UConn stop rate on D

[upperdeck]

We need to play well to win this game. Their D is like top 25 in stop rate.

Some of that is they have not played many teams with solid Offenses.

Still only one team scored over 27 on them.

 

[grepal]

We need to play well to win this game. Their D is like top 25 in stop rate.

Some of that is they have not played many teams with solid Offenses.

Still only one team scored over 27 on them.

I get they have nice stats and that they have improved, however the teams they have beaten are almost all of the worse teams in the country. We will see what happens when they try and punch above their weight.

 

[David321]

We can never take any FBS team lightly but we have one of the top offenses in the country with both passing yards and time of possession. UConn will have their work cut out for them in the Dome. Not to mention our oline looks much improved with the rotating and our run game is looking better.

 

[upperdeck]

Like most games. Turnovers and big plays

if the Pitt game is clean we still had 5 drives of over 10 plays. Just punt all those times and it's a 1 score game

not a blowout.

 

[OrangeTarheel]

UConn appears to run the ball almost twice as much as they pass. That’s the kind of team that we need to get some early scores on and force them to pass to keep it close.

I don’t know who their starting QB is - one of their QBs had 62 completions on the year and the other has 97 (per ESPN). That’s really cute. McCord has 304 completions on the year - that’s more than the total number of pass ATTEMPTS UConn has had all year.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

In FBS games they give up 21.8 ppg. That looks great but then when you see their opp ppg ranks:

62nd, 64th, 73rd, 78th, 92nd, 109th, 111th, 115th, 128th

We are 35th so it will be a complete shock to them.

 

[upperdeck]

lets hope so.

 

[orangefog]

In FBS games they give up 21.8 ppg. That looks great but then when you see their opp ppg ranks:

62nd, 64th, 73rd, 78th, 92nd, 109th, 111th, 115th, 128th

We are 35th so it will be a complete shock to them.

If I'm not mistaken, Cal had good defensive numbers prior to our game...at their place. We are in the Dome with the offense playing really well. We should score really well. We just need to stop the run and play clean. Fran wasn't happy with the penalties last game, I would imagine that is a focus this week. I expect to see a really solid performance on both offense and defense.

 

[upperdeck]

My concern on D was the number of large gains we allowed all game long.

The 2 big runs hurt, but too many 2-3rd and longs were converted as well.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

My concern on D was the number of large gains we allowed all game long.

The 2 big runs hurt, but too many 2-3rd and longs were converted as well.

We aren't that good on 3rd down D anyway. We started the season well but it seemed more luck at the time. We are currently 59th nationally in FBS games and 11th in the ACC, ie we are avg.

Same for Redzone TD%. We are now 59th (7th).

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Yeah well UCONN is facing a team that's incredible on 3rd down so they can stop rate deez nuts.

 

[NKR1978]

We need to play well to win this game. Their D is like top 25 in stop rate.

Some of that is they have not played many teams with solid Offenses.

Still only one team scored over 27 on them.

How good are the offenses they've played? Is that taken into consideration? Most of their wins have been against 2 win teams.

 

[djorange1989]

Again, they are clearly an improved team and with all our flaws, run D included, we can’t take them lightly. However, when two of your wins are against teams who fired their coach not long after you played them, and a third is against a team who could fire their coach at any moment(UAB), and these wins are all really close? They lost by 40 plus points to a horrible Maryland team to boot. Playing Duke and Wake close should tell our players that this isn’t Randy Edsall’s second stint U Conn. I don’t expect a blowout because we don’t blow anyone out, but I expect us to cover with a few points to spare

 

[Chip]

Cal was giving up 19 points and 327 yards per game on D. We traveled across the country, to their house, and had 33 points, 471 yards.

I would expect all of UConn's defensive numbers to take a drastic turn south after this weekend.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Cal was giving up 19 points and 327 yards per game on D. We traveled across the country, to their house, and had 33 points, 471 yards.

I would expect all of UConn's defensive numbers to take a drastic turn south after this weekend.

This was a good post, but it would have been a great post if you incorporated a comment about UCONN turning south, where every cartographer worth their salt knows here there be deez nuts.

 

[ImperialOrange]

We need to play well to win this game. Their D is like top 25 in stop rate.

Some of that is they have not played many teams with solid Offenses.

Still only one team scored over 27 on them.

I'll show uconn a D rate they can stop on...

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Looking at their games closer...

Maryland went up 14-0 with 6:51 in the 1st Q and UConn never got closer.

Duke was up 17-0 with 8:27 in the 2nd and then fell asleep. UConn took the lead with 8:21 in the 3rd. Duke woke up and by 11:49 in the 4th they lead by 5. They then played keep away teh last 5:42 of the game.

UConn went up 10-0 with 11:32 in the 2nd and FAU never got any closer.

UConn went up 10-0 with 4:32 in the 1st and Buffalo never got any closer.

MD was a disaster but the next 3 FBS games UConn looked pretty good. But since then not so much.

Temple had 4th and goal at the 1 yard line. A TD gives Temple a 26-23 W, instead they fumble which is returned for a UConn TD.

Saying UConn was close with Wake is like saying Cal was close vs SU. From 13:21 in the 2nd Q till 2:27 in the 4th Wake was up by 7+ points. In between that time, UConn never had the ball with a chance to take the lead.

