Let’s Talk About the 2022 Syracuse Offense

[money3189]

We haven't had this good of OC coaches since George D.
Our O coaches have been mediocre at best under Dino. Im a firm believer that coaching, not players has been our problem.

White is hired and miraculously our D improves. New OL coach. Miracle the OL is better.
The same will happen on O and special teams now that we have guys who know what they are doing.
Good coaches are huge at this level .

It's a mix of both. We had players that had good seasons in this scheme. Do we give all the credit to coaches when players excel? When the players don't perform well is it always the coaches fault?

 

[money3189]

I'm excited about the offense and hope it performs up to expectations. Not going to see much in the spring game but we will see some of the installs made. Looking forward to it

 

[kcsu]

It's a mix of both. We had players that had good seasons in this scheme. Do we give all the credit to coaches when players excel? When the players don't perform well is it always the coaches fault?

I dont think that we have had very good coaching of the oline and the QB position.

 

[money3189]

I dont think that we have had very good coaching of the oline and the QB position.

Agree. I feel the same. We haven't had studs there either. So its both for me. For example, we can't put all the blame on the coaches for Tommy's failure. I've seen plenty of studs stand out despite the scheme, coaching etc...

 

[TheCusian]

We haven't had this good of OC coaches since George D.
Our O coaches have been mediocre at best under Dino. Im a firm believer that coaching, not players has been our problem.

White is hired and miraculously our D improves. New OL coach. Miracle the OL is better.
The same will happen on O and special teams now that we have guys who know what they are doing.
Good coaches are huge at this level .

Eh - it’s def more complicated than all that. Good X’s and O’s? I’m very happy with our current staff. But culture is important. Recruiting is important.

Syracuse is a hard job. You have to hit on all of that at once and get a few recruiting wins and a bit of luck to get a foothold. 2018 was close - but the talent (Eric) has outpaced the coaching (system got figured out) by 2019.

I think Dino doesn’t get enough credit for being willing to change. That’s a somewhat rare attribute in old coaches

 

[kcsu]

Agree. I feel the same. We haven't had studs there either. So its both for me. For example, we can't put all the blame on the coaches for Tommy's failure. I've seen plenty of studs stand out despite the scheme, coaching etc...

Agreed. Ive seen it in Basketball. Ive also had the gift of great coaching and know the difference it can make.
One thing that i like about our new OC is that he has a history of creating an O based on the skills of the players vs trying to shoehorn players into schemes.
I fully expect that we will be significantly better this year. Specifically i expect a huge jump in the WR and QB groups.

 

[kcsu]

Eh - it’s def more complicated than all that. Good X’s and O’s? I’m very happy with our current staff. But culture is important. Recruiting is important.

Syracuse is a hard job. You have to hit on all of that at once and get a few recruiting wins and a bit of luck to get a foothold. 2018 was close - but the talent (Eric) has outpaced the coaching (system got figured out) by 2019.

I think Dino doesn’t get enough credit for being willing to change. That’s a somewhat rare attribute in old coaches

Hes very fortunate he has been provided the opportunity to change multiple times.

 

[money3189]

Agreed. Ive seen it in Basketball. Ive also had the gift of great coaching and know the difference it can make.
One thing that i like about our new OC is that he has a history of creating an O based on the skills of the players vs trying to shoehorn players into schemes.
I fully expect that we will be significantly better this year. Specifically i expect a huge jump in the WR and QB groups.

Agree. Good points.

 

[Cuse12]

What’s crazy is I’ve completely flipped mindsets going into a season between cuse bball and fball.

I used to have the warm and fuzzies every year thinking of bball season. Thinking about how far we can go in the league, how we will be ranked in postseason, etc.

Now I have the warm and fuzzies for our football team this year. I just feel really good about it. I like Shrader as our leader a lot. And I like the new offensive coaches we have surrounded the offense with. We are in great hands on D with TWhite. special teams has a legit coach with experience. I think we are going to be happy next year watching competent productive football. Coaching truly matters in football especially. I think this offense will be dynamic. I think our receivers will be good enough to make ir happen. Someone is going to be a breakout at WR. And we have good returning players, specifically C Jackson and D Cooper will have great years I think. We just need two outside guys to step it up and be ACC receivers. We have not had that for a few years and it shows.

 

[Goin' Deep]

Coaches Babers and Anae are 60 and 63 respectively. They've been around the block...several times.
Shrader has had to learn new offenses a couple of times. I would hope about 3 games into the season, the "O" is cooking!!

 

[baggerbob]

Agreed. Ive seen it in Basketball. Ive also had the gift of great coaching and know the difference it can make.
One thing that i like about our new OC is that he has a history of creating an O based on the skills of the players vs trying to shoehorn players into schemes.
I fully expect that we will be significantly better this year. Specifically i expect a huge jump in the WR and QB groups.

