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Air Force’s option offense made UConn football pay for early mistakes in Saturday’s road loss
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- Air Force’s option offense made UConn football pay for early mistakes in Saturday’s road loss
Indirectly, the UConn football team played into Air Force's hands on Saturday.
Needing to start fast against the triple-option offense, designed to limit possessions and exhaust opposing defenses, the Huskies went three-and-out on two of their first three offensive series and turned the ball over on downs on 4th-and-5 from the Falcons' 30-yard line. They went down 14-0 after the first quarter and were playing from behind the rest of the way.
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UConn had to score fast in the second half and did with one two-play 75-yard touchdown drive that took 30 seconds, and another that took four plays to go 87 yards in 54 seconds. Meanwhile, the defense was on the field for more than 26 of 30 second-half minutes.
With a missed extra point and a failed two-point conversion, the Huskies couldn't tie the game with their fourth touchdown early in the fourth quarter and the Falcons put it away with an 11-minute, 37-second touchdown drive that made it a nine-point game with three minutes left.
"The goal is to play clean football in all three phases, and we weren't able to do that. We were sloppy in the kicking game, gave up a fake punt, missed an extra point," coach Jason Candle told Fox Sports Radio 97-9 after the game. "Just when it could go wrong, it went wrong. And it's sad that that's the case because it masks a lot of really good play as well. We left our defense out there on the field a lot, and it was two-fold. It wasn't just that we self-inflicted on offense, we had some drives that were a few plays and a touchdown, so then they were right back out there."
"We're choppy, we're not rhythmic at times where you need to be consistent. And when you get 12 or 13 possessions in a football game offensively, you mask some of those issues. But when the other team can pressure you and put heat on you and you only have eight or nine possessions, you have to be critically dialed in. We folded today and we didn't do it."
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Recognizing how critical it was to take advantage of each scoring opportunity and get the maximum number of points, UConn went for a 4th-and-6 on its second possession and failed to convert as pressure got to quarterback Kalieb Osborne . The next possession ended in a three-and-out as Osborne was sacked for a loss of nine on 3rd-and-1.
A costly holding penalty put the Huskies behind the sticks down nine in the fourth quarter, and Air Force got to Osborne for another sack to end the game.
Osborne finished 17 of 33 passing for 263 yards and two touchdowns, ending the game with eight incompletions on his last nine throws as he tried to counter the option with chunk plays through the air, while under duress. He was pressured 17 times, according to PFF, which is the most since he faced a season-high 23 pressures against Syracuse.
"He flashed and he always does. We're not protecting that guy well enough right now up front and he's getting hit too much, that's just the bottom line," Candle told reporters. "So he goes in there, he stands in there and he makes some really hard throws. He's battling and he's playing his tail off. He's giving us everything that we can get out of him and there's consistent growth and improvement each and every week. He continues to put a good process together week-to-week, which allows him to go out there and play really good, but there's things he wants back, and there's maybe some situations that we put him in that we want back, too. So yeah, gotta figure it out, watch the tape, fix it and get on to the next one."
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UConn, two wins away from bowl eligibility with four games to play, welcomes Bill Belichick and North Carolina on Saturday to begin a three-game home stand with James Madison and Old Dominion visiting over the next three weeks.
