Utah State Post Game Thread

[giddyup]

Too early to say AD whiffed on another critical decision. Mora needs to deliver next year and he’s going to have to do a hell of a lot better recruiting and in the transfer portal. UConn should be hitting up the insurance companies, Pfizer, Gengras, Hoffman, EB, UI, the Fairfield hedge funds for NIL deals for players. There should be a bankroll of a couple million a year. But, this requires Storrs people with motivation to help facilitate.

 

[SwingDog]

This stings a bit but sometimes the truth hurts:

“The whole game we kind of figured out that the right side was their weak link on the block, field goals and PAT and so when the time was right we called a block,” Larsen said. “It just happened and was a perfect scheme.”

Any win is a win right now for Utah State — including the thrilling yet ugly victory over UConn

 

[FlakeyFoont]

With playing time those missed screen passes to Rosa are made...

With playing time? How much playing time, exactly? Those are passes an average high school quarterback would be expected to make. As evidenced by a blown 17-0 lead, the margin of error for this team is incalculably tiny and it is reduced further when the quarterback completely whiffs on what should be automatic completions.

 

[Woof 101]

I’m out for the rest of the season. I just can’t do it anymore. Respect for those who can; you are more dedicated fans than me.

Obviously on the dedicated statement. May the wind be at your back for a comfortable exit.

If Mora goes for 2 and we don't get it, the entire fan base would be calling for his head. He made the right call. We just didn't block...

It was a damn if you do or a damn if you don't situation and DAMN it did not go our way.

I am saying that Mora should get more aggressive at turning roster over.

@JohnFSilver Just conversation John but turning the roster over how? Are there top D1 caliber players clamoring to come to UConn?
Our best running back last year is thriving at another school and we just had another good one quit. Jim Mora has the toughest job in all of D1 football in my opinion. Cleaning house ala coach Deon Sanders @ Colorado is simply impossible here for a multitude of reasons.

 

[How Sway?!]

Well, that's a relative term in the world of major collegiate football. I'd argue that he needs 10-20MM in discretionary funding to be competitive in the NIL space. And I understand that the University per se does not 'control' NIL; I'm thinking more of a notional amount of firepower available from collectives and/or donors (for things like coaches, facilities upgrades etc). Right now the State and student fees are doing a lot of work and that can't be the case if we want to be truly competitive at the FBS level. And our collective is......well the less said the better, at least insofar as football is concerned.

At the other extreme, just look at what Nebraska is gonna spend on Memorial Stadium the next three years. 450MM from various sources and they won't even blink at the necessity.

Lmaoo not even P5 schools have a 20 million NIL. Also, not sure if youve heard, but Nebraska is getting close to 100 million a year just from TV rights. They can afford a lot of stuff that we cant

 

[How Sway?!]

there are some unrestricted funds made to university endowments. If UConn can turn football around and get into a power conference adding to coaching salaries will pay for itself many times over.

Listen, Im a big believer in UConn athletics, but the ROI of using endowment funds on athletics vs academics is not comparable.

Now what you are referencing is an athletics specific endowment, which a lot of Ivies and private schools use to pay for coaches salaries. This can be done but would need to start from zero.

 

[dvegas]

Dan Mullen gave an ESPN helmet sticker to the Utah State WR barf

 

[ManFromOZ]

Haven't we had enough of the moral victory talk? We are 0-5 and heading toward 2-10 at best. Lots of posts about playing hard (isn't that the baseline) and not giving up. That's a losers mentality. Expectations were high and it seems like we're slipping back into acceptance of mediorce play. Our secondary couldn't cover a receiver with a blanket. The overall defense leaks like a sieve. Utah State is a bad team. We've lost four home games. We have to get to the place where moral victories are a thing of the past. Close defeats don't do anything to get us closer to a Power 5 conference as it doesn't impress Brett Yormark and his band of AD's in the Big 12. What Say You?

 

[Jimdish255]

This is what that guy always does. Tries to pin this on one thing.

There are literally tons of teams with the same talent level out there doing bigger and better things and they have less NIL to play with. We also pay our coaches BETTER than these schools. Some of them actually deserve it too.

If we ever focus on hiring an offensive coordinator who actually wants to score tons of points and sling it all over, all of this talk will seem silly.

Instead we have a guy who has a signature Iceball offense. Literally the first thing he ever said here was that he wanted to run the ball 40 times a game.

This mentality won't cut it in this era of football. I think Mora knows this already and I think Charlton will be history here soon after the season is over. That or someone will be brought in to force/help Charlton move into the 21st Century.

Secondly, Mora is the damn HC. He needs to stop being the DC. I think he has cornered himself here and DB probably needs to force that hire soon after the season.

This 100%

 

[HCCForever]

Dan Mullen gave an ESPN helmet sticker to the Utah State WR barf

It was embarrassing to see the crawler on ESPN showing other scores noting that UConn blew the 17-0 lead and had a blocked PAT. I don't believe they did the same for the UCF score.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

When I read statements like this, I become mad. UConn used to pay competitive salaries 10 years ago, but not anymore. How many teams on UConn's schedule this year do you think UConn pays their assistants more than? 5, Georgia State, FIU, Sacred Heart, James Madison and UMass. And the assistant coaching pools at FIU and Georgia State are 20% and 10% less than UConn and UMass is about 25% less. We do not have a spending advantage on our competition.

