Fan notes from the Rice Game | The Boneyard

Fan notes from the Rice Game

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What a great game!! Having watched it lived was awesome! I brought a lot of friends and I think UConn made some new fans. We were on TV several times since we sat close to the bench.

Atmosphere / Game Day Experience:
Rice Stadium is a pretty nice facility. Easy parking. Lots of tailgating. LOTS of UConn fans came! Saw a car with a giant UConn flag and parked near him. Worked great for me; he had a nice tailgate going and offered my crew unlimited drinks. My wife took a White Claw. (If you're reading this, thanks again, Awesome UConn Fan!).

Then I saw the Yakiri Walker clan. At least 20 of them. They pitched a little UConn tent. Everyone had custom Yakiri + UConn t-shirts. So awesome to see!

It was some military appreciation day. Army had a band on a stage singing various pop hits. Lots of recruiters there from all branches giving away all the standard stuff you would get at a conference (drink cozys, stress balls, etc). Before the game started, there was fireworks, honoring various local soldiers, plus an orange coast guard Seahawk helicopter flew across the stadium.

Heard the announced attendance was 21k. Highly, highly doubt that (@Steve UConn72). 10k seems more accurate if not still pushing it (6k is my guess). The UConn side looked just as full as the Rice side. TV might show it as empty, because most people sat higher up for the better view and shade. You could move anywhere after you got in. I can tell you that there was a lot of UConn cheers and chants. It was LOUD whenever UConn did something good.

I never saw Mr. @BlueWhiteKid take a seat in his little corner of the stadium. I'm proud of our fanbase for showing up to this away game even though we're 0-5 with little hope at the time.

UConn Sideline Notes:
b165l63.jpg

Roberson happy after his first passing TD.

QBs:
  • Mentioned before that Roberson was very vocal. Wasn't angry or anything like that. Be he looked fierce and determined, constantly talking to members of the offense.
  • Zion was quiet, but focused.
  • McDonald and Millen rarely had their helmets on and talked to each other a lot. McDonald is bigger than I expected.

All the assistant coaches were coaching every second of the game. Sammis stood out to me (partly because he's so big) as always talking to his players. Even when we were down 0-14, they were coaching. The staff seemed focus at all times.

We never looked defeated or demoralized at any moment during the game. All the players were engaged and vocal. No one slammed their helmets or yelled at each other in disgust. The coaches didn't put their hands on their faces. I wouldn't blame them since they're 0-5 and it seemed like the game had spiraled one quarter in.

On every defensive play, the bench players called "Run" or "Pass" helping out the defense on the field. This was every single down. Can't stress this enough, no one gave up.

Joly was always smiling and joking around. But he showed his "let's get serious" face every now and then.

Some of the TEs never had their helmets on, which was funny to me with the "OR" situation.

Special Teams:
Lots have been said about our special teams lately. It does seem like they are working on the issues. During halftime, all the kickers and punters came out early and practiced their craft. This is me inferring, but it sort of seems like there's not enough hours in the day to practice everything which is why they're cramming as much as they can, when they can.

It looks like everyone on special teams is a bench player. Like, I thought I followed the team closely, but there were a lot of names I didn't recognize. Without the efforts of @huskymedic and @Exit 4 I would have had no clue who some of the players were. So this could be the source of some of the issues on special teams.

Rosa and Edwards seemed like best buddies. They were always together, talking and sometimes laughing.

On the field stuff:
One person in my group was a former MWC assistant coach turned TX high school coach. Really smart football mind, just hated the travel and hours. These are mostly his notes.

Roberson has a lot of potential. He has some good fundamentals, good enough arm. Lacks decisiveness at times, but these are things that will come with more experience.

6kbVZ9w.jpg


An example he gave was the wheel route play early in the 3rd quarter where he over threw Ross. Roberson was running towards the sideline to make the throw, but no one was coming directly at him. So Roberson would've had time to set his feet and square his shoulder vs making a running throw which made him inaccurate. It would've been an easy TD had that connected.

Overall, "Roberson looks like a QB whose development was stunted." Buddy said this without me giving him much background info. Said to be patient and looks like it'll pay off sooner rather than later.

Buddy asked if we do outside zone runs often, which made me laugh hard. Rice's defensive strength is their linebacker corps. So we kept running into the strength of their defense. At the same time, our weakness on defense is our OLBs, which is why Rice tried so many laterals or sideline passes. But in Rice's case, that's not really who they were on offense and why it bit them in the butt on that fumble.

