I am sure I will get killed for this

[nzm136]

I may be wrong on this, but I was under the impression this was a free year and everyone can come back. If so, I think few would leave as we don't have anyone other than Cisco that could play in the NFL next year. As Dino has said in the past, once your college eligibility is used up, few play competitively again. Why give that up. An additional year to play football and receive an education to complete your degree or start graduate classes. Sign me up.

I agree. I think we’ll be less impacted than schools loaded with NFL talent. They’ll surely reload, but they do every year. The big advantage is that we won’t have to replace, which will represent a net gain.

My biggest concern is an offensive coach who hasn’t been able to field a decent offense in 3/4 years that he’s been head coach. I’ve not given up hope by any means, but today wasn’t great.

We better win big next year and actually capitalize on that momentum (unlike last time). We have a good foundation of players, but I think we lack enough game-changing impact players.

 

[Briancuse]

This team could easily go 2-9 or 1-10.

If that happens Dino needs to be on the hot seat. That is unacceptable.

 

[IthacaMatt]

The minute he has loss #7 this year should put him on the hot seat. The minute he has loss #7 next year, we should start looking for a replace. Otherwise I hope he is here for many years to come.

I'm really disappointed with how they folded after Tommy's interception at 17-6, with 3 TDs coming in only five minutes and game over. I can't believe how small we look on the lines again. Am I hallucinating?
Our D line held up surprisingly well until the 4th Quarter. We look small all over the field, but we were quick and the secondary made several big plays.

The O line was horrendous. Jordan as our feature back is a disaster. He's talented but he's still too small and shouldn't be forced into this role right now. If we had Adams to offset him, it would be so much better.

DeVito had a touchdown dropped, and a few other balls not secured. We left at least 17 points on the field in the first half alone, and were still only down 10-6 and had the ball mid-to-late in the third quarter.

But he missed several open guys, too. He was more effective running. He stepped up in the pocket well at times. But this teams looks awful, and all we play are ACC teams plus Liberty. We don't get 4 OOC games this year.

We're toast. I'm very disappointed. What the hell happened?

 

[IthacaMatt]

Is that the meter of success cause it didn't work with P. He won at places like Michigan, went to major bowl games and got run out of here after a 6 win season. Stop with the excuses that he almost won a game 3 years ago and won 10 game with a roster full of another coach's guys. Year 5, this is the house that Dino built, like it or not.

Well, it's kind of his third coordinators in 5 years, so that factors into it, too.

 

[UpstateSM]

 

[IthacaMatt]

You're doing the twisting. What does the last 20 years have to do with Babers? We lost a game today to a team that recruits a lot better for obvious reasons. WE missed very makable plays and have a couple of guys out there in positions of need that are only there due to unforeseen circumstances.

Two new coordinators give us a mulligan, along with the opening and closing of camps.

I didn't like hearing that the team kind of went on strike twice during camp, when we're trying to install new systems on both sides of the ball.

I know these are crazy times, but these kids are not at all focused. They are not putting the work in. Not saying that I could under these circumstances, but boy, we looked awful today.

Does anybody see 5 or 6 teams we're going to beat on this schedule, with all those bone-crusher games on the road? This team's psyche is going to be crushed by midseason.

 

[IthacaMatt]

This O needs a physical WR who can go up and get the ball. We haven’t had that the last three seasons. We should have had guys lining up given those numbers the first two years. Yet we still can’t find that guy.

It's more than that. We have to use all the field. We hit a slant over the middle in the first quarter that went for about 10-15 yards, and then I don't think we saw it again all day.
Where were passes to the TEs?

They did try a couple swing passes to Jordan, but the plays developed too slow and whoever was on the end never made a block to keep the LB or CB off of him.

Our plays are a bit slow to develop in the backfield. You can't have that when your O line can't hold off their defenders for even 2 seconds.

