Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Forza Azzurri, post: 3958293, member: 1452"] Rutgers 3 & 14 after offsetting penalties and Babers gets the unsportsmanlike. I felt like their chances of converting 3rd and 14 were slim and none. Penalty gives them a first down at the 11 and they score. Even though we scored immediately, I felt like completing that drive gave their O some confidence. TD's fumble after the missed FG. Getting no points after the shank had to be a huge emotional letdown. To give them the ball back immediately in a position to get points was a killer. I am more ambivalent on the punt from their 41. We were 0 for the game on converting 3rd and long. While the O line has improved, it was unable to hold up in any clear passing situation yesterday. The odds of us actually converting that 4th and 10 were slim. We were able to pin them deep on the punt but just were not able to get a stop. The Shrader substitution just confused me. Considering where, and when he came into the game: first possession of 2nd quarter at our own 12, it seemed to me that it was preordained that Schrader was going to get the 2nd quarter. Against Ohio, Shrader was supposed to play but did not. I am assuming that Babers made that call because O was playing well and he did not want to disrupt dynamic, especially coming off the offensive train wreck of the previous season. Ok, that makes a lot of sense. So, then why force feed him and put a kid, whose last action was almost 2 years ago, into the game in the shadow of his own goal line (own 12 yard line), especially because I thought TD was playing reasonably well (7-9 for 64 yards at that point). Just some strange choices (including the sudden decision to insert a new punter, even though it ended up not hurting us). Watching the game, it felt inevitable to me that, at some point, we would seize the game and take control. Their QB completed, I think , one pass downfield - the throw to the TE for the TD after the unsportsmanlike. And then, all of a sudden, it was the 4th quarter and we were down two scores and the O looked like a train wreck again. I am always one of the last guys off the bandwagon, but yesterday has to raise some serious questions. That was a very winnable game. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?