Spring Break
Poor Coaching Costs Huskies Against West Virginia
John Frascella
Issue date: 11/28/07 Section: Sports
Despite losing by a final score of 66-21 to No. 2 West Virginia Saturday, the UConn football team had a chance to win, or at the very least, keep the score respectable. Poor play-calling and decision-making in the first half crushed the Huskies in crucial situations.
After trading early touchdowns with West Virginia, UConn was forced to punt after a three-and-out. With the score 7-7, UConn got a pivotal stop of the vaunted Mountaineers offense - a defensive stand that should have swung the momentum to the Huskies.
But freshman Jasper Howard fumbled the ensuing punt, and West Virginia quickly capitalized with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Pat White.
The question is, why was an inexperienced freshman back to field a punt in arguably the biggest game in UConn football history?
The electric, seasoned veteran Larry Taylor should have been enough. Two punt returners is not a necessity and in this case, it clearly hurt the Huskies.
Howard should never have been placed in the position to fail on the big stage.
Yet UConn was able to momentarily recover from the debacle. The Huskies defense managed to make two consecutive stops of the explosive West Virginia offense.
But horrific play-calling made it impossible for UConn to capitalize.
On three consecutive drives, head coach Randy Edsall and offensive coordinator Rob Ambrose opted to call pass plays on 3rd-and-1 on the Huskies' 26-yard line, 3rd-and-2 on the 27-yard line and 3rd-and-3 on the Mountaineers' 35-yard line.
All three pass attempts failed.
It's certainly not outlandish to pass on 3rd-and-short, but running back Donald Brown was slicing up the field. Brown carried 22 times for 129 yards and a touchdown.
When UConn's drive stalled at West Virginia's 35-yard line, Brown had respective runs of eight, 11, 11 and five yards. That's 35 yards on four carries, over eight yards per carry.
Brown was confident and rolling and he deserved the opportunity to pick up the vital first down.
After trading early touchdowns with West Virginia, UConn was forced to punt after a three-and-out. With the score 7-7, UConn got a pivotal stop of the vaunted Mountaineers offense - a defensive stand that should have swung the momentum to the Huskies.
But freshman Jasper Howard fumbled the ensuing punt, and West Virginia quickly capitalized with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Pat White.
The question is, why was an inexperienced freshman back to field a punt in arguably the biggest game in UConn football history?
The electric, seasoned veteran Larry Taylor should have been enough. Two punt returners is not a necessity and in this case, it clearly hurt the Huskies.
Howard should never have been placed in the position to fail on the big stage.
Yet UConn was able to momentarily recover from the debacle. The Huskies defense managed to make two consecutive stops of the explosive West Virginia offense.
But horrific play-calling made it impossible for UConn to capitalize.
On three consecutive drives, head coach Randy Edsall and offensive coordinator Rob Ambrose opted to call pass plays on 3rd-and-1 on the Huskies' 26-yard line, 3rd-and-2 on the 27-yard line and 3rd-and-3 on the Mountaineers' 35-yard line.
All three pass attempts failed.
It's certainly not outlandish to pass on 3rd-and-short, but running back Donald Brown was slicing up the field. Brown carried 22 times for 129 yards and a touchdown.
When UConn's drive stalled at West Virginia's 35-yard line, Brown had respective runs of eight, 11, 11 and five yards. That's 35 yards on four carries, over eight yards per carry.
Brown was confident and rolling and he deserved the opportunity to pick up the vital first down.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Jim
posted 11/28/07 @ 5:38 PM EST
Let's look at the big picture! Does the attempt at a respectable score, necessarily mean that a coaching performance over 12 games needs to be criticized? Obviouly your article suggests the need for it, but I would say that your opinion, for one game, does not justify the excellent coaching over a respectable 2007 season. (Continued…)
Chris Cooper
posted 11/29/07 @ 11:47 AM EST
Are you kidding me. I was in Morgantown for this game and I have to take exception to your analysis. I don't care if you had Vince Lembardi, the Mountaineers would have still cleaned the huskies clock. (Continued…)
Mike
posted 11/29/07 @ 12:18 PM EST
Dude...WVA beat the crap out of UCONN....no coach alive could have kept that one under 3 TDs.
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