UConn took till 10:15 in the 4th to take a decent lead (14-3). After a FG they gave up a KOR TD with 3:28 left in the game only up 17-10.

UConn had to wait till 12:54 in the 4th to take command (27-13) vs GA State.

UAB led 20-3 at halftime and 23-10 after the 3rd. UConn had a big 4th Q scoring 21 points. Even then UAB had a 1st and 10 at the UConn 34 down only 8 and 29 secs on the clock.

Those last 5 games they are 4-1. They should get plenty of credit for that. But at the same time they haven't looked all that impressive. And that is going up against the dregs of FBS.

 

[David321]

They don't have any P4 wins. Nuff said.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

They don't have any P4 wins. Nuff said.

Their best W in the Sagarin is 102nd.

They have also benefited from a lot of home games. Of their 3 previous P4 games only one was at home. But of their 6 G5 games they only had one on the road. That has a lot to do with their record being 6-0 in those games. This will be only their 2nd road game since September 14th and the only road game with a hostile crowd all season.

 

[SanDiegoCuse]

They are using the old Rutgers scheduling philosophy to qualify for Bowl games.

 

[grepal]

My concern on D was the number of large gains we allowed all game long.

The 2 big runs hurt, but too many 2-3rd and longs were converted as well.

Uconn almost has to try ball control to keep possessions at a minimum. No way they hang in a track meet. Stuff the box, dare them to pass.

 

[NKR1978]

Uconn almost has to try ball control to keep possessions at a minimum. No way they hang in a track meet. Stuff the box, dare them to pass.

Their fans think that since we tried that against BC that they should have the same success.

 

[JimBoston]

UConn is going to run the ball and Syracuse is going to throw the ball. Should be an interesting game.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Their fans think that since we tried that against BC that they should have the same success.

They aren't as good as BC.

We are home vs away which makes a difference.

If not for that freak safety, we were even with BC. Those 2 points changed everything.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Looking at their games closer...

Maryland went up 14-0 with 6:51 in the 1st Q and UConn never got closer.

Duke was up 17-0 with 8:27 in the 2nd and then fell asleep. UConn took the lead with 8:21 in the 3rd. Duke woke up and by 11:49 in the 4th they lead by 5. They then played keep away teh last 5:42 of the game.

UConn went up 10-0 with 11:32 in the 2nd and FAU never got any closer.

UConn went up 10-0 with 4:32 in the 1st and Buffalo never got any closer.

MD was a disaster but the next 3 FBS games UConn looked pretty good. But since then not so much.

Temple had 4th and goal at the 1 yard line. A TD gives Temple a 26-23 W, instead they fumble which is returned for a UConn TD.

Saying UConn was close with Wake is like saying Cal was close vs SU. From 13:21 in the 2nd Q till 2:27 in the 4th Wake was up by 7+ points. In between that time, UConn never had the ball with a chance to take the lead.

UConn took till 10:15 in the 4th to take a decent lead (14-3). After a FG they gave up a KOR TD with 3:28 left in the game only up 17-10.

UConn had to wait till 12:54 in the 4th to take command (27-13) vs GA State.

UAB led 20-3 at halftime and 23-10 after the 3rd. UConn had a big 4th Q scoring 21 points. Even then UAB had a 1st and 10 at the UConn 34 down only 8 and 29 secs on the clock.

Those last 5 games they are 4-1. They should get plenty of credit for that. But at the same time they haven't looked all that impressive. And that is going up against the dregs of FBS.

Nice job breaking that down, the Temple, UAB and GA State game stick out like a sore thumb. Rice as well though I think they are a little bit better then their record as they gave a few good teams a decent run (Memphis, Navy Tulane), though offensively they are a hot mess.

Uconn is surely improved from the team SU blew out a few years ago but clearly they have some significant issues still. If they are unable to run the ball they will really struggle to score. Their starting qb is much more of a runner then a passer and while the backup QB Fagnano is a much better passer he has been unable to take over the top spot. The starter was hurt their last game (Evers) but it appears he's on track to play. I'd be pretty surprised if SU didn't see two qb's on Saturday. I am hopeful we learned from the BC run D debacle and will be prepared.

From an offensive standpoint if SU doesn't turn the ball over I think we should be able to put up 30+ without issue. Duke's QB threw for 3 TDs and UAB a team not exactly known for its offensive prowess had their main RB go for 115 yards on 17 carries. Their QB did throw 2 picks but also had 233 yards passing plus a TD. The game before GA State's lead back went 10 for 78 (though one was a run of 55) and their QB threw for 257 with 1 td and 1 pick. I suspect Uconn will be trying to prepare for SU's pass attack and LeQuint could possibly have a massive game on the ground ditto Willis if he's back.

From an SU standpoint I see really two potential concerns
1. Like the UNLV game a few others this year, SU comes out and gets up a few scores and then relaxes a bit. I do worry about Uconn breaking a few big runs, that's been a major issue the last few games and has to be avoided at all costs. This is really may main concern as I don't think Uconn has the Oline to do what BC did to us but Could see SU up 17-3 or so and cruising and the D gives up a long TD run and were in a dogfight.


2. SU is just sloppy. Turning the ball over after long drives, falling for trick plays, penalties etc. We've been better with this as of late but we still tend to get sloppy for stretches most games.