Great showing by the defense Saturday. Not-so-great by the offense. Special teams weren’t as special as N.C. State’s, especially on return coverage.
Anyway, let’s get to the report card. This one follows UConn’s 10-7 loss to the Wolfpack at Rentschler Field…
Offense
Line: Well we don’t have to spend a lot of time analyzing what happened here. It’s been done and it was clear and plain to see. The run game was a disaster. The numbers (35 yards on 32 carries?) say so. N.C. State was able to overpower the line in the passing game when it needed to, too. All three sacks on Chandler Whitmer came at key moments. He did throw for 204 yards and he did have some protection to do that so I can’t give the line an F. The grade aside, the bottom line is this: there is a disconnect between what the Huskies have learned and executing it on the field of play. Is it the system or is it players? D
Quarterback
Five interceptions now for Chandler Whitmer in two games. He had three yesterday. Now if you break it down that’s almost half of what he threw last season (14) at the JUCO. It isn’t a question of whether Whitmer (15 of 27, 204) can lead the team. Right now it’s more of a question of, in which direction? Whitmer is bright so he has to understand the things he did at JUCO he can’t do in Division I-A. Credit him for recognizing and saying as much after the game but he has to practice what he’s begun to preach starting this week. The reality is, if he struggles against Maryland, and most especially if the offense comes out with another porous effort, the love affair with Chandler Whitmer will be over among the fanbase and that’s never a good thing but that’s just the way it is, especially around here. D
Running back
Don’t you feel bad for Lyle McCombs (20×60)? No room to run and a near ineffective passing game to help loosen up his game. McCombs numbers don’t show it but he has given an A-type effort in two games. You have to wonder where his confidence is and could be headed with the group in front him if it doesn’t get better. Also, the Huskies have a good mix of backs. It may be time to see it. B minus
Fullback
Mike Osiecki had a 7-yard reception but no fullback had a rush. They were out there for pass protection at times, though. C
Wide Receiver
No receiver had more than three catches. There were 15 total receptions by the group with Nick Williams totaling 59 on his three grabs. A swing pass to McCombs which led to to his fourth quarter touchdown was big. He picked up 43 yards on the play. Not sure what to say here other than this unit faced a really good secondary and struggled mightily to get any kind of separation. It’s unlikely they’ll face a secondary like that again this season…one wonders what’s up with Shakim Phillips? C
Tight end
Nice job by John Delahunt (3×33) on the receiving end but his fumble at the end of his catch of a tipped pass in the third quarter hurt because it was a good play that instantly killed momentum and, the Wolfpack turned around and scored the game’s lone touchdown on the next possession to take a 10-0 lead. Ryan Griffin had one catch for four yards and one great block to spring McCombs on the swing pass. C
Defense
What more can you say about this group other than the fact if the offense played with the same kind of I’ve-got-this attitude the Huskies would be 2-0 today? No, the defense played well but as Yawin Smallwood pointed out, it needed to get itself and the N.C. State offense off the field on third down a few more times. The touchdown came on a third-and-15 and went for 46 yards, a big play.
Line: There was youth up there. We’ve talked about the Wolfpack’s offensive line and experience but Ryan Wirth (four tackles) and Angelo Pruitt (three tackles, sack) were among the few holding their own. Trevardo Williams was pesky on N.C. State quarterback Mike Glennon. Williams had 2 1/2 sacks; three of his five tackles went for loss. Williams has been outstanding so far and is ninth in the nation in sacks with 1.75 per game. He’s nearly a quarter of the way to his goal for the season (16) after two games. Anyway, three of the six sacks on Glennon came from the defensive front. Also, nice work by Jesse Joseph on the other end with his eight tackles, second highest on the team behind Smallwood’s 14. Overall not a bad effort at all. B plus
Linebackers:
Now, clearly, N.C. State watched tape of Western Michigan and Iowa State because the same way those teams cleared the linebackers out of the way to make plays underneath against the Huskies last season is the same thing the Wolfpack did at times, with success, yesterday. In the end, it wasn’t that hurtful to the Huskies this time but it could be down the road. Overall, the unit was solid. B plus
Secondary
Getting beat happens. Being there to help after it happens is important in a game where points are hard to come by for either side. Taylor Mack and Ty-Meer Brown will be better for what happened yesterday. They will. Byron Jones, yeoman-type work with the eight tackles. B
Special Teams
Never really got a chance to be special. N.C. State’s special teams were really good. Really put the glove on Nick Williams. He had one punt return and was bottled up for a yard and two kickoffs went for 44 yards but that was about it. Cole Wagner averaged 40.5 yards on his punts. Sure he would like to add a little bit more there but the defense had him covered. C
DC
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20 Responses to Report Card: UConn Vs. N.C. State
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I was at this game and I am going to Maryland this weekend. This is a game as a Husky Fans we have seen to many times. The players on the field are somewhat talented but it seems the coaching staff isn’t doing a good job of executing(Offensively).
