When Randy Edsall looked at the film the game came down to about 6 plays on defense. Four of them were big plays, three in the passing game and one rushing touchdown. That, and the two third down runs by Grothe that helped run out the clock.
Edsall thought his defense was very good outside of those breakdowns. In fact, the Huskies outgained the Bulls on the road 258-247 (for all of those criticizing UConn last year,they have outgained opponents in 3 of 4 losses. Meaningless stat).
The problems on special teams have come to a head. In three of the losses, you can pin a lot of it to special teams. UConn struggled with field position on Sunday. Edsall is kind of out of ideas. One player ran down on the coverage unit and had a clean shot at the ball.Instead, he ran to the blocker and ended up tripping himself. Inexplicable.
"Kickoff coverage, we had guys that didn't do things they were coached to do," Edsall said. "I wish I had ananswer for it. We are always looking to see if other guys can go in there. I don't no what else we can do than what we are doing."
Honest assessment. It's been a bugaboo and kind of like trying to patch up a damn. Punt protection improves, then kickoff coverage fails. Or, kickoffs are good and the FG unit struggles. it's hard to win when the unit is a negative. At the very least, the unit has to hold its own and be neutral.
* Edsall thought the offensive line showed some of its youth. One notable exception was Will Beatty, who was blocking USF's George Selvie. Edsall said it was the best game he ever played.
*Edsall sent in several calls for review. The fumble by Lorenzen (which was a fumble) and the 4th and 21 play to end the game. Edsall wouldn't comment on the plays, but there is little question that the hit on Lorenzen was a personal foul call. The defender led with his helmet and left his feet and obliterated Lorenzen (who is ok). They ruled the penalty an illegal forward pass, though Lorenzen was still behind the line of scrimmage.
For the life of me, I don't know how the official called an illegal forward pass and not a personal foul. Was he auditioning for the NFL?
* Greg Lloyd is still in school, and he may play in the bowl game according to Edsall. That's good news for the Huskies. Aaron Bryant started in Lloyd's place.
*No football this week for the head coach, but it's a big Wednesday night for the Edsall family. Son Corey is the starting QB for East Catholic as they take on former co-op partner Cheney Tech Wednesday night. As for Mr. Silver, he is headed to Windsor-Bloomfield Wednesday night (work of course). Love high school football. Edsall said he has gone to three games this season.
That's it for now. Be back later after I pay the bills.
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