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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:
http://cuse.com/news/2016/8/30/football-dino-babers-radio-show-debuts-wednesday.aspx
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: WGVA
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):
http://cuse.com/sb_output.aspx?form=4
My Question(s)
“Coach, I tend to look at the bright side of things when they seem to be going wrong. When Louisville scored those three early touchdowns I said to myself: “We’re going to get a lot of practice returning kick-offs today: maybe we can break one”. We never did. We returned all 11 kickoffs but didn’t get beyond the 26 under our own power, (a penalty got us to the 35 on the first one). We’re averaging 17 yards a kick-off return this year and have returned only 4 of 15 punts for a total of 25 yards. We seem to have guys who could be dynamic kick returners. What can be done to spring them so they can make big plays?”
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.)
(They were still in the Cavallier Room. They will move to Shaughnessy’s when it is finished. )
Matt pointed out that Saturday’s game will be the last in the Dome for nearly a month- the next being 10/15 vs. Virginia Tech. then we go almost another month- to 11/12 against NC State. We will have one home game in 8 weeks!
John in Baltimore finally got his question in about using Kenterius Womack to simulate these multi-threat quarterbacks because that’s what he was in high school and he has a lot of speed. Coach said that he’s “aware Kenterius can throw. He’s on the scout team. The defensive coaches can use who they want. “ He agreed it sounds like a good idea but it’s apparently up to Coach Ward who he wants to use.
John also asked about using a “spy” on the multi-threat QB. Coach said that they always have that in their defense. But the spy “has to be able to run down the quarterback and make an open field tackle.” That seems to have bene a problem vs. Louisville.
Coach admitted giving up 3TDs on Louisville’s first five offensive plays was ”a jab in the face” but was proud his team fought back to be down by 14 at the half with a chance after the half to narrow the deficit to seven. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take it beyond that. Now they need to “put the Louisville game to rest and put their attention on South Florida”. Matt asked about being a 15 point underdog. Coach said he didn’t pay much attention to point spreads but he doesn’t recall in 31 years of coaching being that big an underdog in a homecoming game.
I called in my question. Coach: The stats are amazing: We beat up on them worse than they beat up on us. They got even less than we did. It takes 3-4 key blocks to create an alley for a kick return. If you make 75% of them you’ve got a chance but if two guys aren’t blocked they squeeze the gaps. On scrimmage runs you’ve got bigger backs who can break tackles. The smaller guys who return kicks can’t do that. Those lighter skilled athletes need space. “ Matt looked it up and Louisville returned kicks for 19.4 yards a kickoff – “You get five yards more than that if you let it go.” So they didn’t do worse than we did- they just didn’t do much more than we did. For the year the opposition is averaging 19.8 yards per kickoff return and have returned 4 punts for 22 yards, so it’s close to a wash.
They discussed the difficulty of returning kicks. On kick-offs, “teams are taking more chances- blitzing and it’s like they are sacking the quarterback. We can be conservative and just try to make sure we wind up with the ball or we can take chances and risked a fumble or being tackled at the 4 yard line. The main thing is to retain possession.” Coach wants his offense on the field. Matt noted Brisley Estime had two punt returns for scores last year. The problem there is the difference between college and pro rules. Linemen don’t have to wait until the ball is kicked to go downfield. Teams have three guys protecting the kicker and send 7 “gunners”. In the pros they can only have two gunners- the outside guys can release.
If Lamar Jackson is “Hurricane Jackson”, then Quinton Flowers must be “Typhoon” Flowers, per the Coach. “Although I’d like to think the man upstairs didn’t make two people like Lamar.” Matt pointed out that there will be more after that- Kizer of Notre Dame, Watson of Clemson and Francois of Florida State. Coach paused at that thought. “Let me get my thoughts right…That kind of quarterback is a really quick way to get the offense going. But things can change in one tackle and suddenly you have a different team. Notre Dame has the best idea with two guys like that, (DeShone Kizer and Malik Zaire). I prefer throwers, who can touch every part of the field.
He envies Willie Taggart, who has, after four years, an entire roster of players recruited for his system and who have not had to learn any other system. “There’s no other system in their dome”. Coach has never had a third year at one place, much less a fourth.
Matt noted that 96 of the 106 players on the USF roster are from Florida. (Syracuse has 14 players from New York). Obviously it’s great to have so many recruits nearby but what is the impact for the players of literally playing “at home”. Coach: “All things having nothing to do with football are at peace in their life.” (Hopefully.) he noted that Willie Taggart is a “Harbaugh guy”. They love to run the football, control the clock and play tough defense. You know what they are doing but can you stop it?”
Chris in East Syracuse wondered if it would have helped in the Louisville game to run an onside kick. “We look hard for those situations. You do that when you think you can handle their offense. The way those guys were moving the ball it wasn’t the smartest move.” It seemed to me that Louisville had proved it could score from anywhere and it didn’t matter much if they got the ball on their 25 or the 50. This statement seemed to me an echo of Doug Marrone’s statement that he didn’t want to take a chance if he didn’t think his team could overcome a failure.
