There is talent on offense. Schemes are bad.

[jbdphi]

Spread the damn field so teams can't put 8 or 9 in the box.

Doing the same thing and expecting a different result is maddening

Did you notice the sack Temple got with just a three man rush?

I hear various people saying we should max protect, others saying we should go five wide. I think the real answer is that none of these things makes our O-Line any better at the basics.

 

[uconnbill]

Did you notice the sack Temple got with just a three man rush?

I hear various people saying we should max protect, others saying we should go five wide. I think the real answer is that none of these things makes our O-Line any better at the basics.

I think uptempo would help as well, but then what do I know.

 

[Devland]

Casey made this same group of players resemble an offense.
Look at the NYG Thursday. We heard and saw the same things about their offense all last year and the exhibition season. Finally got rid of killdrive, installed a new offense that hides their line issues and Eli goes from over the hill to the new Payton.
Same personnel. Just innovative coaching.
Warde really whiffed on this. We of all programs needed a win now coach. Even if this guy does get it together down the road 5 years it will be too little too late. The P5 will have passed us by.

Not this season. We have had no run or pass offense in any game this season.

 

[Devland]

Guess arkeel newsome and D Foxx aren't talented. Dhameer Bradley, Lemelle. Bloom at tight end?

Reading your post depressed me. We have had much more talented players than those you mentioned in the past. Of that list Newsome is the most talented. But he has taken a lot of big time hits so far.

 

[Adios]

I think uptempo would help as well, but then what do I know.

It would help.

 

[Milo65]

We are playing with a DII O-Line and I can argue that there are DII schools that have better O-lines than we do. Most of the mistakes made on offense are coming from mental/physical lapses from that group. The penalties, hurries, sacks cause Whitmer to literally run for his life back there. This team gives up sacks, safeties, fumbles and interceptions at an alarming rate. It also doesn't help that we lost Cochran. I felt that he was and would be special. Whitmer is anything but special but given time he can be serviceable. The OL can't give him time. We have a talented stable of running backs. Unfortunately, except for the occasional long run, we settle for two yards and less. How many times were our RB's dropped for a loss? Teams are blitzing and stunting and this group just can't pick it up. There are a lot of times that our five linemen are overwhelmed by just three rushers.

This team stinks. They are not talented and it will be a while until it gets better. I know a lot of people love our recruits, but I am concerned that not one of them are offensive linemen. I know the thought is that we can take these big bodies and build them up. I will tell you I would much rather have a guy who has played there and build him up from there.

We can blame the coaches, but in my opinion the people to blame are Hathaway and FHCPP. The cupboard is bare and now it must be restocked.

 

[huskysupporter]

We are playing with a DII O-Line and I can argue that there are DII schools that have better O-lines than we do. Most of the mistakes made on offense are coming from mental/physical lapses from that group. The penalties, hurries, sacks cause Whitmer to literally run for his life back there. This team gives up sacks, safeties, fumbles and interceptions at an alarming rate. It also doesn't help that we lost Cochran. I felt that he was and would be special. Whitmer is anything but special but given time he can be serviceable. The OL can't give him time. We have a talented stable of running backs. Unfortunately, except for the occasional long run, we settle for two yards and less. How many times were our RB's dropped for a loss? Teams are blitzing and stunting and this group just can't pick it up. There are a lot of times that our five linemen are overwhelmed by just three rushers.

This team stinks. They are not talented and it will be a while until it gets better. I know a lot of people love our recruits, but I am concerned that not one of them are offensive linemen. I know the thought is that we can take these big bodies and build them up. I will tell you I would much rather have a guy who has played there and build him up from there.

We can blame the coaches, but in my opinion the people to blame are Hathaway and FHCPP. The cupboard is bare and now it must be restocked.

We have a couple recruits that will be O Lineman. One has already been slotted there.

If the coaches don't go JUCO/5th year senior route on this line, it could take 2-3 years to become competent in that area. Scary.

 

[ATLDYKA]

Who is the O-linemen who was going out to camps in Oklahoma and we were all worried about him changing his commitment. Is he on the team now or is he coming in next year?

 

[BNich]

Who is the O-linemen who was going out to camps in Oklahoma and we were all worried about him changing his commitment. Is he on the team now or is he coming in next year?

