CFN Syracuse Preview

[Orijinal]

lets just for grins assume we are just a bit better on the oline. Maybe we dont have to play the 4th string QB.. maybe we score in the red zone 50% of the time..

game 1 vs ranked UNC 10-6 going into the 4th.. with any oline play at all we are leading or tied
game 2 vs ranked pitt 14-10 going into the 4th
gt Win
game 4 Duke 27-21 with 30 sec in the 3rd 30-24 with under 6 to go..

4 games 1-3 imagine we make 2-3 more first downs just by being a bit better on the oline.. that pushes all these games into very late coin flips..

Liberty. ugh.. lost the QB maybe we dont get the ball down 14-7 at the 10 and cant figure out how to score..

clemson 27-21 with 2 min to go in the 3rd and we fumble to give them the lead

now we are 1-5 with 4 losses in basically 1 score games in the 4th

wake ugh

BC up 10-6 in the 4th and a shot at the end..

Lou Ugh

NC st up 29-27 in the 4th

ND down 10-7 should been half time but we gave up 2 scores in. again oline play matters.. run out the clock and end the half and see what happens.

the record says 1-11.. but thats 6 losses with a team with no QB and no Oline that hung around late against almost everyone including clemson and ND to find final 4 teams..

not a big leap to winning 2-3 of those early games and winning leads to more winning..

This is a great post and should provide a lot of perspective. The offense was defunct at the line and QB position. And we were still in a lot of games.

There will be marked improvement at oline and QB. Heck, the offense can't go anywhere but up. We will see some more wins ...as long as the defense keeps playing up to it's ability

3-1 at the start of the season (loss to Liberty OR Rutgers)

1-3 middle of the season (win against Wake OR Va Tech)

2-2 last third of the season (take your pick). That's 6 wins.

I want to get to 8

 

[TexanMark]

VTech is key. Fuentes seems almost a fixture on the hot seat and wants to get out of there. Is this the year the dam bursts and they fall apart?

VTech is another key game but we need as a minimum to be a healthy 3-1 heading to FSU. If we beat @FSU that sets up some nice scenarios for SU at 4-1 or dare I say 5-0.

 

[Dcuse]

Seven over how many seasons?

Always such a pleasure to have you around to keep us grounded.

 

[AAM62]

A lot of “we should’ve beaten liberty” but they ended up ranked and I bet they will be again by the time we play this year.

 

[RandomGuy]

Always such a pleasure to have you around to keep us grounded.

Ouch. If you take out 2018, we've won 7 ACC games in Dinos tenure. :-(

 

[OttoinGrotto]

If we don't win six this year, it will be another coach trying to find a path forward.

I think that's accurate.

 

[BrooklynCuse]

A lot of “we should’ve beaten liberty” but they ended up ranked and I bet they will be again by the time we play this year.

We should never lose to Liberty. Ever. Our second stringers should be better than their first stingers.

We should never be in a situation where if we have a couple/many players out that we can’t beat Liberty and that’s on Dino in year 5

Liberty beat one team with a winning record last year, Coastal Carolina. 5 opponents didn’t even win a game.

We need to crush them this year. And crush them bad

 

[cusefan88]

Liberty's QB is a top 50 NFL Draft prospect.

 

[Cusefan69]

Liberty's QB is a top 50 NFL Draft prospect.

That would appear not to matter to some fans. Apparently some schools are deemed forever to supposedly be garbage. It doesn't matter if they get a former SEC coach or that he can bring in plus talent or that they have linemen bigger and stronger than yours.
I get how pissed some fans are that our school is currently where it is and how we went 1-10 and lost to historically bad schools like a Liberty. That said I think it's weak sauce to have a mentality that any school can't reverse its pattern of bad sports. I bet one of the first schools that lost to Gonzaga way back when thought the same. I would love our hoops team to be recruiting like the Zags are today. "You are what you're record says you are ". To me as a fan it's about what our team is doing. Syracuse needs wins...then we can talk chit about other programs. Syracuse since 2005 has averaged 4.5 wins a year. Let that sink in. I love Syracuse, I am a season ticket holder but we are in no position in recent history to call any school scrubs. Lets let our play on the field do the talking this year.

 

[BrooklynCuse]

That would appear not to matter to some fans. Apparently some schools are deemed forever to supposedly be garbage. It doesn't matter if they get a former SEC coach or that he can bring in plus talent or that they have linemen bigger and stronger than yours.
I get how pissed some fans are that our school is currently where it is and how we went 1-10 and lost to historically bad schools like a Liberty. That said I think it's weak sauce to have a mentality that any school can't reverse its pattern of bad sports. I bet one of the first schools that lost to Gonzaga way back when thought the same. I would love our hoops team to be recruiting like the Zags are today. "You are what you're record says you are ". To me as a fan it's about what our team is doing. Syracuse needs wins...then we can talk chit about other programs. Syracuse since 2005 has averaged 4.5 wins a year. Let that sink in. I love Syracuse, I am a season ticket holder but we are in no position in recent history to call any school scrubs. Lets let our play on the field do the talking this year.

