The View From Section 241

[Nostical]

Nick Williams was a beast. Our starting field position, compared to a Big East opponent, was unprecedented in our history at The Rent. 10 of our 14 drives started beyond our 30 yard line----10 of the 13 Syracuse's drives started behind it. Absent the turnovers, this would have been a Husky rout.

Ryan Griffin's catch was the pivotal play in the game----until Sio Moores INT.

But ultimately, in a back and forth 2nd half with Syracuse on the march, Tymeer Brown's deflection on the 3rd down pass to # 15 ( who was Syracuse's best weapon all day) made the difference.

 

[jdb50]

JMHO but I think Moe P was frustrated with the losing record and having the offense stink it up in the first half. The toss sweep on 3rd and 2 in the first half had me calling for Deleones head. We blitz Smallwood up the A gaps alot and not much seems to happen. The way Blidi was hopping around after the win he will be ready for L-Ville.

 

[rich1122]

Big Play - Face Mask on the final drive.

 

[Husky68]

Per #2. Why would saying "Seems we are what the recruiting sources have said - top 60 to 80 team." be disingenuous. Since I am not a business lawyer I don't often use the word disingenous so I looked it up in Microsoft word thesauras. Has several potential meaning - insincere is the prime and don't think it pertains as am as sincere as need to be to post on the boneyard; untruthful seems incorrect as are ranked 77 this week by Massey being up from 86 the prior week; deceitful seems incorrect as am not making any statements about anything but prior year recruiting rankings and current year Massey rankings. You brought up prior year performances but if you are going to bring that in you should bring in the other factors such as had a coach that was so good he warranted a $2mill a year job contract for 6 years at a much more prestigious football school vs. a new coach who's last head coaching job ended in being fired.

Since you raised prior years, thought would at least look at Uconn's BCS year for highpoints in success. Massey had Uconn rated 49 in 2010 BEFORE THE OKLAHOMA WAXING (description used by Phil Steele), just above 6-6 Washington and just below 7-5 KansasState. Several raters had Uconn in the 60's and one even had Uconn in the 30's. Probably after the OKLAHOMA WAXING Uconn would have been still around 50 or so. Not sure what it takes to get a ratings published in Massey but probably at least the qualifications it would take to publish View from Section 241. Don't think the raters that had Uconn in the 60's were being disingenous, may have been right or wrong but that is separate point.

I stick with comment "Seems we ARE what the recruiting sources have said - top 60 to 80 team."

You want to discuss other years teams and performance vs. rankings and vs. this year to date I'm ok with that, just different topic and not what I was addressing.

Recruiting rankings probably make a lot of sense 1 to 10; then 11 to 25 then 26 to 50; then 50 to 100 and then over 100. By that I mean as the pool of excellent talent is taken by the top teams, the next level of similar talent is much wider and more likely to have movement/development from the age of 18 to 23. That is why KansasState can have recruiting ratings as low as Uconn and a coach older than coach P (whose age you were very concerned with) and still have a team in the top 25. Another factor is coaching continuity, having a coach for 11 years makes “better performance within the talent pool” more likely as more years of specific scheme training and skill evaluation possible. Remember it took fhcRE 4 years and 5 games to figure out how to effectively use Easley.

Finally, I’ll call it the “Phil Steele” effect where he makes some predictions on performance based on something akin to “game LUCK” (or good bounces of the ball) in prior years. He looks at performance of prior years and if say you win 4 net games by 7 points or less last year he feels this will even out and if all things remain the same (he factors in that it will not) you can’t count on that winning so many close games again. Same with turnovers. Uconn last year had 11 year coach (he also values coach continuity), 2 net plus close victories and 12 plus takeaways (tied for 11th most in FBS) – all indications of “game luck maybe waiting to get you this year”. To quote Phil Steele “ UC was perhaps the most fortunate team in the country LY.” – meaning 2010.

This year have new coach, 1 net close loss and 2 plus takeaways so “game luck” as defined by Phil Steele had not be as favorable. By the way he rated Uconn 65 going into 2011- is he being disingenuous also given that a whole lot of his view of teams is his “recruit rankings”. He says Uconn out performed talent last year. I’ll take his word for it.

Finally, what is so unfair to THIS years players and what is so bad about being rated 60-80 level classes as 17-18 year olds. That doesn’t mean you can’t improve or there can be no Easley or Beatty, or no top 25 finish (which has never happened at year end) or beat a top 25 team (which Uconn has done at least 1 time in its history). Just after 9 games THIS YEAR are ranked 77 which seems a LOT LIKE the recruiting rankings – no more or less.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Problem is there are only 64 or 65 BCS teams, so that rating must have some implications.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Real question is why did PP burn Nebrich's red shirt. Just let him sit out the year. Heck he has hardly used him at all, if the kid wasn't ready, he wasn't ready. And, if injuries had become a problem,thenhe could have yanked the RS.

