Concerns

[upperdeck]

Book was awful last night playing with much higher end talent.

 

[Acesn8s]

My biggest concern is our wr’s were not getting separated from the defenders. Even last year against Western Michigan our wide outs were getting open regularly. Couple that with the fact Tommy struggled greatly is a huge red flag. Maryland is going to be a HUGE test, we have everything to play for but they have a lot of talent, and a couple home run threats. If we don’t score at least 30 we lose.

 

[Sudano]

If I had a dollar for every time an SU fan thought the sky was falling because of one rough performance (basketball or football) I’d be a rich man.

Why do legitimate concerns mean to you we think the sky is falling. These type of posts are changing, misrepresenting, and exaggerating a very appropriate measured, thoughtful post about concerns. Concerns, not hysteria not panic, not fear. Adult measured concern. There should be concern from every fan that Tommy Devito may not play well enough for SU to win vs a good team like at Maryland after not playing well at Liberty. Its a very appropriate and legitimate thought process by an impassioned SU fan. Are you only a fan with emotionless glazed cult like following and acceptance of everything that happens? If you don't give a crap and everything is fine all the time how is that even caring about the team and what happens to it.
PS: And if Tommy plays really well that doesn't mean that the initial concern wasn't still legitimate.

 

[dollarbill44]

Yes, they say that. It's a myth.

I think coaches believe it based on their subjective view point. There's no more truth to what you're saying either.
The bigger question is if every team has it's greatest improvement from week 1 to 2, are the results any different than if they played each other in week 1?

 

[Sudano]

what do coaches say, something like "the biggest improvement comes between games 1 and 2"

I think the media and fans say it much more than a few coaches. It sounds good and is a good air filler.

 

[dollarbill44]

If we don’t score at least 30 we lose.

Absolute statements are AWESOME!

 

[ebucklewis]

I have no concern. We've found our JB for the football side. By that I mean this - whatever we fans see happening on the basketball court (good or bad) - JB (and Dino) also see's it, is already figuring out what to do about it, and preparing for different scenario's for winning. Dino is doing the same thing - he see's what we all saw, and I'm sure he has a few different plans to improve the play of everyone involved. It's not just TD, it's the whole flow of the offense. It will get better, there is no doubt in my mind. We should all be celebrating that we have such good defense and special teams play. D and ST always travel well, offense not so much..

 

[orangecuse]

Why do legitimate concerns mean to you we think the sky is falling. These type of post are changing, misrepresenting, and exaggerating a very appropriate measured, thoughtful post about concerns. Concerns, not hysteria not panic, not fear. Adult measured concern. There should be concern from every fan that Tommy Devito may not play well enough for SU to win vs a good team like at Maryland after not playing well at Liberty. Its a very appropriate and legitimate thought process by an impassioned SU fan. Are you only a fan with emotionless glazed cult like following and acceptance of everything that happens? If you don't give a crap and everything is fine all the time how is that even caring about the team and what happens to it.
PS: And if Tommy plays really well that doesn't mean that the initial concern wasn't still legitimate.

This is a dead on post. It's interesting, and one of two things in my opinion...either it's a poster simply fishing for "likes" or clearly having poor reading comprehension skills.

 

[javadoc]

Are we sure that Devito is all he’s hyped up to be? I was never convinced last season, and I thought he was pretty bad Saturday. Last season the NC game everyone praised him, I thought “He threw a pick that should’ve cost us the game.” His decision making has been pretty bad so far. When he did well it was coming in for Dungey and throwing deep, but it seemed like there was no plan B... he was throwing deep no matter what. Now it seems like he’s still thinking plan A or nothing. (Note the end of the half last week). All of this makes me quite nervous about Maryland... at this point I’m thinking 31-17 Maryland... god I hope I’m wrong

Did Babers have anything to say afterward, maybe involving good defense and special teams, and making a playing cards analogy? Did you hear or read it?

 

[AAM62]

i know this is another devito panic thread but in the spirit of voicing concerns, have we seen a babers coached OL dominate in any game over his tenure?

