Dino's Presser after Duke

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Thread: Syracuse HC Dino Babers is starting his postgame presser. On the team's emotional state: "It's frustrating when you have a lot of young people and they don't quite understand the reason why they're not having the success that some of them had in high school."

Babers is asked about depth. Said the offense cannot go three-deep personnel-wise. He knows there were a lot of young guys on the field today, experiencing things for the first time, and expects they'll get better.

Babers implies that Duke wore down the SU defense, guessing that they were at 85-87 plays going into the fourth quarter. "Duke did exactly to our defense what we traditionally do to other defenses when we're right."

Speaking about the first half, Babers said he'd probably take the rushing yards allowed in exchange for the turnovers his defense produced.

Babers sticks it to his receiving corps for not making plays downfield: "You can't have that many dropped balls if you're going to be attacking people in the back end that way." He reiterates there were a lot of problems, but this was one of them.

Babers asked about injured QB Tommy DeVito. The prognosis appears to be bad. "Based off some of the stuff I've heard, it's not good. We're all pulling for him and wishing him the best, but like I said it's not good."

Babers on injured DB Andre Cisco and RB Jawhar Jordan: "I think both of those guys are going to be out for long periods of time."

Babers said Duke was in press coverage on the outside and giving about 5 yards of cushion to slots. "They really were forcing you to go deep on them." Babers added that inefficiency in SU's short passing game hurt. Mentions a Trebor Pena drop that could've led to a chunk gain.

Babers mentions that Duke had more players than Syracuse despite being on the road. Offensively, SU just doesn't have the personnel to do what it wants (i.e. go fast). "We have to get our numbers up and we're working very hard at doing it."

____________________

Syracuse TE Luke Benson on the call now. Said the goal is to learn lessons and turn the page quickly toward Liberty. Flames come to the Dome next Saturday.

Benson: "Not everything's been working out but we trust the coaches. Things opened up today for the tight ends."

Benson credits other receivers for bringing their defenders across the field on his long touchdown catch.

Benson asked about confidence in backup QBs, particularly Rex Culpepper: "All the guys have absolute confidence in all those guys. All of them work really hard and Coach Babers gets them ready every week."

Benson on injuries: "Those things are uncontrollable so we try not to focus on them." Reiterates that there's "100%" confidence in other QBs, but doesn't get into how another signal-caller would change the shape of the offense.

____________________

Syracuse LB Mikel Jones on now. Said there were some tired legs on the defense late, but it's a proud group. "Everybody wants to fly around and cause turnovers. That's something we emphasize every week."

Jones is asked what it's been like for the D without Cisco and Coley: "I feel like it was only difficult for that first game (Georgia Tech). But I feel like during practice this last week, those young guys got a lot better. They got a lot better at communicating."

Jones said Duke's running success hinged most on missed tackles. Combine that with the lack of rest time and it's not hard to see how the Blue Devils racked up 363 rushing yards.

Jones said one big emphasis during the bye week was getting the younger safeties to communicate, particularly true freshmen Rob Hanna and Ja'Had Carter. Carter getting hurt made that tough, but Jones said those guys did well to prepare.

 

[FloridaFan]

If pressing works then why are our DB’s 8-10 yards off to give them Easy slants

 

[Chip]

A long year just got longer. We don't have the numbers. And those that are out there are making way too many mistakes.

 

[McNabb2Brominski]

I’d be shocked if we see Cisco suit up in orange again. The offense is horrendous, which means the D is on the field A LOT and as result, injuries on D are piling up.

 

[orangecuse]

Year 5 Dino! And, your excuses are growing tiresome at this point. Furthermore, the blind faith mantra has been exposed, and you can no longer hide behind the statute latency defense period.

Perhaps, it’s you Dino that doesn’t understand success at the P5 level more than the young guys’ frustrations relative to their high school success since you haven’t ever experienced it yourself at a sustained level. As a P5 coach, your 5th year of experience in that specific regard has fielded consistently unsuccessful teams. A far cry from “consistently good and occasionally great.”

 

[orlandoorange]

It's year 5, these are all his players. We were more competitive with SS players that are consistently minimized here.

 

[Libero2]

It's year 5, these are all his players. We were more competitive with SS players that are consistently minimized here.

