Now that the dust has settled

[chakka3421]

Fort Drum - during FHCDMs tenure, they went during first week of practice while still in pads as 1st week is more about quote "mental & physical cobweb shedding". Why HCSS agreed to go later this year was a tactical mistake. Perfectly great idea to go up every year, just do it during first week of practice.

Coaching Inexperience - our top level current coaching staff have only 3 years of total experience at their current positions (I'm talking HC, OC & DC). Without film, they will almost always get out coached early on due to inexperience. Inexperienced coaches get better later in season as they have more film to study as season progresses. We should always expect crap like this first game or two to happen until they get more experienced & better athletes to cover for their coaching inexperience. Unfortunately our coaching staff was totally "out coached & exposed" by NOVA coaching staff.

Coach Planning Skill - best advice I can give them is to stop visiting other NFL & College teams and get more training on how to game plan through scenario planning techniques. Not that they would ever listen to a fan, but we do this a lot in my line of business. HCSS & staff seem to employ a high emotion gut feel coaching style - it's becoming more obvious they lack great planning skill ability. If they want to get to that next level, they need to look at themselves first to stop "reacting by gut meathead coaching" and install more "professional disciplined coaching techniques" through better pre game planning.

Players - honestly they played & looked soft as well. Granted, some players played hardnosed but as a team they looked soft. Players have to step it up as well or this will be a long season this year.

 

[Quazzum69]

This game proves the program has not "turned a corner" and will continue to be .500 program that will occasionally win some crappy bowl games in a P5 conference- not a bad spot to be in. We're not Ohio State or anything so a close win against a good FCS team is all we can ask for. We're never going to be playing in the playoff.

From this game, they could win anywhere from 3-7 games. Definitely not an 8+ win team.

 

[cusefan12]

Now yes this was a horrible performance, but (not trying to bring basketball to football board) in 2009/2010 Syracuse Basketball season we lost an exhibition game to Le Moyne...And later on in that season we won the big east title and earned a #1 seed in the NCAA Basketball tourney. They finished that season with a 30-5 record. Now yes of course I get it, exhibition game and we had Jimmy at head coach, but still YOU CANT JUDGE A WHOLE SEASON ON ONE GAME. It was an ugly, I mean ugly win. But, still we are 1-0. They have a ton of work that needs to be done and lets hope this bye week sets us up for a better performance at CMU. Go orange.

 

[Noexcuse]

The coaching is certainly worrisome. I think we have the players to win 8 or even 9 games, but I now doubt that they will be put in the right positions with the best schemes to succeed. I hope the coaches figure this out with all the time off. It was only one game and we have plenty of mistakes to learn from.

We're better than that, just some mind-boggling decisions. Rough that we all know we can't blame it on Hunt's ejection either.

I don't think we can blame it all on the ejection, but other than the first series Wilson looked pretty inexperienced to me. Nova dominates the second half because we go 3 and out on most of our limited number of possessions and they dominate the clock. Wilson throws into coverage when he should have tucked it in and run when the receivers couldn't get open. An experience qb like Hunt would have done that I think and we would have had more second half possession and probably another td or 2.

 

[Statesman1]

Good post Ano, pretty much agree with everthing you posted. To be honest I wasn't surprised by how poorly SU played, I was surprised we didnt win the game outright by at least 10 but this game had all the hallmarks of a classic Syracuse letdown performance. The D line was as bad as feared and two positions I thought would be strengths the Oline and D line were absolutely abysmal. Shaf needs to take a bigger role in calling the Defense and its clear that Mcdonald is in way over his head this offense looks like a redux of Pariani. Lester needs to start working with him again. This team is in major trouble if there isnt major improvement in two weeks. This coming bye is a god send we need a ton of work.

I've read multiple comments on various threads thanking God for the upcoming bye week after yesterdays debacle. Sadly, we need it, but I'm not sure we can make the dramatic improvement necessary to compete once ACC games start up let alone get to 8 wins. Under the previous regime we came to expect a well coached team with a game plan on both sides of the ball that would keep us competitive in games. Saban made a comment after the Bama opener that the first game shows you where you are right now. Unfortunately, I think the reality is that we're just not that good from top to bottom. I think the anxiety expressed on this board reflects expectations that got way out of hand- after the bowl win last year, all the early "under the radar" recruits that few other football powers seem interested in, and Shafer's likable "hard-nosed" bravado. If I read "I trust the staff" one more time on this board I'm chucking my MacBook across the room. Trust the staff based on what? The most charitable thing you can say about our coaching staff at this point is that they are still unproven-they certainly haven't out schemed anybody in their brief tenure and have shown an alarming propensity at being out-schemed by opposing coaches. Game management? Apparently no better than last year when the staff was thrown together. Our talent level is at best, middle of the pack in the ACC, with our supposed best talent still all very young and unproven. In short, yesterday's game exposed exactly what we are at this point in the season which is not very good, to say the least. Can we get better? Definitely- it would be hard to get much worse. However the rate of change we need to achieve to close the gap to be competitive vs our league peers is probably quite a bit larger than most fans thought going into the game, myself included. Having said that I will happily eat my words should the staff turn this ship around and get us to 8 wins.

