The worst is over...

[sdhusky]

Last game last year was rock bottom and Saturday was brutal but I think things are looking up overall.

We will 2 more games and be in position to steal against Temple and go bowling.

The worst is over...

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

People on ludes should not post (Cheech and Chong.)

 

[Dooley]

Last year's finish was absolutely rock bottom. There has been improvement this year - just maybe not as much as most would have liked. Get to 5 wins this year and that will set up bowl game expectations for 2016. That will be very important going forward.

 

[BugsyCT]

Last year we were horrendous. This year we are still a bad team, but competent. It's not the improvement most folks were looking for, but it's still improvement.

ECU will be tough. They hung in with both Florida and BYU on the road. We'll have to put a complete game together to beat them.

 

[noeynox]

Not that I'm giving up on this year, but next year is absolutely crucial to Diaco. He really needs to come through with 7-8 wins.

You see some good things. The oline while still not good, is pass blocking much better than at any time under P. You see some head scratchers like clock management. If he is still having trouble with things like clock management last year, at some point you have reevaluate if you can continue with the on the job training. He has not shown that he can counter an opposing teams in game adjustment. This is something not all coaches do well.

I think things are trending up and agree that SMU performance was probably rock bottom, but this league is pretty good. You have 3 ranked teams and Navy. Can Diaco swim in those waters?

 

[BlueDogs]

Diaco gets 1 more season to get another season. If he finishes with 3-4 wins, next year he's gone. If he gets 5, he should be gone but won't. If he gets 6, they extend his contract out of jubilation, which will be a mistake. If he gets 8, 9 wins, then he's worth keeping around.

 

[Srqhusky]

Temple tulane and east carolina. All winnable. We are going bowling

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Temple tulane and east carolina. All winnable. We are going bowling

LOL. How was the 2nd & parts of the 3rd quarter of the UCF game?

 

[NYUConn]

The product on the field is light years ahead of where it was at the end of last year. The talent gap is shrinking, main problems we are dealing with now are young players making young player mistakes.

We are getting there.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The team is much better. Even in losses we have been competitive...BYU, Mizzou, Cinci, none of those were blowouts or unwinnable games. In fact, the trend I see lately is that UConn hangs tough into the 3rd quarter and then the other team puts us away.

 

[Palatine]

Quite often what appears to be the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train.

That said, I sure as hell wish the worst is over. Please be over.

 

[Husky68]

The team is much better. Even in losses we have been competitive...BYU, Mizzou, Cinci, none of those were blowouts or unwinnable games. In fact, the trend I see lately is that UConn hangs tough into the 3rd quarter and then the other team puts us away.

Didn't see either BYU or Cinci. as winnable as played. Both games lost by more than 2 touchdowns. If the loss by 30-13 to BYU isn't blow out (would say it is), surely loss 37-13 to Cinci. is. BYU #10 kept us in game with drops, UConn was outgained 612 to 266, 1st downs 31 to 14 and time of possession 35 minutes to 25 - looks pretty blowoutish to me.
Missou is a bad offensive team; real, real bad. They are averaging single digits in 5 SEC games.

This team is better than last year (hard not to do), not better since Navy game this year. UCF is the UConn of 2015 so that game was like the largest shrimp playing the fastest turtle. Take that game out of mix and "getting not better" is more obvious. UConn plays a very unwinnable style for a team with a bit less than average talent and below average line and line backer athleticism.

 

[Palatine]

The team is much better. Even in losses we have been competitive...BYU, Mizzou, Cinci, none of those were blowouts or unwinnable games. In fact, the trend I see lately is that UConn hangs tough into the 3rd quarter and then the other team puts us away.

The same thing could be said about Pasqualoni after the Michigan game. Then we were blown out by Buffalo. And Pasqualoni had 5 win seasons where he was within a hair of a bowl game. Pasqualoni's big mistake was not going 2-10 in his first year like Diaco. That helps to make the case you are improving.

