So what do we know about UConn?

[690West]

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.

Where did you find the 20 minute version?

 

[texascpa]

Where did you find the 20 minute version?

My bad, it was 8 minutes. Felt like 20.

 

[ScriptCuse]

Which streaming services pick up CBSSN?

I have FuboTV and CBSSN is on there! Think they offer 14-day free trials

 

[AlaskaSU]

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.

Seems like their running success is on pitch-outs rather than up the middle or sweeps, but I was not that engaged watching the CCSU tape.

 

[OburgOrange]

My bad, it was 8 minutes. Felt like 20.

 

[blizz]

Cut ups available here:
UConn OL/Offense vs Utah State Defense (2022)

 

[Jake]

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.

Their RB is no joke.

 

[Deleted member 8116]

Their RB is no joke.

That's when you load the box & play man to man. I think they shut that down.

 

[kcsu]

Could I interest you in a position as the holder? Can the knee bend that way?

Good one Tom

 

[FasterCuse]

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.

This right here is why this board is so amazing.

 

[orangenauburn]

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.

Agreed. Pass it around. Get Tucker his five six catches. Get five or six other guys done catches. Obviously 34 is going to need to feed too.

I think our D will swallow up any passing game from them.

I won't be surprised if we get three plus sacks and two plus turnovers.

I said 38-17, but can see this getting to 55-13 also.

 

[Deleted member 7047]

Here's Jim Mora's SU week press conference:

 

[CuseLegacy]

 

[CousCuse]

I'm finding it ironic that Mora says he isn't a big rivalry guy when he got fired from UCLA the day after they lost to USC. Maybe that's what he means when he says he's not big on rivalry games.

 

[dollarbill44]

It's fine he's not a big rivalry guy because SU and UConn are not football rivals. It takes more than a forced 8 year series to make a rivalry.

 

[upperdeck]

will we have any big plays.. we really had only 1 big play vs UL and that was a 5yd pass. Now we took what was open and didnt take many shots in the passing game.. UL has more teem speed so maybe we do get a shot play vs Uconn. We had 2-3 chances but didnt hit them. In the running game nothing really broke except a couple mid level runs and some shrader scrambles but there were 4-5 that we set up perfect had we blocked it a bit better, We had the D spread all over and no one to stop the home run but didnt quite finish off the play. if its another grind it out game the way Uconn will try to run its gonna be hard to get a big score result.

 

[dollarbill44]

will we have any big plays.. we really had only 1 big play vs UL and that was a 5yd pass. Now we took what was open and didnt take many shots in the passing game.. UL has more teem speed so maybe we do get a shot play vs Uconn. We had 2-3 chances but didnt hit them. In the running game nothing really broke except a couple mid level runs and some shrader scrambles but there were 4-5 that we set up perfect had we blocked it a bit better, We had the D spread all over and no one to stop the home run but didnt quite finish off the play. if its another grind it out game the way Uconn will try to run its gonna be hard to get a big score result.

If we play it the same as last week, but cut the penalties in half, we have 45 points. But, I think we hit some big ones.

 

[PhatOrange]

will we have any big plays.. we really had only 1 big play vs UL and that was a 5yd pass. Now we took what was open and didnt take many shots in the passing game.. UL has more teem speed so maybe we do get a shot play vs Uconn. We had 2-3 chances but didnt hit them. In the running game nothing really broke except a couple mid level runs and some shrader scrambles but there were 4-5 that we set up perfect had we blocked it a bit better, We had the D spread all over and no one to stop the home run but didnt quite finish off the play. if its another grind it out game the way Uconn will try to run its gonna be hard to get a big score result.

When you think about it we were pretty vanilla/ conservative against the ville

 

[Jake]

Also think this is fallout from the legacy of the Civil Conflict…which was a forced rivalry.

 

[hoopsupstate]

I listened to their radio guy this afternoon and you would think they might make the college football playoffs. He said Mora has done a great job upgrading the talent level using the portal. They feel they should win the game against SU. I do think it might be closer than you think unless the puppies turn the ball over. I think we will be a little disappointed in the final score. Something like 28-13.

 

[RF2044]

I listened to their radio guy this afternoon and you would think they might make the college football playoffs. He said Mora has done a great job upgrading the talent level using the portal. They feel they should win the game against SU. I do think it might be closer than you think unless the puppies turn the ball over. I think we will be a little disappointed in the final score. Something like 28-13.

Not even close.

I'll be shocked if we don't cover, and have the bench playing sometime late in the 3rd quarter.

If we scored 31 against Louisville, we aren't scoring less on these clowns. C'mon.

 

[upperdeck]

teams that run for 250 a game give people fits, if you dont get some scores to make them get out of the game plan. if you told me we struggled to hold them to 200 I would not be surprised. If they do that the possessions go down and the way we grind ed out scores we could dominate and win 27-10 and never feel comfortable.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

It's fine he's not a big rivalry guy because SU and UConn are not football rivals. It takes more than a forced 8 year series to make a rivalry.

Their fans hate us way more than any other school. Even BC who went out of the way to block them ever joining a conference. He probably gave the wrong answer per that fanbase and its not like this is it unless we decide to schedule them again there are 3 more of these.

I went to the last game at the Rent it was a rivalry game to those people they don't act like that towards other schools.


We are going to bring a ton of people to their stadium. I don't think they will bring enough fans for it to have any extra buzz next year. But if they brought 4 or 5 thousand to the dome it would feel like one.

 

[RF2044]

teams that run for 250 a game give people fits, if you dont get some scores to make them get out of the game plan. if you told me we struggled to hold them to 200 I would not be surprised. If they do that the possessions go down and the way we grind ed out scores we could dominate and win 27-10 and never feel comfortable.

And if we do what we did last week -- i.e., move the sticks, extend drives, etc. -- then I'm not worried about them rushing for 250. Because they won't have the ball.

This isn't going to be a ground and pound game -- that's what they're going to attempt to do to slow us down, but it isn't going to work. We'll feel comfortable from the jump. We're too experienced.

I understand the rush to conservative caution, but I don't believe this thread is going to age well.

 

[JRHEETER]

I just feel we under perform when we have games that we are massively favored like this one.

UConn is sneaky and I think we need to be careful.

I’m hopeful that the coaches have kept the kids focused on UConn and not peeking forward to Purdue.

Need to win this one and than that Purdue game becomes huge