Captain Kangaroo Posted October 1, 2007 Report Share Posted October 1, 2007 A lot of you have already some nice post-game summaries. I'll list my thoughts here, from the perspective of having personally sat through the game:Pre-gameI flew in to Hartford on Friday. The stadium is a solid 30-40 minutes from the Storrs campus. From what I understand the State wanted the stadium near Hartford to allow the big insurance companies (and others) to entertain clients. The long drive to the stadium didn't deter many students from attending. The place was full to about 94% of capacity.I stayed about 6 miles from the center of campus. It was a good choice. The college environment beats a city environment any time. When we arrived we were pretty hungry so we went to an off-campus hole-in-the-wall pizza shop cammed "Mama's Pizza." As soon as I walked in the door in my Zips-logo gear, the owner spotted me and started talking about the game. He knew our defense was highly rated...that we played OSU tough...I thought that was pretty impressive. The guy also owned a local sports bar and gave me a couple passes (they had a band playing that night). Very nice hospitality overall around campus. Met some good people.Game DayVERY impressed with the tailgating environment. Tons of people with tents, grills etc. I can describe it like our own Rubber Bowl "fence row," but multiplied by 100. The weather was great...you couldn't beat it. The "local" micro brew beer I selected was a "sample" 12-pack from Magic Hat Brewing Company. Man, one beer sucked worse than the next! Thank God I had a few other local beers that came in 22 oz bottles. The name of the brewery escapes me, but they were EXCELLENT. I also had a beer from Otter Creek Brewing called Otter Roo? It was ok, no need to fear that roo. I could locate no other Zips in the tailgate lot.GameNot too many Zips fans in attendance. I'd guess no more than 75 combined? I ran some good smack with a group of students in a near by section...until the 3rd quarter. Then I endured a Rodney King-esque beating.The weather was pretty hot. On the field, I'd guess it was over 80 degrees. I think that, coupled with our offensive problems, coupled with playing K.e.n.t plus two Big 10 schools prior...took it's toll on our D in the second half.If you want to look at positives from the game, there were a few.I thought the offensive line had a solid day. It helped to get Schepp back behind center. Decent holes to run through, and good pass protection a good portion of the day.But...they say games are won and lost in the trenches. That's true if you have a decent quarterback. CJ11 (I like Zipsrifle's identifier) had a nice game statistically, but he was a drive-killer Saturday. I know the guy is young, but there a certain "something" you see in a good quarterback. The "it" factor. Something that you can't teach. I don't see it in CJ11. He runs good play fakes, has a good arm, but as many have witnessed...they guy just flat out refuses to get rid of the ball. He takes WAY too many sacks. The sideline play at the end of the first half...I don't see any scenario where that should happen. What happened to the play-making CJ11 I saw in summer camp? He's been very different under game conditions.Is it CJ11's fault? No. It is Carlton Jackson's. CJ11 shouldn't have been in that game. If our starting QB is sitting on the sidelines due to "undisclosed" personal whatever, that sucks. I gave CJ7 the benefit of the doubt regarding the "personal issues" that were rumored last year, but it doesn't appear they were rumors. If CJ7 doesn't want to lead this team, it is time to warm up Matt Rogers. BTW - This COULD have been Shawn Hakes' team too. CJ11's limitations plus CJ7's issues have left the QB door wide open. IF Hakes were any good, he could have gone nuts with Jabari this year. Alex Allen seems to get better every week, and as some have noted, Brian Williams is slowly slipping into the "game-breaker" shoes.Jabari has been "The Man" thus far. I wish we'd throw to him 15 times per game.Fuqua - Is the guy allowed to catch a pass beyond the line of scrimmage? The sideline screens are killing me.The D had a rough second half. Thanks to Nate Robinson for skipping at least one practice this week and getting pulled from the travel squad. He wouldn't have helped defend the run. In the second half our secondary was gassed. I haven't seen our CB's give that much cushion since Jesse Smith graduated. Gotta get back to work. I'll finish by stating:UConn is a solid team. They have good size, and excellent team speed. They are well coached and don't make many mistakes (unlike K.e.n.t for example, who was poorly coached and made many mistakes). Yeah, they haven't played anyone "major" yet, but that doesn't mean anything. After two "down" seasons, they appear to have righted their ship. Give them credit. The Zips need to get a mentally tough CJ7 behind center for four quarters if we want to win anything this year. 8-4 is still very realistic considering the MAC East schedule. 4-8 is too, if we continue moving sideways offensively, instead of forward.I'm not worried about our defense. It is fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zip_ME87 Posted October 1, 2007 Report Share Posted October 1, 2007 Nice summary Captain.I totally agree with your QB assessment. IT is there for CJ7, if he wants it. If he steps up to being the leader, on and off the field, this team could easily go 8 - 4 and possibly 9 -3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted October 1, 2007 Report Share Posted October 1, 2007 From what I've seen this year I'm note sure CJ7 is ever going to mature into what kind of QB he could be. Even last year I felt he spent way too much time on the sideline goofing off, even when the O was on the field. I thought CJ11 looked pretty good in the Army game, where has that guy gone? Until we can consistantly move the ball through the air and make some big plays, teams are going to stack the box and shut down our running game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RACER Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 cj7 showed me in the indiana game that on the field he as the potential to be a good mac qb.he just adds another dimension when the play breaks down that cj11 does not have.i have to agree the team needs a leader,and he needs to step up off the feild.a poster on the mac board said we have the 12th hardest schedule in the country right now.no reason the zips cannot win at least two to of the next three games.hopefully they can win all three but have to win the two division games against temple and buffalo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Z Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 From what I've seen this year I'm note sure CJ7 is ever going to mature into what kind of QB he could be. Even last year I felt he spent way too much time on the sideline goofing off, even when the O was on the field.Hilltopper, did you get to watch the game on tv this week? I saw CJ7 on numerous occasions meet CJ11 as he was coming off the field. Tapping him on the head, discussing things. He looked into the game last week. Is this a sign? I hope so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 From what I've seen this year I'm note sure CJ7 is ever going to mature into what kind of QB he could be. Even last year I felt he spent way too much time on the sideline goofing off, even when the O was on the field.Hilltopper, did you get to watch the game on tv this week? I saw CJ7 on numerous occasions meet CJ11 as he was coming off the field. Tapping him on the head, discussing things. He looked into the game last week. Is this a sign? I hope so. I hope its a sign. I agree that CJ7 has the tools to be a winner, just lacks the focus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiel Fleming Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 The "local" micro brew beer I selected was a "sample" 12-pack from Magic Hat Brewing Company. Man, one beer sucked worse than the next! Not a fan of the Magic Hat? Granted the circus boy can leave something to be desired, but the No. 9 is a quality brew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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