Some on the board may disagree, but I think the best recruits Syracuse can get are in the recruiting base and that is how you make Syracuse more competitive with the top ACC schools.
1. Recruit your base well.
2. Be well-coached, give top programs a scare or two, pull an upset or two, get national recognition.
3. Strike while the iron is hot, target the right guys outside your recruiting base (while still maintaining it), hopefully land a couple, and
maybe you can bump the program up a level and try to maintain it. If not, you're back on #2 looking for the next opportunity.
The frustrating part here is that it looked like Dino was on Step 2 in 2017 and 2018. But we've gone way backwards since then.
In 2017 we put up a decent showing at LSU, knocked off #2 Clemson, gave then #8 Miami a run on the road and lost by 8, then lost at FSU (down year for them) by 3 on the road. In 2018 we played Clemson tough on the road, got ranked, and won a bowl game.
From 2019 forward, we're 1-12 against ranked teams, outscored 452-190, the lone win is an NC State team that would go on to fall out of the rankings, and we've only come within one score two other times - 2021 vs Wake and 2022 at Clemson... and we've stayed in the bottom quarter of the conference in recruiting.
People overlook the fact that SU in late 80s/90s found inefficiencies to be successful.
And this is the other thing. If you can't recruit at a high enough level overall to compete, lining up to play a traditional offense/defense is lining up to lose. You've got to find your niche. Mobile quarterbacks would be the obvious one, right? They always give you a
chance against better competition
. Agile offensive line in the screen game is another, some sort of offensive gimmick is another, OC/HC who are great at dialing up trick plays in high leverage spots is another, cranking up the luck factor in high leverage spots by being ultra aggressive on 4th downs is another.
On defense it can be a scheme that caters to the types of recruits you can consistently land (undersized but fast, for example) and will often rely on a coordinator who is great at dialing up pressure or disguising what he's doing to confuse the talented hotshot QBs who haven't seen those looks yet.
You also want a coach who inspires belief in the team, and gets them excited for those spots. I'd rather come out firing away in the first half, going for every 4th and 4 or less, sending blitzes, letting the team know we are playing to win, not playing it safe. If it backfires and you're getting smoked at halftime, so be it - what difference does it make versus playing it safe and losing by 30 anyway? And then you can say, "Alright boys, they got us today," and get backups some snaps and try not to get beat up by a physically inferior team and have that hangover effect.
