The View From Section 241 — WFU

[businesslawyer]

For the second straight game, I found that a strange game to sit through. Competitive, and coming down to the end, but strange. Let’s start with the obvious. Yes, that was pass interference by the book, and yes, if the flag comes down there I gave us far better than even odds to force OT. BUT, it’s asking a lot for refs to make a judgment call like that with the game on the line at the end, and while the PI was obvious it didn’t help that I’m not sure the wideout could have gotten to the pass anyway. So, while I know this doesn’t make sense, while it was a penalty I don’t blame the refs that much for swallowing the whistle. The strangeness, however, is that we had every chance to win that game inside the final 2 minutes, but it felt (at least to me) that they outplayed us by a great deal over the course of the game, such that I really don’t understand how we had that good a chance to win at the end. Which, to me, just made it a strange game. But I was clear before — this was the game of the season, and we didn’t get it done (and didn’t show that we were the better team). So the season is tempered, at least until a bowl game gives us an opportunity. But play the hand you’re dealt — win out against 4 poor teams (excluding Syracuse on both counts), take your improvement from last year and see what the postseason brings. And it has to start against Rice, where a loss would be devastating on a different level than yesterday’s.

Offense, defense and specials starting with the offense this week. Bottom line is, just like last game, it got much better as the game ended (because the other team’s D played looser? Got tired? Or did we play better?) but it was nowhere near good enough for most of the game, The total inability to run even a lick is hard to fathom. I don’t understand it so I won’t even bother to try to explain it. Nice to see a third WR, and a TE, step up, but Bell didn’t look like Bell (not sure whether it was ankle, an outstanding corner on the other team or being doubled) and the QB …. I’m not going to weigh in on the controversy about which QB gives us a better chance to win anymore because until either JF plays against Syracuse or Evers plays against a crappy opponent we have nothing but instincts with which to make a fair comparison and that ground has been plowed multiple times. But I will say this — if Evers can’t run, the whole thing changes. Now, maybe he couldn’t run yesterday because we couldn’t run at a team, and it has nothing to do with the concussions, but that isn’t my instinct. We’ll have to see.

Saying how the D did is hard, because the weirdness of their offense was such that it looked like we were way too passive throughout. But, if you look at total yardage allowed (against a P-4 team that is far better offensively than defensively), points allowed (especially considering how many 3 and outs our offense had, and how many times Wake started at or over the 50), the end result was not dominant but, frankly, pretty good. Even though it didn’t seem that way. And even though they had a QB who made at least 3 plays where the rush got to him and he made a good play out of it anyway. I’m not sure I understand the strategy of being that passive against a TB standing behind the line holding the ball and not going anywhere, but the results were not bad.

Nice KO return by Mel Brown when he got a chance after the unsportsmanlike penalty, another good game by Freeman, including one over 50 (any second guessing there is long past its shelf like — sorry for my part coach), but in addition to the shanked punt the lack of hang time led to too much return time. We lost a lot of yardage between their unit and ours.

That’s it for now, because I’m out of time. The remaining two home games don’t give us a chance for a big win, but we need to get them, get bowl eligible and set us up to win in Birmingham and Syracuse. Have a good week all.

 

[jdb50]

Chadwick got burned early but made up for it with the pick before the half. Having a QB who is 215lbs and quick kept us from bringing him down but WF also was holding often. I saw twice when a WF blocker reached for the legs of a UConn rusher as we went by them. On our last series we had trips right with one being Bell. We put him in motion back to the WF side of the field and Evers locked on him and there was no play to be made. We over complicate things. Just snap the ball no motion and see if Bell draws 2 DBs and someone else will be open. We now know we have a good hands TE in Hanson. Can we use him please? Jayden McDonald is continuing to be a terror on defense. He has a great motor.

