My Take

[sutomcat]

Well, at the least, it was an interesting game. Wake came out like a house on fire. Syracuse roared back and looked close to blowing the Deacons out.

And then...a disastrous second half.

Watching the teams play,you could see a unity with the WF OL. They pulled in unison, and stayed in formation well down the field. They didn't run many plays, but the plays they ran were run with great precision. We never got any penetration or had played in the backfield. Even when our defense broke through and made a good tackle, they gained 3 or4 yards. When we ran the ball, our OL got no push and our RBs would often have to make a really nice run just to get back to the LOS. This WF OL was awful 3 years ago, bad 2 years ago and decent last season. I hope our OL is on a similar track.

Another thing that stood out was the play of the WF corners. They were in tight on our WRs every play. Lots of contact, bumping, little holds, tugs and shoves. Our CBs never did any of that and gave the WF WRs room almost every time they passed the ball. The ACC refs give defenders the benefit of the doubt a lot and we must change our defensive philosophy accordingly.

The last thing was hoe well Worfford ran the WF offense. He doesn't have a strong arm and isn't very big but he made good reads over and over and after the 2nd quarter, our defense could never make any adjustments.

They exposed our small 4.7 40 safeties and our small linebackers with passes over the middle where our defenders struggled to get within 10 yards of the receivers.

Our defense was totally confused by their scheme and couldn't do anything right. It was astonishing how many times they ran that sweep left to Coburne, where our DE would get caught inside and blew contain. We are playing undersized DEs on both sides, really LBs playing out of position and they made us pay the price.
Even though our guys are small and weak, they still should be able to handle basic assignments, make a read and get to where they need to be. If they ran that sweep 30 times, I only remember one time our DE played it properly (Guthrie) and Wake was called for a hold on the play.

Props to WF for making a great gameplan, surely helped by the film they saw of what FSU did running the ball last week. It doesn't bode well for next week or the week after. Especially with ED injured.

To win consistently in this league, we need safeties who can run and tackle and are big enough to ride on the big roller coasters. We need DEs who are tall and fast and weigh at least 250. We need tough, physical CBs with some size.

I think we are on the right track but some fundamental weaknesses with the defense were exposed yesterday. And for all the success the offense had in the first half, they have to enjoy success in both halves. The inconsistency of the offense was hurt the team all season, and it needs to get fixed for next season. Not sure what it is that is causing it, probably the youth of the OL, along with some problems with play calling. Who is calling the plays? Lynch? I think Dino is calling TOs sometimes in key situations so he can make the play call. I sense he is losing confidence here...

 

[kcsu]

Well, at the least, it was an interesting game. Wake came out like a house on fire. Syracuse roared back and looked close to blowing the Deacons out.

And then...a disastrous second half.

Watching the teams play,you could see a unity with the WF OL. They pulled in unison, and stayed in formation well down the field. They didn't run many plays, but the plays they ran were run with great precision. We never got any penetration or had played in the backfield. Even when our defense broke through and made a good tackle, they gained 3 or4 yards. When we ran the ball, our OL got no push and our RBs would often have to make a really nice run just to get back to the LOS. This WF OL was awful 3 years ago, bad 2 years ago and decent last season. I hope our OL is on a similar track.

Another thing that stood out was the play of the WF corners. They were in tight on our WRs every play. Lots of contact, bumping, little holds, tugs and shoves. Our CBs never did any of that and gave the WF WRs room almost every time they passed the ball. The ACC refs give defenders the benefit of the doubt a lot and we must change our defensive philosophy accordingly.

The last thing was hoe well Worfford ran the WF offense. He doesn't have a strong arm and isn't very big but he made good reads over and over and after the 2nd quarter, our defense could never make any adjustments.

They exposed our small 4.7 40 safeties and our small linebackers with passes over the middle where our defenders struggled to get within 10 yards of the receivers.

Our defense was totally confused by their scheme and couldn't do anything right. It was astonishing how many times they ran that sweep left to Coburne, where our DE would get caught inside and blew contain. We are playing undersized DEs on both sides, really LBs playing out of position and they made us pay the price.
Even though our guys are small and weak, they still should be able to handle basic assignments, make a read and get to where they need to be. If they ran that sweep 30 times, I only remember one time our DE played it properly (Guthrie) and Wake was called for a hold on the play.

Props to WF for making a great gameplan, surely helped by the film they saw of what FSU did running the ball last week. It doesn't bode well for next week or the week after. Especially with ED injured.