 

[IthacaMatt]

What we are seeing is the result of awful recruiting for the offense. Misses on the OL, no home run threat at WR and a QB who seems like a great kid but i just don’t know if he has IT. In my opinion Dino gets a mulligan for 2016 and 2017, he completely flipped the schemes on both sides and did that with blah talent and in 2017 in particular, rough schedules. After a great 2018, last year was a dumpster fire and he lost the team for a good while. I worry about team chemistry again this year. He is trying to rectify the talent issues with all of the new hires and so far it seems to be paying off for 2021. Defense looks solid so there is that. I am treating this year as 11 exhibitions and I hope for better things next year.

The problem is, if we lose 8 or 9 of those 11 exhibitions, there will be zero confidence for next year. You don't just flip a switch. Losing becomes a habit.

 

[MadNY3]

Guys, you can feel if the coach is the right man to win at Syracuse. It’s easy to feel, at least for me and I’m sure most of you, we will NOT WIN CONSISTENTLY with Dino at the helm.

We have been crushed in far too many games over Dino’s tenure here. It’ll be time to cut bait. It may not be this season, but I can easily see it being after next season.

Oddly, the feel test favors Babers to me.

Cery frustrated by six points and a terrible offensive performance. But I still think he is the guy even with the swearing I had during the three-and-our showcase.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Oh, please. "Play calling" is what fans whine about when they mean "poor execution.".

How many times today did we run a 160 pound kid into the middle of a line that couldn't move the defense even a yard?

 

[Cuseregular]

The firing of the Head coach can also be included in the doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I'm not happy with the results either but keep in mind, Coach mac's first 6 years against a far weaker schedule, 4-6-1 , 2-9 , 6-5 , 6-5, 7-5 , 5-6 It took the 7th year for things to get better. Syracuse is a tough job. We can't fire Dino. For one thing, we probably can't get anyone that had his track record pre Syracuse to come here right now. I know it is tough to be patient. But right now, I think it is our best bet.

Exactly right, and let the new look dome (hopefully) garner a little excitement among recruits to help things out. Dino gets 7 years

 

[Briancuse]

Exactly right, and let the new look dome (hopefully) garner a little excitement among recruits to help things out. Dino gets 7 years

If we need a new roof to garner excitement we have bigger issues.

 

[nzm136]

Two new coordinators give us a mulligan, along with the opening and closing of camps.

I didn't like hearing that the team kind of went on strike twice during camp, when we're trying to install new systems on both sides of the ball.

I know these are crazy times, but these kids are not at all focused. They are not putting the work in. Not saying that I could under these circumstances, but boy, we looked awful today.

Does anybody see 5 or 6 teams we're going to beat on this schedule, with all those bone-crusher games on the road? This team's psyche is going to be crushed by midseason.

Do you not have a job?

COVID isn’t great, but most people still have to go into work every day and do just as much (if not more) work than before. Most who still have jobs are thankful for the opportunity to keep working.

I’m not sure about the strike piece (bigger fish on my plate than following the team as closely as usual this summer), but if true, it’s immature and disappointing.

**Before someone says they aren’t getting paid/employees, they’re getting Syracuse degrees in exchange for playing football. Legal technicalities aside, it’s a job.**

 

[FrancoPizza]

It’s true. And the dude threw plenty of ducks honestly. But it worked a lot. And even when it didn’t, man the excitement was just crazy. Never knew what might happen, the good usually but also the bad, which we’ve discussed (unc game, Miami first half).

The last two years it just seems like you know what is ultimately going to happen that possession. I really really hope a few more games we can get things going. It’s completely reasonable to think so given game 1 and the weird offseason... and if you somehow forget last year happened.

With ED you knew we had something good early on even in Lester’s offense.

 

[CanadianSU]

The problem is, if we lose 8 or 9 of those 11 exhibitions, there will be zero confidence for next year. You don't just flip a switch. Losing becomes a habit.

Yeah acting like this season is an whatever is crazy. I know the circumstances but there is a freaking global pandemic and every sport on the planet is having odd training / routine. Also everybody and every sport has no crowds.

It all counts. We need wins and like you said... a winning culture.

