My Take

[weedsportwarriors]

If Ritchy Desir's name was really spelled "Desire", then our two punt returners would be Desire and Estime.

Desire needs to play defense only. We need to have Estime and Phillips as our punt returners.

 

[orangencpolice]

Desire needs to play defense only. We need to have Estime and Phillips as our punt returners.

I agree he doesn't seem to do well returning punts. This year or last for that matter. Pretty dumb mistake calling for the fair catch and then trying to run. If he were a freshman I would cut him some slack but he returned them last year too. At least it wasn't a factor.

 

[capeorange]

Thanks for your take!

 

[Orangello]

The unofficial tuba count for CMU was 11. I will let Tomcat verify that count of course and comment on the CMU students exciting addition to college football tradition......truck bed dancing. Must be seen to be believed.

Great to meet everyone and thanks to all for a great trip.

 

[tipphill]

He wasn't getting touched unless he ran, our OL was controlling the game.

i would have liked to see wilson in the 4th, to let him experiment a little with his game

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

The unofficial tuba count for CMU was 11. I will let Tomcat verify that count of course and comment on the CMU students exciting addition to college football tradition...truck bed dancing. Must be seen to be believed.

Great to meet everyone and thanks to all for a great trip.

I also counted 11 tubas.

 

[Fjoinkay]

Great take! Thanks.

SU played well pretty much all around. The D-line which had some question marks according to the coaches showed a lot of athleticism and made several plays. The O-line was aggressive and very effective. I saw nice blocks on the perimeter and someone, Kobena I believe, made a great block staying with the play downfield on AAM's long run down the sideline. The tackling was solid. The pursuit angles were better. T-Hunt settled into the offense and ran the unit very well at times. I like our tight ends. Broyld's focus is much better, and he looks like a quality receiver. The younger receivers look good. Great to see Alvin Cornelius lay out for a nice catch near the goal line. The D nearly pitched a complete shutout! Much more to be happy about..

At the same time Ray Bentley was spot on when he said SU needs to grow going into game 3 just like they did going from game 1 to game 2. College football is crazy. Anything can happen these days! SU has a lot of potential I think. They also have a lot they can clean up and improve upon. Every team right now is working to improve. The all whites look sharp. Go Cuse!

 

[Orangello]

I also counted 11 tubas.

But thankfully, only one Bobby St. James...

 

[SmilinBob]

Great post as usual Tom!

Negative: Some missed blocks by WR's, Nortons kicking, Time management at end of half, Desir goof up that lead to that time management gaffe, no pressure by DL w/o blitz, Gulley and West...they just don't seem to be getting better, Eskridge tackle with head down...have to keep it up or you'll have a lot of issues at the next level, Hunt missed wide open Custis to left and threw to almost triple covered Gulley to the right.

Positive: OLine!!!!, Moore and Phillips stepping up, Hunt changes the offensive everything...wonderful game, LB's playing like somebody called their mom a bad name, Dixon, wow doing it all...can this kid play tuba for Tom as well?, Diving catch by Cornelius the king of dives on this team, a bevy of receivers catching tough catches over the middle and thrown behind them, Stuffing the running game and hey, that rb they had in the game had 800 yards last year so he wasn't some deer in headlights guy out there, Williams is a wall, the freshmen getting some time and taking advantage, press coverage which I liked a lot more than wide open spaces, adjustments by staff especially DC, love the rotation of players and still having talent come in!

 

[SWC75]

I agree he doesn't seem to do well returning punts. This year or last for that matter. Pretty dumb mistake calling for the fair catch and then trying to run. If he were a freshman I would cut him some slack but he returned them last year too. At least it wasn't a factor.

I liked Ritchy when he took over the job. After a decade of nothing but fair catches he seemed interesting in making something of the play. He doesn't have the game-breaking ability of Estime, however and got typecast as the "safe" guy. But he's not really in that mold, although he does catch the ball well.

 

[SmilinBob]

I liked Ritchy when he took over the job. After a decade of nothing but fair catches he seemed interesting in making something of the play. He doesn't have the game-breaking ability of Estime, however and got typecast as the "safe" guy. But he's not really in that mold, although he does catch the ball well.

Part of the reason is that Desir is the guy that catches punts on the 20 or worse while Estime gets to receive punts in a safer area like the 30+.

 

[orangefan13]

Amazing game, somebody said after the nova game we were beat in every aspect of the game but kicking. Today was the complete opposite. Its insane when you really think about it.

 

[pulaski74]

My family and I had such a great time meeting you all and putting faces to names! Tom your updates are the best and it is neat reading them after I had actually been there. I really enjoyed chatting with everyone and Mark does such a great job! Dick you and your wife were great, Mike your stories kept me wanting more, CuyahogaCuse you and your family were truly outstanding to be with. I attached a few pictures of the day. We fly out of Grand Rapids in the AM back to St Louis. And I'm already fired up for Louisville next year!

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On the field after game

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Tailgating scene

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Kids play area

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View of big scoreboard from our seats

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Cuse equipment truck after game

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On field after game

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FAmily pic

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View from our seats

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Hotel family photo gettin fired up

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Tailgating

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Cuse flag

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Tailgating scene

Where about st. Louis are you, I live in Jefferson County, more specifically Festus. As you can tell from my handle 74 Pulaski High grad.

