The View From Section 241 — Central

[businesslawyer]

I am a man of my word. (Yes, yes, I know, insert lawyer joke here.). I said I would be satisfied if we won and at no point in the 4th Quarter was it a one possession game, and we achieved that, so good for everyone. It’s hard to be rational and not view that as a step forward, especially as it’s back to back games where we have clearly played at a level above the recent past. But man — was that a hard, boring game to watch. Between the heat, no energy in the building, and UConn having come out and played the first 20 minutes or so like they couldn’t have cared less, and then won with long drives almost totally devoid of chunk plays, it was not an easy game to sit through. But being a fan isn’t about comfort, or excitement — it’s about winning — and they won a game comfortably. Against anyone. PTL. Now the schedule gets impossible for the next four games. Let’s hope that at least one of the two home games — preferably Friday against ‘Cuse but if it’s against Fresno so be it — we play well enough to have a chance to win the game coming down the stretch. Do that, keep morale up and limit injuries and the second half of the season might be at least interesting.

On offense, running game continues to look good, Houston and Brewton have amazing bursts and there is enough blocking and innovation for us to succeed again. Passing game is another issue. Both offensive turnovers were just stupid. On the first Turner fumble — I thought from my seat he was throwing the ball but that’s not something you can tell live from 50 yards away — he had oodles of time to get rid of the ball before the contact. Please do so. On the interception to end the half, I blame mostly the coaches. We should have kicked there as far too much could go wrong with a true Frosh in that situation. But once the decision was made, Turner has one option. Do I throw the ball to the left corner or the right corner from the pocket. The moment his feet started moving, you could tell that something bad was going to happen. I thought Turner threw the ball much, much better this week, but he needs his decision making to improve in a hurry. But the lack of WRs isn’t his fault. Aaron Turner has some speed, but he had T-Rex arms on the first pass thrown over the middle. Are we going to see Drayton this year? He as a frosh was better than what we’re seeing from our units now. Although maybe Fitzgerald will be a step forward when he gets into the mix. Lundt did not get overrun pass blocking against CCSU, but the protection from ZT’s right was still iffier than you’d like it to be.

Hard to be negative about the defense based on the points and total yardage given up, even recognizing the level of the opposition, but I didn’t feel as good about it as I should. Too many plays where we gave up some easy yardage, not a lot of defensive aggressiveness and I don’t recall more than one three and outs, but they did the job so I don’t want to be too harsh. Again, congrats on doing your job and now let’s see it against better opponents. We did seem to do a lot of rotating of personnel, whether that was the heat or just getting reserves snaps in a comfortable win.

Special teams, off a good opening day, were not good. The long FG attempt barely got off the ground, and was followed later by an OB kickoff. And Harrison’s failure to call for a fair catch on the punt he fumbled was stupid. He’s lucky he didn’t get himself killed with the hits he invited. Let’s hope we get back to opening week play soon.

That’s it for now. An uninspired 241 from an uninspiring game. But I did my job anyway, as did UConn. It’s been an entire decade since we beat an FCS team handily. We did it Saturday. So job done. And now, Saturday night, we might get a feel for whether the last two weeks has shown baby steps of improvement (which, by the way, is not a terrible thing), or something more.

I’ll be grilling flank steak for sandwiches and waiting to find out.

 

[Nostical]

Pretty much summed it up, however, while it came at an inconsequential time, Victor Rosa's late touchdown run got him on the field with a positive result. Charlton needs more weapons for Zion. Hopefully, Rosa may now begin to play a larger role. We can't have as many false starts and dropped balls vs Syracuse, but our intensity should be significantly better. They won't play the Orange in "the first 20 minutes or so like they couldn’t have cared less". They'll play it with their Utah State game intensity. Jackson Mitchell and Ian Swenson will have a few wrinkles for QB Schrader to deal with that Louisville lacked. Bring on the Orange.

 

[Bongo Fury]

Come out and play like 2015 Houston game. Don’t think this team is there yet especially on D.

 

[RSTuthill]

I dunno, but I will never get tired of watching a ground game executing like that with running backs that quick and shifty. Their first steps off the mark are incredible. And UConn has four of them right now. With an OL that can create holes. With the semblance of a passing game (currently a work in progress), they could be quite something.

