Celebrating 25 years of Kirby Dar Dar is gone gone

[Don]

Man has it really been that long? No matter how many times I see it , it just never gets old, dome was rocking, sent the Gators back to Florida for a long time in their out of conference scheduling, just a magic moment in Cuse history. If we have just one moment this year with the dome rocking like that I know we are on our way back!

 

[texascpa]

Man, that speed.

 

[javadoc]

Man has it really been that long? No matter how many times I see it , it just never gets old, dome was rocking, sent the Gators back to Florida for a long time in their out of conference scheduling, just a magic moment in Cuse history. If we have just one moment this year with the dome rocking like that I know we are on our way back!

Before there was Dungey vs Virginia there was Womack vs Florida.

 

[Cuseregular]

Man, that speed.

you want to talk about speed, go back and watch the clip again and watch how Ishmael is even faster and catches up with him! Wow

 

[atcar]

I might still have a Kirby Kirby Dar Dar Fan Fan Club Club t-shirt packed away someplace!

 

[Toga]

Looks like he lives in Syracuse and works for HSBC. Hey thanks Kirby!

 

[djorange1989]

I watched this game on You Tube last night. Awesome game from start(literally) to finish. Loved how Gary Bender kept butchering Coach Ps name. Kept pronouncing it Pasqualona. The 1991 team was really good but I still think the 1992 team may have been the best Cuse team of the last 40 years or so, minus 1987.

 

[elimunelson]

I watched this game on You Tube last night. Awesome game from start(literally) to finish. Loved how Gary Bender kept butchering Coach Ps name. Kept pronouncing it Pasqualona. The 1991 team was really good but I still think the 1992 team may have been the best Cuse team of the last 40 years or so, minus 1987.

92 to me was the last time we were seriously a national title type squad. If there was a playoff in 92, I can't imagine any other team would have wanted to play us if we had somehow beaten Miami that year. We were better than Alabama for sure.

 

[shandeezy7]

you want to talk about speed, go back and watch the clip again and watch how Ishmael is even faster and catches up with him! Wow

Not only does he catch up to him, but he's not even in true speed running technique. He's got his arms in the air.

 

[Toga]

92 to me was the last time we were seriously a national title type squad. If there was a playoff in 92, I can't imagine any other team would have wanted to play us if we had somehow beaten Miami that year. We were better than Alabama for sure.

Maybe if we hadn't waited until the 2nd half to run up the middle. Grrrrr

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

KDD is a really funny dude. Great story teller.
Was not good enough to return kicks on his HS team. ( He will tell you that himself, and make you laugh.)

 

[OttoMets]

you want to talk about speed, go back and watch the clip again and watch how Ishmael is even faster and catches up with him! Wow

That's my favorite part of the clip, he closes in out of nowhere.

 

[OrangeMojo]

Warching that video - the execution on that return is phenomenal. I hope Dino is big into making the special teams special again.

 

[OburgOrange]

I was there. KDD. Bringing ot to the house, right at me! Spurrier was pissed all game. F him

 

[SWC75]

I watched this game on You Tube last night. Awesome game from start(literally) to finish. Loved how Gary Bender kept butchering Coach Ps name. Kept pronouncing it Pasqualona. The 1991 team was really good but I still think the 1992 team may have been the best Cuse team of the last 40 years or so, minus 1987.

I have a means I use to evaluate teams from different years and eras. I call it "point differential rankings". You look at the scores of each opponent and see who did better than the team you are studying in terms of point differential. If no team beat that team by more than you did or lost to it by less than you did or tied a team you lost to, you get a '1'. If one team did better, you get a '2'. If two teams did better, you get a '3'. For example, we beat Boston College 20-17 in our last game last year. Florida State beat them by 14, Clemson by 17 and Virginia Tech and North Carolina State by 16, Three other teams also beat them by a field goal but they didn't top our performance so we get a '5' for that game. You do that for each opponent and you average the ranking. I carry it out to two places beyond the decimal. Our point differential ranking last year was 7.09, meaning we averaged being the 7th best team our opponent played that year. That number can now be used to compare that team to other teams. It's a measure of both strength and consistency and it's not dependent on how high scoring the era was.

