USU Post Game thoughts/Analysis

[gopher2]

Even with injuries to key players the team fought and clawed its way to within one score deep in the 4th quarter when the refs bailed Utah State out with a bogus PI call.
I was most impressed with the improvements on D. Players were running to the ball, gang tackling and hitting ball carriers like we haven't seen in a long time.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

All the analysis here is better than I could offer. I've always enjoyed going to the games, even when they weren't playing well, but this was the first time in a long time I was excited to watch the actual play.

Want to know: Was there any contact at all on the pass interference call that looked so bad? I was watching in a bar with the sound off and that was the moment a party of 11 walked in. Barely made out what happened and couldn't hear the commentary, but it looked like a big nothing burger to me, aside from their guy waving desperately for the call after falling. Pretty upsetting if it was as bad as it looked.

That blown call was the turning point in the game. If UConn gets the ball back at that point, the game would’ve gone down to the wire.

 

[Bongo Fury]

Which raises the question: is CM that bad? If he doesn't get a whiff in the CCSU game, I guess the answer would be yes. Thing is, some guys play head and shoulders better than they practice. For whatever reason. UConn needs to find out what they have in him if he is now the #2. Gonna guess that he will not lack poise, at least. Either that, or give Drena some PT.

I believe he arrived late. I believe we’ll see him. He is next up.

 

[huskymedic]

Either that, or give Drena some PT.

Jacob Drena is no longer w/ the team.

 

[RedStickHusky]

That blown call was the turning point in the game. If UConn gets the ball back at that point, the game would’ve gone down to the wire.

Yes, and the pressure of going down two scores affected our offense... That illegal touching no call in the first half is perplexing me as well...

 

[06029]

I think UConns O benefited from no film available to US in the first quarter. They adjusted their D pretty well in the rest of the game. Someone said teams will load the box going forward and I agree. Carter has great cut back ability but was disappointed he was caught from behind.

on D, I did not see any real blitz packages and the overall lack of QB pressure was not great. Loved the LB play and the tackling appeared light years ahead of the last few years.

 

[TMB4405]

I thought Turner showed flashes of being good. He was just not accustomed to the speed. Everyone says that when you go up a level that is the toughest thing. The first pick was open but ball came out half second late.

The PI was atrocious. Never know why the officials don’t come together and talk more. One of the other guys had to know it was awful.

I am not happy but optimistic. Can’t wait until next week.

 

[huskymedic]

Want to know: Was there any contact at all on the pass interference call that looked so bad? I was watching in a bar with the sound off and that was the moment a party of 11 walked in. Barely made out what happened and couldn't hear the commentary, but it looked like a big nothing burger to me, aside from their guy waving desperately for the call after falling. Pretty upsetting if it was as bad as it looked.

The accused pleads his case

 

[hardcorehusky]

Spot on analysis. Would had Chatelton’s play calling was weak. That last pick was 50% bad play calling. They were fully aware we would throw horizontally and it was just a matter of time. The screen plays are a disaster and need to be used judiciously. Once Utah understood we were running counter flows, they adjusted. Nick didn’t. Zion is no where near CFB ready. Happy feet, poor decisions, poor mechanics with low release. balls batted down. He looked like an undisciplined HS QB trying to use his athleticism to beat his opponent, but it ain’t high school and it doesn’t fly. All that said, the team looks like a credible football team. Expect teams to load the box until we can show we can develop a passing game.

After trashing Charlton and Zion, what would you have done differently if you were Charlton?

 

[ScottVib]

The angle from the front made the call look even more egregiously bad. Anthony slowed up to make a play on the ball on an underthrow and even hit the ball with his arm. He's got a right to the ball, it was a terrible, terrible call.

 

[metsfan2323]

The accused pleads his case

Horrible call!!

 

[CL82]

Jacob Drena is no longer w/ the team.

Pssh. Is that a reason why he shouldn’t be getting more playing time?

 

[Platt81]

Yes, and the pressure of going down two scores affected our offense... That illegal touching no call in the first half is perplexing me as well...

Unfortunately it was the right call. He went out of bounds on his own and was first to touch it in field of play. If he was forced out and came back in there would be a case, like the catch earlier in the game by Utah St, but that was just a mistake of not being aware of your boundary.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Guru13]

Watched the game a 2nd time and need better play at RT. Lundt got beat too much and Fortin played well at C and OG but also got beat at RT.

