who we have beaten — it is what it is. I‘m not one to bury my head in the sand and pretend that this is the same as being 7-3 would have been when we were in the Big East, or even the American. But it also doesn’t mean that we’re not 7-3 — we are and I’m happy for the accomplishment and the winning football I’ve watched. A week off to recover, and then off to the Dome. That will be a tough game — Syracuse is much better than anyone we’ve beaten yet, and probably significantly better than anyone we’ve played. It will be interesting to see who is taking snaps. But then, assuming no screw up against UMass, the bowl game, even against a 6-6 G-5 team, will give us a chance to measure ourselves and try to get a win against someone better than anyone we’ve beaten so far. But no looking ahead. Let’s use the off week and get ready for 60 minutes of our best football of the year up in Southern Ontario. And let’s spend a few days enjoying the afterglow of this great comeback.

 

[NEforceUConn]

I’ll take it. Glass is half full (and there’s another bottle of red in the pantry).

 

[CL82]

it is indisputably correct that Evers locks onto his receivers, but Fagnano does the same thing. Both really aren't great at working through their progressions. Both do not throw a perfect ball either, often behind the receiver. The combination of those things is incredibly frustrating as a fan no matter who is under center. But it is indisputable that Fagnano moves the offense better. You could say that Evers was victimized by more drops, but I think that is a consequence of Joey throwing a more catchable ball.

I could not agree more that our quarterback controversy is over and Fagnano is the clear winner. Don't give me any more of this "stand by your Man" nonsense. It's admirable, I guess, but at the end of the day, the job of the coach in the players is to win football games. Fagnano gives us a better chance to do that. You want to frame it as an injury, feel free. But Joey needs to be our guy going forward.

For what it's worth I don't think anyone is critical of you pointing out the weakness of our opponents. It is what it is. But the point is for over a decade we've had teams that would have lost the games we've won this year, and lost them by a lot. The old saying that a journey of 1000 miles begins with, but a single step comes to mind. In this case, a single step would be being able to be competitive with other FBS football teams, but we've done more than that. Instead of a single step, we've made a leap and a bound and actually have won football games versus FBS opponents. Heck we've had plenty of years where trying to find wins against FCS opponents was hard enough.

So, yeah, we have a long way to go, but we're definitely on the road to being a successful football team. I'm going to enjoy that journey, because the last decade plus of being a Connecticut football fan really sucked. So I hope you'll forgive me if I don't obsess over our opponents rankings and instead just allow myself to enjoy our first winning season in over a decade. That is a huge step forward for this program. it simply can't be overstated how important it is.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

I remember being in the Rent in (from memory) ‘03 when we fell behind Western Michigan 17-0, and were backed up inside our own 5. I remember a friend asking me and my son why we weren’t concerned. We both thought our team with Orlovsky was better than them and had more than enough time to make it right, and they did. I remember in ‘13 when, at 0-9, we fell behind Temple 21-0 on the road, and had every reason to just give up on the game and the season. And then we won 28-21, and won out the season from there. And, for the rest of my time, I’ll remember going downstairs at halftime today, down 20-3 and having been totally outplayed, and anger eating. I knew the game wasn’t over, but I didn’t give us much of a chance either. And then we snuck closer, and then out of nowhere (because they remained as iffy in the first half as they were last week) the defense came back big time. And then the forced QB change and about 9 minutes of perfect football, marred only by the missed FG that, instead of icing the game, left the outcome in some doubt until the last 30 seconds. We’ll get into all of this in more depth in a minute, but no one should lose the fact that we played perfect defensively in the 4th Q, without which what happened on offense wouldn’t even have mattered.