The defensive secondary is another question. They are that slow that they cannot play up on the WR to deny them total freedom of direction and optimum timing? I have never understood this soft philosophy. It makes it easier not more difficult for the WR's.

 

[noeynox]

I dunno, but I will never get tired of watching a ground game executing like that with running backs that quick and shifty. Their first steps off the mark are incredible. And UConn has four of them right now. With an OL that can create holes. With the semblance of a passing game (currently a work in progress), they could be quite something.

The defensive secondary is another question. They are that slow that they cannot play up on the WR to deny them total freedom of direction and optimum timing? I have never understood this soft philosophy. It makes it easier not more difficult for the WR's.

Myles Bell ended up badly beat on 2nd and 24 and only an overthrow from the CCSU QB kept that from being a TD. I don't think we have personnel for press coverage, even though I hate the constant soft cushions myself.

 

[CL82]

It’s hard to be rational and not view that as a step forward

It is a step forward, it’s just not the whole journey. I am both hopeful and wary about the Syracuse game. I think it is going to let us know where this team actually is.

Good post as always Biz.

 

[AzHusky]

I don't think we are ready for prime time yet, but I hope we put up an honest fight. Would love to see a couple of solid stops and a couple of TD's to show the cuse we are on the way back.

 

[giddyup]

Myles Bell ended up badly beat on 2nd and 24 and only an overthrow from the CCSU QB kept that from being a TD. I don't think we have personnel for press coverage, even though I hate the constant soft cushions myself.

The 3 biggest challenges we have are: pass coverage is poor; there is a poor pass rush; and we have no passing game. If we want to win games against good opponents, we have to improve in those areas like tomorrow. I think Syracuse will test every weakness we have to the hilt. They will air it out on O, and load the box and make us throw.

 

[gopher2]

The defensive secondary is another question. They are that slow that they cannot play up on the WR to deny them total freedom of direction and optimum timing? I have never understood this soft philosophy. It makes it easier not more difficult for the WR's.

Mora said something in an interview that clearly indicated he thought playing up would result in the DBs getting beat for big yards. He seems to favor, at least for now, the Edsall strategy of having the DBs keep everything in front, conceeding the 8-10 yard gains to prevent the 40+ yard plays. This sucks but he sees these players every day in practice and if he thinks its the best approach at this point, well, I'll take his word for it. He mentioned trying to find ways of getting them more help and playing less man coverage.

 

[UConnJim]

BL, I understand your analysis about the game being somewhat boring, but I don't think that is what either Mora or Charlton want in the future. Unfortunately, they have a true freshman QB and he will have his ups and downs. Against an FCS school, UConn should be able to win by bullying the opponent which is what UConn did to get the win and UConn needed to win the game. And, Turner was better game 1 vs game 2. Although it was less competition, here are his stats the first 2 games:

Utah St.: 12/31, 38.7%,109 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT. 3 carries 4 yards.

CCSU: 14/22, 63.6%, 172 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT. 9 carries 25 yards.

Plus, I don't remember seeing any blocked passes against CCSU which means Turner and the coaches learned from Utah St.

 

[CL82]

BL, I understand your analysis about the game being somewhat boring, but I don't think that is what either Mora or Charlton want in the future. Unfortunately, they have a true freshman QB and he will have his ups and downs. Against an FCS school, UConn should be able to win by bullying the opponent which is what UConn did to get the win and UConn needed to win the game. And, Turner was better game 1 vs game 2. Although it was less competition, here are his stats the first 2 games:

Utah St.: 12/31, 38.7%,109 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT. 3 carries 4 yards.

CCSU: 14/22, 63.6%, 172 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT. 9 carries 25 yards.

Plus, I don't remember seeing any blocked passes against CCSU which means Turner and the coaches learned from Utah St.

So for Syracuse we can expect three 3 TD, 0 INT.

 

[Spsone07]

The hogs upfront have made some noticeable improvements compared to last year. The O-line has been great on creating holes for our running backs. The right side of the O-line will need some time to improve. The 3rd quarter's 7-minute and 4th quarter's 9-minute drives were some of the longest offensive drives in the last few years. Both drives wouldn't have happened without an improved offensive line.