Here are our numbers for each year of the Carrier Dome Era:

1980 5.73
1981 5.64
1982 7.90
1983 6.82
1984 5.18
1985 4.25
1986 7.18
1987 2.64
1988 3.42
1989 5.00

1990 4.54
1991 4.00
1992 3.66
1993 6.36
1994 6.36
1995 4.00
1996 3.00
1997 3.69
1998 3.67
1999 5.42

2000 4.55
2001 4.38
2002 8.00
2003 7.00
2004 6.42
2005 8.09
2006 7.08
2007 9.50
2008 9.36
2009 8.18

2010 7.18
2011 7.55
2012 5.42
2013 6.67
2014 8.18
2015 7.08

It's just one way of looking at it, but by this method, the 1987 team was our best team of the era. 1996 was second best. 1992 is in a group with 1988, 1997 and 1998. 1991 was similar to 1995. 1985, 1990 and 2000-01 are in the next group. The rest of the teams were mediocre or worse. For reference, the average national champion is about 2.50 and our 1959 team was 1.18.

 

[Briancuse]

One of the best names in sports.

 

[djorange1989]

I have a means I use to evaluate teams from different years and eras. I call it "point differential rankings". You look at the scores of each opponent and see who did better than the team you are studying in terms of point differential. If no team beat that team by more than you did or lost to it by less than you did or tied a team you lost to, you get a '1'. If one team did better, you get a '2'. If two teams did better, you get a '3'. For example, we beat Boston College 20-17 in our last game last year. Florida State beat them by 14, Clemson by 17 and Virginia Tech and North Carolina State by 16, Three other teams also beat them by a field goal but they didn't top our performance so we get a '5' for that game. You do that for each opponent and you average the ranking. I carry it out to two places beyond the decimal. Our point differential ranking last year was 7.09, meaning we averaged being the 7th best team our opponent played that year. That number can now be used to compare that team to other teams. It's a measure of both strength and consistency and it's not dependent on how high scoring the era was.

Here are our numbers for each year of the Carrier Dome Era:

1980 5.73
1981 5.64
1982 7.90
1983 6.82
1984 5.18
1985 4.25
1986 7.18
1987 2.64
1988 3.42
1989 5.00

1990 4.54
1991 4.00
1992 3.66
1993 6.36
1994 6.36
1995 4.00
1996 3.00
1997 3.69
1998 3.67
1999 5.42

2000 4.55
2001 4.38
2002 8.00
2003 7.00
2004 6.42
2005 8.09
2006 7.08
2007 9.50
2008 9.36
2009 8.18

2010 7.18
2011 7.55
2012 5.42
2013 6.67
2014 8.18
2015 7.08

It's just one way of looking at it, but by this method, the 1987 team was our best team of the era. 1996 was second best. 1992 is in a group with 1988, 1997 and 1998. 1991 was similar to 1995. 1985, 1990 and 2000-01 are in the next group. The rest of the teams were mediocre or worse. For reference, the average national champion is about 2.50 and our 1959 team was 1.18.

that is VERY cool, thank you for sharing this. Really interesting that 1996 came up as the second best team. Easy to forget that team, they got off to the 0-2 start but then only slipped up against Miami, which was aggravating because we were at home and they were barely a top 25 team. That team beat up on WVU, Va Tech and what was a very good(and I believe top 25) Army team.

 

[GoSU96]

I have a means I use to evaluate teams from different years and eras. I call it "point differential rankings". You look at the scores of each opponent and see who did better than the team you are studying in terms of point differential. If no team beat that team by more than you did or lost to it by less than you did or tied a team you lost to, you get a '1'. If one team did better, you get a '2'. If two teams did better, you get a '3'. For example, we beat Boston College 20-17 in our last game last year. Florida State beat them by 14, Clemson by 17 and Virginia Tech and North Carolina State by 16, Three other teams also beat them by a field goal but they didn't top our performance so we get a '5' for that game. You do that for each opponent and you average the ranking. I carry it out to two places beyond the decimal. Our point differential ranking last year was 7.09, meaning we averaged being the 7th best team our opponent played that year. That number can now be used to compare that team to other teams. It's a measure of both strength and consistency and it's not dependent on how high scoring the era was.

