3-0 and what remains

[elimunelson]

A.A.S.-All about Shrader. If he stays healthy, we'll be good. If he doesn't, ...

This.

Shrader goes we go. If he goes down, the goal is 6 wins however we can. With GS, 8-10 wins can't be discounted. he's that good.

 

[Orangezoo]

Or, if we can't get healthier, can guys develop into meaningful roles in-season to make for a stronger team.

That too

 

[SWC75]

CDRW is just as athletic if not more so than GS. Crazy eyes doesn't fare well when he has to make something out of nothing, so let's give him designed runs vs Clemson and FSU. It worked with Womack.

Then, at halftime those teams will catch on, so 2nd half we have CDRW start throwing the ball when they start crashing down.

Carlos Del Rio Wilson is 6-2, 225 and has run for 44 yards in 9 carries in his career and you're comparing him to Doug Womack?

 

[Brian Orange]

Being permanently scarred by last year's start (6-0) and slide (1-6), and being generally a realist, I wanted to look at what's ahead now that we got two patsies out of the way and that one good great win.

When entering the title, this year old post from SWC popped up. Its relevant, so sharing here: 3-0

What's Next

1. Army - 2-1 with a bloated scoring margin due to one 57-0 blowout. All patsies. Easy W.
2. Clemson - 2-1, blown out at Duke, and wins against 2 patsies. Always a tough game, and they will be coming off a drubbing by FSU. It would be a shocking slide, if they were 2-3 after playing us. Having a hard time calling this a W, and am predicting an L, but would be great to send them to 2-3. Unless we see someone emerge on the receiving corps, this has to be an L.
3. @ UNC - 3-0, all against solid teams. They shouldn't take us lightly, given we will either be 4-1 or 5-0, so unfortunately, this is an L.
4. @ FSU - 3-0, including an absolute shellacking of the #5 team in the country. They beat us by 35 last year. Likely happens again. L.
5. @ VT - 1-2, including getting handled at Rutgers and losing to Purdue by a TD. Closer than we would like W.
6. BC - 1-2, with most notably a 2 point loss to the #4 team in the country. Always a challenge to play a rival like BC. Unfortunately, we let this one slip away from us. Close L.
7. Pitt - 1-2, with the win against a patsy, and the losses, both real close, to WVU and Cincy. Close W.
8. @ GT - 1-2, with a good win against Louisville, but a doubled-up by Ole Miss. Close W.
9. Wake - 3-0 with the best win against Vandy I guess. They always play us tight, but I predict Shredder will want to light it up on senior night. They will be coming off a drubbing at ND and playing us at home. Huge W.

8-4 would be decent, given some of the predictions at the start of the season, and all the injuries (so far).

As always, this could be better or worse. With more injuries, it gets a lot worse. With someone new emerging and Shredder staying healthy, it could be 8-4 or maybe a little better.

100 percent agree on your first line. We are all scarred by Syracuse football. Nothing would surprise me.

To me this season comes down to Shrader's health. If he starts every remaining game we can have a special year. If he's out for any then we'll struggle to get to 6 or 7.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Carlos Del Rio Wilson is 6-2, 225 and has run for 44 yards in 9 carries in his career and you're comparing him to Doug Womack?

Don't get lost in the weeds or stats. I'm just suggesting that we may need to get creative in spelling Shrader for a few plays here and there. CDRW has enough athleticism to get us some yards on the ground if we can get him in the right situations. Shrader isn't trucking over people, he's beating the defensive end to the edge.

CDRW might also be good for 1 or 2 bubble screens since he has a better arm and can get the ball out quicker.

 

[007]

Probably. But they'll have that tougher game first, so I'm hoping that THEY are beat up coming into our game, and that offers whatever slight advantage it might.

Agreed. But even if they are not beaten up physically, the more telling factor from the FSU game could be how they respond emotionally win or lose. Clemson is playing as a home Dog (Dabo will use that all week to motivate them) in a game that will likely determine the course of their season. They will desperately want to prove to the nation (and themselves) that they are still "Clemson."

 

[RF2044]

Agreed. But even if they are not beaten up physically, the more telling factor from the FSU game could be how they respond emotionally win or lose. Clemson is playing as a home Dog (Dabo will use that all week to motivate them) in a game that will likely determine the course of their season. They will desperately want to prove to the nation (and themselves) that they are still "Clemson."

Yup. And losing their second game [expecting FSU to beat them] basically ends a season where they had their sights set on the playoffs, in game 4. No telling how they'd respond or whether they'd be emotionally "down" if they lose.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

As to BC being a rival, our home attendance says otherwise. Of the ACC teams we have played 4x or more in the Dome: BC is behind Clemson, NC State, FSU, Louisville, Wake and ahead of only Pitt in Average attendance. Using Median attendance they are dead last.

You can make the argument that as a whole the SU fan base cares the least about BC. I get name teams like Clemson and FSU. But if BC was a true rival, why do we get significantly more people for NC State, Louisville, and Wake?

 

[upperdeck]

Playing BC so often with nothing to play for late in the season may matter though.. And playing on tkey day weekend doesnt always help either.

