SWC75
Bored Historian
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Saturday November 3 TBA at WAKE FOREST TV: TBA
For four years, Dave Clawson’s rebuilding program at Wake Forest had hard times. They seemed to be borderline pathetic at times. Here is what I said about them in past years:
2015: “Wake Forest was ”historically bad” on offense last year. (I guess we were only ‘hysterically bad’). They averaged 216 yards per game, the worst in the nation. John Wolford started as a true freshman at quarterback and finished last in the ACC in yards per attempt, throwing 12TD passes in 367 attempts. (Of course our four QB’s last year threw 382 passes and only six of them went for TDs but Wolford was their original starter). They like to spread you out and tight end Cam Serigne had 54 catches but they had no running game to speak of. They rushed for a total of 479 yards last year, 1.3 carry. They’ve got three starters back from a poor line. Wolford was sacked 45 times, most in FBS and we remember what being sacked so many times did to Andrew Robinson. The Deacs, like us, are looking for playmakers…”
2016: “Like Connecticut, they averaged 17 points a game last year. Quarterback John Wofford was decent, at best last year: 61%, 1791 yards, 9TDs 11int but he’s not a dual threat: 67 yards rushing, although he scored 3TDs. “Their young receiving corps featured the most receptions among freshman players (131) of any team in the nation.” (Lindy’s) Cortez Lewis was 47-611-4, Chucky Wade 33-348-1 and Tabari Hines 32 368-3. Those youthful playmakers suggest that we’d better beat Clawson now because things could be changing for the better in Winston Salem.
They could hardly get worse in the running game, which was 123rd in the county, (of 127 teams), with 105 yard per game last year, which was actually an improvement over the previous year, when they average an absurd 40 yards per game. Tyler Bell was their best with 451 yards, (2.5) and a single touchdown. The line has 4 of 5 starters returning. Is that a good thing? “These guys get knocked back and they can’t create any space. They’re under-manned but they are also at a disadvantage in the style in which they are asked to block. You can’t take a guy who is not as physically talented as the player that he’s going against and make him go lateral. The guy’s getting his butt kicked” (opposing coach to ESPN)”
2017: “Wake and NC State have a couple of things in common: two coaches named Dave who started their rebuilding projects before Dino Babers got here and are thus farther along than Babers is. Dave Clawson, (who preceded Babers at Bowling Green): “This will be the first time in our time here that the amount of seniors and juniors in the two-deep outnumbers the amount of freshmen and sophomores. And so what you’re seeing is all the benefits of the redshirting we’ve been doing, in that we have a lot of fourth year juniors, third year sophomores.” They have three year starters back on the offensive line and the tight end is senior Cam Serigne, (6-3, 245), who has 130 career catches despite a perennially unsettled QB situation. They had three 500 yard rushers last year for the first time since 1971 and two of them are back: Matt Colburn (626 yards) and Cade Carney (589). John Wolford, now a senior, continues to be the primary quarterback candidate after passing for 1,774 yards and 9 scores and running for 521 yards and 5 scores last year. Tabari Hines is the leading receiver with 38 catches for 447 yards. They return 97% of their offensive production, the highest percentage in the country.”
Scott Shafer beat this school all three times he played them: 13-0, 30-7 and 30-17. Dino Babers has lost both times he’s played them: 9-28 and 43-64. But he was playing a different Wake Forest than the one Shafer was playing. Hopefully this year, Wake Forest will be playing a different Syracuse than the one they played the last two years. And this might not be the same Deacons, either. John Wolford is gone after being “the best quarterback in the ACC not named Lamar Jackson”. He’ll likely be replaced by Kendall Hinton, “a good runner who must prove he can be an accurate passer and make good decisions”. They have proven players in wide receiver Greg Dortsch (53r/722yds/9tds) and running back Matt Colburn (904 yards 7TDs). The entire offensive line- four seniors and junior- return. So it will be pretty much up to Hinton to keep things going. The other pieces are there.
