What I Learned Today

[huskynation]

Whitmer doesn't have a strong arm. it seems like his deep ball float too much, it doesn't have that zip. Plus, he definately needs to make better decisions. Believe it or not there were open receivers, he just didn't see them nor could he get the ball to them consistantly. So far he has 5 picks and 0 touchdowns in two games.

 

[CTMike]

Crowd was great in the first quarter. When it takes over a full quarter to generate a first down not resulting from a penalty, the enthusiasm gets sucked out of everyone. End of story. The crowd got a second wind when we had the first big pass to Williams. False start. QB falls down. Crowd is dead again. In the 4th quarter the crowd was begging for a reason to care. They finally got it and erupted. That was one of the most boring first 42 minutes of football I have seen in a long long time. The crowd came ready for this game and the team took them out of it.

Our offensive line is abysmal. We could not run as a result. Their secondary is very good. They knew we had to pass to have a chance to move the ball. Good secondary + knowing the pass is coming = Bad things for an average at best passing team. All game you just knew that to win we needed a special teams or defensive TD. Their punt team did a great job with hang time and coverage. I think Williams was only able to receive and not fair catch one punt and he got maybe 2 yards on the play.

Our defense is the best in the conference.

My final point, when your offense is struggling to generate anything and your defense is flat out dominating, how do you not go for a 4th and 1 on the 39. Worst case you don't get it and your defense shuts them down and you do it all over again. Instead we punted and they botched it so the ball comes out to the 20. Congratulations, we gained 19 yards of field position.

Well said, Mets.

 

[UConnDan97]

Correction, the defense played, outstanding!! They are the pride of this team, and without them, we would have lost by 30 easily. A ton of turnovers and weak special teams play is usually the recipe for getting blown. We gotta give credit to the D.

To put this UConn defense into perspective; NCState turned the ball over 4 times against Tennessee and was still able to put 3 touchdowns up on the board. We gave them 3 extra possessions today (4-1 turnovers), and they could only put up 10 points. Sheezus!!!

 

[TheRogers]

Yeah, but that would have been a 47 yarder into the wind. I'm not going to fault him on that, especially since he has already stated that his comfort zone with Christen is around 45 yards or shorter. I thought it was the right call, to be honest.

Very valid point.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Correction, the defense played, outstanding!! They are the pride of this team, and without them, we would have lost by 30 easily. A ton of turnovers and weak special teams play is usually the recipe for getting blown. We gotta give credit to the D.

I'm more talking about the silly mistakes. The penalties, Whitmer falling down, the turnovers, the ridiculous play calling.

Even with all of that, the defense was great. And if Trevardo gets to Glennon literally a split second earlier on that touchdown pass, UConn probably ends up winning.

 

[UConnDan97]

I'm more talking about the silly mistakes. The penalties, Whitmer falling down, the turnovers, the ridiculous play calling.

Even with all of that, the defense was great. And if Trevardo gets to Glennon literally a split second earlier on that touchdown pass, UConn probably ends up winning.

I was thinking the same thing on the Glennon pass. Also, think about the fact that it was a picture-perfect pass and an outstretched catch. They found one perfect play, and it turned out that it was enough to beat us. Back to the whiskey...

 

[john2153]

Coach P still can't manage the clock. I have no idea what he was doing at the end of the first half.

Sad to see an incredible defensive effort wasted because of offensive ineptitude...

 

[PolisHusky]

Another scoop of vanilla, George. Deleone is so unimaginative, it is inept on a struggling offense. He is not doing his boys any favors. A good coordinator can make up for lapses in offensive production by scheming and adapting. I feel like I could sniff out every play he was going to run. Those third down and shorts were abysmal and the wrong personnel were on the field constantly. That is the job of a coordinator to adapt the game to meet the challenge. If I were coach P, I would have to have a serious doubt with Deleone's abilities and would kick his butt back into shape as soon as he tries serving up his dry pie with another scoop of gluey vanilla. The only thing I don't blame on Deleone are the procedure penalties, whitmer's two stumbles after the snap, the fumble by Delahunt.

Can anyone else tell me why McCombs is the only back out there? What about a Delorenzo and Osiecki or McQuillan. Thank you for our defense. I wish we had Shamar back though.

