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Coach Babers’s Show will be at the new Marriott Syracuse, (the former Hotel Syracuse). The first show will be Wednesday night at 7PM because the game is Friday, (the show will normally be two days before the next game). They will be in Shaughnessy’s Irish Pub, which can be accessed from the street.
This article contains the schedule:
New Home for AmeriCU Dino Babers Show
You can also listen to the show live each week on the Syracuse IMG Sports Network and Cuse.com. Wednesday's show will be on 99.1 FM and 97.7 FM, as well. The show will regularly air on 99.5FM (Syracuse) 99.1 FM (Utica) and 1200 AM.”
You can also get it on: Listen to The Jim Bohannon Show on WGVA on TuneIn
There hasn’t been any change in the phone numbers, which last year were 315-424-8599 (local) or 1-888-746-2873. You can call to ask questions or submit them via Twitter at: #AskDino hashtag on Twitter
Or through Cuse.com, (the SU Athletic website):
Syracuse University Athletics
You can (or could last year, anyway), listen to a podcast of the show, probably the next day, at: Search results for babers | Free Internet Radio | TuneIn
I’ve been asked to continue doing the summaries, even by people who listen to the podcasts. I may focus on the major points, rather than trying to record everything.
My Question(s)
“Coach, there’s been a lot of talk about the decisions you made in the LSU. I remember when Doug Marrone was here, people were frustrated he didn’t take more chances against favored opponents. His response was that he didn’t want to put his team in a position they couldn’t get out of if a risk backfired. Do you have a philosophy about risk-taking or do you go by what Jim Boeheim calls “feel” in your decision making?”
The Show
(I sometimes re-arrange the comments so that statements made on the same subject are reported together, even if they came at different points of the show.)
Matt asked what the team’s schedule had been since the LSU game. HCDB: “We wanted to put the stress on the coaches, not the players. We wanted to put the players on the same clock. We sent them home when we got back so they could get some sleep. The coaches were grading film. Then we had a three o’clock meeting with the coaches fighting to stay awake and the players fresh.
Matt noted that NC State got their first win over the top of the division, (Florida State, Clemson, Louisville), since 2012 and they are on a high. Coach: “Dave Doeren is an ex-MAC coach, (northern Illinois). He’s built the program in the right way, which makes it sustainable. Jaylen Samuels is fabulous. If they get one more big win against Clemson, they will be a contender for the Final Four. It’s very hard not to see a team that goes undefeated din this division not being in the Final Four. (I think they’d have to win the conference title game, as the Wolfpack already lost to South Carolina.) He said that Nick Chubb is better than Arden key and that the Wolfpack defense is better than LSU’s.
Coach praised his defense, who “almost won this game a single handedly – it was the offense gave up those first seven points. They hold LSU to those numbers when we were 23 point dogs and was going for its 49th consecutive non-conference win at home.” Matt said that Kendall Coleman had left quite an impression. Dino said of Chris Slayton: we don’t call him Slayton. We call him “3 Technique”. (3-Tech?) if we had three more guys like him we’d be….NC State!” Matt suggested that State’s Airius Moore and Jared Fernandez at linebacker are their answer to Zaire Franklin and Parris Bennett. “They are built for defense. That’s the way Dave Doeren played at Northern Illinois. We are built for offense. We don’t protect our defense the way they do. “
I called in my question about Coach Babers philosophy of risk. “It’s all based on mathematics. Once the numbers settle I might have an inkling or discernment. It normally doesn’t work out to go against my better judgement”
I asked him if he’d read about that high school coach in Arkansas who never punts and does nothing but onsides kicks. (Matt came up with the name: Kevin Kelley of Pulaski Academy in Little Rock Arkansas:
Why a college football coach should adopt the no-punt, always-onside-kick philosophy
Coach Babers said that that approach is fine for high school coaches who have been there for 10-15-20 years and who may have donated money to the school (?) so they can’t be fired. I told the coach I hoped he would be here 10-15-20 years. I didn’t ask if he planned to make any donations to the school.
Matt suggested that “If you have better players it can cover up for a lot of things.” Coach: When we get things the way we want them, people will want to know why we are doing the things we will do.” (Actually some people are alr4eady asking that, coach.) “You’ve got to be careful when the other guys are better but you have a chance to win. The best team doesn’t always win. It the team that plays the best that wins. Fortunately, it’s not like baseball where you have to win the best of 7 games. You only have to defeat a team once. Play calling depends on who’s out and in. The details keep flowing throughout the game.