That Liberty loss was a different kind of loss. We lost to Middle Tennessee and I was fine with that(other than Shafer smoking in the Dome and disrespecting the only place that would ever give him a HC shot).

Sometimes one loses. You move on

I’m not calling Liberty scrubs or looking down on them, they beat us. But it’s weird how people are ok with losing that bad to a team that’s been playing Div 1 for two years and put that game as a toss up this year. And ok with Hugh Freeze putting together a better team in two years at Liberty than Dino here in 5.

I don’t care if they have Tom Brady at QB, losing to Liberty again this year is not an option

 

[IthacaMatt]

Agree that this CFN article seems like a good, realistic take on where things stand. Projecting 5.5 wins, so we're on The Bubble!

What's clear is that this team has to be ready to start the season. We can't wait until Game Four to start clicking. Rutgers, Liberty (?), Fla. State and Wake are the keys to the season.

Of the first two, we really need both, but could survive with one (Rutgers or Liberty).

Of the second two, those are among our most winnable ACC games, IMO, so we have to get at least one, if we expect to have a competitive season.

Overall, I think we need to win 3 of these 4 games in the first half of the schedule to hope to make a bowl game.

The second half of the schedule is less forgiving, so we are going to have to be ready to play from Game One. We can't throw away a couple early season What losses, or making a bowl will look daunting. We need good vibes. We need to restore belief.

 

[721Comstock]

That Liberty loss was a different kind of loss. We lost to Middle Tennessee and I was fine with that(other than Shafer smoking in the Dome and disrespecting the only place that would ever give him a HC shot).

Sometimes one loses. You move on

I’m not calling Liberty scrubs or looking down on them, they beat us. But it’s weird how people are ok with losing that bad to a team that’s been playing Div 1 for two years and put that game as a toss up this year. And ok with Hugh Freeze putting together a better team in two years at Liberty than Dino here in 5.

I don’t care if they have Tom Brady at QB, losing to Liberty again this year is not an option

So, we’re not gonna acknowledge that Liberty can take - liberties - with the academics and character issues of players AND coaches (“only Jesus can handle my junk”) that almost NO other D1 schools could?

And they have an insane amount of re$ource$ due to all that Fundamentalist ca$h rolling in?

They answer to a higher power.
Je$u$ CA$H.

 

[Cusefan69]

That Liberty loss was a different kind of loss. We lost to Middle Tennessee and I was fine with that(other than Shafer smoking in the Dome and disrespecting the only place that would ever give him a HC shot).

Sometimes one loses. You move on

I’m not calling Liberty scrubs or looking down on them, they beat us. But it’s weird how people are ok with losing that bad to a team that’s been playing Div 1 for two years and put that game as a toss up this year. And ok with Hugh Freeze putting together a better team in two years at Liberty than Dino here in 5.

I don’t care if they have Tom Brady at QB, losing to Liberty again this year is not an option

I don’t think anyone thinks its ok at all and haven’t seen anyone indicate that. I am saying that Syracuse, whether people deem it fair or not lost the the 17th(AP) 23rd (coaches) Liberty team. This season Dino and the players need to leave it all out on the field. I think they can get it done.

 

[Cusefan69]

So, we’re not gonna acknowledge that Liberty can take - liberties - with the academics and character issues of players AND coaches (“only Jesus can handle my junk”) that almost NO other D1 schools could?

And they have an insane amount of re$ource$ due to all that Fundamentalist ca$h rolling in?

They answer to a higher power.
Je$u$ CA$H.

Do we make that distinction if it was Georgia, Miss St or anyone else really for that matter? Instead of making excuses why another team won, Syracuse should be looking in the mirror and figure out a way to play better.

 

[Eric15]

If we don't win six this year, it will be another coach trying to find a path forward.

This is the softest nonconference schedule I can remember in recent history (which I know is what a lot of people wanted). If we can't turn this into a bowl, in a year when our division is basically Clemson and everybody else and we have a very experienced QB, I don't know when it will happen.

 

[721Comstock]

Do we make that distinction if it was Georgia, Miss St or anyone else really for that matter? Instead of making excuses why another team won, Syracuse should be looking in the mirror and figure out a way to play better.

Uh - we’re not signing $EC programs up to be our theoretical ‘easy’ OOC W’s now, are we?

I’m not making excuses.