 

[AAM62]

that PR for a TD killed me. Whiffed tackles everywhere

 

[Crusty]

I've read multiple comments on various threads thanking God for the upcoming bye week after yesterdays debacle. Sadly, we need it, but I'm not sure we can make the dramatic improvement necessary to compete once ACC games start up let alone get to 8 wins. Under the previous regime we came to expect a well coached team with a game plan on both sides of the ball that would keep us competitive in games. Saban made a comment after the Bama opener that the first game shows you where you are right now. Unfortunately, I think the reality is that we're just not that good from top to bottom. I think the anxiety expressed on this board reflects expectations that got way out of hand- after the bowl win last year, all the early "under the radar" recruits that few other football powers seem interested in, and Shafer's likable "hard-nosed" bravado. If I read "I trust the staff" one more time on this board I'm chucking my MacBook across the room. Trust the staff based on what? The most charitable thing you can say about our coaching staff at this point is that they are still unproven-they certainly haven't out schemed anybody in their brief tenure and have shown an alarming propensity at being out-schemed by opposing coaches. Game management? Apparently no better than last year when the staff was thrown together. Our talent level is at best, middle of the pack in the ACC, with our supposed best talent still all very young and unproven. In short, yesterday's game exposed exactly what we are at this point in the season which is not very good, to say the least. Can we get better? Definitely- it would be hard to get much worse. However the rate of change we need to achieve to close the gap to be competitive vs our league peers is probably quite a bit larger than most fans thought going into the game, myself included. Having said that I will happily eat my words should the staff turn this ship around and get us to 8 wins.

I was with you until the last two sentences.
Nova is probably on par with the bottom half of the ACC Atlantic Division and Patterson is exactly the type of QB that does well against our high-risk blitzing defense. The rate of change may not be as great as we might imagine. We will know when we host Maryland.

From what we have seen so far from this staff, game management seems to consist of a low risk offensive strategy and a blitzing high risk defensive strategy. We are a one size fits all defense and a one-tick pony offense. We seem to do it every game regardless of the team we are playing. I understood that last year considering the circumstances. However, this year was supposed to be different. The offense was to be opened up. I like our aggressive D but the game planning seems lacking again to start the season.

I think we really need to write-off this game on offense because of Hunt's meltdown. We were actually driving when the incident occurred and I think we would have had a different outcome had Hunt not been ejected. The TOP would not have given Nova an extra quarter of play on offense and one less for us. This would have made a big difference for the D.

I give McDonald a pass on this one - he handled Wilson pretty well.

Bullough is another matter. Last year's three blowouts still weigh on my mind and his play calling Friday night brought back bad memories. His D has not really done well against a good team yet. Maybe we don't have the horses on D and it is not his fault - I am open to being convinced otherwise but for now, the best I can get to is the jury is still out.

Here is my big concern. I have always avoided hiring friends and relatives - because it is impossible to fire relatives and very hard to fire friends. It is also easier to fire someone you didn't hire than one you did. Shafer's big test as HC will be when it is time to fire somebody. that time will surely come.

 

[Jamesvillecuse]

in my opinion the team doesn't have enough Estime type players on the team yet to throw a bubble screen every other play. They need to throw the ball down field to help open up the field for running game and and the bubble screens. After thinking about and reading peoples opinions I am stepping off the ledge and will wait till after the CMU game before getting worried.

 

[BKCuse]

Hard to access McD b/c he lost his starting QB but IMO handled Wilson well. I will say I'm sick and tired of these dumps and screens. Felt like last year all over again. I'd like to think we would have seen more downfield throws had Hunt played all game but until we see it we won't know if we have a real passing attack

How does the OLine fail to punch it on with AAM on the goal line? Embarrassing

Bullough is highly suspect as an ACC level DC. The guy has def proven he cannot scheme against mobile QBs

 

[Orangejet]

Worse OL performance since the GRob days. Not sure if Coach Adam is a major college coach and hoping HCSS put him on notice.

