4 levels of UCONN's TOUGH 2015 schedule

[freescooter]

I don't see any way 3-9 is in any way could be encouraging. None at all. And as I've said before I think Diacos approach of treating last year like a JV season was a horrible error in judgement. We had a schedule just made to order for a turn around season and to not try and take advantage of that was a bizzare decision by both Diaco and noted football guy Warde Manuel. It set the program back 3 years I terms of recovering some level of public interest. This team almost has to have a Memphis level turn around before it is taken seriously now. And playing freshmen doesn't always lead to long term success. Sometime it does. Sometimes it just leads to discouraged guys.

And this year while the schedule is much tougher it still has a 1aa team Army and some other bad teams such that 3 wins would be essentially no progress.

 

[Confident Carl]

I don't see any way 3-9 is in any way could be encouraging. None at all. And as I've said before I think Diacos approach of treating last year like a JV season was a horrible error in judgement. We had a schedule just made to order for a turn around season and to not try and take advantage of that was a bizzare decision by both Diaco and noted football guy Warde Manuel. It set the program back 3 years I terms of recovering some level of public interest. This team almost has to have a Memphis level turn around before it is taken seriously now. And playing freshmen doesn't always lead to long term success. Sometime it does. Sometimes it just leads to discouraged guys.

Holy smoke! Hard to believe that you really believe what you just wrote!
Babies just can't lift coffee tables, oh wait...

http://footballscoop.com/news/diaco-rebuilding-uconn-like-baby-trying-lift-coffee-table/

 

[freescooter]

Army Stony Brook SMU USF Tulane. That is hardly New England Seattle Baltimoer Green Bay and San Francisco. That was 5 winnable games. Ok you lose 1 but get an upset or 2 along the way and it's a decent season. If we didn't have the talent to beat Army and SMU we really need to reevaluate this whole thing. If you seriously think Diacos approach to the season didn't cost us 3-4 games I don't know what to say. Hell I doubt they even game planned for some of those.

 

[ktuck911]

Holy smoke! Hard to believe that you really believe what you just wrote!
Babies just can't lift coffee tables, oh wait...
View attachment 9912
http://footballscoop.com/news/diaco-rebuilding-uconn-like-baby-trying-lift-coffee-table/

Just noticed that link was from November 2014... Would love to re-visit this with HCBD now... Where are we now?????

 

[freescooter]

Beyond that Diaco took over a team that had won 5,5 then finished up the 2013 season winning 3 straight. While it ain't great both 5 win teams could have, with any luck at all been bowl teams. He was the one who claimed he had nothing. I am a bit skeptical that we lacked that much talent. We had momentum which he elected to squander. We had some excitement. Which he elected to squander remarkably quickly. We will be lucky to have 25000 for the opener this year and if they lose that a crowd if it can be called that of under 20000 could be the norm

 

[Redding Husky]

We'll be 2-10 if nothing changes from last year. I'm expecting improvement, so I'll go with 4-8.

Then (maybe) 6-6 in 2016.

 

[Husky25]

5 wins is my dancing in the streets benchmark. Anything above that might solicit some celebratory streaking to the quad next to the gymnasium. Anything below that should put Diaco & Staff on a warm coaching seat.

Not that I wanted to see it, but when did you streak across the quad, Dooley?

I bumped this thread to remind people what the general idea of a "successful" season would be. Many said 4-5 wins. Some used the thread as a way to bash the Coach yet again and some of us (not many) thought a bowl game was in reach in year 2. Personally, I have my opinions on how I think red-shirts should be used, but I will not question Diaco's strategy going forward. I believe more than ever that if he didn't give so many freshmen real game experience in his mulligan year, UConn would not be looking at the opportunity for 7 wins come Saturday night.

 

[Waquoit]

No one in this thread had us bowling. That means everyone has to admit Diaco has done a great job this year.

 

[Dooley]

Not that I wanted to see it, but when did you streak across the quad, Dooley?