There were many times, when UConn had the ball, where my buddy correctly guessed run or pass. For my group, it was like having a personal Tony Romo, which made it fun for the newbies among us. Buddy said that UConn's play calling was too predictable, which made it easier for the opposing defense to counter. We don't have enough variation in our play design and our formations. Rice has one of the worst defenses in CFB, even worst than some FCS schools according to Massey. Better defenses will feast against our lack of schemes.

In general, Buddy thought we were too conservative on both sides of the ball. Defense could have blitz more. As predicted, Rice's o-line was a weakness. Could have had a lot more sacks or negative plays.

Offense needs more verticality. Would really helped our run game. Buddy thinks we have capable receivers, but WRs needs touches to get into the "groove" of the game just like QBs and RBs. He emphasized that every team thinks their WRs can't get separation. But separation isn't a black and white thing. Most of the time, the separation is a few seconds per route. The best QBs can find those precious few seconds of "openness" and fit in a pass.

Speaking of WRs, Buddy was confused as to why Porter was our X receiver. Buddy knows a little of Porter from New Mexico and sees him more as a Z receiver with his speed but lack of size. Thinks Joly should line up more as a WR as well, in the X-spot with his height. Since Joly is probably our best offensive weapon, teams would likely have a safety cover on Joly's side, making everything else easier for the offense. And Buckman fits more of the slot-type WR. He also said to take all of this with a grain of salt because he doesn't know our offense and personnel. I told him that I wish I could explain our offense to you.

Well this is a getting super long. Some leftover notes in bullet points:

  • Buddy likes Lee Molette a lot. Thinks Molette has good instincts, always at or near the play. Can't teach that. Was surprised to hear this was his first start and that Molette is a RS FR. Sure he made some mistakes, but he's young. Still lead the team in tackles in his first start. Wow!
  • In general, thought our secondary was pretty good. Was really surprised that we were without some starters. Lots of toughness there, not afraid to give and take hits. Also liked Shearin, Durante, and Bin-Wahid. (Side note, Bin-Wahid was a pacer, up and down the sideline.)
  • Thought our d-line was phenomenal, especially the DEs. Looked like the Bosa brothers against Rice's o-line.
  • We started going conservative too early. On defense we switched to Cover-3 early in the 4th quarter. On offense, too many outside runs or screens when Rice had quick-strike offense abilities.
  • During halftime, Rice PA announcer was trying to make a weird/lame joke about our Civil Conflict thing with UCF. I didn't hear the whole thing cuz I was taking a piss, but it was something about real vs fake rivalries. In my head I was thinking, "Can't wait to not care about the historic Rice vs UAB rivalry."
 
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What you heard at halftime was the Rice Marching Owl Band (or MOB) which is a sarcastic, non-marching marching band which my son is a proud member. Rice doesn't have the enrollment and most students don't have the time for a traditional football band, so the all- volunteer MOB has been part of the Rice scene for decades.

You are correct that the Rice gameday atmosphere is lots of fun. An on campus stadium w/ lots of parking. The stadium itself is a relic of the old Southwest Conference. A concrete monstrosity, that has surprisingly become more appealing as it has aged. Was at the Rice-East Carolina game for parent's weekend, and couldn't make the trip on consecutive weekends. Thought all along that UConn had a chance with a couple of breaks as Rice never seems to have the ability to put a team away. Happy that UConn had good representation at Rice Stadium.
 

uconnbaseball

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What you heard at halftime was the Rice Marching Owl Band (or MOB) which is a sarcastic, non-marching marching band which my son is a proud member. Rice doesn't have the enrollment and most students don't have the time for a traditional football band, so the all- volunteer MOB has been part of the Rice scene for decades.

You are correct that the Rice gameday atmosphere is lots of fun. An on campus stadium w/ lots of parking. The stadium itself is a relic of the old Southwest Conference. A concrete monstrosity, that has surprisingly become more appealing as it has aged. Was at the Rice-East Carolina game for parent's weekend, and couldn't make the trip on consecutive weekends. Thought all along that UConn had a chance with a couple of breaks as Rice never seems to have the ability to put a team away. Happy that UConn had good representation at Rice Stadium.

The MOB is legendary. Kudos to your son!
 
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What you heard at halftime was the Rice Marching Owl Band (or MOB) which is a sarcastic, non-marching marching band which my son is a proud member. Rice doesn't have the enrollment and most students don't have the time for a traditional football band, so the all- volunteer MOB has been part of the Rice scene for decades.