To win consistently in this league, we need safeties who can run and tackle and are big enough to ride on the big roller coasters. We need DEs who are tall and fast and weigh at least 250. We need tough, physical CBs with some size.

I think we are on the right track but some fundamental weaknesses with the defense were exposed yesterday. And for all the success the offense had in the first half, they have to enjoy success in both halves. The inconsistency of the offense was hurt the team all season, and it needs to get fixed for next season. Not sure what it is that is causing it, probably the youth of the OL, along with some problems with play calling. Who is calling the plays? Lynch? I think Dino is calling TOs sometimes in key situations so he can make the play call. I sense he is losing confidence here...

Our problem on O is the same it has been all year. We cant run the ball consistently well. Losing Eric made us one dimensional and once figured that out it was over. They took away the short outs and slants brought pressure almost every down and played press coverage daring us to beat them deep.
As to our D Wolford was exceptional yesterday. Their staff assessed our D and came to two proper conclusions.
One we are weak on the edge. Two our safeties are inexperienced and wired to support the run. A combination which Wolford took great advantage of.
Clawson did a great job with the game plan and 10 executed it to perfection.

 

[reedny]

We left the game early, something we almost never do. So it tells you how frustrated we were with SUs’ defensive effort and its defensive coaching. The contain, pass-rushing and coverage problems were obvious in the first half, before a lot of damage was done and we had a lead. So after the break, I was sure the coaches were going to make adjustments, like spying Worfford, keeping better contain, blitzing, paying more attention to (or switching assignments on) their TE (#85), or even slowing the game down so they had less time to riddle our defense. Instead of adjusting, not only did we play with no pride in the second half, we played with no brain. It seemed like we learned nothing from the first half, and hadn’t played Worfford or Wake Forest for the last 3 years. The kid’s shifty, sure. But he’s run the same RPO stuff the last 3 times we played them. Was it a secret to our coaches and players that he likes to keep on short yardage 3d and 4th down possessions? If so, why? There's tons of film of that. And he did it at least once in the first half, yet we continued to pinch the middle as though Worfford was on crutches. They've run that same sweep in the past too, and of the dozen or so times they ran it yesterday, our DE played it right once. Other than that one play, our DE's struggled to keep contain the entire game. If that was the one thing we had to give up, I could understand. But we gave up everything else along with it. On repeated running plays, we couldn't beat their RB to the corner. Our CB’s couldn’t cover Hines. And our safeties (and LB’s) couldn’t get within 5 yards of their TE (3 touchdowns). I don't want to go too far here, because our D has been playing much better this year. Yesterday, they looked like a G-Rob defense. We're not going to get people to believe - or pay for tickets - playing like that. 64 points to Wake on our home field - wow.

 

[SmilinBob]

The D is beat up, looked slow and tired. Maybe I saw something that wasn't there but it looked like 2 people caught up with Bradshaw when he scored after he had a heck of a head start. That tells me that speed in the secondary is not there along with little physicality. Where were the LB's? The players are fighting but imo are too beat up to compete at this level right now. The offense scored 40 points and should be more than enough to win any game. The DL did not do their jobs and Wolford read them like a kids book.

 

[SoBristol]

Lots of ways to slice this, but Wake has an all-league TE, 4 Rs-Jrs on its OL (at least two of whom started as Rs-F in Clawson's second year), a RB who put up 200 yards rushing, and a QB with an accurate arm, plus over 100 rushing. They had the stronger OL, and a very capable senior QB. Wake wore out our defense.

SU moved the ball well in the first half -- put up a ton of points and looked dominate. Seemed like we also moved the ball in the second half, only to get stopped by drops, or an interception, or a questionable play-calling to go deep 3x then attempt a 51 year FG. Some of that, though, was because we couldn't run the ball to mix things up.

OK, let's see how Dino rally the team and keeps dreams alive.

 

[Newhouser]

Their backs basically had three yards before being touched, and their TE was a man. Wish we utilized ours more.

 

[SmilinBob]

Their backs basically had three yards before being touched, and their TE was a man. Wish we utilized ours more.

Their OL was mature and good thus the TE didn't have to block as much as SU's. Within the next 2 years you will see the TE a lot more in this offense.

 

[SUFan44]

We need better players. I think we're getting them. Won't know until 2019 or '20, probably.

 

[GoSU96]

Their backs basically had three yards before being touched, and their TE was a man. Wish we utilized ours more.

You mean the guy that caught two TD's.

 

[SmilinBob]

OK, let's see how Dino rally the team and keeps dreams alive.[/QUOTE]

To live your dreams, you first have to wake up.