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

I don't know if he is going to be fine or not, as I'm not a soothsayer. I do know DeVito has a ton of arm talent, seems to have the unequivocal support of Coach Babers and the team, and seems to have a good attitude and work ethic. Generally, those would be indicators of future success.

He's going to need to improve how he plays with a dirty pocket. Even for the best teams, it seems like the pass rush has an edge on the offensive line. If he improves in this area, he'll win a lot of games for the Orange.

 

[sufandu]

I wonder how many people are saying the same thing about Trevor Lawrence today. He had just as bad stat line as TD

There is a good point in your comment. However, you build more cushion against criticism when you shread Alabama for the national championship.

 

[reedny]

I agree but he had 4 throws that should have been picked off if not for the stone hands of Liberty defenders. One of those would have been a pick six. No sugar coating it he looked bad on every pass further than the line of scrimmage. He’s better than that and he’ll play better than he did.

I don't disagree about the downfield passing problems. TD wasn't on the same page as Jackson/Harris all game and a couple throws were whiskey tangos . . (glad they were against Liberty).

There were also a lot of positives: 1) he ran the screens to perfection; 2) he scrambled pretty well when receivers were covered; 3) Riley, Harris, Neal and Jackson all had drops; 4) he was working against a defense designed to stifle the long ball; 5) he was able to shrug off first game jitters on the road and move the team down the field. Never got unraveled. So yes, this kid will be a stud ... but maybe not in his first week or two. If memory serves, Lawrence and Brice threw for the same number of yards (176) against us in Death Valley last year.

Even if TD takes a month, we have other options with RB's and short passes - as well as a good defense. This isn't a couple years ago when we had holes all over the field. This team has the potential - i.e., the scheme and the talent - to light it up. The question is how soon. This Saturday MD will be sky high; points aren't going to come easily in a hostile environment with better athletes. Hopefully our D will keep us in it while TD and the offense come up to speed.

 

[ImperialOrange]

I'm not too worried but people saying TD will be "fine" doesn't make me feel much better. I'm looking for him to become a star, starting really soon, not "fine"!

Think we all are brother.

I take this thread as more of an exercise in gauging where our individual expectations were for game 1. If folks were looking for him to pick up right where SR Dungey left off yeah it looked bad. Dungey would've run for 100+ on Liberty and forced their back half to play up, but Dungey was a one of a kind truly, and I feel often times ran when the coaches would've preferred otherwise.

FWIW I'm looking for TD to be Nassib plus vs Dungey lite. Think we (collectively) were spoiled and forget what inexperienced QB's look like.

 

[TheCusian]

Are we sure that Devito is all he’s hyped up to be? I was never convinced last season, and I thought he was pretty bad Saturday. Last season the NC game everyone praised him, I thought “He threw a pick that should’ve cost us the game.” His decision making has been pretty bad so far. When he did well it was coming in for Dungey and throwing deep, but it seemed like there was no plan B... he was throwing deep no matter what. Now it seems like he’s still thinking plan A or nothing. (Note the end of the half last week). All of this makes me quite nervous about Maryland... at this point I’m thinking 31-17 Maryland... god I hope I’m wrong

I think many of these worries are warranted and will be proven false eventually.

One note about passing deep all the time - I think based on a few years of watching Dino's pressers - that the offense is designed to take that many and that ED didn't take them as much as the staff would have liked. The difference with Liberty is that they took it away and Tommy still tried to force it on those picks.

 

[JRHEETER]

I think we all are freaking out a little too much. As I’ve said before I think we all went in thinking we were going to win like 55-13 and TD was going to throw for like 4 tds and the RBS were going to rack up the yards...

The fact of the matter is, we won...24-0. Read that again, 24-0.

We held them to -4 rushing yards.

Espn moved us up in the power rankings. Said our offense looked shaky but basically our defense was as scary as it gets.

Our offense will figure it out, our defense is strong. Tommy will be great.

Maryland is going to be a close game something like 30-24 etc but I think we squeak one by.

 

[dollarbill44]

Think we all are brother.