 

[SuRaider307]

I'm really disappointed with how they folded after Tommy's interception at 17-6, with 3 TDs coming in only five minutes and game over. I can't believe how small we look on the lines again. Am I hallucinating?
Our D line held up surprisingly well until the 4th Quarter. We look small all over the field, but we were quick and the secondary made several big plays.

The O line was horrendous. Jordan as our feature back is a disaster. He's talented but he's still too small and shouldn't be forced into this role right now. If we had Adams to offset him, it would be so much better.

DeVito had a touchdown dropped, and a few other balls not secured. We left at least 17 points on the field in the first half alone, and were still only down 10-6 and had the ball mid-to-late in the third quarter.

But he missed several open guys, too. He was more effective running. He stepped up in the pocket well at times. But this teams looks awful, and all we play are ACC teams plus Liberty. We don't get 4 OOC games this year.

We're toast. I'm very disappointed. What the hell happened?

Our Issues/efficiency on O have been apparent for a while and were starting to appear even in our 10 win season. Its about the FOCUS of what the offense used to be as compared to what it is now.. I think ED's downfield accuracy issues and subpar O line talent level had Sean Lewis realizing that the best way to move the ball was short quick read plays that could utilize the hash and the middle as the D alignment dictated (Erv phillips anyone?)... this opened up other things in the passing game as the Strong safety would get caught keeping an eye on the hashes and it also kept LB's from just running downhill against running plays... Notice the OLB now just gets aggressive on the LOS and dives down catching our RB before he even hits the hole( and yes i am aware that the read option/QB run threat should also prevent this) .. so this missing piece is affecting both the Running and the passing efficiency of our O... Its friggan killing me because its so obvious. What i think Sean Lewis did was take Dinos O but Utilize/Teach Dungey to MAKE THE SLOT as the primary(#1) read/target on 75% of the passing plays.. Once Sean left it slowly disappeared/wasnt being taught... The reason why it wasn't so obvious is because ED's ability to run the read option was still effective ( I did point it out though early in our 10 win season as well as last year). NOW It seems to me that in Dino's standard offense, the #1 WR is the primary read on 75% of passing plays and that is causing a ton of efficiency issues.. and has been for over 2 years now as our efficiency has gone down the toilet... Someone get a hold of Dino's ear to have him look at this in the off season please...

 

[rocklloyd]

My other historical pet peeve is the 9 yard route on 3rd and 10. Did that happen at all yesterday, I was unable to watch game

 

[tom64]

I am a Dino fan but after todays performance per players/coaching you would have thought GROB was the coach out there , this is just a thought to share and everyone has the right to reply in anyway they would like if this team went 2/10 or worse ? and Marrone was available after this NFL season what would your thoughts be.

I would take Marrone.

 

[syracuse95]

Clock management again -- oy vey.

I would have liked to see those first three quarters with Dakota Davis starting, instead of someone else. Then I wonder if those two dives up the middle might have sprung, or whether we would have gotten any more push. Maybe if we'd had either of the two RBs who opted out, we would have been able to capitalize on those short fields we had in the first half, and changed the complexion of the game and put pressure on UNC by playing from ahead, instead of going out on downs and being unable to capitalize.

I would have liked to see what this lineup might look like with a fifth year senior like Sam Heckel or Liam O'Sullivan who were both medically disqualified, or maybe Tyrone Sampson inside, who might have countered the massive injuries we've had this year on the interior OL. We've really had tremendously bad luck, in a multi-dimensional bunch of ways at OL these last three years.

I would have liked to see what those inside runs might have looked like with Jarveon Howard inside the 5 instead of a 175 running back like Jordan -- who I still think is going to have a tremendous career here, and be a difference making weapon -- but isn't going to be effective running inside behind a line that can't hold up at the point of attack and open holes due to injuries compromising the interior OL.

I would have liked to see us play with tempo, but you have to be able to execute and move the sticks in order to have that work in your favor, which doesn't happen due to all of the above. I would have liked for the offense to support the quality effort from the defense in the first three quarters and to put points up to put pressure on the opposition.

