URI vs. UNH Slugfest

[Cobblestone]

This game tired me out. It reminded me of Ernie Shavers vs. Larry Holmes or Scott Pemberton vs. Omar Shika. UNH would pound us and we'd pound right back. I'm proud of how we played on offense; showed a lot of heart. Kudos to Cassidy for throwing for 436 yards and 3 TD's. Our receivers did a good job today and I think our offensive scheme is headed in the right direction. I like Rizzi's style overall. On defense, we've got some work to do. We also need some MUCH deeper kickoffs.

Quite frankly, as well as we played we just didn’t have the personnel to win against UNH. That team is loaded with talent and experience. Man, that dude Sicko is tough to tackle. I think UNH fans can start to reserve their playoff tickets; they'll be returning. On a positive note for us, if we can hang with UNH I think we can hang with anybody in the CAA.

I enjoyed meeting the UNH fans today. UNH_Alum, York and UNHWILDCATS05. Thanks for the burgers and of course the Tuckerman's. I hope you guys enjoy the Newport Storm. See you in Durham next season.

[89Hen]

I watched most of the game on TV. Very entertaining if you love offense. What is it when these two teams get together?

I did love to see URI with a real offense. xthumbsupx

[McNeese75]

Defense???? xconfusedx Do either of them have one?

[rcny46]

Defense???? xconfusedx Do either of them have one?

I was hoping that this might be the year UNH came up with one.I was optimistic after watching the Army game,but after allowing URI to pick up 517 total yards,I'm not so sure.Albany comes in next week,and they better do a better job than they did today if they're going to survive that one.To quote Yogi Berra,it could be a case of "deja vu all over again."

[Brad82]

Watched on TV. A couple of observations:
1. agree with Cobble,we just could not keep up w/UNH.

2. Cassidy looked good,really spread the ball around and ran well. He no longer locks in on one WR (Leonard).

3. Far cry from past,Rhody's O-line has not run-blocked successfully for three games.

4. Rhody O-line is really good at pass-blocking,according to announcers they start two true frosh?

5. What happend to transfer DE from Rutgers? He is no longer on roster? They could sure use him.

6. Play-calling much better and imaginitive once Rhody got down. need to be that aggressive from opening whistle.

[WrenFGun]

Don't think the defense was as bad as it appeared, but still, need to do a little better than that.

[art vandelay]

I agree. UNH should know how many points the spread offense can put up on teams. Its a very high octane offense and will put up a lot of points on many teams. The other part of this is the number of free opportunities UNH gave them field position wise.

[WrenFGun]

I definitely think URI is much improved, to be honest. While they don't have a running game beyond Cassidy scrambling, Cassidy is generally pretty accurate and elusive. Rizzi seems to be a guy who's really coaching with a lot of emotion. On Sean Ware's late hit on Cassidy that knocked him out toward the end of the first half, Rizzi almost jumped UNH coach Sean McDonell, who fired back with an equal retort. Looks to be a budding rivalry, but when all that matters is the W, happy to have it.

Also, welcome to primetime, Chad Kackert.

[UNH_Alum_In_CT]

I enjoyed meeting the UNH fans today. UNH_Alum, York and UNHWILDCATS05. Thanks for the burgers and of course the Tuckerman's. I hope you guys enjoy the Newport Storm. See you in Durham next season.

Great to meet you too Cobble!! And yes the Hurricane Amber went down very nicely tonight!!! xnodx xbeerchugx

Really enjoyed those new stands next to the Ryan Center! Great view of the game and love the access to the Ryan Center for concessions and rest rooms!

Look forward to sharing some microbrews and grub with you next year in Durham.

[UNH_Alum_In_CT]

I definitely think URI is much improved, to be honest. While they don't have a running game beyond Cassidy scrambling, Cassidy is generally pretty accurate and elusive. Rizzi seems to be a guy who's really coaching with a lot of emotion. On Sean Ware's late hit on Cassidy that knocked him out toward the end of the first half, Rizzi almost jumped UNH coach Sean McDonell, who fired back with an equal retort. Looks to be a budding rivalry, but when all that matters is the W, happy to have it.

Also, welcome to primetime, Chad Kackert.

During the postgame handshake, everything seemed pretty cool between Rizzi and McDonnell. But, yes they were verbally jousting after that play in the first half. I was a little surprised that Rizzi was all the way over on the opposite side of the field, but as a Rhody player or fan you have to love the passion Rizzi is bringing to the game!

But IMHO I think he needs to be careful. There was one play in the first half where he was really ripping the officials for a play in front of him. The zebras had thrown a flag and caught the infraction, but he was ripping them like they hadn't called the penalty. I thought he showed the refs up a bit. Later in the game there was another play right in front of the URI bench which to many of us on the other side looked like interference on UNH but no call was made. I had to wonder if the earlier tirade had impacted the zebras.

