And that is the sound, sports fans

[PeteCalvin]

This one was crushing. On so many levels. My son was waiting all week to see us place ourselves in the Top 25 for the first time in his life. He was stoked! Hates Pitt like an old die hard BE fan. This was the game for him. He was so ready to see SU Football finally reach national relevancy. Then we watched Dungey squander away the Custis 44-yard pick-up (a gift by the officials). Then we watched as our D couldn’t contain Pitt on two straight drives as they fell for the same wildcat play on key downs. Who else didn’t realize that the play was to fake the jet sweep and run up the middle? The rainbow pass on first down, to a small receiver, in double coverage was the last straw. It’s like all the excitement a new potential die hard fan built up just went...poof.

That was the hardest thing about this one...to see us throw away that golden opportunity to make the Top 25, to be relevant, and to win finally over those new fans (like my son) who’ve only known mediocre football and low expectations these past 17 years. This was a huge opportunity lost, and against a Pitt team we should have been ready to squash like a bug. This is on the coaches who called one of the worst games possible.

May Pitt burn in the bowels of hell.

 

[Cuseregular]

I’m in a big group chat with fam/extended fam/friends. All die-hard fans like us...all officially over this program.

This is too much.

Maybe if I lived in Syracuse I would go, simply to go, but we don’t. We all live in NYC/LI and Atlanta. We all spend a ton of money going to away games in driving distance, flying to a game a year, some donate etc..

Everyone is sick of this. This game seems to be the one that broke the camels back.

I think I can echo a lot of fans sentiments when I say, this is “the game” of Dino’s era that we had to win.

We’ve stuck with this program, and Dino, through absolute nonsense for a decade, and Dino, a few years that all played out the exact same way.

This year was supposed to be different. Down ACC. Senior QB. National Attention.

All leading up to the biggest let down football game I may have witnessed in my 34 years of living. We’ve lost bigger games since I became a fan, but I don’t know that there was ever more on the line for the future of our program as there was today.

We predictably **** the bed, just like everyone figured we would.

Yep and no one can take issue with that take. This game shows me we have a good (maybe even very good) coach, but not great. A great coach somehow someway gets them motivated to come out and perform. I had them losing the last two preseason so if they can get to 7-5 or better I'll be happy with our Good to very good coach. Less than that and I'll tolerate our just good coach knowing what the reality is for this program these days, and will look forward to seeing what he can do after 5 years.

Dang such a lost opportunity at relevance. They can get back there but it's gonna be an uphill climb now.

 

[JRHEETER]

Guys, look, this team lost today and it’s crushing to us as fans. The reason is because we got all excited, thought we might be 11-1 and out doing something great and a BCS bowl. In all reality this team still could end up 9-3 with a loss to ND if we win the rest of our home games and scrap out a win at BC and beating Wake Forest.

Even if we lose at BC and ND we still end up 8-4. At the start of this season 99% of us on here would take that.

This season isn’t lost. Win the homes games (all of your support will help) and try to steal a couple on the road and this season can still be special and catapault us to something great next season.


With that being said, we need to learn to stop the run and to tackle at the feet. We are constantly trying to drag people down by their shoulders. This needs to change and this is on coaching.

 

[longislandcuse]

Guys, look, this team lost today and it’s crushing to us as fans. The reason is because we got all excited, thought we might be 11-1 and out doing something great and a BCS bowl. In all reality this team still could end up 9-3 with a loss to ND if we win the rest of our home games and scrap out a win at BC and beating Wake Forest.

Even if we lose at BC and ND we still end up 8-4. At the start of this season 99% of us on here would take that.

This season isn’t lost. Win the homes games (all of your support will help) and try to steal a couple on the road and this season can still be special and catapault us to something great next season.


With that being said, we need to learn to stop the run and to tackle at the feet. We are constantly trying to drag people down by their shoulders. This needs to change and this is on coaching.

I think Dino’s history so far is leading to the assumption that the wheels have started falling off.

You’re asking us to believe in a team that, under this coach, falls apart every year around now.

Our QB, supposed strength, has been mediocre at best and our run defense is the worst anyone here has ever seen on the P5 level.

It looks to a lot of us here, that the post-September collapse has begun.

I really hope he proves us wrong.