I said it last year that if they had a good “O” Coordinator that team finishes with 8 wins easy. This year I am really going to be pissed if the season continues like this. Coaching is the difference in the games. Time to step up or get the heck out.
Weather: F for not giving Christen a chance at the 47yarder.
Dez my man, how is it you always grade the team and not include the coaching staff???
I already know the answer but just had to put it out there.
Defense deserves an “A”. They look great, with te exception of one long pass play and that will happen when you gamble. Given up 10 points in 2 games. What other defense in the country can say that?
Problem is the UCONN defense is like Steve Carlton of the Phillies from years ago. He felt like if he didn’t pitch a shutout his team would lose. Giving up 10 points to NC State should have been a winning result.
Special Teams: Nothing really to judge them on. Punter did well in windy conditions.
Offense = 4 P’s. Sorry to say this about 18, 19, 20, 21 year old kids. 4 P’s are:
Pitiful
Pathetic
Piss Poor!
Starts with the O Line which for 2 straight games was miserable.
Coaching: F
Coaches job is to evaluate talent and put players in a position to succeed and win. HC and OC are failing us.
BTW…that TD pass by Glennon was one of the better plays in the history of The Rent. What a pass.
That Play came against the Back-up Corner… Still a great play but No one should get beat over the top on 3rd and 15. NO_ONE!
He threw the pass into a space where only his guy could catch it.
Wow, pretty much of what some of us expected when PP came on board. Oooops I have to give them more time, I know.
I hate to pick on any dog but five picks in two games and not a TD in the air tells a story. I would love to see what Scott could do if given a full half on the field.
It is either that or the D has to find a way to score more points. For them to hold NCS to only 10 was more than most would have expected I am sure.
Another week of this and Paul will have to start answering questions on his ability to evaluate talent.
Nice that he cleared the QB question up early but was it the right decision?
This coaching staff let the wrong QB walk away,but as we know ,they want a stand in the pocket passer and not someone who can run.
When is George DeLeone going to be called out? When HCPP was hired and brought in GL, Syracuse fans messaged this website saying to get ready for a conservative, boring, low-scoring offense. So far, so true. So much for “explosive running, explosive passing!” Then he takes over the o-line and what used to be a strength under HCRE becomes a huge weakness. I wonder if the Syracuse fans were right…the game has passed GL by…time to move on!
I hope this isn’t the Greg Robinson year at Connecticut
I tend to agree with the grades. Did the caoching staff watch any tape of the UT/N.C. State game? UT won by passing the ball deep in the first half of the game. Did Connecticut go deep more than once all game yesterday?
O-Line…F
Running game…C-
Whittmer…D
D.J. Joey…F
Fans…D+
Defense… B+ When the D has a bad game (and they will at some point) it’s going to be hard to watch.
It might be a long season if the offense dosen’t improve. I’m also a little suspect of the game prep/play calling.
One thing that I keep coming back to is that under Edsall Connecticut would have somehow won this game yesterday. They just would have. Of the 13 losses at The Rent since Connecticut went 1-A, 4 of them have been under Coach P in under two seasons of play. There is no home field advantage under this coach at the moment. It’s a shame but the team always found a way to win at home under Edsall. I guess it’s differnt now.
Dez,
Thanks for your unbiased and fair coverage of the Huskeys.
I tend to agree with your assessment, but believe the D deserves higher grading. They were stellar in stopping a powerful NC State offense and provided the only twinkle of optimism, at least for me.
I am probably the most frustrated with the O-line and the performance of Whitmer. It is difficult to see which was worse, but unless we can come up with a plan to fix the underwhelming play on the offensive side of the ball, we are in some serious trouble going forward.
Hww long do you think Whitmer has before Johnny Mac gets the call?
not impressed with our quarterbacks decisions.
Have to wonder what the very accurate Johnny Mac would do with the improved protection we saw today.
He had none last year
The very accurate Johhn Mac? Um he has no footwork and would have been sacked 8 times in the game eyerday and he is not accurate. He had wide open recievers last year and in the Cincy game he actually passed the ball to Butch Jones…Butch Jones is the head coach at Cincy.
Dez – thanks for the great work – lets start rating the coaching also – hcpp and his offense coaches – bad. We hear that the ncs defense did things differently – how about changing up our ol play during the game or at halftime – coaching is about giving our players the best opportunity to be successful – don’t see it. We hear that we have enought plays to paper walls – instead lets find some plays that we can execute upon – how about draws and screens – how about finding receivers that want the ball when it is in the air – J. Davis gave up on the interception in the 3rd qtr. HCPP and offensive staff grade out at a D after the first two games.
Dez,
Maybe you should start adding the crowd to the report card. 6,000 empty seats for the best OOC game is a horrible showing.
Good point on the crowd. Many that were there seemed to leave at the end of the 3rd quarter. The score was 10-0. Should have stuck around longer.
there was almost a traffic jam at halftime with people still coming in, and people trying to leave
Dez, an astute and fair report card. I think with respect to the play of the offensive line, it may be that the players have no yet learned to intuitively apply it in real time.