I think ZT definitely looked more comfortable commanding the offense. Comparing the passing stats is a bit deceiving from USU to CSCU. For example, A. Turner caught two balls for 57 yards, but these balls were more swing passes. These yardages were more of a result of A. Turner turning the play upfield than rather based off of ZT's passing abilities. ZT's ball to Flynn in the 4th quarter was really nice. This play, imo, show ZT's potential, where he can put the ball only where his receiver can get it. I hope Charlton continues to open up the playbook for ZT as the season progresses.

 

[SubbaBub]

My resolve not to accept minimal improvements remains strong. Sorry, if that's a downer for people.

Overall: As I said, a minimal improvement over last year. Instead of losing to an FCS team, we won. Yaaaaayyyyy! But we went into the half 7-3, turned the ball over and only pulled away because they wore down (another plus). We also ran in a TD with under 40 seconds left. My issue is not with the sportsmanship (we need to run plays and get guys action, even garbage time action). My issue is that we otherwise scored once in the 1st half and twice in the 2nd against live tackling dummies (football wise, I'm sure the student athletes of CCSU are fine people and will have a positive impact on society.)

Offense: Difficult to explain why the O came out so flat. I hope it's not a lack of recovery from USU. That wouldn't bode well for our plan to close the season strong. The run game backed up its Week 0 performance to the extent we should be able to consistently get something on the ground as occasionally break a few for chunks. Other than LB play, more on this later, this appears to be where the biggest leap has been made. The passing game is still an abomination. The turnovers are unacceptable and not to be too harsh on a true freshman but he isn't ready and has some serious flaws in his game that won't be solved by more playing time. He's not an NFL QB, will never be an NFL QB, but we don't need him to be anywhere close to that. We need him to throw the ball on time to the open receiver or throw it away. I think he has a major problem with accuracy. If you consistently place the ball on the wrong side of the receiver, every out route sees the ball behind, this will lead to many, many picks and several TDINT's. It's going to happen.

He also looks like a guy who played on a really good HS team that didn't give up a ton of sacks or QB pressures. He looks like he's staring down the pass rush. This is something that can be fixed with playing time but playing Michigan and a few other legit P5 teams isn't the right kind of playing time. If he doesn't improve, I hope Mora isn't going to wait until he costs us a winnable game before he starts the QB carousel. That is the most Edsall thing he could do. My prediction is that the Michigan game gets out of hand and we will see every healthy QB at least once. If he's not the guy for this season, redshirt him and play someone else for NC State/Fresno.

Now, the WR corps we anticipated being a strength isn't available and that is a tough break but outside a few drops there seems to be enough raw talent to work with. The play calling is 100% better than it has been. We seem a lot less predictable, something we all wanted. Instead of running twice, passing 3rd and long then punting, we appear to be managing down and distance a lot better and instead of a steady diet of off-tackle runs, jet sweeps, bubble screens, and out routes, we are actually attempting to use the entire field. That alone is worth a few more points a game.

Defense: The jury is still out on whether the D can keep us in most of our games but other than the obvious abuse the secondary is suffering due to the soft coverage, it appears we are better at every position and as a whole.

The DLine isn't getting pressure like we'd hope but they aren't getting gashed for 5-6yds before first contact either. They stuffed the run pretty good up the middle vs a pass first USU and an undermanned CCSU. Cuse will be their first big test. The LB crew has been the best unit overall so far. They are making contact closer to the LOS, covering the middle of the field and making sure tackles at a rate that we haven't seen in quite a while. Bigger tests going forward but so far, so good.

There isn't much to say about the secondary, but my eyeball test would suggest the talent is better than the soft coverages we are playing. It spite of still getting lit up on short to medium pass routes, they are recovering well and making tackles. They are getting their heads around a lot more than we've seen (and suffered some lousy calls despite that fact). That USU offense was legit and they were only a handful of plays (and 11 points) away from mission accomplished (keeping us in the game). I hope they can show better, but it doesn't appear as lost a cause as the numbers might indicate. If we can make a big leap here before the schedule lightens up, we might get that strong finish.

