What I'm Looking For Today

[Chin Diesel]

Last game before conference play and I'm treating this as a mid-term exam.

It sucks that rain and wind may play a part in the game because I was hoping for good conditions and seeing a varied offesne that is settling in to its roles.

Specifically,

Johnny Mac taking the reigns of the offense and showing pocket presence like last week. Even just a couple of step ups or scrambles keeps the defenders more honest.

Cohesion on the line. This is game three of this unit. Bennett, Friend, Petrus, Masters and Ryan. They all had playing time last year and this year, so they aren't entirely green. We should see improvement in unit cohesion.

Someone who can run the ball without fumbling and someone who can break a tackle.

WR's stepping up. Two games ago it was Isaih Moore, last week it was Nick Williams. Who's it gonna be this week. Specifically, I want zero dropped passes and hopefully some YAC.

DLine is fine. Do your thing. Same with the LB's.

CB's- No long gainers on one-on-one coverage. Keep the play in front of you and make the tackle.

S's- Similar to CB's. Take good, strong angles and make plays. Keep it in front of you.

FG's- No problems. Teggart has been money from over 50. I would like to see better results on 35-50 though.

Punt Returns- Don't let the ball go over the head, make a quick decision and go. I want 10 yard average on punt returns.

Coaching (Especially DeLeone). Have a game plan and quit tinkering around. I want the offense on the line of scrimmage by 14 seconds. Have a play and have one run and one pass audible. That gives Johnny Mac time to set the offense and make one change if necessary.

Above all else, this team can't be better than 3-2 which is at least one game worse than I was thinking going in to the conference season. What I'm left with is looking for trending upward play vice stagnation or regression.

 

[uconndogs]

The offense is such a work in process that progress should be the measuring stick.

If we rotate three QBs today I will be very disappointed.

 

[len0322]

A couple of things that I would like to see.
1. No major injuries (should go without saying)
2. A playmaker to truly emerge in the passing game. Is it Williams or one of the Moore's?
3. The short passing game to emerge (screens, quick flat passes, and more Griffin please)
4. A decision to be made by halftime at QB. It's easy to bash HCRE. I loved him for handing the reigns over to Cody at halftime of the Buffalo game last yr. I believe it was a great decision, unfortunately Cody wasn't ready for the responsibility.
5. An easy win

 

[Husky68]

1st down calls making defense pay for assuming run.

Show can audible, and actually do it.

DL not standing around on some pass defensive schemes and always try to get to QB. Seems like in some schemes lineman and backers all line up standing up and some then "wander around the line of scrimmage" without either dropping back or rushing.

Shoemate play.

 

[YearoftheHusky]

I want to see us score more points than them. I guess I am not too picky.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Last game before conference play and I'm treating this as a mid-term exam.

It sucks that rain and wind may play a part in the game because I was hoping for good conditions and seeing a varied offesne that is settling in to its roles.

Specifically,

Johnny Mac taking the reigns of the offense and showing pocket presence like last week. Even just a couple of step ups or scrambles keeps the defenders more honest.
I'll give his performance a A-. 300 yards passing, 4 TD's and 0 Int's. Can't ask for much more than that. It still looks like his passes lack the zip necessary to compete against better teams, but he did everything you could ask for in a QB, including being one of the first ones to come to Griffin's aid after the fumble to end the game. He is looking more comfortable out there and having a better pocket presence.

Cohesion on the line. This is game three of this unit. Bennett, Friend, Petrus, Masters and Ryan. They all had playing time last year and this year, so they aren't entirely green. We should see improvement in unit cohesion.
C+ So much for this one. Terrible news for Jimmy Bennett. I hope he heals well and gets his degree. Kid literally put in thousands of hours of rehab and work for about a half dozen games. I know Mike Ryan is a RT at the NFL level, but I like him at LT for us. They gave Johnny McEntee time to pass and opened up some nice holes for the RB's. Unfortunately too many times the defense is putting 8-9 in the box and the line can't block everyone.

Someone who can run the ball without fumbling and someone who can break a tackle.
B-. Much better game by McCombs but he's supposed to be a speedster and got run down on his 60 yard run. He has to take that to the house. Ironically enough, he was tripped up and fell to the ground without a defender touching him. He showed some improvement, but still takes too long deciding on a cut and then making a cut. Dancing doesn't work at this level.

WR's stepping up. Two games ago it was Isaih Moore, last week it was Nick Williams. Who's it gonna be this week. Specifically, I want zero dropped passes and hopefully some YAC.
D+. Kashif made some good catches and for the third game we had a wide receiver go over a hundred yards receiving. Three different ones too. However, dropped passes by Isaih Moore and Griffin in the first half didn't help and Kashif dropped the pass over the middle in the second half. Nice grab by Nick for the TD. Kashif nearly "Templed" his TD catch with the bobble.

DLine is fine. Do your thing. Same with the LB's.
B+. Kendall was a beast, but the DE's were largely ineffective. LB's played good.

CB's- No long gainers on one-on-one coverage. Keep the play in front of you and make the tackle.
F-. Epic. Fail. Something has to change with BWW out. Wilburn isn't very good. The fact that we haven't developed another CB in three years worthy of playing time is a failure on two different staffs. You need 6 good CB's to play at this level to account for injuries and constant competition.

S's- Similar to CB's. Take good, strong angles and make plays. Keep it in front of you.
F-. See comments on CB's and add on the personal foul for helmet to helmet contact.

FG's- No problems. Teggart has been money from over 50. I would like to see better results on 35-50 though.
C-. 1-2 on FG's from 40-50 yards. Would like to see more consistency here.

Punt Returns- Don't let the ball go over the head, make a quick decision and go. I want 10 yard average on punt returns.
F-. Fail. Calls for a fair catch when no one is within 10 yards and doesn't make decisions. Return schemes may be jacked up too, but TV rarely gives us the big picture camera shots to evaluate that.

Coaching (Especially DeLeone). Have a game plan and quit tinkering around. I want the offense on the line of scrimmage by 14 seconds. Have a play and have one run and one pass audible. That gives Johnny Mac time to set the offense and make one change if necessary.

Above all else, this team can't be better than 3-2 which is at least one game worse than I was thinking going in to the conference season. What I'm left with is looking for trending upward play vice stagnation or regression.
D-. First the positive. For three straight weeks DeLeone has put in plays that have gotten us WR's wide open. Something we didn't see the past five years. I'm cautiously optimistic about the offense. They put 31 points on the board. However, penalties and dropped passes killed momentum and we left a ton of points on the field. Defense, I'm giving a mulligan to them. DLine played strong, but the secondary is horrendous. We may give up 600 yards passing in a game this season. BWW is a known injury and the coaches are responsible for putting in a game plan to match the players they have. Sadly, I feel more confident in our LB's in pass coverage than I do our DB's.
The lack of focus with the dropped balls, two personal fouls and a 100 yards total in penalties all fall on the coaches. They are responsible for making sure the players are focused.

Overall pre-league performance is a D and unfortunately there isn't any reason to believe we will be favored in any game the rest of the season.

The players talk of the coaches treating them more as professionals and more responsibility. Unfortunately it looks like these kids need the micromanaging the haranging that goes with fumbles, penalties, kicks out of bounds, etc.

This season is gonna test our fans. It's not going to be easy the rest of the season.

 

[huskymedic]

This season is gonna test our fans. It's not going to be easy the rest of the season.

Amen brother...!