SNY's Sean Mulcahy's Report Card

[huskymedic]

Just sharing for one source of info folk's w/ limited time...
http://snyuconn.com/uconn-2/football/sean-mulcahys-report-card-3/

October 8th, 2012 1:22 pm

Former UConn defensive end and SNY studio analyst Sean Mulcahy grades UConn’s 19-3 loss to Rutgers.

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Quarterback - Grade: D​

Mulcahy’s comments: Chandler Whitmer continued his inconsistent trend with a 14 of 32 performance for 191 yards and four interceptions. I cannot preach enough on how important it is to be consistent week-in and week-out. Not all of the offensive woes are Whitmer fault, but he is the quarterback and overall leader of the offense. The turnovers, whether it be fumbles lost, or interceptions thrown kills the momentum. Drives are not sustained and the defense does not get enough time to evaluate the opposing offense on the sideline, while taking a breather. I give great credit to Rutgers defense for camouflaging its defensive schemes that clearly gave Whitmer a tough time.

Running back - Grade: F

Comments: Freshman Max Delorenzo (4 carries, 5 yards) will be good, he just wasn’t that great on Saturday. The offensive line did not give much help either up front. Martin Hyppolite(5 carries, -2 yards) — same thing, he will be good, just wasn’t on Saturday. Finally, the off the field distractions that were committed Friday night, no matter how large or small they are, effects everyone on that team when a starter at any position commits the distraction. Lyle McCombs may be a sophomore, but he needs to act like a 5th year senior since he had a season like last year. So much relies on him to move the offense. I again give tremendous credit to the Rutgers front 7. 32 yards rushing for McCombs is gross.

Receivers - Grade: C+

Comments: Decent job by Geremy Davis (4 receptions, 78 yards) and Michael Smith (3 receptions, 52 yards) respectively. They could not build any momentum due to no running game, any protection, and poor decisions by Whitmer at quarterback. The wide receivers need to get tougher in blocking downfield in the running get to help spring McCombs and the other backs.

Offensive line - Grade: F

Comments: Where do I begin? No time to throw the football, no holes for the backs to run through, and no physical domination up front. The offensive managed only 240 yards of offense and UConn averaged only 1.9 yards per rush. It was a poor night from a better group of men.

Defensive line - Grade: F

Comments: DT Ryan Wirth is stepping up for the injuries of Teddy Jennings and Jesse Joseph, but that’s it, no one else. Where was Trevardo Williams? He snapped his consecutive game streak of sacks with at least 1 in the past 5 games. UConn needs more out of defensive tackle Shamar Stephan; he should be a dominate force with his size and athleticism. There is no way Rutgers and Jawan Jamison should have rushed for a 110 yards. This defense and front 7 is too good to allow that to happen.

Linebacker - Grade: D

Comments: Although they led the team with tackles, Jory Johnson with 10, Sio Moore nine and Yawin Smallwood nine, none of the tackles were significant. There were a couple of TFL’s, but not gamebreakers. Where was the pressure on Rutgers quarterback Gary Nova? This group should have wrapped up more as well. Way too many missed tackles out of a very experienced group.

Secondary - Grade: D

Comments: Rutgers receivers look like NFL receivers. Tim Wright, Marcus Harrison and Brandon Coleman looked like they could play anywhere at any time. UConn’s Dwayne Gratz and Blidi Wreh-Wilson are supposed to be the heart and rock of the secondary. Again, just too many missed tackles and no momentum changing hits, picks, or pass break ups.

Special teams - Grade: C+

Comments: Place kicker Chad Christen was OK, and punting by Cole Wagner was pretty solid including a pooch punt pinning Rutgers at the 1-yard line. Too bad it didn’t really matter in the end..

Coaching - Grade: F

Comments: This is really a pass/fail grade. Well, they failed all right. Three straight weeks of inconsistent play against two MAC teams and your biggest rival to date? That is all on the coaches and their preparation for the opponents.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

He is being way too hard on the D and way too soft on the special teams.

 

[businesslawyer]

With all due respect, that is one of the most bizarre report cards I've ever seen. Every unit of our D is getting ripped? They gave up 280 yards and 13 points, 6 of which were short drives off of short field turnovers. Give me a break.

 

[junglehusky]

Agree BL. Sean should have taken the dog for a walk or watched a sitcom for a half hour in between doing the grades for offense and defense, he was probably still pissed at the O when he started on the D.

 

[jrazz12]

With all due respect, that is one of the most bizarre report cards I've ever seen. Every unit of our D is getting ripped? They gave up 280 yards and 13 points, 6 of which were short drives off of short field turnovers. Give me a break.

Agreed it's harsh on them, but the sentiment remains: no pressure on the QB, no turnovers forced, too many arm tackles

 

[businesslawyer]

Agreed it's harsh on them, but the sentiment remains: no pressure on the QB, no turnovers forced, too many arm tackles

If my defense gives up 13 points and 280 yards every week, I'm not wasting my time criticizing them for not doing more. You could have more pressure and worse results.

