sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
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Wow, Pitt was not impressive...this was a game Syracuse could easily have won.
Special teams again played a key role in the game. Don't know how that ball bounced like it did but Graham has to fall on it. He has been around long enough to know that. Really disappointing, as was the reaction of the defense, which seems to give up a TD immediately after the great special teams snafu that seems to happen every game.
Our best chance to win was to run the ball...the staff knew it but falling behind early really screwed up the game plan. Pitt has one of the best pass rushes in college football but they are undersized and struggle against the run.
Thought Bailey again did a good job, getting everything he could out of his body. The kid has a big heart and never gave up on the season. Thought Jerome Smith had a fine game...to me this game was a bit of a passing of the guard as Bailey gave the starting job to Smith. Really like Jerome's power and aggressive North/South running style. I like Gulley and like the HS RBs we are involved with but to me, Smith looks very likely to be our RB of the immediate future. If there is a positive to be taken from this game, it is the play of Smith and Desir, who I thought played very well in limited snaps.
Thought Nassib played decently. Quite sure the 1st Nassib pick was on the WR who ran the wrong route. Chew should have had the one late in the 4th. The one where he was running for his life in the 4th and had the ball knocked loose again was not his fault...but he needs to tuck it away when running...the fumble on the 1st down run was definitely on him. He isn't a great QB and never will be but he is more than an adequate QB, is nowhere near our biggest problem and like it or not, he will be the starter again next season. The other QBs are not remotely close to him right now. Though I expect Hunt will make a move on Loeb and move into the backup position here this spring.
Thought Lemon had another excellent game. Don't know why the staff kind of ignored him the last couple of games...they do some interesting things at times but I am glad they featured him again. He did a great job...hard to believe he can do the tihngs he is doing is playing hurt. Hope the surgery on his shoulder is successful...we are going to really need him next season. My Christmas wish for him is to have a senior season where he is 100% healthy all season long.
The drop off from him to the next WR is alarmingly sharp. West, Chew and Graham all have some issues, though West, even with the awful fumble today, looks promising. My guess is that the 2 deep at WR next season will start with Lemon, West, Graham and either Foster or Sales, though there are a number of other players who could jump in here. I think the WRs will definitely be better as a unit. Chew was great against bad teams but a non factor in conference play. The young guys will be bigger, stronger, more physical and tougher.
At TE we have Stephens, Wales and Cutler, along with some young guys. Provo is a better blocker than these guys and we will miss him here but they run better than Nick and I think we will overall be a little better than last season here. I think Nick, who was surely banged up, struggled to run a 4.8 40 the second half of the season.
No offense to Hay or Tiller but I hope we never recruit a JUCO OL again. You can see why they ended up at Nassau all the time. Not the sharpest tools in the shed. They were the 2 power run blockers on the OL, which is going to make the power run game really hard to execute next season. There should be some spirited competition for those spots this spring. Robinson made some noise on the scout team this fall, has prototype OL size and that tough physical style of play DM loves. I think he is going to win a spot...maybe Hickey gets the other, maybe they move Trudo. Bottom line, we might lose a little in the run blocking department but we should be better pass blocking. Hay was basically a revolving door out there on passing plays except he held more than a revolving door normally does, and handed out more cheap shots too.
Thought Shamarko, for the first time this season, looked like the Shamarko of last season. He should be a lock at SS. FS is up for grabs but I think everyone is looking forward to seeing Eskridge emerge here next season. Hope the stories of his athletic gifts turn out to be true.
The loss of Lyn hurt...to me, he is our best CB. Anderson really struggled tackling today, as he has all season. He has to get tougher...but he isn't half bad in pass coverage. Both will be helped playing without casts. Thought none of our CBs had a very good season. Will miss Scott, who was probably the best of a bad bunch. I think he kept playing after dislocating a finger today. Not sure if they will move Desir back to CB...if so, he has a great chance to start.
Jones had another strong game, almost broke Sunseri's jaw with one hit. You could see he is not 100% after his injury watching him return his interception. I suspect he will have surgery after the season as well. We need him back next season...there is some depth and some good players on the DL but he is the guy who requires double teams and makes the whole defense work.
This will be an important off season for DM. He must reorganize his staff, must figure out what kind of offense he want to run/get an OC to guide it, must address the special teams disaster, and I think he has to add a couple of recruiting specialists to the staff. You need a balance of field coaches and recruiters on a great staff. Right now we have too many field coaches and not enough recruiters.
I think the OL next year is going to be a lot more athletic and will allow DM to do a lot more than he could do with the line he has had the last 2 seasons. I genuinely do not know what he is going to do on offense but it would seem that this unit will be extremely poorly suited to the power run attack, so I am hoping against hope he goes with something more progressive. If he doesn't, it does not bode well for the future.