I think you are right about DeVito -- I'm not sure that as a fourth year junior that he's showing that he has the chops to be a difference maker. Maybe he will disprove that once Dakota and others return from injury. But without an improved group up front, we're going nowhere. I really like what we have in the pipeline at OL, not just in the class of 2021, but last year's group. But we really, really, really need both Davis's, Red, etc. back.

And I agree with PhatO below -- a dual threat QB changes everything, and Lamson is that guy.

I agree with everything here. And our line play has been the root cause of our problems for a while now. But I will say that, even with an above average O-Line, a lot of the inside runs on the zone read weren't going to be successful yesterday. I can't bring myself to go back and rewatch the game, but I know that multiple times we ran the ball into a 7 man box. Not only that, but the UNC linebackers were crashing down at the snap. They were playing run ALL. THE. WAY. And we ran into it anyway.

Now, Tommy made the right read most of the time for the play called. The end was playing contain, because there were two linebackers on run blitz to fill the inside gaps. Tommy properly gave the ball to Jordan, based on reading the end. But there was no hope of the play going for more than 2 yards, because we had 6 guys to block 7. It certainly didn't help that our interior OL got blown up and pushed 2 yards into the backfield, but the play was destined to fail regardless.

We are very predictable in certain down/distance situations. UNC knew what we were going to do, dared us to do it by showing a D that would counter it, and it we did it anyway.

Somebody has to make that pre-snap read and get us out of that play.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Exactly right, and let the new look dome (hopefully) garner a little excitement among recruits to help things out. Dino gets 7 years

agree 100%. At least two more after this year. Like I said, he seems very at ease about results this year. we had 10 wins two years ago, that means something to me. This year is basically an exhibition season regardless of what people are making it out to be.

team has issues at o-line and a qb who was crowned for really no reason. Lost their starting running backs. Jordan is a 3rd down change of pace back, yet the board crowned him the next Reggie Bush. The wide receivers are the least of the concerns. 2 of them played well 2 years ago it now they can’t play in the ACC as Upperclassmen but could as fresh and soph, makes no sense to me.

in this 20 years of torture that is Syracuse football there is one thing I do know, playing musical chairs with your head coaches is not the answer and yes Dino has struggled but he’s also done some really good things and will most likely be here at least another couple years after this.

besides Kansas I would say it’s probably perceived as the worst P5 coaching job there is. Hate to say it but it’s such a difficult job to do in modern landscape and coaches aren’t dumb when it comes to this stuff.

and I get it these issues fall on DIno but just going to have to dig your way out.

 

[Chip]

Honest question... Does anyone see us being considerably better next year? What 'cruts do we have coming in that are game changers? By this point Devito is who he is. The line is going to lose some seniors. Do we call it rebuilding again next year? At some point we need to call a spade a spade and move on. Maybe I'm jaded because I just watched a HB dive on every single first play of the drive today. But this is where Wildhack is going to earn his paycheck. FB drives the bus, so do we make the change sooner or later.

If people expect us to be better next year because of the recruits we're bringing in, then they don't really understand college football, especially at Syracuse.

True freshmen will almost never have that big of an impact here.

Why I think we really COULD be better next year is looking at all the players getting time yesterday from the 2019 and 2018 recruiting classes. Defense really should be in good shape.

I'm concerned that the offense is going to take longer than we want. We can point to some players who can hold their own in the ACC, but as a unit, just too many weak spots. I'd rather see us giving a guy like Q. White or A. Red snaps at guard vs Elmore in a season like this. Not sure where those guys are. Or why P. Davis is the backup to both guard spots instead of a starter (injury?).

If we can't get an RB past the line of scrimmage on an up the middle run against a 4 man front, then nothing else on the offense is going to work. 5 wide with this QB isn't the answer.

 

[CuseOnly]

I don't believe with the sentiment that this is a throwaway season. Every coach is still getting their full salary, the kids are still getting a free education.

If you as a coach are getting paid to do a job, you should damn well do your job. And be accountable for the job you do.