I’m not the person saying “we cannot lose to a program like Liberty” because: reasons.

Sure we can.
We already did.
And if we’re not careful and better prepared, we will again.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

This is the softest nonconference schedule I can remember in recent history (which I know is what a lot of people wanted). If we can't turn this into a bowl, in a year when our division is basically Clemson and everybody else and we have a very experienced QB, I don't know when it will happen.

Yup.

 

[syrBossHogg]

It's going to be an interesting season. I think the OL play will be much better and the QB play will be improved as well, but I'm concerned about special teams with the loss of Lustig and the losses in the secondary. I think the run defense will be a lot better but I worry we'll see more plays given up in the passing game. Really wish we had Trill back. I'll have to see which QBs we're potentially facing this year.

As others have said, there's no more excuses. The depth is better, coaching changes were made, the schedule is softer, there's less offseason restrictions, and there will hopefully be lots of fans in the dome to give the team some help. Time to start winning again.

 

[upperdeck]

Liberty was one of the teams that was able to scheme against the D and move the ball without really running much offense at all. That was the game where you saw the lack of pre-season prep really stand out. new coach, new scheme, lack of practice. We made liberty oline look like alabama that game

 

[Cusefan69]

Uh - we’re not signing $EC programs up to be our theoretical ‘easy’ OOC W’s now, are we?

I’m not making excuses.

I’m not the person saying “we cannot lose to a program like Liberty” because: reasons.

Sure we can.
We already did.
And if we’re not careful and better prepared, we will again.

Yeah did not mean to indicate that you were saying we were making excuses and yeah I get why they were originally scheduled. Fair on that point. But it is what it is. Seasons can be made or destroyed depending on where teams are on their schedule, upswing years or downswing years. It almost doesn't matter for Dino how strong his schedule is or is not this year. He and the team need to find ways to get at least 6 dubs, preferably 7. Honestly I think he finds a way because I think there are certain educated guesses we can make about the oline, new coach, our rbs, competition at QB, some young talent at Wr and DB and some returning size at DL. I think Dino gets us 7 not including bowl game. Anyway... we will see.

 

[BrooklynCuse]

So, we’re not gonna acknowledge that Liberty can take - liberties - with the academics and character issues of players AND coaches (“only Jesus can handle my junk”) that almost NO other D1 schools could?

And they have an insane amount of re$ource$ due to all that Fundamentalist ca$h rolling in?

They answer to a higher power.
Je$u$ CA$H.

Oh I agree. They are basically acting like an SEC school.

But this year we beat them so bad they question their religion

 

[money3189]

That Liberty loss was a different kind of loss. We lost to Middle Tennessee and I was fine with that(other than Shafer smoking in the Dome and disrespecting the only place that would ever give him a HC shot).

Sometimes one loses. You move on

I’m not calling Liberty scrubs or looking down on them, they beat us. But it’s weird how people are ok with losing that bad to a team that’s been playing Div 1 for two years and put that game as a toss up this year. And ok with Hugh Freeze putting together a better team in two years at Liberty than Dino here in 5.

I don’t care if they have Tom Brady at QB, losing to Liberty again this year is not an option

None of us wants to lose to any non P5 team. We have beaten the upper tier MAC teams in the past. Not sure if last years team would have done that. That liberty squad was a good team. How they became good and how fast is irrelevant. Liberty was better than Middle Tennessee. They will have the best player on the field with the ball in his hands every snap.

 

[Cusefan69]

None of us wants to lose to any non P5 team. We have beaten the upper tier MAC teams in the past. Not sure if last years team would have done that. That liberty squad was a good team. How they became good and how fast is irrelevant. Liberty was better than Middle Tennessee. They will have the best player on the field with the ball in his hands every snap.

Truth. ^^^. You said it better than I did money. Liberty was a good team and how fast it happened is irrelevant. Syracuse D will need to show up that day. I think our defense is going to be pretty good. Fast and aggressive. If last year was any indication.

 

[BrooklynCuse]

None of us wants to lose to any non P5 team. We have beaten the upper tier MAC teams in the past. Not sure if last years team would have done that. That liberty squad was a good team. How they became good and how fast is irrelevant. Liberty was better than Middle Tennessee. They will have the best player on the field with the ball in his hands every snap.

Last year was obviously a hard year to judge any team but I think we are better than how we performed.

Call me crazy and maybe it’s just spring optimism but I think we smoke them this year

 

[money3189]

Last year was obviously a hard year to judge any team but I think we are better than how we performed.

Call me crazy and maybe it’s just spring optimism but I think we smoke them this year

Of course we can beat them. We play at home and if we are healthy I expect to pull it out but they are a well coached team and that QB is a legit. Pretty evident when you watch them.