God awful

[whaler11]

Good point. Its a lot to ask of a BCS program to be able to snap the ball cleanly. I imagine they didn't want any film of a clean exchange available to UMass.

 

[freescooter]

Cochran was 4-15 with an interception and three sacks. The bar for looking good is awfully low when you can 'look good' while going 4-15.

I actually didn't think he looked good at all, to be honest. He looked like a the game was too fast for him at this stage. And he paniced on a couple of long throws and just sort of heaved the ball. He will improve. As to your overall assemssment, I do think you have some legitimate points and it is concerning that the offensive line looked pretty bad for long stretches. Part of that is the mix of guys. Part the nature of a spring game and part a timing thing with 4 quarterbacks rotating, and part I think was that we were trying out a bunch of running backs who also made mistakes. McCoombs is going to carry the ball more than 10 times a game come the regular season, and he did a nice job reading his blocking. Other guys not quite as much.

 

[jdb50]

We had 2 guards who are now at center. Bullock and Mateas. Lots to do besides snap the ball and they should get better. Everyone thinks the QB's are the only ones making decisions out there. Watching the long snappers there may be some concern there, always a very important position that gets overlooked. One of our QB's got stepped on but most snap mishandles were in shotgun.

 

[UCername]

Good point. Its a lot to ask of a BCS program to be able to snap the ball cleanly. I imagine they didn't want any film of a clean exchange available to UMass.

Your right, that never happens in the NFL when a new center/snapper comes in. Never happens at all.

 

[Excalibur]

They were too focused on throwing the ball to bother to gain yards with their top backs. They just tried to run it a few dozen times with zero success . . . .

Given that trying to figure out our QB mess is the most important issue facing us right now (outside of a weak and shorthanded offensive line), did you expect them to do anything different?

 

[whaler11]

Given that trying to figure out our QB mess is the most important issue facing us right now (outside of a weak and shorthanded offensive line), did you expect them to do anything different?

Yep. Nfl teams fumble so no problem there. Dont know who the quarterback is so lets ignore they couldnt move the ball two inches on the ground.

It was only the 15th practice. No reason to have figured out how to snap the ball yet. Im sure NCSU will allow courtesy snaps.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Yep. Nfl teams fumble so no problem there. Dont know who the quarterback is so lets ignore they couldnt move the ball two inches on the ground.

It was only the 15th practice. No reason to have figured out how to snap the ball yet. Im sure NCSU will allow courtesy snaps.

Is it gonna be like this with you on the board until P is fired?

 

[Excalibur]

Yep. Nfl teams fumble so no problem there. Dont know who the quarterback is so lets ignore they couldnt move the ball two inches on the ground.

It was only the 15th practice. No reason to have figured out how to snap the ball yet. Im sure NCSU will allow courtesy snaps.

Stricken as non-responsive . . .

 

[huskysupporter]

Love what the D did.

ANd there were some bright spots on O:
- McCombs had some very nice runs with the 1's. Showed great vision. He is ready to shoulder the load again.
- Gus Cruz looked pretty solid against a very tough front line. I was hoping a lineman emerged, and Cruz looks like he can be that guy.
- Passing to tb/fb/nick williams on short routes. Seems simple, but we could not do it last year.

Negatives:
- Line was a horrible except for Cruz
- QB's made some terrible decisions

We have to remember that 2 starters were out with injury on the line. While I am discouraged that it appears there is no quality depth, I am hopeful that the starters will be good. Only issue this year is that their is a new line coach and a new scheme (no need to rehash my views on that, only to sum it up as stupid).

 

[whaler11]

Is it gonna be like this with you on the board until P is fired?

If they play like they did today all season there won't be anybody posting on the board. Ive got no beef with P - he just trotted out a disaster today.

He's got plenty of time to fix it, but NC State beat Louisville in their bowl- if this team isn't light years ahead of where it is right now they will get spanked.

Im sorry that I'm not going to look the other way on todays performance. We have seen the steps back. Its time for the steps forward.

 

[huskysupporter]

If they play like they did today all season there won't be anybody posting on the board. Ive got no beef with P - he just trotted out a disaster today.

He's got plenty of time to fix it, but NC State beat Louisville in their bowl- if this team isn't light years ahead of where it is right now they will get spanked.

Im sorry that I'm not going to look the other way on todays performance. We have seen the steps back. Its time for the steps forward.

You have to remember, this was just a glorified practice, and the 1's weren't playing the whole game. Walk On's were playing with some of the 1s at one point.

I am not as optimistic as many appear to be, but don't fret too much because of a spring game.

 

[pj]

If this team isn't light years ahead of where it is right now they will get spanked.

If.

 

[whaler11]

Stricken as non-responsive . . .

Sorry I ignored your question since you were responding to sarcasm.

I expect to gain positive yardage on the ground. Yes that stat includes what felt like a million sacks but even Mccombs averaged 2.5 yards a carry.