Instead of the quad, I streaked on the field after the win. I don't think anybody saw anything because, hey, it was cold out!

 

[Dooley]

I am completely thrilled to go bowling this year, in year 2. Diaco had some interesting quotes in his presser saying that he expected to go bowling in year 2 and felt that way during offseason S&C. I was ecstatic after win 5 and was optimistic that we could beat Houston at home coming off bye (and their QB banged up). The rebuild has been accelerated by this year's bowl game for sure. The extra practices will definitely help the younger guys hit the ground running come spring and summer ball.

I'll be interested to see what people's expectations are for 2016 when the time is right. We still have to get through an offseason - stay healthy, keep grades up, keep guys out of trouble, etc. But the expectations should be, for the most part, encouraging:

- NY6 bowl
- AAC championship
- AAC championship game
- Contend for AAC
- Undefeated or 1 loss OOC play
- 6/7 wins and "minor" bowl game
- regression

 

[Husky25]

No one in this thread had us bowling. That means everyone has to admit Diaco has done a great job this year.

Subbabub, Dooley, Whaler11 (sort of), and myself alluded to the possibility. I agree though. No one was confident.

 

[whaler11]

I thought Carl had the schedule nailed - shows how hard/what a waste of time a lot of this is to predict.

 

[whaler11]

Subbabub, Dooley, Whaler11 (sort of), and myself alluded to the possibility. I agree though. No one was confident.

They did well on both parts - the record and qualitatively. The schedule did break a little easier than I think most expected. UCF is a tire fire and Tulane some how got worse. Missouri has been brutal.

Beating Houston makes up for a lot of that.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

No one in this thread had us bowling. That means everyone has to admit Diaco has done a great job this year.

Just curious, who hasn't "admitted" this yet?

This team has surpassed my wildest fantasy about what they could accomplish this year. Diaco has improved himself considerably.

The staff and the players have done a great job. Nothing short of remarkable really.

 

[Waquoit]

Subbabub, Dooley, Whaler11 (sort of), and myself alluded to the possibility. I agree though. No one was confident.

I counted "best case" as hedging and did not give credit

 

[SubbaBub]

I had 6 wins in the poll thought a bowl game was the benchmark the entire way, despite a lot of guff from low self esteem crowd. Last season Bob and the kids blew at least 3 games on the dumbest of mistakes. Simply by eliminating those you get back to 5. I figured the extra year was worth 1 or 2 if Bob was any good as a coach.

The team isn't a ton better, just a ton better at not shooting themselves in the foot. We are pulling out W's that were anger inducing losses. The stats and conference rankings support that thought. What they are is completely geeked on Bob and the program. Bob deserves all the credit for that and their attitude on the field which is a very solid building block. The Edsall teams had the eye of the tiger, it's very nice to see it again. Probably the best thing to come out of this season except bowl eligibility.

Next season should be the true gauge of exactly where we are as a program. All those sophomores will have two years of game experience and three years in the program. The goal is a spot in the AAC title game. Progress is coming up a game or tie breaker short.

 

[J187Money]

I had 7 (6 plus a bowl win) because I refuse to accept anything less. I was right like a broken clock. Can't take credit.

 

[Confident Carl]

Subbabub, Dooley, Whaler11 (sort of), and myself alluded to the possibility. I agree though. No one was confident.

The baby lifted the coffee table! Yea! Having said that, going bowling was not expected but gladly accepted! Bob Diaco and staff have done a great job and we should all be encouraged about the future of Husky football!

 

[whaler11]

I had 6 wins in the poll thought a bowl game was the benchmark the entire way, despite a lot of guff from low self esteem crowd. Last season Bob and the kids blew at least 3 games on the dumbest of mistakes. Simply by eliminating those you get back to 5. I figured the extra year was worth 1 or 2 if Bob was any good as a coach.

