4-5 seems about right to me...

[Scooch]

9 games in and I think I've seen enough to feel that this is a slightly below average football team.

Not a bad team, or a team that sucks, or anything overdramatic like that. Just one that's on the other side of average.

There's nothing horribly wrong with that, it's not some great shame or embarassment. We're just... slightly below average. We can beat good 1-AAs (SB), and bad 1-As (UConn). We have mixed results against slightly below average to slightly above average teams (USF, Pitt, Cincy, Rutgers). And we can hang with good teams for a while (USC) but rarely beat them.

We're actually better than I thought we would be. I had us pegged at 4-8 for the season, and I think we're looking at 5-7 at worst. Which is, well, slightly below average. But we're in position to make plays. Every game it seems like we have 3-4 moments on either side of the ball to hit for something big, but we just don't cash in on most of those opportunities often enough to be above average.

And we play colossally stupid. The mental mistakes are constant, and killing us. That doesn't help. Nor does Marrone having such a terrible feel for the game in some key moments. But he's good in other areas, so I think we just have to accept that achilles heel. I don't see it changing significantly after 4 years. You either get that stuff or you don't.

Oh well. It's disappointing but we are what our record says we are. I'd try to be more positive and say that all we have to do is clean up X, Y and Z and we'll be good. But I don't believe that we can. 9 games in and we're making as many boneheaded mistakes as we did in game 1. It's just the nature of the team right now. Maybe someday it won't be.

 

[All4SU]

You make your own luck. But man this team sure has been unlucky. Calls that need indisputable evidence that don't go our way have been brutal so far.

As a BCS team with a challenging OOC schedule, 5 and 7 would still be "average" rather than below average. But I still believe this squad gets to 6-6.

 

[otisco]

Good and fair post.

The not-having-a-feel issue is a concern with Marrone. The other stuff is correctible, but I don't think that can be fixed, as you note. Jake posted this a few weeks ago, maybe after Pitt. Either-you-get-it-or-you-don't applies and surfaces in all professional fields and matters of daily life (parenting, etc.). Feel, instinct, intuition, etc. is a thing embedded, or not, into one's makeup and typically remains as is. I hope experience will cure Marrone's individual case.

 

[Scooch]

You make your own luck. But man this team sure has been unlucky. Calls that need indisputable evidence that don't go our way have been brutal so far.

As a BCS team with a challenging OOC schedule, 5 and 7 would still be "average" rather than below average. But I still believe this squad gets to 6-6.

Eh, the first fumble call was brutal, no doubt. But the goal line fumble appears to be the correct call per the letter of the rule. And even if it wasn't, we were down 28-24 at that point, and couldn't muster a damn lick of offense for the final 25 minutes of the game.

That's not luck, or breaks, or any of that. It's just poor play.

We had a pick-6 in our hands and dropped it. That was luck, and we pissed it away. We piss away a ton of golden opportunities every game. It's the one defining thing about this team.

 

[dasher]

Eh, the first fumble call was brutal, no doubt. But the goal line fumble appears to be the correct call per the letter of the rule. And even if it wasn't, we were down 28-24 at that point, and couldn't muster a damn lick of offense for the final 25 minutes of the game.

That's not luck, or breaks, or any of that. It's just poor play.

We had a pick-6 in our hands and dropped it. That was luck, and we pissed it away. We piss away a ton of golden opportunities every game. It's the one defining thing about this team.

I disagree in that I think we are a more than average team. I mean 5-4 with a normal schedule.

 

[orangenirvana]

I was screaming my lungs out when Marrone put the FG unit out there on 4th and 3 from the 25 in the rain. I was so livid, and this was before Krautman missed. So stupid.

BTW, why do we only recruit defensive backs with the worst hand-eye coordination one can possibly have? My two-year old daughter catches that interception and takes it to the house.

Freakin enraging.

 

[orangenirvana]

I disagree in that I think we are a more than average team. I mean 5-4 with a normal schedule.

We play in the Big East.

 

[Scooch]

I disagree in that I think we are a more than average team. I mean 5-4 with a normal schedule.

Eh, I won't argue if you feel that way, but I think a "more than average" team could find a way to do better than 0-4 vs. N'Western, Minnesota, Rutgers and Cincy. Like at least 1-3.

 

[dasher]

Eh, I won't argue if you feel that way, but I think a "more than average" team could find a way to do better than 0-4 vs. N'Western, Minnesota, Rutgers and Cincy. Like at least 1-3.

LOL I really think we won the NW game. That is why I said that.

 

[richard levy]

9 games in and I think I've seen enough to feel that this is a slightly below average football team.

Not a bad team, or a team that sucks, or anything overdramatic like that. Just one that's on the other side of average.

There's nothing horribly wrong with that, it's not some great shame or embarassment. We're just... slightly below average. We can beat good 1-AAs (SB), and bad 1-As (UConn). We have mixed results against slightly below average to slightly above average teams (USF, Pitt, Cincy, Rutgers). And we can hang with good teams for a while (USC) but rarely beat them.

We're actually better than I thought we would be. I had us pegged at 4-8 for the season, and I think we're looking at 5-7 at worst. Which is, well, slightly below average. But we're in position to make plays. Every game it seems like we have 3-4 moments on either side of the ball to hit for something big, but we just don't cash in on most of those opportunities often enough to be above average.

And we play colossally stupid. The mental mistakes are constant, and killing us. That doesn't help. Nor does Marrone having such a terrible feel for the game in some key moments. But he's good in other areas, so I think we just have to accept that achilles heel. I don't see it changing significantly after 4 years. You either get that stuff or you don't.

Oh well. It's disappointing but we are what our record says we are. I'd try to be more positive and say that all we have to do is clean up X, Y and Z and we'll be good. But I don't believe that we can. 9 games in and we're making as many boneheaded mistakes as we did in game 1. It's just the nature of the team right now. Maybe someday it won't be.

 

[richard levy]

I mostly agree, especially about Marrone. He has rescued a mess of a program. I love the quality and character of the kids ( and they are kids), and he has them playing hard to the very end of every game. I don't know that he if he will ever be a better real-time game coach. I thought Coach P was bad, never changed even when the game was slipping away. Les Miles of LSU made some decisions that went bad last night, but he has such great talent, he almost beat Bama Because the SU football program was so far down, we're further down the recruiting food chain, we're getting kids, especially the NY kids, they may have size and ability, but don't have the football savvy of kids from other parts of the country where football is played year-round, fall,, spring, and summer. So, those players may not have the football instincts, that are difficult to teach, and take more time to hopefully develop. Yesterday, he was yelling at Rob Welsh for missing block., Rene's judgement on punt/KO returns. I hope I'm wrong, but I think Marrone's ceiling, especially when in the ACC, is low. I remain ever optimistic, however,