Villanova Ranked 4th in FCS Preseason Poll

[Stainmaster]

So much talk about "should" 'round these parts.

Yes, we should beat any FCS team that comes to the rent. But if we're dealing in the preterite here, there are a bunch of other shoulds to consider...

• We should be in a P5 conference
• We should have hired anyone but PP
• If there were rumblings regarding PP/GDL's gross mistreatment and verbal abuse of players, we should have canned them much sooner
• We should have capitalized on branding/marketing leading out of the Fiesta Bowl appearance
  
• We should have hired a legitimate OC with experience last year
• We should have done a much better job of not letting QBs slip through the cracks and being left with one of the most bare-bones groups of signal-callers in all of FBS last year
• We should have brought in a guy like Balis much earlier to work with the linemen from 2011-13
• Etc...

Bottom line, whether you are happy about it or not, this program is where it is right now. No amount of bellyaching or yearning for the good old days will change that. You set your expectations based on which 11 guys you're sending out onto the field, not the name on their jersey. No shiet do I expect a UConn team from the RE era to pulverize Villanova. This team, with this coaching staff and these players? Not nearly as cut and dry.

Also, a note on margin of victory: I give absolutely zero effs. A win is a win, and we have had far too few of those the past few years to be complaining about how they are manufactured. We're not on the women's basketball board, where they worry about winning by only 10-15 points and go on witch hunts for the one coach in the country who didn't vote them No. 1 in the polls. Just get the W and we'll go from there.

 

[Jimdish255]

I wish it weren't so but I agree that we're still in a foundation building period and unless we catch lightning in a bottle with a QB who goes berserk ala Johnny Football, a winning season and a bowl would be a great accomplishment. But it can be done and that should be the expectation for the players with the goal of playing and winning one at a time.

 

[freescooter]

Let me just correct something here. Someone else made the original burn the Rent comment. I responded that if we lose to Villanova it won't matter if we do that because we won't need it since the "crowd" the rest of the year will fit in a high school field with seats to spare. People know Villanova is from lower level of football. They think we should win those games and they are right given the facts about how rare 1aa wins are. Thus it follows that a UConn loss to yet another lower level team suggests that something is very wrong in the program.

 

[J187Money]

Let me just correct something here. Someone else made the original burn the Rent comment. I responded that if we lose to Villanova it won't matter if we do that because we won't need it since the "crowd" the rest of the year will fit in a high school field with seats to spare. People know Villanova is from lower level of football. They think we should win those games and they are right given the facts about how rare 1aa wins are. Thus it follows that a UConn loss to yet another lower level team suggests that something is very wrong in the program.

Something is very wrong with the program. Is it going to be fixed week 1? I don't know. But if it isn't, it doesn't mean it won't be a lot closer to being fixed by week x...

 

[freescooter]

Something is very wrong with the program. Is it going to be fixed week 1? I don't know. But if it isn't, it doesn't mean it won't be a lot closer to being fixed by week x...

Nor does it mean it will be any closer to being fixed by week 12. Based on the stuff I saw last year from the coaches I have serious reservation about their abilities to fix much of anything. I've been trying to remember the last time I saw a UConn team essentially fold up the tents before the season ended. No Edsall teams I can think of. Not Skips teams either. But last year it was clear as day that the team quit.

 

[Confident Carl]

Nor does it mean it will be any closer to being fixed by week 12. Based on the stuff I saw last year from the coaches I have serious reservation about their abilities to fix much of anything. I've been trying to remember the last time I saw a UConn team essentially fold up the tents before the season ended. No Edsall teams I can think of. Not Skips teams either. But last year it was clear as day that the team quit.

Scooter - I agree it was a pretty pathetic last 4 games. Especially after playing East Carolina tough in Greenville, beating UCF in the Frozen ice bowl and then the valiant comeback attempt against Army at Yankee Stadium.

Following the loss to Army, Diaco was brutally honest when he said:

"We get better every day. We're a bad football team. We're just way less bad than we were when I got here in December, so, it was a giant mess, colossal. And now it's still a mess, but it's less of a mess, a lot smaller mess."

Yes we got blown out by Co-league champs Cincy and Memphis who were both in the process of 7 game win streaks when they beat us. We didn't quit, we just got beat by much better football teams. However the game that looked like they had given up was SMU. Let's face it, SMU who was win less when they came to the Rent took advantage of a young, weak, dejected UCONN team and SMU had a happy plane ride back to Dallas.