 

[UConnDan97]

The one thing that I keep thinking about is the fact that Foley is no longer our O-Line coach, and I think it shows. I need to put out a thread on the Boneyard asking our members who have been football coaches at one level or another how they feel about the following statements that I'm going to make (because I'm clearly NOT a coach!):

1) I don't see any of the guard pulls that UConn was so famous for over the last 7 or 8 years. The type of guard pulls that normally open up that gap for the north-south run, and are now non-existent, to my somewhat untrained eye.

2) I'm seeing personnel changes on the O-Line during the game (i.e., Cruz). I thought that was sacrilege when it came to an offensive line, because everyone has to be in sync with each other and the QB. Unless someone was dinged up, this is the second consecutive week that we are doing that.

Both of these facts (if they are indeed facts) suggest to me that we need to get Foley back as the OLine coach. I haven't made up my mind yet whether or not I'm bothered with DeLeone's playcalling, but the OLine certainly seems like it has taken several steps back, and I'm just not convinced it has anything to do with the talent level of the players...

 

[Skiblets]

What I learned.

1. Collectively, our fans suck. More people at UMass game. Those that came were loud. Those that stayed were loud. First cloudburst and hundreds headed for the exits. It was the second quarter. Place should have been packed today.

2. Pasqualoni sounded like Edsall in the post game. " Just need to execute better".

3. I'm glad Deleone replaced Foley coaching the O line. That zone blocking scheme is not working at all. Hell, when we didn't have a QB, at least we could run it down people's throats. Now, nothing.

4. Last week I said that it looked like we had a QB. Now, not so sure.

5. Not quite sure why we cannot get the ball to Ryan Griffin.

6. P's time management continues to be awful. End of first half was atrocious.

7. Good to meet Jarhead and his blue solo cup

8. Kevin Nathan talks a lot but doesn't say anything

 

[whaler11]

Yeah, because I'm sure that most of the fans at the game don't have a wife who's 8 months pregnant. Thanks for your concern...

While I feel your pain, you know about calendars right?

 

[UConnDan97]

While I feel your pain, you know about calendars right?

That's the problem with the cold months....you gotta stay warm somehow, right??

 

[cheech63]

What I learned.

1. Collectively, our fans suck. More people at UMass game. Those that came were loud. Those that stayed were loud. First cloudburst and hundreds headed for the exits. It was the second quarter. Place should have been packed today.

2. Pasqualoni sounded like Edsall in the post game. " Just need to execute better".

3. I'm glad Deleone replaced Foley coaching the O line. That zone blocking scheme is not working at all. Hell, when we didn't have a QB, at least we could run it down people's throats. Now, nothing.

4. Last week I said that it looked like we had a QB. Now, not so sure.

5. Not quite sure why we cannot get the ball to Ryan Griffin.

6. P's time management continues to be awful. End of first half was atrocious.

7. Good to meet Jarhead and his blue solo cup

8. Kevin Nathan talks a lot but doesn't say anything

He's thinking about his wonderful days in division 3

 

[whaler11]

That's the problem with the cold months....you gotta stay warm somehow, right??

That's the beauty of post-game - generally is going to keep you out of the next season unless you've impregnated an elephant or gone to the GMAC bowl.

 

[Stinger92860]

Yeah, because I'm sure that most of the fans at the game don't have a wife who's 8 months pregnant. Thanks for your concern...

Before my wife died we went to games on off-chemo weeks. True. I was there and 1. This should have sold-out. 2. Get your 's in the seat before the guys come out.

And wanted to add, think about the beauty of delivering at the Rent. My middle daughter was born at home, what a better story you could have. You could name the child Section 241!!!

 

[UConnDan97]

Before my wife died we went to games on off-chemo weeks. True. I was there and 1. This should have sold-out. 2. Get your 's in the seat before the guys come out.

Sorry to hear about your wife, Stinger. She sounded like a true Husky. And I agree with your two points...

 

[FDNY99]

What I learned today...our line is horrible...and P's seat may be starting to get warm! Our AD learned his craft at his alma mater where winning games is expected! Too many more debacles like we had today on offense and I can't see Warde Manuel keeping P around long! I was at the game...fans have to follow the students lead...we need to get loud..especially when we are on D and it is 3rd down!