O.K., so let’s start with offense. We had really good drives to start each half, but otherwise, until the QB change, struggled mightily. This is what I’ll say — I thought Evers the last two games played better, and was completing a higher percentage of passes and making some intelligent runs. But — well, two buts actually, and neither could be ignored. The first is that he simply doesn’t look at secondary receivers. He doesn’t. If the play works he can get it to the guy he has in mind before the snap, but that won’t always be where the highest percentage or yardage is. And the second, not unrelated, is that even when he is completing an acceptable percentage of passes, the yardage per throw and yardage per reception is so damn low that you can’t run an effective offense with it. It’s one thing when a QB has a bad game — like against Rice — but our problem is that even when he has a good game throwing the ball, it isn’t enough. And unless we can simply overpower an opponent and run it down their throats — difficult to do down two starting OL and when the defense isn’t worried about passing because even if the QB hits the receiver we’re not gaining enough yards to hurt them — we are stuck struggling on offense. And then, with the QB change, everything changed. Not that JF was perfect either. Far from it. But even being far from perfect, him being in lets WRs make plays (and Bell, despite the drops, made maybe the biggest play of the game with the long reception on the left sideline), and opens up the running game more, and, if nothing else, seems to increase everyone elses’ confidence and competent. Yes, Mora sees them at practice every day, and Mora knows a trillion times what I know about football, but I’m not an idiot either and we really need to stop having this debate and let Fagnano finish the season out. There’s every chance that isn’t an issue depending on Evers’ injury anyway. And, while it won’t be what we’re talking about, kudos for Edwards and the OL for the last run.

Not a good enough day for special teams. We didn’t punt a lot, but Freeman obviously missed a crucial kick (not beating on the kid — he hadn’t missed from under 50 in like two months but it is what it is) and, again, we’re giving up far more return yards than we’re getting (this week on punts). But the game wasn’t won, lost, or even heavily influenced by special teams this week.

So the defense was simply handled by UAB for the first half, largely the way Georgia State handled it. We mostly contain huge plays, but running against us is way too easy and when you combine that with the ability to complete short passes — well, you go from owning defensive third downs, as we did for most of the season, to suddenly allowing teams to convert half of their third downs. And then the second half occurred. And we contained the run, pressured and sacked the QB, generated takeaways and made plays. Two entirely different halves defensively, but the second half was great and without it we wouldn’t be talking about QB play because nothing JF did would have mattered. Credit where it is due. It’s a shame we’re losing as many D starters as we are, because this unit is good. Also, don’t know what happened to Jordan Wright, but at some point Malcolm Bell took over (and, as when he took over for Chadwick, did well).

So that’s it. Unlike our first six wins this year, this one was on the road and this one required a once a decade type comeback. Both great to watch and more of an accomplishment than some of the others. I’m sorry that, on another thread, some people think I’m being harsh when I point out that none of the 7 teams we’ve beaten our good. I don’t know why. I’m not doubting that this team is obviously better than what we’ve been putting up with since 2010, I’m not doubting how much fun the six game homestand was and I’m not minimizing how exciting the second half was today. But facts are still facts. Look at the ratings of who we have beaten — it is what it is. I‘m not one to bury my head in the sand and pretend that this is the same as being 7-3 would have been when we were in the Big East, or even the American. But it also doesn’t mean that we’re not 7-3 — we are and I’m happy for the accomplishment and the winning football I’ve watched. A week off to recover, and then off to the Dome. That will be a tough game — Syracuse is much better than anyone we’ve beaten yet, and probably significantly better than anyone we’ve played. It will be interesting to see who is taking snaps. But then, assuming no screw up against UMass, the bowl game, even against a 6-6 G-5 team, will give us a chance to measure ourselves and try to get a win against someone better than anyone we’ve beaten so far. But no looking ahead. Let’s use the off week and get ready for 60 minutes of our best football of the year up in Southern Ontario. And let’s spend a few days enjoying the afterglow of this great comeback.

A very compelling analysis.

 

[businesslawyer]

I’ll take it. Glass is half full (and there’s another bottle of red in the pantry).

In my life, there always is (and always needs to be) another bottle of red available.

 

[coachcap]

Wow! That game was tale of two distinctly different situations. In the first half the Huskies couldn't get out of their own way. The second half was like a sequel to True Grit.
Regarding the missed field goal by Freeman: I'm willing to give him a Mulligan due to the monsoon. There was an extra point earlier (line drive) that almost hit the left upright. Slippery ovoid ball can be an adventure & after watching the replay, it seemed that the holder had a slight bobble getting the ball in kicking position.
Coach Jim knows more football knowledge than I'll ever possess, but after the last touchdown, my preference was to go for a two point conversion to make it a two score difference. You're already up by seven anyway. Try to put the game away with the amount of time left. But I digress...
Very happy with the final outcome. This team did the University proud. Two weeks to lick their wounds & make preparations to dice the Fruit in perfect playing conditions.
Go Huskies!

 

[Palatine]

I knew the game wasn’t over, but I didn’t give us much of a chance either.