Their defense was as bad as the offense was good last year. They had a new staff and “At times the new coaches weren’t on the same page. All these guys have had a year; we’ve looked at it and we see our mistakes.” What they don’t see is their two starting ends from last year, two staring linebackers and their best d-back, who jumped to the NFL. They’ve also lost an all-ACC placekicker although they have their excellent punter, Dom Maggio, (no ‘Di’), who averaged 44.7. Greg Dortsch is a solid return man.
2017
Offense: TY- 465.8 (17) RY- 188.9 (37) PY- 276.8 (28) S- 35.3 (21)
Defense: TY- 457.3 (113) RY- 185.8 (89) PY- 271.5 (119) S- 28.3 (76)
TO: +8 (22)
Saturday November 9 7PM LOUISVILLE TV: ESPN2
The Lamar Jackson era is over. He was glorious, (especially against us: 17-41, 28-62 and 10-56), but how much of a glory era for Louisville football was his career here? The Cardinals went 8-5, 9-4 and then 8-5. They were 1-2 in bowl games. They were exciting and had some big games but inconsistent and flawed. Without Jackson, will they have much more than the inconsistency and the flaws? They still have Bobby Petrino, not “Man of the Year” material but a brilliant football mind who first built this program into a power when Lamar was just a kid.
They also have a quarterback with the perfect name: Jawon Pass. a 6-4 231 sophomore who “has enough potential “to make a repeat or a slight improvement on last year’s 8-5 mark a realistic aim…he will have protection from a massive line that brings back three of last year’s regular starters”, one of whom is 6-7 359, (that’s 359, not 259) Mekhi Beckton, who “has the footwork to handle faster linemen”. Three receivers who caught at least 40 balls last year return: Jaylen Smith had 60/985/7, Des Fitzpatrick 45/699/9 and Seth Dawkins 42/642/4. Fitzpatrick is the smallest of them at 6-2 202 so it will be easy for Pass to spot them so he can pass to them.
“The Cardinals have a rotating cast of running backs all trying to get healthy to claim the top spot.” 6-2 228 Dee Williams may have the inside track. He’s the top returning rusher with only 235 yards. Without Jackson the running backs will have a much heavier load.
They have their third defensive coordinator in three years. The new man Brian Van Gorder, was with Auburn, Georgia, Notre Dame and the Atlanta Falcons. He has two starters back from a defense that was disappointingly mediocre. He’s lost the starting cornerbacks, two linebackers and the entire defensive line. The returning linebacker, Dorian Etheridge “was a revelation” with 83 tackles as a freshman. Marion Character was “the top junior college safety in the nation”.
They have superb kicking: Blanton Creque hit 17 of 20 field goals and mason king punted for 43.9 yards per kick. Dawkins averaged 21.3 yards per kickoff return but the leading returning punt returner, Russ yeast, rose to only 3.3 yards per punt.
2017
Offense: TY- 544.9 (3) RY- 245.1 (15) PY- 299.8 (15) S- 38.1 (11)
Defense: TY- 388.1 (62) RY- 163.4 (63) PY- 224.7 (66) S- 27.4 (70)
TO: +2 (56)
Saturday November 17 2:30PM at Yankee Stadium NOTRE DAME TV: NBC
Historically, Syracuse actually has a competitive record against the most famous college football program of them all. We first played the Fighting Irish back in 1914 and got whipped, 0-20. The next game was the famously controversial 1961 game where Notre Dame was granted a second chance at a game-winning field goal, which under the rules at the time, they should not have received and won it 15-17. Two years later, SU gained a measure of revenge in Yankee Stadium, 14-7. The two schools didn’t play again until the late, great Walter Reyes scored 5TDs in the Dome to even the series, 38-12. The Irish won the next one, 10-34 in 2005. Then came that rare G-Rob moment of glory, a 24-23 win in South Bend in 2008. Notre Dame has won the last two 15-31 in 2014 and 33-50 in 2016. To be honest, we’ve caught them at the right time. Those eight Notre Dame teams had a total combined record of 46-43, so they were vulnerable. They didn’t play our ’59 team but we didn’t play any of their 11 consensus national champions.
