Post Game Reflection - offical thread | The Boneyard

Post Game Reflection - offical thread

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So, I'm going off of what I saw on TV here. Beyond that, I'm taking into account some homer-ism. This is what I saw. These are my opinions and I will not debate them. Argue and discuss among everyone.

OLine- Sufficiently more sturdy from a S&C standpoint. Both our tackles and both guards lost their footwork time after time, but when they all held it, they were money. Correctable mistakes. There were a few overpowerings on the tackles but I attribute those to positioning and coaching that will be ironed out.

QB - I don't know what the coaching staff saw. I disagree with having two QBs. A.) the team seemed more cohesive with Cochran as the QB and B) We interrupted drives with interjections of talent.

Both QBs erred on passes multiple times. We had so many air balls my nieces asked what the foul was for an air ball (she's 10). I believe it was nerves of 1st game and Casey getting hammered on a few plays let loose by the OLine. Kamal Abrams also lost a few key passes (most not his fault)

Defense:
Many in the game thread said our front 7 were getting manhandled. Many others noted how our secondary was doing fantastic. It's a combo of both to see where we are. Yes, our D front 7 is not where they should be. Our Backs may arguably be ahead.

But it comes down to this, a Denard Robinson scenario. This is both a personnel and a scheme problem - we either failed on coverage or failed on contain. To fault a player is to fault one man on most of those plays, because there were a lot of missed tackles, and I guarantee the staff will not let that continue.

Here's what I saw that was positive:

We were physical from the start.
We have running backs that either are special or will be special
We have a top flight WR in Davis and he should be a 1/2 rdr
Our Oline is significantly better, at a minimum by S&C, and beyond that Foley coaching technique
Our secondary is fast
Our linebackers are at 100 level, some at 200.... only upwards to 300 and beyond from here

I REALLY LIKE OUR OLINE PLAY vs last year.
We had a lot of pressure moments, and I think half of them were caused by the multiple QB look and continuity.
 

TRest

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I'm starting to think Diaco is a really weird guy. That QB platoon is inexplicable. The fake FG was horrendous. That's why you open the season with a cupcake, if you can.
 
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For the record, I think BYU is going to be better than most estimate (although I still think we should have covered the original -17 spread. Clearly that didn't happen, and I'm out $50)
 

uconnbill

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I would have preferred a cupcake as well but you have to play the hand your dealt.

Next week's game should be one where UCONN gets some confidence heading into the Boise St game.
 
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I was impressed by the offense. Sure we only scored 10 points but there were 4 drives we should have scored at least something (1 int., 1 fake fg, 2 going on 4th down.). I also liked the defense in the 2nd half, hope Jones is ok.
 
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This was a throw away game. By design. Coach clearly wants to see what he has. At least by halftime, thats what I saw.

At QB, I just don't see how Whitmer gets to play, only if Cochran gets hurt ( God forbid ).

RB - Marriner, Newsome, & Johnson are our best backs carrying the rock; however they need to learn how to block like De Lorenzo.

WR - our top 4 receivers should be G Davis, K Abram, N Thomas, & D Bradley. Nuff said.

OL - looked better than last year at this time.

Now for defense - Just extremely hard to tell with all the subbing. Didnt look instinctive at all, but I get it, we're building to something special by season's end.

All in all the score was depressing, but I think we still have what it takes to fight for a bowl bid.
 
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The silver lining I saw for you guys was how you competed for much of the second half. You guys were 1 or 2 plays away from making it a game again after a rough start. I was impressed with Davis's game - he was a tough guard for us.
 
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After the game Diaco said that we played a total of 50 guys many of them young, and that we are are at the infancy stages of building the program and we got better. To me it was coach speak for this looked like the same result as under PP without as many sacks.

Time will tell.
 
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I meannnn Hill is an All American and he got his, what can you say? Take away their two quick (very quick) scores and it's not that bad. Their linemen on both sides are bigger than we'll face all year. We played hard and as disappointed as I was leaving the stadium I feel okay now that I'm home. The energy in the Rent (once it was full) was really good. Didn't really empty out until BYU went up 35-10. (I was SHOCKED they sent hill out there up 18 with 5 minutes to play but when youre confident we cant touch him why not?) I'm sure on BYU's board they are saying that they were the only fans left in the arena at the final whistle and well, they're right.
 
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Where to start...

The Good - Newsome and Mariner are going to be great contributors. The O-Line did a very good job protecting the QB. With the exception of Foxx who has horrendous hands, the receiving corps made some great catches. Finally, the D stiffened in the second half and played well.

The Bad - too many turnovers. Blown coverages. Offense inconsistent and unable to finish.