You are correct that the Rice gameday atmosphere is lots of fun. An on campus stadium w/ lots of parking. The stadium itself is a relic of the old Southwest Conference. A concrete monstrosity, that has surprisingly become more appealing as it has aged. Was at the Rice-East Carolina game for parent's weekend, and couldn't make the trip on consecutive weekends. Thought all along that UConn had a chance with a couple of breaks as Rice never seems to have the ability to put a team away. Happy that UConn had good representation at Rice Stadium.
Do they normally wear suits? That's pretty funny if they do. Thought the band was definitely a plus to the game day atmosphere. Played a lot of random songs at random times. Like the death star theme song from Star Wars when Rice was making a come back.
 
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Definitely an excellent post.. Any way we can hire that former MWC assistant???? We need to get this right, sooner rather than later... can't stay that predictable on offense if we want to take that next step.. just sayin...
 
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Do they normally wear suits? That's pretty funny if they do. Thought the band was definitely a plus to the game day atmosphere. Played a lot of random songs at random times. Like the death star theme song from Star Wars when Rice was making a come back.
When it is oppressive heat like the 1st few home games it is Hawaiian shirts. As the temp cool they bring out the 1970/80 suit look with various accessories that any individual should want to wear. They have access to all the band uniforms from the 1970 onward, so there are some pretty interesting looks. Alumni show up and play when on campus so it is a good connection between current students and alums. Musically inclined parents who show up at the game and want to have some fun are also invited. It is a nice contradiction to the PC world of most college campuses. They have no qualms pushing some buttons on some issues. It is all student run and all shows are created by students, with little administrative oversight. Sadly the Rice administration has taken the MOB out of service for basketball games in favor of a paid pep band that is less likely to cause issues.
 
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What a great game!! Having watched it lived was awesome! I brought a lot of friends and I think UConn made some new fans. We were on TV several times since we sat close to the bench.

Atmosphere / Game Day Experience:
Rice Stadium is a pretty nice facility. Easy parking. Lots of tailgating. LOTS of UConn fans came! Saw a car with a giant UConn flag and parked near him. Worked great for me; he had a nice tailgate going and offered my crew unlimited drinks. My wife took a White Claw. (If you're reading this, thanks again, Awesome UConn Fan!).

Then I saw the Yakiri Walker clan. At least 20 of them. They pitched a little UConn tent. Everyone had custom Yakiri + UConn t-shirts. So awesome to see!

It was some military appreciation day. Army had a band on a stage singing various pop hits. Lots of recruiters there from all branches giving away all the standard stuff you would get at a conference (drink cozys, stress balls, etc). Before the game started, there was fireworks, honoring various local soldiers, plus an orange coast guard Seahawk helicopter flew across the stadium.

Heard the announced attendance was 21k. Highly, highly doubt that (@Steve UConn72). 10k seems more accurate if not still pushing it (6k is my guess). The UConn side looked just as full as the Rice side. TV might show it as empty, because most people sat higher up for the better view and shade. You could move anywhere after you got in. I can tell you that there was a lot of UConn cheers and chants. It was LOUD whenever UConn did something good.

I never saw Mr. @BlueWhiteKid take a seat in his little corner of the stadium. I'm proud of our fanbase for showing up to this away game even though we're 0-5 with little hope at the time.

UConn Sideline Notes:
b165l63.jpg

Roberson happy after his first passing TD.

QBs:
  • Mentioned before that Roberson was very vocal. Wasn't angry or anything like that. Be he looked fierce and determined, constantly talking to members of the offense.
  • Zion was quiet, but focused.
  • McDonald and Millen rarely had their helmets on and talked to each other a lot. McDonald is bigger than I expected.

All the assistant coaches were coaching every second of the game. Sammis stood out to me (partly because he's so big) as always talking to his players. Even when we were down 0-14, they were coaching. The staff seemed focus at all times.

We never looked defeated or demoralized at any moment during the game. All the players were engaged and vocal. No one slammed their helmets or yelled at each other in disgust. The coaches didn't put their hands on their faces. I wouldn't blame them since they're 0-5 and it seemed like the game had spiraled one quarter in.

On every defensive play, the bench players called "Run" or "Pass" helping out the defense on the field. This was every single down. Can't stress this enough, no one gave up.

Joly was always smiling and joking around. But he showed his "let's get serious" face every now and then.

Some of the TEs never had their helmets on, which was funny to me with the "OR" situation.

Special Teams:
Lots have been said about our special teams lately. It does seem like they are working on the issues. During halftime, all the kickers and punters came out early and practiced their craft. This is me inferring, but it sort of seems like there's not enough hours in the day to practice everything which is why they're cramming as much as they can, when they can.

