Bill C's ACC Division Preview

[TheCusian]

This won't endear Bill Connelly to our fanbase (predicting a 2019 redux) but is still worth reading to keep up on what's going on with our division-mates.

ACC Atlantic season preview: Clemson's dominance will continue but who else will make noise?

My take? He didn't mention the addition of Sterlin and the affect he might have on the offense. I think there's a chance that the Gilbert is like rocket-fuel to our offense (IF our OL can continue to show improvement and DeVito can fix his hangups).

I think BC will struggle, as will NC State. Wake is still on the edge with injuries (1 or 2 and poof! they suck again). Louisville and FSU will be tough. And Clemson is Clemson.

 

[sutomcat]

This won't endear Bill Connelly to our fanbase (predicting a 2019 redux) but is still worth reading to keep up on what's going on with our division-mates.

ACC Atlantic season preview: Clemson's dominance will continue but who else will make noise?

My take? He didn't mention the addition of Sterlin and the affect he might have on the offense. I think there's a chance that the Gilbert is like rocket-fuel to our offense (IF our OL can continue to show improvement and DeVito can fix his hangups).

I think BC will struggle, as will NC State. Wake is still on the edge with injuries (1 or 2 and poof! they suck again). Louisville and FSU will be tough. And Clemson is Clemson.

I thought it was a lazy, phoned in effort Bill should be ashamed of.

Should have taken the time to mention Hackett as a effective target, especially in the red zone. Should have bothered to mentioned Jawhar Jordan, like he did for so many other young, really promising players on other teams. Should have mentioned how the OL jelled late in the season. Should have mentioned the likelyhood Bleich will be eligible immediately.

Should have mentioned Kingsley and McKinley in his ‘write up’ on the defense. These are established, high quality players.

Connelly used to be worth reading. It is a shame he has apparently stopped caring about the quality of his work.

 

[TheCusian]

I thought it was a lazy, phoned in effort Bill should be ashamed of.

Should have taken the time to mention Hackett as a effective target, especially in the red zone. Should have bothered to mentioned Jawhar Jordan, like he did for so many other young, really promising players on other teams. Should have mentioned how the OL jelled late in the season. Should have mentioned the likelyhood Bleich will be eligible immediately.

Should have mentioned Kingsley and McKinley in his ‘write up’ on the defense. These are established, high quality players.

Connelly used to be worth reading. It is a shame he has apparently stopped caring about the quality of his work.

this is a touch harsh - BUT - I agree with some of it. Somehow all the other Coordinator changes get a mention, but our OC doesn’t?

weird

 

[Trueblue25]

Jarveon Howard, Adams and Jordan (more so the first two) should come into summer with a chip on their shoulders.

I agree about this though, Cisco/Coley/Trill is an imposing trio.

looking forward to Hackett, Benson and Harris getting to work. Nykheim’s gotta prove he deserves that slot.

 

[Dinkyspond]

I thought it was a lazy, phoned in effort Bill should be ashamed of.

Should have taken the time to mention Hackett as a effective target, especially in the red zone. Should have bothered to mentioned Jawhar Jordan, like he did for so many other young, really promising players on other teams. Should have mentioned how the OL jelled late in the season. Should have mentioned the likelyhood Bleich will be eligible immediately.

Should have mentioned Kingsley and McKinley in his ‘write up’ on the defense. These are established, high quality players.

Connelly used to be worth reading. It is a shame he has apparently stopped caring about the quality of his work.

Also mentioning that Sean Riley was a big loss was inaccurate. I liked Sean but last year he was unproductive. He never really shook lose for those long gainers that he had in 2018. His stats for 2019 probably looked OK so Bill took that and ran with it. But for those of us who watched Cuse closely knew that Riley was mostly ineffective and not a big threat.

 

[Chip]

Also mentioning that Sean Riley was a big loss was inaccurate. I liked Sean but last year he was unproductive. He never really shook lose for those long gainers that he had in 2018. His stats for 2019 probably looked OK so Bill took that and ran with it. But for those of us who watched Cuse closely knew that Riley was mostly ineffective and not a big threat.

Ironically, Sean Riley and Nykeim Johnson were big losses from the 2018 team. In 2019. And they were still there.

 

[721Comstock]

Ironically, Sean Riley and Nykeim Johnson were big losses from the 2018 team. In 2019. And they were still there.

Sad rec.

 

[Millhouse]

I thought it was a lazy, phoned in effort Bill should be ashamed of.

Should have taken the time to mention Hackett as a effective target, especially in the red zone. Should have bothered to mentioned Jawhar Jordan, like he did for so many other young, really promising players on other teams. Should have mentioned how the OL jelled late in the season. Should have mentioned the likelyhood Bleich will be eligible immediately.