Defensive Lineman Kevin Murphy

 

[uconnflyer88]

Chandler Whitmer has been mentally destroyed over the past two years into thinking "oh *" as soon as the defense even looks like it may get a good pass rush going. After two and a half years he still has no idea how to step up into a pocket. You can blame the o line all day (they are terrible) but there were plenty of times yesterday where there was a good enough pocket where he could have stepped up and made a quick throw and didn't or scrambled into a rusher. He always tries to scramble around the pocket which usually ends up right into where the o line is blocking the defender into.

For those who say we are "saving" Boyle for next year, that to me is ridiculous, the only way the unit (QB and O line) can get better is by playing with each other. There's no trust between Whitmer and the line and vice versa. Whitmer thinks he doesn't have the time and o line think need to create the perfect pocket or happy feet is off.

Boyle who is either more calm or just still dumb to the pain gives the line something to develop off of because they don't need to make the perfect pocket to create a play offensively. It's hard to watch tape where you're not sure who screwed up.

And I'm not even touching on Whitmer inability to check out of a play facing a blitz......or even recognizing one.

 

[nycscooby]

Bottom line is offensive schemes and gameplay are terrible. End of last year, we spread it out and passed and ran it better. You can't have a plain vanilla power football scheme unless you have superior players. Since our OL is not good, you can not run a plain vanilla power football scheme. We have to spread the defense out to create more open lanes. We need to have quick slants, 4 WR sets, misdirection,... A different offensive philosophy would help hide our weaknesses.

When I watch our offense, it is either a run between the tackles or a mid yardage pass. Off course the defense can attack our simple offense. Where are the reverses? Where are the slants? Where are the quick pitches?

Look, I don't think UConn has Alabama talent, but the Offensive schemes and gameplan are making our players look worse than they are.

I am so tired about reading about the deficiencies in schemes, coaching, etc. at some point if you have equal or greater talent to your opponent, you will make a play, force a TO, pancake someone or make a huge hit. Where has this happened through BYU. BSU, USF and Temple? The fact is that there is little talent on the field. Not saying the coaches are putting them in the best position to succeed but we couldn't cover the Temple receivers and the QB is light years ahead of ours. Put him behind our OL and he would still roll out and make plays.

 

[ATLDYKA]

Defensive Lineman Kevin Murphy

Oh well, thought I remembered it being an O-linemen.

 

[Bootsthemonkey]

Part of the problem is the snap count. It needs to be changed up to keep the defense honest. Temple wasn't only loading the inside, LB's were blitzing inside and timing their jump into the gaps. Even if your offensive line is good (and I'm not excusing anyone here or calling the UConn O-line good by any stretch), this can be difficult to block. Going back further in the progression you can say it's difficult to vary the count when your offense is routinely getting set with 5 seconds left on the play clock.

Watch the tape if you recorded it and watch Matakevich and co. time their blitz rushes over and over. They called this off in the 4th when the game was in hand and you can see the difference it makes. I don't know why UConn is operating like this - if there is confusion on the sideline or on the field or what, but rectify this and the offense should improve. One of the biggest advantages any offense has is the element of surprise by the snap count. Get vanilla with it and you negate that and make things much easier on the D. Change up the count and you stat catching the D with offsides and you get a few 5 yard freebies. Then they back off and now your offense has some breathing room.

 

[SubbaBub]

No matter how you slice and dice it. Offensive line needs work. Fix that you will win games

I have boiled in down to this. Our receivers can catch, our backs can run, and even our QB's can throw enough if given time. The Defense is more than holding it's own even with the busted coverages. The line's inability to block and the coaches inability to run plays that they can execute is the problem. If they are getting beat one on one, then scheme is such a way that limits their exposure. We spent years with guys who were undersized and slower than the opposing defense and we still managed to keep the QB upright and run the ball. Where is the pulling sweep, the jet sweep, the down blocking, the fullback lead, and if we are throwing for heaven's sake block inside out. Having a NT plow into the QB before he can spin the laces is just plain unacceptable.

 

[Jimdish255]

We are playing with a DII O-Line and I can argue that there are DII schools that have better O-lines than we do. ....

...They are not talented and it will be a while until it gets better. I know a lot of people love our recruits, but I am concerned that not one of them are offensive linemen. I know the thought is that we can take these big bodies and build them up. I will tell you I would much rather have a guy who has played there and build him up from there.

We can blame the coaches, but in my opinion the people to blame are Hathaway and FHCPP. The cupboard is bare and now it must be restocked.

Same conclusion. Offensive lineman do need to have specific skills and mindset for the position. Maybe we did make the mistake of recruiting bodies and trying to plug them in. And what we did have we failed to develop. It really looks bad out there and any quick fix would be considered if I was trying to rebuild it.