It looks like everyone on special teams is a bench player. Like, I thought I followed the team closely, but there were a lot of names I didn't recognize. Without the efforts of @huskymedic and @Exit 4 I would have had no clue who some of the players were. So this could be the source of some of the issues on special teams.

Rosa and Edwards seemed like best buddies. They were always together, talking and sometimes laughing.

On the field stuff:
One person in my group was a former MWC assistant coach turned TX high school coach. Really smart football mind, just hated the travel and hours. These are mostly his notes.

Roberson has a lot of potential. He has some good fundamentals, good enough arm. Lacks decisiveness at times, but these are things that will come with more experience.

6kbVZ9w.jpg


An example he gave was the wheel route play early in the 3rd quarter where he over threw Ross. Roberson was running towards the sideline to make the throw, but no one was coming directly at him. So Roberson would've had time to set his feet and square his shoulder vs making a running throw which made him inaccurate. It would've been an easy TD had that connected.

Overall, "Roberson looks like a QB whose development was stunted." Buddy said this without me giving him much background info. Said to be patient and looks like it'll pay off sooner rather than later.

Buddy asked if we do outside zone runs often, which made me laugh hard. Rice's defensive strength is their linebacker corps. So we kept running into the strength of their defense. At the same time, our weakness on defense is our OLBs, which is why Rice tried so many laterals or sideline passes. But in Rice's case, that's not really who they were on offense and why it bit them in the butt on that fumble.

There were many times, when UConn had the ball, where my buddy correctly guessed run or pass. For my group, it was like having a personal Tony Romo, which made it fun for the newbies among us. Buddy said that UConn's play calling was too predictable, which made it easier for the opposing defense to counter. We don't have enough variation in our play design and our formations. Rice has one of the worst defenses in CFB, even worst than some FCS schools according to Massey. Better defenses will feast against our lack of schemes.

In general, Buddy thought we were too conservative on both sides of the ball. Defense could have blitz more. As predicted, Rice's o-line was a weakness. Could have had a lot more sacks or negative plays.

Offense needs more verticality. Would really helped our run game. Buddy thinks we have capable receivers, but WRs needs touches to get into the "groove" of the game just like QBs and RBs. He emphasized that every team thinks their WRs can't get separation. But separation isn't a black and white thing. Most of the time, the separation is a few seconds per route. The best QBs can find those precious few seconds of "openness" and fit in a pass.

Speaking of WRs, Buddy was confused as to why Porter was our X receiver. Buddy knows a little of Porter from New Mexico and sees him more as a Z receiver with his speed but lack of size. Thinks Joly should line up more as a WR as well, in the X-spot with his height. Since Joly is probably our best offensive weapon, teams would likely have a safety cover on Joly's side, making everything else easier for the offense. And Buckman fits more of the slot-type WR. He also said to take all of this with a grain of salt because he doesn't know our offense and personnel. I told him that I wish I could explain our offense to you.

Well this is a getting super long. Some leftover notes in bullet points:

  • Buddy likes Lee Molette a lot. Thinks Molette has good instincts, always at or near the play. Can't teach that. Was surprised to hear this was his first start and that Molette is a RS FR. Sure he made some mistakes, but he's young. Still lead the team in tackles in his first start. Wow!
  • In general, thought our secondary was pretty good. Was really surprised that we were without some starters. Lots of toughness there, not afraid to give and take hits. Also liked Shearin, Durante, and Bin-Wahid. (Side note, Bin-Wahid was a pacer, up and down the sideline.)
  • Thought our d-line was phenomenal, especially the DEs. Looked like the Bosa brothers against Rice's o-line.
  • We started going conservative too early. On defense we switched to Cover-3 early in the 4th quarter. On offense, too many outside runs or screens when Rice had quick-strike offense abilities.
  • During halftime, Rice PA announcer was trying to make a weird/lame joke about our Civil Conflict thing with UCF. I didn't hear the whole thing cuz I was taking a piss, but it was something about real vs fake rivalries. In my head I was thinking, "Can't wait to not care about the historic Rice vs UAB rivalry."
Great Post! This is why we all love college football.
 
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Wish there was more like this but thanks for the insight
 

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What a great game!! Having watched it lived was awesome! I brought a lot of friends and I think UConn made some new fans. We were on TV several times since we sat close to the bench.

Atmosphere / Game Day Experience:
Rice Stadium is a pretty nice facility. Easy parking. Lots of tailgating. LOTS of UConn fans came! Saw a car with a giant UConn flag and parked near him. Worked great for me; he had a nice tailgate going and offered my crew unlimited drinks. My wife took a White Claw. (If you're reading this, thanks again, Awesome UConn Fan!).