We may be catching them at the right time again. They were 10-3 last year but haven’t had double figures in wins two years in a row since Lou Holtz was their coach. Star tailback Josh Adams, who rushed for 1,403 yards, jumped to the pros. They have something of a quarterback controversy. Talented Brandon Winbush, who passed for 16 scores and ran for 14 more, was pulled from their bowl game in favor of back-up Ian Book, who led the team to a win over LSU. Winbush is a multi-threat but only completed 49.5% of his passes. They lost two of their top receivers, Equaimerous St. Brown and Kevin Stephenson, (Kevin Stephenson is a name?) “two of the nation’s top offensive linemen, Quentin Nelson and Mike McGlinchy” to the NFL. Coach Brian Kelly also lost his outstanding defensive coordinator, Mike Elko, to Texas A&M.
But it’s Notre Dame. They brought in a class of 27 recruits and 14 of them are at least four stars, (although I wonder if some of them would have been rated with 3 stars had to come to Syracuse). Among the returning players, Dexter Williams will be the new starter at RB and has a lot of speed. He averaged 9.2 yards per carry last season. The other contender is Tony Jones Jr, a 5-11 220 bowling ball. (No, he’s not the son of SU’s defensive back, Tony Jones from the early 90’s.) Wimbush and Book will have some big,, strong receivers to throw to: Chase Claypool is 6-4 229 and Miles Boykin is 6-4 227. Boykin averaged 21.2 yards per catch. “Tight ends Alize Mack and Cole Kmet could be one of the nation’s top pass-catching tandems at the positon.”
Nine starters remain on defense and the guy taking over for Elko is his assistant, Clark Lea. They have a “deep and experienced defensive line led by tackle Jerry Hillary”. Returning linebacker Te’von Coney and Drue Tranquill and cornerbacks Julian Love and Shaun Crawford provide stability for a until that ranked 31st in scoring defense over a tough schedule last season. Tillery, Coney and Tranquill were courted by the NFL but decided to stay. Love set a record with 20 pass break-ups.
Their kickers are superb. Justin Yoon is 42 for 52 on field goals for his career and Tyler Newsome averaged 43.8 yards per punt. They are rebuilding their return unit.
Notre Dame will be Notre Dame when we play then but what will we be? A crippled ship with a tattered flag trying to make it into port without sinking? Or a buccaneer that’s won a series of battles with much booty but looking for more?
2017
Offense: TY- 448.2 (27) RY- 269.3 (7) PY- 178.9 (102) S- 34.2 (24)
Defense: TY- 369.2 (46) RY- 154.5 (51) PY- 214.7 (53) S- 21.5 (31)
TO: +3 (46)
Saturday November 24 TBA at BOSTON COLLEGE TV: TBA
Remember when we thought we had company at the bottom of the league with Wake Forest and Boston College? Well, in 2016 wake beat us 9-28 and went 7-6 and last year they went 8-5 and beat us 43-64. BC beat us 20-28 and went 7-6 in 2016 and last year they went 7-6 again and rolled over us in our won place 14-42. So…we have the bottom all to ourselves.
The Eagles don’t do a lot of flying these days. They are the kings of “meathead” football. They want to dominate the line of scrimmage and pound away at you with a feature back, then occasionally burn you with the pass. That makes them a tough team to face late in the season, when you have a lot of walking wounded to absorb those hits. They found themselves a big gun to fire at the opposition in freshman AJ Dillon, who rushed for 1,589 yards and 14 touchdowns, (Why can’t we come up with a freshman like that?). Quarterback Anthony Brown injured his knee and missed spring practice and Darius Wade, the guy Brown beat out as a freshman, transferred so if Brown can’t go at the start of the season, E. J. Perry, who has yet to play a down, will take his place. The receivers are “as good as (Coach Steve) Addazio has had since he came to the heights”. They use two tight ends to add to their power game. Tommy Sweeney and Chris Garrison combined for 51r/664y/5TD last year. Their two wide-outs are the only new starters on offense. Kobey White and Jeff Smith totaled 59r/719y/2td. The entire offensive line that totally dominated us last year is back.
