The View From Section 241 -- Navy

[Carl Spackler]

It will be interesting to see how far Navy can get this season. Reynolds is legitimate. They put leverage down on the field with the triple option that is precise, and stopping the fullback isn't as easy as it sounds, when they can effectively block and run the fullback in the triple option through multiple gaps. They're primed for a big time season. The fact remains unchanged, that the easiest way to stop the offense, is to keep it off the field. Against a formidable offensive team, that can jump up to a significant lead on Navy, and has the ability to grind out clock with a lead, they're in trouble. We're not that kind of offensive team - yet. Hope to be.

I'm done with Navy now though. It was a great day at the stadium, as much as a loss can ever be a great day. We're 2-2, 0-1 and we've got a road trip to make out of conference, so it's not going to affect the 0-1 part, but it will affect the 2-2 part, which matters down the road, and its a rematch of last season's opener and a shot at redemption. We're not going to see option football again anytime soon, so it's time to cleanse the system of it, and move on.

 

[Nostical]

No offense Nostical ...but this team isn't as good as you proclaimed. We lost to a better team on Saturday

We knew all too well that stopping Navy was never going to be easy--so we had to out-score them. That's why the field goal set the wrong tone. Our bigger tight ends should have been targeted all day over the middle. A few key connections on big plays (Thomas says he should have had the flea flicker--DiLorenzo ran to the wrong spot) and we beat the Middies. Let's not make excuses for our "improving" team. This team is good enough to win now. We should have beaten Mizzou. I said we could compete with them and we'd beat them--before we played. No one believed that. I said we'd beat Navy with our offense. That offense is good enough to have done that. Navy played great. And as a famous coach once bellowed " They were who we thought they were". But that was the Navy offense not their defense. Our offense needed to beat Navy's undersized defense. We have the talent to do just that, but we didn't. Our offense lost the Navy game.

 

[businesslawyer]

We knew all too well that stopping Navy was never going to be easy--so we had to out-score them. That's why the field goal set the wrong tone. Our bigger tight ends should have been targeted all day over the middle. A few key connections on big plays (Thomas says he should have had the flea flicker--DiLorenzo ran to the wrong spot) and we beat the Middies. Let's not make excuses for our "improving" team. This team is good enough to win now. We should have beaten Mizzou. I said we could compete with them and we'd beat them--before we played. No one believed that. I said we'd beat Navy with our offense. That offense is good enough to have done that. Navy played great. And as a famous coach once bellowed " They were who we thought they were". But that was the Navy offense not their defense. Our offense needed to beat Navy's undersized defense. We have the talent to do just that, but we didn't. Our offense lost the Navy game.

I just want to make sure I understand this. You predicted we'd win the last two games, we lost the last two games and you're now bragging about how good your predictions were?

Is it possible that everyone who doesn't think we are as good as you do, based upon our back to back losses, may not see those loses as validating your predictions?

 

[huskymedic]

Best way for more targets... more first downs and more offensive plays overall?

http://coachingsearch.com/article?a...-jump-out-through-4-weeks-of-college-football

 

[RedStickHusky]

Well, if this is just a theoretical discussion on how to stop going forward and not a critique of Saturday's game; I think it's clear that challenging Navy to falter on 12-15 play drives is not a winning strategy. They execute too well with Reynolds and those big fullbacks and stay ahead of the chains all day. They make it look far easier than it is. If it was me, I'd figure you have to hope you can disrupt one or two drives a half with big plays and play a high risk, pinch & crash, force a pitch strategy. Doing that though, you're going to give up some big plays and if your offense can't score with them, instead of both team grinding to a 28-18 outcome, you're more likely to end up at 50-18. Given what we have, I think playing to contain and force long drives, essentially shortening the game, probably gave UConn their best chance. It was a punchers chance, at best, but reverse that (potentially) 14 point swing at the end of the first half and our chances go way up.

 

[businesslawyer]

http://coachingsearch.com/article?a...-jump-out-through-4-weeks-of-college-football

Two factors reduce your plays per game. One is losing the time of possession battle. That is not why we're so low we've possessed the ball roughly half the time for four games. The other is playing "slow," which I think we are doing. And while we all want to see our weapons touch the ball more, I think the coaches are saying that our talent level isn't such yet where stretching out the games will produce us more wins.

I have no reason to doubt their analysis on this. We could just as easily say the more offensive plays we run the more mistakes our OL will make.

 

[RedStickHusky]

We could just as easily say the more offensive plays we run the more mistakes our OL will make.

Spot on. I think risk aversion has been a pretty dominant characteristic of our game planning so far. I don't know if this is hangover from last year or reflects a philosophical leaning and I don't think we will know until we get the o-line fixed. It comes across as a lack of confidence in critical situations though. When forced to open up this year, we've shown flashes of play making but it hasn't taken teams long to figure out how to shut us down with pressure.

Assuming this program is trending up though, it's a difficult transition to go from playing like an underdog -- "we want to give ourselves a chance to win it in the 4th" to playing like a front runner -- "we want to get them down early and step on their throats". Hopefully, that is next years' problem.

 

[RedStickHusky]

On the question of distributing touches and targets, BS in a taped interview for pre-game said, he knows he's running too much. Since every word he spoke sounded like it was written by the coaches my sense is that they are tracking that he's taking away targets from others. It's another issue that traces back to the OL though.

 

[huskymedic]

On the question of distributing touches and targets, BS in a taped interview for pre-game said, he knows he's running too much. Since every word he spoke sounded like it was written by the coaches my sense is that they are tracking that he's taking away targets from others. It's another issue that traces back to the OL though.