I know I am a hard arse about this. But real progress is victories. And since I am not part of the "cupboard is bare" chorus, I think we are capable of much more than Diaco is getting from the team. I want Diaco to succeed. Sometimes there are glimmers. But I refuse to confuse them with gold. There is only one measure for a guy being paid millions of dollars, Ws.

 

[NYUConn]

The same thing could be said about Pasqualoni after the Michigan game. Then we were blown out by Buffalo. And Pasqualoni had 5 win seasons where he was within a hair of a bowl game. Pasqualoni's big mistake was not going 2-10 in his first year like Diaco. That helps to make the case you are improving.

I know I am a hard arse about this. But real progress is victories. And since I am not part of the "cupboard is bare" chorus, I think we are capable of much more than Diaco is getting from the team. I want Diaco to succeed. Sometimes there are glimmers. But I refuse to confuse them with gold. There is only one measure for a guy being paid millions of dollars, Ws.

Totally agree, no participation trophies and you don't get points for trying hard.

That said there is a tangible difference between the product on the field this year and that of the past two season.

Talent-wise, I feel like we are back to where we were when PP inherited the team and posted back-to-back 5 win seasons (when any halfway decent coach would have gotten 7-8 wins).

 

[Waquoit]

Pasqualoni's big mistake was not going 2-10 in his first year like Diaco. That helps to make the case you are improving.

You lose me with this bad faith argument. P won 5 games with a team that should have went bowling.

 

[Palatine]

You lose me with this bad faith argument. P won 5 games with a team that should have went bowling.

It's not bad faith. Diaco began his tenure by saying he wasn't going to game plan for opponents, he was worried about us. He also stated publicly that his goal was to play as many players as a possible. He also said that he considered the first three games preseason or exhibition game (I forget which one) and that our opponents were our partners in making us better. He never mentioned winning. It was clearly not his priority to win.

That approach was different from Pasqualoni. But Pasqualoni could have talked about a transition and said pretty much the same stuff. Heck, the media was feeding us the cupboard is bare stories. P. could have used some starting over from scratch bullspit to cover up a throw away season. He could have had a 2-10 baseline. Might still be here if the did.

We'll know what Diaco had last season one in a couple of more years. He did have Davis and Jones. And he had Casey at QB, who he yanked in the middle of drives. And he sat Jones on critical third downs because he wasn't interested in winning, he was judging games by number of players played.

This is all water over the dam. And I agree that P. shuld have went bowling. My point is he could have played the same games that Diaco played. And I give Diaco no quarter for throwing away 2014.

 

[sdhusky]

You are too stupid to reconize that PP got a team off a Fiesta Bowl & Diaco got a team that won 2 game

 

[Nostical]

You are too stupid to reconize that PP got a team off a Fiesta Bowl & Diaco got a team that won 2 game

Pal may be frustrating. He may be irritating. He may be even be infuriating. But the one thing he isn't is stupid.

 

[Palatine]

You are too stupid to reconize that PP got a team off a Fiesta Bowl & Diaco got a team that won 2 game

I addressed that. Read much?

But Pasqualoni could have talked about a transition and said pretty much the same stuff. Heck, the media was feeding us the cupboard is bare stories. P. could have used some starting over from scratch bullspit to cover up a throw away season. He could have had a 2-10 baseline. Might still be here if the did.

This is regardless of what happened the previous season. P. could have done exactly what Edsall did it at Maryland. sdhusky, you really have to up your game.

 

[UConnDan97]

Temple tulane and east carolina. All winnable. We are going bowling

Keep this type of talk up, and I'm going to file for copyright infringement... Seriously though, it's amazing to me how important this next game against ECU is.

Win it, and we amazingly will have a puncher's chance at a bowl game, assuming we finish the job against Tulane and then two shots at an underdog-win against either Houston in the cold weather or Temple in a pseudo-rivalry game.