I think UConns O benefited from no film available to US in the first quarter. They adjusted their D pretty well in the rest of the game. Someone said teams will load the box going forward and I agree. Carter has great cut back ability but was disappointed he was caught from behind.

on D, I did not see any real blitz packages and the overall lack of QB pressure was not great. Loved the LB play and the tackling appeared light years ahead of the last few years.

Our O-line coach is gonna have to work quickly to figure out the RT situation, it seems Fortin also got beat of the edge when he went in at RT. In most cases, a qb should step up in the pocket if that is the case, but I’m not sure if it was just Utah De was much better or Lundt and Fortin probably need time to develop. It’s only the first game, but most important is they did not give up a sack which means they recovered to block but that won’t always be the case against good DEs.

I don’t think their D adjusted that well in my opinion, I think we should’ve kept running the ball down their throats with Carter, they had no answer for him and we should’ve then go off into playaction when they loaded the box but still run the ball. What ZT needs to do a better job is selling the fake…. Many times I saw him pull the ball for a pass too quickly instead of waiting for the running back run across him faking it like he is giving the ball to the RB. I think Charlton wants teams to load the box so it creates passing lanes, in which I think this game we did, but ZT was too slow and impatient. I expect Charlton will figure it out with ZT

 

[Guru13]

Too add on, Utah St had to use shovel passes and couple of trickery plays to gain yards when they felt very pressured

 

[kemba]

Only thing the coaches did that I questioned was not giving CM at least 1 more shot. It was successful the couple plays we gave him and we needed more offensively.

Other than that I liked the play calling. First time in forever it looked like we had an actual plan, well except for diaco where the plan was to run the clock out all game.

Obviously passing game needs a lot of work. This was a tough spot for Zion, starters reps this week, weaker opponent and being at home should help to get him more comfortable. Pass protection was concerning as good as they were in the run games.

Overall very encouraging. Even the most optimistic about this season had this down as a loss, and there were several plays you can point to that if that one play went different we could have won. Some in our control, some the refs

 

[Guru13]

Only thing the coaches did that I questioned was not giving CM at least 1 more shot. It was successful the couple plays we gave him and we needed more offensively.

Other than that I liked the play calling. First time in forever it looked like we had an actual plan, well except for diaco where the plan was to run the clock out all game.

Obviously passing game needs a lot of work. This was a tough spot for Zion, starters reps this week, weaker opponent and being at home should help to get him more comfortable. Pass protection was concerning as good as they were in the run games.

Overall very encouraging. Even the most optimistic about this season had this down as a loss, and there were several plays you can point to that if that one play went different we could have won. Some in our control, some the refs

Pass protection wasn’t bad except for the RT getting blown off the edge, we gave up no sacks and not a lot of qb hits. There was one play were ZT had a lot of time to throw the ball but I guess he didn’t see the receiver. Our o-line did a good job of controlling the trenches. The team who makes the least mistakes wins the game, unfortunately for us ZT was playing against a really good team. TQ would’ve done better since he played in tougher situations before.

 

[RSTuthill]

Jacob Drena is no longer w/ the team.

Thx. Guess I missed that. UC is down to three QB's then?

 

[metsfan2323]

Thx. Guess I missed that. UC is down to three QB's then?

Yes, and one is coming off a severe knee injury last year. What players on our roster used to be QB's in high school? I know Rosa is one, anyone else?

Is it too late to add a QB to the roster? It is still August, isn't Micah Leon still looking for a landing spot?

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Only thing the coaches did that I questioned was not giving CM at least 1 more shot. It was successful the couple plays we gave him and we needed more offensively.

It seemed obvious that ZT wasn't completely comfortable out there, so it was odd that Millen or TP didn't get more playing time.

What I take from that is there never really was 4 "ors" on the QB depth chart. It was really only one...TR or ZT. I would assume TP still needs more recovery time. And that they don't feel Millen is ready yet.

Millen has been out of high school a few years already, so you would think he would have been a better option than the true freshman. But Charlton had more confidence in ZT.

I will say... leaving ZT out there will speed up his development. Let's hope he makes a big leap forward against ccsu.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Our O-line coach is gonna have to work quickly to figure out the RT situation, it seems Fortin also got beat of the edge when he went in at RT. In most cases, a qb should step up in the pocket if that is the case, but I’m not sure if it was just Utah De was much better or Lundt and Fortin probably need time to develop. It’s only the first game, but most important is they did not give up a sack which means they recovered to block but that won’t always be the case against good DEs.