Imagine if FSU had lost to BC then lost to Clemson how fast that season would have derailed. Instead they survive then play Clemson then get a bye to get healthy.

 

[DuxburyO]

As to BC being a rival, our home attendance says otherwise. Of the ACC teams we have played 4x or more in the Dome: BC is behind Clemson, NC State, FSU, Louisville, Wake and ahead of only Pitt in Average attendance. Using Median attendance they are dead last.

You can make the argument that as a whole the SU fan base cares the least about BC. I get name teams like Clemson and FSU. But if BC was a true rival, why do we get significantly more people for NC State, Louisville, and Wake?

Timing of the games.

 

[MikeSU02]

More injuries are going to happen. Only 3 games in and our best receive is gone, 2 of our best players. Seems to be a regularly recurring problem at SU, and you wonder what is going on in the S&C program.

Shredder cannot do it all. Maybe he will prove me wrong. He could get injured, it happened last year, and he was rubbing his forearm / elbow in this past game.

No depth at RB. There is like 1 dude with carries.

Receivers do not suddenly start to catch. I mean, in the offseason, people do get better, but I think only in Hollywood does a bad receiver suddenly become a good receiver. We shall see. Need someone to step up and take advantage of the huge opportunity there.

To me, a 3 loss season is the orange colored glasses threshold, but I hope to be proven wrong.

I'll convince myself we can win every game because I'm an irrational fan, but your three-loss season is more accurate in terms of upside.

Heck, with McNabb, we went 9-3, 9-3, 9-4, 8-4.

We are down our only pre-season offensive AA in OG. We are down one OL for the year. We have two more OLs that are injured. And Pena is nowhere to be found as of now for our return game.

Our WRs may have all the potential in the world, but for in-game **consistent** performance, they aren't close to the level we need. And that is counting if IJ will be playing. I think this seems to be the widest split on people's opinions for any position group. Right now, they are below average, imo.

Our TEs need to be much better. And, to your point, Shrader being a one-man band has a high risk of injury associated with it. I will say, he's a legit player and high level performer.

Our punter just had the shanks on the first road game.

Again, I think we can get to 9 wins, but we also could lose all three to Clemson, UNC and FSU and then just trip up on one more game, for example.

Like I posted elsewhere, I think we get Clemson OR UNC and then maybe trip up later in the year.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

I know we haven't exactly been a blueblood powerhouse in FB since joining the ACC but from the time when they left the Big East until we joined the ACC BC was an annual top 25 nationally relevant program that sent a ton of guys to the NFL. The second we joined their program went into the crapper big time.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Playing BC so often with nothing to play for late in the season may matter though.. And playing on tkey day weekend doesnt always help either.

Imagine if FSU had lost to BC then lost to Clemson how fast that season would have derailed. Instead they survive then play Clemson then get a bye to get healthy.

If they are a rival the timing shouldn't matter. You look forward to that game. Why do they fair worse than Wake and Pitt who we both usually play late in the season as well?

2021
Wake 10-9 38,554
BC 10-30 32,022
Pitt 11-27 27,939

2019
Pitt 10-18 44,886
BC 11-2 42,857
Wake 11-30 33,719

2017
Pitt 10-7 33,290
Wake 11-11 38,539
BC 11-25 30,202

2015
Wake 9-12 26,670
Pitt 10-24 29,832
BC 11-30 30,317

2013
11-2 Wake 38,550
11-23 Pitt 35,317
11-30 BC 37,406

 

[djorange1989]

Take it one week at a time. Remember 6-0 last year?

The team definitely has to do that. Fans? Nah!

 

[djorange1989]

This.

Shrader goes we go. If he goes down, the goal is 6 wins however we can. With GS, 8-10 wins can't be discounted. he's that good.

This

 

[djcon57]

Anyone else feel like if they click on all cylinders (stay healthy and catch passes and D continues to do what they do) that they can go undefeated? Am I the only insane person that believes that bc I truly do. There was prob 14 points dropped in the Purdue game. And other than maybe fSU giving them a serious problem, I truly think Syracuse is the better team of all the other games. I’ve watched every game of every acc opponent and that’s my real belief

I do, to a point...my only concern is there's a possibility Purdue kind of stinks this year and expectations are inflated. Agreed that there's no blow away teams in ACC. If the Purdue game was legit, then...yep.

 

[djorange1989]

I know we haven't exactly been a blueblood powerhouse in FB since joining the ACC but from the time when they left the Big East until we joined the ACC BC was an annual top 25 nationally relevant program that sent a ton of guys to the NFL. The second we joined their program went into the crapper big time.

That timed with the last two years of a crap coach(Spaziani) and the hire of a meathead coach who elevated them from crap to mediocre and no further

 

[djorange1989]

I do, to a point...my only concern is there's a possibility Purdue kind of stinks this year and expectations are inflated. Agreed that there's no blow away teams in ACC. If the Purdue game was legit, then...yep.

