Weist - Save the season? Or save the Program?

[Kgun7]

When it was announced (or leaked) that Boyle would be elevated to #1 almost immediately after Weist was named interim HC, I couldn't help but wonder why he wouldn't stick with Whitmer. It could be easily argued that Whitmer, behind Foley's O-Line and Weist's play calling, could improve enough to win a few games this season ... and USF was a prime candidate for a win.

If Warde needs to see wins in order to evaluate Weist ... why would TJ knowingly choose the more difficult path by naming the true frosh #1?

If Weist is truly sacrificing an opportunity to be the future HC by improving the program for his successor, wouldn't that at least garner him serious consideration for the position?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

If (as was posed in another thread, which I am in agreement with) an agreement had been made with Boyle to play him this season, there would not have been a better time to work him into the lineup than during the (nearly) two week stretch before the USF game.

Another potential factor in this was Whitmer's mental state (especially as there was no evidence at that point as to how much improvement Foley could provide in (nearly) two weeks.

I'm not sure that Weist went into this past Saturday's game believing that Whitmer gave us the best chance at winning. I'm also not sure that (if it were possible to redshirt Boyle) that the best long term move would have been to play Boyle this season.

 

[Adios]

I think Weist saved the program. He showed we have an offensive line.

 

[CTMike]

If Warde needs to see wins in order to evaluate Weist ... why would TJ knowingly choose the more difficult path by naming the true frosh #1?

Well that's just it. He wouldn't.

The staff, collectively, had decided to turn it over to Boyle before P left. P, Weist, and Day all saw that in Boyle. And to summarize Whitmer: great kid, but skittish and turnover prone.

Boyle is playing because he gives us the best chance to win. No other reason.

 

[Dooley]

And to summarize Whitmer: great kid, but skittish and turnover prone.

The difference in arm strength could mean less catches on both sides! We sure had plenty of drops from our WRs but USF had plenty of drops from their defense too. If Boyle makes a wrong read and throws into double/triple coverage, he's going to do it with a stronger arm that would make it a tougher play to make a one handed INT (Michigan game) or a ball that hangs up way too long and allows a defender to run under it and return for a pick-6 (Maryland game). Our opposition will have to earn their INTs now!

Note: I say some of the above somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

 

[CTMike]

I also get what Kgun is saying though. Everything else being the same this past Saturday, if Whitmer started, how would he have done? And you are right, I think he'd have had a better chance to succeed than in prior games.

Boyle made his first college start, and it showed at times. But now with that out of the way, overall, I think he's the best option we have the rest of the way.

 

[Adios]

Dan Orlovsky is someone we can turn to for advice on how to deal with rough situations.

 

[freescooter]

Can we stop with the Weist is a martyr crap, please. The move to Boyle has been underway for some time. He just completed it. And he really didn't do a great job calling plays. He gave up on the running game way too early and put the game in the hands of a frosh quarterback in his first game. For all the nonsense written about how we couldn't run in the 2nd half, McCombs had rns of 4,11, 12 and 8 yards, Max had a 12 yarder, too. You don't average 5 yards a carry by running 5 yards on every play. You get some 12s, some 2s maybe a couple of -3s and maybe a 25 yarder. Once we got the -3s (and in our offense those are almost inevitable both from because of the shaky line and the formations we run from) Weist gave up on running. No running back touched the ball after about the 12 minute mark of the 4th quarter. Throw in the brain freezes on the time outs (why didn't we call one before the punt?) and he really deserves more criticism than he's gotten in my view. I get that Attila the Hun would be popular if he replaced Pasqualoni, but really, Weist did at best an average job, made several big mistakes.

It almost seemed like he was taking his cue from some yarders on using McCombs. Guy goes 53 yards to score and never touches the football again. Next two series, the running backs are DeLorenzo and Hyppolite...who obvioulsy are better ball carriers...NOT!