My guess is that was a universal feeling. I know it sums up my perspective at that point. It was an an amazing comeback that doesn't happen without some help from UAB. We tried to screw it up with dropped passes, poor special team play, and a terrible targeting penalty on the last drive. But we didn't. 7-3 is 7-3. You are what your record says you are.

One point. I know Mora lives with the "starters don't lose their position by injury" philosophy. But he needs to give some weight to the fact that Fagnano has earned the job with his play on the field.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

In my life, there always is (and always needs to be) another bottle of red available.

A bottle of red, a bottle of white. It all depends upon your appetite...

 

[freescooter]

The defense has had a bad game. Fortunately it was the 2nd half of last week a the first this week. And we won both. Now that they have that out of the way, let’s hope they play their best football the rest of the way! Made some great plays. The int at the 1 was a huge one, and shut UAB down. Without that, as you said, there is no comeback. When you are an underdog as we will be against the Canadians, great d is imperative.

one last thing. I hate bye weeks. Teams seem to always come out sluggish. Especially when they are playing well.

 

[noeynox]

it is indisputably correct that Evers locks onto his receivers, but Fagnano does the same thing. Both really aren't great at working through their progressions. Both do not throw a perfect ball either, often behind the receiver. The combination of those things is incredibly frustrating as a fan no matter who is under center. But it is indisputable that Fagnano moves the offense better. You could say that Evers was victimized by more drops, but I think that is a consequence of Joey throwing a more catchable ball.

I could not agree more that our quarterback controversy is over and Fagnano is the clear winner. Don't give me any more of this "stand by your Man" nonsense. It's admirable, I guess, but at the end of the day, the job of the coach in the players is to win football games. Fagnano gives us a better chance to do that. You want to frame it as an injury, feel free. But Joey needs to be our guy going forward.

For what it's worth I don't think anyone is critical of you pointing out the weakness of our opponents. It is what it is. But the point is for over a decade we've had teams that would have lost the games we've won this year, and lost them by a lot. The old saying that a journey of 1000 miles begins with, but a single step comes to mind. In this case, a single step would be being able to be competitive with other FBS football teams, but we've done more than that. Instead of a single step, we've made a leap in a bound and actually have won football games sisma FBS opponents. Heck we've had plenty of years. We're trying to find wins against FCS opponents was hard enough. So, yeah, we have a long way to go, but we're definitely on the road to being a successful football team. I'm going to enjoy that journey, because the last decade plus of a Connecticut football fan really sucked. So I hope you'll forgive me if I don't obsess over our opponents rankings and instead just allow myself to enjoy our first winning season in over a decade. That is a huge step forward for this program. it simply can't be overstated how important it is.

The touchdown pass to Gathers, you see Fagano start by looking left and then looking right before zipping a pass to Gathings. You can see it on the ESPN dot com highlight

 

[businesslawyer]

The defense has had a bad game. Fortunately it was the 2nd half of last week a the first this week. And we won both. Now that they have that out of the way, let’s hope they play their best football the rest of the way! Made some great plays. The int at the 1 was a huge one, and shut UAB down. Without that, as you said, there is no comeback. When you are an underdog as we will be against the Canadians, great d is imperative.

one last thing. I hate bye weeks. Teams seem to always come out sluggish. Especially when they are playing well.

On defense it’s really hard to single people out when the defense as a unit plays like it did in the second half. But the Dixon-Williams interception was absolutely a great play that kept us in the game, as was the strip by Jevon Banks (whom I don’t remember having made a play all year).

 

[ZooCougar]

it is indisputably correct that Evers locks onto his receivers, but Fagnano does the same thing. Both really aren't great at working through their progressions. Both do not throw a perfect ball either, often behind the receiver. The combination of those things is incredibly frustrating as a fan no matter who is under center. But it is indisputable that Fagnano moves the offense better. You could say that Evers was victimized by more drops, but I think that is a consequence of Joey throwing a more catchable ball.

I could not agree more that our quarterback controversy is over and Fagnano is the clear winner. Don't give me any more of this "stand by your Man" nonsense. It's admirable, I guess, but at the end of the day, the job of the coach in the players is to win football games. Fagnano gives us a better chance to do that. You want to frame it as an injury, feel free. But Joey needs to be our guy going forward.

