The View From Section 241 -- ECU

[whaler11]

No, but unfortunately, winning 2 national championships every 3 years in hoops, making a BCS bowl and having a winning record against Pitt/Syracuse/Rutgers/Louisville/Notre Dame combined aren't criteria for entry, either.

All we need is more people to understand that. Just need to make more money with you than without you - once that happens it works out.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Nice job on the recap. I never understood throwing Puyol under the bus so quickly and was worried the coaches might damage his confidence. Fortunately he had enough confidence for all involved. And yes it was clear the coaches made some welcome changes on D, and are still trying new angles to WIN games on both sides of the ball. That is greatly encouraging. Get the next W and we can start dreaming of kicking that football before Lucy realizes we're coming.

I think it was he had a number of kicks blocked last year and at the start of this season.

 

[uconndogs]

Great write up biz.

What amazed me about that game is that I thought offensively we were not terribly sharp. There may very well be a breakout with that group. Sheriffs was clearly off.

Diaco has done a great job keeping these guys focused and motivated. A lot of three win teams at this point in the season would have packed it in after the pick six. There was not even a whiff of that.

 

[Palatine]

Our players looked bigger and stronger and faster than ECU. It was exactly the opposite of Cinny. I think this is a much more talented team than many on the BY give it credit for. Nice to see them play like it.

But I think you missed the most important observation.

I think we're improving because the coaches are improving. There was no confusion on the sideline and the plays came to the huddle on time. This allowed the offense to play with less stress and more tempo. They were comfortable and they played that way. Huge improvement in the brain trust this week.

 

[Hoophound]

Our players looked bigger and stronger and faster than ECU. It was exactly the opposite of Cinny. I think this is a much more talented team than many on the BY give it credit for. Nice to see them play like it. But I think you missed the most important observation. I think we're improving because the coaches are improving. There was no confusion on the sideline and the plays came to the huddle on time. This allowed the offense to play with less stress and more tempo. They were comfortable and they played that way. Huge improvement in the brain trust this week.

This is true. ECU's surprising speed kept them in the game against Florida. It was said repeatedly.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Thanks for the write up. It's deja vu all over again, for me. Following games through "The View". and I don't mean the girly morning show.

It was a hallmark, stalwart, reliable, repeatable, dependable and steadfast quality of the Randy Edsall years, that after a crap game, when we followed up at home, we played really well. That's not unique to Randy Edsall's program, it's a quality of any decent football program, that after a crap road game, you come back home and play really well.

That's good that happened. But it's well over and gone now, and what I was concerned about before, still remains - the personality of the team, which flows from the head coach.

How are they going to handle this level of success? (which again - talking about a 4-5 team, and "success" - for anyone reading other than a boneyarder, would seem like UConn football is insanity - but it's true. They just played a really good game. How do they respond? Are they going to be able to prepare as close to exactly the same way as they did last week - to send the travel squad on the road this week?

SO it's deja vu all over again (as Yogi would say). We have the travel squad going on the road to Nawlins, to match up with Tulane, and get back to level at .500 in the important stat columns. Same thing we had in front of us a month ago going to Orlando.

As for the crowd in the stadium, my seats had azzes in them. But complaining about that, is like a rocking chair. Lots of effort put into movement, that gets you nowhere. My prediction is that unless Houston is a night game, the crowd will look exactly the same. People aren't breaking plans they've got to go see UCONN, at this point in time, after the past several seasons.

The fans will come, but it's not going to come back overnight. I think in year 2, Coach Booby has really learned how important it is for the UCONN program, to play well at home. We have a tough fanbase. Not tolerant of poor performance.

I don't know what next year's home schedule looks like calendar wise, but having the front loaded home schedule, with 2 home games in October, and only one in all of November? And traveling to Nawlins 2 years consecutive? Is that right?

It could be just a skewed impression of time and the past from me, but that's not the normal for what we used to do. But the coaches and players have no control over that, Warde Manuel does - and the ticket sales? I don't fault anyone that buys tickets for not going, if they have other priorities. It's not their fault, if they can't find people to take them and use them - and it's been hard to do that, for ticket buyers in the past several seasons - prioritize, and find people that want tickets.

I can be sure of one thing, though, and that is that if we take care of business in Nawlins this week, we'll be in the same position going into the final 2 weeks, that we had in both 2011 and 2012 - and that will be a great guage - to see which direction we're really, REALLY going, beyond the simple week to week condition/response stuff.

Thanks again BL - always neat to follow the program through your outlook. Here's to as close to the same week of preparation we had last week.

 

[UConnJim]

I think the coaches game plan is being overlooked. Physically, UConn's offense had an edge over ECU's defense which is not very big. Look at ECU's listed weights on defense: DL: 268, 314, 271. LB: 221, 216, 220, 225. CB: 185, 189. S: 191, 185. I thought UConn's offensive game plan exploited this advantage.

 

[businesslawyer]

Our players looked bigger and stronger and faster than ECU. It was exactly the opposite of Cinny. I think this is a much more talented team than many on the BY give it credit for. Nice to see them play like it.

