What's it going to take for you to consider this season a success?

[KOD594]

Anywhere from 7-5 with bowl game to a competitive 5-7. Competitive 5-7 meaning no blow-outs and losing only to favored teams in close games and beating weaker teams on schedule (stony brook and army) handily. Outside of record, want to see the future being built by seeing improvement as year goes by of players with eligibility beyond this year with some redshirt freshmen and sophomore stepping up as key contributors and not having to burn redshirts of pure freshmen. Good attendance at Rent at all games for all four quarters and off the field no arrests or suspensions for bad behavior.

 

[Carl Spackler]

A successful season for me has two components, one of which was adequately and realistically expressed by many in this thread..the performance of the team. Simply put, the season could be a challenge for many reasons to the coaches and players, and W's or L's, all I look for this year is exciting, competitive games with no silly or stupid mistakes. Bowl game? Would be nice, but not a defining factor.

The other component....fandom. You'll hate me for saying this....but go ahead. I just don't buy into the excuses for "fans"not being in the stands before games or leaving early. Everybody has other things to do at all college football vistas across the country..yet they show up and add to the image of a big time program.....fanny's in the seats. Must say it looks good on TV.

There are 365/366 days a year. UConn FB asks its fans to set aside six.....SIX.days a year for fans to show up in force to support them. For me, its easy...I certainly can schedule activities the other 360 days or so a years so I can support the team from beginning to end.

And absolutely I understand that at times conflicting events arise...but on every game day? for everybody in Ct?

To suggest fans of other prominent programs around show up in droves because there is "nothing else to do" is, in my mind, nothing short of baloney and a lame excuse for empty seats.

A big time program shows two aspects on TV...team competitiveness W or L, and an engaged and enthusiastic fan support. UConn needs to show P5 conferences that it is a "fit" on two fronts for future realignment considerations.

OK...I vented.so if you so desire you all can blast my opinion..which is just that....an opinion of a long time (decades) FB fan of UConn.

What UCONN fans do, the non-season ticket holders, the season ticket holders that aren't diehards, invariably do, is show up for big events. It is what it is. The bigger the games, the more important the games, the bigger the audiences. It's a pretty much direct correlation proven over and over, across all three money making sports.

 

[DoctorWho85]

For me a bowl game would constitute a successful season. I've said it before, Charlie Strong took over a terrible team down at LCC, and brought them to 6-6 his first year with none of his own recruits and was regarded as a huge success. IMO, the team Strong took over was worse than UConn last year. I think that bench mark should be somewhere around what that team did over the course of the season.

 

[BugsyCT]

I think a bowl game is the expectation for success at this program, and it shouldn't be reduced just because the previous regime drove the car into the ditch. Having said that, if the team wins 4-6 games and shows some signs of improvement, that may be an encouraging / positive sign and give the fanbase something to look forward to going forward. But it is not "success".

Not success compared to where the program was pre PPGDL, but the damage done by that previous regime can't be underestimated. It was a heckuva big ditch.

 

[Stray_Dog]

Second half kickoff or first?

Both, it is not a choice of one or the other. FANS need to be in the stands before the kickoff! Show some respect, the players have to be there, so who are you supporting if your not there!

 

[Stray_Dog]

In a word...DISCIPLINE... I want to see a team that knows what this means through action and not hype. No missed assignments and fundamentals in football. Look our competition will have guys that are better talented. We may only be able to slow them down. I'll accept this but only if I know our guys are playing with as much heart and as much discipline as they can muster. This is what I expect to see, less than that, and I'll show them the same respect, I'll be in the Parking Lot at kickoff!

 

[RedStickHusky]

One thing Carl kind of skirted but hasn't really been hit in this (awesome) thread to the extent I would've expected is that I want the games to mean something. I understand that success or failure will ultimately be measured in wins but if we are doing something other than playing out the string after three weeks, it'll be a massive improvement. Do you remember when we played games that had consequences?

 

[J187Money]

One thing Carl kind of skirted but hasn't really been hit in this (awesome) thread to the extent I would've expected is that I want the games to mean something. I understand that success or failure will ultimately be measured in wins but if we are doing something other than playing out the string after three weeks, it'll be a massive improvement. Do you remember when we played games that had consequences?

I do. I remember flying to Tampa alone and drinking myself half to death in the parking lot. And screaming BCS till I couldn't talk. That's what I want.

 

[huskypantz]

I do. I remember flying to Tampa alone and drinking myself half to death in the parking lot. And screaming BCS till I couldn't talk. That's what I want.

That game was awesome. UConn fans were packed into a couple of sections. I was near the top and we had a USF heckler hang out with us for the second half until the ball sailed though the uprights, when he quickly bailed. What a blast.

 

[SonsOfNutmeg]

For a succcessful season I think we need at least 6 wins, and a bowl game. No bowl- no success in my mind. Diaco has his work cut out for him this season, but he's already chnaged the culture at the Burton, got the team thinking and beliving they CAN win and be successful again, and helping to put UConn Football back on the national map, P5 or no P5...