And all the coaches brought in seem to be an upgrade from the previous season.
And the new WR coach has a lot of experience with QB, and WR, and been successful there.

 

[Killdozer]

Eh - it’s def more complicated than all that. Good X’s and O’s? I’m very happy with our current staff. But culture is important. Recruiting is important.

Syracuse is a hard job. You have to hit on all of that at once and get a few recruiting wins and a bit of luck to get a foothold. 2018 was close - but the talent (Eric) has outpaced the coaching (system got figured out) by 2019.

I think Dino doesn’t get enough credit for being willing to change. That’s a somewhat rare attribute in old coaches

Dino needed to change or he wouldn't have a job. I don't believe he was really "willing" to change.

 

[GreekFreak]

One of the major gripes from UVA people was that Anae never ran the ball. UVA is also based on a tradition of hardnose running football with George Welsh, so it was probably even more pronounced for the fan base.

A couple of friends that work in local sports media in Richmond and Charlottesville both have said how interesting it will be to see Anae work with a proven top-notch running back and if he'll change his pass-heavy offense to suit what he has in Tucker. To me, that's the most interesting thing to watch this season. I don't doubt Anae is a good OC, so I'm excited to see what he can do with Tuck.

Looking at some of his offenses, from 2005-2009 at BYU he had a 1,000 yard rusher each year and a very solid passing game as well. The passing numbers fell off a cliff in 2010, but rushing stayed pretty respectable. Every year in his first stint at BYU his teams rushed for about an average of 140-150 yards per game.

Then in 2013 he had Taysom Hill at BYU. He had two 1,000 yard rushers that year in Hill and Jamaal Williams. They averaged 251 yards rushing and 238 yards passing a game that year. Wow.

In 2014, the teams rushing YPG went down to about 180 yards rushing per game. No 1,000 yard rushers, but five guys with between 300 and 520 yards in the season.

In 2015 they rushed for 128 yards per game but threw for nearly 300 yards a game. Then came UVA.

They rushed for between 92 and about 170 yards per game each season, with the average being somewhere in the 120 yard per game average. I'm not sure if he saw an issue with running the ball in the ACC, or what happened but he did drastically change his approach with UVA on offense. Maybe he felt he could recruit really solid outside and slot weapons? I don't know. Or maybe, just maybe he's one of those rare coaches who plays to his strengths on offense (one can hope!).

Something I found interesting, is Anae and Beck started working together as QB Coach/OC in 2013. Could it be Beck's coaching up of QB's over that time changed Anae's offensive approach?

Either way, he has only been an OC with Bronco Mendenhall until this part of his career. It will be really interesting to see what he does here and how he utilizes the talent SU has on hand.

Nice summary and analysis.

 

[orangepassion]

Coaches Babers and Anae are 60 and 63 respectively. They've been around the block...several times.
Shrader has had to learn new offenses a couple of times. I would hope about 3 games into the season, the "O" is cooking!!

I've heard season 3 between games 4-6 is where it starts to click.

 

[Oakland]

Great post. That the offenses were polar opposites of each other and now the coaching staffs have merged is absolutely fascinating.

I was surprised that Gilbert didn't do better, but I have hope that Anae will get the job done. Should make for an interesting season.

 

[sufandu]

Dino needed to change or he wouldn't have a job. I don't believe he was really "willing" to change.

Both are true. Many coaches are unwilling to change and find themselves looking for work.

 

[CA Monk]

I think we are going to be happy next year watching competent productive football.

This. I'm just so much more confident the team & coaches are cohesive. Could be a great year.
If we can beat L'ville in the first game, that will speak volumes. They always seem to have our number (and speedy athletes).
LGO!

 

[Louie and Bouie]

I haven't had an opportunity to see much video from spring practice yet. Has anyone observed whether GS has modified his throwing motion in the off-season? Thanks in advance.

 

[Goin' Deep]

I've heard season 3 between games 4-6 is where it starts to click.

you think Dino has 25+ games of waiting for the O to click?
Me don't...

 

[blizz]

It seems clear to me that the failure of the Babers system was driven by the lack of horizontal stretch plays in the passing game beginning in 2019. Go back and watch any games from 2016-2018 and it's very noticeable, especially in the early game scripts how they were making an effort to attack the flats to force the outside linebackers to get wider in pre-snap alignments. Then they would mix in inside zone runs to get the safeties to move up to account for both the stretches to the flat and the running lanes between the backers. And this opened up the vertical and one-on-one passing game, which is what the Babers offense really thrived on.

I've had the conviction that this shift was personnel driven. I saw Devito as just being unwilling to throw those hook and seam routes to the slot receivers, where the ball had to be delivered into a tight window. On the other hand, I'm not quite sure why we got away from throwing the wide receiver screen pass into the 2x2 stack on the outside. This was an easy throw that Devito was perfectly suited for. This was a bread and butter play for Dungey, but beginning in 2019, it seems to have suddenly gone away.