Liam in Pompey then called in. he described the LSU game as “bittersweet” but “a heck of a game”. He said we might have won except for the interception and the dropped pass in the end zone. He didn’t like the ‘onside kick’ and would have preferred the coach kick the ballfield. (I would have preferred to have Murphy do it.) Liam figures the defense would have stopped them and we would have gotten the ball back in 2-3 minutes and won the game. He also wanted to know how we compare to NC State.
Coach first dissected the ‘onsides kick’, saying that time was the big issue, not field positon. “You can get rid of 2 minutes and 30 seconds every four downs. Do it three times and its 7 minutes on 30 seconds. Three first downs and they win the game. It’s all about math and 1st downs. It doesn’t matter where the ball is. If you get the ball back, then field positon matters.” (Since you want to get the ball back, doesn’t it matter anyway?) we wanted to put the ball in a certain area and let it roll around. A ‘specialty kick’ gives a chance for something bad to happen” (to the other team) “My first choice was a specialty kick. My second choice would have been to kick away. I didn’t want to put the defense in that position.”
As the season progresses, more people are calling into the show. John in Baltimore declared Coach Babers to “Coach Mac 2: a similar age, charismatic and a unique offense.” He also praised Devin Butler the defensive back and wondered if he could get more plays. Coach said that Devin “is doing a fantastic job as our starting nickel back against ‘10’ formations with 3-4 WRs and a tight end. Against 21 or 32 sets we need Valdez as an extra linebacker. “
Matt suggested that Zaire Franklin and Parris Bennett will have their work cut out for them in this one. Coach agreed. “NC State has a little bit of Matt Canada motion to set up Samuels”, meaning that they use a lot formations and movement to throw the defense off their multi-talented back, who lines up at various positons, including tight end. Matt said Samuels got 10 ‘touches’ two years ago, 88 las last year but 11-12 a game this year. Dino pointed out that’s as many touches as our star, Steve Ismael gets – and he’s the leading receiver in the country. “It’s not really confusing. His jersey says #1. Just keep track of #1. You’d better know where he’s going. They line him up at tight end and give it to him on the fake shovel pass and he goes inside. He walked into the end zone on that play.”
They discussed Doug Marrone calling for a fake punt up 37-0. “Sometimes you call plays to get them on film so the other team has to worry about them. Their next opponent may be a team that likes to block punts. That might not even be their best fake. You might see the best one when they really need it.”
Pete from St. Louis noticed that “You had LSU’s defense gassed in the 4th quarter. If we’d just had one more possession….” Dino: “You are exactly right. They were dying out there. They weren’t faking those cramps. Their shoulder pads were going up and down. Their big bellies- and they have some big bellies down there- were heaving. All we needed was a stop.” He said “The fans were great. We kept hearing “Let’s Go Orange” in the 3rd and 4th quarter. I apologize that the team wasn’t in a better mood after the game.”
Nase in Clay asked if we will continue to see the blitz package we saw at LSU. He also wanted to see more slants and crossing patterns. Coach said that the blitzes for LSU were particular to their personnel and scheme, although “We are pressuring more this year after putting in the defense last year.” regarding the passing “We use plenty of slants but not a lot of crossing patterns. Ismael caught a slant for a score against Central Michigan and Jamal Custis caught some. Crossing routes take time and you need to develop a seasoned offensive line to make them work.” My strong impression is that we’ve just seen glimpses of what Dino Babers wants this team to be. The offense is going to do more and more as we go along and the defense will do more and more as well.
They interviewed Steve Standard, the defensive ends coach. Dino said they split the defensive line coach job into two because they want to use their DE’s as linebackers on some plays. Stanard played under Tom Osborne at Nebraska and coached under Craig Bohl, (who also played for Osborne) at North Dakota State when they started winning those national championships. Coach Stanard said that the Bison lost one game in the two years her was there and won 2 national championships. Stanard said that Kendall Coleman was ”questionable” for NC State, which is too bad because “he’s a top motor guy”. Brabdon Berry and Alton Robinson are “emerging young kids with JUCO experience. ”Kingsley Jonathan and Ryan Guthrie will be available as well. “
How do they defend against Ryan Finley? “Make him hold the ball a split second longer.” (I would think that’s up to the secondary.)
