I'll wait till the end of the season

[storange]

to make my own evaluation but my confidence in this staff is not what it was. an offense that returns as many people as we did should be imporved.....its not thus far. Three poor performance s in 4 games.

 

[Forza Azzurri]

to make my own evaluation but my confidence in this staff is not what it was. an offense that returns as many people as we did should be imporved...its not thus far. Three poor performance s in 4 games.

It's two in four, not three in four. We gained a ton of yardage against Maryland but made too many mistakes.

And what exactly would you have done differently against Notre Dame?

 

[storange]

And what exactly would you have done differently against Notre Dame?[/QUOTE]
Something and thats my point. Shafer's call on the fake punt was the one call the whole day that fooled somebody. And yes we moved between the 20s against Md but I don't think you get a lot of points for that.

 

[upperdeck]

The offense is light years better than last year. you can fail inside the 30 if you dont get there. an OC can hide things easier outside the red zone , when things start to compress you need the horses on the oline and that more than anything is our issue. we cant run when the money is on the line. you need to change that before worrying about play calling and play makers. right now I think we are a better pass blocking team than running team and the threat of the bubble stuff is what is spreading teams out enough to run at all

 

[Forza Azzurri]

Something and thats my point.

And that makes you like 90% of the posters on this board.

Don't like the results so you criticize the staff but have no answers as to what, exactly, they should do differently.

You have a quarterback who struggles to throw the ball with consistent accuracy and we were unable to run the ball inside or outside.

You can call anything you like but if the players cannot execute, it doesn't really matter.

 

[CousCuse]

I thought you said that you would wait before slinging mud. I must have misread something .

 

[OttoinGrotto]

The offense is light years better than last year. you can fail inside the 30 if you dont get there. an OC can hide things easier outside the red zone , when things start to compress you need the horses on the oline and that more than anything is our issue. we cant run when the money is on the line. you need to change that before worrying about play calling and play makers. right now I think we are a better pass blocking team than running team and the threat of the bubble stuff is what is spreading teams out enough to run at all

I think we may end the season as a better team than we did last season, and even with that we could have a worse record.

 

[Nicknack]

I don't really get it regarding the huge concern about our offense. Some concern? Yeah, but the article by the PS asking whether there should be a philosophy change on offense was a head scratcher to me. I just think it's way too early to panic, which many fans are doing right now. I still think we could have a solid year (provided that we win on Friday). I also still believe in what I predicted before the season started... seven regular season wins plus a bowl game to make it eight for the year.

Back to the offense... I think you have to toss the Villanova game out the window when assessing the offense. Hunt was out for over half the game and it was the opener. How can you really accurately judge a performance on that? Answer = you can't. The Maryland game we had almost 600 yards of total offense. How we lost that game is mind blowing. We lost it primarily due to dumb mistakes and shooting ourselves in the foot. However, we certainly showed that we could move the ball and move it quite well at that.

The ND game, okay, that wasn't good. I did expect more offensively than what we showed but it was against the #8 team in the country. I believe Friday is going to show us a LOT. A game we are very capable of winning against a team that should challenge us but not to the extent of ND. If we struggle offensively on Friday, THEN I might start changing my tune. However, I'm still feeling pretty good about our offense overall and believe that against teams like Louisville, Pitt, Duke, BC, Wake, and NC State, we should be good provided our D shows up to play.

 

[Millhouse]

I thought you said that you would wait before slinging mud. I must have misread something .

clearly you did

 

[Millhouse]

I think we may end the season as a better team than we did last season, and even with that we could have a worse record.

the best thing any coordinator can do is pitch himself as a recruiter

if you don't know what you're doing at all, you'll get years while everyone waits for the recruits to be seniors

even if you fail miserably and get replaced by someone who knows what they're doing at all, people will look back and say aha it's because of that great recruiting. kinda like bees never missing an opportunity to give gerg credit for 2012

 

[NineOneSeven]

This is sort of an off-topic question, but why aren't more trick plays run? Not even just for SU, but in general? Given all of the ways you can gain yards in football, I've always wondered why more trickery isn't incorporated.

 

[Millhouse]

I don't really get it regarding the huge concern about our offense. Some concern? Yeah, but the article by the PS asking whether there should be a philosophy change on offense was a head scratcher to me. I just think it's way too early to panic, which many fans are doing right now. I still think we could have a solid year (provided that we win on Friday). I also still believe in what I predicted before the season started... seven regular season wins plus a bowl game to make it eight for the year.

Back to the offense... I think you have to toss the Villanova game out the window when assessing the offense. Hunt was out for over half the game and it was the opener. How can you really accurately judge a performance on that? Answer = you can't. The Maryland game we had almost 600 yards of total offense. How we lost that game is mind blowing. We lost it primarily due to dumb mistakes and shooting ourselves in the foot. However, we certainly showed that we could move the ball and move it quite well at that.

