Not ready for prime time

A bad loss on every front

By: Kevin Duffy

Posted: 10/6/08

Saturday night's game against North Carolina was kind of like the movie "Good Luck, Chuck."

First, it was boring. Then it got kind of funny. Then it got really bad and I had to turn it off.

How bad was it?

Jonathan the Husky pulled the plug on the field lights just so he didn't have to watch the rest of the game.

Donald Brown struck the Heisman pose on his way to the bus and his own teammates booed him.

Lane Kiffin called Randy Edsall after the game and told him everything would be alright.

All jokes aside, however, let's look on the bright side, because God knows Edsall didn't.

Zach Frazer did some good things. He displayed solid arm strength, stood strong in the pocket and converted on several third-and-longs.

He also did some really, really horrible things. His first interception, thrown directly to North Carolina linebacker Mark Paschal, was a bad misread. It resulted in three points for the Tar Heels and a 180-degree shift in momentum.

The second one wasn't his fault, although he could have put a little less zip on the four-yard out-pattern to Kashif Moore.

And if UConn had any hope of winning the game at the 4:15 mark in the third quarter, it vanished six seconds later when Frazer decided to be Brett Favre for a play and toss the ball to North Carolina defensive tackle Mario Austin for a 23-yard touchdown return.

Granted, it was Frazer's first career start, but what happened on Saturday was not UConn football. Last season, Tyler Lorenzen threw six interceptions in thirteen games. Frazer threw half that total in one game.

This may be news to everyone, but UConn is not talented enough to overcome three turnovers. The Huskies aren't USC. They aren't Georgia. Evidently, they aren't even North Carolina. They won nine games last season because they were well-coached and well-disciplined. UConn rarely turned the ball over and its players rarely played outside of their abilities.

If Frazer wants to have the same success Lorenzen did last year, he needs to treat the ball with more care - a lot more care, in fact. When UConn loses the turnover and field position battles, it loses the game. The Huskies just don't have the playmakers - particularly at wide receiver - to overcome turnovers.

They also don't have the playmakers to overcome the 11 penalties - for 97 yards - that they were flagged for on Saturday.

Donald Brown becomes a non-factor when UConn is constantly faced with second-and-20 situations. Mental errors put Frazer - and the entire offense - in an uncomfortable position.

Moore should not be the team's go-to playmaker. Neither should D.J. Hernandez. But given the immense amount of yardage the Huskies needed on third down throughout the game, it's hard to fault Frazer for forcing passes down the field to a receiving corps whose best player didn't come to college as a wide receiver.

Then, of course, there was Desi Cullen. I'm not going to pretend that I know exactly why Cullen's first three punt attempts were blocked. It could have been because he was looking directly at the ball until he kicked it. Or it could have been because his blockers decided to take an early Spring Break.

Either way, UConn's special teams were far from special. Last season, a sound kicking game and great kick coverage played a big role in the Huskies' success.

Cullen had one bad game, but his coverage units have been abysmal the whole season.

The miscues don't end with the special teams, however. Offensively, there were some personnel decisions that certainly didn't help the cause.

First of all, Andre Dixon must still have a bad ankle, because there is no reason why Jordan Todman should ever be the No. 2 back ahead of Dixon. Yes, Todman is fast, but he has about as good a chance at breaking a tackle as Tony Ciaravino does.

In case anyone forgot, Dixon was the team's best player last season. He's also a legitimate receiving threat out of the backfield (note: Brown had five catches for four yards Saturday).

If UConn wants to expand its offense, it should stop throwing wide-receiver screens to Moore and start using Brown and Dixon in more creative ways.

With that being said, everyone needs to keep the 38-12 defeat in perspective. These mistakes are easy to fix. UConn is still 5-1 and while the loss was ugly, it was still a non-conference game. The Huskies have just as good a chance as anyone to win the wide-open Big East and earn a berth in a BCS bowl game.

If UConn can get back to playing disciplined, focused football, there's no reason for fans to start camping out for the basketball opener.

UConn can still be a football school.