 

[cuseguy]

We need better players. I think we're getting them. Won't know until 2019 or '20, probably.

Not buying the premise that we lost because Wake simply had better, more experienced players. It doesn’t wash after SU beat Clemson and played well on the road against four other quality opponents.

Wake had a good game plan. And when we started slowing them down, they made the proper adjustment.

That’s coaching.

 

[oldpinepoint]

Not buying the premise that we lost because Wake simply had better, more experienced players. It doesn’t wash after SU beat Clemson and played well on the road against four other quality opponents.

Wake had a good game plan. And when we started slowing them down, they made the proper adjustment.

That’s coaching.

Wake had an outstanding game plan and a tremendous OL. Our defense was gassed midway through the 3rd quarter. I

 

[SUFan44]

Not buying the premise that we lost because Wake simply had better, more experienced players. It doesn’t wash after SU beat Clemson and played well on the road against four other quality opponents.

Wake had a good game plan. And when we started slowing them down, they made the proper adjustment.

That’s coaching.

Two touchdown lead at halftime playing with a backup QB who is formerly a walk-on.

Playing 3rd string safeties and with a DL that is thin on DT's and still young comparatively speaking.

Yes, it may sound like excuses but it's also facts. Was I happy? Absolutely not. But we aren't there yet and need better players in the depth chart.

These young guys will get better and hopefully the classes we are bringing in over the coming years continue to build the depth. But we have lost how many safeties to injuries this year? And you expect us not to fall off?

 

[cuseguy]

Two touchdown lead at halftime playing with a backup QB who is formerly a walk-on.

Playing 3rd string safeties and with a DL that is thin on DT's and still young comparatively speaking.

Yes, it may sound like excuses but it's also facts. Was I happy? Absolutely not. But we aren't there yet and need better players in the depth chart.

These young guys will get better and hopefully the classes we are bringing in over the coming years continue to build the depth. But we have lost how many safeties to injuries this year? And you expect us not to fall off?

Oh, I think our schedule has taken a toll. But I wouldn’t place all of the blame there. Play calling and scheme are a big part.

 

[cuseguy]

Wake had an outstanding game plan and a tremendous OL. Our defense was gassed midway through the 3rd quarter. I

Yup, our offense is designed to wear down opponents. But it didn’t seem that it worked too well against Wake.

But Wake’s offense did wear down our D.

 

[tbonezone]

i agree tomcat despite the final score it was a compelling game to watch.
"Another thing that stood out was the play of the WF corners."
the soph bassey against ishmael was a good show . split decision.
hate losing but at least we are battling . dome was rather empty at the end though.

 

[Consigliere]

A bit lost in everything else, but allowing that FG to end the first half was inexcusable, changed it from a 3 score to a 2 score game and absolutely gave WF momentum going into the half. 0:16 to go and knowing you will receive the ball to start the second half, 99% of coaches run out the clock and regroup. Clawson values every snap. Big completion on the first play then the receiver recognizing the situation and giving himself up running free with 0:02 left to give them the chance to kick the half ending FG shows how well coached this team is.

 

[tbonezone]

watched the replay of the punt muff 100 x's and still can't tell if it was touched.
but that's 2 gifts in a row to end a half . that and the block extra pt were +6 free pt.s.
(and factor in the end zone catch that hit the ground that wasn't reviewed.)
complain about the refs but we caught some breaks too.

 

[Crusty]

I think it is reasonable to ask why the defensive scheme breaks down so horribly at times. I am not talking about the occasional breakdown when we have bad match ups, but a total meltdown. We now have two rather unbelievable ones in Pittsburgh last year and this one. Neither team was so good that this might have been expected at some level.

Is it simply that a couple of OCC did a masterful job of scheming versus our offense? Or, the time of the season when we were banged up? Or, is the system not robust enough to handle really good quarterbacks?

Do we have a scheme that is beyond the talent level we have or are likely to have?

I must admit I am at a loss to understand the magnitude life these meltdowns. Dino needs to do a thorough post mortem to find out some answers. I am sure he us more unhappy than we are.

 

[tbonezone]

"Do we have a scheme that is beyond the talent level we have or are likely to have?"

when has dino ever had elite five star talent ? our recruiting has to pick up no doubt but i don't think babers is foolish enuf to think we out gun anybody in the ACC. right now his focus needs to be winning games and getting butts in the seats. not necessarily in that order. we sit at the bottom of our conference again but as long as the fan base thinks we are improving his job is safe. if that changes. polish the resume.