The ND game, okay, that wasn't good. I did expect more offensively than what we showed but it was against the #8 team in the country. I believe Friday is going to show us a LOT. A game we are very capable of winning against a team that should challenge us but not to the extent of ND. If we struggle offensively on Friday, THEN I might start changing my tune. However, I'm still feeling pretty good about our offense overall and believe that against teams like Louisville, Pitt, Duke, BC, Wake, and NC State, we should be good provided our D shows up to play.

Shafer's punt at midfield against Maryland was the dumbest thing I've ever seen. And I love watching rope swing fail videos, so that's saying something

 

[Forza Azzurri]

And what exactly would you have done differently against Notre Dame?

Something and thats my point. Shafer's call on the fake punt was the one call the whole day that fooled somebody. And yes we moved between the 20s against Md but I don't think you get a lot of points for that.[/QUOTE]

to make my own evaluation but my confidence in this staff is not what it was. an offense that returns as many people as we did should be imporved...its not thus far. Three poor performance s in 4 games.

One thing I will point out is that, with Hunt clearly laboring, I think the coaches had to toss Hunt running the ball out the window and ND only had to worry about the running back.

Maybe, at the end of the day, it would not have made a difference but perhaps a healthy Hunt (who ran for 23-156 yards against Maryland vs 7-26 vs ND) would have given ND someone else to account for and would have allowed PTG and the other runninng backs to find some more running room...

With an offense as limited as ours, losing one of your primary weapons (Hunt as a runner) makes life even more difficult.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

the best thing any coordinator can do is pitch himself as a recruiter

if you don't know what you're doing at all, you'll get years while everyone waits for the recruits to be seniors

even if you fail miserably and get replaced by someone who knows what they're doing at all, people will look back and say aha it's because of that great recruiting. kinda like bees never missing an opportunity to give gerg credit for 2012

The narrative on McDonald has changed so much. It's become that his rep as a recruiter started when he signed up with us and is TBD. It didn't, and isn't. He was known and recognized as a recruiter. That wasn't the gamble. The gamble was if he was ready to be an OC.

 

[Orangepace]

I wanted Hackett out as late as the Syracuse v. Rutgers in 2012. I don't think I was the only one calling for his head at that point either. At the end of the same season, many here were calling for him to be the Head Coach. That was after 3 seasons as the Syracuse OC. I'm sure there will be a lot of opposition to this, but I really think he could be a great OC. He doesn't have the talent yet to run his full type of offense. Let's hold off on decapitating McDonald until the guy has at least another season to work out some things.

 

[upperdeck]

under grob we had two regular season 400 yd game against a power conf team in 4 years. 4 out of 43 = 10%
let that sink in..

under Doug we had 14 in 4 years. 14 out of 39 = 36%


under Gmac we had 3 last year and 2 so far this year so 5 out of 12 = 42% but 3 in a row

14 years we had six 500 yds regular season power conf team games
Five in 2012 with a SR Nassib and 2 guys who got shots at the NFL

since 2003 we have had two 550 yard regular season power conf team games, one in 2012 and one this year

even getting yards we have really had one solid season in 14 years and we had the QB just that year. Maybe hunt who is showing strides makes that leap next year too.

 

[Millhouse]

we can get screwed up by looking at total yards and not taking into account how the rest of college football changes

yards per play ranking

2014 52nd
2013 102nd
2012 39th
2011 87th
2010 84th
2009 94th
2008 100th
2007 110th
2006 113th
2005 117th
2004 60th

In 2004, 60th place was 5.3 yards per play. In 2013, that's 87th. We had 5.1 yards per play last year.

college football is so wacky that i prefer ranking teams relative to their peers that year and comparing ranks and not actual numbers across different years

I suspect 2014's numbers will drop but 6.31 yards per play against ND would be encouraging if they ever scored. Alabama had 7.25 against them in the nc game, michigan had 6.39 the following year, then we have the next best.

how do you only score 9 points getting 6.31 yards per play it just doesn't seem possible.

7.46 yards per play against MD and 20 points. two weeks in a row, it's just mind boggling. That's Baylor/Oregon esque.

i wish i had all the data, i bet 2 games in a row like that never happens

 

[SUFan44]

we can get screwed up by looking at total yards and not taking into account how the rest of college football changes

yards per play ranking

2014 52nd
2013 102nd
2012 39th
2011 87th
2010 84th
2009 94th
2008 100th
2007 110th
2006 113th
2005 117th
2004 60th

In 2004, 60th place was 5.3 yards per play. In 2013, that's 87th. We had 5.1 yards per play last year.

college football is so wacky that i prefer ranking teams relative to their peers that year and comparing ranks and not actual numbers across different years

I suspect 2014's numbers will drop but 6.31 yards per play against ND would be encouraging if they ever scored. Alabama had 7.25 against them in the nc game, michigan had 6.39 the following year, then we have the next best.

how do you only score 9 points getting 6.31 yards per play it just doesn't seem possible.