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Boyle played like a true freshman with the mistakes made. It's to be expected. But he has a ton of potential from what I saw. And to be fair, I put the drop by Foxx 50% on Boyle. That ball needed some air under it.

 

[Excalibur]

I really don't care what their mindset is. Playing Boyle this year puts us in a better situation for 2014 and 2015. I care more about that than I do about 2013 at this point.

If they think that Boyle gives them the best chance to win now, great. It definitely gives us the best chance beyond that.

Some have said that the program can't recover from a 1-11, 2-10 type season. I would point out that it took only two years for Syracuse to win 8 games after the Robinson era ended. Coaching matters.

 

[Dooley]

I really don't care what their mindset is. Playing Boyle this year puts us in a better situation for 2014 and 2015. I care more about that than I do about 2013 at this point.

If they think that Boyle gives them the best chance to win now, great. It definitely gives us the best chance beyond that.

I agree with this. The 2013 goose is cooked. I'm far more interested in seeing the young talent develop for 2014 and beyond at this point too. Winning 3-4 games with upper classmen does nothing for the UCONN buzz meter next season. 2014 will need a significant injection of buzz and the optimist would say that it could be created by developing some of our younger talent AND Warde making an excellent coaching hire. It may sound strange, but I'd rather win 1 game this year as long as guys like Boyle, Vann, Jh Williams, Clax, Bradley, Lemelle, Abrams, Ashiru, etc continue to progress with increased playing time than win 3-4 games with Donahue and Whitmer types playing regularly. SRs start against Memphis, play a quarter, then go back to the youth movement!

 

[tduconn]

I agree the youth is our future, and perhaps even Weist. Don't forget, coaching doesn't drop balls, or fumble balls. For Pete's sake, you'd think our recruits would know the basics before they suit up for one UConn practice.......I'm not referencing the difference between HS and college games and plays.......I'm referencing catching and/or hanging onto the ball! Unforced fumbles and drops happen....at all levels, but not at this intensity. How has our turnover ratio been the last 2 years or so?

We talk about lack of depth.......develop it! It seems that once a key player goes down, and you bring in a reserve that only experiences practice scrimmages or games, there is a drop off in talent. And some of these reserves have been with the system 2-3 years!

Now is the time to get some depth. Boyle will have challenges at QB (this year), and our 4-5 year players on the o-line really don't show too much. This year is gone.....let's amp up for the future....and develop those who really want to play out this season.

 

[ZooCougar]

You can coach players to catch. Mike Leach probably wrote a hook about it.

 

[Kgun7]

Can we stop with the Weist is a martyr crap, please. The move to Boyle has been underway for some time. He just completed it. And he really didn't do a great job calling plays. He gave up on the running game way too early and put the game in the hands of a frosh quarterback in his first game. For all the nonsense written about how we couldn't run in the 2nd half, McCombs had rns of 4,11, 12 and 8 yards, Max had a 12 yarder, too. You don't average 5 yards a carry by running 5 yards on every play. You get some 12s, some 2s maybe a couple of -3s and maybe a 25 yarder. Once we got the -3s (and in our offense those are almost inevitable both from because of the shaky line and the formations we run from) Weist gave up on running. No running back touched the ball after about the 12 minute mark of the 4th quarter. Throw in the brain freezes on the time outs (why didn't we call one before the punt?) and he really deserves more criticism than he's gotten in my view. I get that Attila the Hun would be popular if he replaced Pasqualoni, but really, Weist did at best an average job, made several big mistakes.

It almost seemed like he was taking his cue from some yarders on using McCombs. Guy goes 53 yards to score and never touches the football again. Next two series, the running backs are DeLorenzo and Hyppolite...who obvioulsy are better ball carriers...NOT!

So let me see if I understand your argument:

Weist didn't do a good job of play calling because he gave up on the running game way too early.

You don't think his play calling deserves any credit for actually creating a running game to give up on???