The team isn't a ton better, just a ton better at not shooting themselves in the foot. We are pulling out W's that were anger inducing losses. The stats and conference rankings support that thought. What they are is completely geeked on Bob and the program. Bob deserves all the credit for that and their attitude on the field which is a very solid building block. The Edsall teams had the eye of the tiger, it's very nice to see it again. Probably the best thing to come out of this season except bowl eligibility.

Next season should be the true gauge of exactly where we are as a program. All those sophomores will have two years of game experience and three years in the program. The goal is a spot in the AAC title game. Progress is coming up a game or tie breaker short.

You have to admit you catch a break when Tulane, Army and UCF are three of the worst teams in the country. ECU was down and they beat an FCS team.

You can't ignore how the schedule broke. I don't remember any post predicting UCF would be 0-12.

 

[whaler11]

No one in this thread had us bowling. That means everyone has to admit Diaco has done a great job this year.

He's doing a very nice job. I've been on board since the clear improvement week 1. Everything that went wrong since is correctable.

He showed he learns from mistakes. That was what we needed to see. They have been very impressive the last two home games.

 

[Husky25]

I counted "best case" as hedging and did not give credit

Why? Everyone else's best case was 5 wins!!!

Hey, I'm not exactly "looking" for credit (Though my optimistic prediction of 7 R.S. wins is the highest ceiling still in play). I thought last year's team's ceiling was 8-4 (regular season). Then I watched BYU, Stony Brook, and Temple and...well...Expectations adjusted. I'm certainly not much of a Nostradamus.

The fact remains that considering everything Diaco did and said since December 6, 2014, I thought there had to be a method to his madness during the season and it was going to pay dividends or else, with "or else" being too depressing to contemplate.

 

[SubbaBub]

You have to admit you catch a break when Tulane, Army and UCF are three of the worst teams in the country. ECU was down and they beat an FCS team.

You can't ignore how the schedule broke. I don't remember any post predicting UCF would be 0-12.

No, but I thought USF would be nearly as terrible. The schedule was also the entire point of the prediction and the benchmarking of 6 wins to indicate we didn't get some overeager psychopath as a coach. The bottom of the AAC was going to be terrible, add in an FCS team and Army and bowl eligibilty wasn't such a stretch for a team that can dress itself. 80 teams are going bowling. You have to be terrible not to go. Last year that was us for a bunch of reasons, but it's not a monumental step to go from being a non-bowl team to a bowl team no matter how non-bowling you were last season.

Beating an undefeated team in game number 11 is no joke, I don't care who you are. The ability to hang with better teams is also a sign that the program didn't just get off the mat, but stood up and is ready to move forward. IMO the team played better than it's win total this season. They made mistakes, coach too, but not nearly as many as I thought and not even close to last season. Technique and focus still appear to be an issue on the field and on the sideline, but they are on their way. Need a little more speed at LB and the OL needs to be a lot more physical and not just get in the way next season, but that is for next season. It will be difficult to do anything but enjoy this next month. I'm excited to see where they go and who they play. I'll wait for the matchup before demanding a trophy.

Speaking of trophies, don't we need a new one for our new rivalry with Houston?

 

[UConnDan97]

No one in this thread had us bowling.

It's like I'm not even here anymore...

 

[sdhusky]

Diaco has improved himself considerably.

The staff and the players have done a great job. Nothing short of remarkable really.

What about "Diaco has been doing a great job since he arrived and I have improved considerably in being able to notice it"

 

[weyuo]

I hate to beat a dead horse but next year is going to be about how much time the O-line can give Sherriffs in the passing game and how much "push" they can give the RB's. The D will be stout as the head coach comes from the D side and will always take special pride in making his defense one of the best. But lets face it the offense hasn't exactly lit it up against anyone in the top 25... top 50...top 75. They continue to struggle scoring points against competent to good teams. In saying that I predicted a bowl this year(7-5) but in no way did I think it would have played out the way it did.

Bottom line: UConn goes the way their O and D lines go and as of Thanksgiving 2015 I don't see talented O-lineman lining up to commit to the Huskies so that has to be a concern. They cannot compete as a perennial top 25 team without a vastly improved O-line.