 

[hardcorehusky]

For the second straight game, I found that a strange game to sit through. Competitive, and coming down to the end, but strange. Let’s start with the obvious. Yes, that was pass interference by the book, and yes, if the flag comes down there I gave us far better than even odds to force OT. BUT, it’s asking a lot for refs to make a judgment call like that with the game on the line at the end, and while the PI was obvious it didn’t help that I’m not sure the wideout could have gotten to the pass anyway. So, while I know this doesn’t make sense, while it was a penalty I don’t blame the refs that much for swallowing the whistle. The strangeness, however, is that we had every chance to win that game inside the final 2 minutes, but it felt (at least to me) that they outplayed us by a great deal over the course of the game, such that I really don’t understand how we had that good a chance to win at the end. Which, to me, just made it a strange game. But I was clear before — this was the game of the season, and we didn’t get it done (and didn’t show that we were the better team). So the season is tempered, at least until a bowl game gives us an opportunity. But play the hand you’re dealt — win out against 4 poor teams (excluding Syracuse on both counts), take your improvement from last year and see what the postseason brings. And it has to start against Rice, where a loss would be devastating on a different level than yesterday’s.

Offense, defense and specials starting with the offense this week. Bottom line is, just like last game, it got much better as the game ended (because the other team’s D played looser? Got tired? Or did we play better?) but it was nowhere near good enough for most of the game, The total inability to run even a lick is hard to fathom. I don’t understand it so I won’t even bother to try to explain it. Nice to see a third WR, and a TE, step up, but Bell didn’t look like Bell (not sure whether it was ankle, an outstanding corner on the other team or being doubled) and the QB …. I’m not going to weigh in on the controversy about which QB gives us a better chance to win anymore because until either JF plays against Syracuse or Evers plays against a crappy opponent we have nothing but instincts with which to make a fair comparison and that ground has been plowed multiple times. But I will say this — if Evers can’t run, the whole thing changes. Now, maybe he couldn’t run yesterday because we couldn’t run at a team, and it has nothing to do with the concussions, but that isn’t my instinct. We’ll have to see.

Saying how the D did is hard, because the weirdness of their offense was such that it looked like we were way too passive throughout. But, if you look at total yardage allowed (against a P-4 team that is far better offensively than defensively), points allowed (especially considering how many 3 and outs our offense had, and how many times Wake started at or over the 50), the end result was not dominant but, frankly, pretty good. Even though it didn’t seem that way. And even though they had a QB who made at least 3 plays where the rush got to him and he made a good play out of it anyway. I’m not sure I understand the strategy of being that passive against a TB standing behind the line holding the ball and not going anywhere, but the results were not bad.

Nice KO return by Mel Brown when he got a chance after the unsportsmanlike penalty, another good game by Freeman, including one over 50 (any second guessing there is long past its shelf like — sorry for my part coach), but in addition to the shanked punt the lack of hang time led to too much return time. We lost a lot of yardage between their unit and ours.

That’s it for now, because I’m out of time. The remaining two home games don’t give us a chance for a big win, but we need to get them, get bowl eligible and set us up to win in Birmingham and Syracuse. Have a good week all.

If you watch the replay, the hold and push moved Gathings out of the path of the pass. That is why it looked uncatchable.

 

[giddyup]

What’s clear to me is the outside zone runs is decoded and Sammis needs a bigger playbook. Evers can throw a nice ball but not with any consistency and is very inaccurate on the move. If he is not a run option , then Fagnano is a better choice… I think.

 

[ZooCougar]

For the second straight game, I found that a strange game to sit through. Competitive, and coming down to the end, but strange. Let’s start with the obvious. Yes, that was pass interference by the book, and yes, if the flag comes down there I gave us far better than even odds to force OT. BUT, it’s asking a lot for refs to make a judgment call like that with the game on the line at the end, and while the PI was obvious it didn’t help that I’m not sure the wideout could have gotten to the pass anyway. So, while I know this doesn’t make sense, while it was a penalty I don’t blame the refs that much for swallowing the whistle. The strangeness, however, is that we had every chance to win that game inside the final 2 minutes, but it felt (at least to me) that they outplayed us by a great deal over the course of the game, such that I really don’t understand how we had that good a chance to win at the end. Which, to me, just made it a strange game. But I was clear before — this was the game of the season, and we didn’t get it done (and didn’t show that we were the better team). So the season is tempered, at least until a bowl game gives us an opportunity. But play the hand you’re dealt — win out against 4 poor teams (excluding Syracuse on both counts), take your improvement from last year and see what the postseason brings. And it has to start against Rice, where a loss would be devastating on a different level than yesterday’s.

