Spring Break
Passing game still an issue after Blue-White game
Kevin Duffy
Issue date: 4/20/09 Section: Sports
It's been two days since UConn's Blue and White spring football game ended. Since then I've had two days to soak it all in and sum it all up and the first word that came to mind was "boring." The second word was "sketchy." But I finally settled on one word to describe to it: Bizzarre.
People tailgated, fans attended, cheerleaders cheered, the media covered - but, as it turns out, UConn's Blue and White game was nothing more than a weird fantasy football game with dysfunctional scoring system.
Usually, in football, there are two teams that have an offense, a defense and special teams. Each team can score in three separate ways - touchdowns (with a PAT), field goals, and rarely, safeties.
Apparently, that system - though used in last season's 21-17 Blue team victory - isn't sufficient anymore.
The scoreboard was kind of like ESPN's "Around The Horn." Points were flying all over the place and no one knew how or why. The Blue Team (the offense, in case you haven't been keeping up) won 83-57.
Needless to say, its very difficult to take anything meaningful away from this game, especially considering the defense showed only two different looks, according to Coach Randy Edsall. Marcus Easley played well -10 catches for 169 yards and two touchdowns. Third-string quarterback Johnny McEntee was a perfect 9-for-9 for 143 yards and one score. Sure, the numbers look good (I'm sure UConn won't score 83 points in a football time for a long time - or at least until Maine is on the schedule again), but the scoring system put the defense at a serious disadvantage. A 15-yard run counted as three points by itself, and then an additional point for the first down. Thus, the numbers were not indicative of how productive UConn's offense really was.
The scary thing is that the Huskies only made it to the International Bowl last season with three potential first-round picks in April's NFL Draft. Brown, Darius Butler and Will Beatty are all gone, and this current roster doesn't have anyone near the caliber of those three players, particularly at the skill positions.
People tailgated, fans attended, cheerleaders cheered, the media covered - but, as it turns out, UConn's Blue and White game was nothing more than a weird fantasy football game with dysfunctional scoring system.
Usually, in football, there are two teams that have an offense, a defense and special teams. Each team can score in three separate ways - touchdowns (with a PAT), field goals, and rarely, safeties.
Apparently, that system - though used in last season's 21-17 Blue team victory - isn't sufficient anymore.
The scoreboard was kind of like ESPN's "Around The Horn." Points were flying all over the place and no one knew how or why. The Blue Team (the offense, in case you haven't been keeping up) won 83-57.
Needless to say, its very difficult to take anything meaningful away from this game, especially considering the defense showed only two different looks, according to Coach Randy Edsall. Marcus Easley played well -10 catches for 169 yards and two touchdowns. Third-string quarterback Johnny McEntee was a perfect 9-for-9 for 143 yards and one score. Sure, the numbers look good (I'm sure UConn won't score 83 points in a football time for a long time - or at least until Maine is on the schedule again), but the scoring system put the defense at a serious disadvantage. A 15-yard run counted as three points by itself, and then an additional point for the first down. Thus, the numbers were not indicative of how productive UConn's offense really was.
The scary thing is that the Huskies only made it to the International Bowl last season with three potential first-round picks in April's NFL Draft. Brown, Darius Butler and Will Beatty are all gone, and this current roster doesn't have anyone near the caliber of those three players, particularly at the skill positions.
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