Interperet this as you like...

[LeMoyneCuse]

But a guy who was calling the game for WAER was on the field in Pitt and said all of the defensive players were in tears by the end of the game.

Also, a player on the team told me no one quit on the coach this year. They played hard, but just couldn't seem to find a break. His words. Not mine.

 

[44PRIDE]

I don't blame the players. Not even a little. They can only do so much with their god given talent and I'm sure they all did everything they can.

My blame is reserved 100% towards the coaching staff.

Excessive penalties & lack of on field discipline
Poor play calling
Poor special teams
Poor gameplans
poor preparation

Correct any one of these and we win one game.

 

[mgurtz79]

Excessive penalties are the coaches fault???? Explain that to me. Are they the ones who hit the guy late or out of bounds? No. Outside of benching repeat offenders (MICHAEL HAY) what are they going to do. Players are totally responsible for penalties, specifically of the personal foul/pass interference varieties.

I'll give people the special teams play. It was lousy in all aspects and a coordinator should be hired. In terms of play calling if Hackett is so bad how does Shafer not get called out for a defense allowing 28.5 points a game? No one seems to call him out. The entire coaching staff needs to improve and deserve the opportunity to do that next year. If they don't then they can move on.

In terms of personnel problems people had:

On offense I hear Nassib can't complete passes. His stats said he completed 62% of his passes. That doesn't include the fact that I am guessing receivers dropped at least 2 passes a game. While I will be the first to admit we need to throw deeper (and that is not Nassib's strong point) I don't know if we have the receivers that can get open deep. The speed guys we have (Kobena and Graham) can't seem to catch so its a moot point. On top of that to throw deep you need some time in the pocket and that didn't seem possible very often. Bailey was a good hard runner but he was not Carter and Carter moved the pile. While we saw flashes with Jerome Smith (and here's hoping he can handle it next year) and Moore I don't think either of them gave Syracuse a better chance of winning and the fact that Bailey generally blocked well and could catch probably worked in his advantage. Also lets not forget the swoon started with the injury to PTG which lost its best player in the open field. Van Chew was never the same after the mid-point of last year and we do not have another receiver that has gained Nassib's trust (West dropped alot of passes). The tight ends were generally featured because they could be trusted. As for backup QB's being better. Do you really think Marrone would risk his job for something that stupid. I went to the spring game this year. Neither Kinder nor Loeb were even close to Nassib in accuracy or general passing ability. To me it seems like if the switch to a spread it will be with Broyld.

On to defense

We also seem to forget on defense we started a 1 freshman (no including Cameron Lynch who played about half of Vaughn's snaps) , 3 sophomores, 5 juniors and 2 seniors on defense. Of that group only 5 had started before this year. There were going to be growning pains. The first year they were here the defense got burned alot but you saw glimpses (Rutgers 9-sack game). This year the defense got burned alot but you could see some playmakers coming around (Dyshawn Davis). If Spruill can get stronger it seems fair to think the talent will make this defense much better next year.

Overall while I feel they should have been a bowl team, although its not like they fell flat on their face. The coaching staff needs to evalute themselves and players and show improvement. Assuming we are in the Big East next year Rutgers (only loses around 4), Louisville (loses around 8), WVA (loses around 8), USF (has no seniors listed starting on their Depth chart) all return their key offensive and defensive players which means next year should see improvement in the top half (Cin loses a ton, Pitt depense on if Graham comes back and UCONN loses its best defensive players). I believe they should be competitive for a conference title despite a very tough non-conference schedule (Northwestern, USC @ meadowlands, @ Minn, Tulane, and I-AA TBA).

 

[OrangeMuskyFish]

I want to use this moment to clarify my own thoughts on the whole "quitting on the coaches" ordeal. I believe they quit, but I think it was more of a subconscious thing. I don't believe they went out there willingly halfass... I just believe that they went out there not believing in themselves, their teammates, or the plan. Perhaps losing faith is a better way of putting it. I'm curious if others feel the way I do, or if they really believe QUITTING is indeed spot on.

 

[JoeSU]

I don't know ho anyone who watched the game could possible conclude that the players quit. To the contrary, the defensive players were flying around the field, gang tackling and delivering some fierce hits. A number of guys on offense stood out to me as giving an extra effort also, including Bailey and Lemon. It would be easy to imagine that at least some of the dumb penalties (personal fouls, jumping offsides, etc.) resulted from playing a bit out of control.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

qutting isn't as much as gameday thing, it's Sunday through Friday. I don't think these guys were giving less than 100% on Saturday, the question is the other six days. I don't have the answer and I am not saying one way or the other if they did or did not. although I am sure somebody will turn this into a Mike Leach post. A lof the mental mistakes would prove that maybe this team had a lot of issues Sunday through Friday that manifested itself on Saturdays or Fridays for the matter. If you believe in Marrone and other meatheads this is what they would tell you about preparation etc. Like I said, I don't know.

It is frustrating, that is for sure.

 

[Cusee44]

Penalties are on the players. If you teach your 18 year old to stop at a stop sign and for one reason or another, they don't, the police isn't going to arrest the parents or blame state for poorly "educating" the kid.

 

[rrlbees]

Penalties are on the players. If you teach your 18 year old to stop at a stop sign and for one reason or another, they don't, the police isn't going to arrest the parents or blame state for poorly "educating" the kid.

Then you don't let him drive the car anymore.

 

[Franz69]

Watch the player's reaction after Chandler's interception. Did that look like a bunch of quitters to anybody?