I believe these kids really want to win for Diaco and Staff. Although I am as unhappy as anyone at last years results, I would not characterize the players at quitting on him. From what I have read and seen, if Diaco gets the inclination that players are quitting, he will ask them to do themselves and their team mates a favor and hand in their shoulder pads and helmet.

So let me ask you this; Would you be happy if Diaco quit right now and someone else took over the team before the start of the season? If the answer is yes then you have no idea of how disruptive and demoralizing that would be. Scooter, there are around 50 days til Nova. I know it hasn't been easy but try and get behind this team. I think they are on the right track and there are better days ahead for UCONN football. Don't quit!

 

[J187Money]

Nor does it mean it will be any closer to being fixed by week 12. Based on the stuff I saw last year from the coaches I have serious reservation about their abilities to fix much of anything. I've been trying to remember the last time I saw a UConn team essentially fold up the tents before the season ended. No Edsall teams I can think of. Not Skips teams either. But last year it was clear as day that the team quit.

It doesn't. But we can win against Villanova and end up 1-11. We can also lose against Villanova and end up 5-7. That's all I'm saying. You are way overemphasizing one game. Like we are great because beat UCF?

 

[whaler11]

Nor does it mean it will be any closer to being fixed by week 12. Based on the stuff I saw last year from the coaches I have serious reservation about their abilities to fix much of anything. I've been trying to remember the last time I saw a UConn team essentially fold up the tents before the season ended. No Edsall teams I can think of. Not Skips teams either. But last year it was clear as day that the team quit.

How about the Edsall team that lost at Temple 55-7 to end the 01 season? Or the Edsall team that got beat by MTSU in their last home game - giving up 56? in the first half?

 

[freescooter]

Yeah that might have been one but on the other hand that was a unique situation. That season UConn was completely over matched with a team of 1aa players trying to play a higher level schedule. Add that they lost their quarterback and top running back...and the game had been rescheduled from 9/11 weekend. I don't know that it is at all comparable.

 

[J187Money]

At the end of the season Villanova had a higher Sagarin rating than Syracuse. If we were to open with Syracuse would we act like it is the apocalypse if we lost?

All I'm asking for is perspective.

I'm going to be really irritated if we lose. But I also predict that we will lose. Ergo, I expect to be irritated. I hope to get less irritated as the season progresses.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Wow, this place is depressing. People really think we could lose to nova? I know Towson beat us last year, but outliers do exists

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Wow, this place is depressing. People really think we could lose to nova? I know Towson beat us last year, but outliers do exists

Brace yourself for the responses, my friend.

 

[Hoophound]

You have to look at recent results and understand that we have been trained to expect losing. It isn't like we got here through negative thought, we got here through negative results. Any fan that expects a loss to Nova is fully justified.

We should beat an FCS program in the opener but our last time out in a similar situation, we lost to Towson. Then, in our last game, we lost to the worst team in FBS. You have to have blind faith to "expect" a win in the opener.

 

[History Geek]

Wow, this place is depressing. People really think we could lose to nova? I know Towson beat us last year, but outliers do exists

Towson was in 2013, but that does not take away from your point. Pasqualoni was on the hot seat going into the season, and losing to an FCS team in the opener turned up that heat to 11. That, coupled with the debacle at Buffalo, sealed PP's fate.

However, I also disagree with your point. That was no outlier. Towson was clearly better than us. We were one of the worst FBS teams that year, they were the #2 FCS team. Here is video evidence of their superiority vs. the 2013 Huskies. Hope this does not ruin everyone's appetite:



We were one of the worst FBS teams last year. Nova was one of the best. Therefore, if graduation attrition does not hit Nova too hard, it is quite possible that they are better than UConn right now. I hope not, but I would not be surprised.

 

[freescooter]

B

At the end of the season Villanova had a higher Sagarin rating than Syracuse. If we were to open with Syracuse would we act like it is the apocalypse if we lost?

All I'm asking for is perspective.

I'm going to be really irritated if we lose. But I also predict that we will lose. Ergo, I expect to be irritated. I hope to get less irritated as the season progresses.

saregin also gave Duke the 1999 National Championship...after the tournament! Just sayin'. All those ratings are fine but they ignore lots of factors like the toll playing 11 other 1a teams would take on a team like Villanova. With 20 fewer scholarships the would struggle to put a team on the field against Syracuse's schedule-or ours.