I’m so tired of the “it’s year 5” nonsense. Dino has shown that when he has upper class men on the field who are experienced and have had the time to develop their S and C that he can be extremely competitive.

the problem is Dino’s first two classes were NOT good enough. Part of that is something we should have expected. Regardless of whether it was misses or injuries/washouts the entire roster lacks experience because those kids never made it.

My point about “should have expected it” makes sense, Dino and co were used to taking dudes with MAC talent and winning with scheme. At this level you have to have talent. In the ACC scheme will help, but you need talent that’s on another level. Dino’s first two classes were guys closer to MAC talent than ACC level. So now that we have gotten better recruiters and subsequently figured out what talent we need (and started winning those recruits in 19 but more so in 20 and 21) those guys are all young (or not even here yet) and they are exciting on defense if undisciplined.

Dino needs to get it right, no doubts. But the last several coaches we have said (as we are kicking them out the door) “he could only win with the last guys recruits!” well yeah when the guy only gets 4-5 years before everyone turns on him and his first class or two isn’t good enough while they figure out how to sell Cuse to these kids. Then we fire the guy and the new guy comes in and benefits from the young guys in the program that the old coach recruited as they age up.

let’s let a coach who has brought in exciting talent coach these kids to be upper classmen. that said if the staff has a group of guys who need to be replaced then we need to do so and hit the transfer market hard at key positions (DT and WR and OL come to mind first and foremost)

 

[orlandoorange]

I’m so tired of the “it’s year 5” nonsense. Dino has shown that when he has upper class men on the field who are experienced and have had the time to develop their S and C that he can be extremely competitive.

the problem is Dino’s first two classes were NOT good enough. Part of that is something we should have expected. Regardless of whether it was misses or injuries/washouts the entire roster lacks experience because those kids never made it.

My point about “should have expected it” makes sense, Dino and co were used to taking dudes with MAC talent and winning with scheme. At this level you have to have talent. In the ACC scheme will help, but you need talent that’s on another level. Dino’s first two classes were guys closer to MAC talent than ACC level. So now that we have gotten better recruiters and subsequently figured out what talent we need (and started winning those recruits in 19 but more so in 20 and 21) those guys are all young (or not even here yet) and they are exciting on defense if undisciplined.

Dino needs to get it right, no doubts. But the last several coaches we have said (as we are kicking them out the door) “he could only win with the last guys recruits!” well yeah when the guy only gets 4-5 years before everyone turns on him and his first class or two isn’t good enough while they figure out how to sell Cuse to these kids. Then we fire the guy and the new guy comes in and benefits from the young guys in the program that the old coach recruited as they age up.

let’s let a coach who has brought in exciting talent coach these kids to be upper classmen. that said if the staff has a group of guys who need to be replaced then we need to do so and hit the transfer market hard at key positions (DT and WR and OL come to mind first and foremost)

What exciting talent is that? Where's a QB? A WR?

I get it, give a guy time. If you're great at what you do, it shouldn't take 5 years. This offense is not difficult to defend, based on anonymous comments from other league coaches. We don't have the talent so figure a way to out scheme. That's not who Dino is. He's a great role model, I dont think hes a great football mind.

 

[Cuse69]

I’m so tired of the “it’s year 5” nonsense. Dino has shown that when he has upper class men on the field who are experienced and have had the time to develop their S and C that he can be extremely competitive.

the problem is Dino’s first two classes were NOT good enough. Part of that is something we should have expected. Regardless of whether it was misses or injuries/washouts the entire roster lacks experience because those kids never made it.

My point about “should have expected it” makes sense, Dino and co were used to taking dudes with MAC talent and winning with scheme. At this level you have to have talent. In the ACC scheme will help, but you need talent that’s on another level. Dino’s first two classes were guys closer to MAC talent than ACC level. So now that we have gotten better recruiters and subsequently figured out what talent we need (and started winning those recruits in 19 but more so in 20 and 21) those guys are all young (or not even here yet) and they are exciting on defense if undisciplined.

