Dino’s psychological games

[jgeorge322]

In the presser, dino was clearly sending a message to his players that cant get ahead of themselves and need to stay focused, not overlook anyone. My question for the board is—dino has been praising the defense heavily all offseason and ragging on the offense a bit. I listened to brent axe’s podcast today, featuring bailey and mink. One of them said the offense had the potential to be dino’s best at cuse, which isnt saying a ton (not that it hasnt been good) but it was inferred the offense could be special. Is the offense really that far behind the defense or is dino just trying to keep the offensive players’ ego’s in check?

Another concern i have for the season is stopping the run. Last year, clemson bulldozed us at the end of the game. We lost slayton and have all new lbs. i love our ability to defend the pass, but will the run defense be equally good?

 

[PAcuse]

Defense is almost always ahead of Offense in camp.
Offense reportedly caught up by the last scrimmage after the first few plays.
I think Dino says a lot to catch the attentions of this players, see the comments about Szmyt.
Stopping the run will hinge on how well our new LBs step up to the role and what kind of beast Black has become.
I fully believe the staff learned from last year and will regularly switch between 4-2-5 and 4-3 defense.
Also Clemson running game will once be hard to stop, do we bring a guy in and leave ourselves exposed to sunshine or take our chances that 6-7 guys can stop the run?

 

[sdhall01]

To be fair, Etienne can run on anyone. He could probably run on the Jags.

 

[SoBristol]

Defensive line-up has been set from day 1 — has 3 candidates for all-league honors.

Offense — OL has been shuffling players, dealing with injuries (Heckel). We all think Devito will be very good — Dino mentions growing pains.

 

[jgeorge322]

Defensive line-up has been set from day 1 — has 3 candidates for all-league honors.

Offense — OL has been shuffling players, dealing with injuries (Heckel). We all think Devito will be very good — Dino mentions growing pains.

i like the pass rush, but do the ends hold up equally well on the run? and do you think the interior is solid or do we take a step back from last year?

 

[Finwad32]

I can see him getting the D playing with confidence and the O with a chip on their shoulder by throwing this out.

Confidence is key everywhere, but it can really swing things on D. Keep the O focused on getting better and improving.

 

[upperdeck]

we also learned to play more guys by year end..

 

[Cusefan69]

i like the pass rush, but do the ends hold up equally well on the run? and do you think the interior is solid or do we take a step back from last year?

Good questions man. I share similar questions/concerns. I think every coaching staff playing against Cuse this year is going to force Syracuse to stop the run game. Two reasons. First it keeps a high speed, high rep offense off the field longer and second we can all be positive but Slayton was a horse often taking on and standing up two blockers, Williams out and may take some time and Ruff is our only other interior defense lineman over 300 pounds that has meaningful game reps. I really wish Black was in the 290 range. He can be strong as a horse, after getting hit by guys 30-50 pounds heavier, he will start to wear down at 270. It is only natural. Further Black has not played a full season. In response Cuse needs some guys to play stronger at the line of scrimmage. You may see more run blitz to help the guys inside. Having strong guys on the corners will be a boon for us when scheming but until we actually see who might surprise and perform there, it is reasonable to think there are some questions there.
I got 4 seasons though and it’s going to be damn fun to watch!

 

[jgeorge322]

Good questions man. I share similar questions/concerns. I think every coaching staff playing against Cuse this year is going to force Syracuse to stop the run game. Two reasons. First it keeps a high speed, high rep offense off the field longer and second we can all be positive but Slayton was a horse often taking on and standing up two blockers, Williams out and may take some time and Ruff is our only other interior defense lineman over 300 pounds that has meaningful game reps. I really wish Black was in the 290 range. He can be strong as a horse, after getting hit by guys 30-50 pounds heavier, he will start to wear down at 270. It is only natural. Further Black has not played a full season. In response Cuse needs some guys to play stronger at the line of scrimmage. You may see more run blitz to help the guys inside. Having strong guys on the corners will be a boon for us when scheming but until we actually see might surprise and perform there, it is reasonable to think there are some questions there.
I got 4 seasons though and it’s going to be damn fun to watch!

you articulated my concerns really well. maybe im just getting nervous for the season but im a bit worried that teams can grind us on the ground. im also worried a bit about the offense. DeVito should be great but what's behind him and we can't underestimate what a duel threat qb like does to the opposing defense. also, the ND game still scares me a bit when we couldn't do anything on offense. granted, those were special circumstances. i really hope tommy comes out first series and has a long sustained drive of picking apart the defense. ill feel much better.

ready for the season to start. giddy up.

