The Huskies returned to Connecticut last night following the 38-18 loss to Virginia and have now had twenty-four hours to review the film. Head coach Randy Edsall  has clearly identified a number of areas that need improvement following the second game of year.

“We really wanted to start fast and I think we tried to do that offensively, but then we end up shooting ourselves in the foot,” Edsall said on this afternoon’s teleconference. “So far defensively, when we’ve had opportunities to get off the field in the first series in a 3rd and 4, 3rd and 5, 4th and 6, we don’t do the things necessary to get that done. It’s just some things with different guys that make some mistakes that don’t allow us to do that. We answered the first score with the kick return, but then we couldn’t take advantage of the field position, had a miscommunication with the interception. We get down in the tight red, we get in the hitting zone and you need to cover it up with two hands and realize they are going to try to get a helmet on the ball. We don’t take care of the ball or make sure the ball is in the outside arm, so again, just lack of fundamentals and techniques caused us to turn that over. We were down 10-0 when we could really be up 14-7 at that point. We battled and tried to hang in there, but we did a lot of things to ourselves that didn’t allow us to do the things we needed to.”

RB ARKEEL NEWSOME’S ROLE MOVING FORWARD

Senior running back Arkeel Newsome looked good in space for the second consecutive week, but the Huskies moved in a different direction in straight running situations on Saturday.

“We’re still trying to find out what some of these guys can do best” Edsall said. “It may be that certain guys are suited for certain situations that are going to take place throughout the game. That’s the thing I got a better feel for after watching another game and going against a team like Virginia with their skill, speed and athleticism. I was able to find out more and have better opinions on our guys in terms of what I think they can and cannot do and who will be best in the situations we will be in. He [Arkeel] is a guy that if he’s in space has a better opportunity to make more plays, so that’s just something that we are going to have to take a look at and continue to evaluate as we go.”

THOMPSON SAW MAJORITY OF WORK ON 3RD DOWN PASSING SITUATIONS

One piece that stood out when viewing the game was the time that senior running back Jason Thompson saw on third downs. Edsall confirmed it was for pass protection purposes.

“That’s one thing you saw is he goes in on third downs because he has been our most consistent guy in terms of pass protection, picking guys up and doing things that you need to do,” Edsall verified. “Hopefully, we’ll get other guys to continue to get better, we’re working them, but right now we feel that JT has done a good job with that and has earned the right to be in there on third down. He’s doing a good job on kickoff return and what we’re asking him to do there. That’s the biggest thing  that every guy on this team has to understand, they just need to do their job and do it from the time the play starts until it ends. If they do that, there’s things on film that show that we can be consistent and do good things. When we don’t, that creates some issues for us and we’re not as productive as we can and need to be.”

MATT SCHONVISKY / SITE CREATOR