Whitmer Tweet

[Excalibur]

Scheme adjustments? It looked to me (and the announcers) that we played better after HCBD got in their faces and demanded they make plays. But am I missing something because I thought army scored on its last possession.

They tackled better, but Army was still going downhill on us because we didn't have the right people in the right places.

 

[Drew]

Not to rag Chandler but the Barstool UConn twitter account just tweeted a hilarious video of the interception

 

[Dooley]

Not to rag Chandler but the Barstool UConn twitter account just tweeted a hilarious video of the interception

"Throw it away, Chandler!"

I am fairly certain that same plea was yelled out by the entire first base side of the stadium. I know I yelled it. And I'm pretty sure I heard others yell the same thing too.

Another devastating mistake and horrible throw.

 

[06029]

Whitmer is a terrible QB. I could list all his liabilities but we all know them.

He is also a warrior, nice guy, came back, solid citizen, feel free to add any positive adjective you like. I accept all of that.

But there are a lot of those folks at UConn and we don't let them play QB. And they shouldn't. And neither should Whitmer.

The question is why does Diaco keep putting him in there and let him fail again and again?

3 plausible reasons -
1. There is not a better QB on the roster.
2. You only have 1 capable back up QB on the roster who is not better than Whitmer, who had some injury earlier in the season, so you limit his playing time to make sure you at least have a back up available when Whitmer goes down (which was likely given the early season beating all the QB's too).
3. Boyle is not a better QB than Whitmer, is prone to the exact same mistakes and can't run well enough to get out of trouble.

Coaches live and die by their personnel decisions. There is a body of work available for Boyle as well as spring, summer and all fall practice that Diaco must be considering. Despite you believing/wanting to believe that Boyle is far superior, you have no tangible evidence on your side. Stats tell me Boyle is a turnover machine. Diaco tells me he was injured earlier in the year. I have no reason to consider either false. So Boyle plays limited action and when he does not move the ball, he sits back down.

I gave up Diaco bashing game 2 because he is here for at least 3 more seasons. He needs to recruit what he wants and nothing I can say or write or do will change that. His fate is Warde's fate, too.

 

[Confident Carl]

Whitmer did not lose this game. The defensive game plan, or lack of one, did.

I know this has been said before but sometimes all of us Monday Morning Quarterbacks have to take a deep breath, pause, sit back and think before we write or belch out at a ball game that Whitmer (or any other player) sucks or write the same.

We have to remember that these kids (yes kids)whose parents are in the stands and
may be reading our stuff (don't recommend parents or players ever get on this site) and have feelings. Think about how you would feel if your son were playing. I am sure that both players and parents are warned to be tough skinned but reality can hurt more than one expects no matter how much you are warned.

Fans can be thoughtless and we forget that most of these players are not going to the NFL. They have to carry the memories of these formative college years with them for the rest of their lives.

I sat with Chandler Whitmer's parents during the ECU game. I watched the worried look on his Mom's face when he got rocked out of bounds by an ECU player. I watched the elation both parents had when their son threw the T.D.'s to Thomas. After he threw the 70 yard pass to Thomas, I got the biggest bear hug from Chandler's Mom. She was so happy for her son. Dad was feeling pretty good at that point too. They have heard the remarks and love their son. Don't think it dosn't hurt them when a dissapointed fan blurts out that Whitmers sucks and for Diaco to take him out of the game.

Chandler dissappointed us big time against Army. I was there and felt first hand the drop from Heaven to Hell in 5 seconds when he threw the pick 6.
But let's be Men about this and realise that Chandler did not blow the game. He blew one huge play. I for one am hoping he finishes out his career strong with three wins against Cincy, Memphis and SMU and goes out like a Lion. Having said that, I agree that for practical purposes Tim Boyle should get more reps in preperation for next season, since Chandler is a Senior.

Sorry if I came of to some as Preachy. I didn't mean to attack anyone in particular. I just wanted to send out a reminder that these are just kids playing the game that they love and we love. Sometimes we hurt the ones we love. That's life in a competitive world! A World where everyone including me hates losing (4 years now) and wants to win. I understand, believe me, I understand.

 

[thatguyed]

Because we have no one else more capable. Our future QB is not on the roster this year

And let's not anoint Boyle just yet either. We have that Sherriff kid who came over from NC State and sitting this year. Next spring starts another competition, as it happens most years at most schools.

