I'd almost rather see a return of all the Marrone man-love

[OttoinGrotto]

Starting to see some posters that I think are pretty close to the program and knowledgeable having some doubts. That concerns me. It's one thing if I have doubts, because I'm the guy that nicknames people after hamburgers and wants to abolish punting and stuff.

Seeing people that I think actually know about things going on though expressing concern over some of the coaching decisions and systems... that worries me.

I've fought against what I thought on the board was a lot of premature congratulations and trust and confidence in Marrone, but while I was doing so I wanted to see him succeed and earn the adulation he was getting from so many here. I don't want to see things get any uglier. We're all pretty fragile after the past decade.

We've got 3 more chances to get back on track, see some more positive short-term trends and qualify for a bowl bid. We really need to secure a bowl and get those extra practices. I don't see is being very successful next season without them. I think we can do it, and I actually thought at this point in the season we'd be sitting at 5 and 4 (had the outcomes of WVU and UCONN games switched though), but it's tough knowing we gave up two very winnable games and have won without a whole lot of breathing room otherwise.

 

[Stern]

honeymoon is over for Doug in Syracuse. Which is fair, I mean its year 3 for crying out loud.

I'm not giving up on him yet but I have many concerns and have seen many red flags raised. All are correctable things, but concerns and red flags nonetheless.

 

[chakka3421]

I still think it's our players. In reading about the game prep, we had both Kinder & Hunt run the wildcat in practice all week for our defense to practice. We couldn't stop it in game. Coaches prepared for the game, our players couldn't stop it.

We had the same problem last year against the run & wildcat - undersized defensive linemen and linebackers wont do it. We need the Crumes of the world to take over and clog up the middle. He has 50-60 lbs on Goggins. D Davis needs 20 more lbs of muscle.

 

[Cusefan95]

I think the idea that we know right now what kind of recruits we'll be getting in another 3 years if Marrone is still here willfully overlooks exactly how far into the ditch the program had run and how much bad will existed in the northeast. We have no idea how much bettr our recruiting will get or if it has reached a plateau. That's a lousy argument against Marrone.

What worries me is that we came out running the ball against a team that was 106th against the pass, AND was geared up to stop the run. Going into the locker room at halftime +3 in turnovers and only being tied was pathetic. The D had it's issues, but we should have had a double digit lead at the half, which would have forced UConn to pass the ball and the defense would have played more aggressively. The issues on the offensive side are more troubling because they've existed all year.

One of the keys to success is to be able to identify issues and address them; if we don't see major changes this offseason I'll go from mildly concerned to largely convinced that Marrone has a low ceiling.

 

[Stern]

and lets also be honest, the bar is set low for Doug and SU football. It was set low when he took over and its set low going forward especially in the ACC. The expectations in Syracuse are set pretty low. Nobody expects national titles or Top 10 year in year out.

So the red flags I am seeing really have me a bit nervous going forward. Because the bar is set so low and Doug is having a tough time meeting it in year 3. I have no problem if the team plays hard and loses to better talent or even a better coach. It happens. But what we have seen the past 2 weeks of just pitiful performances. What we saw vs Toledo, Tulane, and for 3 quarters vs Wake, Rutgers...its been a rough year for Doug and the staff. Real rough.

 

[ClkWrkOrange]

if we don't see major changes this offseason I'll go from mildly concerned to largely convinced that Marrone has a low ceiling.

This is where I'm at as well.Only difference is I'm a bit more than mildly concerned.It looked like from yr one to two,we made nice progress,from two to three we have taken atleast a few steps back.In fact the only difference I see between yr one and three is some lucky breaks.We've seen 5 good quarters out of nine full games.The rest of the year they've looked poorly coached,undisciplined and unmotivated.Recruiting so far looks only slightly better than what we've seen for the last decade or so.The new starters and the team as a whole haven't seemed to improve much,if at all from game one to game nine.The O play calling has at times seemed bizarre at best,completely incompetent at worst.IMO,there is plenty to be concerned with.I cant see how anyone could be confident that these guys are definitely going to get it done.From reading these post,I believe if they were handing out awards for pollyannas,we would have a few candidates for MVP.If we dont see MAJOR improvement next year,I think it's safe to set their cap in the ACC at 5-7 Ws a year max.

 

[qdawgg]

I spent all day defending the playcalling and Marrone on different posts. The reality is I'm not sure what to think. What concerns me is that between games against Rutgers, UL, and UConn you can't lose all 3 of those games. That is my biggest concern is the inability to beat or dominate teams that we should be a little better then.