 

[RedSoloCup]

A successful year in my book is one where the team will look each other in the eyes at the end of the season and say that gave their best every day for each other. The worked hard, they learned, and they were a team. They stood in the trenches and fought together.

Wins come and go. I want a team.

 

[huskysupporter]

1. Players knowing their assignments. I think their is a talent issue right now at some positions, so battles might be lost. But I want to see players aggressively going where they are supposed to.

2. Discipline. Man did we have an undisciplined team last year. I blame the players for some absolutely bone headed plays (see safety who had to late hits in one series) and I blame coaching staff for not doing anything about it. Play smart.

Those are the two key things I am looking for.

 

[CTHUSKY74]

There are several things that will convince me the season was a success. Some or all have been discussed above.

1. Being competitive in every game, winning games we should win, stealing some wins from better teams and having no bad losses where we are not in the game at all.
2. Having a highly conditioned team that can play with energy and discipline for four quarters.
3. Development of competent and physical linemen to allow us to run our offensive and defensive schemes. Return of a competent physical running game as a key component of our offense. Development of a pass rush.
4. Development of numerous skill players and special team players who can give the opposing teams plenty of different looks that they have to deal with and that can give us some game-breaking, game-winning and game saving plays that you have to have to succeed in football.
5. Return to a team that takes the ball away from the opponent rather than gives the ball away.
6. Coaching competence where we see good organization of the team on the field, smart time-outs, good strategies in defending the opponent, and in running offense, and very important--good adjustments to what the opponent is doing well.
7. Ability of the coaching staff to find productive roles for numerous players who don't make it onto the starting squads.
8. Return of exciting football and the development of an 'edge' by the team where they really bring it to the opponent.

Obviously these things will result in winning some games and prevent many of the WTF losses that ripped our guts out the last three seasons. Whatever the final win/loss if we improve greatly in how we play each game and play exciting football to the end of each game, I'll consider the season successful.

 

[J187Money]

And of course beat FCS teams like they ought to be beaten. Like a rented mule.

 

[Dooley]

Yeah, if we lose to Stony Brook this season, I would guess that the only fans in the stands come November will be in the family/friends sections.

Aside: I went to get my oil changed last night at one of those express places. The dude saw my UCONN stuff in and outside of my car and asked if I was a big UCONN fan. We got to talking about basketball and how excited we are about Kevin Ollie. He clearly was a hoops fan. When the topic changed to football, he said that he has gone to 1 game..."it was last year against Toosown, Townson, something like that...they lost and I had enough." I told him that last year was awful but, thankfully, that head coach is gone and has been replaced by a MUCH better coach. I urged him to give the program another chance this year and that there is a reason, finally, to get a little excited about football. He said he would consider it (but I'm not sure if he was just trying to get me out of there).

While it's just a one-person sample, the negative effect that the PP era had on UCONN and UCONN football can't be overstated. Casual fans, like the guy I encountered last night, who had given UCONN a "shot" in the past 3 seasons were left feeling disappointed and confused as to why people would go to games. So yes, arse-whipping Stony Brook, like they should, would go a long way towards getting some confidence on the field and in the stands.

 

[Carl Spackler]

[

One thing Carl kind of skirted but hasn't really been hit in this (awesome) thread to the extent I would've expected is that I want the games to mean something. I understand that success or failure will ultimately be measured in wins but if we are doing something other than playing out the string after three weeks, it'll be a massive improvement. Do you remember when we played games that had consequences?

The last really meaningful one, was the game in Cincinatti to close the 2011 season. We were 5-6 in the first season of a coaching and systems change, and we laid an egg. Oh, ugly. McEntee handed the ball to the D in the endzone, McCombs got picked up by Cincy D-backs and thrown around like a rag doll. Not pleasant memories. We had some flicker of life after beating Louisville and Pitt in November 2012, in the second season of a systems change, and were struggling to get back up to .500 and bowl eligibility - against Cincy once again late, but we didn't have the discipline and will power to get it done.

I did touch on this, and I think people get it. I want meaningful football in December. That means competing for league titels and a post season game at minimum. MINIMUM. That also means meaningfull football, in November, in October, in September - in August.

What's amazing, is that the guys on the 2013 roster, that played late in the season - something happened at halftime in Philly against Temple. In the ugly weather, with nobody watching and nothing to play for. That something - whatever it is - is something that obviously should be there all the time, and they need to bring it into the 2014 season, because unlike November 2013, there is a TON to play for right now - beyond those basics of playing for each other, playing for the name on the front of the jersey.