My hope is that the passing game can get back to the original mode of forcing the defense to make adjustments that open up other avenues of attack. I'm encouraged because Anae seems to use alignment and motions to prescribe pre-snap reads. I think this is preferable as it gives better information and simplifies the pre-snap routine for the quarterback. Anae also seems adept at exploiting the combination of the seam/flat routes with plays that also drag linebackers and safeties across the middle of the field. I think this is the perfect complement to Babers system of exploiting space, both horizontally and vertically.

 

[kcsu]

It seems clear to me that the failure of the Babers system was driven by the lack of horizontal stretch plays in the passing game beginning in 2019. Go back and watch any games from 2016-2018 and it's very noticeable, especially in the early game scripts how they were making an effort to attack the flats to force the outside linebackers to get wider in pre-snap alignments. Then they would mix in inside zone runs to get the safeties to move up to account for both the stretches to the flat and the running lanes between the backers. And this opened up the vertical and one-on-one passing game, which is what the Babers offense really thrived on.

I've had the conviction that this shift was personnel driven. I saw Devito as just being unwilling to throw those hook and seam routes to the slot receivers, where the ball had to be delivered into a tight window. On the other hand, I'm not quite sure why we got away from throwing the wide receiver screen pass into the 2x2 stack on the outside. This was an easy throw that Devito was perfectly suited for. This was a bread and butter play for Dungey, but beginning in 2019, it seems to have suddenly gone away.

My hope is that the passing game can get back to the original mode of forcing the defense to make adjustments that open up other avenues of attack. I'm encouraged because Anae seems to use alignment and motions to prescribe pre-snap reads. I think this is preferable as it gives better information and simplifies the pre-snap routine for the quarterback. Anae also seems adept at exploiting the combination of the seam/flat routes with plays that also drag linebackers and safeties across the middle of the field. I think this is the perfect complement to Babers system of exploiting space, both horizontally and vertically.

Dino was successful with it because he didnt stay in one place very long. Same at SU we played good really good teams tough and pulled great upsets.
Its like a hitter or pitcher. Lots of them are great early until they get a book on you. Same here. Once ACC Dcs figured it out it was over.

ED was the difference the outlier year.

 

[All4SU]

Dino was successful with it because he didnt stay in one place very long. Same at SU we played good really good teams tough and pulled great upsets.
Its like a hitter or pitcher. Lots of them are great early until they get a book on you. Same here. Once ACC Dcs figured it out it was over.

ED was the difference the outlier year.

Serious question… What specifically did they “figure out?”

 

[money3189]

It seems clear to me that the failure of the Babers system was driven by the lack of horizontal stretch plays in the passing game beginning in 2019. Go back and watch any games from 2016-2018 and it's very noticeable, especially in the early game scripts how they were making an effort to attack the flats to force the outside linebackers to get wider in pre-snap alignments. Then they would mix in inside zone runs to get the safeties to move up to account for both the stretches to the flat and the running lanes between the backers. And this opened up the vertical and one-on-one passing game, which is what the Babers offense really thrived on.

I've had the conviction that this shift was personnel driven. I saw Devito as just being unwilling to throw those hook and seam routes to the slot receivers, where the ball had to be delivered into a tight window. On the other hand, I'm not quite sure why we got away from throwing the wide receiver screen pass into the 2x2 stack on the outside. This was an easy throw that Devito was perfectly suited for. This was a bread and butter play for Dungey, but beginning in 2019, it seems to have suddenly gone away.

My hope is that the passing game can get back to the original mode of forcing the defense to make adjustments that open up other avenues of attack. I'm encouraged because Anae seems to use alignment and motions to prescribe pre-snap reads. I think this is preferable as it gives better information and simplifies the pre-snap routine for the quarterback. Anae also seems adept at exploiting the combination of the seam/flat routes with plays that also drag linebackers and safeties across the middle of the field. I think this is the perfect complement to Babers system of exploiting space, both horizontally and vertically.

Thank you for the educated and unemotional response. It all makes sense.

 

[money3189]

Dino was successful with it because he didnt stay in one place very long. Same at SU we played good really good teams tough and pulled great upsets.
Its like a hitter or pitcher. Lots of them are great early until they get a book on you. Same here. Once ACC Dcs figured it out it was over.

ED was the difference the outlier year.

What do you mean by figured out? They ran all the same common plays as everyone else. Everyone runs inside/outside zone, counters and power plays. Anae runs them too. Their pass concepts and Rpo plays were just as common. Play caling and execution was the problem (Gilbert sucked and the O line was horrendous). The most basic offenses are some of the most lethal ones when you execute them right.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Based on Virginia's resounding success on O versus us the last few years, I hope the "blend" is 95% Anae/Beck offense and 5% Dino. The key will be the pass blocking.

Successful play action will make it easier. Then it’s up to scheme, routes, reads, and delivery. GS did not inspire confidence in being able to execute his end.