Then I saw the Yakiri Walker clan. At least 20 of them. They pitched a little UConn tent. Everyone had custom Yakiri + UConn t-shirts. So awesome to see!

It was some military appreciation day. Army had a band on a stage singing various pop hits. Lots of recruiters there from all branches giving away all the standard stuff you would get at a conference (drink cozys, stress balls, etc). Before the game started, there was fireworks, honoring various local soldiers, plus an orange coast guard Seahawk helicopter flew across the stadium.

Heard the announced attendance was 21k. Highly, highly doubt that (@Steve UConn72). 10k seems more accurate if not still pushing it (6k is my guess). The UConn side looked just as full as the Rice side. TV might show it as empty, because most people sat higher up for the better view and shade. You could move anywhere after you got in. I can tell you that there was a lot of UConn cheers and chants. It was LOUD whenever UConn did something good.

I never saw Mr. @BlueWhiteKid take a seat in his little corner of the stadium. I'm proud of our fanbase for showing up to this away game even though we're 0-5 with little hope at the time.

UConn Sideline Notes:
b165l63.jpg

Roberson happy after his first passing TD.

QBs:
  • Mentioned before that Roberson was very vocal. Wasn't angry or anything like that. Be he looked fierce and determined, constantly talking to members of the offense.
  • Zion was quiet, but focused.
  • McDonald and Millen rarely had their helmets on and talked to each other a lot. McDonald is bigger than I expected.

All the assistant coaches were coaching every second of the game. Sammis stood out to me (partly because he's so big) as always talking to his players. Even when we were down 0-14, they were coaching. The staff seemed focus at all times.

We never looked defeated or demoralized at any moment during the game. All the players were engaged and vocal. No one slammed their helmets or yelled at each other in disgust. The coaches didn't put their hands on their faces. I wouldn't blame them since they're 0-5 and it seemed like the game had spiraled one quarter in.

On every defensive play, the bench players called "Run" or "Pass" helping out the defense on the field. This was every single down. Can't stress this enough, no one gave up.

Joly was always smiling and joking around. But he showed his "let's get serious" face every now and then.

Some of the TEs never had their helmets on, which was funny to me with the "OR" situation.

Special Teams:
Lots have been said about our special teams lately. It does seem like they are working on the issues. During halftime, all the kickers and punters came out early and practiced their craft. This is me inferring, but it sort of seems like there's not enough hours in the day to practice everything which is why they're cramming as much as they can, when they can.

It looks like everyone on special teams is a bench player. Like, I thought I followed the team closely, but there were a lot of names I didn't recognize. Without the efforts of @huskymedic and @Exit 4 I would have had no clue who some of the players were. So this could be the source of some of the issues on special teams.

Rosa and Edwards seemed like best buddies. They were always together, talking and sometimes laughing.

On the field stuff:
One person in my group was a former MWC assistant coach turned TX high school coach. Really smart football mind, just hated the travel and hours. These are mostly his notes.

Roberson has a lot of potential. He has some good fundamentals, good enough arm. Lacks decisiveness at times, but these are things that will come with more experience.

6kbVZ9w.jpg


An example he gave was the wheel route play early in the 3rd quarter where he over threw Ross. Roberson was running towards the sideline to make the throw, but no one was coming directly at him. So Roberson would've had time to set his feet and square his shoulder vs making a running throw which made him inaccurate. It would've been an easy TD had that connected.

Overall, "Roberson looks like a QB whose development was stunted." Buddy said this without me giving him much background info. Said to be patient and looks like it'll pay off sooner rather than later.

Buddy asked if we do outside zone runs often, which made me laugh hard. Rice's defensive strength is their linebacker corps. So we kept running into the strength of their defense. At the same time, our weakness on defense is our OLBs, which is why Rice tried so many laterals or sideline passes. But in Rice's case, that's not really who they were on offense and why it bit them in the butt on that fumble.

There were many times, when UConn had the ball, where my buddy correctly guessed run or pass. For my group, it was like having a personal Tony Romo, which made it fun for the newbies among us. Buddy said that UConn's play calling was too predictable, which made it easier for the opposing defense to counter. We don't have enough variation in our play design and our formations. Rice has one of the worst defenses in CFB, even worst than some FCS schools according to Massey. Better defenses will feast against our lack of schemes.

In general, Buddy thought we were too conservative on both sides of the ball. Defense could have blitz more. As predicted, Rice's o-line was a weakness. Could have had a lot more sacks or negative plays.

