So what do we know about UConn? | Page 3 | Syracusefan.com

So what do we know about UConn?

Have scouted them a little bit and here are my initial thoughts:

This is a capable team with a few very good players, they are well coached and execute effectively and at a high level in a few areas, and they shouldn't be taken lightly.

Starting on offense I think this is actually a dangerous team that just needs to put a few more elements together to be much more efficient.

At QB they have a true freshman #11 starting (starter #6 got hurt early in their first game). He is undersized and thin but pretty fast and fairly elusive in the pocket. He throws well and displayed decent accuracy but struggles with delivering the ball on time and dealing with pressure. Obviously his performance will be key to the outcome of the game but I expect him to struggle with pressure, especially from the edges as their tackles look particularly weak in pass protection, and I think our secondary is going to give him fits as I don't see them matching up well with a few exceptions, more on that later.

#26 the RB I think is their best offensive player. He's listed at 5'9" 196 and that seems about right. He's a very good runner, displays above average burst and contact balance, excellent vision and very good speed in the open field. He runs with power and is well attuned to using their zone blocking scheme to his advantage. I expect they will try to run him right at McDonald with a mix of gap scheme that isolates McDonald against an interior run, RPO's that tag McDonald as the conflict defender, or zone blocks to the weak side that will isolate him as the alley defender. To put it succinctly, if Clark or Barron lead the team in tackles, it might be closer than many here are expecting.

Their receivers are perhaps the weakest link offensively. They have a big and fast tight end #86 that could be the toughest match up for us. Another big receiver #84 that they use as a hybrid flex-y type receiver displays really good hands and interior play. I think he lacks the speed to handle playing on the outside matched up against Garrett or Duece but he could cause problems if they get him matched up against a safety by lining him up inside and running play action. I expect we'll get a lot of 12 personnel looks with 84 and 86 lined up inside to create matchups against the safeties and linebackers with those two.

Defensively I think they are going to be quite a bit outmatched and outclassed. They play a lot of defense, in the Utah State game alone they showed everything from a 3 down even front stack, to 4 down odd front nickel, to a more traditional 4-3. Their defensive line is perhaps the strongest unit, they have good size and length at the ends and generate a decent pass rush. They are undersized on the interior and struggled against a gap scheme. I think they are going to have problems against 11 and 10 personnel looks where they are limited to having a six man box and a gap scheme that relies on Bergeron and Davis to execute reach blocks against the end to isolate Tucker against a linebacker. If their linebackers are slow to fit (which I anticipate they will be relative to how fast Tucker hits the hole) or if the tackles are able to widen the B gap, Sean Tucker is going to have a very good day.

The secondary I think is also going to struggle, especially against our longer receivers (Gadsden, Jones and Alford in particular). And I think they are going to have a tough time against the faster guys on the interior as I don't see very good range out of their linebackers. I'd like to see Jackson used on the inside more here as I think that will be a much better match-up for him and there will be a lot of opportunities to get him the ball in space. The screen game and check downs to Tucker will also be very problematic for them, especially with the size advantage we will have in the second level.
 
blizz said:
Have scouted them a little bit and here are my initial thoughts:

This is a capable team with a few very good players, they are well coached and execute effectively and at a high level in a few areas, and they shouldn't be taken lightly.

Starting on offense I think this is actually a dangerous team that just needs to put a few more elements together to be much more efficient.

At QB they have a true freshman #11 starting (starter #6 got hurt early in their first game). He is undersized and thin but pretty fast and fairly elusive in the pocket. He throws well and displayed decent accuracy but struggles with delivering the ball on time and dealing with pressure. Obviously his performance will be key to the outcome of the game but I expect him to struggle with pressure, especially from the edges as their tackles look particularly weak in pass protection, and I think our secondary is going to give him fits as I don't see them matching up well with a few exceptions, more on that later.

#26 the RB I think is their best offensive player. He's listed at 5'9" 196 and that seems about right. He's a very good runner, displays above average burst and contact balance, excellent vision and very good speed in the open field. He runs with power and is well attuned to using their zone blocking scheme to his advantage. I expect they will try to run him right at McDonald with a mix of gap scheme that isolates McDonald against an interior run, RPO's that tag McDonald as the conflict defender, or zone blocks to the weak side that will isolate him as the alley defender. To put it succinctly, if Clark or Barron lead the team in tackles, it might be closer than many here are expecting.

