Be happy

[OrangeinBoston]

Pitt's monster line has dominated us so many times and our offense has not been able to keep up. There have been pitt games where we do nothing right.

We are never going to see a younger weaker slower defense than the one yesterday.

All we have to do is upgrade the defense to just bad. That is totally doable, it doesn't matter who coaches or what you run when the bar is that low

This offense is so great that we score 45℅of the points in a game where we gave up 11 yards per play with a walkon qb and a grad transfer who no one ever heard of before this year

It's interesting fun and will get better

Nonsense. SU will never get to 6 & 6 and beyond with a "bad" defense. Football is not just about offense.

Don't know whether it's the scheme, the coaches, the players, or a mix of all three. But, the defense is a complete disaster.

 

[Millhouse]

Well, since Terry Malone is the Purdue OC and since Malone does not run Leater's offense, I'm not certain what Purdue has to do with Syracuse Football at this point.

Scoring TDs is fun but it ain't fun watching the other team go up and down the field effortlessly all game long. And eventually you have to win.

I appreciate the effort yesterday - the refusal to quit.

And I look forward to improvement next year.

But I want to win games.

Lester is relevant to their qb play. And their qb is terrible. I just can't imagine watching this offense and saying boy that Lester was something!

 

[Millhouse]

Nonsense. SU will never get to 6 & 6 and beyond with a "bad" defense. Football is not just about offense.

Don't know whether it's the scheme, the coaches, the players, or a mix of all three. But, the defense is a complete disaster.

I haven't looked yet but I bet I can find you a bunch of bad defenses with six wins. Obviously we have to improve a lot to just be bad. We are horrible. That won't last forever

 

[TheCusian]

Maybe.

I still like Lester's system.

And with another year under its belt the Shafer defense would probably not have given up the record number of points the defense gave up this year.

The fact is that the ACC is a much tougher conference than I figured it would be and that we need to significantly improve the talent level on both sides of the ball.

Coach Babers and AD Wildhack have a lot of work to do.

Points would have been down but primarily due to possessions being limited.

The DL and secondary are issues with whoever we had running it.

 

[TheCusian]

Nonsense. SU will never get to 6 & 6 and beyond with a "bad" defense. Football is not just about offense.

Don't know whether it's the scheme, the coaches, the players, or a mix of all three. But, the defense is a complete disaster.

I don't think anyone is purposefully trying to be bad on defense. What Babers has is two systems that rely on each other more than most. When the O is not putting up points it hurts the D. Not to mention injuries, youth, and a cupboard full of small-ish players.

Patience.

 

[DPCuse]

If you can create a headline offense then defensive players/recruits will follow. Offense attracts attention. How many times have you heard ABC halftime say, wow did you see that 6-3 battle? But they almost always point out the 76-61 game. If the D can just get healthy and create depth we have to be marginally better than this year.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Lester is relevant to their qb play. And their qb is terrible. I just can't imagine watching this offense and saying boy that Lester was something!

Last year and this year we scored identically, 40 touchdowns. Last year 34 were from passing/rushing but 6 additional touchdowns were scored , 2 by Estime's punt returns and 4 by our defense. This year's 4o touchdowns were all via passing/rushing except 1 interception score generated by the defense. Despite the number of additional passing yards we generated this year, we scored less points per game (25.7 vs 27.2 last year) because we didn't make up for the loss of defensive and punt return touchdowns.

 

[Chip]

I haven't looked yet but I bet I can find you a bunch of bad defenses with six wins. Obviously we have to improve a lot to just be bad. We are horrible. That won't last forever

Look at the team we played yesterday. If we could just improve to their 99th best defense and 452 yards per game, we could have an 8 win season like they did. And beat two of the top 8 teams in the country.

 

[OrangePA]

Lester is relevant to their qb play. And their qb is terrible. I just can't imagine watching this offense and saying boy that Lester was something!

That's a tough argument to make.

Lester did an outstanding job with Dungey and Mahoney last year under very trying circumstances. I haven't checked the stats but I seem to recall that SU did not throw a lot of INTs last year.

They hung tough last year.

And from what my IU friends tell me the Purdue QB is pretty good - he apparently played quite well yesterday in the Old Oaken Bucket game.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Last year and this year we scored identically, 40 touchdowns. Last year 34 were from passing/rushing but 6 additional touchdowns were scored , 2 by Estime's punt returns and 4 by our defense. This year's 4o touchdowns were all via passing/rushing except 1 interception score generated by the defense. Despite the number of additional passing yards we generated this year, we scored less points per game (25.7 vs 27.2 last year) because we didn't make up for the loss of defensive and punt return touchdowns.

Eh. A bunch of those scores last season came from OT.

 

[OrangePA]

Look at the team we played yesterday. If we could just improve to their 99th best defense and 452 yards per game, we could have an 8 win season like they did. And beat two of the top 8 teams in the country.

I admit - I'm not a football sabernetric but I believe that offenses and defenses do go hand in hand to a great extent.

So, I hope that we can we improve the defense while continuing to go up and down the field on offense.

But I worry that that is not the way it typically works.

 

[orange79]

That's a tough argument to make.

Lester did an outstanding job with Dungey and Mahoney last year under very trying circumstances. I haven't checked the stats but I seem to recall that SU did not throw a lot of INTs last year.

They hung tough last year.