For what it's worth I don't think anyone is critical of you pointing out the weakness of our opponents. It is what it is. But the point is for over a decade we've had teams that would have lost the games we've won this year, and lost them by a lot. The old saying that a journey of 1000 miles begins with, but a single step comes to mind. In this case, a single step would be being able to be competitive with other FBS football teams, but we've done more than that. Instead of a single step, we've made a leap and a bound and actually have won football games versus FBS opponents. Heck we've had plenty of years where trying to find wins against FCS opponents was hard enough.

So, yeah, we have a long way to go, but we're definitely on the road to being a successful football team. I'm going to enjoy that journey, because the last decade plus of being a Connecticut football fan really sucked. So I hope you'll forgive me if I don't obsess over our opponents rankings and instead just allow myself to enjoy our first winning season in over a decade. That is a huge step forward for this program. it simply can't be overstated how important it is.

Saying he doesn’t go through a progression is flat out wrong. He also throws a much nicer ball than the sidearm stuff that Evers does.

Also I disagree with others that he is an NFL QB. I mean Tim Boyle technically does exist, but he was there because of a couple of unique situations.

Did he get shafted this season? Yes.

 

[noeynox]

On defense it’s really hard to single people out when the defense as a unit plays like it did in the second half. But the Dixon-Williams interception was absolutely a great play that kept us in the game, as was the strip by Jevon Banks (whom I don’t remember having made a play all year).

McDonald has been a godsend. He defended that curl route in the endzone in his zone coverage drop fantastically. That is one guy is going to be difficult to replace.

 

[SubbaBub]

None of the 7 wins were agaisnt good teams, that's just a fact. It's also a fact that no one cares who you beat unless you are trying to game the CFP rankings People that cover CFB just look at the number. Both things are true.

We are a run first team. QB just needs to do enough. Neither is great, but I happy Evers has improved and JF has stepped up when called.

Defense has also played well, but I wouldn't call it objectively good. Being a whole lot better than the last few seasons not getting lapped on the outside or blasted through the middle is more than good enough for now. Guys seems.to be in the rights spots and the tackling is by far the most noticeable improvement. The first guys is usually making it as opposed to the 4th.

Losing to UMass would be a major disappointment, but that can wait a week. Right now a road game against a regional P4 opponent is the true measuring stick for the season. You can only schedule wins for so long. Beating teams like Cuse, Duke, and WF need to be regular occurrences.

Do we need this win, no. Mora has already accomplished a lot in 12 months. It would be a nice trophy for the season as bowl games outside the CFP are not really legit contests any more. There will be no version of the SCar win from 09 going forward regardless of the opponent.

A 9+ win season is there for the taking so go get it.

 

[CL82]

Saying he doesn’t go through a progression is flat out wrong. He also throws a much nicer ball than the sidearm stuff that Evers does.

Also I disagree with others that he is an NFL QB. I mean Tim Boyle technically does exist, but he was there because of a couple of unique situations.

Did he get shafted this season? Yes.

He tends to lock onto his receiver. If you don't see that that's fine.

I never said he was an NFL quarterback. But thank you for offering your assessment on that. It wouldn't be a zoocougar post without a strawman argument or two.

Did he get shafted this season? Well, if being shafted is losing out the starting spot to a quarterback that the coaching staff thought was better, well, then, I guess he got shafted. But, that's pretty much how football, and athletics in general, works. Was that the right decision? Well, our record, which is the best we've had in over a decade, arguably says yes.

Now, you and I may be able to find some agreement in the notion that I think he is the best choice for us through the remainder of the season. I am very curious to see what Mora decides for the Syracuse game. I get the fact that Evers being a threat to run theoretically stops teams from dropping back into coverage, but there's more than enough data points at this point to say Fagnano moves the team better. Let's see what happens.

 

[uconndogs]

We'll be more than a TD dog at Cuse (could be 10+). That said, next week we have a bye and they had to Cali. The week after our game they host Miami. Hopefully they look past the Huskies and we figure a way to control the ball and score points. I would give us a fighter's chance at the Rent, but in that dome it's going to be tough.

 

[cohenzone]

None of the 7 wins were agaisnt good teams, that's just a fact. It's also a fact that no one cares who you beat unless you are trying to game the CFP rankings People that cover CFB just look at the number. Both things are true.

We are a run first team. QB just needs to do enough. Neither is great, but I happy Evers has improved and JF has stepped up when called.