 

[uconnflyer88]

Real question is why did PP burn Nebrich's red shirt. Just let him sit out the year. Heck he has hardly used him at all, if the kid wasn't ready, he wasn't ready. And, if injuries had become a problem,thenhe could have yanked the RS.

While I somewhat agree with that statement....think about it this way

Coming into the season HCPP didn't know who the QB was going to be with four options, what if Nebrich had come in and just absolutely lit Fordham up (which he didn't) then he would be the starting QB

I agree it wasn't the best choice to burn the redshirt, but I think with the hype coming in it was worth the shot to see if he could step up especially with Cochran coming in January

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Question is does Cochran become next Year's Nebrich's? A year ago this time fans were eagerly awaiting this outstanding QB recruit. This guy could run and throw, right. Now we just don't know. So are we to believe Cochran is now the "new hpoe" for the program?

 

[uconnflyer88]

honestly, if this QB combination works itself out and becomes extremely production for the rest of the year I would say redshirt Cochran next year and then let Nebrich and Cochran battle it out in two years

I mean there are a million things you could do after this year being that two out of the three QBs in the competition this year have had a full years experience....moral of the story is you can never have too many QBs on the roster

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Great point. Ones all the coaches need to do is go out and bring in at least two a year, every year till things get fixed.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Great post, once again BL. The first thing I do every Sunday morning is to refresh the Boneyard when I wake up and read The View From 241.

I thought the crowd brought it, and as much as it pains me to say this, DJ Joey Franchise actually gets me pumped up in addition to Welcome to the Jungle on 3rd downs.

I was very vocal about Coach P's insistence on leaving in McEntee. I just don't see how Nebrich can't get a few snaps out there. I mean, McEntee's has had his moments (he played a solid second half) but it seems like Nebrich couldn't be any worse and would add the dimension of being able to run.

All that being said, the kids played with a ton of heart and grit and they deserved this win. This season just got a lot more interesting, and I think all of us will be jacked to go back to The Rent for Loserville in 2 weeks.

 

[Sean]

I want Nebrich badly, BUT...

I'm a Redskins fan, and plenty said "It can't be any worse than Rex Grossman". I said, I hate Rex, but it could be worse, you might be sticking a kid who can't even tie his shoes in there. Well, sure enough, John Beck is 10x worse.

Unless you have a guy who is turning the ball over every single possession, it can always get worse!

 

[SAMCRO]

Is it just me or is anyone else wondering if nebrich is doing that bad in practice that he is not getting a shot to start the second half after mcentees brutal 1st half. I love what mccummings did but why is pp so hesitant to mix nebrich with mccummings instead of jmac. Maybe once you go with nebrich pp feels you can't go back? Is he scared of two freshmen starting? Mcentee just isn't cutting it out there. I hope nebrich shows pp something in practice the next 2 weeks.

It's not just you Sean. I still never understood why we burned Nebrich's RS b/c I dont believe he was given much of a shot during those earlier games. A series here or there, with only 1 or 2 of them being consecutive series just wasnt enough, or even the same opportunity JMc had. Not being at practices all week, it is impossible for us to say waht the real deal is. I just have to trust PP's judgment, but I'm honestly having a hard time w/ it though based on what I do see on Saturdays. But it is definitely not just you.

 

[Nostical]

If you noticed Nebrich was warming up on the sidelines behind the bench, throwing to a receiver for about 10 minutes at the start of the second half, but never saw the field.

 

[businesslawyer]

If P could have Nebrich's redshirt back, he'd take it. But that's not the question. The question is whether it's fair to blame him for blowing it early on. And the answer is not. This team had the potential to win a lot of games if it had decent QB play, and he started the season thinking that even if Nebrich wasn't the number 1 on opening day, he might be shortly. So he played him. It worked out differently, but you can only criticize decisions based on the situation when they are made. This was just not a dumb decision.

 

[freescooter]

bl,

I think ity was more wishful thinking than anything else when the decision was made to play Nebrich. IN many respects he's the type of quarterback Deleone has always preferred. But he simply wasn't ready and I would have hoped that would be obviouls from practice. That is where the decision can be faulted. Again, you always have the opportunity to play a guy later in the year if situations change. Using him early and finding he wasn't ready was poor judgement in my view.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

If P could have Nebrich's redshirt back, he'd take it. But that's not the question. The question is whether it's fair to blame him for blowing it early on. And the answer is not. This team had the potential to win a lot of games if it had decent QB play, and he started the season thinking that even if Nebrich wasn't the number 1 on opening day, he might be shortly. So he played him. It worked out differently, but you can only criticize decisions based on the situation when they are made. This was just not a dumb decision.

The answer is definitely a YES. There was no need to trot out three different QB's in the first quarter against DII opponent. First off, find out what the walk on and the red shirt QB could do. Can they play or not? We still have no conclusive body of evidence. Nebrich is no closer to the field now dispite this horrible mess. He should have red shirted and been available if needed. This year was a waste of one year's eligibility. So yeah, it's all on HCPP, my friend. Thought he was suppose to have some football knowledge?