Offense, defense and specials starting with the offense this week. Bottom line is, just like last game, it got much better as the game ended (because the other team’s D played looser? Got tired? Or did we play better?) but it was nowhere near good enough for most of the game, The total inability to run even a lick is hard to fathom. I don’t understand it so I won’t even bother to try to explain it. Nice to see a third WR, and a TE, step up, but Bell didn’t look like Bell (not sure whether it was ankle, an outstanding corner on the other team or being doubled) and the QB …. I’m not going to weigh in on the controversy about which QB gives us a better chance to win anymore because until either JF plays against Syracuse or Evers plays against a crappy opponent we have nothing but instincts with which to make a fair comparison and that ground has been plowed multiple times. But I will say this — if Evers can’t run, the whole thing changes. Now, maybe he couldn’t run yesterday because we couldn’t run at a team, and it has nothing to do with the concussions, but that isn’t my instinct. We’ll have to see.

Saying how the D did is hard, because the weirdness of their offense was such that it looked like we were way too passive throughout. But, if you look at total yardage allowed (against a P-4 team that is far better offensively than defensively), points allowed (especially considering how many 3 and outs our offense had, and how many times Wake started at or over the 50), the end result was not dominant but, frankly, pretty good. Even though it didn’t seem that way. And even though they had a QB who made at least 3 plays where the rush got to him and he made a good play out of it anyway. I’m not sure I understand the strategy of being that passive against a TB standing behind the line holding the ball and not going anywhere, but the results were not bad.

Nice KO return by Mel Brown when he got a chance after the unsportsmanlike penalty, another good game by Freeman, including one over 50 (any second guessing there is long past its shelf like — sorry for my part coach), but in addition to the shanked punt the lack of hang time led to too much return time. We lost a lot of yardage between their unit and ours.

That’s it for now, because I’m out of time. The remaining two home games don’t give us a chance for a big win, but we need to get them, get bowl eligible and set us up to win in Birmingham and Syracuse. Have a good week all.

I disagree mildly that the the dpi is a hard call to make. If they make the call it doesn't decide the game. Not making the call decided it. It was eggregiously bad.

But we shouldn't have been at 4th and 8 to begin with. We had a false start, after a lengthy injury timeout. In another chat someone said, "is this guy dying or what?". We had so much time to get organized on 4th and 3, which was very manageable.

There are just certain things you can't do with a game on the line. The teams that win these don't make these mistakes.

At this point, they are not that team.

 

[huskymedic]

But we shouldn't have been at 4th and 8 to begin with. We had a false start, after a lengthy injury timeout. In another chat someone said, "is this guy dying or what?". We had so much time to get organized on 4th and 3, which was very manageable.

There are just certain things you can't do with a game on the line. The teams that win these don't make these mistakes.

At this point, they are not that team.

Depth is getting better year over year but remains a concern:

-> The offensive line, which was identified as an issue after the Temple game, lost guards Ben Murawski and Kyle Jeurgens to apparent injuries early on and struggled to get an advantage against the Wake Forest front.

Brady Wayburn, in as a replacement at guard, flinched on the 4th-and-3 play on the final drive, which moved the Huskies back five yards just before the controversial no-call. It was only UConn’s second offensive penalty of the game (the first was on the very first play from scrimmage), but it came at the most critical time <-

 

[ZooCougar]

Depth is getting better year over year but remains a concern:

-> The offensive line, which was identified as an issue after the Temple game, lost guards Ben Murawski and Kyle Jeurgens to apparent injuries early on and struggled to get an advantage against the Wake Forest front.