Dino needs to get it right, no doubts. But the last several coaches we have said (as we are kicking them out the door) “he could only win with the last guys recruits!” well yeah when the guy only gets 4-5 years before everyone turns on him and his first class or two isn’t good enough while they figure out how to sell Cuse to these kids. Then we fire the guy and the new guy comes in and benefits from the young guys in the program that the old coach recruited as they age up.

let’s let a coach who has brought in exciting talent coach these kids to be upper classmen. that said if the staff has a group of guys who need to be replaced then we need to do so and hit the transfer market hard at key positions (DT and WR and OL come to mind first and foremost)

All i see are a ton of excuses spare me the dino needs upper classmen to win, what's cisco and trill both are juniors, you scheme to put your players in the best places so you can win, dino seems to still no know how to do that, excuse after excuse, if shafers players are god enough which they were the best players your point is null and void as dinos classes were ranked higher, this staff doesn't develop the players at all. It's year 5, look what a real football coach sam pittman is doing at arkansas, beat Miss st and the refs hosed him on the fumble was 28 seconds left they shouldve beat auburn at auburn today, dino brought a gimmick here and we don't even have that. Theirs no energy the team is boring and stale, they don't recruit or develop players this is all on DB

 

[Libero2]

All i see are a ton of excuses spare me the dino needs upper classmen to win, what's cisco and trill both are juniors, you scheme to put your players in the best places so you can win, dino seems to still no know how to do that, excuse after excuse, if shafers players are god enough which they were the best players your point is null and void as dinos classes were ranked higher, this staff doesn't develop the players at all. It's year 5, look what a real football coach sam pittman is doing at arkansas, beat Miss st and the refs hosed him on the fumble was 28 seconds left they shouldve beat auburn at auburn today, dino brought a gimmick here and we don't even have that. Theirs no energy the team is boring and stale, they don't recruit or develop players this is all on DB

You just named 2 guys who are true juniors from a class of what 25 guys?

it’s very very easy to acknowledge those classes top to bottom were not and are not good enough. That is why we are struggling because that junior class (and the seniors as well) were not good enough to get it done. Add in the injuries to basically half our starters and it’s a recipe for a complete disaster of a year and that’s what we have on our hands in 2020.

I still firmly believe that this team will be pretty damn good again when Mikel Jones is a Senior. By then that class of guys will be on the field as (mostly r-Jrs) and the overall talent level in the program will have been on the upswing for years. The OL will be stocked again with guys who can play and Lamson will be ready to take the reigns as a solid if not yet special QB in the ACC.

this year is already a train wreck and headed for a complete disaster. Doesn’t mean the future is already over before it happens.

 

[Cuse69]

You just named 2 guys who are true juniors from a class of what 25 guys?

it’s very very easy to acknowledge those classes top to bottom were not and are not good enough. That is why we are struggling because that junior class (and the seniors as well) were not good enough to get it done. Add in the injuries to basically half our starters and it’s a recipe for a complete disaster of a year and that’s what we have on our hands in 2020.

I still firmly believe that this team will be pretty damn good again when Mikel Jones is a Senior. By then that class of guys will be on the field as (mostly r-Jrs) and the overall talent level in the program will have been on the upswing for years. The OL will be stocked again with guys who can play and Lamson will be ready to take the reigns as a solid if not yet special QB in the ACC.

this year is already a train wreck and headed for a complete disaster. Doesn’t mean the future is already over before it happens.

So his recruiting classes in the first 2 years are better than SS's whats your excuse, he's in year 5 all of these are his guys, he needs to scheme around the guys he has, every team has injuries that's not an excuse. You can't have sustained success when the only time your successful is when you have all seniors, most good teams have guys from all recruiting classes playing obviously more from each class if they get older, they got alot out of shafers recruiting classes and when DB's are ranked higher another one of your excuses is gone, we are in year 5 whether you like it or not, winning 6 games and being competitive is not a big ask, the 2016-2017 teams are better than this one.

 

[Entropic]

We have had horrible luck with the oline in terms of injuries and waiver crap so I can give him a break there. What is the deal with WR though? I am not aware of any significant injury issues and we are now digging through the bench to find someone that can catch a pass.