 

[tbonezone]

all i asked for was a syracuse team that could be competitive with anybody. we got that. i'm happy.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

This one was crushing. On so many levels. My son was waiting all week to see us place ourselves in the Top 25 for the first time in his life. He was stoked! Hates Pitt like an old die hard BE fan. This was the game for him. He was so ready to see SU Football finally reach national relevancy. Then we watched Dungey squander away the Custis 44-yard pick-up (a gift by the officials). Then we watched as our D couldn’t contain Pitt on two straight drives as they fell for the same wildcat play on key downs. Who else didn’t realize that the play was to fake the jet sweep and run up the middle? The rainbow pass on first down, to a small receiver, in double coverage was the last straw. It’s like all the excitement a new potential die hard fan built up just went...poof.

That was the hardest thing about this one...to see us throw away that golden opportunity to make the Top 25, to be relevant, and to win finally over those new fans (like my son) who’ve only known mediocre football and low expectations these past 17 years. This was a huge opportunity lost, and against a Pitt team we should have been ready to squash like a bug. This is on the coaches who called one of the worst games possible.

May Pitt burn in the bowels of hell.

Your son has learned the very important lessons that we are all morons.

 

[pattycuse]

I’m in a big group chat with fam/extended fam/friends. All die-hard fans like us...all officially over this program.

This is too much.

Maybe if I lived in Syracuse I would go, simply to go, but we don’t. We all live in NYC/LI and Atlanta. We all spend a ton of money going to away games in driving distance, flying to a game a year, some donate etc..

Everyone is sick of this. This game seems to be the one that broke the camels back.

I think I can echo a lot of fans sentiments when I say, this is “the game” of Dino’s era that we had to win.

We’ve stuck with this program, and Dino, through absolute nonsense for a decade, and Dino, a few years that all played out the exact same way.

This year was supposed to be different. Down ACC. Senior QB. National Attention.

All leading up to the biggest let down football game I may have witnessed in my 34 years of living. We’ve lost bigger games since I became a fan, but I don’t know that there was ever more on the line for the future of our program as there was today.

We predictably **** the bed, just like everyone figured we would.

I needed a few hours (and a long walk around the neighborhood pushing my four month old in her stroller) to calm down before I could respond. Frankly I am still trying to find the words.

While I don’t think the sky is falling on this year or the program’s trajectory, I am just tired of the What losses that seem to happen every single year when we have a chance at serious momentum and national recognition. There is an entire generation of SU fans whose greatest moments were two Pinstripe Bowl victories and a win over Clemson that was immediately followed by five straight losses. Think about that.

At some point I would to have us all, the diehards and the casual fan, experience the excitement of two ranked teams matched up in the Carrier Dome...a game with a lot on the line. It just feels like a distant memory right now, because it is. And every game that is a complete punch in the $&!? like this one makes that feel like it is never coming back. I am all in on Babers and have believed without evidence...but this is brutal.

Bye week comes at the right time. See you all next week.

 

[CarolinaCuse]

This one was crushing. On so many levels. My son was waiting all week to see us place ourselves in the Top 25 for the first time in his life. He was stoked! Hates Pitt like an old die hard BE fan. This was the game for him. He was so ready to see SU Football finally reach national relevancy. Then we watched Dungey squander away the Custis 44-yard pick-up (a gift by the officials). Then we watched as our D couldn’t contain Pitt on two straight drives as they fell for the same wildcat play on key downs. Who else didn’t realize that the play was to fake the jet sweep and run up the middle? The rainbow pass on first down, to a small receiver, in double coverage was the last straw. It’s like all the excitement a new potential die hard fan built up just went...poof.

That was the hardest thing about this one...to see us throw away that golden opportunity to make the Top 25, to be relevant, and to win finally over those new fans (like my son) who’ve only known mediocre football and low expectations these past 17 years. This was a huge opportunity lost, and against a Pitt team we should have been ready to squash like a bug. This is on the coaches who called one of the worst games possible.

May Pitt burn in the bowels of hell.

I agree with everything you wrote. This was the game that was going to resolve just a little bit of the 17 years of frustration. Make no bones about it. Cuse was supposed to win this game at a time when they REALLY needed to win this game to exorcise some demons. Unfortunately, the demons remain. Good news though - the team can prove I’m wrong by finishing out strong. Just win.