I don’t think their D adjusted that well in my opinion, I think we should’ve kept running the ball down their throats with Carter, they had no answer for him and we should’ve then go off into playaction when they loaded the box but still run the ball. What ZT needs to do a better job is selling the fake…. Many times I saw him pull the ball for a pass too quickly instead of waiting for the running back run across him faking it like he is giving the ball to the RB. I think Charlton wants teams to load the box so it creates passing lanes, in which I think this game we did, but ZT was too slow and impatient. I expect Charlton will figure it out with ZT

The solution at RT may be as simple as keeping a TE on that side to help with the blocking before flaring out for a dump off opiton or doing the same with an RB.

With this staff I have confidence they can identify a problem and come up with a solution

 

[KembaKek]

I've got a feeling we may see some Dayne Shor vs CCSU

 

[Palatine]

The offense never reached the red zone after the first quarter. Not the end zone the red zone (20 yard line).

The UConn team that ended this game was much worse than than the team that started the game. The team that started the game could have won. The team that finished the game had no chance.

Mora has his work cut out for him. He was dealt a very bad hand on Saturday. At this point the QB situation actually looks worse than last year. On the upside, the running game is much better. On defense it's okay to play a soft zone if you can pressure the QB. Again, Mora will have to sharpen his pencil and figure something out because the Utah State QB played in a clean pocket all game.

They have enough to beat Central, duh. But there is much work to be done. The hardest part will be learning to win. They haven't experienced success for a long time. Even when things were going well against USU, they were making losing plays. They are not good enough to overcome helping the opponents. Get to 1-1 and keep grinding.

 

[businesslawyer]

BL, does this mean that you are starting to believe?

I’ll do a 241 later today or tonight. But until they were able to play 9 in the box, the running game was really encouraging. As was the effort and determination.

 

[Guru13]

The solution at RT may be as simple as keeping a TE on that side to help with the blocking before flaring out for a dump off opiton or doing the same with an RB.

With this staff I have confidence they can identify a problem and come up with a solution

I agree, because it will at least free up some time for the Qb to make a throw.

 

[giddyup]

After trashing Charlton and Zion, what would you have done differently if you were Charlton?

Trashing seems a bit much. Use the tight ends more on the last drives and look for middle of the field. Carleton fell into the trap of only passing outside the hashes for no more than ten yards plus screens. You just can’t establish a passing game using only 20% of the field. They went long I think twice all game. They never passed in the middle of the field in the 10+ - 20+ yard range.

Definitely would have switched up Zion for Millen for a series or two in the 3rd after they stalled our on the prior 6 possessions to see if he could drive the team.

 

[UConnJim]

In the 2nd Q, the offense caused most of the problems that resulted in Utah State scoring 24 points. Here were UConn’s drives in Q2:

1) 1 play, fumble, 10 seconds
2) 4 plays, -2 yards, punt 1 minute
3) 7 plays, 30 yards, punt, 2 min., 45 seconds
4) 4 plays, 4 yards, punt, 54 seconds
5) 4 plays, 3 yards, 51 seconds
6) 1 play, downed, 1 second

If UConn had even 1 sustained drive or used more clock on drives 4 and 5, Utah State doesn’t score 24 points.

Hopefully, UConn can figure out an offense that best fits the healthy QBs. That said, I was very encouraged by the game.

 

[CL82]

Other than that I liked the play calling. First time in forever it looked like we had an actual plan, well except for diaco where the plan was to run the clock out all game.

Which he executed to perfection in the navy game.

 

[CL82]

It seemed obvious that ZT wasn't completely comfortable out there, so it was odd that Millen or Tyler Phommachanh didn't get more playing time.

What I take from that is there never really was 4 "ors" on the QB depth chart. It was really only one...TR or ZT. I would assume Tyler Phommachanh still needs more recovery time. And that they don't feel Millen is ready yet.

Millen has been out of high school a few years already, so you would think he would have been a better option than the true freshman. But Charlton had more confidence in ZT.

I will say... leaving ZT out there will speed up his development. Let's hope he makes a big leap forward against ccsu.

I hear you, but we don’t know what the coaches are seeing in practice. I have confidence in the staff and if they think playing a true freshman gave us the best opportunity to win, I have to believe that there’s a reason for it.