Matt said that it’s gotten harder to recover on-side kicks because they’ve made a rule that there has to be the same number of players on either side of the kicker. (Coach said it was 6 guys but Matt corrected him to 5. We’d have a better chance with 6, it seems to me.) Coach: you can put your smashers out there to get the ball but they can do the same thing and pretty soon you’ve got smashers smashing smashers. They usually assign one guy to get the ball or knock it out of bounds. In the old days you could overload to one side but now you don’t have the numbers and those things don’t pan out the way people think they do.”
Matt asked for any update on the status of Antwan Cordy and Juan Dowels. “There’s been no official word. They are pretty banged up. It’s a physical game and you have to embrace the physicality of it.” Marlon Mack is expected back for the Bulls.
They talked briefly about tonight’s Houston- Cincinnati game and how Houston is looking to join a Power-5 conference, probably the Big 12. Babers talked about all the prominent coaches that had coached Houston- Briles, Sumlin and now Herman, (and Yeoman and Jenkins in the past). “They have so many local athletes, (like South Florida). It must be nice.
Gordon from Canandaigua wanted the coach to describe how his strength and conditioning program differed from other schools. Coach didn’t want to answer that specifically and said so. In the past he’s called the S&C program “our secret sauce”. He likes how the players started to look different by August and September- there were “huge gains”. (Fuccillo huge?)” It’s not all about size and strength. “Big people are best if born big”. Matt expressed sympathy for their mothers.
Someone asked who the fastest players on the team were. Coach said it was Cordy on defense and either Estime or Riley on offense. That surprised me. I have an image of Cordy as a hard-hitting, “football player’s football player” but I didn’t know he was a speed burner. He didn’t look like it last Friday.
Paul called in to ask why we haven’t gotten Ismael more involved in the passing game. “I think his opportunities will come. Somebody (AET) gets going early and gets national attention- the defense adjusts – now we got to others. He will have a break-out game. “
Kim McCloud came on late and they ended the show a little early, (7:57) so his conversation was short. (The closing music began playing almost as soon as they stated). He’s been with Babers since they were at Baylor together. He’s coached on both sides of the ball. Currently he’s the wide receiver coach. Regarding Ismael vs. AET: Colgate concentrated on Steve because he’d been our #1 guy for two years. Eric went to Etta-Tawo instead. “Id love to have it equal but it’s about where is the opening. The quarterback did a good job.”
Coach Babers movie recommendation for the week was “Top Gun: You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling….Never leave your wing man….”I’m dangerous”. And of course…
This article contains the schedule:
http://cuse.com/news/2016/8/30/football-dino-babers-radio-show-debuts-wednesday.aspx
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: WGVA
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):
http://cuse.com/sb_output.aspx?form=4
My Question(s)
“Coach, I tend to look at the bright side of things when they seem to be going wrong. When Louisville scored those three early touchdowns I said to myself: “We’re going to get a lot of practice returning kick-offs today: maybe we can break one”. We never did. We returned all 11 kickoffs but didn’t get beyond the 26 under our own power, (a penalty got us to the 35 on the first one). We’re averaging 17 yards a kick-off return this year and have returned only 4 of 15 punts for a total of 25 yards. We seem to have guys who could be dynamic kick returners. What can be done to spring them so they can make big plays?”
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.)
(They were still in the Cavallier Room. They will move to Shaughnessy’s when it is finished. )
Matt pointed out that Saturday’s game will be the last in the Dome for nearly a month- the next being 10/15 vs. Virginia Tech. then we go almost another month- to 11/12 against NC State. We will have one home game in 8 weeks!
John in Baltimore finally got his question in about using Kenterius Womack to simulate these multi-threat quarterbacks because that’s what he was in high school and he has a lot of speed. Coach said that he’s “aware Kenterius can throw. He’s on the scout team. The defensive coaches can use who they want. “ He agreed it sounds like a good idea but it’s apparently up to Coach Ward who he wants to use.
John also asked about using a “spy” on the multi-threat QB. Coach said that they always have that in their defense. But the spy “has to be able to run down the quarterback and make an open field tackle.” That seems to have bene a problem vs. Louisville.
Coach admitted giving up 3TDs on Louisville’s first five offensive plays was ”a jab in the face” but was proud his team fought back to be down by 14 at the half with a chance after the half to narrow the deficit to seven. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take it beyond that. Now they need to “put the Louisville game to rest and put their attention on South Florida”. Matt asked about being a 15 point underdog. Coach said he didn’t pay much attention to point spreads but he doesn’t recall in 31 years of coaching being that big an underdog in a homecoming game.
I called in my question. Coach: The stats are amazing: We beat up on them worse than they beat up on us. They got even less than we did. It takes 3-4 key blocks to create an alley for a kick return. If you make 75% of them you’ve got a chance but if two guys aren’t blocked they squeeze the gaps. On scrimmage runs you’ve got bigger backs who can break tackles. The smaller guys who return kicks can’t do that. Those lighter skilled athletes need space. “ Matt looked it up and Louisville returned kicks for 19.4 yards a kickoff – “You get five yards more than that if you let it go.” So they didn’t do worse than we did- they just didn’t do much more than we did. For the year the opposition is averaging 19.8 yards per kickoff return and have returned 4 punts for 22 yards, so it’s close to a wash.