 

[Libero2]

So his recruiting classes in the first 2 years are better than SS's whats your excuse, he's in year 5 all of these are his guys, he needs to scheme around the guys he has, every team has injuries that's not an excuse. You can't have sustained success when the only time your successful is when you have all seniors, most good teams have guys from all recruiting classes playing obviously more from each class if they get older, they got alot out of shafers recruiting classes and when DB's are ranked higher another one of your excuses is gone, we are in year 5 whether you like it or not, winning 6 games and being competitive is not a big ask, the 2016-2017 teams are better than this one.

When will people get that rankings are not a good judge of how good a class actually is?

And how many of those guys are still around and contributing in any meaningful way? like 8 guys from both classes? The number of washouts, injury DQ's and things of that nature are why those classes weren't good enough. That's my point.

Every single coach relies on upperclassmen to win in NCAA football, Physical Maturity and experience MATTER. Yes there are some young guys that show up and hit it big (see Cisco, Andre and Williams, Trill) right away, but that is not how teams consistently win. Look at teams competing for titles year in and year out their two-deep is riddled with R-Jrs, S and R-Srs. Why? Because experience and S&C matter a ton. It gives guys time to learn, put on weight and prepare to play big time football. We have basically had 1 year of that since Shafer took over, where we had a roster of Jr's and Sr's competing, what do you know we went 10-3 that year.

The point is that when these kids age up, gain this experience and get stronger/faster, we will have good seasons again. Dino's biggest failures were in recruiting those first couple years, and frankly with him transitioning from BG (where he never even had to win with his own guys) this slow start to recruiting should have been foreseeable. I didn't see it, and I'm not claiming I did. But with the power of hindsight, of course Dino needed time to figure out what type of talent increase he needed from his earlier days, and how to get it. None of which was bigger than the QB misses.

Dino can and should have his recruiting questioned, my opinion and early returns seem to suggest the classes of 20 and 21 are his best ones (top to bottom) and as those guys get into the program we are going to start the uptick we all desperately want. But being angry the guys that are out there "too small" and "not playing well enough." Well -ING DUH. They are true freshman and sophomores. The majority of them are not elite recruits who had the size, strength and IQ to play right away. They needed time to develop and we are in a position to have to throw them into the fire straight away. That's a recipe for days like today. But clearly they are flashing talent and are making some big plays. Unfortunately they are also making a bunch of terrible plays too.

I still stand by my statement that in 2 years, as these kids get stronger and learn all the things they needed to know that lead to mistakes today, this will be a damn good team. With one caveat, we have to get the QB right. If as people are suggesting Tommy is going to graduate and look elsewhere, then we need a transfer immediately. We can't go into next year with a guarantee that one of our guys that "isn't ready" right now, or a true freshman in Lamson the only viable options. No easier way to ruin a promising talent than him having no competition, and being thrown out there anyways even if he isn't ready.

 

[sufandu]

Getting rid of Dino is not the answer. If this is going to turn around, he's going to do it. If we want to stay in perpetual suckitude, then we need to keep the coaching revolving door spinning.

 

[Redrum]

When will people get that rankings are not a good judge of how good a class actually is?

And how many of those guys are still around and contributing in any meaningful way? like 8 guys from both classes? The number of washouts, injury DQ's and things of that nature are why those classes weren't good enough. That's my point.

Every single coach relies on upperclassmen to win in NCAA football, Physical Maturity and experience MATTER. Yes there are some young guys that show up and hit it big (see Cisco, Andre and Williams, Trill) right away, but that is not how teams consistently win. Look at teams competing for titles year in and year out their two-deep is riddled with R-Jrs, S and R-Srs. Why? Because experience and S&C matter a ton. It gives guys time to learn, put on weight and prepare to play big time football. We have basically had 1 year of that since Shafer took over, where we had a roster of Jr's and Sr's competing, what do you know we went 10-3 that year.

The point is that when these kids age up, gain this experience and get stronger/faster, we will have good seasons again. Dino's biggest failures were in recruiting those first couple years, and frankly with him transitioning from BG (where he never even had to win with his own guys) this slow start to recruiting should have been foreseeable. I didn't see it, and I'm not claiming I did. But with the power of hindsight, of course Dino needed time to figure out what type of talent increase he needed from his earlier days, and how to get it. None of which was bigger than the QB misses.

