1998 Tennessee vs Syracuse

[sufandu]

yep hey lets give the ball at the goal line to the 165lb rb and not the 245lb fullback!

I believe the story was that Konrad was hurt. I just don't know why you go with a true freshman there.

 

[SWC75]

Amazing that we scheduled like that.

Start off with Tennessee, then go to Michigan and to NC State? For what?

If we scheduled like VT, we probably go 11-1 about 3 times in a row.

We were looking for a reputation. Now we're just looking for wins.

 

[GoSU96]

I believe the story was that Konrad was hurt. I just don't know why you go with a true freshman there.

All three fullbacks were out and McIntosh wasn’t the guy for that.

McNabb was seeing double and had gotten in a fight with Konrad, and Konrad tweaked his knee.

By the time they got to VT McNabb was wrapped like a mummy all week because both shoulders were messed up.

 

[Chip]

Mediocre, yes. Still, the last two, while not winning seasons, were 6-6. Today that would have gotten us a bowl and...from what JW has said...probably it would have kept P his job.

How about this for a metric of mediocrity...those last two 6-6 seasons are tied for the 6th best season in the past 20 years. Half of those 20 seasons ended with records of 4 or fewer wins. I don't even think of those seasons as mediocre; I consider them bad.

The last one did get us a bowl. I try to forget that too

I remember thinking it was strange we didn't get a bowl in 2003. At the time I thought 6-6 teams could get one, and the way we had waxed ND in that finale, we would have done well. It's a cliche Parcells disagrees with but I thought that team was better than its record.

GRob really made us appreciate 6-6 more than we did at the time. Shafer made us remember GRob. Covid made us remember Shafer and GRob.

 

[samspann1]

Lit up a damaged secondary.

Tried to make it McNabbs Heisman showcase when they couldn’t stop Konrad anymore than SU could stop Holt.

McNabb sh...*t the bed.

Konrad had 5 carries for 26 yards and 4 receptions for 19 yards that night.

 

[GoSU96]

Konrad had 5 carries for 26 yards and 4 receptions for 19 yards that night.

Their first drive they scored a td feeding him. Didn’t see the ball again and turned it into the McNabb show. 3 Int’s later it was all over.

 

[SWC75]

The last one did get us a bowl. I try to forget that too

I remember thinking it was strange we didn't get a bowl in 2003. At the time I thought 6-6 teams could get one, and the way we had waxed ND in that finale, we would have done well. It's a cliche Parcells disagrees with but I thought that team was better than its record.

GRob really made us appreciate 6-6 more than we did at the time. Shafer made us remember GRob. Covid made us remember Shafer and GRob.

Shafer was better than G-Rob. He won a bowl game. G-Rob watched them on TV.

 

[samspann1]

Their first drive they scored a td feeding him. Didn’t see the ball again and turned it into the McNabb show. 3 Int’s later it was all over.

he had 3 touches (2 carries and 1 reception, totaling 11 yards) on the first drive...same number of touches as McIntosh had on that drive.

I'm thinking the defense giving up 500+ yards was a bigger issue than McNabb was that night.

 

[IthacaMatt]

There was still more hope though in those times. But I recall 2004, hosting Bobby Bowden and FSU in a Saturday night game, and the attendance was 40k.

Despite the loss, the noise on that drive deep into their territory late in the game was an amazing atmosphere. That was really quite a game.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Well, the conference was solid but not great that year, since everyone had at least 3 losses and nobody finished ranked higher than 20. NC State hadn't been all that great leading up to that game with only 3 wins in '95 and '96 and 6 in '97. Michigan and Tennessee were big time but if you want to be great to have to play other great teams. We weren't a rebuilding program at that point. For the previous 10 years we had one of the best records in the country. If not for screw job refs, we beat Tennessee and we had no business losing to NC State. We were better than them. We had beaten WVU the previous three years but couldn't get the fourth. The schedule was fine for a team that was expected to be really good and had an elite talent at QB with a bunch of other future high draft picks on the roster.

To answer your 'for what' question. Imagine how excited the fanbase and community would've been and how much espn would've been all over us had SEC refs not screwed us and then we blew out Michigan like we did. We would've been a top 5 team.

Yes, that was a schedule rightly designed to give us a chance at another national championship.

I miss those days, when we could play games like that with regularity and not destroy our season by doing so.

 

[IthacaMatt]

We were looking for a reputation. Now we're just looking for wins.

Very well put.

 

[OburgOrange]

All three fullbacks were out and McIntosh wasn’t the guy for that.

McNabb was seeing double and had gotten in a fight with Konrad, and Konrad tweaked his knee.