7.46 yards per play against MD and 20 points. two weeks in a row, it's just mind boggling. That's Baylor/Oregon esque.

i wish i had all the data, i bet 2 games in a row like that never happens

I will say that it's better to have the too many yards and not enough points problem than have the not enough yards not enough points problem.

 

[orangecuse]

And that makes you like 90% of the posters on this board.

Don't like the results so you criticize the staff but have no answers as to what, exactly, they should do differently.

You have a quarterback who struggles to throw the ball with consistent accuracy and we were unable to run the ball inside or outside.

You can call anything you like but if the players cannot execute, it doesn't really matter.

Despise these holier than thou type posts...give me a break! It's the coaches jobs to find the answers, not the fans, arm chair QB's, etc., for Pete's sake. The coaches need to know their players and their capabilities/limitations and place them in the best position to win, so that they can execute. I don't have the answers, but to just say that it's purely up to the players to execute is a bit myopic imo.

 

[Orangepace]

we can get screwed up by looking at total yards and not taking into account how the rest of college football changes

yards per play ranking

2014 52nd
2013 102nd
2012 39th
2011 87th
2010 84th
2009 94th
2008 100th
2007 110th
2006 113th
2005 117th
2004 60th

In 2004, 60th place was 5.3 yards per play. In 2013, that's 87th. We had 5.1 yards per play last year.

college football is so wacky that i prefer ranking teams relative to their peers that year and comparing ranks and not actual numbers across different years

I suspect 2014's numbers will drop but 6.31 yards per play against ND would be encouraging if they ever scored. Alabama had 7.25 against them in the nc game, michigan had 6.39 the following year, then we have the next best.

how do you only score 9 points getting 6.31 yards per play it just doesn't seem possible.

7.46 yards per play against MD and 20 points. two weeks in a row, it's just mind boggling. That's Baylor/Oregon esque.

i wish i had all the data, i bet 2 games in a row like that never happens

Agree 100% that as offenses change, you cannot rely on net numbers to evaluate. Looking at what you have for rankings, outside of 2012, this is SU's best offense thus far. Tough to fully compare because SU has only played 4 games thus far and one with the starting QB for only a half. The last 2 games have in my mind showed me that SU's offense is getting a ton better than what we've seen. They're just not scoring yet. All that with a sophmore OC. Given more time and talent to play with I really think we will be looking at McDonald in a very different light at the end of the 2015 season.

 

[Millhouse]

I will say that it's better to have the too many yards and not enough points problem than have the not enough yards not enough points problem.

yes but the latter means I go golfing or something and spare myself the agony. don't give me hope on your way to 9 points.

 

[OrangeMojo]

under grob we had two regular season 400 yd game against a power conf team in 4 years.

under Gmac we had 3 last year and 2 so far this year so 5 out of 12 = 42% but 3 in a row

429 yards against ND, but 42 of those rushing yards were on a fake punt - so in reality those are special teams, not from the offense

so that would be 4 out of 12 = 33%

 

[CU44SE]

And that makes you like 90% of the posters on this board.

Don't like the results so you criticize the staff but have no answers as to what, exactly, they should do differently.

You have a quarterback who struggles to throw the ball with consistent accuracy and we were unable to run the ball inside or outside.

You can call anything you like but if the players cannot execute, it doesn't really matter.

And execution is a direct reflection of the coaches is it not? One of two things need to happen if the players aren't executing, and they fall directly on the coaches to fix. Either 1, the coaches need to hold the players accountable and demand they perform simple fundamental plays such as WR blocking during bubble screens. There are plays to be made on bubble screens, poor fundamentals, mostly poor blocking has led to a simple play being extremely unsuccessful. Or 2, why are the coaches asking players to do things they are not good at? Should the coaches not be putting them in a position to utilize their strengths and execute properly? Execution is a reflection of the coaches.

 

[CU44SE]

This is sort of an off-topic question, but why aren't more trick plays run? Not even just for SU, but in general? Given all of the ways you can gain yards in football, I've always wondered why more trickery isn't incorporated.

Im not a fan of trick plays per se, but the misdirection plays or the plays that look similar but try to take advantage of a defense's aggressiveness. Perfect example was Fuller's first TD, they ran bubble screens all the way down the field and then from 30 yards out they run a play that initially looked like a bubble screen. The defenses proceeded to flow to that side of the field like every other bubble screen. However, the play was designed to come back to the middle of the field, ND took advantage of our over pursuit and the line came and made great backside blocks which resulted in a 30 yard TD due to our defensive aggression. We never seem to use plays early in the game to set up future plays from the same design or formation.

 

[NashvilleOrange]

I'm doing my best to wait til the end of the season as well. My issue Saturday night was not establishing AMM/the power run earlier in the game but it's easy to second guess the staff when they aren't putting points on the board. I like that the team didn't shoot themselves in the foot with bad penalties and turnovers - a lot of times that's what I point towards in a poorly coached team; the real problem has been execution. Unfortunately I don't know how to fix that but I'm hoping that it will fix itself if the team keeps moving the ball in the right direction