UConn has a $80 million+ athletic department budget and we can't find $500k to $1 million more to put into football coaching salaries? Football is UConn's biggest revenue opportunity, but you need to invest to deliver results. And, for those who say you want to see results first, football is not basketball as you can turn around a basketball program in year with a good coach and a couple of players. Turning around football is more complicated.

People forget Edsall offered OC Dunn 150k from his own salary....

 

[Palatine]

Every phase of the game committed numerous mistakes. The offense made multiple errors snapping the ball. Snapping the ball!!!! The QB has no feel for when to run and when to throw. And he missed very easy throws that would have made a difference. The OL committed penalties in the red zone. They scored today but they don't get a pass. The left numerous points on the field that would have made a difference.

 

[psilotic]

Should have been 24-0 at half, offense wasn't perfect but vastly improved. This one is on the dancin' D.

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

I say this post has no real substance, since it's been posted every year for a decade. But that's just what I say you.

 

[UConnJim]

What would the Title IX implications be of a football-specific endowment ?

It's complicated, but private donations can impact the spending on one sport vs another. For example, if private donations allowed the men's basketball team to fly by private jet, it means that an equitable number of female athletes would have to be treated similarly, but it doesn't require that the female athletes be the women's basketball team. Thus, if the private donations funded private jet air travel for men the AD would have to increase funding for travel for women so there was equitable treatment. And, there are exceptions.

NIL is even more complicated. It appears there are some Title IX implications, but it seems to be more focused on offering equal opportunities, training, and support for both men and women. At UConn, with the women's basketball team and the amount they are benefitting from NIL, it would seem that women are benefitting more form NIL at UConn than men.

 

[Chief00]

You can see the budget issue in the football game yesterday. They don’t have any money to spend on assistant coaches - hence a guy doesn’t get blocked or touched on an extra point.

 

[UConn2SF]

Props to Roberson for giving his team a chance to win/tie this game, and for playing with some fire and heart, something that was sorely lacking in his previous 2 starts. He was able to engineer 5 scoring drives, 3 of 80 or more yards (80, 27, 48, 88, 55, and 85), and 3 in the 4th quarter in a tight game. He was also able to overcome very bad avg starting field position (our own 22), throwing an INT on the first drive of the game, multiple bad snaps, and some poor decisions/throws to give his team a fighting chance. I hope him and the offense can build from this performance.

 

[noeynox]

You can see the budget issue in the football game yesterday. They don’t have any money to spend on assistant coaches - hence a guy doesn’t get blocked or touched on an extra point.

Is this for real? This is the lamest excuse for lack of accountability in the history of the boneyard. We don't have the resources to properly execute blocking on an extra point y'all.

What i saw was a former starter on offense that has lost his spot, and goes out on the EP team and gives a half ass effort of a blocking attempt.

Mora needs to stop being a nice guy, finding spots for what seems to be sulking players. Really identify who isn't giving max effort and sit them.

 

[Dezoworld]

They didn't give up for a stretch they gave up and stop playing. They thought that 17-0 lead was enough for a win

 

[UConnJim]

Is this for real? This is the lamest excuse for lack of accountability in the history of the boneyard. We don't have the resources to properly execute blocking on an extra point y'all.

What i saw was a former starter on offense that has lost his spot, and goes out on the EP team and gives a half ass effort of a blocking attempt.

Mora needs to stop being a nice guy, finding spots for what seems to be sulking players. Really identify who isn't giving max effort and sit them.

I rewatched each of Utah State's kick defense. They really set up that blocked kick during the game. They always went with a 6/4 line and rotated the guys on the ends a couple of times. #6 was lined up mostly on their right side all game, and he didn't try to block kicks. In fact sometimes the outside man on his side was passive. Then they moved #6 to their left side and he tried to block a FG and if you watch the replay, he was almost successful. It looked like they tried to surprise that side of UConn's line and they were. For the extra point, they moved #6 back to their right side and the three end guys on that side rushed aggressively using the same technique they almost blocked the FG. Again, their aggressive rush seemed to surprise UConn as they had been more passive earlier in the game. It was #6's 4th blocked kick of his career and I thought it was great coaching as they changed their personnel and rushing approaches multiple times.

I noticed that Utah State has more analysts and grad assistants than UConn including a Senior Special Teams Analyst. So, Utah State is devoting more coaching resources to Special Teams than UConn.

Unfortunately, the reality is that UConn does not have a financial advantage versus most of our opponents and I think that matters. That really wasn't the case 10 to 15 years ago, but it is now. I do think we need to spend more money on coaching.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[storrsroars]

Jelani Stafford is the Shohei Ohtani of college football.

 

[RSTuthill]

Too early to say AD whiffed on another critical decision. Mora needs to deliver next year and he’s going to have to do a hell of a lot better recruiting and in the transfer portal. UConn should be hitting up the insurance companies, Pfizer, Gengras, Hoffman, EB, UI, the Fairfield hedge funds for NIL deals for players. There should be a bankroll of a couple million a year. But, this requires Storrs people with motivation to help facilitate.

I am curious. do you have any evidence this isn't being done now. Because from what I have seen, UConn has been almost zealous in their fund raising. Keep in mind, UConn started very very late in the FBS game. And a further headwind is that their BB programs are so good. Tough to make headway for FB when everyone is in LOVE with the two BB programs.