 

[freescooter]

I think a lot of what happened this year was totally predictable. A new coaching staff with a very different philosophy on both sides of the ball, no experienced quarterback, no experienced running backs, add in injuries, especially to our best defensive back and it was not too surprising to me to see UCONN struggle, although I didn't expect losses to Vandy and Western Michigan I admit. But the mess we had with the quarterback situation and how that was handled was totally inexpicable in my mind. This was a case where the coaching staff, as the Irish say, tried to be too cute by half. If Nebrich wasn't better than Mac and McCummings there really wasn't any reason that he should see the field this year. If he had been the best of the 3 quarterbacks, I say play him. But if he was no better than equal to, as was apparently the case, playing him was a monumental mistake. And since redshirting is really only permanent after the season, it wouldn't have prevented him from playing if either there was an injury, or he suddenly "got it" in practice.

 

[Husky68]

If P could have Nebrich's redshirt back, he'd take it. But that's not the question. The question is whether it's fair to blame him for blowing it early on. And the answer is not. This team had the potential to win a lot of games if it had decent QB play, and he started the season thinking that even if Nebrich wasn't the number 1 on opening day, he might be shortly. So he played him. It worked out differently, but you can only criticize decisions based on the situation when they are made. This was just not a dumb decision.

The dumb part is to claim that playing time would be based at all positions based on PRODUCTION and then define PRODUCTION each game as "what my starter did this last game" when it comes to QB. Current passing efficiency rating for Uconn is 95 out of 120 (would be #102 if counted only JMc's stats), now that is PRODUCTION. But then the passing efficiency rating doesn't include JMc's escapablility and rushing yardage (hard to make Zach look agile but JMc's minus 98 yards rushing vs. Zach's plus 14 yards almost does). Well at least it is better than last years final 112 ranking and the current Terps ranking of 114!

 

[rich1122]

Real question is why did PP burn Nebrich's red shirt. Just let him sit out the year. Heck he has hardly used him at all, if the kid wasn't ready, he wasn't ready. And, if injuries had become a problem,thenhe could have yanked the RS.

I think that there was, and still is is, a legit battle for the the starting QB position. I really don't think anybody knew who it would be.

 

[freescooter]

The dumb part is to claim that playing time would be based at all positions based on PRODUCTION and then define PRODUCTION each game as "what my starter did this last game" when it comes to QB. Current passing efficiency rating for Uconn is 95 out of 120 (would be #102 if counted only JMc's stats), now that is PRODUCTION. But then the passing efficiency rating doesn't include JMc's escapablility and rushing yardage (hard to make Zach look agile but JMc's minus 98 yards rushing vs. Zach's plus 14 yards almost does). Well at least it is better than last years final 112 ranking and the current Terps ranking of 114!

The one difference I have with you on this H68, is I came into the year figuring we didn't have much at quarterback. Based on what I saw with Box I wasn't impressed, Mac was a walkon, McCummings was a rs frosh who was usually described as a project and Nebrich was a true frosh. Not much there unless Nebrich turned out to be way above expectations. But from the reports coming out of camp, that didn't seem to be happening. He couldn't beat out Mccummings. he couldn't beat out McEntee. Again, unlike some people here, I wasn't surprised since the jump from playing high school football to D1BCS football is huge. If nothing else, we have actual defensive backs, and I'm willing to bet that he never faced a dt as big fast or agile as Reyes in high school. It is why 98% of quaterbacks, including many who go on to be stars, redshirt as freshmen.

 

[Jimdish255]

I think if we see Mike it will be after a week of real preparation and not thrown into a pressure situation. I agree with that but it's possible he might respond well to the challenge. It is a big risk to damage a young guy's confidence if he isn't ready.

As for Nick Williams he seems to have gotten his legs back under him and is really looking dangerous. I'd like to see him in the backfield trying to iso against anyone, but especially a linebacker in space. It's just too obvious and mind-boggling that this hasn't taken place.

 

[kemba]

Nebrich did not get nearly as much of a shot in games as McEntee. So I don't really get what they were thinking in burning his redshirt. If they gave them an equal shot and McEntee was just clearly better, than I wouldn't blame them for playing him. And if they decided based on practice that Nebrich didn't earn more playing time in games, that's perfectly fair. But then they shouldn't have played him at all.

 

[rich1122]

The kid was a freshman. He was in high school last year. Sure we know he is good. He has talent. But to ask him to direct a D1 program, well that may be asking a little too much. He will have plenty of opportunity to lead us in the future.

 

[Palatine]

The kid was a freshman. He was in high school last year. Sure we know he is good. He has talent. But to ask him to direct a D1 program, well that may be asking a little too much. He will have plenty of opportunity to lead us in the future.

Like Johnny Mac has set the bar so high that Nebrich can't possible do better? Nebrich doesn't have to be the best QB in D1, he just has to be more PRODUCTIVE than McEntee. That's all.