The View From Section 241

[businesslawyer]

I think I will try to do these more regularly again, but they will be shorter. First, because this team just isn't worthy of the depth I used to provide. But more importantly, we are playing so many players that I have so little knowledge of that I can't even keep track of the defensive personnel at the moment.

What did we learn last night? Well, we learned that the incredible one year drop in season ticket sales didn't really effect how the stadium looked. Thank goodness. And that the students did care enough to come out. Thank goodness. But I don't know that we learned a whole lot about our football team. That is the best team we will play all year. That may be one of the best offensive teams in the country. And there was no reason to think we were going to be prepared and/or able to stop them. Spoiler alert -- we weren't.

I think the offense showed some potential. Certainly, many of the stats were promising. Pindell had a truly special game running the ball, with a confidence and a burst that I just didn't see last year. And a lot of passes were completed with a lot of open receivers running around and few drops. Frankly, the only issue with the O's overall performance yesterday was the three turnovers. Kudos for the staff for getting Pindell and receivers into space, and for remembering that you can throw to TEs, which we lost last year. But, there were also a lot of worrisome signs. I thought the OL underperformed. To my eye, Peart especially looked lost on the right side, which surprised me. And, as good as Pindell was, if we can't run the ball with TBs, and we can't throw deep from the pocket, by the time we get to Syracuse defenses will adjust and do better against what we did last night. Also, if you go back to vintage Edsall, we used to be great at turning total yardage into points. We used to specialize in getting 20 to 24 out of 310 total yards. To be in the high 400s, and only put up 17, won't cut it.

Special teams didn't play a big role, but were at least even against a good team. Tarbutt didn't look himself on KOs, but drilled his one FG opportunity that would have been good from 55 easy. The Aussie punter looked fine, as did both coverage and returns.

But then we get to the crux of the matter on D. A rational person would not have thought that we could have even slowed down their O. We couldn't. We played slower, and we were weaker up the middle, and no amount of scheming or substitutions was going to change that. As this is by far the best offense we'll play, and maybe one of the best in the country, I'm not worried about it. How bad will we be on D this year? Don't know. We may not know until the Syracuse game. But there was no reason to think we were getting the D up to anywhere near average this year coming into the UCF game, and nothing last night changed that.

So that's where we are. The building project won't be culminated this year. Dunn seems to be a competent replacement for Lashlee. The OL needs to be much better, both to finish drives and so Pindell lasts a season. And the D won't be miraculously fixed this year, although it's way too early to know if it will be marginally better or marginally worse. We will see. All we can do as fans is keep writing checks, keep showing up and be patient. As hard as it is to continue patience in the eighth year of sucking.

 

[BugsyCT]

Good to have you back doing the View more regularly, BL. Any bright spots pointed out give us some reason to hang on to hope.

 

[RioDog]

Thanks for the write up BL. Was on vacation in the Keys so I missed the action. Looking forward to making some games in person this season.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Great perspective as always BL. I was happiest to see that Dunn’s offense wasn’t RE reverting back to RE 1.0.

 

[UConnNick]

Stupid, untimely offensive penalties were a killer, especially the holding call on Pindell's 3Q TD run.

 

[junglehusky]

Good to see the Views from 241 again. Hopefully there will be at least a couple emerging players on the defense to give you something to write about.

 

[whaler11]

The offensive line stunk.

Pindell ran them out of a half dozen sacks. If he didn’t escape almost sure sacks 6 times it would have been a lot more obvious how bad they were.

 

[Devland]

Because I attended a wake before the game I arrived to my tailgate later than normal. It gave me an opportunity to listen to some of the pregame show on the radio. They had a roundtable with former players. I didn't hear who everyone involved was but, I believe Cauley and Fincher were among the people in the roundtable. One of the players stated that this team reminded him of the 2002 team. They stated that team was extremely young and struggled at the beginning of the season (2-6 to start)but at some point a light went off and they started to get it. They finished strong including a big win over Iowa St. I know it's not much, but it gave me something to hang my hat on with this team.

 

[businesslawyer]

The offensive line stunk.

Pindell ran them out of a half dozen sacks. If he didn’t escape almost sure sacks 6 times it would have been a lot more obvious how bad they were.

That was my view. I think folks are reading way too much into the zero sacks allowed number.

 

[Tdaley]

The offensive line was the biggest disappointment last night. Pindell's legs was the biggest bright side of the night. The look on the Central Florida defensive backs faces when Pindell scored an apparent touchdown right in front of where I was sitting was worth the price of admission last night. Too bad the questionable holding call ( that was what a fan texted from his vantage point in front of his TV set) brought the play back.