 

[Confident Carl]

I know this has been said before but sometimes all of us Monday Morning Quarterbacks have to take a deep breath, pause, sit back and think before we write or belch out at a ball game that Whitmer (or any other player) sucks or write the same.

We have to remember that these kids (yes kids)whose parents are in the stands and
may be reading our stuff (don't recommend parents or players ever get on this site) and have feelings. Think about how you would feel if your son were playing. I am sure that both players and parents are warned to be tough skinned but reality can hurt more than one expects no matter how much you are warned.

Fans can be thoughtless and we forget that most of these players are not going to the NFL. They have to carry the memories of these formative college years with them for the rest of their lives.

I sat with Chandler Whitmer's parents during the ECU game. I watched the worried look on his Mom's face when he got rocked out of bounds by an ECU player. I watched the elation both parents had when their son threw the T.D.'s to Thomas. After he threw the 70 yard pass to Thomas, I got the biggest bear hug from Chandler's Mom. She was so happy for her son. Dad was feeling pretty good at that point too. They have heard the remarks and love their son. Don't think it dosn't hurt them when a dissapointed fan blurts out that Whitmers sucks and for Diaco to take him out of the game.

Chandler dissappointed us big time against Army. I was there and felt first hand the drop from Heaven to Hell in 5 seconds when he threw the pick 6.
But let's be Men about this and realise that Chandler did not blow the game. He blew one huge play. I for one am hoping he finishes out his career strong with three wins against Cincy, Memphis and SMU and goes out like a Lion. Having said that, I agree that for practical purposes Tim Boyle should get more reps in preperation for next season, since Chandler is a Senior.

Sorry if I came of to some as Preachy. I didn't mean to attack anyone in particular. I just wanted to send out a reminder that these are just kids playing the game that they love and we love. Sometimes we hurt the ones we love. That's life in a competitive world! A World where everyone including me hates losing (4 years now) and wants to win. I understand, believe me, I understand.

I got my games mixed up. It was an 88 yard pass to Foxy. Thomas had a 30 yarder but had two TD's against UCF.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Is that tweet from Whitmer still up on his account?

 

[Woof 101]

Whitmer is a terrible QB. I could list all his liabilities but we all know them.

He is also a warrior, nice guy, came back, solid citizen, feel free to add any positive adjective you like. I accept all of that.

But there are a lot of those folks at UConn and we don't let them play QB. And they shouldn't. And neither should Whitmer.

The question is why does Diaco keep putting him in there and let him fail again and again?

Whitmer is playing because he is the best option we have at present. This is beyond obvious to most of us that realize one of the options needs more protection than we can provide at this time to save serious injury. Diaso's failure in this game was not playing Whitmer but rather putting him in a position to make up for a pizz poor game plan.
Army averages 4.7 passes a game, why are we in a prevent all game? No changes during the game. I'll give Bob a learning curve mulligan, but this one was not on Whitmer. He fell on his sword for Bob...

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

future is anything but brite i wonder who told poor wartorn qb to state that i w o n d e r

Your posts SUCK. All of them. Usually I'm a
Lurker but reading your misspelled posts with second grade grammar had me pissed.

Did I mention your posts all SUCK?

Hooked on phonics. Wow.

 

[CTMike]

Your posts SUCK. All of them. Usually I'm a
Lurker but reading your misspelled posts with second grade grammar had me pissed.

Did I mention your posts all SUCK?

Hooked on phonics. Wow.

This post absolutely slayed me. Good work.

 

[Confident Carl]

Your posts SUCK. All of them. Usually I'm a
Lurker but reading your misspelled posts with second grade grammar had me pissed.

Did I mention your posts all SUCK?

Hooked on phonics. Wow.

Forget about the grammar, what a strange thing to say. I agree with Chandler, based on Diaco's recruits and the no quit attitude of this team, admittedly, the guys have a lot of work to do but the future looks bright!

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Chap is a HFD wanna be. His problem is that he's not legitimately insane like HFD is, so his posts don't have that geninue feel to them.

I'm close to putting him on ignore, but now I just skip his posts altogether.

 

[noeynox]

Whitmer is playing because he is the best option we have at present. This is beyond obvious to most of us that realize one of the options needs more protection than we can provide at this time to save serious injury. Diaso's failure in this game was not playing Whitmer but rather putting him in a position to make up for a pizz poor game plan.
Army averages 4.7 passes a game, why are we in a prevent all game? No changes during the game. I'll give Bob a learning curve mulligan, but this one was not on Whitmer. He fell on his sword for Bob...