Brady Wayburn, in as a replacement at guard, flinched on the 4th-and-3 play on the final drive, which moved the Huskies back five yards just before the controversial no-call. It was only UConn’s second offensive penalty of the game (the first was on the very first play from scrimmage), but it came at the most critical time <-

Tough spot for the kid. The Linebacker goaded him into it. Hopefully he learns from it.

 

[NEforceUConn]

Perhaps a minor positive was the coaching staff’s proper use of time outs near the end, which made the official 2 minute TO count. UConn fans can remember prior staffs complete botched time management practices.

 

[uconnbill]

Chadwick got burned early but made up for it with the pick before the half. Having a QB who is 215 lbs and quick kept us from bringing him down but WF also was holding often. I saw twice when a WF blocker reached for the legs of a UConn rusher as we went by them. On our last series we had trips right with one being Bell. We put him in motion back to the WF side of the field and Evers locked on him and there was no play to be made. We overcomplicate things. Just snap the ball with no motion and see if Bell draws 2 DBs and someone else will be open. We now know we have a good hand's TE in Hanson. Can we use him, please? Jayden McDonald is continuing to be a terror on defense. He has a great motor.

Thank you for pointing out the holding. I don't get why they didn't call it at least once when the right side held on a few occasions.
The Tight End needs to be part of the passing game, agreed. They both have size and could be good outlets

 

[ScottVib]

Much of the holding was done with the hands inside the frame of the body which rarely gets called, unless, until it's being demonstrated by a stretched jersey or obvious yank. With the less aggressive pursuit and movement on the line, I think that played a role, in the lack of flags. That said even when it was obvious and demonstrated (there were two really blatant ones that got me yelling), the officials still couldn't be bothered to throw a flag.. so who knows

 

[businesslawyer]

Much of the holding was done with the hands inside the frame of the body which rarely gets called, unless, until it's being demonstrated by a stretched jersey or obvious yank. With the less aggressive pursuit and movement on the line, I think that played a role, in the lack of flags. That said even when it was obvious and demonstrated (there were two really blatant ones that got me yelling), the officials still couldn't be bothered to throw a flag.. so who knows

IIRC, not a single hold was called on Saturday either way. In any sports, if refs are consistent ….

 

[ZooCougar]

Perhaps a minor positive was the coaching staff’s proper use of time outs near the end, which made the official 2 minute TO count. UConn fans can remember prior staffs complete botched time management practices.

Mora is good at that.

Much like a politician. I don’t agree with everything he does but he does enough well to get my vote.

 

[RedStickHusky]

Hard to see the holding when everyone is gawking at the QB taking a boardwalk stroll... I swear that offense is a form of taunting. I felt triggered by it.

 

[CL82]

Hard to see the holding when everyone is gawking at the QB taking a boardwalk stroll... I swear that offense is a form of taunting. I felt triggered by it.

You're not wrong. From the stands, you see every bit of it developing. I'm still horse from screaming about it.

 

[UConnJim]

Some stats on Evers from the Wake Forest game:

PFF Passing Rating: 64.1, PFF Running Rating: 62.6. So, PFF graded him as having an OK game. Not great and not bad.

Throwing right beyond the line of scrimmage: 6/10 75 Yards, 1 TD, 0 Int.
Throwing center beyond the line of scrimmage: 11/18 128 yards, 0 TD, 1 Int.
Throwing left beyond the line of scrimmage: 4/7 42 yards, 1 TD, 0 Int.
Throwing behind the line of scrimmage: 5/7 19 Yards, 0 TD, 0 Int.

Kept Clean: 24/38 256 yards, 2 TD, 1 Int.
Under Pressure: 2/5 8 yards, 0 TD, ) int.