Should have mentioned Kingsley and McKinley in his ‘write up’ on the defense. These are established, high quality players.

Connelly used to be worth reading. It is a shame he has apparently stopped caring about the quality of his work.

He's much better at analyzing what happened than he is at predicting anything. He pretends like it's data driven when teams are so different from year to year

 

[CbusCuse]

Unfortunately I think this is a fair write up. Everything he said was pretty accurate. His format only has so much space to get the small overview across to the readers. He is getting the general tone of the overall season outlook and for each unit can pretty much only give just a sentence summary and can’t go into detail about every player.

In 2018 with a senior Dungey I thought we were in for a good season and would have guessed a season of 7 to 8 wins but didn’t quit expect the 10 wins we managed. In 2019 I thought we’d drop off a bit with the offensive lossses of Dungey, the OL including both tackles and then Custis. Then on Defense we lost Slayton and the LB unit and I again was thinking 7-8 wins but didn’t expect only the 5 we managed.

I certainly have some concerns this year. On O I love the switch to Stan Gilbert. I expect some improvement, mainly because I think the OL will be much improved as we saw in the end of 2019, especially if Bleich is good to go. Devito will need to be better and I think he will be, as the OL play is a major factor in his game. He just isn’t very comfortable in the pocket with any rush or out of it for that matter. Keeping his head up and seeing over the OL and moving his feet to avoid the rush doesn’t seem to be his strong suit. I think he also needs to be able to move through progressions better and develop some chemistry with multiple receivers. This is going to be hard to do with the shortened prep schedule. Hopefully he is now out there on his own throwing to Harris and the others. We need to find a way back to using the middle of the field more. I’m concerned if Harris can be a #1 WR at his weight and his chemistry with Devito has been non existent thus far. This offense seems to be better suited with a more physical receiver on the outside. A receiver has broken out every year but I have some doubts this year but hopefully someone is up to the task. The loss of Moe will hurt a bit as he was solid all around but I think our rushing yards per carry as a team goes up with OL improvement and hopefully a bit more Jawhar Jordan. He’d be a beast if he could just put on another 10 lbs so we could keep him out there a bit more. I expect the TE’s to play a bit bigger role this year.

Defensively we lost a lot in the front 7 and that looks bad on paper bit I love that we brought in Tony White and are switching to a 3-3-5 and I have some concern they will pick up the new scheme fast enough. But still I think we could still be pretty solid. I look forward to the new scheme and a more aggressive approach. Depth is a bit of a concern but I like how our starters fit and I’m thinking guys like Okechukwu and Rondi can be solid rotation players. We lost all LB’s yet again other than Mike Jones who may be a backup in this scheme but I love the potential of guys like Cantin-Arku, Richards and Linton in this defense. And we should be solid again in the defensive back field.

Hopefully a more efficient offense will help feed into a more aggressive Defense and we can get this thing rolling. With the softer schedule I think we win 6 or 7 in the regular season.

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

I thought it was a lazy, phoned in effort Bill should be ashamed of.

Should have taken the time to mention Hackett as a effective target, especially in the red zone. Should have bothered to mentioned Jawhar Jordan, like he did for so many other young, really promising players on other teams. Should have mentioned how the OL jelled late in the season. Should have mentioned the likelyhood Bleich will be eligible immediately.

Should have mentioned Kingsley and McKinley in his ‘write up’ on the defense. These are established, high quality players.

Connelly used to be worth reading. It is a shame he has apparently stopped caring about the quality of his work.

What about any of that was lazy or phoned in? He said Cuse has a ton of question marks on the roster. And they do.

Connelly's modelings are built around explosiveness, efficiency, recruiting, and returning production. Yes, the recruiting thing is SEC-centric. But what of those is Syracuse elite in?

Hackett 248 career receiving yards in three seasons.

Jawhar is a redshirt frosh who played his 4 game allotment last season. While he looked good doing it, that's not a huge sample size.

The line was awful for 9 out of 12 games last year. No guarantee to a national writer that the three games were the fluke. And I'm not banking on Bleich being eligible - the NCAA is far too unpredictable.

Kinglsey has been a quality backup who was overshadowed by two three year starters. Bear is a rotation player who was hurt most of last season. They're not headliners.

Cisco gets picks but is lousy when he can't come up on a pass. Melifonwu can't stay healthy.

Everything Connelly said has merit. And he said a bowl game is still very possible for the team.

I will always be optimistic about Syracuse football, but it's very clear where Connelly is coming from.

 

[CU44SE]

I still think 6 wins at minimum. I think covid really hurts us with the new defensive scheme and losing practice time. Offense has a new coordinator but it is pretty much the same offense just maybe some subtle differences so I think that won’t be as effected. BC is almost a must win. Brand new coach and new systems on both sides of the ball. Should be a big time win, especially with the beat down we took from them last year. I will be very disappointed if that game is within 2 scores. Even with the defense implementing a new scheme, it can’t be much worse then what we have seen the last few years. The amount of games we allowed over 40 points has to be a record.