Offense needs more verticality. Would really helped our run game. Buddy thinks we have capable receivers, but WRs needs touches to get into the "groove" of the game just like QBs and RBs. He emphasized that every team thinks their WRs can't get separation. But separation isn't a black and white thing. Most of the time, the separation is a few seconds per route. The best QBs can find those precious few seconds of "openness" and fit in a pass.

Speaking of WRs, Buddy was confused as to why Porter was our X receiver. Buddy knows a little of Porter from New Mexico and sees him more as a Z receiver with his speed but lack of size. Thinks Joly should line up more as a WR as well, in the X-spot with his height. Since Joly is probably our best offensive weapon, teams would likely have a safety cover on Joly's side, making everything else easier for the offense. And Buckman fits more of the slot-type WR. He also said to take all of this with a grain of salt because he doesn't know our offense and personnel. I told him that I wish I could explain our offense to you.

Well this is a getting super long. Some leftover notes in bullet points:

  • Buddy likes Lee Molette a lot. Thinks Molette has good instincts, always at or near the play. Can't teach that. Was surprised to hear this was his first start and that Molette is a RS FR. Sure he made some mistakes, but he's young. Still lead the team in tackles in his first start. Wow!
  • In general, thought our secondary was pretty good. Was really surprised that we were without some starters. Lots of toughness there, not afraid to give and take hits. Also liked Shearin, Durante, and Bin-Wahid. (Side note, Bin-Wahid was a pacer, up and down the sideline.)
  • Thought our d-line was phenomenal, especially the DEs. Looked like the Bosa brothers against Rice's o-line.
  • We started going conservative too early. On defense we switched to Cover-3 early in the 4th quarter. On offense, too many outside runs or screens when Rice had quick-strike offense abilities.
  • During halftime, Rice PA announcer was trying to make a weird/lame joke about our Civil Conflict thing with UCF. I didn't hear the whole thing cuz I was taking a piss, but it was something about real vs fake rivalries. In my head I was thinking, "Can't wait to not care about the historic Rice vs UAB rivalry."

Thanks for all the observations.

That screen shot is eerily similar to the previous week's game when Roberson had a ton of room to run after rolling out left. Even on this play he's got a ton of room to run and get positive yardage. Looks like the line marker is the 41 yard line. He'd easily have gotten by #11 and #12. If Joly could get a block on the DB near Buckman, Roberson is down inside the 30 yard line. When you get the ball over the 50 anytime you can get chunk yardage, take what the defense gives you. Two weeks in a row similar plays where Roberson could easily run and avoid a big hit if he's worried about his knee. Everything is in front of him.
 
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Do they normally wear suits? That's pretty funny if they do. Thought the band was definitely a plus to the game day atmosphere. Played a lot of random songs at random times. Like the death star theme song from Star Wars when Rice was making a come back.
Your comments made my son very happy. Nice to know people notice when they put in so many hours of prep time with a small, eclectic football band. Thanks. He is a senior and he will miss his MOB time more than anything at Rice
 
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What a great game!! Having watched it lived was awesome! I brought a lot of friends and I think UConn made some new fans. We were on TV several times since we sat close to the bench.

Atmosphere / Game Day Experience:
Rice Stadium is a pretty nice facility. Easy parking. Lots of tailgating. LOTS of UConn fans came! Saw a car with a giant UConn flag and parked near him. Worked great for me; he had a nice tailgate going and offered my crew unlimited drinks. My wife took a White Claw. (If you're reading this, thanks again, Awesome UConn Fan!).

Then I saw the Yakiri Walker clan. At least 20 of them. They pitched a little UConn tent. Everyone had custom Yakiri + UConn t-shirts. So awesome to see!

It was some military appreciation day. Army had a band on a stage singing various pop hits. Lots of recruiters there from all branches giving away all the standard stuff you would get at a conference (drink cozys, stress balls, etc). Before the game started, there was fireworks, honoring various local soldiers, plus an orange coast guard Seahawk helicopter flew across the stadium.

Heard the announced attendance was 21k. Highly, highly doubt that (@Steve UConn72). 10k seems more accurate if not still pushing it (6k is my guess). The UConn side looked just as full as the Rice side. TV might show it as empty, because most people sat higher up for the better view and shade. You could move anywhere after you got in. I can tell you that there was a lot of UConn cheers and chants. It was LOUD whenever UConn did something good.

I never saw Mr. @BlueWhiteKid take a seat in his little corner of the stadium. I'm proud of our fanbase for showing up to this away game even though we're 0-5 with little hope at the time.

UConn Sideline Notes:
b165l63.jpg

Roberson happy after his first passing TD.