They discussed the difficulty of returning kicks. On kick-offs, “teams are taking more chances- blitzing and it’s like they are sacking the quarterback. We can be conservative and just try to make sure we wind up with the ball or we can take chances and risked a fumble or being tackled at the 4 yard line. The main thing is to retain possession.” Coach wants his offense on the field. Matt noted Brisley Estime had two punt returns for scores last year. The problem there is the difference between college and pro rules. Linemen don’t have to wait until the ball is kicked to go downfield. Teams have three guys protecting the kicker and send 7 “gunners”. In the pros they can only have two gunners- the outside guys can release.
If Lamar Jackson is “Hurricane Jackson”, then Quinton Flowers must be “Typhoon” Flowers, per the Coach. “Although I’d like to think the man upstairs didn’t make two people like Lamar.” Matt pointed out that there will be more after that- Kizer of Notre Dame, Watson of Clemson and Francois of Florida State. Coach paused at that thought. “Let me get my thoughts right…That kind of quarterback is a really quick way to get the offense going. But things can change in one tackle and suddenly you have a different team. Notre Dame has the best idea with two guys like that, (DeShone Kizer and Malik Zaire). I prefer throwers, who can touch every part of the field.
He envies Willie Taggart, who has, after four years, an entire roster of players recruited for his system and who have not had to learn any other system. “There’s no other system in their dome”. Coach has never had a third year at one place, much less a fourth.
Matt noted that 96 of the 106 players on the USF roster are from Florida. (Syracuse has 14 players from New York). Obviously it’s great to have so many recruits nearby but what is the impact for the players of literally playing “at home”. Coach: “All things having nothing to do with football are at peace in their life.” (Hopefully.) he noted that Willie Taggart is a “Harbaugh guy”. They love to run the football, control the clock and play tough defense. You know what they are doing but can you stop it?”
Chris in East Syracuse wondered if it would have helped in the Louisville game to run an onside kick. “We look hard for those situations. You do that when you think you can handle their offense. The way those guys were moving the ball it wasn’t the smartest move.” It seemed to me that Louisville had proved it could score from anywhere and it didn’t matter much if they got the ball on their 25 or the 50. This statement seemed to me an echo of Doug Marrone’s statement that he didn’t want to take a chance if he didn’t think his team could overcome a failure.
Matt said that it’s gotten harder to recover on-side kicks because they’ve made a rule that there has to be the same number of players on either side of the kicker. (Coach said it was 6 guys but Matt corrected him to 5. We’d have a better chance with 6, it seems to me.) Coach: you can put your smashers out there to get the ball but they can do the same thing and pretty soon you’ve got smashers smashing smashers. They usually assign one guy to get the ball or knock it out of bounds. In the old days you could overload to one side but now you don’t have the numbers and those things don’t pan out the way people think they do.”
Matt asked for any update on the status of Antwan Cordy and Juan Dowels. “There’s been no official word. They are pretty banged up. It’s a physical game and you have to embrace the physicality of it.” Marlon Mack is expected back for the Bulls.
They talked briefly about tonight’s Houston- Cincinnati game and how Houston is looking to join a Power-5 conference, probably the Big 12. Babers talked about all the prominent coaches that had coached Houston- Briles, Sumlin and now Herman, (and Yeoman and Jenkins in the past). “They have so many local athletes, (like South Florida). It must be nice.
Gordon from Canandaigua wanted the coach to describe how his strength and conditioning program differed from other schools. Coach didn’t want to answer that specifically and said so. In the past he’s called the S&C program “our secret sauce”. He likes how the players started to look different by August and September- there were “huge gains”. (Fuccillo huge?)” It’s not all about size and strength. “Big people are best if born big”. Matt expressed sympathy for their mothers.
Someone asked who the fastest players on the team were. Coach said it was Cordy on defense and either Estime or Riley on offense. That surprised me. I have an image of Cordy as a hard-hitting, “football player’s football player” but I didn’t know he was a speed burner. He didn’t look like it last Friday.
Paul called in to ask why we haven’t gotten Ismael more involved in the passing game. “I think his opportunities will come. Somebody (AET) gets going early and gets national attention- the defense adjusts – now we got to others. He will have a break-out game. “
Kim McCloud came on late and they ended the show a little early, (7:57) so his conversation was short. (The closing music began playing almost as soon as they stated). He’s been with Babers since they were at Baylor together. He’s coached on both sides of the ball. Currently he’s the wide receiver coach. Regarding Ismael vs. AET: Colgate concentrated on Steve because he’d been our #1 guy for two years. Eric went to Etta-Tawo instead. “Id love to have it equal but it’s about where is the opening. The quarterback did a good job.”
Coach Babers movie recommendation for the week was “Top Gun: You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling….Never leave your wing man….”I’m dangerous”. And of course…