Defense has also played well, but I wouldn't call it objectively good. Being a whole lot better than the last few seasons not getting lapped on the outside or blasted through the middle is more than good enough for now. Guys seems.to be in the rights spots and the tackling is by far the most noticeable improvement. The first guys is usually making it as opposed to the 4th.

Losing to UMass would be a major disappointment, but that can wait a week. Right now a road game against a regional P4 opponent is the true measuring stick for the season. You can only schedule wins for so long. Beating teams like Cuse, Duke, and WF need to be regular occurrences.

Do we need this win, no. Mora has already accomplished a lot in 12 months. It would be a nice trophy for the season as bowl games outside the CFP are not really legit contests any more. There will be no version of the SCar win from 09 going forward regardless of the opponent.

A 9+ win season is there for the taking so go get it.

I mostly agree. To some extent I think some were a bit too optimistic and unrealistic about what kind of team this is. Also not accounting for some of the strengths of even lesser teams like Wake and UAB that might be a problem for us. I am just loving the winning and having a team of players that look like they know how to compete and win. It has been a long drought. The coaches have done a very good job, especially given very average QB play. I just don’t know how much of a schedule upgrade is possible as an Indy not named Notre Dame, especially second half of the season when teams are usually in full conference mode.

 

[ZooCougar]

He tends to lock onto his receiver. If you don't see that that's fine.

I never said he was an NFL quarterback. But thank you for offering your assessment on that. It wouldn't be a zoocougar post without a strawman argument or two.

Did he get shafted this season? Well, if being shafted is losing out the starting spot to a quarterback that the coaching staff thought was better, well, then, I guess he got shafted. But, that's pretty much how football, and athletics in general, works. Was that the right decision? Well, our record, which is the best we've had in over a decade, arguably says yes.

Now, you and I may be able to find some agreement in the notion that I think he is the best choice for us through the remainder of the season. I am very curious to see what Mora decides for the Syracuse game. I get the fact that Evers being a threat to run theoretically stops teams from dropping back into coverage, but there's more than enough data points at this point to say Fagnano moves the team better. Let's see what happens.

Do you even know what that means?


Because if you did, you wouldn’t make the comment.

Also I didn’t say that you said he was NFL caliber. I was referring to other people. I want Fagnano over Evers but I’m realistic about his capabilities.

So it wasn’t a strawman. Which is also a concept you don’t seem to grasp.

 

[uconnfan68]

I remember being in the Rent in (from memory) ‘03 when we fell behind Western Michigan 17-0, and were backed up inside our own 5. I remember a friend asking me and my son why we weren’t concerned. We both thought our team with Orlovsky was better than them and had more than enough time to make it right, and they did. I remember in ‘13 when, at 0-9, we fell behind Temple 21-0 on the road, and had every reason to just give up on the game and the season. And then we won 28-21, and won out the season from there. And, for the rest of my time, I’ll remember going downstairs at halftime today, down 20-3 and having been totally outplayed, and anger eating. I knew the game wasn’t over, but I didn’t give us much of a chance either. And then we snuck closer, and then out of nowhere (because they remained as iffy in the first half as they were last week) the defense came back big time. And then the forced QB change and about 9 minutes of perfect football, marred only by the missed FG that, instead of icing the game, left the outcome in some doubt until the last 30 seconds. We’ll get into all of this in more depth in a minute, but no one should lose the fact that we played perfect defensively in the 4th Q, without which what happened on offense wouldn’t even have mattered.

O.K., so let’s start with offense. We had really good drives to start each half, but otherwise, until the QB change, struggled mightily. This is what I’ll say — I thought Evers the last two games played better, and was completing a higher percentage of passes and making some intelligent runs. But — well, two buts actually, and neither could be ignored. The first is that he simply doesn’t look at secondary receivers. He doesn’t. If the play works he can get it to the guy he has in mind before the snap, but that won’t always be where the highest percentage or yardage is. And the second, not unrelated, is that even when he is completing an acceptable percentage of passes, the yardage per throw and yardage per reception is so damn low that you can’t run an effective offense with it. It’s one thing when a QB has a bad game — like against Rice — but our problem is that even when he has a good game throwing the ball, it isn’t enough. And unless we can simply overpower an opponent and run it down their throats — difficult to do down two starting OL and when the defense isn’t worried about passing because even if the QB hits the receiver we’re not gaining enough yards to hurt them — we are stuck struggling on offense. And then, with the QB change, everything changed. Not that JF was perfect either. Far from it. But even being far from perfect, him being in lets WRs make plays (and Bell, despite the drops, made maybe the biggest play of the game with the long reception on the left sideline), and opens up the running game more, and, if nothing else, seems to increase everyone elses’ confidence and competence. Yes, Mora sees them at practice every day, and Mora knows a trillion times what I know about football, but I’m not an idiot either and we really need to stop having this debate and let Fagnano finish the season out. There’s every chance that isn’t an issue depending on Evers’ injury anyway. And, while it won’t be what we’re talking about, kudos for Edwards and the OL for the last run.

