UCF - Stain's Thoughts

[Stainmaster]

1. Credit to Pindell for showing that he can be a highly productive offensive player against tough competition. The absolute lack of a vertical threat is a huge issue, but at the same time I was highly impressed with not just his speed, but his heightened ability to cut without warning and evade tackles. This wasn't just happening against their second and third-stringers too. If the line can hold up this year, he will probably be the brightest spot on the team.
2. Scott's opening fumble on a promising drive was shades of Josh Marriner 4 years ago. I concur with the other poster who said he looked much better out of the slot. Mensah didn't give us anything special tonight, but he's our only back strong enough to run between the tackles. I would've liked to see Gillespie get another carry or two.
   
3. Drops by the WRs seemed to be a bit down from what we've seen recently, with a couple of nice grabs coming on dicey throws. Buss will provide Pindell with some much-needed help if he can hold onto the ball - I really like the way he moves out there. The unit as a whole's complete lack of involvement seems to have been mainly due to playcalling, not ineffective play. Hopefully Dunn can start working them in sooner rather than later.
   
4. Line play was not great by most objective measures, but I can't remember the last game we didn't give up a sack. Pindell's shiftiness played a large role in that, but I don't think they should be deprived of credit.
5. Ryan Fines looked like he was moving through Jell-O out there. Knowing what kind of season we have ahead of us, I want Pace, Uguak, DeVaughn, and maybe T. Jones if he gets some snaps on the end all playing ahead of him.
   
6. I feel bad for Keyshawn Paul on a human level. That's a very tough experience to recover from in terms of confidence. Nobody should be writing him off permanently, but I don't think he should see the field for the rest of the year. We have plenty of freshmen at his position, and none of them have set themselves aside as indispensable yet. Carroll wasn't that much better, but at least he didn't incur any PIs at our 2-yard line.
   
7. This is Michael Tarbutt's fourth year in the program, and tonight was only the second field goal he's made from between 40 and 49. Tip of the cap.
   
8. Aussie Luke looks to be an upgrade at the P spot.
   
9. I don't know if I agree with Chin that Dixon will end up with a KR TD this year, but he hit all the right holes tonight and looks to show some real promise there.

It was fantastic meeting @uconnphil2016. Super nice guy. Great catching up with Yams after all these years as well.

 

[champs99and04]

Good point on Pindell - the speed and the strength were no surprise, but the general elusiveness he displayed took me off guard. He has some serious shake.

There are hundreds of corners - many of whom went on to have great careers - waiting to welcome Keyshawn to the club. Freshman in his first game going against a Heisman hopeful was only going to go one way - thank them for the lesson and move on.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I can’t recall a game without allowing a sack. Pindell was extremely impressive getting out of the pocket for real yardage and getting rid of it when he had to.

OL was definitely better.

Defense did some OK things but just can’t get off the field on third down still.

We turned it over, what, three times in the inside their 30? Absolutely back breaking.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Good point on Pindell - the speed and the strength were no surprise, but the general elusiveness he displayed took me off guard. He has some serious shake.

There are hundreds of corners - many of whom went on to have great careers - waiting to welcome Keyshawn to the club. Freshman in his first game going against a Heisman hopeful was only going to go one way - thank them for the lesson and move on.

In the game thread I referred to it as nuanced. It's not a set speed he runs at or straight lines. Good thing with his approach is it generally mitigates the chance for hard straight on, full speed hits. He even stayed up and bounced it to the sidelines on a couple of nice hits by UCF's defense.

 

[Hamms30]

Van Denmark had his hands full on the left side. I saw him get bull rushed a few times by a blitz and it didn't look like he went down, but held the block long enough to let Pindell scoot. Gillespie looked like he could have broken a couple big runs off tackle, but got tripped up. Would like to see what he does the next few weeks. Encouraged by the offense.. they just need to protect the ball. We gave up a lot of momentum and points with those turnovers.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Van Denmark had his hands full on the left side. I saw him get bull rushed a few times by a blitz and it didn't look like he went down, but held the block long enough to let Pindell scoot. Gillespie looked like he could have broken a couple big runs off tackle, but got tripped up. Would like to see what he does the next few weeks. Encouraged by the offense.. they just need to protect the ball. We gave up a lot of momentum and points with those turnovers.