 

[Chris02M]

The D is beat up, looked slow and tired. Maybe I saw something that wasn't there but it looked like 2 people caught up with Bradshaw when he scored after he had a heck of a head start. That tells me that speed in the secondary is not there along with little physicality. Where were the LB's? The players are fighting but imo are too beat up to compete at this level right now. The offense scored 40 points and should be more than enough to win any game. The DL did not do their jobs and Wolford read them like a kids book.

bradshaw slowed up with 10 yards to go

 

[Nick44]

To me the defensive breakdown is pretty simple.

Wake came in here with a senior QB (ala Cooper) and played behind a talented, experienced and well coached OL. In addition, they utilized a scatback RB with 4.4 speed.

We countered with an average DL and only one decent pash rusher in Robinson. Our LB’s, while great most of the time are at there weakest against short quick RBs and QB’s who can get rid of it quickly. Most damaging however was our 3rd string D3 safety in Rodney Williams. His 4.8 speed and lack of instincts were no match for what Wake had yesterday. He was exploited allllll game.

 

[tipphill]

Well, at the least, it was an interesting game. Wake came out like a house on fire. Syracuse roared back and looked close to blowing the Deacons out.

And then...a disastrous second half.

Watching the teams play,you could see a unity with the WF OL. They pulled in unison, and stayed in formation well down the field. They didn't run many plays, but the plays they ran were run with great precision. We never got any penetration or had played in the backfield. Even when our defense broke through and made a good tackle, they gained 3 or4 yards. When we ran the ball, our OL got no push and our RBs would often have to make a really nice run just to get back to the LOS. This WF OL was awful 3 years ago, bad 2 years ago and decent last season. I hope our OL is on a similar track.

Another thing that stood out was the play of the WF corners. They were in tight on our WRs every play. Lots of contact, bumping, little holds, tugs and shoves. Our CBs never did any of that and gave the WF WRs room almost every time they passed the ball. The ACC refs give defenders the benefit of the doubt a lot and we must change our defensive philosophy accordingly.

The last thing was hoe well Worfford ran the WF offense. He doesn't have a strong arm and isn't very big but he made good reads over and over and after the 2nd quarter, our defense could never make any adjustments.

They exposed our small 4.7 40 safeties and our small linebackers with passes over the middle where our defenders struggled to get within 10 yards of the receivers.

Our defense was totally confused by their scheme and couldn't do anything right. It was astonishing how many times they ran that sweep left to Coburne, where our DE would get caught inside and blew contain. We are playing undersized DEs on both sides, really LBs playing out of position and they made us pay the price.
Even though our guys are small and weak, they still should be able to handle basic assignments, make a read and get to where they need to be. If they ran that sweep 30 times, I only remember one time our DE played it properly (Guthrie) and Wake was called for a hold on the play.

Props to WF for making a great gameplan, surely helped by the film they saw of what FSU did running the ball last week. It doesn't bode well for next week or the week after. Especially with ED injured.

To win consistently in this league, we need safeties who can run and tackle and are big enough to ride on the big roller coasters. We need DEs who are tall and fast and weigh at least 250. We need tough, physical CBs with some size.

I think we are on the right track but some fundamental weaknesses with the defense were exposed yesterday. And for all the success the offense had in the first half, they have to enjoy success in both halves. The inconsistency of the offense was hurt the team all season, and it needs to get fixed for next season. Not sure what it is that is causing it, probably the youth of the OL, along with some problems with play calling. Who is calling the plays? Lynch? I think Dino is calling TOs sometimes in key situations so he can make the play call. I sense he is losing confidence here...

 

[tipphill]

we have been saying youth and inexperience for years---we need to say talent---incoming ol guys look to have talent --we need that all around.-`

 

[cuse10]

I think it is reasonable to ask why the defensive scheme breaks down so horribly at times. I am not talking about the occasional breakdown when we have bad match ups, but a total meltdown. We now have two rather unbelievable ones in Pittsburgh last year and this one. Neither team was so good that this might have been expected at some level.

Is it simply that a couple of OCC did a masterful job of scheming versus our offense? Or, the time of the season when we were banged up? Or, is the system not robust enough to handle really good quarterbacks?

Do we have a scheme that is beyond the talent level we have or are likely to have?

I must admit I am at a loss to understand the magnitude life these meltdowns. Dino needs to do a thorough post mortem to find out some answers. I am sure he us more unhappy than we are.

Lack of communication. Julian Whigham live tweeted the game yesterday. They weren't talking out there and were often out of position. Again, this falls on Ward for not making the adjustment at halftime.