 

[Husky25]

I agree the youth is our future, and perhaps even Weist. Don't forget, coaching doesn't drop balls, or fumble balls. For Pete's sake, you'd think our recruits would know the basics before they suit up for one UConn practice.......I'm not referencing the difference between HS and college games and plays.......I'm referencing catching and/or hanging onto the ball! Unforced fumbles and drops happen....at all levels, but not at this intensity. How has our turnover ratio been the last 2 years or so?

We talk about lack of depth.......develop it! It seems that once a key player goes down, and you bring in a reserve that only experiences practice scrimmages or games, there is a drop off in talent. And some of these reserves have been with the system 2-3 years!

Now is the time to get some depth. Boyle will have challenges at QB (this year), and our 4-5 year players on the o-line really don't show too much. This year is gone.....let's amp up for the future....and develop those who really want to play out this season.

I couldn't get by this sentence without thinking of Jackson Heights' own Randy Watson.

You all know him as Joe the Policeman from the "What's goin' Down" Episode of That's My Mama.

Ladies and Gentlemen, S e x ual Chocolate!!!!

 

[freescooter]

So let me see if I understand your argument:

Weist didn't do a good job of play calling because he gave up on the running game way too early.

You don't think his play calling deserves any credit for actually creating a running game to give up on???

I put that more on Foley,since we actually blocked people, but sure. But when we're running the football well, and keep in mind that despite reports that we couldn't run in the second half, McCombs had runs of 11, 12, 8 and 4 and Max had a 12 yarder, so it wasn't like we were stopped cold. Then a running back never again touched the football.

 

[freescooter]

Guess I'm not the only one who thought we should have run more instead of relying on a true frosh quarterback in his first game...and a questionable receiving corps

"There were times," interim coach T.J. Weist admitted, "that I probably could have stuck with the run more and maybe not have depended on a freshman quarterback or receivers that were inconsistent -- if you want to realistically look at it."

 

[huskymedic]

Guess I'm not the only one who thought we should have run more instead of relying on a true frosh quarterback in his first game...and a questionable receiving corps

"There were times," interim coach T.J. Weist admitted, "that I probably could have stuck with the run more and maybe not have depended on a freshman quarterback or receivers that were inconsistent -- if you want to realistically look at it."

 

[CL82]

Boyle played like a true freshman with the mistakes made. It's to be expected. But he has a ton of potential from what I saw. And to be fair, I put the drop by Foxx 50% on Boyle. That ball needed some air under it.

Meh, looked like Foxx slowed down on it.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Guess I'm not the only one who thought we should have run more instead of relying on a true frosh quarterback in his first game...and a questionable receiving corps

"There were times," interim coach T.J. Weist admitted, "that I probably could have stuck with the run more and maybe not have depended on a freshman quarterback or receivers that were inconsistent -- if you want to realistically look at it."

Disagree. Give the young freshman QB a chance to settle his nerves. He looks like he's gonna be a big upgrade from what UConn has had over the past decade. And the receivers, if Philips can get back, have done well for the most part. Need #4 to start playing like he deserves to be in a D1 program and need to have walk-ons (TE) stop dropping passes.

 

[freescooter]

When you're 0-4 you need to do what is working. The running game was working. No reason to have walked away from it.

 

[Stray_Dog]

I think Weist saved the program. He showed we have an offensive line.

Really??? How so? We played USF and we lost. So we could run ....run against USF??? Big deal, look I believe in optimism but rose colored glasses....they prohibit seeing UConn Blue, or rather singing the UConn Blues! We have a long season ahead of us and as I said in prior post elsewhere, cheer the team for playing hard, don't show any emotion during the bad play or bad call...silence can be more stifling than shouting negatives! But keep in mind we played it close to USF. Next season these games cannot be close. Beating Buffalo last year was a joke. Why? We barely beat them. This year we got housed and we lost to a really really bad USF team, but because we gained 200+ yards rushing, we want to announce we have an "O-Line"??? Nah, lets wait and see, see the outcomes from our other competition before we make that assessment based on a single game against a lousy opponent.