 

[skurey]

I think the offense will be better than expected and the defense worse than expected.

 

[UelSU]

I think Dino is lowering expectations somewhat. I personally think the year everyone is expecting will happen next year, not this year. New QB. Inexperienced Oline. I think we step back just a little bit this season. Hope I'm wrong and we roll everyone. That's why they play the games. We are in a great place though.

 

[longislandcuse]

you articulated my concerns really well. maybe im just getting nervous for the season but im a bit worried that teams can grind us on the ground. im also worried a bit about the offense. DeVito should be great but what's behind him and we can't underestimate what a duel threat qb like does to the opposing defense. also, the ND game still scares me a bit when we couldn't do anything on offense. granted, those were special circumstances. i really hope tommy comes out first series and has a long sustained drive of picking apart the defense. ill feel much better.

ready for the season to start. giddy up.

The ND game was weird. The team completely fell apart when Dungey went down. DeVito had some nice passes that were dropped, and then the big one that was bungled up for a pick before halftime.

Then the rout was on.

The team never recovered from losing Dungey for some reason, and I suspect it also had to do with how wide eyed half our team was walking around Yankee Stadium.

 

[dollarbill44]

we also learned to play more guys by year end..

I don't think that was the coaches learning, but rather the players taking time to get to the point of being able to play.

 

[dollarbill44]

New QB.

TD isn't really new. He's a new starter, but a big part of the reason we didn't flame out last year like prior seasons was the fact we had a competent backup QB. Without TD, we might have been 7-5. We definitely would have lost the UNC game. He played a fair amount, which means that he already made a bunch of rookie mistakes that people are saying he's going to have to work through this year.

I agree with you about the OL being a question, but I think it's our only question on offense.

 

[upperdeck]

its a fine line.. but players like SHY didnt suddenly get better mid season.. the coaches trusted them more so they played more.. we will never know if that something that changed mid season but it really helped at the end.. add to that the play down hill direction the LBS started playing with to handle the running game better

 

[dollarbill44]

its a fine line.. but players like SHY didnt suddenly get better mid season.. the coaches trusted them more so they played more.. we will never know if that something that changed mid season but it really helped at the end.. add to that the play down hill direction the LBS started playing with to handle the running game better

What went on with Shy was well documented on here last season. I think scheme and style had more to do with PT than the coaches having an epiphany that "hey, if we play more guys, we will be better. " I could be wrong though - it's a common occurrence.

 

[baggerbob]

Good questions man. I share similar questions/concerns. I think every coaching staff playing against Cuse this year is going to force Syracuse to stop the run game. Two reasons. First it keeps a high speed, high rep offense off the field longer and second we can all be positive but Slayton was a horse often taking on and standing up two blockers, Williams out and may take some time and Ruff is our only other interior defense lineman over 300 pounds that has meaningful game reps. I really wish Black was in the 290 range. He can be strong as a horse, after getting hit by guys 30-50 pounds heavier, he will start to wear down at 270. It is only natural. Further Black has not played a full season. In response Cuse needs some guys to play stronger at the line of scrimmage. You may see more run blitz to help the guys inside. Having strong guys on the corners will be a boon for us when scheming but until we actually see who might surprise and perform there, it is reasonable to think there are some questions there.
I got 4 seasons though and it’s going to be damn fun to watch!

If Clemson had a DT 6-1-308 who ran a 4.78 forty they would be saying all American, its round selection.

 

[SoBristol]

I think Dino is lowering expectations somewhat. I personally think the year everyone is expecting will happen next year, not this year. New QB. Inexperienced Oline. I think we step back just a little bit this season. Hope I'm wrong and we roll everyone. That's why they play the games. We are in a great place though.

It is give and take, as with most college teams. Many good teams have had to replace a lot more than we do. We have new LBs, but surrounded by a lot of talent on defense, especially at DE and across the secondary. Devito has some experience, though Liberty is his first start. The RBs and WRs look solid, and having 3 returning OL starters provides some reason for optimism there.

2020? Defense will certainly take a step back, so I would not look past the prospects we have for this season.