The Ugly - Diaco decision making. Killed a key drive by removing Cochran after he marches them down the field. Rotating QBs with no rhyme or reason and never establishing any rhythm. Ridiculous fake field goal call, leaving points in the field. Diaco time management. Burned enormous amounts of time with player changes. Never put the offense into hurry. Overall grade - C-.
 

CTBasketball

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The TD before halftime killed our momentum. If they didn't punch that in and we hit that FG in the first half, we're down 11 at the break. If the rest of the game played out like it did, we hit the second half FG and its an 8 point game.

Didn't get the breaks tonight - however I think it was more of a matchup problem. We suck against mobile QB's.
 
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Where to start...

The Good - Newsome and Mariner are going to be great contributors. The O-Line did a very good job protecting the QB. With the exception of Foxx who has horrendous hands, the receiving corps made some great catches. Finally, the D stiffened in the second half and played well.

The Bad - too many turnovers. Blown coverages. Offense inconsistent and unable to finish.

The Ugly - Diaco decision making. Killed a key drive by removing Cochran after he marches them down the field. Rotating QBs with no rhyme or reason and never establishing any rhythm. Ridiculous fake field goal call, leaving points in the field. Diaco time management. Burned enormous amounts of time with player changes. Never put the offense into hurry. Overall grade - C-.
Why does Foxx play so much? I've still yet to figure out what he's good at.
 

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Can somebody explain why Cochran was taken out on that first drive of the 2nd half? That decision was inexplicable
I thought he got rocked pretty good when completing the pass, but the broadcasters never mentioned anything.
 

TRest

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After the game Diaco said that we played a total of 50 guys many of them young, and that we are are at the infancy stages of building the program and we got better. To me it was coach speak for this looked like the same result as under PP without as many sacks.

Time will tell.
Edsall could get away with that in 99. We have been FBS for over a decade, he shouldn't be building a program, just getting the most he can out of these guys. It's not like he will be recruiting 4 and 5 star guys to come in an upgrade the talent. I do think this might be the best team we see this year, we will know a lot more by the end of the weekend.
 
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So, I'm going off of what I saw on TV here. Beyond that, I'm taking into account some homer-ism. This is what I saw. These are my opinions and I will not debate them. Argue and discuss among everyone.

OLine- Sufficiently more sturdy from a S&C standpoint. Both our tackles and both guards lost their footwork time after time, but when they all held it, they were money. Correctable mistakes. There were a few overpowerings on the tackles but I attribute those to positioning and coaching that will be ironed out.

QB - I don't know what the coaching staff saw. I disagree with having two QBs. A.) the team seemed more cohesive with Cochran as the QB and B) We interrupted drives with interjections of talent.

Both QBs erred on passes multiple times. We had so many air balls my nieces asked what the foul was for an air ball (she's 10). I believe it was nerves of 1st game and Casey getting hammered on a few plays let loose by the OLine. Kamal Abrams also lost a few key passes (most not his fault)

Defense:
Many in the game thread said our front 7 were getting manhandled. Many others noted how our secondary was doing fantastic. It's a combo of both to see where we are. Yes, our D front 7 is not where they should be. Our Backs may arguably be ahead.

But it comes down to this, a Denard Robinson scenario. This is both a personnel and a scheme problem - we either failed on coverage or failed on contain. To fault a player is to fault one man on most of those plays, because there were a lot of missed tackles, and I guarantee the staff will not let that continue.

Here's what I saw that was positive:

We were physical from the start.
We have running backs that either are special or will be special
We have a top flight WR in Davis and he should be a 1/2 rdr
Our Oline is significantly better, at a minimum by S&C, and beyond that Foley coaching technique
Our secondary is fast
Our linebackers are at 100 level, some at 200.... only upwards to 300 and beyond from here

I REALLY LIKE OUR OLINE PLAY vs last year.
We had a lot of pressure moments, and I think half of them were caused by the multiple QB look and continuity.
Lots of good points. I think you covered most of my angst. BYU was bigger, faster, and stronger. We played better in the second half, but the game was never in doubt after 5 minutes. I'd love to see the defense ready for every snap, no matter how fast the other team plays.
 
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Why does Foxx play so much? I've still yet to figure out what he's good at.
You got me. He is great athlete, but he can't catch a ball and worse still he consistently slows at the end of routes like he is afraid to run up to the ball and have to make a hard catch. He is a terrible deep route guy, but they keep running him because he is so fast. He just won't run under the ball. He is NOT a play maker.
 

CL82

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I'm starting to think Diaco is a really weird guy. That QB platoon is inexplicable. The fake FG was horrendous. That's why you open the season with a cupcake, if you can.
...if you can. Can't have it both ways. If you want big name teams, you got to step up or be prepared for a bad loss. We got a ways to go but let's see how we do against Stonybrook before we start the fire Diaco petition.
 