I (almost) have no problems with the playcalling as a lot of people do. Some of the drives that have stalled are more of a result of players not making plays that were there - then bad playcalls. If you take away some of the dropped balls, false starts, 15 yards penalties, missed blocking assignments, etc. the offense would actually look pretty good. Now I realize all of those things come back to coaching during the week. But if drives weren't stalled b/c of player mistakes I think we would think the offense was at least watchable.

I wonder and don't know the answer; what is the impact of having such a young staff that doesn't have a lot of coaching experience overall? Maybe our expectations are much too high based on the lack of experience of our coaching staff. The assumption by some on here is that if the coaching staff is making decisions right now that we don't like - there will be no growth by the coaching staff to correct those mistakes. I don't get that impression from Marrone. There are many coaches that live and breathe by what they do and they won't change. I know some will argue that b/c the offense is so vanilla looking compared to what we thought it would look like - that this shows Marrone's inability to change. I don't think that that is necessarily true - he seems to me to be someone who is constantly critiquing himself. This is a good thing - I hope. I'm not trying to give him a pass but maybe 5 years is a better indicator of what we should expect based on how bad the program was and the lack of experience on the coaching staff.

 

[Stern]

I spent all day defending the playcalling and Marrone on different posts. The reality is I'm not sure what to think. What concerns me is that between games against Rutgers, UL, and UConn you can't lose all 3 of those games. That is my biggest concern is the inability to beat or dominate teams that we should be a little better then.

I (almost) have no problems with the playcalling as a lot of people do. Some of the drives that have stalled are more of a result of players not making plays that were there - then bad playcalls. If you take away some of the dropped balls, false starts, 15 yards penalties, missed blocking assignments, etc. the offense would actually look pretty good. Now I realize all of those things come back to coaching during the week. But if drives weren't stalled b/c of player mistakes I think we would think the offense was at least watchable.
.

We called a play and threw a backwards pass in our own endzone, that is bad playcalling any way you slice it. No positive way to spin that.

 

[Rocco]

If you take away some of the dropped balls, false starts, 15 yards penalties, missed blocking assignments, etc. the offense would actually look pretty good. Now I realize all of those things come back to coaching during the week. But if drives weren't stalled b/c of player mistakes I think we would think the offense was at least watchable.

I'm not trying to give him a pass but maybe 5 years is a better indicator of what we should expect based on how bad the program was and the lack of experience on the coaching staff.

My issue is that we see those mistakes every week (excluding WVU). If the players lack the discipline, it goes back to coaching. It has to. The tackling is HORRID. Shamarko looked lost out there yesterday and Phil Thomas (despite his 2 gift picks) doesn't form tackle at all. It is like the team hasn't been prepared for 2 weeks now.

As far as the 5 years go, I agree with that. After the WVU win, Marrone had the attention of the casual SU fans and national media. To follow that up with 2 embarrassing losses makes us look like jokes. It completely erased any momentum this program had. Looking back, the win against WVU boosted everyone's expectations of this team, and the the 2 straight losses hurt even more now.

I am just really disappointed right now. Time for some soul-searching on that team and Marrone can't be afraid to make some serious changes.

 

[qdawgg]

We called a play and threw a backwards pass in our own endzone, that is bad playcalling any way you slice it. No positive way to spin that.

No - read the thread. I said ALMOST!!!

 

[Blaster]

Well my bar for this year was 6-8 wins considering all the players we lost on D. That is still in play so they are on par for what i expected. It is disappointing loosing games you feel you should win but since i expected atleast 6 wins some of those loses had to come to someone i wouldnt expect.

Changes: Want marrone to hire a couple more assts. ST cord. and like a gameday manager. If he is the OL coach he needs to focus on them more.(they need it)

Pros
1. They are winning games at home.
2. Offence looks a little better than last year
3. Defense looks like its got some players they just need to get some experience
4. I think Hackett and Marrone want to be alot more aggressive but Ryan Nassib is not a big play QB

Cons
1. Some bad clock management
2. Get pummeled on the road. IMO winning on the road requires an experienced defense and ours is a lil green
3. Special teams yuk. In the Uconn game in the 4th qtr their avg starting field position was the SU 46 lol We had 5 turnovers and ours was still the SU 19
4. Inconsistent on offense and defense experience should fix this
5. No identity on offence

If they can beat USF and CIN i will be very excited becouse winning at home is so important for your program and the fans. Also i will be looking forward to the offseason to see what goes on and who comes in. I am still cautiously very optimistic about next year