The Eagles were third nationally in pass efficiency defense last year and they have one of the ACC’s top safeties back in Lukas Denis. He had 83 tackles and 7 interceptions. The other safety, Will Harris, matched Denis’ tackle total. They had a number of injuries at linebacker but that gave them the chance to play a lot of people so they have depth there. They also get back Connor Stachan, their best 2016 tackler who missed all of 2017 with an injury. “Mike” John Lamot “could have a break-out year”. They lost the dynamic Harold Landry to the NFL but Zach Allen had 91 tackles, 15.5 for a loss and 6 sacks.
Colton Lichtenberg missed 8 of 20 field goals and they are looking for anew punter. Mike Walker is a good return man (23.6kor/13.1pr)
2017
Offense: TY- 386.7 (84) RY- 220.4 (25) PY- 166.3 (114) S- 25.7 (85)
Defense: TY- 382.8 (57) RY- 190.9 (94) PY- 191.9 (24) S- 22.8 (36)
TO: +5 (30)
Summary: The schedule is unforgiving but not made of stone. The Clemson game is the only one where it’s hard to imagine SU winning. This is not the breakthrough year- I think we will follow the Baylor pattern and the big year could be next year. But I don’t see another 4-8 “almost but not quite” season again. I also don’t see a deflation in November. I think we will be a formidable opponent for all 13 of the teams we will be playing this year.
We’re heading into year three of a Dino Babers era, something, a place “where no man has gone before”. It should be an interesting ride.
For four years, Dave Clawson’s rebuilding program at Wake Forest had hard times. They seemed to be borderline pathetic at times. Here is what I said about them in past years:
2015: “Wake Forest was ”historically bad” on offense last year. (I guess we were only ‘hysterically bad’). They averaged 216 yards per game, the worst in the nation. John Wolford started as a true freshman at quarterback and finished last in the ACC in yards per attempt, throwing 12TD passes in 367 attempts. (Of course our four QB’s last year threw 382 passes and only six of them went for TDs but Wolford was their original starter). They like to spread you out and tight end Cam Serigne had 54 catches but they had no running game to speak of. They rushed for a total of 479 yards last year, 1.3 carry. They’ve got three starters back from a poor line. Wolford was sacked 45 times, most in FBS and we remember what being sacked so many times did to Andrew Robinson. The Deacs, like us, are looking for playmakers…”
2016: “Like Connecticut, they averaged 17 points a game last year. Quarterback John Wofford was decent, at best last year: 61%, 1791 yards, 9TDs 11int but he’s not a dual threat: 67 yards rushing, although he scored 3TDs. “Their young receiving corps featured the most receptions among freshman players (131) of any team in the nation.” (Lindy’s) Cortez Lewis was 47-611-4, Chucky Wade 33-348-1 and Tabari Hines 32 368-3. Those youthful playmakers suggest that we’d better beat Clawson now because things could be changing for the better in Winston Salem.