Not a good enough day for special teams. We didn’t punt a lot, but Freeman obviously missed a crucial kick (not beating on the kid — he hadn’t missed from under 50 in like two months but it is what it is) and, again, we’re giving up far more return yards than we’re getting (this week on punts). But the game wasn’t won, lost, or even heavily influenced by special teams this week.

So the defense was simply handled by UAB for the first half, largely the way Georgia State handled it. We mostly contain huge plays, but running against us is way too easy and when you combine that with the ability to complete short passes — well, you go from owning defensive third downs, as we did for most of the season, to suddenly allowing teams to convert half of their third downs. And then the second half occurred. And we contained the run, pressured and sacked the QB, generated takeaways and made plays. Two entirely different halves defensively, but the second half was great and without it we wouldn’t be talking about QB play because nothing JF did would have mattered. Credit where it is due. It’s a shame we’re losing as many D starters as we are, because this unit is good. Also, don’t know what happened to Jordan Wright, but at some point Malcolm Bell took over (and, as when he took over for Chadwick, did well).

So that’s it. Unlike our first six wins this year, this one was on the road and this one required a once a decade type comeback. Both great to watch and more of an accomplishment than some of the others. I’m sorry that, on another thread, some people think I’m being harsh when I point out that none of the 7 teams we’ve beaten our good. I don’t know why. I’m not doubting that this team is obviously better than what we’ve been putting up with since 2010, I’m not doubting how much fun the six game homestand was and I’m not minimizing how exciting the second half was today. But facts are still facts. Look at the ratings of who we have beaten — it is what it is. I‘m not one to bury my head in the sand and pretend that this is the same as being 7-3 would have been when we were in the Big East, or even the American. But it also doesn’t mean that we’re not 7-3 — we are and I’m happy for the accomplishment and the winning football I’ve watched. A week off to recover, and then off to the Dome. That will be a tough game — Syracuse is much better than anyone we’ve beaten yet, and probably significantly better than anyone we’ve played. It will be interesting to see who is taking snaps. But then, assuming no screw up against UMass, the bowl game, even against a 6-6 G-5 team, will give us a chance to measure ourselves and try to get a win against someone better than anyone we’ve beaten so far. But no looking ahead. Let’s use the off week and get ready for 60 minutes of our best football of the year up in Southern Ontario. And let’s spend a few days enjoying the afterglow of this great comeback.

To me, the key was totally on the refs. There were some iffy things that went our way for a change.

 

[UConnDan97]

McDonald has been a godsend. He defended that curl route in the endzone in his zone coverage drop fantastically. That is one guy is going to be difficult to replace.

You're 100% correct, but we also said the same thing about Jackson Mitchell. You've gotta hand it to this staff in terms of how they've handled the linebacker position...

 

[Nostical]

To me, the key was totally on the refs. There were some iffy things that went our way for a change.

At 'Cuse the refs will be from the ACC. Not a good harbinger for us.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[CL82]

Do you even know what that means?


Because if you did, you wouldn’t make the comment.

Also I didn’t say that you said he was NFL caliber. I was referring to other people. I want Fagnano over Evers but I’m realistic about his capabilities.

So it wasn’t a strawman. Which is also a concept you don’t seem to grasp.

Lol, you were doing so well, but then you had to throw in ad hominem attack at the end. Oh well, baby steps, right?

 

[Woof 101]

In my life, there always is (and always needs to be) another bottle of red available.

Sounds to be a man after Geno's heart.

 

[uconnbill]

The Athletic has UConn at 71st which I will take after last year being in the bottom 10 a great deal the last 12 years or so.
UConn can beat Syracuse if they can control keeping the passing game in front of them and not letting it get behind them