I was flying back from vacation yesterday and had to DVR the game... So that made me a little less emotionally invested, although I didn't know anything about the outcome.
Overall, I felt like we played a pretty bad game and still gave the undefeated #8 team in the country a hell of a tough game on their field (which happens to be horrible). The field hurts our offense, a lot. We also looked beat up, we need that off week. I think this could have been a different game if we a) weren't coming off Clemson (for physical reasons, not let down reasons) OR b) had it after the bye.
At half, I felt like, "Well, we played as bad as we could and it's a 10-point game," but I also didn't want to make TOO much of that, since Miami dropped a lot of passes and left points on the field. We could have been down by 20 at half, so we did get some breaks in that regard.
I thought the officiating was bad - especially the scenario where 1st and G at the 2.5 turned into 3rd and G at the 6 AND they gave Richt his timeout back. I'm pretty sure that also led to the play when Ishmael got hurt, didn't it? That was a huge moment in the game.
Dungey opened things up a lot for the offense with his running, and also Babers did so by calling more running plays for a stretch of the game. When the timing is off or the WRs aren't getting open, Dungey needs to run like he did yesterday. No defense, regardless of talent, can consistently take away his scrambles while covering the WRs.
That said, we need to take the next two weeks and teach this kid to slide. I'm all for heart and toughness, but when you get the first down and you're 60 yards from the end zone, there is NO reason to lower your shoulder for an extra yard as a QB. It's one thing to try to break a tackle with 10-20 yards of upside, and expose yourself to that hit... But to do something that can only get you a yard or two? Pointless unless those couple of yards mean a first down or a touch down. Same goes for the hurdling. My comment during the game was, "Man, he sure is fun to watch - but if he keeps playing like this, I'm afraid I won't be watching him much longer."
There were a few plays I really didn't like down the stretch. I love Dino, so don't take this the wrong way, but hopefully he'll learn from it. The third-and-goal from their ~25, I wanted to see either a screen, a draw, or a low-risk pass that was either a quick hitter for 5-8 yards on a slant/out, or a rollout that gave him options. When the defense only has to cover a short field, it's going to be very hard to score a TD and very easy to throw an INT, especially after the four INTs in the first half. Losing yards is super costly given the length of the FG attempt that's about to happen. So, you want to secure the field goal, and maybe a guy breaks a few tackles.
Instead, they run a trick play that's a lateral with a throwback to Dungey. My comment was, "Yeah, that's what we needed to do right there... run a play with a high risk of a turnover, a high risk of losing yards, and get our banged up QB creamed in the process."
Fortunately, we made the FG anyway.
On the drive when Miami went down the field to make it an 8-point game, I didn't like the delayed blitzes. Rosier had made good decisions all game, and showed a willingness to take hits to make throws, while still delivering strikes. The problem with a delayed blitz against that guy is that he's likely to see an opening by then and it's not going to throw him off. They work well against QBs who won't step into a throw with a hit coming.
But, what's worse, in that scenario his job when throwing, first and foremost, is not to throw an interception. So I would have preferred rushing three or four and dropping back into coverage to try to limit his options or make him take an undue risk.
That said, hats off to Miami, who executed really well when they were focused - basically the first and last drives. If I had to sum it up, I'd say that on a neutral field on an average day, Syracuse is a better football team than Miami... but Miami has more talented football players. When they came together and dialed it in, we had a tough time doing much to stop them. However, they don't do that often enough...
Lastly, Dungey needs to throw it past the sticks (or to someone running free behind the sticks) on 4th down at the end there... The throw he made had a 0% chance of leading to a first down. Chucking it into triple coverage would be better. Dungey does 2-3 things a game that aren't exactly brilliant from a game management standpoint, and if he learns from that going into next year and improves his mechanics a touch, he could be scary good.
All in all, we have lost three games on the road by nine points or less to top-25 teams (who should all climb in the rankings this week). I think all signs point to Syracuse being a top-40 team that had one really bad week, rather than a team that pulled one upset and has played well in defeat.
