What Can Mora Do?
The Story: The football team is limping back to Storrs after several weeks of brutal losses, including a 41-10 defeat at No. 12 NC State on Saturday.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Jim Mora started his recap of the weekend with a simple note and explanation about the state of the Huskies.
• UConn has 12 players out for the season and is down its starting quarterback, top two running backs and top three wide receivers. What does that add up to? An inept offense that in two games against two of the nation’s best teams in Michigan and NC State produced 63 passing yards and 10 points in eight quarters.
• UConn was outscored 100-10 in two games and was dominated by two top-10 opponents. That isn’t surprising, but it’s still disappointing.
• The Huskies were never in the game against NC State as the Wolfpack scored on the first play from scrimmage.
• The Huskies haven’t been close against Syracuse, Michigan, and NC State with the offense the primary issue.
• The Wolfpack ran up 492 yards on the Huskies and moved to No. 10 in the latest Associated Press poll.
• UConn’s three-game stretch turned out to be about what we expected. The schedule eases up starting with Fresno State on Saturday at Pratt & Whitney Stadium but is by no means easy. What Mora wants to see is improvement. Do we want to hear that right now? Of course not, and if we don’t get results, we are going to be disappointed.
WHAT DID MORA SAY? “Injuries are not excuses, but they’re opportunities for other guys to step in and get some playing time, and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to make the best of it.”
CHALLENGING COACHES: Mora has a task for offensive coordinator Nick Charlton: Find a way to get something going in the passing game.
• Zion Turner was 10-for-12 on Saturday, but as we’ve seen this year, very little is vertical and the passing game netted only 39 yards.
• The Huskies averaged 3.4 yards per play against NC State and Mora is going to task his offensive staff to get more creative in play design.
WHAT ELSE DID MORA SAY? “We were playing one of the best defenses in college football, No. 1, on the road without our starting quarterback, without our top two running backs, without our top two receivers, so I’ll start there. From there, we didn’t do a good enough job of scheming to put our players in a position to make plays. And then we made some mistakes on the field.”
NEXT UP: Fresno State on Saturday at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field at 3:30 p.m.
Morning Reads
• The women’s soccer team lost 1-0 to St. John’s yesterday to fall to 5-3-1, including 1-1 in the Big East. (UConnHuskies.com)
• Butler knocked off the men’s soccer team 4-1 on Saturday. (UConnHuskies.com)
• The women’s hockey team swept its opening home-and-home series with RIT over the weekend. (UConnHuskies.com)
Top photo: Jim Mora is taking the football team back to the drawing board after its difficult three-game stretch, including a 41-10 loss to NC State on Saturday. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