By the time they got to VT McNabb was wrapped like a mummy all week because both shoulders were messed up.

Wait. What fight?

 

[donniesyracuse]

Wait. What fight?

Konrad ate his chunky soup.

 

[kirbivore]

I looked it up. 1998 was the year. There were two ridiculous attire penalties: socks too high and pants too short. SEC refs. We lost by 1 pt. They went on to win the National Champ.

Even with all that SU still could have won if the moron twins called aggressive TD plays in the final offensive possession instead of conservative play for a FG plays like the slang word for cat.

 

[sufandu]

Even with all that still could have won if the moron twins called aggressive TD plays in the offensive possession instead of conservative play for a FG plays like the slang word for cat.

Yeah, we had our share of play not to lose decisions in that era. I remember jumping on Virginia Tech in the first half in 2000. Then we went into a shell in the second half.

 

[tbonezone]

i too always thought Konrad was over rated. back to Tennessee it was konrad who fumbled near our goal line to gift the vols some points. i was in the end zone seats and thought he was down but that play cost us as much as the bogus PI.

 

[IthacaMatt]

i too always thought Konrad was over rated. back to Tennessee it was konrad who fumbled near our goal line to gift the vols some points. i was in the end zone seats and thought he was down but that play cost us as much as the bogus PI.

Konrad was a terrific talent, but (a) he got hurt a lot, and (b) Pasqualoni & DeLeone only wanted to give him about 10 touches a game, because they had so many other weapons. Konrad (and his dad, in particular) were not happy about him not being the focus on the offense (i.e., 20-25 carries a game). If there were a portal back then, he would have been in it.

 

[baggerbob]

Konrad was a terrific talent, but (a) he got hurt a lot, and (b) Pasqualoni & DeLeone only wanted to give him about 10 touches a game, because they had so many other weapons. Konrad (and his dad, in particular) were not happy about him not being the focus on the offense (i.e., 20-25 carries a game). If there were a portal back then, he would have been in it.

His blocking made the offense go.

 

[SWC75]

Konrad was a terrific talent, but (a) he got hurt a lot, and (b) Pasqualoni & DeLeone only wanted to give him about 10 touches a game, because they had so many other weapons. Konrad (and his dad, in particular) were not happy about him not being the focus on the offense (i.e., 20-25 carries a game). If there were a portal back then, he would have been in it.

They never figured out how to use him. I remember his freshman year, he was the key to our first possession touchdown drive against Virginia Tech. With his size and speed, he was the ultimate weapon vs. their 8 man line. He never saw the ball again and we lost 7-31.

 

[sufandu]

Konrad was a terrific talent, but (a) he got hurt a lot, and (b) Pasqualoni & DeLeone only wanted to give him about 10 touches a game, because they had so many other weapons. Konrad (and his dad, in particular) were not happy about him not being the focus on the offense (i.e., 20-25 carries a game). If there were a portal back then, he would have been in it.

Yeah, they were too rigid with having to use him as a traditional blocking fullback. I hated seeing Dayne rack up all the yards and get all the recognition while we had our 240 lb guy that ran a 4.5 40 ramming his head up the middle all the time. I wonder how many of his injuries were because of his blocking duties. I'm sure he took a lot more abuse slamming into MLBs all the time than he would've running some sweeps and off tackle.

 

[tbonezone]

i suppose you could build an argument he was a good blocker but he was never an offensive weapon.

 

[IthacaMatt]

i suppose you could build an argument he was a good blocker but he was never an offensive weapon.

Career numbers: just under 300 carries, 5.1 ypc, 20 TDs, 41 catches for an average of 11.5 ypc and 3 more TDs.

 

[SWC75]

Career numbers: just under 300 carries, 5.1 ypc, 20 TDs, 41 catches for an average of 11.5 ypc and 3 more TDs.

That seems like a pretty good weapon.

 

[tbonezone]

That seems like a pretty good weapon.

20 tds in 4 seasons (44 games.) i wouldn't expect big yardage numbers from a guy his size. but you do think he could have punched it in more. for a little context will shipley who we faced today scored 26 td's in his first 2 season. allen and shredder both have 6 after 5 games this season . weapons. not sure if konrad was ever all american or even all BE. not hating on the dude (he was a dolphin) but let's face it , #44 wasn't retired becuz of rob konrad.

 

[Cuseregular]

Today reminded me of that game, on the pass interference call that shouldn’t have been called (at least call equally both ways), The ref right there sees the whole thing doesn’t make the call, the guy from 30 yards away throws the flag. Total BS once again