But I guess that's just me.

 

[jrazz12]

If my defense gives up 13 points and 280 yards every week, I'm not wasting my time criticizing them for not doing more. You could have more pressure and worse results.

But I guess that's just me.

Hey I'm with you, it's the only part of this team that's working. But those injuries on the line are clearly hurting us, we're getting no push now. An arbitrary grade is just that. I'm more concerned about what it means long term for the season

 

[huskymedic]

With all due respect, that is one of the most bizarre report cards I've ever seen. Every unit of our D is getting ripped? They gave up 280 yards and 13 points, 6 of which were short drives off of short field turnovers. Give me a break.

... And from a former DE. Makes ya wonder if he sees things we miss (not a shot @ anyone).

 

[Uconnalliance]

All thats missing is zero pt zero.

 

[UConnDan97]

If your offense gives the other team the ball an extra 3 times (I'm not going to count the pick-6 that the offense gave up or the "Hail Mary" pick at the end) and the defense still holds the other team to 13 points, and you take the idiotic position of ripping that defensive unit, then I would say that you took one too many hits to the head during your playing days. I'm echoing BizLaw's sentiment here, because I think it really needs to be echoed.

I like Sean, but he's not a very talented analyst at all. Watching him and MacPherson on SNY is pretty painful during the halftime show...

 

[huskymedic]

Let's face it... No one is happy with anyone anymore in the BY. We're gone from kicking the coaches, poking the players, whacking the DJ, chastising the fans to now spearing the media who covers the team.

 

[junglehusky]

You said it, medic! When the team struggles, the boneyard is not a pretty place. But, it goes with the territory.

Sent from my SGH-T679 using Tapatalk 2

 

[uconnbill]

I think he was harsh on the defense as well but I guess he expects more from them in terms of a pass rush and better tackling. To many high tackles during the game gave Rutgers to many YAC

 

[Palatine]

It's tough grading but all the points he makes are accurate.

 

[freescooter]

It's tough grading but all the points he makes are accurate.

Frightening though it is to me, I agree with palatine here. The defense has played very well, but they really have not made any game changing plays.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Frightening though it is to me, I agree with palatine here. The defense has played very well, but they really have not made any game changing plays.

No, but when you hold your opponent to less than 300 yards and give up 13 points (6 of them coming off a TO giving RU a short field) you don't deserve those kind of grades.

And how in the world special teams gets a C+ is beyond my level of comprehension.

 

[freescooter]

Agreed on the special teams. And look, I don't disagree that the defense has played well. In fact, in the scale of things, the offense is such a screwed up mess that the defense isn't high on my list of worries. But I'm still concerned that they seem incapable of making the kind of plays that change the complexion of a game. If the offense was even adequate, that would be fine, but they just don't make Big plays. And that is a concern.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

With all due respect, that is one of the most bizarre report cards I've ever seen. Every unit of our D is getting ripped? They gave up 280 yards and 13 points, 6 of which were short drives off of short field turnovers. Give me a break.

A little harsh, but . . . the tackling was not good. They had Jameson stopped two yards behind LOS and he broke free for a first down. Also still giving up big plays. So yeah, they are all that our fans have to hang their hats on, but are going to have to play even better to compensate for the DIII level offense. Bar for the defense is pretty much set for needing a shutout performance to give UConn a chance. Not fair to be sure.

Another way of looking at this, the defense is woefully "inadequate" in one important aspect - that is if you believe in the old adage of "a good offense being the best defense".

 

[businesslawyer]

It's tough grading but all the points he makes are accurate.

No, it's not accurate. It's only accurate is if your baseline is you shouldn't give up any points and any yards. No D is supposed to contain an O any more than ours did on Saturday.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

No, it's not accurate. It's only accurate is if your baseline is you shouldn't give up any points and any yards. No D is supposed to contain an O any more than ours did on Saturday.

You're correct, but that's the position that HCPP, GDL and the offense has put them in. Don't get me wrong, I really like this defense and hate it when I get pi$$ed for them missing a tackle behind the LOS or giving up a big play. It's not fair to them when they become collateral victims. But that's where the offense (both now and over the previous couple of years) has put them.

This (UConn's on field fortunes) does not get fixed until the Huskies can put a respectable and balanced offense on the field. It needs to be a threat every series to score a TD - not talking FG's here - real bonafide touchdowns, the kind I see in almost every other college game on a given Saturday.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I felt our special teams play, especially early on really hurt us. We had a bit of a drive to open the game which at least would have given us something in the field position battle but after getting two first downs and then holding Rutgers to a three and out, we lost five yards of field position (from our opening play). The short punt took a bit out of us and the fumble on the kickoff was like a knife in the back.