 

[whaler11]

You have to remember, this was just a glorified practice, and the 1's weren't playing the whole game. Walk On's were playing with some of the 1s at one point.

I am not as optimistic as many appear to be, but don't fret too much because of a spring game.

Maybe just maybe and I know this is hard to believe... but maybe I understand spring game dynamics.

Is there anyone who could possibly believe that the coaching staff thought today was even remotely acceptable? Wirth should have applied for the draft I guess. He's that good.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

whaler11 - Bottom line is the defense is way ahead of the offense which I would think is normal for this time of the year ? Just maybe our defense is that good. Tough to judge the offense with no clear QB winner.

 

[Dann]

some 1 buy whaler a drink please

 

[whaler11]

some 1 buy whaler a drink please

I'd grab some beers from your fridge but I know how rough your Sundays are since the bill hasn't kicked in yet....

 

[jbdphi]

some 1 buy whaler a drink please

Amen brother. As someone who hasn't had a chance to even see the game yet (live in CA and am trying to watch the replay online tomorrow), he is seriously bumming me out even before I've had a chance to see anything. From what I've read, it seems like one QB has potentially put some distance between himself and his peers which to me is what I was hoping would happen.

If we can improve the QB position materially this year, I am very hopeful for what we might accomplish this year. If we can improve on last year's results by a couple of W's, I'd be pretty happy. If we don't, I won't. But why make yourself (and other hopeful fans) so miserable based on one frickin practice game?

 

[Dann]

I'd grab some beers from your fridge but I know how rough your Sundays are since the bill hasn't kicked in yet....

didn't you hear the news? a poster here told me to quit drinking since i couldn't control my habbits and plan ahead buying brew. so i quit. from now on every staurday night the rest of my life all i have to look forward to is oduels and the boneyard.

 

[uconnfan68]

Sorry there were only 13 punts. Congrats to Blue for winning the rushing title with 4 yards.

According to the box score there were 46 rushes for negative 32 yards.

9 sacks. I'm sure that won't be an issue.

And you realize that one bad punt snap was about 35 yds in losses? They went out of their way to show they could move the team through the air. Some good, some no so good. I think Whitmer separated himself. I thought a few guys really looked good (Wirth, Osiecki, McQuillan, Stephenson, Nick Williams). Disappointed in O-line, but it's beat up right now. It was a better display than I was expecting.

 

[whaler11]

didn't you hear the news? a poster here told me to quit drinking since i couldn't control my habbits and plan ahead buying brew. so i quit. from now on every staurday night the rest of my life all i have to look forward to is oduels and the boneyard.

Now if only we could get you a shift key.

Do they sell na beer after 9? I guess i never noticed.

 

[rich1122]

If they play like they did today all season there won't be anybody posting on the board. Ive got no beef with P - he just trotted out a disaster today.

He's got plenty of time to fix it, but NC State beat Louisville in their bowl- if this team isn't light years ahead of where it is right now they will get spanked.

Im sorry that I'm not going to look the other way on todays performance. We have seen the steps back. Its time for the steps forward.

But they never play that way all season. We expect that in a spring scrimmage with vanilla o and d and the starters split up to expect much different. The Lions were always undefeated in preseason and proceeded to rattle off more losses.

 

[husky91]

What is the point of PP, guy is awful, a complete bust, and UConn can't buy him out.

Well at least we know you are a glass half empty kind of guy...

Some good with the defense especially Wirth and the rest of the defensive line.
Whitmer looked the part and outside one bad throw he looked pretty good in not so good playing condition.

Bad
Offensive line was terrible for the most part. Very disappointed in the effort especially in the first quarter. Nebrich got hammered on three consecutive plays. After that he was gun shy and you could see it in his play.


Work to be done but I feel better this spring game then last year overall.

 

[Sean]

There was a ton of bad stuff shown yesterday. No doubt.

It's all a matter of perspective, though. I'd rather concentrate on the positives: Whitmer, Phillips, etc.

 

[uconnric]

If you'd like to ignore everything you saw today that is your business. I don't need to be educated on how spring games work, it's not my first time at the rodeo.

I'll leave it at this: That was awful football today. You can cart out the excuses - they don't open up the playbook? Well, how exactly can they block the other half off the playbook, they couldn't keep every play today from being a jailbreak. Bennett is hurt? Well it will be news when he isn't hurt.

I honestly can not believe that someone who is even remotely objective about this program could watch that game and think that wasn't an awful performance. I'll let you get back to attacking me instead of dealing with what we saw.

No, that was not "awful". That was one of the better spring games I've seen. Except for the offensive line, which is the main problem with the team, there were many positives. Whitmer, Phillips, Osiecki, and the entire defense stood out. This was in large part a qb audition, and Whitmer stood out. If the line gets healthy and can at least be mediocre, this can be a pretty good team.