QBs:
  • Mentioned before that Roberson was very vocal. Wasn't angry or anything like that. Be he looked fierce and determined, constantly talking to members of the offense.
  • Zion was quiet, but focused.
  • McDonald and Millen rarely had their helmets on and talked to each other a lot. McDonald is bigger than I expected.

All the assistant coaches were coaching every second of the game. Sammis stood out to me (partly because he's so big) as always talking to his players. Even when we were down 0-14, they were coaching. The staff seemed focus at all times.

We never looked defeated or demoralized at any moment during the game. All the players were engaged and vocal. No one slammed their helmets or yelled at each other in disgust. The coaches didn't put their hands on their faces. I wouldn't blame them since they're 0-5 and it seemed like the game had spiraled one quarter in.

On every defensive play, the bench players called "Run" or "Pass" helping out the defense on the field. This was every single down. Can't stress this enough, no one gave up.

Joly was always smiling and joking around. But he showed his "let's get serious" face every now and then.

Some of the TEs never had their helmets on, which was funny to me with the "OR" situation.

Special Teams:
Lots have been said about our special teams lately. It does seem like they are working on the issues. During halftime, all the kickers and punters came out early and practiced their craft. This is me inferring, but it sort of seems like there's not enough hours in the day to practice everything which is why they're cramming as much as they can, when they can.

It looks like everyone on special teams is a bench player. Like, I thought I followed the team closely, but there were a lot of names I didn't recognize. Without the efforts of @huskymedic and @Exit 4 I would have had no clue who some of the players were. So this could be the source of some of the issues on special teams.

Rosa and Edwards seemed like best buddies. They were always together, talking and sometimes laughing.

On the field stuff:
One person in my group was a former MWC assistant coach turned TX high school coach. Really smart football mind, just hated the travel and hours. These are mostly his notes.

Roberson has a lot of potential. He has some good fundamentals, good enough arm. Lacks decisiveness at times, but these are things that will come with more experience.

6kbVZ9w.jpg


An example he gave was the wheel route play early in the 3rd quarter where he over threw Ross. Roberson was running towards the sideline to make the throw, but no one was coming directly at him. So Roberson would've had time to set his feet and square his shoulder vs making a running throw which made him inaccurate. It would've been an easy TD had that connected.

Overall, "Roberson looks like a QB whose development was stunted." Buddy said this without me giving him much background info. Said to be patient and looks like it'll pay off sooner rather than later.

Buddy asked if we do outside zone runs often, which made me laugh hard. Rice's defensive strength is their linebacker corps. So we kept running into the strength of their defense. At the same time, our weakness on defense is our OLBs, which is why Rice tried so many laterals or sideline passes. But in Rice's case, that's not really who they were on offense and why it bit them in the butt on that fumble.

There were many times, when UConn had the ball, where my buddy correctly guessed run or pass. For my group, it was like having a personal Tony Romo, which made it fun for the newbies among us. Buddy said that UConn's play calling was too predictable, which made it easier for the opposing defense to counter. We don't have enough variation in our play design and our formations. Rice has one of the worst defenses in CFB, even worst than some FCS schools according to Massey. Better defenses will feast against our lack of schemes.

In general, Buddy thought we were too conservative on both sides of the ball. Defense could have blitz more. As predicted, Rice's o-line was a weakness. Could have had a lot more sacks or negative plays.

Offense needs more verticality. Would really helped our run game. Buddy thinks we have capable receivers, but WRs needs touches to get into the "groove" of the game just like QBs and RBs. He emphasized that every team thinks their WRs can't get separation. But separation isn't a black and white thing. Most of the time, the separation is a few seconds per route. The best QBs can find those precious few seconds of "openness" and fit in a pass.

Speaking of WRs, Buddy was confused as to why Porter was our X receiver. Buddy knows a little of Porter from New Mexico and sees him more as a Z receiver with his speed but lack of size. Thinks Joly should line up more as a WR as well, in the X-spot with his height. Since Joly is probably our best offensive weapon, teams would likely have a safety cover on Joly's side, making everything else easier for the offense. And Buckman fits more of the slot-type WR. He also said to take all of this with a grain of salt because he doesn't know our offense and personnel. I told him that I wish I could explain our offense to you.

