This is not last year.

[Fishy]

Tough loss and we had our chances, but you'd have to be blind or miserable or Freescooter not to see the progress. I would rather have seen UConn go for it on fourth down, but the fake had a better chance of success than a 42-yd field goal given the ST debacles. (Will keep telling myself that...)

But we were 24-point underdogs and we kept a top 25 SEC school sweating in front on its own field for 39 minutes - some jackass will say that there are no moral victories, but screw that.

And it was fun. Hard way to lose, but still, it was a fun afternoon in a game that we would have lost by 238 points last year. Disco is straight crazy, but it's rapidly becoming an endearing kind of crazy - he plays to win.

Now, straight out the special teams.

 

[businesslawyer]

Tough loss and we had our chances, but you'd have to be blind or miserable or Freescooter not to see the progress. I would rather have seen UConn go for it on fourth down, but the fake had a better chance of success than a 42-yd field goal given the ST debacles. (Will keep telling myself that...)

But we were 24-point underdogs and we kept a top 25 SEC school sweating in front on its own field for 39 minutes - some jackass will say that there are no moral victories, but screw that.

And it was fun. Hard way to lose, but still, it was a fun afternoon in a game that we would have lost by 238 points last year. Disco is straight crazy, but it's rapidly becoming an endearing kind of crazy - he plays to win.

Now, straight out the special teams.

So how long do you think a football game is?

 

[Fishy]

So how long do you think a football game is?

lol.

Spent the morning coaching junior high girls' basketball game.

 

[SubbaBub]

Endearingly crazy looks a lot like endearingly drunk sometimes. Someone needs to be the guy who takes away the keys when he started to get glassy eyed.

 

[Ldandy]

I lmao when Diaco did some kind of jumping fist pump at the end of the Army Game. The over the top nature of it would have made Tiger Woods draining an eagle put on the 18th of The Open seem tame by comparison. That said after what the team went through last year who am I to judge him showing some much needed enthusiasm?

 

[Chief00]

Does Diaco have a George Blanney - who can kind of get him to change his idea - and think the changed idea was his?

It's a shame to have a great defensive game plan get wasted like this - I still don't think #4 is much of a passer but his running ability may make them good enough against the mid tier teams along with a good defense.

I have no idea what special teams was thinking on any number of plays?

 

[BoatShow]

Anyone else notice it's been the same shirt every game? I wonder if he changes it after the lost

 

[Devland]

Tough loss and we had our chances, but you'd have to be blind or miserable or Freescooter not to see the progress. I would rather have seen UConn go for it on fourth down, but the fake had a better chance of success than a 42-yd field goal given the ST debacles. (Will keep telling myself that...)

But we were 24-point underdogs and we kept a top 25 SEC school sweating in front on its own field for 39 minutes - some jackass will say that there are no moral victories, but screw that.

And it was fun. Hard way to lose, but still, it was a fun afternoon in a game that we would have lost by 238 points last year. Disco is straight crazy, but it's rapidly becoming an endearing kind of crazy - he plays to win.

Now, straight out the special teams.

There were three options on that play. Attempt a field goal, fake a field goal or run a play from scrimmage. Because of the amount of pressure up the middle on the fake, we found out that there was no way they were going to even get a kick off. So the only thing we don't know now was what would have happened had the run a play from scrimmage, other than a bunch of people would have been on here saying they should have kicked a FG or faked a FG. It is possible that there was no correct call.

 

[junglehusky]

I think Patterson is Diaco's Blaney.

 

[cohenzone]

There were three options on that play. Attempt a field goal, fake a field goal or run a play from scrimmage. Because of the amount of pressure up the middle on the fake, we found out that there was no way they were going to even get a kick off. So the only thing we don't know now was what would have happened had the run a play from scrimmage, other than a bunch of people would have been on here saying they should have kicked a FG or faked a FG. It is possible that there was no correct call.

Um, we did get an earlier FG attempt off.

 

[cohenzone]

Fishy, as he sometimes is, is totally right. Yes the game was winnable or tieable, but this team is already doing the one thing the program hasn't done for over three years. They are interesting and entertaining. They were playing against a tough team, whose ranking had to have at least been a bit based on their D. Well, our D was at least as good as theirs and I think our offense is growing to where if the D stays strong, we'll be in a lot of games and win some along the way. Diaco is a flake, but the direction seems correct and, FWIW, he has very few of his own recruits in the system.

 

[businesslawyer]

lol.

Spent the morning coaching junior high girls' basketball game.

Huh? You think they changed it from 40 to 60 minutes while you were coaching this morning? What kind of an excuse is that? You think Jim Calhoun didn't know how the world was changing while he was coaching?

 

[noeynox]

what stood out to me as I watched that, physically we stood toe to toe with a ranked SEC team on the road today. Our Dline, for the most part kicked their Olines tail. Cam Stapleton a back up hybrid, suplexed one of their backs head over heels.

Balis and Diaco have built this team up quickly into a physically imposing unit. That defensive unit was fun to watch today. Goal line stands, short yardage, smash mouth football. It was fun.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

The bigger issue here is can we fix this issue going forward. Because if we are scared to attempt 40 yard FG's because we can't block anybody up the middle, we are going into every game handicapped.

The issue is bad enough that Diaco needs to step in this week and address it. Fix it. I remember Edsall taking control of the DB's one year. He's the CEO. If the special teams coaches can't fix it, he needs to coach them now and find another special teams coach for next year. End of story.

 

[Devland]

Um, we did get an earlier FG attempt off.

I was talking about the pressure up the middle on that particular play. Boyle was rushed by the pressure. There was no way they would had time for a kick.

