Your Keys to the UCONN game

Submitted by kb on

We've all had a good month at least to think about the opener.  What are your keys to the game other than the obvious one: HOLD ON TO THE DAMN BALL.  In my opinion, it comes down to:

1. Stopping the UCONN run game:  After watching highlights of Todman, I've got to admit the guy is pretty darn good.  He's fast, shifty, and has good vision for a RB.  If we limit long runs and keep his yardage below 100 yards, I'd be happy.

2. Time of possession: We've seen our share of quick three-and-outs and a more up tempo pace under RRod. We either have to have a significant number of sustained drives and/or slow the tempo down a little.  The worst thing that can happen IMO is to have UCONN dominate the time of possession, especially considering the concerns with the D.  Keep our D rested and off the field.

3. Converting in the Red Zone: We have to put the ball in the end zone when we have it in the red zone, plain and simple.  Many drives last year stalled in the red zone, and we simply can't rely on a new kicker in the first game.

HoldTheRope

September 3rd, 2010 at 7:04 PM ^

Hopefully people will put those away just this once...

The keys are simple (and boring). Don't turn the ball over, and get the ground game going so that we can expose their secondary. I think we will give up some points and maybe a big play or two, but we just have too much talent and versatility on offense for them to consistently stop us. I will say this...I think it'll be close at the half, as we will need to show some mental toughness to close it out come the 3rd and 4th quarters. Here's to that happening tomorrow!

Zone Left

September 3rd, 2010 at 7:01 PM ^

HOLD ONTO THE DAMN BALL!

Seriously, no turnovers means we probably got a solid game from Robinson/Forcier.  If the QBs play well, there's probably about 2% chance of losing.

jrt336

September 3rd, 2010 at 7:08 PM ^

The key to this game is our front 7. If we stop the run, we win. If we don't, we might lose. I don't see us winning the TOP battle (because UConn will run all game, and we seem to punt quickly or score quickly), and we don't have to. But it does have to be fairly close. It can't be 40:20 Uconn over us. We need to avoid 3 and outs. 

victors2000

September 3rd, 2010 at 7:48 PM ^

if the defense performs competently, that will overcome a lot of mistakes that could occur on offense. I have all the confidence in the world in our offense, hopefully the defense comes through...

artds

September 3rd, 2010 at 8:36 PM ^

1. Exploiting UCONN's weak secondary by (gulp) throwing the football more than 12 times during game. I know we're a run-first team but when the other side has a bunch of elves covering your receivers you throw the goddamn football.

2. Limiting turnovers by taking sacks and throwing the ball away when there's nothing there.

3. Actually catching punts or just letting them roll to a stop. Either one would be fine. Had we done that last year you could take 7 points away from our opponents in several of our losses.

If we do these 3 things tomorrow, we'll record a W.