Saw the same with Van Denmark. He got overpowered. But............................he was squared up, and as you mention, delayed the rush enough to give Pindell room to maneuver.

 

[hardcorehusky]

Pindell did a great job of gaining yards with his runs. However, he did a lot of that because he would not go through his progressions- saw a seam and took off. Had he gone through his progressions- there would have been some yards through the air. 1st game of season- he has improved from last year and will correct some of these mistakes.

The O line is better but still isn't to the point where we need 2 yards we can get it. I think that is due to youth and not enough strength. The pass blocking was much much better.

The D line rotations were interesting. Murphy and Thomas were not as effective as Jones and Fines. They left creases for Killings and he made us pay. The good news is he didn't take us to the house. AJ Garson I thought had some good plays and of the freshmen- Guak looked the best.

The LB's got killed last night- learning experience.

Herring Wilson had the best night of anyone back there. I felt badly for Paul and when he put his head down- he was taken out. Fortt and Coyle were not very good last night and for g-ds sake- please no more Marshe Terry out there. He does not have the foot speed to cover and he does not get in the passing lanes.

Finally, not much 3-3-5 last night if anyone noticed.

 

[Tdaley]

The defense was what I expected. I was more disappointed in the offensive line and the run game by our running backs. We heard this would be a better running team this year. I didn't see it other than Pindell making great plays with his legs. The first two games were likely to be brutal this year. Fans have to to be patient with this team. Our season really will start with the Rhode Island game. Hopefully, we will see incremental improvements as the season goes on.

 

[Guapo]

The team is quite obviously bad but (hopefully) it's due to youth instead of coaching malpractice. Maybe the light at the end of the tunnel will appear at some point this season.

Meanwhile, Pindell makes tuning in worth it for me. It was pleasure watching someone with clear talent touch the ball every play while wearing a UConn uniform.

 

[uconnphil2016]

For the record, Stain is an equally nice guy. He ended up knowing my fiancee and we enjoyed good conversation at halftime. I was absolutely stunned when a 22 year old kid without a speck of facial hair came up to me, extended his hand, and said he was Stainmaster. Mind blown.

If there's one bright spot on defense, we have better tackling this year. Lots of short passes got met with solid tackles from CBs. Ian Swenson can square up and tackle which is nice. We seem to be worse up the middle...several runs up the middle where a defender didn't touch the ball carrier for like 20 yards...not ideal.

 

[Husky68]

Seemed to me that on defense UConn had 6 in the box a lot and yet UCF WR's had good angles for pass routes while UCF had at least 7 in the box and yet covered UConn's WR pretty well. Was it UCF spread wider, UCF just felt it could cover all UConn WR 1 on 1 and therefore put the extra defender in the box, or ?
Seems like with Pindell's running ability should open up other running backs and passing game but did not seem to. Something about how UConn handles delayed handoffs that seems to crowd the area where the running back is and give them little running room, something is missing re deception on these plays.
We'll see how good this coaching staff is early this year in keeping guys mentally in it and improving through 1st couple of games and show out in game 3 when they should have an ability advantage against a 1A level team. Get to at least 1-2 with some solid game experience and see where can get players to. Some dumb penalties but that holding call by UConn's center was pretty bogus on the touchdown run.

 

[Stinger92860]

I can’t recall a game without allowing a sack. Pindell was extremely impressive getting out of the pocket for real yardage and getting rid of it when he had to.

OL was definitely better.

Defense did some OK things but just can’t get off the field on third down still.

We turned it over, what, three times in the inside their 30? Absolutely back breaking.

OL was better in pass protection, but they were overmatched running the ball. Now the box was full, so that had something to do with it.

Edit: for grammar

 

[businesslawyer]

I didn't see an OL that was much better in pass protection. Pockets weren't holding nearly long enough. I saw a QB who bailed the OL out with his legs and strength repeatedly.