 

[PPKChamp]

Dooley,

Casual fans like the one you mention, are like friends that only want to hang out when the going is good. They are there for you when all is well, but they are gone when the going gets tough. However, once the going is good again, they come back. So if the team starts to win, (I bet it does not take too many wins either) those casual fans will start to come back, slowly at first but with more wins come more casual fans, and with even more wins, those casual fans start to buy into the program. IMHO, that is how you build a sustainable fan base

 

[jackl]

There was only one game last season (Michigan) that I lost my voice. That's sad. Like Carl said earlier, like everyone else, I knew the season was over in the 4th quarter of the Towson game. I remember making a "boy, this is gonna be a LONG season" to the security guards on the way out of the stadium that night and feeling the most dejected that I've ever felt after a loss. There is nothing more deflating that knowing full well that your season is over and you are still in August. There wasn't a single game on the schedule that I thought UCONN could win under the old coaching staff.

In past seasons, it would be more difficult for me to remember games that I did NOT lose my voice. Even the cupcake FCS games would cause me to lose my voice. Last year was such a ' drag. We lost half of our tailgate crew of 6. One guy moved to FL (can't fault him), another guy went to the Towson game and then never showed up again, and another guy didn't go to a single game (including the Michigan game...of which he graduated from). So our diminished group did exactly what other smaller groups do in the lots: talk to other tailgaters. What we found out was that every tailgate crew lost 1, 2, 3, 4+ members who have sworn off the program. At least half of the people we met in the lots never went into the game towards the end of the season. In past seasons, this would frustrate me. Last year, I was simply impressed that they drove to the stadium just to tailgate. We didn't even get much pleasure ribbing on Rutgers' fans in our section last year.

Give me a team that plays with heart and energy. That gets excited to get a big stop on defense. To convert a crucial 1st down. That stands up for teammates. That fights until the final whistle no matter what the score. With energy, excitement, and unity comes wins and confidence. And once a college team gets some confidence to go with their energy, then the sky is the limit.

I have weak vocal chords so last year I said WTF this crap isn't worth losing my voice for 3 days, only the Mich. game pushed me to this. Hopefully this year I can proudly walk around having to talk softly 3 days after the game. HCBD give me a reason to lose my voice. On the other side we actually gained a person in our tailgate group of retirees last year. As expected We are all much more pumped for this coach, team and season. Go out there and punch someone in #c#en mouth. GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Skiblets]

The retirement of the following cheesy in game promotions
- DJ Joey
- Kiss Cam
- Better Bedding Bloopers
- Big Y Hold your Card Up
- Triple A Hold your Card up
- Any freaking company hold your card up
- The ingame commerecials
- A coordinated band response to the action on the field
- Emily to start returning my phone calls

 

[RedStickHusky]

- Emily to start returning my phone calls

I'm worried about the unreasonable expectations on this board.

 

[CTBasketball]

I want to see Cochran break the 30TD mark.

 

[huskysupporter]

I want to see Cochran break the 30TD mark.

You would consider the season a success of Casey throws for 30 tds?

 

[Duncan Idaho]

[


The last really meaningful one, was the game in Cincinatti to close the 2011 season. We were 5-6 in the first season of a coaching and systems change, and we laid an egg. Oh, ugly. McEntee handed the ball to the D in the endzone, McCombs got picked up by Cincy D-backs and thrown around like a rag doll. Not pleasant memories. We had some flicker of life after beating Louisville and Pitt in November 2012, in the second season of a systems change, and were struggling to get back up to .500 and bowl eligibility - against Cincy once again late, but we didn't have the discipline and will power to get it done.

I did touch on this, and I think people get it. I want meaningful football in December. That means competing for league titels and a post season game at minimum. MINIMUM. That also means meaningfull football, in November, in October, in September - in August.

What's amazing, is that the guys on the 2013 roster, that played late in the season - something happened at halftime in Philly against Temple. In the ugly weather, with nobody watching and nothing to play for. That something - whatever it is - is something that obviously should be there all the time, and they need to bring it into the 2014 season, because unlike November 2013, there is a TON to play for right now - beyond those basics of playing for each other, playing for the name on the front of the jersey.

Last one was Dec 2012 at home vs Cinci, lost 34-17, lost our bowl eligibility.

 

[weyuo]

What's it going to take for me to consider the 2014 season a success? A bowl invite. That usually means you've won more than you've lost and anything less than that is not considered successful by many and definitely won't capture the imagination of potential fans. UConn football needs fans and lots of them, especially the ones that travel to away games. That's your ticket into the B1G or ACC. Building the fan base proves you are succeeding so I guess a bowl invite and a increased fan base(not sure you can measure that in any other way than sales). All the other stuff, improved O-line, star QB, reliable RB are all nice but don't mean much if their season is over before Christmas. Guarantee no member of the program will consider anything less than a bowl invite a success so why should anyone else?

 

[J187Money]

Last one was Dec 2012 at home vs Cinci, lost 34-17, lost our bowl eligibility.

But let's be serious. None of us really thought we were winning that game. We had hope but it was really false hope.