Their receivers are perhaps the weakest link offensively. They have a big and fast tight end #86 that could be the toughest match up for us. Another big receiver #84 that they use as a hybrid flex-y type receiver displays really good hands and interior play. I think he lacks the speed to handle playing on the outside matched up against Garrett or Duece but he could cause problems if they get him matched up against a safety by lining him up inside and running play action. I expect we'll get a lot of 12 personnel looks with 84 and 86 lined up inside to create matchups against the safeties and linebackers with those two.

Defensively I think they are going to be quite a bit outmatched and outclassed. They play a lot of defense, in the Utah State game alone they showed everything from a 3 down even front stack, to 4 down odd front nickel, to a more traditional 4-3. Their defensive line is perhaps the strongest unit, they have good size and length at the ends and generate a decent pass rush. They are undersized on the interior and struggled against a gap scheme. I think they are going to have problems against 11 and 10 personnel looks where they are limited to having a six man box and a gap scheme that relies on Bergeron and Davis to execute reach blocks against the end to isolate Tucker against a linebacker. If their linebackers are slow to fit (which I anticipate they will be relative to how fast Tucker hits the hole) or if the tackles are able to widen the B gap, Sean Tucker is going to have a very good day.

The secondary I think is also going to struggle, especially against our longer receivers (Gadsden, Jones and Alford in particular). And I think they are going to have a tough time against the faster guys on the interior as I don't see very good range out of their linebackers. I'd like to see Jackson used on the inside more here as I think that will be a much better match-up for him and there will be a lot of opportunities to get him the ball in space. The screen game and check downs to Tucker will also be very problematic for them, especially with the size advantage we will have in the second level.
Expand...
Instead of turtling and going run heavy I want to see them open it up more. Make a 41-0 half time statement and roll in the twos in the second half. Shrader with 225 and 3 Td’s at the end of two.
 
Which streaming services pick up CBSSN?
 
Scooch said:
Other than the travel this will be a quasi-home game for us, SU-hoops style. I imagine the crowd will be near 50% Orange fans.

Central Connecticut State gave them a game for a half.

Central. Connecticut. State.

If we don't smash them senseless I'll be disappointed.
Expand...

CCSU gave them a game for 3 quarters. I understand not wanting to believe just to have the rug pulled out, but this game should not be close and I don't think it will be.
 
NKR1978 said:
CCSU gave them a game for 3 quarters. I understand not wanting to believe just to have the rug pulled out, but this game should not be close and I don't think it will be.
Expand...
Mora and Co. went with a completely vanilla offense against CCSU. I can imagine that they have been game planning for Syracuse since they got back from the Utah State game, more or less.
 
dasher said:
See, this is what I am talking about. The lack of respect. To put me in the one position I can't play.
et tu brute
Expand...
If you really want to return kickoffs, I will put you there.

I just didn't want an incident on national TV. As national as the CBS Sports Network gets anyway...

You can return kicks but you gotta sign the waiver first. We don't do health insurance at syracusefan.com. Tommy E might do it for the boneyarders but for us Syracuse folks, it is caveat emptor baby.

I can do latin too. ;)
 
sutomcat said:
If you really want to return kickoffs, I will put you there.

I just didn't want an incident on national TV. As national as the CBS Sports Network gets anyway...

You can return kicks but you gotta sign the waiver first. We don't do health insurance at syracusefan.com. Tommy E might do it for the boneyarders but for us Syracuse folks, it is caveat emptor baby.

I can do latin too. ;)
Expand...
Deal Oh, and I wasn't speaking La...oh, never mind
 
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blizz said:
Have scouted them a little bit and here are my initial thoughts:

This is a capable team with a few very good players, they are well coached and execute effectively and at a high level in a few areas, and they shouldn't be taken lightly.

Starting on offense I think this is actually a dangerous team that just needs to put a few more elements together to be much more efficient.

At QB they have a true freshman #11 starting (starter #6 got hurt early in their first game). He is undersized and thin but pretty fast and fairly elusive in the pocket. He throws well and displayed decent accuracy but struggles with delivering the ball on time and dealing with pressure. Obviously his performance will be key to the outcome of the game but I expect him to struggle with pressure, especially from the edges as their tackles look particularly weak in pass protection, and I think our secondary is going to give him fits as I don't see them matching up well with a few exceptions, more on that later.