 

[Statesman1]

I was with you until the last two sentences.
Nova is probably on par with the bottom half of the ACC Atlantic Division and Patterson is exactly the type of QB that does well against our high-risk blitzing defense. The rate of change may not be as great as we might imagine. We will know when we host Maryland.

From what we have seen so far from this staff, game management seems to consist of a low risk offensive strategy and a blitzing high risk defensive strategy. We are a one size fits all defense and a one-tick pony offense. We seem to do it every game regardless of the team we are playing. I understood that last year considering the circumstances. However, this year was supposed to be different. The offense was to be opened up. I like our aggressive D but the game planning seems lacking again to start the season.

I think we really need to write-off this game on offense because of Hunt's meltdown. We were actually driving when the incident occurred and I think we would have had a different outcome had Hunt not been ejected. The TOP would not have given Nova an extra quarter of play on offense and one less for us. This would have made a big difference for the D.

I give McDonald a pass on this one - he handled Wilson pretty well.

Bullough is another matter. Last year's three blowouts still weigh on my mind and his play calling Friday night brought back bad memories. His D has not really done well against a good team yet. Maybe we don't have the horses on D and it is not his fault - I am open to being convinced otherwise but for now, the best I can get to is the jury is still out.

Here is my big concern. I have always avoided hiring friends and relatives - because it is impossible to fire relatives and very hard to fire friends. It is also easier to fire someone you didn't hire than one you did. Shafer's big test as HC will be when it is time to fire somebody. that time will surely come.

You make a good point about hiring friends and relatives. I agree with you on your point about Bullough with the exception of him completely changing our defense in the GT blowout- that change didn't work so well. For now I'd settle for not covering WR's with linebackers. Crusty I think you're old enough to remember the glory days when DeLeone was OC and our offense could adjust to any defense we played. Option, Freeze option, Wishbone, I-Formation, etc- we could run it all. Defenses didnt know what we were going to bring and had to prepare for just about anything, and that definitely was to our advantage. We also had the talent that was versatile enough to implement those packages. Now, not so much- back then we had the depth to redshirt just about everybody. Guys like Qadry Ismail couldn't get onto the field and even then it was on special teams. Now our roster is such that true freshman see the field regularly but are not in complete grasp of the playbook. Sometimes I wonder if the the same isn't true for our coordinators-

 

[JackBauer44]

Seriously... this board has been almost unbearable to read for the past two days.

 

[Jamesvillecuse]

I was with you until the last two sentences.
Nova is probably on par with the bottom half of the ACC Atlantic Division and Patterson is exactly the type of QB that does well against our high-risk blitzing defense. The rate of change may not be as great as we might imagine. We will know when we host Maryland.

From what we have seen so far from this staff, game management seems to consist of a low risk offensive strategy and a blitzing high risk defensive strategy. We are a one size fits all defense and a one-tick pony offense. We seem to do it every game regardless of the team we are playing. I understood that last year considering the circumstances. However, this year was supposed to be different. The offense was to be opened up. I like our aggressive D but the game planning seems lacking again to start the season.

I think we really need to write-off this game on offense because of Hunt's meltdown. We were actually driving when the incident occurred and I think we would have had a different outcome had Hunt not been ejected. The TOP would not have given Nova an extra quarter of play on offense and one less for us. This would have made a big difference for the D.

I give McDonald a pass on this one - he handled Wilson pretty well.

Bullough is another matter. Last year's three blowouts still weigh on my mind and his play calling Friday night brought back bad memories. His D has not really done well against a good team yet. Maybe we don't have the horses on D and it is not his fault - I am open to being convinced otherwise but for now, the best I can get to is the jury is still out.

Here is my big concern. I have always avoided hiring friends and relatives - because it is impossible to fire relatives and very hard to fire friends. It is also easier to fire someone you didn't hire than one you did. Shafer's big test as HC will be when it is time to fire somebody. that time will surely come.

ok hire me...lol

 

[SoBeCuse]

Really? fort drum is the problem, What

Of course not. Relax. Like Chakka pointed out the timing of it seemed strange. Didn't seem as 'productive' and football related as Marrone's approach to it. Obviously many are probably overreacting to Friday including myself. We'll see what happens with the Chippewas. Certainly nothing wrong questioning pretty much everything after a performance like that.

