Minnesota / Post-season thoughts

[cuseincincy]

Glad to see you are encouraged by our D for next year. I am too especially with the intelligence of Rocky Long developing that D and our players on that D.

Without checking our returnees and incoming players my biggest wish is to spread an extra 100 lbs among any 3 or 4 linemen on defense. Our defensive "skill" positions will still have depth and skill.

 

[OrangePA]

Were heading into year 8 of the Babers era, I don't think the dumb penalties and lack of discipline is going to get magically better finally.

It seems like everybody complains about their team’s “dumb penalties” and “lack of discipline.”

 

[hungrychuck]

It seems like everybody complains about their team’s “dumb penalties” and “lack of discipline.”

But in fairness OrangePA, we led the nation in penalties.

I don’t think everyone who points these things out is anti Dino. I just think they want him to get help.

 

[SmilinBob]

He’s talented, but the hesitancy probably hurts us in spots. It also probably saves some bad turnovers and incompletions. He looked much more decisive early in the season.

I do feel like there’s a little bit of hero ball in there sometimes too.

He’ll be our QB next year. And he can get it done. We’ll have an effective offense with him. Our ceiling is higher next year than it ended this year.

There are times I'd like to see Shrader step into the pocket instead of his circle around and try to out run a DL guy but I do get it that by stepping in you're completely trusting the OL has your back and that's been tough of late.

He did do a better job of throwing the ball over scrimmage instead of taking a sack vs Minny, a bit of growth.

And yeah, a bit of hero ball at times and was hoping he's dump the pass to Vallari but he ran it in instead, which obviously worked. He has a lot more to work on but definitely shown improvement from last year. I don't know why he throws such a good sinkerball because I don't know the fundamentals of QB throws but there seems to be something funky at times and hopefully cleaned up for next season.

 

[SmilinBob]

Thought the whole team played hard and saw a lot of positive things to build on for next year.

One very odd stat was that Wax only had 2 tackles.

 

[XC Cuse]

As others have noted, GS seemed to tire into the 4th quarter and may have contributed to his decisions to throw more and run less. We fell behind early and Beck decided to start chucking which was the right call until MN figured out they didn't have to cover GS running. He's not a throw 40X a game guy like a Hartman. My fervent hope is that we beef up the OL and get some serious push next year which would be a game changer for us. Find a possession receiver in the portal and another CB and we should be OK. Played a lot of young ones today on D which is a good thing.

I think field conditions contributed to less running. Shrader with his long strides seemed to slip a lot, and wasn't able to cut.

 

[HtownOrange]

Just a reminder that SU has a grass practice field.

Iocolano-Petty Football Complex - Facilities - Syracuse University Athletics

Iocolano-Petty Football Complex. The official facility page for the Syracuse University Orange

cuse.com

 

[CousCuse]

About Alijah Clark's penalty... In the 2010 Pinstripe Bowl, SU was leading 36-28, KSU scored a TD with less than 1 1/2 minutes in the game, and was flagged for Unsportmanship because the player who scored the TD saluted the crowd. That meant that the 2-point conversion would have to be from the 18 yard line rather than 3 yards out. KSU was unable to convert the 2-pt conversion, and SU won the game.

What goes around comes around I guess ...

This rattled around in my brain for a while until it came back to me. The KSU guy was flagged for doing the Mile High Salute which Terrell Davis at Denver had made a thing and it became a way to basically flip the bird to opposing fans. It was made know that performing it would draw a flag all season long. Not the same thing at all. But hey, don't let that stop you from coming up with red herrings to be anti-Syracuse about.

 

[gmoney44]

Were heading into year 8 of the Babers era, I don't think the dumb penalties and lack of discipline is going to get magically better finally.

Yup. He is incapable of fixing the penalty issue or he would have done it by now. It’s unfortunate because they cost us a couple of wins a year.

 

[Cuse12]

Just don't play Pena anymore, this spring they should encourage him to move on.