And from what my IU friends tell me the Purdue QB is pretty good - he apparently played quite well yesterday in the Old Oaken Bucket game.

Only 9 INT's last year. ED 5, Mahoney 2, Wilson 1, Hunt 1

Hard to believe Hunt was on the team last year. Seems like so long ago.

 

[OrangePA]

Eh. A bunch of those scores last season came from OT.

All I know is that Dungey and Fredericks and Estime were pretty darn fun to watch last year.

Dungey brought more excitement to the QB position than anybody since McNabb - and that includes Nassib in my opinion.

 

[Millhouse]

Last year and this year we scored identically, 40 touchdowns. Last year 34 were from passing/rushing but 6 additional touchdowns were scored , 2 by Estime's punt returns and 4 by our defense. This year's 4o touchdowns were all via passing/rushing except 1 interception score generated by the defense. Despite the number of additional passing yards we generated this year, we scored less points per game (25.7 vs 27.2 last year) because we didn't make up for the loss of defensive and punt return touchdowns.

Overtime too( debatable) Short fields without earning it

 

[Millhouse]

Look at the team we played yesterday. If we could just improve to their 99th best defense and 452 yards per game, we could have an 8 win season like they did. And beat two of the top 8 teams in the country.

Be really good at something and don't be one of the worst at the other thing.

Being really good at both is factory territory. Being ok at both is average

It's not linear near the top and bottom, it's a bit like an s curve. hard to describe.

 

[Millhouse]

That's a tough argument to make.

Lester did an outstanding job with Dungey and Mahoney last year under very trying circumstances. I haven't checked the stats but I seem to recall that SU did not throw a lot of INTs last year.

They hung tough last year.

And from what my IU friends tell me the Purdue QB is pretty good - he apparently played quite well yesterday in the Old Oaken Bucket game.

They threw the most int in the country!

 

[Cheriehoop]

Eh. A bunch of those scores last season came from OT.

20 points scored in OT last season or the equivalent of about 1.6 points a game making the points per game without those points, even between the 2 years.

Yes, This year no OT games so no additional points.

 

[Chip]

I admit - I'm not a football sabernetric but I believe that offenses and defenses do go hand in hand to a great extent.

So, I hope that we can we improve the defense while continuing to go up and down the field on offense.

But I worry that that is not the way it typically works.

There's definitely something to it. Joining us at the bottom of the D rankings are Cal & Texas Tech. Oregon is down there too, but that's not typical for them.

We won't have top 50 defenses with this offense. Just isn't going to happen. But we're playing a bunch of freshmen out there. As the depth builds, and the players' measurables (settle down everyone) are what we'd like for this defense, it will be better. We gave up 500 yards per game. Just drop that to 450 (which is regular bad), and I'd bet we outscore more teams than we don't.

College football is so much more about offense these days, more imaginative minds who take more chances. I also think the rules support it (for example, pass interference). Only 7 teams averaged giving up less than 300 yards. I have to think that was higher back in the day.

 

[upperdeck]

I haven't looked yet but I bet I can find you a bunch of bad defenses with six wins. Obviously we have to improve a lot to just be bad. We are horrible. That won't last forever

OK says hi..

 

[Millhouse]

OK says hi..

Pitt Washington state tenneseee Toledo

 

[baggerbob]

Last year and this year we scored identically, 40 touchdowns. Last year 34 were from passing/rushing but 6 additional touchdowns were scored , 2 by Estime's punt returns and 4 by our defense. This year's 4o touchdowns were all via passing/rushing except 1 interception score generated by the defense. Despite the number of additional passing yards we generated this year, we scored less points per game (25.7 vs 27.2 last year) because we didn't make up for the loss of defensive and punt return touchdowns.

WE had a kicker who was 10-18 on Field Goal attempts, and missed extra points, Staff was never confident he could kick in any games this fall. Need to get that fixed next year, also need someone who can kick off into the end zone occasionally.

 

[Cheriehoop]

WE had a kicker who was 10-18 on Field Goal attempts, and missed extra points, Staff was never confident he could kick in any games this fall. Need to get that fixed next year, also need someone who can kick off into the end zone occasionally.

We also went for 4th down conversions in lieu of field goals this year . Last year we were 16/22 in field goals .

Our FG philosophy changed with Coach Babers, he never had Cole Murphy even attempt a field goal that was under 30 yards, unlike in 2015 with Coach Schafer when he was 7 for 7 from 30 yard or less fg's which resulted in his lower fg% this year. So all 18 attempts this year were over 30 yards- no chip shots. Murphy hit a 55 yard field goal this year. If we get stopped just past mid field HCDB is expecting to get 3 points minimum and if SU gets to the 30 yard line, we're looking for a touchdown only. Got to love his aggressive expectations on offense.

 

[GoSU96]

 

[Millhouse]

View attachment 83175

thanks for that.

it's too bad there's not better stats readily available for all teams to compare regulation offensive points. until we have that, just look at yards per play. your head can spin trying to look at success rates + explosiveness and all that.

the weird thing about this offense this year is that their passing success rate was so good and their rushing success rate was so bad. it won't take a big improvement in run blocking to be incredible. all they need to do is regress toward the mean, hope neal gets stronger. not sure about strickland but if he doesn't cut it, someone else can step in

 

[upperdeck]

you can spin the tries in the red zone both ways but its no great leap to think we were close to 5-10 Fgs less because of going for it inside the 30 and missing so many this year.