Play Action: 7/8 75 Yards, 1 TD 0 Int
No Play Action: 19/35 189 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Some stats on Evers from the Wake Forest game:

PFF Passing Rating: 64.1, PFF Running Rating: 62.6. So, PFF graded him as having an OK game. Not great and not bad.

Throwing right beyond the line of scrimmage: 6/10 75 Yards, 1 TD, 0 Int.
Throwing center beyond the line of scrimmage: 11/18 128 yards, 0 TD, 1 Int.
Throwing left beyond the line of scrimmage: 4/7 42 yards, 1 TD, 0 Int.
Throwing behind the line of scrimmage: 5/7 19 Yards, 0 TD, 0 Int.

Kept Clean: 24/38 256 yards, 2 TD, 1 Int.
Under Pressure: 2/5 8 yards, 0 TD, ) int.

Play Action: 7/8 75 Yards, 1 TD 0 Int
No Play Action: 19/35 189 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int

Does PFF do air yards for college games? I think maybe 4 or 5 attempts were more than 15 or so yards from LOS.

 

[UConnJim]

Does PFF do air yards for college games? I think maybe 4 or 5 attempts were more than 15 or so yards from LOS.

Yes.

20+ yards: 2/5 45 yards, 2 TDs, 0 Int.
10 to 19 yards: 5/11 92 yards, 0 TDs, 1 Int.
0 to 9 yards: 14/20 98 yards, 0 TDs, 0 Ints.
Behind the line: 5/7 19 yards, 0 TDs, 0 Int.

 

[UConnDan97]

Perhaps a minor positive was the coaching staff’s proper use of time outs near the end, which made the official 2 minute TO count. UConn fans can remember prior staffs complete botched time management practices.

I thought the same thing. That's what happens when the head coach has had a pro coaching career. I'm sure that they are emphasizing that selling point to all the new recruits...

 

[Husky68]

IIRC, not a single hold was called on Saturday either way. In any sports, if refs are consistent ….

What? So if go whole game against ol' Villanova team and they post guards and knock down UConn defenders that's ok as long as don't call it when UConn does it (but they don't do it). Ump has his own strike zone?

Sounds like someone who lives in a realm where truth is what you can convince 12 people at one time, for one vote, what the truth is.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Yes.

20+ yards: 2/5 45 yards, 2 TDs, 0 Int.
10 to 19 yards: 5/11 92 yards, 0 TDs, 1 Int.
0 to 9 yards: 14/20 98 yards, 0 TDs, 0 Ints.
Behind the line: 5/7 19 yards, 0 TDs, 0 Int.

7/16 over 10 yards means you can stack the box. The number of bad drops vs bad passes would help flesh out where the problem lies, but from my seat it's not a good number.

 

[UConnJim]

7/16 over 10 yards means you can stack the box. The number of bad drops vs bad passes would help flesh out where the problem lies, but from my seat it's not a good number.

I think you overestimate how the average college (and NFL) QB performs.

Here are some completion %s over 10 yards by assorted college QBs in their last game:

Evers UConn 7/16
Bachmeier Wake Forest 6/15
Castellanos BC 5/11
Milroe Alabama 6/17
Thorne Auburn 2/9
Klubnik Clemson 8/13
Sanders Colorado 6/12
Murphy Duke 0/5
Lagway Florida 6/10
Beck Georgia 3/12
Ward Miami 7/13
Tuttle Michigan 4/9
Howard Ohio St. 8/12
Arnold Oklahoma 4/13
Allar Penn St. 9/18
Iamaleava Tennessee 7/18
Pavia Vanderbilt 5/14

Even NFL QBs have highly variable numbers: Last week completions >10 yards:

Mahomes Chiefs 2/7
Allen Bills 8/14
Prescott Cowboys 3/10
Lawrence Jaguars 4/6
Minshew Raiders 0/4
Maye Patriots 7/13
Herbert Chargers 7/12
Jones Giants 2/5
Rodgers Jets 4/11