Exactly, the entire point is that we don't have enough athletes on either side of the ball to run the systems they are running. Plus this team is crazy young. There is no quick fix with that. That takes several recruiting classes. People act like Dino walked in and just tweaked things(I don't think you think that way Louie). You couldn't have changed both sides of the ball more than what the new staff is doing. America's slowest offense, a run heavy option offense, changed to America's fastest(eventually) offense, heavily reliant on the passing game. An ultra-ultra aggressive and small defense that blitzed constantly changed to a Cover 2 zone D that needs bigger players. It really isn't that hard to see. There is no guarantee that Dino will be a success here, but he has to be given time to prove it either way. I know Baylor is a program of scumbags who brought in rapists and turned their backs on it, and I know they are in the talent rich state of Texas. But that program was worse than ours currently is and they have proven you can win with this style, you just need to get the right players. I obviously mean the right players on and off the field, not what Baylor meant, but that's what I mean.
Well said.
Look at Texas. They are in year 1 of installing the same offense Dino uses. They have a roster full of 4 and 5 star recruits. They are inconsistent on offense with flashes of dominance and are an absolute dumpster fire on defense. They also happen to be incredibly young on defense, with 16 freshmen or sophomores on the two deep. Charlie Strong built his rep as a defense guy at Florida and then Louisville - did he somehow forget how to coach defense? The reality is that it is next to impossible to have a good defense playing so many young players. If that is true for 4 and 5 star recruits, it is even more true for 2 and 3 star recruits.
The unfortunate truth that many don't seem to want to acknowledge is that the primary goal for this year isn't wins. Dino, of course, would rather win games than lose games, but the overall governing priority for this year is laying a foundation for how Syracuse will play under Dino. that includes revamping conditioning, pace, culture, philosophies and figuring out deficiencies in players and whether those deficiencies can be addressed through technique and growth or if there is an incurable talent deficiency. The fact that the team is so young is a blessing and a curse. A curse in that they are ill equipped to go up against more physically mature and experienced teams, but a blessing in that there are fewer bad habits to break and there is more time to invest in them and receive the payoff. The trade off, of course, is taking a step back before two steps forward.
This year is a necessary step. Syracuse is not the kind of program where even an Urban Meyer or Nick Saban could step in and start winning right away. There is a sea change going on, and like any massive change, it takes time and is nonlinear in gains made.
The worse thing would be to skip this step, sacrifice the future in the name of trying to win games now (i.e. slowing down the pace, changing core philosophies, etc). That would slow down the rebuild. We need wholesale change, and we are getting wholesale change. It seems foolhardy and lacking in perspective to moan and complain about it. Stop the hyper focus on the week to week and start seeing this in panoramas, and one will have the proper perspective to understand what Dino is trying to do, and will be better positioned to judge and critique.
If this season was happening in year 3 or year 4, then this is a very different conversation. But this is transition, and that simply cannot be emphasized enough.
