Tough crowd tonight.

[UConn66]

If Thomas catches that ball or Shirreffs hits him on the next play, or if we don't get the bad PI call, or Shirreffs simply takes a sack on the stupid play action and doesn't fumble, the score is probably more comfortable, but I'd still be worried. Even if all of those things go right and we win by 10 or 14 points, it wouldn't have changed the fact that:

1) We failed to push around Maine's defensive front until 2/3 of the way through the game,
2) The safety position looks to be a huge issue as we got burned deep over the middle several times,
3) We generated zero pass rush (even rushing 3-4 we should have been able to get some pressure),
4) The same coaching/game management brain farts are present, and
5) The offense is still overly reliant on QB scrambles

The biggest problem is#3. Nonexistent rush. Can't allow this against good QB.

 

[Doggie Style]

They are coaching afraid of Maine. Maine!

Who has the youngest (30) & most inexperienced coach in all of college FB!! Pathetic....

 

[Doggie Style]

Diaco is not fit for Big 12 football. Time to boot him.

There's no way he'll fit into that conference unless he comes up with some all-time defenses. Diaco really is over his head, anyway. I have no idea how people see potential competency in him.

I'm quickly getting to your position

 

[Chin Diesel]

If I am Benedict, I have to wonder why Diaco is the head coach. Why? He is looking to sell tickets and increase enthusiasm. Diaco is tamping it down by using UCONN as his test tube for 60's style football. No punt returns. Ultra conservative play calls. Bend don't break defense. In today's age, that equates to 20k for a home game. Add on his lunatic fringe comments and the task gets taller.

If by G-d's grace we get into the Big 12, Diaco will have no choice but to play football - not manage it.

Diaco is not a Benedict hire. Good points that Disco's rhetoric doesn't match his game day performance.

 

[EJHarrington]

What is bothering me is Diaco's assertion that he is not looking for an explosive high scoring offense but more of a "grind it out, ball control, let our defense win it for us" offense. Why is that? I want a team that can score 50-60 points a game. That should be the goal. Why shoot for grinding out a win when you can blow out a team and look good and exciting doing it?

 

[Papadukes]

I was wondering what Benedict was thinking watching that game especially the end of first half and the crowds reaction

 

[kemba]

What is bothering me is Diaco's assertion that he is not looking for an explosive high scoring offense but more of a "grind it out, ball control, let our defense win it for us" offense. Why is that? I want a team that can score 50-60 points a game. That should be the goal. Why shoot for grinding out a win when you can blow out a team and look good and exciting doing it?

Obviously if they could do that they would. They don't have the players to do that.

 

[Adios]

I was wondering what Benedict was thinking watching that game especially the end of first half and the crowds reaction

"I hope Gus becomes available!"

If Gus Malzahn loses his job at Auburn and becomes our head coach, that would be beautiful.

 

[UConnNick]

Obviously if they could do that they would. They don't have the players to do that.

I'm sick and tired of hearing this excuse. If we don't have the players, who's freakin' fault is that? Bobby D needs to look in the mirror on that one. This is his team now. Either he can't recruit to save his life, which means he doesn't deserve to have a job coaching at the FBS level, or he just can't figure out how to coach his players to learn how to execute something more than three yards off tackle or up the middle.

Besides, how do we even know if we don't have the players when you never try to do anything that's the slightest bit unusual or, dare I say it, daring? Would it kill us to run a reverse every once in a while, perhaps just to keep opposing defenses slightly off balance? That's still just a running play, but I guess it's too high risk for Bobby to even contemplate.

I guess Diaco must have read biographies of Darrell Royal and Bo Schembechler. "Only three things can happen when you pass a football, and two of them are bad."

That's Bobby D in a nutshell.

 

[TheDoggPound]

The game should never have been that close - eliminate some pure idiocy and the game is a 31-14 type of win.

Agreed, although I don't agree with Diaco's method grinding down Maine the first half, we should have had that game won 28-14 or 31-14.

 

[TheDoggPound]

What concerns me is that Diaco probably knew that running out the time would solicit boos from the crowd, especially after a dreadful 1st half so why would he follow through with that and send his team back to the tunnel hearing boos? They probably understand it's directed at the coaching staff/play calling but still it's not good for team morale or the psyche.

 

[DoctorWho85]

I was disappointed by the gameplan until I realized that Diaco is holding all his cards close to his chest to lull Navy into a flase sense of security. Then he's gonna unload on them

 

[JMick]

I was disappointed by the gameplan until I realized that Diaco is holding all his cards close to his chest to lull Navy into a flase sense of security. Then he's gonna unload on them

We can only hope. I'm watching Stanford right now and I hope Bob and Verducci are too

 

[Woof 101]

Couldnt believe the booing at the end of the 1st half.

Noeynox, no spitting match here but you must have tuned in just in time to catch the booing. Had you witnessed the first half of chicken liver play calling and continued time mismanagement against a 27 point underdog you just might have titled the thread Intelligent Crowd Tonight!

did anyone notice that Puyol tee'd one up from 52 when they came out after the half for warm ups and hit it comfortably? That's where the ball would have been spotted had they tried at the end of the half.

Did not catch this but thank you for posting. Obviously a little game of what the hell you been watching in practice coach on his part. These guys stretch over and over, ride the bike and kick into the net all night on the side lines just to get a few plays. To have the bone head at the top not let a star have a moment to shine and help the team go into the locker room on a high was simply a face palm, head banging moment. I did not join in on the booing but have nothing against those that did so.