 

[auggie22]

Tough loss and we had our chances, but you'd have to be blind or miserable or Freescooter not to see the progress. I would rather have seen UConn go for it on fourth down, but the fake had a better chance of success than a 42-yd field goal given the ST debacles. (Will keep telling myself that...)

But we were 24-point underdogs and we kept a top 25 SEC school sweating in front on its own field for 39 minutes - some jackass will say that there are no moral victories, but screw that.

And it was fun. Hard way to lose, but still, it was a fun afternoon in a game that we would have lost by 238 points last year. Disco is straight crazy, but it's rapidly becoming an endearing kind of crazy - he plays to win.

Now, straight out the special teams.

You nailed it - this was actually a fun game to watch, from beginning to end. I don't even know how long it has been since I could say that.

 

[Devland]

The bigger issue here is can we fix this issue going forward. Because if we are scared to attempt 40 yard FG's because we can't block anybody up the middle, we are going into every game handicapped.

The issue is bad enough that Diaco needs to step in this week and address it. Fix it. I remember Edsall taking control of the DB's one year. He's the CEO. If the special teams coaches can't fix it, he needs to coach them now and find another special teams coach for next year. End of story.

I don't know if this is the case here but a lot of head coaches limit certain players from playing special teams. This seems like a personal issue not a scheme issue. They are getting overpowered up the middle.

 

[sportsart]

what stood out to me as I watched that, physically we stood toe to toe with a ranked SEC team on the road today. Our Dline, for the most part kicked their Olines tail. Cam Stapleton a back up hybrid, suplexed one of their backs head over heels.

Balis and Diaco have built this team up quickly into a physically imposing unit. That defensive unit was fun to watch today. Goal line stands, short yardage, smash mouth football. It was fun.

I agree our DL stuffed the Mizzu OL as far as the run goes, but.....our pass rush, until the 4th quarter, seemed non existent. I did not keep track but I know we went with a 3 man rush a lot which would explain the lack of pressure. There was a ton of coverage scrambles by the Mizzu QB's and I think it was a combination of good coverage (dropping 8 in coverage will do that) and Mizzu being thin at WR with a few inexperienced guys out there.

I did notice in the 4th quarter our DL did not miss a beat, with two 4th down stops after being on the field so much and I think conditioning (mentally and physically) played a huge part.

 

[cohenzone]

I was talking about the pressure up the middle on that particular play. Boyle was rushed by the p
ressure. There was no way they would had time for a kick.

Whatever. You can't assume the same or that the kick wouldn't have gotten off/

 

[noeynox]

I agree our DL stuffed the Mizzu OL as far as the run goes, but.....our pass rush, until the 4th quarter, seemed non existent. I did not keep track but I know we went with a 3 man rush a lot which would explain the lack of pressure. There was a ton of coverage scrambles by the Mizzu QB's and I think it was a combination of good coverage (dropping 8 in coverage will do that) and Mizzu being thin at WR with a few inexperienced guys out there.

I did notice in the 4th quarter our DL did not miss a beat, with two 4th down stops after being on the field so much and I think conditioning (mentally and physically) played a huge part.

I think part of the game plan involved letting the guy with a 48% completion percentage beat you with his arm rather than his legs. For the most part they kept Mauk in check in terms of rush yards. He came in their leading rusher. There was one play in the late in the fourth where the DE, I think it was Ormsby clearly beat the tackle deep into the backfield but instead of going for the sack, he kept Mauk in the pocket. Mauk had forever but he ended up throwing it away. I really think the game plan involved keeping Mauk from scrambling for huge chunks of yards.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I think about 2/3's of coaching occurs without the cameras on. Preparing players to play is the biggest part of the coach's job. The gameplan and play calls are important, but only a part of the coach's job.

Last year I seriously wondered what the heck was going on in practice. The offense seemed completely incompetent, unable to execute even the simplest football plays. There seemed to be missed assignments on every defensive play. It seems like the staff has cleaned a lot of that stuff up. And it turns out there are some guys on the team that can play when they line up properly and everyone knows their assignment.

Diaco is a gameday trainwreck and the Schiano comparison is appropriate. But last year he looked completely lost in every facet of the job, and he doesn't any more. UConn looks like a football team again.

 

[junglehusky]

Apart from the kickers, special teams can be a barometer for overall depth. It was a weak point throughout much of Edsall's tenure and it's certainly a weakness again. It's one of the last areas to improve. I don't know if this is the kind of thing that a coach (any coach) can fix in a week. Diaco flat-out stated he didn't have confidence in the blocking in the middle of the line... we need more depth and competition top to bottom and then special teams will be solid again. But even if STs aren't "solid", maybe the coaches can extract some marginal improvements in performance which could still be significant.

 

[RedStickHusky]

There were three options on that play. Attempt a field goal, fake a field goal or run a play from scrimmage. Because of the amount of pressure up the middle on the fake, we found out that there was no way they were going to even get a kick off. So the only thing we don't know now was what would have happened had the run a play from scrimmage, other than a bunch of people would have been on here saying they should have kicked a FG or faked a FG. It is possible that there was no correct call.

for me it comes down to whose hand do you want the ball in? they needed four yards and had a full minute after that. put bs on the edge with a couple options...

 

[Sprague03]

Would have -could have -should have, but if only Bloom caught that beautifully thrown ball by Boyle to end the half. That was a great play by the Mizzou's defensive back to get in there. As well as Tarbutt's missed FG

Mizzous defense is so good-this will be the best defense UConn will face all year. Things will only get easier now.

By the way-anyone see Wake Forest almost lost to Army??!!

 

[Durks07]

So how long do you think a football game is?

This is conclusive proof that Fishy's rage blackouts last five minutes at a time.