Somewhere, former offensive coordinator George DeLeone must wonder why he was ever demoted. Oft-criticized when he was calling plays under Paul Pasqualoni, DeLeone wasn't any worse than what currently passes as an offense for UConn.
The latest: an uninspiring three-point showing against a Tulane team that was ripe for the picking. Instead, 60 minutes of futility resulted in a 12-3 victory for the Green Wave. It was some of the ugliest football you'd ever want to see.
The Huskies had eight possessions in Tulane's half of the field and the results: three punts, three turnovers, and 1 of 2 on field-goal attempts.
“I’m not surprised about anything,” first-year coach Bob Diaco said, according to SNY.com's John Silver. “We are playing so many young players and they have a maturing process. They have a cooking process that needs to happen. They have to play in the games. There’s no way to simulate it. There’s no other way to simulate the game other than to play in the game. They’re doing a fine job. They’re just creating at the point of attack some game-changing plays."
And has been the case in previous weeks, ill-timed turnovers have been a problem.
"We squandered away scoring opportunities with turnovers,” Diaco continued. ”Turning it over on (Tulane’s) 30-yard line. The 24-yard line ended up producing a safety on the back end. That was a five-point swing, maybe a nine-point swing. The game ended up 12-3, you cannot make mistakes like that.”
At 1-4, the writing appears to be on the wall for the Huskies' season but Diaco isn't interested in looking ahead. We've said it countless times but this is a process, and Diaco knows that he needs to get this group of players to buy into what he's doing UConn's going to have success in the future.
"We are sick that we lost this football game and that we lost those other games and what the record is," he said. "The guys are in there crushed because we lost the game and we’re going to mourn this loss for 24 hours and then we’re going to get better as a football team. We’re not going to let anybody splinter us apart. We’re not going to let anybody try to drive a wedge between the offense and the defense, certainly not you (spoken to me), or create a frustration between one group or the next.
“We’re going to love each other. We’re going to care about each other and we’re going to practice the plays and we’re going to get better," Diaco continued. "That’s all we’re going to do. We’re going to try hard and everybody’s trying as hard as they can and we’re going to keep getting better and better and better and eventually we’re going to stop making the game-changing, mind-altering, mind-boggling mistakes and the points will show on the scoreboard. That will absolutely happen ”
