Saturday, September 29, 2007

Akron postgame briefs

Some quickies from the postgame press conference:
  • Donald Brown entered the media interview room on crutches, with his foot in a protective boot. He planted awkwardly on a run, and twisted it. Donald says it's just a sprain. From the looks of it, it's a pretty severe sprain. The rest and treatment during the bye week should help.

  • Tyvon Branch came out after dinging his shoulder. Branch had nothing on the shoulder postgame, and said he expects to be ready for Virginia in two weeks.

  • Also on the injury list are receiver Kevin Poles and defensive end Gary Mack.

  • Randy Edsall's 15-year old son, Corey, was the kid who was taken out on the sidelines on the final play of the first half. He got blasted pretty hard by Akron's Bryan Williams near the 5-yard line marker. Time ran out after the play, foiling a potential Akron score, because the referee ruled forward progress on Williams before he was knocked out of bounds. "You (strategically) put your people wherever you can," Randy Edsall joked. Corey is fine.

  • The students may be on to the next big promotion. Did you see the signs for Andre Dixon? One of them, "Shake them dreds", was on the big screen at the Runway for an extended period. Edsall suggested UConn give out dredlock wigs in time for the Louisville home game on Oct. 29. "Just in time for Halloween", Edsall said.

  • Dixon caught flak from Edsall for his celebration following a 9-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter (the first TD of Dixon's career). Dixon tossed the ball down and did a little shimmy-shake with both hands spread in the back of the end zone. "He just told me to act like I've been there before, and to hand the ball to the referee next time," Dixon said. After Dixon's next score, that's exactly what he did...a quick handoff to the referee.

  • Donald Thomas said the offense struggled in the first half mainly because it took some getting used to Akron's 3-3-5 defense. "That's the first time we've seen that," Thomas said. "We worked against it in practice, but it's not the same as game speed. It takes some getting used to. But once we settled down and took the game a little slower, things began to open up." Once UConn opened things up by throwing more in the second half, the offense took off. Edsall and Thomas both suggested the passes tired the Zips out a bit, as well. "We made some adjustments and said we felt we would throw the ball more to loosen the running game up."

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's too bad about Donald Brown, he finally looked like himself today before he got hurt.

Also, Chip, do you know if there was any sort of change in the blocking scheme in the second half? On each of our big runs (both Brown and Dixon), the holes were open and filled with Donald Thomas, who was apparently pulling and running up field with the running backs. Our offensive line is still pretty poor overall, but the second halves for almost every game this year have been better than the first.

Nice banter on the visitors' side between Akron's kicker and the fans. Seems like a likeable guy.

September 29, 2007 5:32 PM 
Blogger Chip Malafronte said...

Good question. Too bad I didn't ask Donald Thomas that one. But I don't think they changed up the blocking schemes. I think they just figured out what they needed to do against Akron's defensive alignment. Edsall said throwing the ball more also kept the Zips honest in the second half.

September 29, 2007 5:49 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Chip,
It's all right with me if the readers want to stay anonymous. And I certainly don't mind the pot shots! Let's leave it up to the individual if they want to leave their names...of course, anyone who purports to be a Real Man will put his name down. On to the game..
Incredible - this bunch of talentless hacks is undefeated? Whoever made up this schedule deserves a bonus from the Athletic Department.
I think perhaps soon we should discuss the burgening point shaving scandal at Toledo...and the fact that the game the Feds are investigating more than any other is the Motor City Bowl that UConn won. Or, in light of what is being said, perhaps we should instead say, the game UConn "won".
Helluva program - even their one bowl win is suspicious. They should put a big asterisk on that Motor City Bowl sign they have hanging off the press box at the Rent.
Bring it on, you delusional UConn fans! Vinny is ready to kick some butt and take names.

September 29, 2007 8:06 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh and by the way, the best team in the state won today...the Trinity Bantams defeated Williams in triple OT. FANTASTIC game and a REAL rivalry.

Does UConn have a rival? No, seriously. I don't know.

September 29, 2007 8:08 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You know, Vinny, I think I'm going to go onto Trinity's blog and bash them for no reason at all, maybe compare UConn to Trinity, as if they were apples-to-apples.

Then again, maybe I won't. That would make me a loser.

September 30, 2007 8:36 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7XRj0kZRMg

October 01, 2007 6:54 AM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's OK BCAlum...IAYF. There's nothing wrong with being a chubby butt who failed to get into Notre Dame. Looks like UConn has a Top 5 defense this year-there's a ton of speed on our football program. Looks like recruiting crazy speed is paying off-see South Florida.

Looks like BC barely beat UMass. Yikes-imagine if they didn't have a superstar QB! Guess they are the 4th best team in New England, behind the Pats, UConn, and New Hampshire.

October 01, 2007 10:07 PM 

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