Dino can and should have his recruiting questioned, my opinion and early returns seem to suggest the classes of 20 and 21 are his best ones (top to bottom) and as those guys get into the program we are going to start the uptick we all desperately want. But being angry the guys that are out there "too small" and "not playing well enough." Well -ING DUH. They are true freshman and sophomores. The majority of them are not elite recruits who had the size, strength and IQ to play right away. They needed time to develop and we are in a position to have to throw them into the fire straight away. That's a recipe for days like today. But clearly they are flashing talent and are making some big plays. Unfortunately they are also making a bunch of terrible plays too.

I still stand by my statement that in 2 years, as these kids get stronger and learn all the things they needed to know that lead to mistakes today, this will be a damn good team. With one caveat, we have to get the QB right. If as people are suggesting Tommy is going to graduate and look elsewhere, then we need a transfer immediately. We can't go into next year with a guarantee that one of our guys that "isn't ready" right now, or a true freshman in Lamson the only viable options. No easier way to ruin a promising talent than him having no competition, and being thrown out there anyways even if he isn't ready.

Tommy’s still an orange man . But let’s pretend tommy left .. let me hear your sales pitch to a transfer Qb to come here ?

 

[sufandu]

So his recruiting classes in the first 2 years are better than SS's whats your excuse, he's in year 5 all of these are his guys, he needs to scheme around the guys he has, every team has injuries that's not an excuse. You can't have sustained success when the only time your successful is when you have all seniors, most good teams have guys from all recruiting classes playing obviously more from each class if they get older, they got alot out of shafers recruiting classes and when DB's are ranked higher another one of your excuses is gone, we are in year 5 whether you like it or not, winning 6 games and being competitive is not a big ask, the 2016-2017 teams are better than this one.

Nobody says you have to have all seniors to be successful, but you have to have a solid base of veterans. Even the factories aren't fielding teams of all 5 star underclassmen. They have standout young guys that complement the veteran base. Look at our two deep. We aren't close to veteran at most positions. We have one upperclassman at LB. The ones we had transferred out because we recruited over them. We have a mix in the secondary but out AA safety is for for the year. Our best RBs are freshman and one is now out. We're missing something like 3 starters on the oline. Recruiting is an uphill battle here. Anyone that thinks any coach is going to step in here and fix the talent in a couple classes is foolish. There have been recruiting misses. Everyone has them. Ours are glaring because we don't have other similar talents competing. The recruiting base is slowly turning. You see that with how many young guys are playing now and the next class is looking like the best we've had in a long time when you look at the ranking for a number of players. Our abundance of young guys beed to mature. We need to get some young blood in to fix the misses (similar to what we recently did at LB), and we need to continue to build the base underneath the young guys that are taking their lumps now. If we can bring in a playmaker at the most important position, someone that can do more than what the play asks for, that can cover weaknesses elsewhere and accelerate things. Of course, that has been what we have been missing for most of the last 20 years, so clearly that is easier said than done.

Did you think this build was going to be some linear trajectory?

 

[Entropic]

Tommy’s still an orange man . But let’s pretend tommy left .. let me hear your sales pitch to a transfer Qb to come here ?

I think the only viable pitch, because of how much the team has struggled, is playing time. It would only work for some recruit that perhaps was highly touted but recruited over at their school. Think Tate but without the being a complete mental case. You would have to convince someone that playing at Syracuse behind an inconsistent line with WRs apparently using Vaseline on their hands instead of Stickum is better than never getting a snap their entire career.

Outside of that I think it would be a tough sell. We tried this with Drew Allen and all we saw was the reason why he was recruited over.

 

[tipphill]

I’m so tired of the “it’s year 5” nonsense. Dino has shown that when he has upper class men on the field who are experienced and have had the time to develop their S and C that he can be extremely competitive.

the problem is Dino’s first two classes were NOT good enough. Part of that is something we should have expected. Regardless of whether it was misses or injuries/washouts the entire roster lacks experience because those kids never made it.

My point about “should have expected it” makes sense, Dino and co were used to taking dudes with MAC talent and winning with scheme. At this level you have to have talent. In the ACC scheme will help, but you need talent that’s on another level. Dino’s first two classes were guys closer to MAC talent than ACC level. So now that we have gotten better recruiters and subsequently figured out what talent we need (and started winning those recruits in 19 but more so in 20 and 21) those guys are all young (or not even here yet) and they are exciting on defense if undisciplined.