Yeah I want him so badly to be that jitter bug of a guy, but he just never seems to make the big play. Just doesn’t have the next level play making we need.

 

[Cuse12]

I think Josh should come back and coach in some fashion with us. His energy would be great for culture and recruiting I think. Some sort of random coaching position would work

 

[atlanticuse]

He's a good running QB and his running has to be accounted for. He's an adequate passer. He's the type of QB who can succeed at SYR. A pure pocket passer will not work here.

What’s his QB record?

 

[smartman]

We ran a 4-2-5 most of the day. This was the type of wrinkle I was wondering about.

That’s what you do when your linebacking corp is severely depleted.

- Thompson, injured
- Jones, injured but might have played if he wasn’t entering the big boy draft.
- McDonald, injured.
- Sparrow, injured.
- Roon, injured.

I only saw Wax, Lowery and Bailey play today.

Wax has been injured most of the year (remember he went down at Clemson?), but has been able to battle thru it enough to play.

Not only did the absence of 5 of our top 7 linebackers leave us short on quality experienced linebackers, but I think it hurt our special teams.

Adapt or perish. Monroe (and Long) did a heck of a job holding Minnesota to 215 yards.

Thanks for this. Didn’t realize we had so many injured and even more impressive looking at Minnesotas yardage. Did all these folks get injured in practice? I don’t recall so many injured after BC.

I was surprised Lowery didn’t get more play and that Mason didn’t either.

 

[721Comstock]

I’m so old I remember when random 15 yard penalties at the end of Pinstripe Bowls went in SU’s favor.

I salute you, sir!!


Refs - that’s a penalty!!

 

[Newhouser]

Its beyond me that people are critical of the one player on O that gives us a chance to win. He is our O.

Allen was our best player yesterday. If Shrader is our offense. He needs to be better especially if Beck is going to throw more.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Yeah, because people got smart and realized it was dumb to play in an extra game if you don’t have to.

Some call that smart, others call that selfish. That’s the new world we live on. Every man for himself.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Kadin Bailey is next. Feel better about LB corp after seeing him today. Sneak preview right there of who was going to pop next spring.

After all the season ending ACLs, no pops please.

 

[phillydad]

The TOS he used in the first half gave them time to score the first TD

My bad. I admittedly wasn't watching closely. Was more concerned with playing with my granddaughter!

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[Orangeman]

Its beyond me that people are critical of the one player on O that gives us a chance to win. He is our O.

Agreed, he's "our guy" and he makes a fun season to watch...

I do have to ask the group, WHAT was going on w/ those three passes at the end that were like flutter-balls 20 yards wide of target

Stadium views were bad so I didn't think much of it, but upon review on TV they looked even worse?

Did the route get jumped late so he threw them away? Not hate here, he threw a lot of good passes too

 

[IthacaBarrel]

It seems like everybody complains about their team’s “dumb penalties” and “lack of discipline.”

this board has complained about these 2 items for every coach we have had for 20 years. I also never felt that Minnesota had a lot more talent than we did either. Sure you are always trying to recruit the best athletes but I also don’t think Syracuse has none or is way behind a lot of p5 schools. I still think the recruiting rankings mean basically nothing once you get past the top 10-15 an area that Syracuse has never approached and certainly never will given todays landscape

 

[Cusefan69]

Hopefully that message is just related to the bowl game.

 

[jpac]

Does this portend jumping into the portal? I hope not.

 

[cvilleorange]

going to miss tucker, best back we have had in a long time.

LeQuint can ball though. He has a great burst, finishes runs, catches the ball really well, and does some of the little things that tucker struggled at like pass pro. had a nice cut block, unfortunately I think it hurt the minny player, but I think the last back we had who was good in pass pro was Dontae Strickland

 

[qdawgg]

I disagree with all the wr screens we ran to right side but I also think they saw something on tape that they wanted to attack.

Those plays largely worked well other than the pick. But you can’t blame that on the play calling completely.