From Weekly Noon Press Conference"

Tim_Fontenault12:13pm via TweetDeck
Diaco: “If (Bryant Shirreffs) runs and gets a first down, I’m happy. If he runs and there’s an open guy downfield, I’m not."

desmondconner12:13pm via TweetDeck
Diaco: Shirreffs will be the first to tell he dropped his eyes too soon, give another heartbeat then outside guy may have come open."

 

[Nostical]

We lost the last two games and you're now bragging about how good your predictions were?

It's not about predictions. I could care less about that. What I care about is your thinking this UConn team wasn't able just yet to beat Navy. We lost that game. We should have won it. That's not Pollyanna thinking. That's a fact.

 

[businesslawyer]

It's not about predictions. I could care less about that. What I care about is your thinking this UConn team wasn't able just yet to beat Navy. We lost that game. We should have won it. That's not Pollyanna thinking. That's a fact.

But it's not a fact that "we should have won it." That's your opinion, and it's pretty clearly a minority one. It's one that I, most here and the betting line all disagree with

 

[Duncan Idaho]

A third into the season and the turnover margin is even.

 

[jackl]

He still missed an open receiver, bad route or not. That is when your QB has to step up and make a throw whether the receiver is where he wants or not. The pass wasn't even close, completely uncatchable.

From where I sit in 123 I had a perfect angle to see it happen or didn't happen as the case may be. It looked like Sherriffs threw it hurriedly to a spot which happened to be about 5 feet to DiLorenzo's right. No touch on the ball at all, it was drilled into the ground. If he ran the wrong route so be it but it didn't look like he would have had a chance at all. If he looped it out over his right shoulder it could have been a touchdown. Blame them both.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

It's not about predictions. I could care less about that. What I care about is your thinking this UConn team wasn't able just yet to beat Navy. We lost that game. We should have won it. That's not Pollyanna thinking. That's a fact.

The fact is we did not make enough football plays to beat a team of Navy's caliber.

 

[RedStickHusky]

Max went to the ground getting off the line on that play; didn't have time to get the spot and it was a timing throw,

 

[Dooley]

Max went to the ground getting off the line on that play; didn't have time to get the spot and it was a timing throw,

Yeah, about that: when the play happened live, I thought Max went to the ground on purpose on some sort of dummy route. But when I saw the replay afterward, he just fell/slipped.

 

[J187Money]

should SHo͝od,SHəd/
verb modal
verb: should

2. used to indicate what is probable. "UCONN should beat Navy despite being double digit underdogs at home"

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Aside from a couple posters, I'm not sure I've ever seen this board in more agreement over a game and in general where we are as a program, albeit only 1/3 into the season.

I don't expect to beat BYU, but if we play tough and are competitive, it would be another nice building block.

If we come back after 5 games, 2-3 (0-1), but competitive against Mizzou, Navy, and then BYU, I think most would have signed up for that. I know I would have.

It's so tough to predict how the rest of the season will play out and obviously you take it week by week, but making a bowl game would be so sweet and I think based on what we've seen so far, that is a difficult, but not impossible goal.

Where can we find those 4 big wins?

@BYU
@UCF
vs USF
@Cinci
vs ECU
@Tulane
vs Houston
@Temple

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Aside from a couple posters, I'm not sure I've ever seen this board in more agreement over a game and in general where we are as a program, albeit only 1/3 into the season.

I don't expect to beat BYU, but if we play tough and are competitive, it would be another nice building block.

If we come back after 5 games, 2-3 (0-1), but competitive against Mizzou, Navy, and then BYU, I think most would have signed up for that. I know I would have.

It's so tough to predict how the rest of the season will play out and obviously you take it week by week, but making a bowl game would be so sweet and I think based on what we've seen so far, that is a difficult, but not impossible goal.

Where can we find those 4 big wins?

@BYU
@UCF
vs USF
@Cinci
vs ECU
@Tulane
vs Houston
@Temple

USF
UCF
ECU
Tulane

We likely won't win all 4 so we'll need a significant upset or 2 along the way.

As JC was famously said, it's doable.

 

[RedStickHusky]

Where can we find those 4 big wins?

@BYU
@UCF
vs USF
@Cinci
vs ECU
@Tulane
vs Houston
@Temple

Nothings given but we should be competitive in six of the last seven.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

USF
UCF
ECU
Tulane

We likely won't win all 4 so we'll need a significant upset or 2 along the way.

As JC was famously said, it's doable.

I have to come clean and admit I don't follow the other AAC teams, like I did in the Big East, but define significant upset? Assuming we'd be double digit dogs to Houston, Temple and then of course Cinci on the road is all but a given to be near two TDs?

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

I have to come clean and admit I don't follow the other AAC teams, like I did in the Big East, but define significant upset? Assuming we'd be double digit dogs to Houston, Temple and then of course Cinci on the road is all but a given to be near two TDs?

I don't follow them closely either but our best chance in those 3 is Houston at home.

 

[whaler11]

I don't follow them closely either but our best chance in those 3 is Houston at home.

You can stop Temple's offense. I think that's the most likely win of that three.

 

[BugsyCT]

We'll have an extra week to prepare for Houston. Maybe that's in our favor, maybe not.

Might also help if it's a lousy weather game (like UCF last year).

 

[joey3$trike$]

It's not about predictions. I could care less about that. What I care about is your thinking this UConn team wasn't able just yet to beat Navy. We lost that game. We should have won it. That's not Pollyanna thinking. That's a fact.

Uconn lost the battle in the trenches, they will never beat an option team by doing that. If you said they should of won vs Missouri I could agree but Navy they couldn't stop. I would be happy if they would play a complete game this year. All 3 facets off, def, & specials and do them well, hopefully it's in Provo.