 

[Doc5120]

I think it's impossible to put together a truly accurate write up for 130 teams or whatever there are at the FBS level. I believe his assessment is fair, but I predict we get to better than 5-7. 7-5 or 8-4 is my guess, assuming no major injuries.

I think the O-line is worlds better, which will make TD that much better. And I love our trio of RB's. There are plenty of WR's on the roster so someone(s) will emerge.

My main concern is roster depth, as it is just about every season. This team has the capability to beat anyone not named Clemson. They won't be reading their press clippings this year. I expect marked improvement.

 

[SU68]

This is a fair preseason assessment. Two new coordinators (and new assistants). A new defense that has yet to be learned.

A QB and o-line that weren't good last year and have to step it up this year. We aren't better than last year until we prove that we are better than last year.

 

[syrBossHogg]

With the soft early schedule hopefully a bowl game is secured early on, then momentum can carry onto the recruiting scene

 

[IthacaMatt]

I think it's impossible to put together a truly accurate write up for 130 teams or whatever there are at the FBS level. I believe his assessment is fair, but I predict we get to better than 5-7. 7-5 or 8-4 is my guess, assuming no major injuries.

I think the O-line is worlds better, which will make TD that much better. And I love our trio of RB's. There are plenty of WR's on the roster so someone(s) will emerge.

My main concern is roster depth, as it is just about every season. This team has the capability to beat anyone not named Clemson. They won't be reading their press clippings this year. I expect marked improvement.

I agree. If we can get adequate line play on both sides of the ball, then we could win 8 games this year. It's a matter of how quickly the team can come together after basically losing spring practice and having 2 new coordinators.

 

[All4SU]

The ACC doesn’t respect Syracuse one iota. And something tells me it will take 50 years for that to happen, unless we start beating them regularly - as in top 2-3 in the division for 5 straight years. And even then it won’t be enough for a lot of them.

 

[sutomcat]

What about any of that was lazy or phoned in? He said Cuse has a ton of question marks on the roster. And they do.

Connelly's modelings are built around explosiveness, efficiency, recruiting, and returning production. Yes, the recruiting thing is SEC-centric. But what of those is Syracuse elite in?

Hackett 248 career receiving yards in three seasons.

Jawhar is a redshirt frosh who played his 4 game allotment last season. While he looked good doing it, that's not a huge sample size.

The line was awful for 9 out of 12 games last year. No guarantee to a national writer that the three games were the fluke. And I'm not banking on Bleich being eligible - the NCAA is far too unpredictable.

Kinglsey has been a quality backup who was overshadowed by two three year starters. Bear is a rotation player who was hurt most of last season. They're not headliners.

Cisco gets picks but is lousy when he can't come up on a pass. Melifonwu can't stay healthy.

Everything Connelly said has merit. And he said a bowl game is still very possible for the team.

I will always be optimistic about Syracuse football, but it's very clear where Connelly is coming from.

I am not that upset he has predicting a 5-7 record. I am upset because I think that he treated the Syracuse program differently than many other programs in his write up. Things like implying Riley is a big loss and was much efficient than Hackett. He makes a point of discussing young players who got a little playing time and looked very promising over and over...but not for Syracuse.

I thought his writeup for us was noticeably shorter and less thorough. That is what upset me.

 

[griddy]

I spent 35 years years as a reporter and editor, and, based on that experience, my reaction was the ESPN writer’s analysis was shallow, under-reported and missing critical information.
My own view is that, if there is a season, the Orange have a real chance to match or even surpass the memorable 2018 campaign. This team has a lot more talent than is acknowledged by the national media. It has a tremendous head coach and a fine staff, with really promising new hires. And it has a boulder on it shoulder after last season’s disaster.
Sutomcat, as usual, was spot on. I look forward to elaborating later on my specific reasons for optimism. Keep the faith Orange fans. You deserve a great program.

 

[rocklloyd]

I get burned every year making optimistic predictions, so i’m going to reverse the jinx this year and go with 5 wins.

 

[All4SU]

I get burned every year making optimistic predictions, so i’m going to reverse the jinx this year and go with 5 wins.

I’m wrong every year anyway. So I’m just going to go with 13-0 and at least I’ll feel good until that first L.

 

[007]

We've made this bed...

I would expect the shallow, dismissive, and pessimistic preseason predictions to continue.

 

[KaiserUEO]

i think he was sorta spot on.

5-7 is likely the floor and 8-4 might be the ceiling.

he basically says that can happen.

it might be lazy, but hanging your hat on the low side of Syracuse football has been a $$ maker for years.