Sunday, September 14, 2008

What to take from the win

It was a fantastic win with both offense and defense clicking. Tyler Lorenzen played the way he played most of last year: Under control and smart. Donald Browns was, well, Donald Brown. And Darius Butler, contrary to anything UConn says, brings an electric element to the offense.

Defensive end Cody Brown told me after the game he was mad the D allowed its first touchdown of the season and that he would be running a penalty lap today because of it.

What did we learn? UConn is better than what it showed against Hofstra and Temple. We also know the Huskies (Offensive coordinator Rob Ambrose) can make creative play calls, something he might want to try doing more often. Granted, part of that is because of Butler, whose athleticsm allows for so much tinkering that it's exciting. The Huskies need to do a lot of work on special teams. Virginia had 219 yards of total offense and 209 on kickoff returns. Against teams like Cincininatti, South Florida, West Virginia and Pitt where there are good return men, that can kill a game.

What didn't we learn? A fair assessment. How bad is Virginia? It lost 35-3 to Sourthern California, which is understandable. But it also beat Richmond 16-0 at Charlottseville, which tells you nothing good about the Cavaliers.

This is what I don't like: The Huskeis are 3-0, will still be toward the bottom of the "receiving votes" list and the knock on them will be either "they barely beat Temple," a two-week old excuse or that Virginia isn't good. The national taste makers don't want give the Huskies credit. It happened last year and it is going on again this year. If the Huskies were to beat South Florida or West Virgina, we would hear how thiose schools just had a bad day, or in the case of the Mountaineers, that the Huskies couldn't beat them last year. Again, that was last year and doesn;t matter. But coaches and voters on the writer's poll don't like UConn or the Big East. Don't be surprised if the Huskeis are 6-0 entering November and are ranked 25th in both polls.

No comments: