I hope everyone involved with the program…

[Chip]

Were there question marks about players going into the season? Sure. But there were also question marks about the staff.

Prior to SU, Fran had never been a head coach and, in fact, had only been a coordinator for one year. At Temple, and only a CO-DC at that. Robinson had one year as CO-DC under his belt.

So once you got past the "DART", "Northeast Tough", "Matt Foley van down by the river" motivational speaker stuff, there was always going to be a lot of on-the-job training with the guys at the top. It seemed inevitable that the lack of experience would raise its ugly head at an inopportune time. It seems inevitable that it probably will again.

And that's OK, as long as you realize that's the trade-off with a fairly inexperienced staff if you feel they are the answer longer term. Only time will tell. I try to be agnostic about a new coach and ignore the hype until he has accomplished something. The staff and team clearly have some potential. We will see where it takes us.

I'd give more thumbs up for the Matt Foley reference if I could.

What keeps sticking out to me is the SUDad comment that Fran was telling the team all week we were going to blow them out. I get wanting the players to feel confident, to have swagger. But you have to be careful that they don't think they're going to win just by showing up.

The good news going forward is that if they didn't fully realize that before, they sure do now.

 

[BVille44]

They were back at work Saturday @ 5:00 AM reviewing film.

 

[Scooch]

^ A voice of reason. Like it or not, this was always going to be a process given the experience level of the staff.

I would just push back and say that I expected the “process” to rear its ugly head against, say, GaTech in game 2, or against UNLV or Cal when we’re 3,000 miles from home.

Blowing a winnable game because of horrid preparation against a team traveling across the country to play us after a bye is pretty awful.

 

[Scooch]

They were back at work Saturday @ 5:00 AM reviewing film.

Good. I also hope they reviewed how they spoke to the team ahead of the game and have reconsidered the impact of their blowout talk.

 

[orangepassion]

Nixon was out coached in this game. plain and simple. The D actually played well.

To be fair, it's hard to call plays when you have zero running game and the OL is only giving the QB a few seconds to throw.

 

[Scooch]

I'd give more thumbs up for the Matt Foley reference if I could.

What keeps sticking out to me is the SUDad comment that Fran was telling the team all week we were going to blow them out. I get wanting the players to feel confident, to have swagger. But you have to be careful that they don't think they're going to win just by showing up.

The good news going forward is that if they didn't fully realize that before, they sure do now.

On the bolded, I really hope the staff and players don't see thumping Holy Cross as the fix for that stupidity.

I wish we had a real opponent on Saturday. I worry the lesson they learned last weekend might be forgotten by the time they touch down in Vegas.

 

[Willy75]

I agree - Dino fans always cited a rebuild taking years, and though I like Fran, I'm not changing my tune that this isn't a total rebuild and his recruiting chops in portal should speed it up even faster. The only unknown at this point is can he and the team coach - against Ga Tech it looked like yes, against Stanford it didn't. How they grow on game day will tell the tale - BC doesn't have that worry - BOB can coach.

The last 4 minutes against Ga Tech coupled with the end of game play against Stanford are concerning.

 

[Chip]

On the bolded, I really hope the staff and players don't see thumping Holy Cross as the fix for that stupidity.

I wish we had a real opponent on Saturday. I worry the lesson they learned last weekend might be forgotten by the time they touch down in Vegas.

That would really surprise me. I think they know that Holy Cross is the time to fix things. But being ready to play won't be an issue. Not the first time on the road.

But the team that was picked last in the ACC, flying across the country to play us on a Friday night as a more than a TD underdog?

One thing this program seems to be consistent with is blowing it in the big moment. Had people talking about us, could have been ranked, staring at 4-0, and boom, now we have to build that back up again.

We can do it, but we make it harder on ourselves. Will sting even more if Stanford ends up a 4 win team.

 

[FrancoPizza]

I wish we had a real opponent on Saturday.

Not me. We need to get Zeed and Wax back. And figure out who wants to play on the O-line first.

 

[Scooch]

That would really surprise me. I think they know that Holy Cross is the time to fix things. But being ready to play won't be an issue. Not the first time on the road.

But the team that was picked last in the ACC, flying across the country to play us on a Friday night as a more than a TD underdog?

One thing this program seems to be consistent with is blowing it in the big moment. Had people talking about us, could have been ranked, staring at 4-0, and boom, now we have to build that back up again.

We can do it, but we make it harder on ourselves. Will sting even more if Stanford ends up a 4 win team.

I guess my biggest worry coming out of last weekend is that what I watched, and heard afterwards, suggested this program may be incredibly immature. It's one thing to be inexperienced, that's solvable. Immaturity is a more troubling behavior and more difficult to fix. Hence my comment about UNLV.

Fingers crossed I'm overreacting.

 

[longtimefan]

I would just push back and say that I expected the “process” to rear its ugly head against, say, GaTech in game 2, or against UNLV or Cal when we’re 3,000 miles from home.

Blowing a winnable game because of horrid preparation against a team traveling across the country to play us after a bye is pretty awful.

Stanford had a bye also.

 

[elimunelson]

On the bolded, I really hope the staff and players don't see thumping Holy Cross as the fix for that stupidity.

I wish we had a real opponent on Saturday. I worry the lesson they learned last weekend might be forgotten by the time they touch down in Vegas.

Reminder that holy cross took BC to
Overtime last year and would have won had there not been a 2 hour rain delay

Team needs to put the thumb on the scale early. The cross will give their best

 

[TexanMark]

the empty possessions that had little to do with the D hurt. Some strange call groupings and a few bad throws. We are we throwing deep when we need first downs to establish rhythm?

Cuse's first series the 3rd down deep throw call was not smart.

 

[007]

I would just push back and say that I expected the “process” to rear its ugly head against, say, GaTech in game 2, or against UNLV or Cal when we’re 3,000 miles from home.

Blowing a winnable game because of horrid preparation against a team traveling across the country to play us after a bye is pretty awful.

I hear you. I think we tend to underestimate how thin the margin of error is even for an experienced staff. In that sense, I am not surprised by process related growing pains influencing the outcome of games no matter how "winnable" they are perceived to be on the surface.

It will be interesting to see how well the staff responds to the process going forward. I suspect there will plenty more "opportunities for growth" moving forward.