What concerns me is that Diaco probably knew that running out the time would solicit boos from the crowd, especially after a dreadful 1st half so why would he follow through with that and send his team back to the tunnel hearing boos? They probably understand it's directed at the coaching staff/play calling but still it's not good for team morale or the psyche.

Agree with your morale and psyche thing, but the players are not dummies. I am sure under their breath they were booing the poor clock management also. This and holding back grins knowing the crowd was on the same page as the team. They worked hard to get into field goal range, he chose the locker room instead. This had to be the hardest on the morale and psyche if anything.
I am not ready to throw in the towel on him yet....But at this point our head dog has a bark much bigger than his bite. He could sell panty hose to hard core bikers but his game management still leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[EJHarrington]

I'm sick and tired of hearing this excuse. If we don't have the players, who's freakin' fault is that? Bobby D needs to look in the mirror on that one. This is his team now. Either he can't recruit to save his life, which means he doesn't deserve to have a job coaching at the FBS level, or he just can't figure out how to coach his players to learn how to execute something more than three yards off tackle or up the middle.

Besides, how do we even know if we don't have the players when you never try to do anything that's the slightest bit unusual or, dare I say it, daring? Would it kill us to run a reverse every once in a while, perhaps just to keep opposing defenses slightly off balance? That's still just a running play, but I guess it's too high risk for Bobby to even contemplate.

I guess Diaco must have read biographies of Darrell Royal and Bo Schembechler. "Only three things can happen when you pass a football, and two of them are bad."

That's Bobby D in a nutshell.

If teams like Northern Illinois, Marshall, Boise, and Nevada can do it, so should we.

 

[noeynox]

Noeynox, no spitting match here but you must have tuned in just in time to catch the booing. Had you witnessed the first half of chicken liver play calling and continued time mismanagement against a 27 point underdog you just might have titled the thread Intelligent Crowd Tonight!

Not really into booing college kids but I get booing the coaches/play calling. Just don't know the kids could tell the difference. The Rent lately has too many drunk idiots who yell stupid things like "you stink Bob, you and your skinny jeans stink". Who yells nonsense like that anyway.

 

[Chief00]

I am also concerned about team speed - it did not pass the eye test - we were not noticeably faster than Maine.
Diaco needs to improve his game coaching - keeping teams off balance. If he truly was successfully metrics driven - his tendencies would not be so predictable

 

[sportsart]

Agreed, although I don't agree with Diaco's method grinding down Maine the first half, we should have had that game won 28-14 or 31-14.

If BS hadn't over thrown Thomas on the final drive of the first half he'd still be running and the score is totally different.

Wide open field if he catches that.

 

[Padutch5]

As enthusiastic as Bob is, he is the most boring in game coach in the history of Football.

Ah, how quickly we forget Edsall. This was pure Edsall style except for his last year.

 

[Padutch5]

I was one of the first to start booing. There were 16 seconds left for goodness sakes!! Take a shot at the endzone. The booing was well deserved.

Worse yet, I don't think we had any idea of the rule that takes 10 seconds off for a delay of game penalty in the last two minutes. We looked totally surprised.

 

[Padutch5]

Did anyone else hear Diaco in the post-game presser? You would have thought he just beat Texas... Like that team for all the preseason and summer hype we all read played like a bunch of un-prepared, un-skilled slacks. They were flat all first half and the 3rd quarter. Maine played their hearts out and left it all on the field- you could tell they wanted this W bad. I wonder if it was the coaching staff not getting these players "up" for this FCS opponet, or that this team really just isn't good.

The secondary was weak all game, played confused.

The offense was predictable and ultra conservitive. Maybe its time that Diaco take the play calling away from Verducci upstairs and start letting his pro-style offense with Sherrifs at the helm air it out. The kid ran more yards than any RB last night!

I'm glad we're 1-0, but boy am I nervous for next weekend and what this season could be for us.

I was particularly appalled at the number of plays where our defender had his back to the ball 20 or 30 yards down the field. I think only one of those went for a TD, but it could have been a lot worse.

 

[ZOOCONN]

What concerns me is that Diaco probably knew that running out the time would solicit boos from the crowd, especially after a dreadful 1st half so why would he follow through with that and send his team back to the tunnel hearing boos? They probably understand it's directed at the coaching staff/play calling but still it's not good for team morale or the psyche.

I honestly dont think that thought crossed his mind

 

[ZOOCONN]

Not really into booing college kids but I get booing the coaches/play calling. Just don't know the kids could tell the difference. The Rent lately has too many drunk idiots who yell stupid things like "you stink Bob, you and your skinny jeans stink". Who yells nonsense like that anyway.

people who get free tickets, I shared your sentiment though. we had some guys in front of us sporting freshly purchased Uconn hats and when puyol got ready for a kick off I heard them exclaim PUYOL???? that sounds like poo hole!!!! get it?!?!?!?! all I could do was shake my head

 

[ZOOCONN]

Ah, how quickly we forget Edsall. This was pure Edsall style except for his last year.

save for the fact that FHCRE had a competent OL with great backs, we have great talent on the outside/ TE position with a suspect OL literally screaming to be transformed into a spread offense.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

What is bothering me is Diaco's assertion that he is not looking for an explosive high scoring offense but more of a "grind it out, ball control, let our defense win it for us" offense. Why is that? I want a team that can score 50-60 points a game. That should be the goal. Why shoot for grinding out a win when you can blow out a team and look good and exciting doing it?

Been saying that for years. After UConn finally smartened up and got rid of the program destroyer, PP, I was hoping they had the good sense to get a head coach that understood that college football today is about offense, offense and explosive offense. The UConn athletic department forgot, the game today is not just a sports event, it's entertainment.