All Diaco had to say was that INT wasn't on Whitmer, I should have called a T/O there. Instead he goes into all this nonsense about how the game wasn't lost on that play, that you can't fall behind 14-0, nothing to them, that possessions were going to be limited. Despite those things, they recovered an onside kick and were at the six yd line before the pick six. Despite those things the defense force a punt down 21-14, and we go 3 and out. Diaco's habit of complicating uncomplicated things is frustrating to say the least.

The things he said may be true, but on the six yd line with a chance to tie, with a time out in your pocket and 56 seconds to play, the ball shouldn't have been snapped in such utter confusion.

 

[SubbaBub]

There was defensive pass interference in 6 yds deep in the end zone, which was 12 yds off the line. It allowed the extra defender to break on the ball.

Should have been called. Should have called time out. Should have run the ball.

 

[Palatine]

Whitmer constantly repays Diaco's faith with crushing defeats. I don't blame Whitmer.

 

[BlueMAB]

If Whitmer doesn't throw that pass, we're still down 7 points.

We didn't lose that game because of Whitmer. In fact, the reason we were within 1 score is he drove us down to tie it, and then scrambled several times to get us inside the 10.

If you want to say Whitmer is the reason we lost by 14 instead of 7, okay. But pinning that loss on Whitmer alone is like pinning the loss to George Mason on Denham Brown's missed three in OT.

 

[J187Money]

Chap is a HFD wanna be. His problem is that he's not legitimately insane like HFD is, so his posts don't have that geninue feel to them.

I'm close to putting him on ignore, but now I just skip his posts altogether.

I think Chap = HFD and will believe that until proven otherwise. Nobody else has that amount of time to waste pretending to be someone else.

 

[Carl Spackler]

All Diaco had to say was that INT wasn't on Whitmer, I should have called a T/O there. Instead he goes into all this nonsense about how the game wasn't lost on that play, that you can't fall behind 14-0, nothing to them, that possessions were going to be limited. Despite those things, they recovered an onside kick and were at the six yd line before the pick six. Despite those things the defense force a punt down 21-14, and we go 3 and out. Diaco's habit of complicating uncomplicated things is frustrating to say the least.

The things he said may be true, but on the six yd line with a chance to tie, with a time out in your pocket and 56 seconds to play, the ball shouldn't have been snapped in such utter confusion.

I like this post a lot. habit of constantly complicating uncomplicated things - that about nails it.

Diaco has undoubtedly put his imprint into this program. All over it. The guy is a literal fireball of energy, and he's intelligent and educated. He is extremely goal oriented, and his recruiting plan, and profile of recruit so far, has been consistent and impressive. (Caveat - that any recruit doesn't prove their worth, until they actually hit both the classrooms and the field).....but by everything we can tell, based on his recruiting profile he's brought in, where the program is going to recruit.....etc.. it's all fantastic. As is obviously his plan to develop student athletes into quality young men through the game of football. He truly cares about this stuff and it's awesome.

But you got to win football games. The team, the entire team, has taken on his personality, in a positive way, and embraced the program he's installing - and the ability to do that - is the hallmark of a good head coach - when it comes to everything I just mentioned.

Unfortunately, none of that, in reality - has to do with winning football games. Winning football games is about preparation and then execution of specific goal oriented plans for an individual opponent, based on emphasizing your own strengths and attacking the opponents weaknesses.

It's very very rare, for me, to make any sort of crossover between basketball and football, but right now I'm thinking of Jim Calhoun and Kevin Ollie. Calhoun said about Ollie, that he's been fully educated as a coach. You know, it's probably where I got my theme for this year for football - the education of coach Diaco...but whatever......it was on full display last basketball season. It was remarkable how well KO was able to do game plan, identify strengths and weakness in the opponent and emphasize our strengths and attack their weaknesses. It was never more evident than after timeouts. Every time we came out of timeout last basketball season, it seemed almost 100% of the time, we successfully adjusted and attacked / or defended the other team successfully. I actually knew KO when he was a student - awkward freshmen. Amazing what he's become....but anyhoo........

The failure of this season, is that our offense sucks. This is in no way a dig on the players - they are giving all they got for sure, but our offense continually seems to be doing nothing, to be strategically and tactically in position to emphasize our own strengths and attack opponent weakness.

The offense has Diaco's personality, chaotic energy all over the place, and often making no sense.

It's a worrisome thing, really, for me - Joe Q. Fan. As soon as DIaco develops within himself, the composure, discipline and calmness and consistency that you need to be ice cold executioner on offense - I fear we won't get it.