They could hardly get worse in the running game, which was 123rd in the county, (of 127 teams), with 105 yard per game last year, which was actually an improvement over the previous year, when they average an absurd 40 yards per game. Tyler Bell was their best with 451 yards, (2.5) and a single touchdown. The line has 4 of 5 starters returning. Is that a good thing? “These guys get knocked back and they can’t create any space. They’re under-manned but they are also at a disadvantage in the style in which they are asked to block. You can’t take a guy who is not as physically talented as the player that he’s going against and make him go lateral. The guy’s getting his butt kicked” (opposing coach to ESPN)”
2017: “Wake and NC State have a couple of things in common: two coaches named Dave who started their rebuilding projects before Dino Babers got here and are thus farther along than Babers is. Dave Clawson, (who preceded Babers at Bowling Green): “This will be the first time in our time here that the amount of seniors and juniors in the two-deep outnumbers the amount of freshmen and sophomores. And so what you’re seeing is all the benefits of the redshirting we’ve been doing, in that we have a lot of fourth year juniors, third year sophomores.” They have three year starters back on the offensive line and the tight end is senior Cam Serigne, (6-3, 245), who has 130 career catches despite a perennially unsettled QB situation. They had three 500 yard rushers last year for the first time since 1971 and two of them are back: Matt Colburn (626 yards) and Cade Carney (589). John Wolford, now a senior, continues to be the primary quarterback candidate after passing for 1,774 yards and 9 scores and running for 521 yards and 5 scores last year. Tabari Hines is the leading receiver with 38 catches for 447 yards. They return 97% of their offensive production, the highest percentage in the country.”
Scott Shafer beat this school all three times he played them: 13-0, 30-7 and 30-17. Dino Babers has lost both times he’s played them: 9-28 and 43-64. But he was playing a different Wake Forest than the one Shafer was playing. Hopefully this year, Wake Forest will be playing a different Syracuse than the one they played the last two years. And this might not be the same Deacons, either. John Wolford is gone after being “the best quarterback in the ACC not named Lamar Jackson”. He’ll likely be replaced by Kendall Hinton, “a good runner who must prove he can be an accurate passer and make good decisions”. They have proven players in wide receiver Greg Dortsch (53r/722yds/9tds) and running back Matt Colburn (904 yards 7TDs). The entire offensive line- four seniors and junior- return. So it will be pretty much up to Hinton to keep things going. The other pieces are there.
Their defense was as bad as the offense was good last year. They had a new staff and “At times the new coaches weren’t on the same page. All these guys have had a year; we’ve looked at it and we see our mistakes.” What they don’t see is their two starting ends from last year, two staring linebackers and their best d-back, who jumped to the NFL. They’ve also lost an all-ACC placekicker although they have their excellent punter, Dom Maggio, (no ‘Di’), who averaged 44.7. Greg Dortsch is a solid return man.
2017
Offense: TY- 465.8 (17) RY- 188.9 (37) PY- 276.8 (28) S- 35.3 (21)
Defense: TY- 457.3 (113) RY- 185.8 (89) PY- 271.5 (119) S- 28.3 (76)
TO: +8 (22)
Saturday November 9 7PM LOUISVILLE TV: ESPN2
The Lamar Jackson era is over. He was glorious, (especially against us: 17-41, 28-62 and 10-56), but how much of a glory era for Louisville football was his career here? The Cardinals went 8-5, 9-4 and then 8-5. They were 1-2 in bowl games. They were exciting and had some big games but inconsistent and flawed. Without Jackson, will they have much more than the inconsistency and the flaws? They still have Bobby Petrino, not “Man of the Year” material but a brilliant football mind who first built this program into a power when Lamar was just a kid.
They also have a quarterback with the perfect name: Jawon Pass. a 6-4 231 sophomore who “has enough potential “to make a repeat or a slight improvement on last year’s 8-5 mark a realistic aim…he will have protection from a massive line that brings back three of last year’s regular starters”, one of whom is 6-7 359, (that’s 359, not 259) Mekhi Beckton, who “has the footwork to handle faster linemen”. Three receivers who caught at least 40 balls last year return: Jaylen Smith had 60/985/7, Des Fitzpatrick 45/699/9 and Seth Dawkins 42/642/4. Fitzpatrick is the smallest of them at 6-2 202 so it will be easy for Pass to spot them so he can pass to them.