Here are our numbers for each year of the Carrier Dome Era:

1980 5.73
1981 5.64
1982 7.90
1983 6.82
1984 5.18
1985 4.25
1986 7.18
1987 2.64
1988 3.42
1989 5.00

1990 4.54
1991 4.00
1992 3.66
1993 6.36
1994 6.36
1995 4.00
1996 3.00
1997 3.69
1998 3.67
1999 5.42

2000 4.55
2001 4.38
2002 8.00
2003 7.00
2004 6.42
2005 8.09
2006 7.08
2007 9.50
2008 9.36
2009 8.18

2010 7.18
2011 7.55
2012 5.42
2013 6.67
2014 8.18
2015 7.08

It's just one way of looking at it, but by this method, the 1987 team was our best team of the era. 1996 was second best. 1992 is in a group with 1988, 1997 and 1998. 1991 was similar to 1995. 1985, 1990 and 2000-01 are in the next group. The rest of the teams were mediocre or worse. For reference, the average national champion is about 2.50 and our 1959 team was 1.18.

Pretty funny that there has only been one season better than 2004 according to your calculation.

Skybox idiots wrecked this program.

Reinforces what an epic disaster Robinson was.

 

[Eric15]

If there was a playoff in 92, I can't imagine any other team would have wanted to play us if we had somehow beaten Miami that year. We were better than Alabama for sure.

If we lost to Miami, and Alabama defeated Miami soundly in the national title game, then how were we better than Bama for sure?

 

[SWC75]

Pretty funny that there has only been one season better than 2004 according to your calculation.

Skybox idiots wrecked this program.

Reinforces what an epic disaster Robinson was.

You mean since then.

G-Rob was certainly an epic disaster.

The list clearly shows the decline began in 2002 and the seeds of it were planted before then.

 

[capeorange]

I might still have a Kirby Kirby Dar Dar Fan Fan Club Club t-shirt packed away someplace!

My brother, Orlandoorange and I used to have seasons tickets in the end zone third level last row(so we could stand) near you guys. That sure doesn't seem like 25 years ago.

 

[elimunelson]

If we lost to Miami, and Alabama defeated Miami soundly in the national title game, then how were we better than Bama for sure?

It's a good question. I factor in my non scientific belief that the SEC teams had no clue about how to handle our speed and unique offense. I think we would have stifled them with some innovation in that game. Pasqualoni, for all his warts, usually had the team ready for bowl games (Purdue nothwithstanding).

 

[SUFan44]

Pretty funny that there has only been one season better than 2004 according to your calculation.

Skybox idiots wrecked this program.

Reinforces what an epic disaster Robinson was.

That's a way too simplistic view of things.

The rankings - which by the way are incredibly accurate in looking at the teams over time - show that after the 1992 season there was a drastic decline. 1993 was a huge disappointment with senior year Marvin Graves, then the mediocre year of Kevin Mason before McNabb came and saved the day for four years (simplistic view, but he covered a lot of maladies within the program).

Then after his departure, a return to mediocrity before two run-heavy, defensive teams flipped the switch for two seasons. Then it got drastically worse. It was time for a change from Pasqualoni.

Greg Robinson was a disaster, Marrone liked to play NFL and keep games close and Shafer... I'm still trying to figure out what he was trying to do.

There are a ton of external factors at play as well - but to say things would have been better if Pasqualoni was kept is, in my opinion, untrue.

 

[Faegan]

Junior year! What a frickin game.

 

[GoSU96]

That's a way too simplistic view of things.

The rankings - which by the way are incredibly accurate in looking at the teams over time - show that after the 1992 season there was a drastic decline. 1993 was a huge disappointment with senior year Marvin Graves, then the mediocre year of Kevin Mason before McNabb came and saved the day for four years (simplistic view, but he covered a lot of maladies within the program).

Then after his departure, a return to mediocrity before two run-heavy, defensive teams flipped the switch for two seasons. Then it got drastically worse. It was time for a change from Pasqualoni.

Greg Robinson was a disaster, Marrone liked to play NFL and keep games close and Shafer... I'm still trying to figure out what he was trying to do.

There are a ton of external factors at play as well - but to say things would have been better if Pasqualoni was kept is, in my opinion, untrue.

P getting fired when he did directly led what transpired since. Things obviously would have been better. Would a change have been made at some point, sure, but that was the wrong time to do it.

P comes back in 2005 with a talented and experienced defense, a Jr. Perry Paterson in his second year starting, a very good backfield with Rhodes, Rice, and Brinkley and a good senior laden OL.

2002 was a really bad year but it was a blip. If you think one losing season in 14 happens IN SPITE OF the coach, you are clueless.