 

[storange]

This team could easily go 2-9 or 1-10.

Wow, I was disappointed but it was one game and we have reason to believe we might have a D this year. The offense may just have to be serviceable, hopefully they improve some. Remember we should be getting some O line back during the season.

 

[Bayside44]

If people expect us to be better next year because of the recruits we're bringing in, then they don't really understand college football, especially at Syracuse.

True freshmen will almost never have that big of an impact here.

Why I think we really COULD be better next year is looking at all the players getting time yesterday from the 2019 and 2018 recruiting classes. Defense really should be in good shape.

I'm concerned that the offense is going to take longer than we want. We can point to some players who can hold their own in the ACC, but as a unit, just too many weak spots. I'd rather see us giving a guy like Q. White or A. Red snaps at guard vs Elmore in a season like this. Not sure where those guys are. Or why P. Davis is the backup to both guard spots instead of a starter (injury?).

If we can't get an RB past the line of scrimmage on an up the middle run against a 4 man front, then nothing else on the offense is going to work. 5 wide with this QB isn't the answer.

Running backs are usually the ones that can get up to speed quickly. Here's hoping.

 

[Deleted member 7047]

Yes, it's a crazy year. Yes, the O line is disjointed. Yes, two RB's opted out. But what troubles me, is that the offense has looked horrific with Devito at the helm.

In Babers first two years, even though they only won four games, you could see improvements all over the field. Sure they were losing, but the offense was exciting and fun to watch. You knew, or at least I thought I knew, it was just a matter of time.

I'm no expert, but I have not seen improvements on the offensive side over the past two years and the offense has not been exciting or fun to watch.

As SuRaider documented above, Sean Lewis, in hindsight, was a sorely underrated OC. Dino should have realized that and tried to move Heaven and Earth to keep him. I don't know, maybe he did try, I have no inside knowledge. But the loss of Sean Lewis was more significant than I think most thought. I think that, combined with the now obvious fact that SU cannot find success without a dual threat quarterback, makes me worry for the near future.

Who knows, maybe Gilbert will be a miracle worker. But, spring ball or no, short camp or no, how does an OC call a game like yesterday's? Unrelated, is the QB that SU needs to succeed in the locker room or even in the pipeline?

Yesterday felt like the worst of the Scott Shafer era all over again. Maybe that's harsh, irrational or even stupid, but it's how i feel. I felt after the game yesterday like I did after the Rutgers game in 2012. That was a good year (8-5, 5-2), but I remember that I just couldn't believe how terrible the offense played. The defense did all they could be asked to do, but the offense was just non-existent.

So many times in the Scott Shafer era, the defense did enough to win, but the offense just couldn't do its part. Is that now our future again? People are saying it's a throw away year. I'm too old; I can't afford throw away years.

I don't need Syracuse football to win the ACC or a National Championship or even to have a winning season, but I do need the team to play hard every down and for them to put on the field an offense that is fun to watch.

I love Dino *cking Babers, but I think he has three problems. One, pointed out in another thread yesterday and has probably been pointed out elsewhere around here, is that "Orange is the New Fast" is no longer a competitive advantage. Lots of teams are doing it and SU hasn't done it particularly well over the past two years.

Second, after five years (FIVE YEARS), SU still doesn't have the players on the offensive side of the ball to compete in the ACC. The defensive side is in a little bit better shape, but the 3-3-5 is a defensive scheme used to overcome personnel disadvantages.

Third is the most dangerous. Dino is trying to build the program the right way. He's trying to rebuild the team from the ground up. The problem is that it has been five years and, even with this "throw-away year," this is modern, major conference college football. How much more time will he be given? (I'm not implying or advocating that he be replaced.) What I am wondering is simply whether the powers that be are going to give him the time to complete his vision for SU. Even if they do, is that vision going to succeed?

I'm a simple man. I just want to enjoy watching Syracuse play football and basketball. I don't care about winning and losing, but what I saw yesterday, however you care to describe it, was not enjoyable.

Mass has ended, go in peace.