[UNH_Alum_In_CT]

For those who didn't follow the game closely, UNH went out to a 17-0 lead where IIRC Rhody had one first down during that stretch. I thought the defense looked very, very good up to that point. Once we got that lead I noticed some changes in how we played defense, a different rotation of guys on the DL and more of what I guess some like to call "prevent" defense. UNH still managed to hold leads of 31-10, 34-17 and 48-30.

To Rhody's credit they never gave up and their OL pass blocked very well. Cassidy continually found guys open and executed exactly like McDonnell has said he wants Toman to execute -- spread the ball around, find the open guy and get him the ball. It was very difficult to understand how this Rhody team was shut out the prior week.

Obviously, UNH never "put the game away". Even with seven returning starters, this is a young defense and hopefully they learned a lesson on Saturday.

Plenty of tests ahead for UNH and I'm not ready to punch a playoff ticket for them just yet. But it sure is fun to see enough on the field to know that we're still considered a playoff contender despite the loss of Ricky Santos.

[UNH_Alum_In_CT]

I watched most of the game on TV. Very entertaining if you love offense. What is it when these two teams get together?

I did love to see URI with a real offense. xthumbsupx

No kidding! We have had some wild games the past few years!! And it was just a little bizarre seeing Rhody flinging it on virtually every down from the 2nd Quarter on!!

Very glad to come out of Meade with a "W" as I can recall too many stubbed toes by my Wildcats in that stadium!!

[UNHWildCats]

that damn kid Jimmy Hughes or whatever.... He changed the game, if he does break off with that huge run URI probably doesnt get reignited..... ugh go away jimmy. :p

[Cobblestone]

During the postgame handshake, everything seemed pretty cool between Rizzi and McDonnell. But, yes they were verbally jousting after that play in the first half. I was a little surprised that Rizzi was all the way over on the opposite side of the field, but as a Rhody player or fan you have to love the passion Rizzi is bringing to the game!
But IMHO I think he needs to be careful. There was one play in the first half where he was really ripping the officials for a play in front of him. The zebras had thrown a flag and caught the infraction, but he was ripping them like they hadn't called the penalty. I thought he showed the refs up a bit. Later in the game there was another play right in front of the URI bench which to many of us on the other side looked like interference on UNH but no call was made. I had to wonder if the earlier tirade had impacted the zebras.


EXACTLY! He brings discipline to the program. During the previous regime we had a coaching staff (yes Stowers) that had no clue as to what discipline was. That's why we had certain players standing on the sidelines looking into the stands and waving to their girlfriends while the team was getting hammered on the field. I recall one game seeing a URI player on the sidelines playing grab@$$ with some teenage girl. Thankfully clowns like that are gone and so are the clowns who were coaching them. I watched Rizzi working the team during the off season. He works like a drill sergeant and runs his training programs similar to basic training or ROTC training. That is exactly the wake-up call our program needed. Yes he's got a temper but I love seeing some fire being lit under this program.

GO COACH RIZZI!

[UNHWILDCATS05]

Great to meet you too Cobble!! And yes the Hurricane Amber went down very nicely tonight!!! xnodx xbeerchugx

Really enjoyed those new stands next to the Ryan Center! Great view of the game and love the access to the Ryan Center for concessions and rest rooms!

Look forward to sharing some microbrews and grub with you next year in Durham.

Ditto... Great to meet you Cobblestone!!

[UNHknowledge]

I was hoping that this might be the year UNH came up with one.I was optimistic after watching the Army game,but after allowing URI to pick up 517 total yards,I'm not so sure.Albany comes in next week,and they better do a better job than they did today if they're going to survive that one.To quote Yogi Berra,it could be a case of "deja vu all over again."

UNH had an outstanding D in '05 (led the nation in Turnovers and the A-10 in sacks). This year's D will not match that production but should be OK. They've got some tremendous linebackers in Souza, Parent, and Ware. I'm not overly optimistic about this D but the URI game isn't a great assessment because they sat back in a lot of cover 3 at the end with an 18 pt lead. Also, as you know, the URI/UNH game is always a high scoring affair.

[WrenFGun]

Frankly, I think this is the most talented defense I've seen at UNH, and they will get better as the season progresses. I have some reservations with Vasso's cover skills at the CB position, but I really like the DL with Young, Maroney, McNally and Long starting, and Taylor, Peters and Mailloux subbing him. It's very talented. Having Jackson (and what appeared to be Duffy) subbing in at LB is nice, too. Hinds looks very good, and so too does Klein. Duper and McGuiness are good depth, too, and I like to think that guys like Greer, McMath and Perkins are capable backups/special-teamers. I expect you'll see a good effort versus Albany this weekend.