 

[J187Money]

The failure of this season, is that our offense sucks. This is in no way a dig on the players - they are giving all they got for sure, but our offense continually seems to be doing nothing, to be strategically and tactically in position to emphasize our own strengths and attack opponent weakness.

The offense has Diaco's personality, chaotic energy all over the place, and often making no sense.

BTW - the offense is a LOT better than it was for the better part of last year (last 3 games notwithstanding). That's actually scary.

 

[J187Money]

Here is how I see the T/O issue:

In a moment of chaos, if the defense is on its heels (which they were - the result notwithstanding) - does the coach call a T/O and kill a possible mismatch / misalignment that the QB might see and give the defense a chance to reset? Or is it on the QB to make the call that "hey - we aren't ready and I don't want to make a mistake?"

A perfect example of the same situation was the Temple game a couple of years back. DB's defenses always looked like they were in chaos even when they weren't, so I'm not sure the coaches could have seen that a T/O was needed. I specifically asked Sio about this (once the sting of the loss wore down) and he said it was squarely on the players on the field to call a T/O in that situation. I know a lot of us blamed P, but he didn't blame P. FWIW.

 

[Carl Spackler]

BTW - the offense is a LOT better than it was for the better part of last year (last 3 games notwithstanding). That's actually scary.

I agree. Our players are showing great iimprovement, individually as the season has gone on, and there have been plenty of moments, when something good looks like it's happening.

We have no consistency though, no composure under pressure, and no discipline within control and running of the play clock, and most importantly there is no consistent identity to what the offensive concepts are, both for individual plays, and for entire game concepts. Confidence, for me, invariably, comes from practice - as does the ability to do everything else.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Here is how I see the T/O issue:

In a moment of chaos, if the defense is on its heels (which they were - the result notwithstanding) - does the coach call a T/O and kill a possible mismatch / misalignment that the QB might see and give the defense a chance to reset? Or is it on the QB to make the call that "hey - we aren't ready and I don't want to make a mistake?"

A perfect example of the same situation was the Temple game a couple of years back. DB's defenses always looked like they were in chaos even when they weren't, so I'm not sure the coaches could have seen that a T/O was needed. I specifically asked Sio about this (once the sting of the loss wore down) and he said it was squarely on the players on the field to call a T/O in that situation. I know a lot of us blamed P, but he didn't blame P. FWIW.

Don't pull a Diaco and overthink this JMoney. Whitmer has a 3 year history of throwing backbreaking interceptions late in games when under pressure to move the offense and score points. You call the timeout because you know your own personnel, and their tendencies, and you tell the OC, that if they're going to throw the ball, make sure you tell Whitmer to throw it away if he doesn't have his immediate option open. Honestly, at this point, gotta wonder why Whitmer himself wasn't calling the TO himself to calm himself down and not duck it up.

The pinnacle of offensive football game management right now is Peyton Manning. The guy has developed to such a level of composure and calm on the field when running an offense that it's amazing. I never saw Johnny Unitas play the game, but that's got to be the only similar player on offense. You don't see that kind of leadership on the field on offense in college, because players just aren't old enough and experienced to do it. You cannot have an offense that is not under control and composed at all times - no matter if it's a sluggish looking, plodding Wisconsin style I formation running game, or a run and shoot Dana Holgersen offense - calm, collected and in control - is offense.

OUr offense, simply has Bob Diaco's personality.

 

[J187Money]

Honestly, at this point, gotta wonder why Whitmer himself wasn't calling the TO himself to calm himself down and not duck it up.

This is my point. HE should have called the T/O. It's on him. I'm not overthinking it. I'm not going to blame the staff for this one.

As we know, they could have called 10 time outs in a row and he still might have thrown a pick six. The result was unfavorable, but if he had thrown a TD there it would have been "gutsy call to not take the T/O there - the D was off-balance"...also if he throws the ball out of the endzone no harm done.

 

[Nostical]

If he had thrown a TD it would have been "gutsy call to not take the T/O there---the D was off-balance".

Bingo! It's the oldest game in town. Can't believe he's leaving the pitcher in--taking him out.
Oh no, he can't be thinking of taking a three--swish---great play!
Bottom line it's a bit like blackjack. If you take a hit on 16 against a dealer's 4 the table thinks your an idiot until it causes everyone to win the hand. Then it's a "gutsy against the book move".
I'm ok with not calling the TO. The throw into coverage when there were other options is the real problem with the play.