The play calling upgrade shows. Rather that run base defense every single down, Mora is mixing it up. I doubt he's satisfied and don't think he's found the right balance of risk/aggression yet. Seeing them getting off the field more regularly is a pleasing change this year. Every 3 and out feels like New Year's Eve.

Mora will need to decide his best squad/scheme before the FIU game. We want the best guys playing against FIU/BallSt/BC/UMass whomever that is. Those 4 games will define the season and set us up for an outside shot at a bowl bid. If we are sitting with 4 wins with 2 not impossible games to play, Mora will have delivered on year 1. If we are at 5 wins with 1 to play, no one can say they are disappointed with the season.

 

[businesslawyer]

BL, I understand your analysis about the game being somewhat boring, but I don't think that is what either Mora or Charlton want in the future. Unfortunately, they have a true freshman QB and he will have his ups and downs. Against an FCS school, UConn should be able to win by bullying the opponent which is what UConn did to get the win and UConn needed to win the game. And, Turner was better game 1 vs game 2. Although it was less competition, here are his stats the first 2 games:

Utah St.: 12/31, 38.7%,109 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT. 3 carries 4 yards.

CCSU: 14/22, 63.6%, 172 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT. 9 carries 25 yards.

Plus, I don't remember seeing any blocked passes against CCSU which means Turner and the coaches learned from Utah St.

I am fairly certain I didn’t blame the coaches for anything but not taking the FG with 9 seconds left in the half. The coaches jobs are to win as many games as they can while getting better. To date, that has gone fine. I’m still not as optimistic as many here as to how many wins we’ll have this year, but I didn’t expect Mora to be a miracle worker. Just keep driving the bus in the right direction. I’ll give it time. Others will or will not.

 

[gioff2323]

Good assessment, as always.

What we saw were small steps. That is where we are as a program. Learning to have fun, learning to play fast, winning games we should win. All small steps - at least they are headed in the right direction.

 

[BlueandOG]

Things are looking up. We played USU well and we took care of business against CCSU. On to Cuse, an important early test.

 

[Kiddddddd34]

Well said... The final score feels nice but couldn't help thinking to myself "boy if we make those mistakes against a better team" the entire game. Defense played well and didn't give up many notable boneheaded mistakes and mostly played within themselves. The negative starting with the coaching staff. That blocked field goal attempt, not sure what Mora & Co were thinking there... I'm still scratching my head. Viewing live it didnt even look like it got over our own line. Maybe he hits those in practice but that is an easy 7 points for Cuse this week. Also on the coaching staff, under no circumstances should ZT be throwing a ball like that at the end of the half... On to the offense, some missed dinkers by ZT out on the flat that we need on target but overall stuck to the gameplan. Nate Carter/O-Line looked great against an undersized CCSU.

#83 however ....................................................... STAY ONSIDE. Your not involved in the play, do your job. Two consecutive drives out on the edge jumping. For this team and the lack of big play ability through the air we will need fundamental football to stay in games.

Keep shaking the rust off. Over 2.5 wins looks promising!

 

[Chin Diesel]

Myles Bell ended up badly beat on 2nd and 24 and only an overthrow from the CCSU QB kept that from being a TD. I don't think we have personnel for press coverage, even though I hate the constant soft cushions myself.

Hate to be harsh but... Bell has consistently been overmatched his entire time. I don't think he is a D1 CB.

 

[noeynox]

Hate to be harsh but... Bell has consistently been overmatched his entire time. I don't think he is a D1 CB.

He's had a slew of serious injuries to work back from. To his credit he's worked really hard to get back. I thought he was playing well last year until that freaky leg injury.

 

[rich1122]

We don’t know what we didn’t show against CCSU???

Maybe this is the one zeroed on the calendar. The next 2 are tough.

I’ll be at NC State UCONN Tailgate

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Depth chart updates:

• Ethon Williams has replaced Matt Drayton as the backup to Kevens Clercius at wide receiver.
• Russell Dixon has replaced Nick Harris as the backup to Brandon Niemenski at tight end.
• Dajon Harrison, who returned punts on Saturday vs CCSU, is now listed at the top of the depth chart at punt returner.