“The Cardinals have a rotating cast of running backs all trying to get healthy to claim the top spot.” 6-2 228 Dee Williams may have the inside track. He’s the top returning rusher with only 235 yards. Without Jackson the running backs will have a much heavier load.
They have their third defensive coordinator in three years. The new man Brian Van Gorder, was with Auburn, Georgia, Notre Dame and the Atlanta Falcons. He has two starters back from a defense that was disappointingly mediocre. He’s lost the starting cornerbacks, two linebackers and the entire defensive line. The returning linebacker, Dorian Etheridge “was a revelation” with 83 tackles as a freshman. Marion Character was “the top junior college safety in the nation”.
They have superb kicking: Blanton Creque hit 17 of 20 field goals and mason king punted for 43.9 yards per kick. Dawkins averaged 21.3 yards per kickoff return but the leading returning punt returner, Russ yeast, rose to only 3.3 yards per punt.
2017
Offense: TY- 544.9 (3) RY- 245.1 (15) PY- 299.8 (15) S- 38.1 (11)
Defense: TY- 388.1 (62) RY- 163.4 (63) PY- 224.7 (66) S- 27.4 (70)
TO: +2 (56)
Saturday November 17 2:30PM at Yankee Stadium NOTRE DAME TV: NBC
Historically, Syracuse actually has a competitive record against the most famous college football program of them all. We first played the Fighting Irish back in 1914 and got whipped, 0-20. The next game was the famously controversial 1961 game where Notre Dame was granted a second chance at a game-winning field goal, which under the rules at the time, they should not have received and won it 15-17. Two years later, SU gained a measure of revenge in Yankee Stadium, 14-7. The two schools didn’t play again until the late, great Walter Reyes scored 5TDs in the Dome to even the series, 38-12. The Irish won the next one, 10-34 in 2005. Then came that rare G-Rob moment of glory, a 24-23 win in South Bend in 2008. Notre Dame has won the last two 15-31 in 2014 and 33-50 in 2016. To be honest, we’ve caught them at the right time. Those eight Notre Dame teams had a total combined record of 46-43, so they were vulnerable. They didn’t play our ’59 team but we didn’t play any of their 11 consensus national champions.
We may be catching them at the right time again. They were 10-3 last year but haven’t had double figures in wins two years in a row since Lou Holtz was their coach. Star tailback Josh Adams, who rushed for 1,403 yards, jumped to the pros. They have something of a quarterback controversy. Talented Brandon Winbush, who passed for 16 scores and ran for 14 more, was pulled from their bowl game in favor of back-up Ian Book, who led the team to a win over LSU. Winbush is a multi-threat but only completed 49.5% of his passes. They lost two of their top receivers, Equaimerous St. Brown and Kevin Stephenson, (Kevin Stephenson is a name?) “two of the nation’s top offensive linemen, Quentin Nelson and Mike McGlinchy” to the NFL. Coach Brian Kelly also lost his outstanding defensive coordinator, Mike Elko, to Texas A&M.
But it’s Notre Dame. They brought in a class of 27 recruits and 14 of them are at least four stars, (although I wonder if some of them would have been rated with 3 stars had to come to Syracuse). Among the returning players, Dexter Williams will be the new starter at RB and has a lot of speed. He averaged 9.2 yards per carry last season. The other contender is Tony Jones Jr, a 5-11 220 bowling ball. (No, he’s not the son of SU’s defensive back, Tony Jones from the early 90’s.) Wimbush and Book will have some big,, strong receivers to throw to: Chase Claypool is 6-4 229 and Miles Boykin is 6-4 227. Boykin averaged 21.2 yards per catch. “Tight ends Alize Mack and Cole Kmet could be one of the nation’s top pass-catching tandems at the positon.”
Nine starters remain on defense and the guy taking over for Elko is his assistant, Clark Lea. They have a “deep and experienced defensive line led by tackle Jerry Hillary”. Returning linebacker Te’von Coney and Drue Tranquill and cornerbacks Julian Love and Shaun Crawford provide stability for a until that ranked 31st in scoring defense over a tough schedule last season. Tillery, Coney and Tranquill were courted by the NFL but decided to stay. Love set a record with 20 pass break-ups.