Overall, I felt like we played a pretty bad game and still gave the undefeated #8 team in the country a hell of a tough game on their field (which happens to be horrible). The field hurts our offense, a lot. We also looked beat up, we need that off week. I think this could have been a different game if we a) weren't coming off Clemson (for physical reasons, not let down reasons) OR b) had it after the bye.
At half, I felt like, "Well, we played as bad as we could and it's a 10-point game," but I also didn't want to make TOO much of that, since Miami dropped a lot of passes and left points on the field. We could have been down by 20 at half, so we did get some breaks in that regard.
I thought the officiating was bad - especially the scenario where 1st and G at the 2.5 turned into 3rd and G at the 6 AND they gave Richt his timeout back. I'm pretty sure that also led to the play when Ishmael got hurt, didn't it? That was a huge moment in the game.
Dungey opened things up a lot for the offense with his running, and also Babers did so by calling more running plays for a stretch of the game. When the timing is off or the WRs aren't getting open, Dungey needs to run like he did yesterday. No defense, regardless of talent, can consistently take away his scrambles while covering the WRs.
That said, we need to take the next two weeks and teach this kid to slide. I'm all for heart and toughness, but when you get the first down and you're 60 yards from the end zone, there is NO reason to lower your shoulder for an extra yard as a QB. It's one thing to try to break a tackle with 10-20 yards of upside, and expose yourself to that hit... But to do something that can only get you a yard or two? Pointless unless those couple of yards mean a first down or a touch down. Same goes for the hurdling. My comment during the game was, "Man, he sure is fun to watch - but if he keeps playing like this, I'm afraid I won't be watching him much longer."
There were a few plays I really didn't like down the stretch. I love Dino, so don't take this the wrong way, but hopefully he'll learn from it. The third-and-goal from their ~25, I wanted to see either a screen, a draw, or a low-risk pass that was either a quick hitter for 5-8 yards on a slant/out, or a rollout that gave him options. When the defense only has to cover a short field, it's going to be very hard to score a TD and very easy to throw an INT, especially after the four INTs in the first half. Losing yards is super costly given the length of the FG attempt that's about to happen. So, you want to secure the field goal, and maybe a guy breaks a few tackles.
Instead, they run a trick play that's a lateral with a throwback to Dungey. My comment was, "Yeah, that's what we needed to do right there... run a play with a high risk of a turnover, a high risk of losing yards, and get our banged up QB creamed in the process."
Fortunately, we made the FG anyway.
On the drive when Miami went down the field to make it an 8-point game, I didn't like the delayed blitzes. Rosier had made good decisions all game, and showed a willingness to take hits to make throws, while still delivering strikes. The problem with a delayed blitz against that guy is that he's likely to see an opening by then and it's not going to throw him off. They work well against QBs who won't step into a throw with a hit coming.
But, what's worse, in that scenario his job when throwing, first and foremost, is not to throw an interception. So I would have preferred rushing three or four and dropping back into coverage to try to limit his options or make him take an undue risk.
That said, hats off to Miami, who executed really well when they were focused - basically the first and last drives. If I had to sum it up, I'd say that on a neutral field on an average day, Syracuse is a better football team than Miami... but Miami has more talented football players. When they came together and dialed it in, we had a tough time doing much to stop them. However, they don't do that often enough...
Lastly, Dungey needs to throw it past the sticks (or to someone running free behind the sticks) on 4th down at the end there... The throw he made had a 0% chance of leading to a first down. Chucking it into triple coverage would be better. Dungey does 2-3 things a game that aren't exactly brilliant from a game management standpoint, and if he learns from that going into next year and improves his mechanics a touch, he could be scary good.
All in all, we have lost three games on the road by nine points or less to top-25 teams (who should all climb in the rankings this week). I think all signs point to Syracuse being a top-40 team that had one really bad week, rather than a team that pulled one upset and has played well in defeat.