I take this thread as more of an exercise in gauging where our individual expectations were for game 1. If folks were looking for him to pick up right where SR Dungey left off yeah it looked bad. Dungey would've run for 100+ on Liberty and forced their back half to play up, but Dungey was a one of a kind truly, and I feel often times ran when the coaches would've preferred otherwise.

FWIW I'm looking for TD to be Nassib plus vs Dungey lite. Think we (collectively) were spoiled and forget what inexperienced QB's look like.

The thread has evolved that way, but I didn't read the OP that way. Rather, the OP seemed to posit that TD was/is not very good and everyone's expectations are way too high for a single-skilled (deep ball) QB.

 

[Cuse12]

My biggest concern is our wr’s were not getting separated from the defenders. Even last year against Western Michigan our wide outs were getting open regularly. Couple that with the fact Tommy struggled greatly is a huge red flag. Maryland is going to be a HUGE test, we have everything to play for but they have a lot of talent, and a couple home run threats. If we don’t score at least 30 we lose.

They are not scoring 30 on us. I don’t see many teams being able to touch 30 on us all year.

 

[Roger N]

Notre Dame game from last year.

I am not an X's and O's guy. What happened last year v Notre Dame? We suffered a real beat down. Anything to do with Tommy's performance? I think he needs game management experience. I think he is smart and can make the throws but lacks experience. What say you?

 

[MikeSU02]

I'm firmly in the camp of Tommy and the WRs just weren't on the same page (and Dino said this was due to lack of reps in practice). I think we also held back a bit on offense.

Tommy has all the tools, just needs to put it together consistently, but that means our WRs need to be consistent as well (and our coaches). I'm not worried at all.

I think Tommy is going to go on to set records here and be on some All ACC teams.

With all that said, even if that isn't the case and he can't put it together - who else do we have? Let's be real, it's Tommy or we're going to end up running the ball 80% of the time with Welch.

I think we all stop worrying after next week and Tommy lights up Maryland like it's July 4th.

 

[orange44]

Notre Dame game from last year.

I am not an X's and O's guy. What happened last year v Notre Dame? We suffered a real beat down. Anything to do with Tommy's performance? I think he needs game management experience. I think he is smart and can make the throws but lacks experience. What say you?

I was at the ND game and tend to agree with your post.

 

[TheCusian]

Notre Dame game from last year.

I am not an X's and O's guy. What happened last year v Notre Dame? We suffered a real beat down. Anything to do with Tommy's performance? I think he needs game management experience. I think he is smart and can make the throws but lacks experience. What say you?

Gameplan against a very good secondary was to run it with Eric a ton to loosen everything up. He went down and it torpedoed our plan. Tommy struggled for sure - but there were also drops. It happens.

 

[Atlcuse44]

The one argument that I don't buy is the "They ran a defense we didn't have time to prepare for". Yes, that may mess you up for a quarter or a half but that is why you have coaches up in the booth making adjustments. We adjusted (somewhat) by going to the screen, etc..

It doesn't explain the miscommunication between Tommy & the WRs throughout the game. Jitters, timing off, missed practices - that makes more sense.

 

[OrangeDW]

The insecurity of this fan base never ceases to amaze me. Devito is going to be fine. SU will still win at least nine games. Teams have won national championships with far worse talents at QB and our defense and RBs can compete with all the top teams.

This defense is legit and will show that once again on Saturday. It will take time for this offense as it is a completely different animal with Tommy’s skill set in comparison to Eric’s. Good thing half the players on defense will play on Sundays.

If I had a dollar for every time an SU fan thought the sky was falling because of one rough performance (basketball or football) I’d be a rich man.

I mean...we’ve won 9 games (as you seem confident we will)twice in the last 22 years. Can you really blame SU football fans for being a little jumpy?

 

[Whitey23]

The one argument that I don't buy is the "They ran a defense we didn't have time to prepare for". Yes, that may mess you up for a quarter or a half but that is why you have coaches up in the booth making adjustments. We adjusted (somewhat) by going to the screen, etc..

It doesn't explain the miscommunication between Tommy & the WRs throughout the game. Jitters, timing off, missed practices - that makes more sense.

I've gotten a kick out of the mystery defense excuse that's popped up.