My eyes are wide open, just not entirely in sync with the way you see things. Nobody here is happy with the way things finished up. After the Clemson game, we all changed our original expectations. Let’s not forget that at the beginning of the season, many expected Syracuse to Win 4-5 games with an outside shot of 6 given the schedule, the lack of depth and the injury history of the QB1. The only real difference between the expectations then and now is that the makeup of those wins caused us all to raise the bar on Dino mid season , which wasn’t exactly fair.
People aren’t blinded by beating Clemson. This wasn’t Buster Douglas over Tyson. This wasn’t a game that Clemson lost, it was a game SU won, toe-to-toe.
It’s obvious that the system can work. It’s highly unusual for a team to win multiple games as a 20+ pt underdog in back-to-back years. Using the CFP rankings as of today, with a healthy serviceable QB1, Babers guided the team to a win against #1 and losses by one score against #7, #17 and #24. All three of those losses on the road. Being competitive in those types of games is playing big time football.
Stop using Shafer in comparison arguments with Dino. It’s like arguing apples and oranges. Shafer didn’t “inherit” recruits. He was a big part of the decision making process for recruiting the 4 years before he took the helm. He knew what he had.
Shafer also didn’t have the ability to show the poise and control necessary to lead. Need evidence? Case #1: Yelling obscenities at Dabo for running up the score in the 1st half. Case #2: The handling of the McF*ckIt situation. There were several other instances as well. The wheels came off and we were left to watch the program spiraling out of control. Dino has shown the poise and demonstrated he has control over the program. If your argument was that we are all blinded by Dino’s composure, you may be onto something given what came before him. But I still think you’re missing the forest for the trees.