Dino needs to get it right, no doubts. But the last several coaches we have said (as we are kicking them out the door) “he could only win with the last guys recruits!” well yeah when the guy only gets 4-5 years before everyone turns on him and his first class or two isn’t good enough while they figure out how to sell Cuse to these kids. Then we fire the guy and the new guy comes in and benefits from the young guys in the program that the old coach recruited as they age up.

let’s let a coach who has brought in exciting talent coach these kids to be upper classmen. that said if the staff has a group of guys who need to be replaced then we need to do so and hit the transfer market hard at key positions (DT and WR and OL come to mind first and foremost

agree with most. he is to married to his"fast" number of plays per game philosophy. rather than looking what is best to do with what he has, and focusing on execution, rather than speed. i wonder why so many injuries EVERY year. he should get two more years ,hopefully the recruiting improves and he matures

 

[orangecuse]

Tommy’s still an orange man . But let’s pretend tommy left .. let me hear your sales pitch to a transfer Qb to come here ?

I hope Tommy makes a quick and full recovery as soon as possible. Tommy appears, from this fan's perspective, to be a fine young man who has a solid work ethic, commitment, and character. Something I'm sure, as any loving parent, is quite proud of as no doubt you had a significant role with that in raising him.

In answering your pretend question, I'd pitch some of the same things Dino pitches relative to the university, program, facilities, ACC, etc. However, in doing so, it's absolutely imperative that Dino is making that pitch to an individual (QB) that best suits and significantly compliments the type of overall talent that SU has historically been able to attain, which isn't 4 & 5 star recruits. That is what I see is most critical. Specifically, a true dual threat QB. One doesn't have to look too far to see what Dungey acheived two seasons ago (when healthy) as a dual threat qb, and SU's history has proven that dual threat types give SU its best teams/seasons, Graves, McPherson, McNabb, etc.

Now, Dino's pitch certainly (by his own doing/consistently poor results on the field, etc.) is getting harder by the day relative to his credibility and track record as a successful P5 level coach. Therefore, he'll really need to work on/up his persuasion tactics as well to overcome this moving forward, otherwise his days on Hill are numbered.

 

[Redrum]

I hope Tommy makes a quick and full recovery as soon as possible. Tommy appears, from this fan's perspective, to be a fine young man who has a solid work ethic, commitment, and character. Something I'm sure, as any loving parent, is quite proud of as no doubt you had a significant role with that in raising him.

In answering your pretend question, I'd pitch some of the same things Dino pitches relative to the university, program, facilities, ACC, etc. However, in doing so, it's absolutely imperative that Dino is making that pitch to an individual (QB) that best suits and significantly compliments the type of overall talent that SU has historically been able to attain, which isn't 4 & 5 star recruits. That is what I see is most critical. Specifically, a true dual threat QB. One doesn't have to look too far to see what Dungey acheived two seasons ago (when healthy) as a dual threat qb, and SU's history has proven that dual threat types give SU its best teams/seasons, Graves, McPherson, McNabb, etc.

Now, Dino's pitch certainly (by his own doing/consistently poor results on the field, etc.) is getting harder by the day relative to his credibility and track record as a successful P5 level coach. Therefore, he'll really need to work on/up his persuasion tactics as well to overcome this moving forward, otherwise his days on Hill are numbered.

As per dino he doesn’t want a dual threat he wants a passer

 

[orangecuse]

As per dino he doesn’t want a dual threat he wants a passer

And pride is one of the seven deadlies...

 

[AZOrange]

As per dino he doesn’t want a dual threat he wants a passer

Makes almost zero sense in the current game. But sounds about right for where we are.

 

[Entropic]

Makes almost zero sense in the current game. But sounds about right for where we are.

This system would work better with good pre-snap reads, quick throws and fast pace. It is supposed to be quick accurate passes that get players in open space to make plays. It's really slow right now and pre-snap reads seem to not happen. Also WRs need to catch the ball for any of this to work.

 

[bigmike]

Tommy’s still an orange man . But let’s pretend tommy left .. let me hear your sales pitch to a transfer Qb to come here ?

We’re gonna run the wishbone?