But I think you missed the most important observation.

I think we're improving because the coaches are improving. There was no confusion on the sideline and the plays came to the huddle on time. This allowed the offense to play with less stress and more tempo. They were comfortable and they played that way. Huge improvement in the brain trust this week.

I did'n't see us as bigger and faster. I saw us as better. Arkeel was run down on the 90 yard run from well behind, and had to make a stiff arm and a move to get away from two defenders, for example. Donald Brown -- even Robbie Frey -- scores untouched on that play.

It obviously helped that we got plays in faster.

 

[businesslawyer]

Great write up biz.

What amazed me about that game is that I thought offensively we were not terribly sharp. There may very well be a breakout with that group. Sheriffs was clearly off.

Diaco has done a great job keeping these guys focused and motivated. A lot of three win teams at this point in the season would have packed it in after the pick six. There was not even a whiff of that.

That's my point and hope. I don't think that was our "A" game on offense. At least not our A game given the improvement on the OL.

 

[HuskyDevil]

Don't remember seeing Ormsby, Is he hurt? No more Clax? Didn't realize that Knappe is seldom in a 3-point stance except when getting near the goal line. Saw a 3-man rush with Stapleton and Cazzerola as ends. Stapleton had bunch of snaps and a good game. Double teaming on two defenders were the only times the OLine looked bad.
The guys next to us initially thought Anderson ate is way on to the OLine.

I sat near some people (sec 117) on Friday night that seemed to be pretty well informed, overheard them say that Clax was no longer on the team. Did anyone see him in the game or on the sidelines at all?

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Also, TO margin of +2 vs. ECU. UConn is now in top 20, big difference from last year.

 

[businesslawyer]

Nice job as always Biz. I'm happy you were able to witness the evidence and can now freely admit that we do indeed have "talented players". What was different on Friday were the coaching corrections. I disagree with your observation that the defensive schemes weren't very different. The defensive backfield actually played up and closer than before and were man to man on lots of throws. Plus the linebackers were more active and aggressive, rather than mere area protectors. It's not just my eyes that saw the change. Players told me that after the game. "Lots of coaching adjustments were made." Here's my advice for our offense. Our passes ought to be more to the right. Andreas is a much better pass blocker than run blocker. And (notwithstanding Arkeel's long TD) our runs should be more to the left. Levy is a much better run blocker than pass blocker.
Our coaches in past games thwarted our red zone opportunities. On Friday getting plays in and the actual calls were very different. If we can replicate those aspects, watch out world!
As for specials, I agree that Puyol took the early misses to heart and corrected the problems. Interestingly, for all the improvements in our coaching on Friday, the missing piece was not recognizing that ECU's punter Worth Gregory was their best player--that's right-- and a sure shot NFL punter. 5 star punter, Ray Guy finalist, runs fast and squats 320 lbs. And oh yes, he has a rocket foot. So with all that info, we still had Vitale standing too far forward for every punt. Gregory completely flipped the field on his punts and ECU almost had two turnovers. That's a coaching lapse. But I'm confident that, just like our players, our coaches are getting better too.
So get ready for the final few games. Let's shock the league!

The punter was amazing. In fairness to the strategy, Vitale was lining up a good 48 yards behind the line of scrimmage for his punts. But when you punt them 50 yards and hit the sidelines with them, that's an awful lot of ground to cover.

 

[rich1122]

Now we get to see the effect of QB play from the other perspective. I was talking with an ECU fan on the way out and he mentioned that the QB starter was originally recruited as WR and the Lefty was 3rd or 4th string guy. While they did show life against other teams, game planning against them , as the year progresses, becomes easier and easier. These guys just floated the ball. Once they fell behind it was difficult for them.

We played a good game, don't get me wrong, but I would like to see how we do against the better teams who have their starting QB's.

First let's beat Tulane on the road.

 

[hardcorehusky]

Now we get to see the effect of QB play from the other perspective. I was talking with an ECU fan on the way out and he mentioned that the QB starter was originally recruited as WR and the Lefty was 3rd or 4th string guy. While they did show life against other teams, game planning against them , as the year progresses, becomes easier and easier. These guys just floated the ball. Once they fell behind it was difficult for them.

We played a good game, don't get me wrong, but I would like to see how we do against the better teams who have their starting QB's.

First let's beat Tulane on the road.

ECU's projected starter suffered a knee injury in preseason and was gone before the 1st game.

 

[J187Money]

ECU's projected starter suffered a knee injury in preseason and was gone before the 1st game.

Don't give me "the cupboard was bare at QB"...they went 8-5 last year. Who cares if their starter went down...

 

[RedStickHusky]

Don't give me "the cupboard was bare at QB"...they went 8-5 last year. Who cares if their starter went down...

who do you blame when a coach empties his own cupboard?

 

[Palatine]

I did'n't see us as bigger and faster. I saw us as better. Arkeel was run down on the 90 yard run from well behind, and had to make a stiff arm and a move to get away from two defenders, for example. Donald Brown -- even Robbie Frey -- scores untouched on that play.

It obviously helped that we got plays in faster.

That sounds like stronger.