Lose it, and we could be staring down the barrel of a 3-win season. It's nice that this game is at home.

It really underscores how brutal it was to lose that USF game, or to not sneak in that Mizzou game. And think about how different our outlook of this team and this coaching staff would be if we had grabbed either one of those games, if not both. Uggh. Well, let's beat the Pirates and win The Battle of the Boneyards...

 

[sportsart]

It's not bad faith. Diaco began his tenure by saying he wasn't going to game plan for opponents, he was worried about us. He also stated publicly that his goal was to play as many players as a possible. He also said that he considered the first three games preseason or exhibition game (I forget which one) and that our opponents were our partners in making us better. He never mentioned winning. It was clearly not his priority to win.

That approach was different from Pasqualoni. But Pasqualoni could have talked about a transition and said pretty much the same stuff. Heck, the media was feeding us the cupboard is bare stories. P. could have used some starting over from scratch bullspit to cover up a throw away season. He could have had a 2-10 baseline. Might still be here if the did.

We'll know what Diaco had last season one in a couple of more years. He did have Davis and Jones. And he had Casey at QB, who he yanked in the middle of drives. And he sat Jones on critical third downs because he wasn't interested in winning, he was judging games by number of players played.

This is all water over the dam. And I agree that P. shuld have went bowling. My point is he could have played the same games that Diaco played. And I give Diaco no quarter for throwing away 2014.

When you build a program, not a team, but a program from the ground up and have success, then come and tell us how you did it. You think all a coach needs is a magic wand to win games.

Diaco sure has had more than a few head scratching moments, but seeing that not one of us on this board knows the inner workings of rebuilding a severely damaged program, for you to constantly gripe about something you know very little about, is a waste of bandwidth.

Is it ok to be concerned about Diaco and if he has what it takes....absolutely....I sure am. But to just base his progress on wins is not looking at the big picture.

By the way.....see you Friday?

 

[sdhusky]

Pal may be frustrating. He may be irritating. He may be even be infuriating. But the one thing he isn't is stupid.

Palatine is on record denying the ability to see progress only W's.

So, he believes last years team, with that depth chart, only won 2 games because of Diaco didn't want to win.

He believed that PP could have lost 10 games in his first year, with that depth chart, but didn't because he wanted to win.

Sorry, that's stupid.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The same thing could be said about Pasqualoni after the Michigan game. Then we were blown out by Buffalo. And Pasqualoni had 5 win seasons where he was within a hair of a bowl game. Pasqualoni's big mistake was not going 2-10 in his first year like Diaco. That helps to make the case you are improving.

I know I am a hard arse about this. But real progress is victories. And since I am not part of the "cupboard is bare" chorus, I think we are capable of much more than Diaco is getting from the team. I want Diaco to succeed. Sometimes there are glimmers. But I refuse to confuse them with gold. There is only one measure for a guy being paid millions of dollars, Ws.

I think you are wrong. However bad Missouri's offense is, playing a close game on the road against a decent SEC squad is not the same as losing to Army. An L is not just an L. This team has been able to compete in every game, even if it ultimately collapsed and gave up points late, as they did Saturday. The eye test matters, and they are clearly better overall this year, although I think the defense may have taken a step backwards, due to personnel losses and youth.

Another factor is the age of the team. UConn this year is playing much younger players than PP had in his first few seasons.

 

[RedStickHusky]

so that game was like the largest shrimp playing the fastest turtle.

I want to nominate that quote for a BY year-end award.

 

[Srqhusky]

LOL. How was the 2nd & parts of the 3rd quarter of the UCF game?

Sorry but the UCF people we were with could not stand any more. Stay on topic!
The three teams are not spread up tempo teams and we can grind it out with them. Houston we have no chance because we cant stop the spread up tempo style.
Houston is at home in november we can hope for an ice bowl which might hurt the aerial attack.
Season is not lost