I am really interested to see how Purdue does against Wisconsin this week. Primetime home game for them again. I hope they win, it will make me feel really good if they do

 

[RF2044]

Anyone else feel like if they click on all cylinders (stay healthy and catch passes and D continues to do what they do) that they can go undefeated? Am I the only insane person that believes that bc I truly do. There was prob 14 points dropped in the Purdue game. And other than maybe fSU giving them a serious problem, I truly think Syracuse is the better team of all the other games. I’ve watched every game of every acc opponent and that’s my real belief

I don't think you're crazy, at all.

I caveat that by acknowledging that teams often trip up, lose a game they shouldn't, etc. Injuries can also trip you up. If the team that was favored won every time, there'd be no need to bother playing the games.

But the only game I feel like we are probably not going to have a legitimate chance to win is Florida State on the road [that LSU decimation is still fresh in my mind]. I think we can be competitive with Clemson, and I am optimistic that circumstantially, we have a good chance of knocking them off in week 5.

Every other game is a toss up [again, outside of FSU] in my mind. Doesn't mean we'll win them all. But if Shrader is healthy, we stand a good chance of getting to 9 wins. Now, we have to go prove it on the field.

 

[bigmike]

I do, to a point...my only concern is there's a possibility Purdue kind of stinks this year and expectations are inflated. Agreed that there's no blow away teams in ACC. If the Purdue game was legit, then...yep.

My sense, after rewatching the Purdue game yesterday, is that they are better than many think. Their QB, despite the fumbles, was actually very good. I expect them to continue to get better. The Mob was just too much for them.

 

[kirbivore]

This.

Shrader goes we go. If he goes down, the goal is 6 wins however we can. With GS, 8-10 wins can't be discounted. he's that good.

That's why if the team gets down 20+ at UNC and/or FSU he needs to sit.

 

[swish7]

I'll convince myself we can win every game because I'm an irrational fan, but your three-loss season is more accurate in terms of upside.

Heck, with McNabb, we went 9-3, 9-3, 9-4, 8-4.

We are down our only pre-season offensive AA in OG. We are down one OL for the year. We have two more OLs that are injured. And Pena is nowhere to be found as of now for our return game.

Our WRs may have all the potential in the world, but for in-game **consistent** performance, they aren't close to the level we need. And that is counting if IJ will be playing. I think this seems to be the widest split on people's opinions for any position group. Right now, they are below average, imo.

Our TEs need to be much better. And, to your point, Shrader being a one-man band has a high risk of injury associated with it. I will say, he's a legit player and high level performer.

Our punter just had the shanks on the first road game.

Again, I think we can get to 9 wins, but we also could lose all three to Clemson, UNC and FSU and then just trip up on one more game, for example.

Like I posted elsewhere, I think we get Clemson OR UNC and then maybe trip up later in the year.

Should be exciting to see how this season goes.

As to accurate upside, I agree. Here is our history in terms of losing only 4 games or less. 75 times in 133 years (man we're good)! But only 2 times in the last 25 years.

• 2018
• 2001
• 1998 - 1987
• 1970
• 1968 - 1963
• 1961 -1951
• 1944 - 1937
• 1935 - 1913 - what a run!!
• 1911 - 1910
• 1908 - 1895
• 1890 - 1889

 

[anomander]

This is where I am, too. This past week was BC's super bowl and FSU looked like walking zombies.

I think 8 wins is probably right assuming no more major injuries, but I think BC is in the win column. Personally, it wouldn't surprise me if we nip Clemson or UNC and then trip up against a VT/Pitt/GT later in the year.

Pitt is an absolute mess on offense. Awful we sold that game out now because it would really have favored us at home but this is the year we start a winning streak vs Pitt. Clemson is also very very pedestrian on offense and having them at home and usually playing them within a score i think this is the year we get them as well and lose to UNC and FSU. If shrader stays healthy we can easily win out. All of those last 5 teams are really down this year. 10-2 is within our grasp. Just think most recently our best years were with a Sr. Nassib and Dungey. This could be Shrader’s Sr. season to lead up to double digit wins and a big time bowl game.

 

[anomander]

Agreed. But even if they are not beaten up physically, the more telling factor from the FSU game could be how they respond emotionally win or lose. Clemson is playing as a home Dog (Dabo will use that all week to motivate them) in a game that will likely determine the course of their season. They will desperately want to prove to the nation (and themselves) that they are still "Clemson."

Unfortunately they are not because Dabo doesn’t believe in NIL or the portal. You can tell by watching them that they are not nearly as explosive and don’t have the dudes that they used to. Dabo and Saban are suffering from the same thing. Failing to adapt to the new CFB landscape thinking they could continue to win with what they did before. They can’t.

 

[RF2044]

Pitt is an absolute mess on offense. Awful we sold that game out now because it would really have favored us at home but this is the year we start a winning streak vs Pitt. Clemson is also very very pedestrian on offense and having them at home and usually playing them within a score i think this is the year we get them as well and lose to UNC and FSU. If shrader stays healthy we can easily win out. All of those last 5 teams are really down this year. 10-2 is within our grasp. Just think most recently our best years were with a Sr. Nassib and Dungey. This could be Shrader’s Sr. season to lead up to double digit wins and a big time bowl game.

Great post!