This article contains the schedule:
New Home for AmeriCU Dino Babers Show
You can also listen to the show live each week on the Syracuse IMG Sports Network and Cuse.com. Wednesday's show will be on 99.1 FM and 97.7 FM, as well. The show will regularly air on 99.5FM (Syracuse) 99.1 FM (Utica) and 1200 AM.”
You can also get it on: Listen to The Jim Bohannon Show on WGVA on TuneIn
There hasn’t been any change in the phone numbers, which last year were 315-424-8599 (local) or 1-888-746-2873. You can call to ask questions or submit them via Twitter at: #AskDino hashtag on Twitter
Or through Cuse.com, (the SU Athletic website):
Syracuse University Athletics
You can (or could last year, anyway), listen to a podcast of the show, probably the next day, at: Search results for babers | Free Internet Radio | TuneIn
I’ve been asked to continue doing the summaries, even by people who listen to the podcasts. I may focus on the major points, rather than trying to record everything.
My Question(s)
“Coach, there’s been a lot of talk about the decisions you made in the LSU. I remember when Doug Marrone was here, people were frustrated he didn’t take more chances against favored opponents. His response was that he didn’t want to put his team in a position they couldn’t get out of if a risk backfired. Do you have a philosophy about risk-taking or do you go by what Jim Boeheim calls “feel” in your decision making?”
The Show
(I sometimes re-arrange the comments so that statements made on the same subject are reported together, even if they came at different points of the show.)
Matt asked what the team’s schedule had been since the LSU game. HCDB: “We wanted to put the stress on the coaches, not the players. We wanted to put the players on the same clock. We sent them home when we got back so they could get some sleep. The coaches were grading film. Then we had a three o’clock meeting with the coaches fighting to stay awake and the players fresh.
Matt noted that NC State got their first win over the top of the division, (Florida State, Clemson, Louisville), since 2012 and they are on a high. Coach: “Dave Doeren is an ex-MAC coach, (northern Illinois). He’s built the program in the right way, which makes it sustainable. Jaylen Samuels is fabulous. If they get one more big win against Clemson, they will be a contender for the Final Four. It’s very hard not to see a team that goes undefeated din this division not being in the Final Four. (I think they’d have to win the conference title game, as the Wolfpack already lost to South Carolina.) He said that Nick Chubb is better than Arden key and that the Wolfpack defense is better than LSU’s.
Coach praised his defense, who “almost won this game a single handedly – it was the offense gave up those first seven points. They hold LSU to those numbers when we were 23 point dogs and was going for its 49th consecutive non-conference win at home.” Matt said that Kendall Coleman had left quite an impression. Dino said of Chris Slayton: we don’t call him Slayton. We call him “3 Technique”. (3-Tech?) if we had three more guys like him we’d be….NC State!” Matt suggested that State’s Airius Moore and Jared Fernandez at linebacker are their answer to Zaire Franklin and Parris Bennett. “They are built for defense. That’s the way Dave Doeren played at Northern Illinois. We are built for offense. We don’t protect our defense the way they do. “
I called in my question about Coach Babers philosophy of risk. “It’s all based on mathematics. Once the numbers settle I might have an inkling or discernment. It normally doesn’t work out to go against my better judgement”
I asked him if he’d read about that high school coach in Arkansas who never punts and does nothing but onsides kicks. (Matt came up with the name: Kevin Kelley of Pulaski Academy in Little Rock Arkansas:
Why a college football coach should adopt the no-punt, always-onside-kick philosophy
Coach Babers said that that approach is fine for high school coaches who have been there for 10-15-20 years and who may have donated money to the school (?) so they can’t be fired. I told the coach I hoped he would be here 10-15-20 years. I didn’t ask if he planned to make any donations to the school.
Matt suggested that “If you have better players it can cover up for a lot of things.” Coach: When we get things the way we want them, people will want to know why we are doing the things we will do.” (Actually some people are alr4eady asking that, coach.) “You’ve got to be careful when the other guys are better but you have a chance to win. The best team doesn’t always win. It the team that plays the best that wins. Fortunately, it’s not like baseball where you have to win the best of 7 games. You only have to defeat a team once. Play calling depends on who’s out and in. The details keep flowing throughout the game.