Special teams again played a key role in the game. Don't know how that ball bounced like it did but Graham has to fall on it. He has been around long enough to know that. Really disappointing, as was the reaction of the defense, which seems to give up a TD immediately after the great special teams snafu that seems to happen every game.
Our best chance to win was to run the ball...the staff knew it but falling behind early really screwed up the game plan. Pitt has one of the best pass rushes in college football but they are undersized and struggle against the run.
Thought Bailey again did a good job, getting everything he could out of his body. The kid has a big heart and never gave up on the season. Thought Jerome Smith had a fine game...to me this game was a bit of a passing of the guard as Bailey gave the starting job to Smith. Really like Jerome's power and aggressive North/South running style. I like Gulley and like the HS RBs we are involved with but to me, Smith looks very likely to be our RB of the immediate future. If there is a positive to be taken from this game, it is the play of Smith and Desir, who I thought played very well in limited snaps.
Thought Nassib played decently. Quite sure the 1st Nassib pick was on the WR who ran the wrong route. Chew should have had the one late in the 4th. The one where he was running for his life in the 4th and had the ball knocked loose again was not his fault...but he needs to tuck it away when running...the fumble on the 1st down run was definitely on him. He isn't a great QB and never will be but he is more than an adequate QB, is nowhere near our biggest problem and like it or not, he will be the starter again next season. The other QBs are not remotely close to him right now. Though I expect Hunt will make a move on Loeb and move into the backup position here this spring.
Thought Lemon had another excellent game. Don't know why the staff kind of ignored him the last couple of games...they do some interesting things at times but I am glad they featured him again. He did a great job...hard to believe he can do the tihngs he is doing is playing hurt. Hope the surgery on his shoulder is successful...we are going to really need him next season. My Christmas wish for him is to have a senior season where he is 100% healthy all season long.
The drop off from him to the next WR is alarmingly sharp. West, Chew and Graham all have some issues, though West, even with the awful fumble today, looks promising. My guess is that the 2 deep at WR next season will start with Lemon, West, Graham and either Foster or Sales, though there are a number of other players who could jump in here. I think the WRs will definitely be better as a unit. Chew was great against bad teams but a non factor in conference play. The young guys will be bigger, stronger, more physical and tougher.
At TE we have Stephens, Wales and Cutler, along with some young guys. Provo is a better blocker than these guys and we will miss him here but they run better than Nick and I think we will overall be a little better than last season here. I think Nick, who was surely banged up, struggled to run a 4.8 40 the second half of the season.
No offense to Hay or Tiller but I hope we never recruit a JUCO OL again. You can see why they ended up at Nassau all the time. Not the sharpest tools in the shed. They were the 2 power run blockers on the OL, which is going to make the power run game really hard to execute next season. There should be some spirited competition for those spots this spring. Robinson made some noise on the scout team this fall, has prototype OL size and that tough physical style of play DM loves. I think he is going to win a spot...maybe Hickey gets the other, maybe they move Trudo. Bottom line, we might lose a little in the run blocking department but we should be better pass blocking. Hay was basically a revolving door out there on passing plays except he held more than a revolving door normally does, and handed out more cheap shots too.
Thought Shamarko, for the first time this season, looked like the Shamarko of last season. He should be a lock at SS. FS is up for grabs but I think everyone is looking forward to seeing Eskridge emerge here next season. Hope the stories of his athletic gifts turn out to be true.
The loss of Lyn hurt...to me, he is our best CB. Anderson really struggled tackling today, as he has all season. He has to get tougher...but he isn't half bad in pass coverage. Both will be helped playing without casts. Thought none of our CBs had a very good season. Will miss Scott, who was probably the best of a bad bunch. I think he kept playing after dislocating a finger today. Not sure if they will move Desir back to CB...if so, he has a great chance to start.
Jones had another strong game, almost broke Sunseri's jaw with one hit. You could see he is not 100% after his injury watching him return his interception. I suspect he will have surgery after the season as well. We need him back next season...there is some depth and some good players on the DL but he is the guy who requires double teams and makes the whole defense work.
This will be an important off season for DM. He must reorganize his staff, must figure out what kind of offense he want to run/get an OC to guide it, must address the special teams disaster, and I think he has to add a couple of recruiting specialists to the staff. You need a balance of field coaches and recruiters on a great staff. Right now we have too many field coaches and not enough recruiters.
I think the OL next year is going to be a lot more athletic and will allow DM to do a lot more than he could do with the line he has had the last 2 seasons. I genuinely do not know what he is going to do on offense but it would seem that this unit will be extremely poorly suited to the power run attack, so I am hoping against hope he goes with something more progressive. If he doesn't, it does not bode well for the future.