 

[VaSaltine]

Penalties are on the players. If you teach your 18 year old to stop at a stop sign and for one reason or another, they don't, the police isn't going to arrest the parents or blame state for poorly "educating" the kid.

It depends on the type of penalty. Something like pass interference, ok that's mostly on the player. Now offsides, illegal procedure, false states, unsportsmanlike conduct, holding, those are greatly influenced by the level of coaching and discipline. So yes, penalties are to a great degree on the coaches.

 

[orangenauburn]

The D players were crying because the O let them down - again

They kept the team in the game, they did not have 6 TO's ... they did not fail on ST's

This is where the issues came from -- no faith in each other to get the job done ... when the O would do good, the special teams would kick the ball out of bounds, and then the D would give up a quick score.

When the D did great, the O could not get out of their own way with stupid play calls and drive killing drops and penalties.

Players had a total lack of faith that their teammates could get the job done, and sometimes - they doubted the coaches putting the team in a position to win.

 

[OrangeMuskyFish]

The D players were crying because the O let them down - again

They kept the team in the game, they did not have 6 TO's ... they did not fail on ST's

This is where the issues came from -- no faith in each other to get the job done ... when the O would do good, the special teams would kick the ball out of bounds, and then the D would give up a quick score.

When the D did great, the O could not get out of their own way with stupid play calls and drive killing drops and penalties.

Players had a total lack of faith that their teammates could get the job done, and sometimes - they doubted the coaches putting the team in a position to win.

That's pretty much the way I saw it... maybe also evident in the receiver/QB relationships as well.

 

[GoSU96]

The D players were crying because the O let them down - again

They kept the team in the game, they did not have 6 TO's ... they did not fail on ST's

This is where the issues came from -- no faith in each other to get the job done ... when the O would do good, the special teams would kick the ball out of bounds, and then the D would give up a quick score.

When the D did great, the O could not get out of their own way with stupid play calls and drive killing drops and penalties.

Players had a total lack of faith that their teammates could get the job done, and sometimes - they doubted the coaches putting the team in a position to win.

Rutgers and Uconn, if either the defense or offense makes one more play in the second half both those games are a win. That's how close those games were.

They should have beaten Pitt. Without those 10 early gift points they win it in the 4th.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Rutgers and Uconn, if either the defense or offense makes one more play in the second half both those games are a win. That's how close those games were.

They should have beaten Pitt. Without those 10 early gift points they win it in the 4th.

Yeah but unfortunately they didnt make those plays. Against Uconn they allowed a backup QB who couldnt start for Suny Brockport to gash them with the three same plays over and over and over. Not to mention that based on that game every team we played after called QB draws and read options to death on us and we still couldnt stop it. Rutgers is on Hackett worst called game I have ever seen from a Syracuse OC and thats including the Deleone years. Wheel route on 3rd and 1 from the 50? Quick slant from the 2 on first and goal to our true freshman WR who hasnt even caught his first SU bar skank yet let a pass and you call it to him? We never should have lost either of those games and it wasnt just one play in the second half it was a breakdown of our coaches and a lack of talent.

 

[Chip]

I'm sure everyone on the team wanted to win, and didn't "quit". But the penalties just seemed to roll downhill like a snowball. Maybe you're still playing hard, but you're not playing disciplined. Which means you might have quit doing the little things, as hard as you may be playing. And/Or the coaches just aren't getting through to you.

Very uncharacteristic of what we would expect of a Marrone coached team.

But no, I certainly don't think guys were standing around during the game, they were trying.

 

[rrlbees]

The D players were crying because the O let them down - again

They kept the team in the game, they did not have 6 TO's ... they did not fail on ST's

This is where the issues came from -- no faith in each other to get the job done ... when the O would do good, the special teams would kick the ball out of bounds, and then the D would give up a quick score.

When the D did great, the O could not get out of their own way with stupid play calls and drive killing drops and penalties.

Players had a total lack of faith that their teammates could get the job done, and sometimes - they doubted the coaches putting the team in a position to win.

The O killed us with turnovers against Pitt, but the defense has no complaint over the course of the season. There isn't a unit that played well.

 

[SUinNYC]

But a guy who was calling the game for WAER was on the field in Pitt and said all of the defensive players were in tears by the end of the game.

They weren't the only ones crying.

 

[OrangePA]

I don't blame the players. Not even a little. They can only do so much with their god given talent and I'm sure they all did everything they can.

My blame is reserved 100% towards the coaching staff.

Excessive penalties & lack of on field discipline
Poor play calling
Poor special teams
Poor gameplans
poor preparation

Correct any one of these and we win one game.

The coaching staff did not fumble the ball and did not throw INTs.

The players play the game.

As far as the gameplan was concerned read Rahme's article - there was nothing wrong with the game plan or the preparation.

I'm sorry but the act of just saying something without any supporting fact is simply not productive.

 

[OrangePA]

I'm sure everyone on the team wanted to win, and didn't "quit". But the penalties just seemed to roll downhill like a snowball. Maybe you're still playing hard, but you're not playing disciplined. Which means you might have quit doing the little things, as hard as you may be playing. And/Or the coaches just aren't getting through to you.

Very uncharacteristic of what we would expect of a Marrone coached team.

But no, I certainly don't think guys were standing around during the game, they were trying.

My take was that the penalites as annoying as they were, were prompted by over aggression or over exuberance.

I expect at least some of that from a young team. And, frankly to me yellow flags these days seem arbitrary especially with respect to late hits.