ZOOCONN

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You got me. He is great athlete, but he can't catch a ball and worse still he consistently slows at the end of routes like he is afraid to run up to the ball and have to make a hard catch. He is a terrible deep route guy, but they keep running him because he is so fast. He just won't run under the ball. He is NOT a play maker.
I was wondering that myself, on more than one occasion they had Davis lined up in the slot with Foxx as the vertical threat.... makes no sense. Davis is your prototypical tall strong jump ball guy while Foxx is your (providing he can actually catch a ball) underneath route and possession type player. Made me shake my head on more than one occasion.
 
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- The tight formation which pretty much looks like a goaline offense being employed on Uconn's own 30 yard line needs to go. Nothing screams 2 yard run up the middle like seeing that formation

- 3 man rush is incredibly aggravating. Just gave Hill plenty of time to run around and make plays down the field.

- Diaco's first comment on the radio after the game was how he played 25 guys on each side of the ball. I almost think he was treating this like an exhibition game.....I certainly can't blame him for wanting to see more players once it became obvious we weren't gonna win...but I'm not sure that is the image you want to portray in the media.

- The constant shuffling of the QB's gave me horrible flashbacks to 2011 where P played 3 QBs in a single game

- Whitmer leaves the pocket way too early still at any signs of pressure

-BYU is a really good team and Hill might be the best QB we play all year. Certainly won't see an offense like that again. It woulda been nice to get that TD at 28-10 for wagering purposes.

Overall though I didn't think it was a complete disaster, we were just totally outclassed. I thought the offense looked decent for a first game under a new staff. Just gotta finish in the red zone and clean some stuff up. We'll see how next week goes.
 

jbdphi

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Speed

If you have the appetite for it, look at Deshon's KO returns and tell me where that speed showed - especially on the one where he tried to sweep around the left side.

Trying to stay mostly positive, my overall thoughts are:
- Despite all the subbing in and out, players didn't look confused, we didn't have any Delay of Game penalties and I think we had one False Start?
- OL overall was OK, certainly not great - didn't make a bunch of good running lanes but did pick up quite a few blitzes and protected OK until late in the game where I put some of the problems on Whitmer
- RB's were promising - didn't get a lot of holes but Marriner ran hard as did Newsome and Johnson for their 6 carries. Max had some great blitz pickups but that fumble on the first carry just killed us - defender got his hat on the ball but jeez
- WR - Davis was his usual self even though he was out of the game for what seemed like an entire quarter - Foxx shouldn't be a top string WR or KO returner - Bradley, Abrams and Thomas all made a catch or two but too many drops and not enough separation
- TE - Nice catches by Bloom, McQuillan and a short one by Myers (who looks like a prototype TE out there while McQuillan looks small and Bloom looks skinny) but I'm guessing our blocking wasn't too great from this group
- QB - Just like everyone else, I didn't like switching from CC to CW that first drive in the 2nd half but until that drive I actually liked CW more out there given the drops he suffered from - both made some bad throws and some good ones but CC looked better in the pocket and at least got rid of the ball most times while CW is just a sack waiting to happen when under pressure
- Inabliity to close in the red zone is really concerning - not sure if this was due to BYU's defense or our offense? Hoping this improves as it has to for us to have any chance of success.
- Defense - hard to tell if this was purposeful scheming or lack of ability but our DL was very disappointing to me - no penetration on passing plays, limited contain on running plays, just not very good
- LB's had a few good plays (Ashiru and Stewart in particular) but weren't fast enough to contain Hill when he ran - we are going to struggle against running QB's and Hill was certainly a really really good one
- CB/Safeties - I was really disappointed with Obi - he got beaten a bunch of times, had some bad penalties and also looked seriously gassed towards the end of the first half - that TD at the end of the first half - not only did he get beaten but didn't seem to put in the effort after the pass was completed
- Specials - Only a few kicks to work with but Puyol seems solid - Wain was not impressive but not sure we have any other realistic options there. Foxx should not be running back kicks - he approaches the line slowly trying to pick a hole and has no momentum - I miss the days of Robbie Frey and Nick Williams. Newsome seems like he has that spark and I think he should be our primary option back there.
- Coaching - fake FG was inventive but a pretty bad play to the short side - QB switching has been dumped on ad nauseum so won't get into it more. There is no doubt that HCBD was playing for conference games based on his behavior here with all the subbing and playing of true freshmen. I think it will bear fruit starting with next week and maybe even Boise.

I'm not losing hope yet but I can appreciate how frustrating this must have been to watch in person.
 
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Biggest bright spot of the game -- our O-linemen were occasionally overmatched, got beat one-on-one, and let BYU players into the backfield on pass protection.

How is that a positive? Because it is 8000% times better than our O-linemen blocking NO ONE and looking confusedly behind them as our QB picks himself up off the ground -- the norm under DeLeone. Thank you Foley!!!
 
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