#26 the RB I think is their best offensive player. He's listed at 5'9" 196 and that seems about right. He's a very good runner, displays above average burst and contact balance, excellent vision and very good speed in the open field. He runs with power and is well attuned to using their zone blocking scheme to his advantage. I expect they will try to run him right at McDonald with a mix of gap scheme that isolates McDonald against an interior run, RPO's that tag McDonald as the conflict defender, or zone blocks to the weak side that will isolate him as the alley defender. To put it succinctly, if Clark or Barron lead the team in tackles, it might be closer than many here are expecting.

Their receivers are perhaps the weakest link offensively. They have a big and fast tight end #86 that could be the toughest match up for us. Another big receiver #84 that they use as a hybrid flex-y type receiver displays really good hands and interior play. I think he lacks the speed to handle playing on the outside matched up against Garrett or Duece but he could cause problems if they get him matched up against a safety by lining him up inside and running play action. I expect we'll get a lot of 12 personnel looks with 84 and 86 lined up inside to create matchups against the safeties and linebackers with those two.

Defensively I think they are going to be quite a bit outmatched and outclassed. They play a lot of defense, in the Utah State game alone they showed everything from a 3 down even front stack, to 4 down odd front nickel, to a more traditional 4-3. Their defensive line is perhaps the strongest unit, they have good size and length at the ends and generate a decent pass rush. They are undersized on the interior and struggled against a gap scheme. I think they are going to have problems against 11 and 10 personnel looks where they are limited to having a six man box and a gap scheme that relies on Bergeron and Davis to execute reach blocks against the end to isolate Tucker against a linebacker. If their linebackers are slow to fit (which I anticipate they will be relative to how fast Tucker hits the hole) or if the tackles are able to widen the B gap, Sean Tucker is going to have a very good day.

The secondary I think is also going to struggle, especially against our longer receivers (Gadsden, Jones and Alford in particular). And I think they are going to have a tough time against the faster guys on the interior as I don't see very good range out of their linebackers. I'd like to see Jackson used on the inside more here as I think that will be a much better match-up for him and there will be a lot of opportunities to get him the ball in space. The screen game and check downs to Tucker will also be very problematic for them, especially with the size advantage we will have in the second level.
Expand...
Damn, thank you. That's a great writeup. Now I need to go look up what an alley and conflict defender are!
 
mlbball99 said:

Here’s highlights of their Week 2 game, which I think is more helpful than their Week 1 game since their QB got hurt.

- Zion Turner is their QB. A true freshman who is in for their injured starter. He’s a little bit of a dual threat. Had some nice runs and good touch on his throws.

-UConn is a very run heavy team. Their tailback has back to back 100 yard games.

-UConn did block a kick or two last week.

-Their offense seems to throw to the tight end a lot.

any other thoughts?
Expand...
Plucky.
 
GoSU96 said:
Instead of turtling and going run heavy I want to see them open it up more. Make a 41-0 half time statement and roll in the twos in the second half. Shrader with 225 and 3 Td’s at the end of two.
Expand...
I'd love to see us attack through the air too and I think we're likely to as they will have to load the box in response to the run game. They are going to have a tough time hanging against our offense, but I think they will score some points depending on how efficient they can be with the ball.
 
GreekFreak said:
Their QB is not very good at all. He is completing less than 50% of his passes with 3 TDs and 3 interceptions in two games. His QBR is 18.3 which puts him as 113th. UConn is heavily run dependent and if we can stop the run they won’t score many points.
Expand...
I don't think those stats are correct. His QBR for his first game was 18.3. Last game he completed over 60% I believe I read on the Boneyard. He had 2 INT's the first game with no TD's, so he must have had 3 TD's the second game and 1 INT.
 
I ended up watching the 20 minute edited CCSU VS UConn game and my initial thoughts were "dang, they don't look half bad", then I realized the game had many plays cut out of it and they only scored ONCE in the first half...against CCSU. I'm guessing if I watched the whole game, there would be a lot of ugliness.

Edit: it was 8 minutes and looks to be the vid linked above.
 
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