 

[31GuardTrap]

2-0 heading to Columbia, MO. This team is going to be ready to go on 9/3.

 

[Confident Carl]

Wow, this place is depressing. People really think we could lose to nova? I know Towson beat us last year, but outliers do exists

Did you just figure that out? This is kinda like the boneyard. Actually a pretty good bit from SNL and Debbie Downer.

 

[Excalibur]

Curious: if we lose to Nova, where are those 6 wins coming from?

Which AAC teams do you think are worse than Nova?

Nor does it mean it will be any closer to being fixed by week 12. Based on the stuff I saw last year from the coaches I have serious reservation about their abilities to fix much of anything. I've been trying to remember the last time I saw a UConn team essentially fold up the tents before the season ended. No Edsall teams I can think of. Not Skips teams either. But last year it was clear as day that the team quit.

Edsall's very early teams absolutely quit. He was cleaning house, and the result was predictable.

There were defensive players jogging all over the field at the end of the PP/GDL era, and even for the first few games of TJ's tenure.

From my view, the players were engaged last year until the second half of the last game. I still suspect that Diaco is a crazy person and won't work out, but I think the players bought in fairly well.

 

[Palatine]

Diaco had a horrible first year. I see all his glad mouthing as nothing more than excuses.

When he refused to game plan for BYU, that was throwing up a white flag in the first game.

When he made the first three games exhibition season. He broadcasted his lack of interest in winning.

If he was a proven coach, that would be one thing, but he looked lost on the sideline, not understanding how to use his TOs, giving up on the passing game during games, and leaving key personnel on the sidelines during critical plays and series.

The fact he couldn't beat Army with superior talent show a coach that has a lot to learn.

So it's time for Diaco to stop bitching about the program and look in the mirror.

Show me something.

 

[Husky25]

The difference between a FBS and FCS program essentially amounts to depth. There is no doubt that a 1st string player or two on Villanova is better than his Husky counterpart. Where UConn's inherent advantage rears itself is in the substitutions.

Last year UConn had what was essentially a division II roster playing FBS football. They ended the season with 60 healthy (if not all that experienced) scholarship players. IIRC, The FCS scholarship limit is 68. Not only that, but the players who actually saw the field were not only woefully under conditioned for the FBS level, they were all learning a new system.

It is unfair to the 2015 team to continually compare them to the 2014 edition - -just as it was unfair to expect the 2014 team to be bowl eligible based on the final 8 games of 2013 - without the least bit of knowledge of off-season progression. It would be one thing if the personnel was exactly the same. It would one thing if the staff did not make changes, but neither of those is the case. A) There is turnover at key positions, B) a new offensive coordinator, C) a new O-line coach (who, mind you, recently molded a 2 star recruit into the 1st pick of the NFL draft from a directional school), D) more and better conditioned athletes, and presumably a different plan of attack, given A), B), C), and D).

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Did you just figure that out? This is kinda like the boneyard. Actually a pretty good bit from SNL and Debbie Downer.

Sometimes reality has to creep in Carl. I admire your ability to find a gold watch in a steaming pile of poo, but the reality of the situation is that Nova was way better than us last year. They would've given us a drubbing worse than Towson did. They return a lot. I suspect we will be underdogs and if I was a betting man I don't see us winning this game. The Boneyard would be unreadable if it was dominated by the pollyanna rainbows and unicorns crowd.

 

[whaler11]

Yes you are Debbie Downer if you understand a team favored by 3 points might win a game. You know the opinions of people that back them financially are worth a lot less than message board nonsense.

 

[whaler11]

I'd be extremely curious how Villanova was that much better than UConn last year unless there were a whole bunch of players that were better than their Husky counterparts.

 

[Husky25]

I'd be extremely curious how Villanova was that much better than UConn last year unless there were a whole bunch of players that were better than their Husky counterparts.

That's not exactly what I said. I think 2014 'Nova beats 2014 UConn.

If I were to bet on the game on September 3rd, 2015, I'd take the Huskies at home with the points. I don't think they need them. I think UConn wins a too-close-for-comfort game outright. But in the betting world, it's nice to have a cushion.

 

[RedSoloCup]

Wow, this place is depressing. People really think we could lose to nova? I know Towson beat us last year, but outliers do exists

LOL