 

[RoysRunts]

Small Linebackers,can't stop the run hand writing was on the wall Game 1

 

[FAL]

This one was crushing. On so many levels. My son was waiting all week to see us place ourselves in the Top 25 for the first time in his life. He was stoked! Hates Pitt like an old die hard BE fan. This was the game for him. He was so ready to see SU Football finally reach national relevancy. Then we watched Dungey squander away the Custis 44-yard pick-up (a gift by the officials). Then we watched as our D couldn’t contain Pitt on two straight drives as they fell for the same wildcat play on key downs. Who else didn’t realize that the play was to fake the jet sweep and run up the middle? The rainbow pass on first down, to a small receiver, in double coverage was the last straw. It’s like all the excitement a new potential die hard fan built up just went...poof.

That was the hardest thing about this one...to see us throw away that golden opportunity to make the Top 25, to be relevant, and to win finally over those new fans (like my son) who’ve only known mediocre football and low expectations these past 17 years. This was a huge opportunity lost, and against a Pitt team we should have been ready to squash like a bug. This is on the coaches who called one of the worst games possible.

May Pitt burn in the bowels of hell.

I would have liked your post except for your last sentence. Uncalled for. 15 yards and loss of down!

 

[OrangeDW]

I needed a few hours (and a long walk around the neighborhood pushing my four month old in her stroller) to calm down before I could respond. Frankly I am still trying to find the words.

While I don’t think the sky is falling on this year or the program’s trajectory, I am just tired of the What losses that seem to happen every single year when we have a chance at serious momentum and national recognition. There is an entire generation of SU fans whose greatest moments were two Pinstripe Bowl victories and a win over Clemson that was immediately followed by five straight losses. Think about that.

At some point I would to have us all, the diehards and the casual fan, experience the excitement of two ranked teams matched up in the Carrier Dome...a game with a lot on the line. It just feels like a distant memory right now, because it is. And every game that is a complete punch in the $&!? like this one makes that feel like it is never coming back. I am all in on Babers and have believed without evidence...but this is brutal.

Bye week comes at the right time. See you all next week.

Even those Pinstripe Bowels were awhile ago. Our current players and students were mostly in middle school. That’s “back in the day” for them.

 

[DocFlanders]

6-6 will be hard fought at this point, maybe UNC and maybe Lville. Every other game is a proabale loss right now. No gimmies left, we used it up and lost against spitt

 

[Dick_in_MI]

My loyalty is to my Alma Mater, first and foremost.

I'm neither on nor off the Dino bandwagon. He seems to have made strides in some areas but not in others. He seems like a good guy, maybe a more polished and eloquent version of Coach Mac and I hope he succeeds. But that is not because my ego is tied to Dino; rather because if Dino does well, SU does well.

I never bought into the "belief without evidence" thing. That's fine as a religious philosophy but not for someone who is making millions of dollars every year in a job. If a manager that reported to me used that line when I hired him/her, the first thing I would have said was "let's get this clear; I don't believe anything but results." The issue is never "who else could I get if I replaced this guy" but rather "does this person merit keeping this job and this (big) salary". Every executive worth his or her salt is confident that they could replace an underperformer with a better performer. Every successful AD is too.

None of that is to say that his seat is hot. That is for his boss to decide at the end of the season. He has recruited what appears to be some young talent with good potential and that gives me hope.

But I am an evidence guy. After 4-8, 4-8 there has to be real growth in a macro sense and not merely in small areas. The sky isn't falling for me; I was a student during Ben's downward spiral years and watching SU lose a close one to even the likes of Pitt can't compare to sitting in puddles on the cold concrete steps of Archbold in the rain while watching Ben run up the middle on 4th and long. It kind of gives a guy a sense of perspective.

At the end of the day, P5 football isn't an extracurricular activity and has not been one for a very, very long time. It is the entertainment division of the University, a big business, and it has long since dropped any façade of being about being a part of the educational mission of the university. As such, the coach will have to justify his salary by winning, putting butts in the seats, causing alums to donate $$$ to the athletic dept or failing that their old academic department.

Dino knows the score. I hope he succeeds. I hope I see the evidence.

