If you take away a 43-yard yard run he had against Temple and a 43-yard pass Saturday to Brian Lemelle, Williams has led an offense that has gained 195 yards on 94 plays. Against BC, he was 12-for-29 for 127 yards. Williams was 12-for-21 for 69 yards against Temple and had a short week to prepare for a Friday night game. Not that Sherriffs would have won either game, but it’s downright absurd to say Williams gave the Huskies a better chance. If Shirreffs is healthy enough to play - something Diaco insisted Saturday - the idea of burning a freshman redshirt is unfair to Shirreffs and Williams. Still, the competitor in him must burn to play. In an interview with Mike Anthony of The Courant, Shirreffs said nothing about specific injuries but expressed a degree of relief in the quarterback change. UConn quarterback Donovan Williams throws a pass in the second quarter of a 30-0 loss to Boston College on Saturday in Chestnut Hill, Mass. 17, an injury that is believed to have been re-aggravated late in the first half of the East Carolina game. Among a number of wounds, he is believed to have played with a painful rib injury since the Virginia game on Sept. What Shirreffs endured at the hands of the South Florida defense was cruel and unusual. Yes, Shirreffs took a beating this year, a real beating, and a piece of it was his own doing. Through two games, Williams has hit 50 percent of his passes for 98 yards per game, no touchdowns, three interceptions and nine sacks. He threw seven touchdown passes and six interceptions. A redshirt junior, with 22 games of starting experience, Shirreffs completed 58.7 percent of his passes this season for an average 222.3 yards per game. This is an insult to Bryant Shirreffs, who won three games this year and six last year. Asked after the game, in front of the Connecticut press corps and the BC Jesuits, if he honestly believed it, Diaco said, “Yes. on Diaco continually insisting that Williams gave the Huskies the best chance to beat Temple and Boston College. It’s far-fetched - fantastic - but maybe it really did happen.īut I know I’m not wrong when I call B.S. Maybe Williams really did, as Diaco said, go to him unsolicited as a freshman and tell the head coach of a major college football team he ought to burn his redshirt with three games left in a season. Shouldn’t UConn win some games before you anoint Corley the next Josh McDaniels? Shouldn’t Williams throw at least one touchdown pass before you suggest he could be the next Lamar Jackson or the next Peyton Manning? Why put that kind of pressure on a new OC and kid? Why put that kind of expectation on them when you know the offense had struggled so mightily? Why in heavens name would you predict that a freshman who had never taken a snap in a college football game had an upside as high as any quarterback in America? Why in heavens name would you predict that an offensive coordinator whose entire history of play-calling was a couple of downs during a headset problem at William & Mary would unequivocally be a star and icon in his profession? Last Tuesday, Diaco said, “Williams’ upside, at the end, all things being equal, it will be as high as any player at his position in America. This also is a story about how many times Diaco has tested the bounds of reality.Īs the Huskies sank to 3-8, outscored 109-3 since late in the second quarter against Central Florida, the only magic apparently is in the culture that Diaco insists he has built so, so strong.Īfter the loss to Temple, Diaco not only said Donovan Williams came to him to lobby to play, he also said Williams gave the Huskies the best chance to beat the Owls. Yet this is a story about more than continuing dismal offensive numbers. Former UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni, now the Eagles’ defensive line coach, must have enjoyed a smile. ![]() The 121 total offensive yards also was the worst since UConn began playing major college football. UConn gained minus-6 yards on the ground, the lowest total in its FBS history. In the case of the running game, it did less than nothing.
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