Their kickers are superb. Justin Yoon is 42 for 52 on field goals for his career and Tyler Newsome averaged 43.8 yards per punt. They are rebuilding their return unit.
Notre Dame will be Notre Dame when we play then but what will we be? A crippled ship with a tattered flag trying to make it into port without sinking? Or a buccaneer that’s won a series of battles with much booty but looking for more?
2017
Offense: TY- 448.2 (27) RY- 269.3 (7) PY- 178.9 (102) S- 34.2 (24)
Defense: TY- 369.2 (46) RY- 154.5 (51) PY- 214.7 (53) S- 21.5 (31)
TO: +3 (46)
Saturday November 24 TBA at BOSTON COLLEGE TV: TBA
Remember when we thought we had company at the bottom of the league with Wake Forest and Boston College? Well, in 2016 wake beat us 9-28 and went 7-6 and last year they went 8-5 and beat us 43-64. BC beat us 20-28 and went 7-6 in 2016 and last year they went 7-6 again and rolled over us in our won place 14-42. So…we have the bottom all to ourselves.
The Eagles don’t do a lot of flying these days. They are the kings of “meathead” football. They want to dominate the line of scrimmage and pound away at you with a feature back, then occasionally burn you with the pass. That makes them a tough team to face late in the season, when you have a lot of walking wounded to absorb those hits. They found themselves a big gun to fire at the opposition in freshman AJ Dillon, who rushed for 1,589 yards and 14 touchdowns, (Why can’t we come up with a freshman like that?). Quarterback Anthony Brown injured his knee and missed spring practice and Darius Wade, the guy Brown beat out as a freshman, transferred so if Brown can’t go at the start of the season, E. J. Perry, who has yet to play a down, will take his place. The receivers are “as good as (Coach Steve) Addazio has had since he came to the heights”. They use two tight ends to add to their power game. Tommy Sweeney and Chris Garrison combined for 51r/664y/5TD last year. Their two wide-outs are the only new starters on offense. Kobey White and Jeff Smith totaled 59r/719y/2td. The entire offensive line that totally dominated us last year is back.
The Eagles were third nationally in pass efficiency defense last year and they have one of the ACC’s top safeties back in Lukas Denis. He had 83 tackles and 7 interceptions. The other safety, Will Harris, matched Denis’ tackle total. They had a number of injuries at linebacker but that gave them the chance to play a lot of people so they have depth there. They also get back Connor Stachan, their best 2016 tackler who missed all of 2017 with an injury. “Mike” John Lamot “could have a break-out year”. They lost the dynamic Harold Landry to the NFL but Zach Allen had 91 tackles, 15.5 for a loss and 6 sacks.
Colton Lichtenberg missed 8 of 20 field goals and they are looking for anew punter. Mike Walker is a good return man (23.6kor/13.1pr)
2017
Offense: TY- 386.7 (84) RY- 220.4 (25) PY- 166.3 (114) S- 25.7 (85)
Defense: TY- 382.8 (57) RY- 190.9 (94) PY- 191.9 (24) S- 22.8 (36)
TO: +5 (30)
Summary: The schedule is unforgiving but not made of stone. The Clemson game is the only one where it’s hard to imagine SU winning. This is not the breakthrough year- I think we will follow the Baylor pattern and the big year could be next year. But I don’t see another 4-8 “almost but not quite” season again. I also don’t see a deflation in November. I think we will be a formidable opponent for all 13 of the teams we will be playing this year.
We’re heading into year three of a Dino Babers era, something, a place “where no man has gone before”. It should be an interesting ride.
. but listening to radio shows UL has had several say they will regress to a 4 win team, and then yesterday someone on ESPN said they will beat Alabama.