 

[Pat Kelly]

There really isn't anything good that came out of last night. This quite easily could have been the most disappointing performance I have ever seen from a Syracuse Football team. We finally get to the point where we feel we have turned the corner, and are back to being a real Football program and then last night happened. I feel part of the uproar and avalanche of negativity came from the expectations we had going into the season. I finally felt we got back to the level where we could compete talent wise with everyone on our schedule minus FSU and Clemson. There is absolutely no excuse for what happened last night. None! You had all off-season to get prepared for that team, and had absolutely no reason not to be fired up to play opening the season in your building. Our coaching staff was thoroughly exposed. I was skeptical going into the season, but I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt being it their first seasons here, breaking in a new qb, and any other excuse I could come up with. Well unfortunately last night proved that we are rarely going to be able to out scheme the opponent. I really don't think this is an overreaction either. In 2012, with far less overall talent, I had confidence in every single game we went into. We may not win, but I felt we had a chance in every single game because we were most likely going to out scheme you. There was a plan going into each game, and then there were adjustments. That didn't happen last year, and it certainly didn't happen last night. I also don't want to hear about how Villanova is good. Sure they are good, and even better coached, but still we have absolutely no excuse for not winning by multiple td's. To a man our offensive line had 50lbs on the man in front of them. Nova's db's and wr's were tiny. They really only had 1 player, their qb. Unlike other sports having an advantage in the coaching box is arguably more important then having the advantage on the field. So while our talent has increased there has been a significant downgrade in the coaching. I can't even imagine what would have happened if we did not get that fake fg. The fact alone that it was called was alarming. You do not go for a fake FG at home with an OL that is 50lbs bigger to a man on the 4 inch line. If you can't pump that in with distance and that situation then you don't deserve to win. Hell we didn't deserve to win anyways.

I guess what I am trying to say is I am extremely disappointed. Honestly I didn't find any joy in the win. Disappointed, depressed, dumbfounded, and dreadful round out my feelings. Bare minimum this team is talented enough to win 6 games, but with that performance we'd be lucky to eek out 3.

Finally this is a critical year for us. We cannot afford a slip up. I really hope Shafer, his coordinators, and the players figure it out real quick or it could get really ugly.

Missed our starting QB for half the game and we probably looked past the opponent. It happens to the best of them, we won, move on.

 

[AZOrange]

The coaching is certainly worrisome. I think we have the players to win 8 or even 9 games, but I now doubt that they will be put in the right positions with the best schemes to succeed. I hope the coaches figure this out with all the time off. It was only one game and we have plenty of mistakes to learn from.

We're better than that, just some mind-boggling decisions. Rough that we all know we can't blame it on Hunt's ejection either.

I just can't find 7 more wins on this schedule.

 

[Crusty]

I just can't find 7 more wins on this schedule.

You aren't looking hard enough. We will be a different team as the season unfolds. We still need to beat CMU and MD to get to 3-0.

 

[donniesyracuse]

You aren't looking hard enough. We will be a different team as the season unfolds. We still need to beat CMU and MD to get to 3-0.

I think Maryland will be favored.

 

[Chris02M]

I think Maryland will be favored.

doubtful pickem at worst

 

[anomander]

Missed our starting QB for half the game and we probably looked past the opponent. It happens to the best of them, we won, move on.

Looked past the opponent? How the hell do you look past the first game of the season?

 

[Chris02M]

Looked past the opponent? How the hell do you look past the first game of the season?

with a by the next week too. Give Nova credit they were well prepared but losing Hunt probably turned a 10-17 point win into a white knuckler we should have lost

 

[Eric15]

How the hell do you look past the first game of the season?

They read this board and figured that people predicting 40+ point stompings knew what they were talking about.

 

[Pat Kelly]

Looked past the opponent? How the hell do you look past the first game of the season?

It happens, doesn't make a difference whether it's the first game of the season, the fifth, eighth or what. In fact, I think it's more likely you drop a stinker in the first game because you may not yet be in mid-season form. Guys could've been looking at it like a preseason game.

The year Michigan dropped their first game to Appalachian State they were preseason #5 and ended up finishing 9-4.

 

[anomander]

It happens, doesn't make a difference whether it's the first game of the season, the fifth, eighth or what. In fact, I think it's more likely you drop a stinker in the first game because you may not yet be in mid-season form. Guys could've been looking at it like a preseason game.

The year Michigan dropped their first game to Appalachian State they were preseason #5 and ended up finishing 9-4.

Well if the reason we laid an egg was because we were looking past Nova then that is on Shafer for not having his team ready to play.

 

[Pat Kelly]

Well if the reason we laid an egg was because we were looking past Nova then that is on Shafer for not having his team ready to play.

Might be a combination of that and losing your QB before halftime. It's definitely on the coaching staff but I think we have to watch more games before we make a judgement on the coaching staff. He still did win the game, which is what we ask the team to do. Only thing that's disappointing me is we have to wait two weeks before another game.