 

[tep624]

I almost lost it when he called his own number late in the game and drilled in the helmet.

Me too. Had the same feeling when they were calling rushes for Wilson in the Nova game and he subsequently got flattened a few times.

I get that they were probably trying to get Hunt as many game reps as possible because of the time he missed vs Nova but still pretty nerve wracking to see him get him in the head like that.

 

[CuseGrad94]

Where about st. Louis are you, I live in Jefferson County, more specifically Festus. As you can tell from my handle 74 Pulaski High grad.

I am in Wildwood! We are new to the area (just moved from Central NY last year) Its great to get to see more Cuse fans in Missouri.

 

[sutomcat]

I also counted 11 tubas.

Yes, this is accurate. Good number for a MAC school and it beats the 9 we rolled out for the Nova game pretty badly. It is hard, very hard for a school to beat another one when outmatched in tubas and the fact that Syracuse was able to do it is a great reflection on the players, coaching staff and most importantly, members of the SUMB, who incidentally were in Buffalo Sunday, ensuring that the Bills would pull an upset win.

My original My Take was written, as Dick speculated, on the way home, in that long expanse of Ontario between the border with Michigan at Sarnia/Port Huron and Hamilton, where the only thing of note is that, other than London, there is nothing of note there. I was pretty tired and missed some things. Here they are, in random order...

The CMU baton twirler had a lot of spunk and grit, and a lot of everything else too. She was packing serious junk in the trunk.

Orangello is right...the CMU students really like to dance in the flatbeds of pickup trucks. Some used their beer bottles as microphones as the attempted to sing the songs being played on nearby boom boxes. Seemed like a lot of the students made the pregame tailgate and a lot of them drank heavily. Was told the minimum drinking age in Michigan is 21. Might have been some violations. Mount Pleasant and CMU police were on the scene but let the students drink and party (they were not causing any trouble).

A few of the drunkest students attempted to talk trash with us, then apologized and said they were just kidding. They did a good job making noise early in the game but once CMU fell behind by 14 or so, they left in a steady stream.

Many CMU fans arrived late and this caused a lot of issues for SU fans trying to watch the game. Not sure how to account for this phenomenon. CMU also sent a large part of their band into the aisle of our section, where they played during game action (I believe this is illegal). They did this a lot. Surprised they were allowed to continue with it. The SUMB deploys small contingents of the band to remote corners of the Dome, but to my knowledge, no one from the band has ever visited the nether regions of section 302 (up near the Himalayan-like summit), where members of the Fine Lot tailgating crew reign supreme.

 

[sutomcat]

The stadium was small, pretty intimate, plain and had good sight lines. You can see the weird empty endzone where the locker room are, along with their post card sized bad resolution replay board in this panoramic (note also some CMU fans standing in the way, blocking our view):

That picture was taken well before the game started. It ended up being a virtual sellout.

Lots of family in the stands for the kids from the Chicago and Detroit areas. Helps to understand why this game was scheduled and why we should expect to see SU play more games in the Midwest in coming years. I bet with do a home and home with Northern Illinois really soon. They are up for games against P5 teams and not lacking confidence at this time.

 

[Orangello]

Eastern Michigan would also be a good option for a 2-1. Much closer to Detroit (in Ypsilanti) than Mt. Pleasant, less corn.....

 

[HtownOrange]

It is hard, very hard for a school to beat another one when outmatched in tubas and the fact that Syracuse was able to do it is a great reflection on the players, coaching staff and most importantly, members of the SUMB, who incidentally were in Buffalo Sunday, ensuring that the Bills would pull an upset win.

You simply cannot get this quality and in depth analysis from the networks or sports giants. Great post, Tom. Your line is a new classic. I enjoy your reports and your comments like this one. ESPN would do well to have you write up their games over most of the group they have.

 

[shandeezy7]

Yes, this is accurate. Good number for a MAC school and it beats the 9 we rolled out for the Nova game pretty badly. It is hard, very hard for a school to beat another one when outmatched in tubas and the fact that Syracuse was able to do it is a great reflection on the players, coaching staff and most importantly, members of the SUMB, who incidentally were in Buffalo Sunday, ensuring that the Bills would pull an upset win.

Definitely some good vibes put out from the SU marching band at the Ralph on Sunday

 

[Orangello]

Truck bed dancing with those crazy kids from CMU

 

[thenanster]

Great seeing you again Tom and kudos to Mark for running a first class operation. It has taken 20 years, going back to AOL for us to finally meet. Add my thanks to CuyahogaCuse and a shout out to Nanster and his girlfriend for their contributions as well.

A very chilly start to the day but a warm Orange finish.

You must be what?...in Southern Ontario on some lonely stretch of the 401 when you posted this.

BTW, I Googled Orangejets' records and the son of a gun was right. I recall him from his playing days but had not remembered exactly how good he was.

Thanks Dick. It was our pleasure. We had a great time. And really enjoyed spending time with you and your beautiful wife. Can't wait to do it again.