Liam in Pompey then called in. he described the LSU game as “bittersweet” but “a heck of a game”. He said we might have won except for the interception and the dropped pass in the end zone. He didn’t like the ‘onside kick’ and would have preferred the coach kick the ballfield. (I would have preferred to have Murphy do it.) Liam figures the defense would have stopped them and we would have gotten the ball back in 2-3 minutes and won the game. He also wanted to know how we compare to NC State.
Coach first dissected the ‘onsides kick’, saying that time was the big issue, not field positon. “You can get rid of 2 minutes and 30 seconds every four downs. Do it three times and its 7 minutes on 30 seconds. Three first downs and they win the game. It’s all about math and 1st downs. It doesn’t matter where the ball is. If you get the ball back, then field positon matters.” (Since you want to get the ball back, doesn’t it matter anyway?) we wanted to put the ball in a certain area and let it roll around. A ‘specialty kick’ gives a chance for something bad to happen” (to the other team) “My first choice was a specialty kick. My second choice would have been to kick away. I didn’t want to put the defense in that position.”
As the season progresses, more people are calling into the show. John in Baltimore declared Coach Babers to “Coach Mac 2: a similar age, charismatic and a unique offense.” He also praised Devin Butler the defensive back and wondered if he could get more plays. Coach said that Devin “is doing a fantastic job as our starting nickel back against ‘10’ formations with 3-4 WRs and a tight end. Against 21 or 32 sets we need Valdez as an extra linebacker. “
Matt suggested that Zaire Franklin and Parris Bennett will have their work cut out for them in this one. Coach agreed. “NC State has a little bit of Matt Canada motion to set up Samuels”, meaning that they use a lot formations and movement to throw the defense off their multi-talented back, who lines up at various positons, including tight end. Matt said Samuels got 10 ‘touches’ two years ago, 88 las last year but 11-12 a game this year. Dino pointed out that’s as many touches as our star, Steve Ismael gets – and he’s the leading receiver in the country. “It’s not really confusing. His jersey says #1. Just keep track of #1. You’d better know where he’s going. They line him up at tight end and give it to him on the fake shovel pass and he goes inside. He walked into the end zone on that play.”
They discussed Doug Marrone calling for a fake punt up 37-0. “Sometimes you call plays to get them on film so the other team has to worry about them. Their next opponent may be a team that likes to block punts. That might not even be their best fake. You might see the best one when they really need it.”
Pete from St. Louis noticed that “You had LSU’s defense gassed in the 4th quarter. If we’d just had one more possession….” Dino: “You are exactly right. They were dying out there. They weren’t faking those cramps. Their shoulder pads were going up and down. Their big bellies- and they have some big bellies down there- were heaving. All we needed was a stop.” He said “The fans were great. We kept hearing “Let’s Go Orange” in the 3rd and 4th quarter. I apologize that the team wasn’t in a better mood after the game.”
Nase in Clay asked if we will continue to see the blitz package we saw at LSU. He also wanted to see more slants and crossing patterns. Coach said that the blitzes for LSU were particular to their personnel and scheme, although “We are pressuring more this year after putting in the defense last year.” regarding the passing “We use plenty of slants but not a lot of crossing patterns. Ismael caught a slant for a score against Central Michigan and Jamal Custis caught some. Crossing routes take time and you need to develop a seasoned offensive line to make them work.” My strong impression is that we’ve just seen glimpses of what Dino Babers wants this team to be. The offense is going to do more and more as we go along and the defense will do more and more as well.
They interviewed Steve Standard, the defensive ends coach. Dino said they split the defensive line coach job into two because they want to use their DE’s as linebackers on some plays. Stanard played under Tom Osborne at Nebraska and coached under Craig Bohl, (who also played for Osborne) at North Dakota State when they started winning those national championships. Coach Stanard said that the Bison lost one game in the two years her was there and won 2 national championships. Stanard said that Kendall Coleman was ”questionable” for NC State, which is too bad because “he’s a top motor guy”. Brabdon Berry and Alton Robinson are “emerging young kids with JUCO experience. ”Kingsley Jonathan and Ryan Guthrie will be available as well. “
How do they defend against Ryan Finley? “Make him hold the ball a split second longer.” (I would think that’s up to the secondary.)