Well this is a getting super long. Some leftover notes in bullet points:

  • Buddy likes Lee Molette a lot. Thinks Molette has good instincts, always at or near the play. Can't teach that. Was surprised to hear this was his first start and that Molette is a RS FR. Sure he made some mistakes, but he's young. Still lead the team in tackles in his first start. Wow!
  • In general, thought our secondary was pretty good. Was really surprised that we were without some starters. Lots of toughness there, not afraid to give and take hits. Also liked Shearin, Durante, and Bin-Wahid. (Side note, Bin-Wahid was a pacer, up and down the sideline.)
  • Thought our d-line was phenomenal, especially the DEs. Looked like the Bosa brothers against Rice's o-line.
  • We started going conservative too early. On defense we switched to Cover-3 early in the 4th quarter. On offense, too many outside runs or screens when Rice had quick-strike offense abilities.
  • During halftime, Rice PA announcer was trying to make a weird/lame joke about our Civil Conflict thing with UCF. I didn't hear the whole thing cuz I was taking a piss, but it was something about real vs fake rivalries. In my head I was thinking, "Can't wait to not care about the historic Rice vs UAB rivalry."
Terrific write up. I hope Mora and Charlton reads this.
 
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When it is oppressive heat like the 1st few home games it is Hawaiian shirts. As the temp cool they bring out the 1970/80 suit look with various accessories that any individual should want to wear. They have access to all the band uniforms from the 1970 onward, so there are some pretty interesting looks. Alumni show up and play when on campus so it is a good connection between current students and alums. Musically inclined parents who show up at the game and want to have some fun are also invited. It is a nice contradiction to the PC world of most college campuses. They have no qualms pushing some buttons on some issues. It is all student run and all shows are created by students, with little administrative oversight. Sadly the Rice administration has taken the MOB out of service for basketball games in favor of a paid pep band that is less likely to cause issues.
Yes, but did the MOB ever form a Zero in the field as a salute to the city they were in? I think it was New Haven. The Holy Cross band did.
 
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Was @Ewekon at the tailgate?
The thought did cross my mind to bring a sign that read, "Has anyone seen @Ewekon?" Would have been really funny to see that sign on TV.

Your comments made my son very happy. Nice to know people notice when they put in so many hours of prep time with a small, eclectic football band. Thanks. He is a senior and he will miss his MOB time more than anything at Rice

There were many times when the band made my wife and I smile and laugh with their music. They were something different and it was refreshing. Also, my 15-yo niece said the band had "fresh fits."
 
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Thanks for all the observations.

That screen shot is eerily similar to the previous week's game when Roberson had a ton of room to run after rolling out left. Even on this play he's got a ton of room to run and get positive yardage. Looks like the line marker is the 41 yard line. He'd easily have gotten by #11 and #12. If Joly could get a block on the DB near Buckman, Roberson is down inside the 30 yard line. When you get the ball over the 50 anytime you can get chunk yardage, take what the defense gives you. Two weeks in a row similar plays where Roberson could easily run and avoid a big hit if he's worried about his knee. Everything is in front of him.
I know what you're talking about. I immediately thought about the USU game where they ran the exact same play and Roberson could've ran for 10+ yards since there was no defender within 10 yards of him. Running would've been the optimal choice there.

In this particular play that I screen-shotted, it was a first down play and Ross was completely wide open. It would've been an easy TD had that connected. Ross was several steps ahead of his defender. So I don't fault Roberson for making the decision to go to Ross. In fact, it was the optimal choice this time around. It's just that throw was off.

I get your point though. Roberson does need to run every now and then to take defenders off the receivers. Once Roberson puts everything together, and I think he will, UConn is gonna be a different team. The bye week came at a great time.

Will reach out to Buddy today and to see if he had any other thoughts.
 
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Maybe when Rice plays the return game, UConn can invite the MOB to attend the game. I think marching bands should be considered part of the football team and allowed to travel.
 
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I think marching bands should be considered part of the football team and allowed to travel.
If you knew just how tough an issue that's been with the UCMB (for years), you'd understand why that isn't happening soon. And yes, it's all about $$$.
 

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Maybe when Rice plays the return game, UConn can invite the MOB to attend the game. I think marching bands should be considered part of the football team and allowed to travel.
In the 19th century (or so it seems) when i was in the UConn band for 2 years, we traveled to Yale Bowl and once to URI , not exactly great adventures. We had one longer trip canceled to UMaine because JFK scheduled some sort of halftime appearance. 3 weeks later he was dead.

Bands are definitely part of game day fun. The Yale band did, maybe still does, the same sort of disorganized-looking show it sounds like the Rice band does. Really poking fun at the kind of military style of most football bands.
 
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If you knew just how tough an issue that's been with the UCMB (for years), you'd understand why that isn't happening soon. And yes, it's all about $$$.
I mean once you start doing the rough calculations and realize sending the band is probably half as expensive as sending the football team itself. "Not right now" seems like a reasonable answer
 

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