 

[businesslawyer]

The offensive line was the biggest disappointment last night. Pindell's legs was the biggest bright side of the night. The look on the Central Florida defensive backs faces when Pindell scored an apparent touchdown right in front of where I was sitting was worth the price of admission last night. Too bad the questionable holding call ( that was what a fan texted from his vantage point in front of his TV set) brought the play back.

I like making defensive backs look surprised. Don't know that I've seen that look since Robbie Frey's KO return TD in the Fiesta Bowl. Where the Oklahoma bench was laughing at the coverage guys for having been outrun by a white guy.

 

[gioff23]

The level of disappointment would seem to be tied to the expectations. We are starting what one might consider a freshmen team on D. If anyone thought we could win that game, they were simply delusional. Now, I recall a lot of folks saying a 45-28 type score might equate to a moral victory. While we could simply not stop their O, they were not much better at stopping us. We could have easily put up another 13 points, maybe more. Again, not a win, but 56-30 sounds and feels better. The fumbles on not hard hits and stupid penalties are signs of a lack of a discipline, and that is something I think this staff can correct. There is no calvary coming over the hill to aid and, as such, I say stop playing stiffs like Santana in the middle and let the young pups endure baptism under fire.

PS - the hothead I am, I would have sent blitzers for MMs ankles while he was throwing deep passes up 35 late in the 3rd Q. At some point, I'd like to see us send a message to an opponent that is something other than a matador waving as the bull rushes by

 

[SirHypeAlot]

good write up BL!

 

[Tdaley]

I like making defensive backs look surprised. Don't know since I've seen that look since Robbie Frey's KO return TD in the Fiesta Bowl. Where the Oklahoma bench was laughing at the coverage guys for having been outrun by a white guy.

We were there for that game! That kickoff return and the pick 6 were great moments in Uconn football history. Hopefully, there will be more in the future.

 

[Scrutineer]

PS - the hothead I am, I would have sent blitzers for MMs ankles while he was throwing deep passes up 35 late in the 3rd Q. At some point, I'd like to see us send a message to an opponent that is something other than a matador waving as the bull rushes by

I thought the same about the blitzing. If he's sitting back all day and able to throw the touchdown pass on the 5th or 9th play of the drive anyway, why not let him throw it on the 4th play while going down with guys hitting him high and low. Not to maim, but just give him something to think about.

Or are we that incapable defensively?

 

[hardcorehusky]

I disagree on the pass protection piece. Pindell had time to throw deep but did not always stay with his progressions. He jetted out of the pocket quickly when he saw lanes. A few plays where he was hit(dump offs to the tight end or RB to his right were designs where the blocker went out into the route instead of blocking. He had to suck the defender in to get the ball to the open spot.

For the last few years, the O line would be demolished at the snap and Shireffs would be dead to rights on arrival of snap. That did not happen last night. PS in a game where falling behind quickly told the D we would have to pass.

I was disappointed in the O line on short yardage plays. Too many were stuffed. Still the line was way ahead of the last 6 years or so. It will get better.

 

[Excalibur]

I thought the same about the blitzing. If he's sitting back all day and able to throw the touchdown pass on the 5th or 9th play of the drive anyway, why not let him throw it on the 4th play while going down with guys hitting him high and low. Not to maim, but just give him something to think about.

Or are we that incapable defensively?

The problem is LB speed. When we blitzed, they picked it up, we never touched the QB, and gouged us for big gains.

You saw it on the board that people posted last week. I think there was one LB running under a 4.7 40, and most were over 4.8.

 

[Madmannsucks]

Anyone who thought they could make this a game was whistling in the graveyard. Team they played is scary good. It get's better after next week. Let's see what the coaches learned from this one. What would be considered progress at Boise State? I think the team can get better, but they have a long way to go.

 

[uconnphil2016]

That was my view. I think folks are reading way too much into the zero sacks allowed number.

Better to look at time spent in the pocket. Of course, there were many designed runs and roll outs, but Pindell spent virtually no time in the pocket and I don’t imagine that’s by design. Our run game doesn’t suggest a solid line either.

 

[SubbaBub]

Pindell had plenty of time. He needed to spend it more wisely.

Also, I didn't notice UCF blitzing all that much. So the OL pass blocking may still be TBD.

 

[Husky pride]

I think I will try to do these more regularly again, but they will be shorter. First, because this team just isn't worthy of the depth I used to provide. But more importantly, we are playing so many players that I have so little knowledge of that I can't even keep track of the defensive personnel at the moment.