 

[orangecuse]

I wonder what other fan bases think about our perceptual view of our program heading into today's game and whether we come across somewhat obnoxious at times. We have lost to Pitt now 12 out of the last 15 games, 8 straight on the road and we were only a 3 point favorite headed into this game. Yet, many assumed this was a "gimme" game. Ha, really!!! This program hasn't proved a thing under Baber's, at least not anything of significance or consistency. 2 straight 4-8 seasons preceding this one, and yet we have the audacity to think we are disrespected and that today's line was...well, out of line.

 

[OrangeinBoston]

My loyalty is to my Alma Mater, first and foremost.

I'm neither on nor off the Dino bandwagon. He seems to have made strides in some areas but not in others. He seems like a good guy, maybe a more polished and eloquent version of Coach Mac and I hope he succeeds. But that is not because my ego is tied to Dino; rather because if Dino does well, SU does well.

I never bought into the "belief without evidence" thing. That's fine as a religious philosophy but not for someone who is making millions of dollars every year in a job. If a manager that reported to me used that line when I hired him/her, the first thing I would have said was "let's get this clear; I don't believe anything but results." The issue is never "who else could I get if I replaced this guy" but rather "does this person merit keeping this job and this (big) salary". Every executive worth his or her salt is confident that they could replace an underperformer with a better performer. Every successful AD is too.

None of that is to say that his seat is hot. That is for his boss to decide at the end of the season. He has recruited what appears to be some young talent with good potential and that gives me hope.

But I am an evidence guy. After 4-8, 4-8 there has to be real growth in a macro sense and not merely in small areas. The sky isn't falling for me; I was a student during Ben's downward spiral years and watching SU lose a close one to even the likes of Pitt can't compare to sitting in puddles on the cold concrete steps of Archbold in the rain while watching Ben run up the middle on 4th and long. It kind of gives a guy a sense of perspective.

At the end of the day, P5 football isn't an extracurricular activity and has not been one for a very, very long time. It is the entertainment division of the University, a big business, and it has long since dropped any façade of being about being a part of the educational mission of the university. As such, the coach will have to justify his salary by winning, putting butts in the seats, causing alums to donate $$$ to the athletic dept or failing that their old academic department.

Dino knows the score. I hope he succeeds. I hope I see the evidence.

Extremely well said. Now Babers, show me the money.

 

[Chris02M]

Of a huge amount of the good will Dino had built up with the fickle fan this season leaking out.

win the next 2 at home then we are back on track

 

[OttoinGrotto]

win the next 2 at home then we are back on track

For sure.

This hurts the dream of a full Dome though.

 

[Briancuse]

I have good will for Dino. But he doesn't get to complain about attendance.

I have good will but its starting to run out I need to see some results.

 

[SaltLakeOrange]

I have good will for Dino. But he doesn't get to complain about attendance.

Why? He hasn’t earned any good will. The last two weeks were awful.

 

[Chris02M]

Why? He hasn’t earned any good will. The last two weeks were awful.

no, disappointing

awful would be getting blown out

 

[SaltLakeOrange]

no, disappointing

awful would be getting blown out

Nonsense. Clemson might of been disappointing. Pitt was unacceptable. And our run defense has definitely been awful.

 

[Chris02M]

Nonsense. Clemson might of been disappointing. Pitt was unacceptable. And our run defense has definitely been awful.

run defense was mostly fine until last week, me thinks some guys are banged up so hopefully the week up will help them get back to first four games run defense. Pitt was very frustrating because there pitt and we have lost way to many games to them lately

 

[SaltLakeOrange]

run defense was mostly fine until last week, me thinks some guys are banged up so hopefully the week up will help them get back to first four games run defense. Pitt was very frustrating because there pitt and we have lost way to many games to them lately

I think you should look at the stats. Maybe able to beat the lines of Wagner. But not many others.

 

[Chris02M]

I think you should look at the stats. Maybe able to beat the lines of Wagner. But not many others.

said mostly fine not totally fine, we have given up some big runs but usually are ok besides the 1/2 miss alignment by the linebackers

 

[SaltLakeOrange]

said mostly fine not totally fine, we have given up some big runs but usually are ok besides the 1/2 miss alignment by the linebackers

Maybe we should change the scheme if it isn’t working. Especially in the secknd half.