 

[ruskin]

dont have stomach to watch DVR but wasn't penalty in this sequence near end of first half related to wildcat switch?
Uconn 2-3 at Uconn33 WHITMER, Chan. pass complete to Williams, Nick for 30 yards to the NCSU37, 1ST DOWN UCONN (BISHOP, Brandon).
Uconn 1-10 at Ncsu37 PENALTY UCONN false start (Friend, Kevin) 5 yards to the NCSU42.

 

[whaler11]

When you have three different players calling snaps how can you not expect false starts on the cadence change?

For the size of the debacle they had a total of 26 penalty yards - 1/3 what NCSU had - not why they lost.

 

[ruskin]

agreed penalties were not a problem today, but switching to wildcat in that situation - which killed momentum after a long gain - was one of many poor offensive coaching decisions today.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

The fact that there were so many empty seats was piss poor. Even the parking lots didn't fill up early. Maybe UConn isn't ready for this big time stuff. The offense? Still looking for a Dan O successor. Sad but nine years ago with Dan O, UConn almost offenses a win on the road against NCState. How little we've become.

 

[whaler11]

agreed penalties were not a problem today, but switching to wildcat in that situation - which killed momentum after a long gain - was one of many poor offensive coaching decisions today.

Yes, the Wildcat is idiotic and that is where they committed penalties so it sticks out.

If DeLeone was running the turntables, we'd hear the Macarena between the 1st and 2nd quarters.

 

[husky210]

Our o line sucked today. We couldn't sustain drives because the run game just wasn't there. Whenever we did get something going the penalties killed us. Penalties on who? The o line. Whitmer was decent. Did he make bad choices? Maybe. Remember before you fry him about 3 picks that the wind was blowing like ten million mph out there today. Are the o line problems personel or coaching? I don't know, but if we are to be successful this season we need to fix the problems blocking, establish a running game and kill the penalties.

 

[UconnFamily]

agreed penalties were not a problem today, but switching to wildcat in that situation - which killed momentum after a long gain - was one of many poor offensive coaching decisions today.

Agree!

 

[J187Money]

I was 30 minutes late and I the back part of blue lot by silver lane was barely half full. At the UMASS game I was 20 minutes early and had to park over by the RVs because blue lot was full.

I wonder how many people didn't show because of the media screaming about torrential rains and tornadoes, neither of which ended up happening.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I told myself never to start a thread after extreme frustration, because I'm sure at least one of my statements will be ridiculous, but here's what I learned today:

1) Our Defense is For Real - They held a very talented NCState offense to 10 points, even when you factor in that we turned the ball over 4 times. The fact that we were still in the game with 2 minutes left to go is a real testament to how good these guys are. They are silly good, and they didn't even have Stephen or Jennings.

2) Our Offense is Horrid - Not just the four turnovers, which is horrible, but we have absolutely no running game now. If you took away the yards from the McCombs swing pass, we were really bad. I'm mostly concerned about the absolute lack of a run game for the second consecutive week, and for those people who were calling for Foley to be the line coach instead of DeLeone, they may have a point. This was our game to have and we gave it away.

3) Our Fans Stink - Somebody who went to the game, correct me if I am wrong, but that was a ridiculously lame crowd. You have a UConn defense doing fantastic things, and the crowd was seemingly non-existent most of the game. Shaking your keys does not generate decibels, people! Start clapping, yelling, and give us a home-field advantage!! There were multiple third down plays for NCState where I saw camera shots of UConn fans sitting on their a$$es, quiet as church mice. Finally, after we scored the touchdown to make it 10-7, they panned the stadium and it was about 1/3 empty. Are you kidding me??? WTF, UConn nation!

That's all for now. Back to the whiskey...

If there is one thing that George DeLeone was really good at for Syracuse, it was his ability to coach almost any group into a reasonably productive run offense. He is very well respected for coaching the fundamentals of line play, like trap blocks, counters, etc.

As an SU fan who watched up close during those years, what drove he and Pasqualoni into the ditch was that they got so conservative with the play calls. Even as we were slipping from a 9 win team every year to a 6 win team, we still churned out 1000 yard rushers every year, none of whom went on to play in the pros, for the most part.

I understand the frustration right now with your offense. While it may never turn into a gun-slinger's delight, they ought to be able to implement a solid ground game within the next couple weeks. That's George's specialty.