What did we learn last night? Well, we learned that the incredible one year drop in season ticket sales didn't really effect how the stadium looked. Thank goodness. And that the students did care enough to come out. Thank goodness. But I don't know that we learned a whole lot about our football team. That is the best team we will play all year. That may be one of the best offensive teams in the country. And there was no reason to think we were going to be prepared and/or able to stop them. Spoiler alert -- we weren't.

I think the offense showed some potential. Certainly, many of the stats were promising. Pindell had a truly special game running the ball, with a confidence and a burst that I just didn't see last year. And a lot of passes were completed with a lot of open receivers running around and few drops. Frankly, the only issue with the O's overall performance yesterday was the three turnovers. Kudos for the staff for getting Pindell and receivers into space, and for remembering that you can throw to TEs, which we lost last year. But, there were also a lot of worrisome signs. I thought the OL underperformed. To my eye, Peart especially looked lost on the right side, which surprised me. And, as good as Pindell was, if we can't run the ball with TBs, and we can't throw deep from the pocket, by the time we get to Syracuse defenses will adjust and do better against what we did last night. Also, if you go back to vintage Edsall, we used to be great at turning total yardage into points. We used to specialize in getting 20 to 24 out of 310 total yards. To be in the high 400s, and only put up 17, won't cut it.

Special teams didn't play a big role, but were at least even against a good team. Tarbutt didn't look himself on KOs, but drilled his one FG opportunity that would have been good from 55 easy. The Aussie punter looked fine, as did both coverage and returns.

But then we get to the crux of the matter on D. A rational person would not have thought that we could have even slowed down their O. We couldn't. We played slower, and we were weaker up the middle, and no amount of scheming or substitutions was going to change that. As this is by far the best offense we'll play, and maybe one of the best in the country, I'm not worried about it. How bad will we be on D this year? Don't know. We may not know until the Syracuse game. But there was no reason to think we were getting the D up to anywhere near average this year coming into the UCF game, and nothing last night changed that.

So that's where we are. The building project won't be culminated this year. Dunn seems to be a competent replacement for Lashlee. The OL needs to be much better, both to finish drives and so Pindell lasts a season. And the D won't be miraculously fixed this year, although it's way too early to know if it will be marginally better or marginally worse. We will see. All we can do as fans is keep writing checks, keep showing up and be patient. As hard as it is to continue patience in the eighth year of sucking.

Hard to believe...but I actually feel a little better after reading your write-up. Thanks!!

 

[06029]

Pindell had plenty of time. He needed to spend it more wisely.

Also, I didn't notice UCF blitzing all that much. So the OL pass blocking may still be TBD.

UCF rarely blitzed and when they did, they were there in a hurry. They were also very vanilla blitzes from the edge. When Pindell had time, there were 3 receivers in the pattern with extra blockers staying in and UCF played coverage.

What you saw is the Uconn offense for 2018. Lots of RPO plays with zone reads and straight out QB draws.

I thought the offense looked better than at any time last year except for the turnover curse that remains with this team year after year. You have 2 legit receivers, a serviceable back and an above average/good QB for running and throws <15 yards. OL has progressed a bit, but not enough to have any chance at over 4 wins this year. Talent gap from prior coaches on the OL will take some time to fill. True frosh rarely are ready to start on the OL.

It would be nice change of pace to see the Uconn D actually provide a spark in a game again someday.

 

[CL82]

Stupid, untimely offensive penalties were a killer, especially the holding call on Pindell's 3Q TD run.

I don't think he breaks free without it.

 

[JMick]

UCF rarely blitzed and when they did, they were there in a hurry. They were also very vanilla blitzes from the edge. When Pindell had time, there were 3 receivers in the pattern with extra blockers staying in and UCF played coverage.

What you saw is the Uconn offense for 2018. Lots of RPO plays with zone reads and straight out QB draws.

I thought the offense looked better than at any time last year except for the turnover curse that remains with this team year after year. You have 2 legit receivers, a serviceable back and an above average/good QB for running and throws <15 yards. OL has progressed a bit, but not enough to have any chance at over 4 wins this year. Talent gap from prior coaches on the OL will take some time to fill. True frosh rarely are ready to start on the OL.

It would be nice change of pace to see the Uconn D actually provide a spark in a game again someday.

Dunn had a really good feel for when to call the QB draw. I think it went for a big gain every time he called it except once

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Good post. We definitely were watching the same game (occasionally, in the past, that hasn't been the case). I think it was a fair and accurate observation of all three facets of last night's game.