sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
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Kudos to Consigliere, CajunCuse, JeremyCuse, Cuseregular, Kevin, Nell and everyone else involved with the pregame tailgate. The food was great. The speidies were wonderful, the jambalaya sublime and everything else was great too. I think we expected about 120 and think about 175 showed up. Had a great time talking to everyone, catching up on things, etc. It was really hot and many drinks were consumed, most containing alcohol. I suspect there are a bunch of people who are spending quality time on the porcelain throne today, as many Genny Screamers were quaffed. They were the last beers left and many expressed surprised they could still drink them well into middle age.
Also met the director of the SUMB, who expressed appreciation for all the support people on the board have expressed towards the band and apologized for the poor tuba turnout this season. The number is five. He doesn't know what to do to address this. I suggest an alumni funded tuna incentive fund. Play tuba in the SUMB for a season, get paid $500. Is this legal? If not, maybe we use special handshakes at SUMB meet and greet functions with alums.
SU sent cheerleaders, jugglers and some of the SUMB to the Fine Lot this time. The cheerleaders brought bling; SU buttons, SU key holders with a light, orange iPhone case covers, etc. It was nice to be appreciated.
The juggler/magician dude defies description.
After a time, we headed to the Dome. It was really hot in there, really humid and really uncomfortable. That air conditioning can't get here soon enough. Some disjointed thoughts on the fan experience: I had no problems with the cell reception, but I have AT&T, so I am a bit of an outlier. I like the new Otto short they show just before he/she runs on the field before the game. It shows Otto visiting the sports facilities at Manley, worshiping the trophies there, high fiving coaches, etc. and chronicles his odyssey to the Dome. Well done. That being said, Otto's outfit is looking worn and faded. He/she badly needs a makeover.
When The Maestro was thankfully reassigned to the Saturday night midnight shift at WJPZ, it opened up a lot of time for college football stuff, like the SUMB playing more songs. It also opened up time for a feature on Orange Girl. She apparently won the Miss Syracuse content and is in the running for Miss New York. Not sure of her chances there but I can say she is a terrific talent as a baton twirler and when she was featured, she drew oohs and aahs from the crowd with her mad skills. Really like hearing the band and seeing stuff like this instead of listening to awful songs 90% of the crowd despises having to endure.
I think SU is using the ribbon boards to show game stats a lot better than in past years. The stats were timely and quite comprehensive. The only issue I had were the numbers listed for UL. But they wasn't on the people who operate the scoreboard. The crucial test will coming in coming weeks. Can someone find a way to get the scores of out of town games on the scoreboards in a comprehensive and readable way? It hasn't happened since the ribbon scoreboards were installed. There were a couple of other games played last night. I didn't see a score once. So things don't look really promising on that front.
They are still showing the new interviews with players. Great idea. Some of the questions are pretty stupid: "What do you think Otto dreams about"? But the big problem is that few, if any can understand what the players are saying. That brings me to a big issue: the sound system of the Dome is horrible. It has never been even remotely close to good, but it is worse now than it has ever been. Someone wake up Pete Sala and get him to work on this please.
It appears they are trying to do a version of the 'running of the flags' that has become a staple of basketball games, for football games. It is a disorganized mess. Appreciate the effort but it isn't happening right now.
I complained about the strong smell of diesel fumes that kind of ruined the Colgate game for me. It appears someone listened; I didn't smell a whiff of fumes last night.
Let's move on to the game now. Wow, I don't remember a game starting quite that way for Syracuse. Ever. We knew good things and bad things would come with the new coach and we saw a lot of the bad stuff last night.
The tackling was exceptional and not in a good way. I believe UL could have just run the ball outside all game long and ran up 700 yards and 50 points. Our DEs just could not hold the edge. Our OLBs were out of position on a continual basis. Our CBs were like ants trying to stop a bullet train. It was horrific. It was astounding. And the SU defense never adjusted to stop it. They had some limited success stopping runs inside but wow, stopping outside runs is going to be a problem. You can see why Slayton was moved to DE. Too mad we don't have a couple more players like him we can also move.
This wouldn't have been so bad if we were aligned to take away the pass and we were able to force UL to become one dimensional. But our pass defense was just as bad. Perhaps worse. Though it did improve somewhat over time.
What the hell happened?
I think it was a combination of things. First, give some credit to UL. Their QB is a freak athlete who is a bigger version of Michael Vick. He might be the most explosive athlete to ever play football at the Carrier Dome. It isn't just his ridiculous speed. He has exceptional agility and is also big and strong. They have some big, fast backs who also can really run. And they have some solid WRs. One in particular killed us...he was big, fast and will play for a long time on Sundays.
There is also an issue where the SU players are still learning a new system for defense and don't quite have their responsibilities down yet. Lots of blown coverages,
But the biggest problem is the athletes we have playing right now. They are small, not very fast and they are almost to a man, really poor at tackling. We have 2 DL that are ready to play at this level right now. We have 1 or no LBs ready to play at this level now. We have maybe 1 DB right to play at this level right now. The talent level is just not where it needs to be to excel at the highest level of college football. We can't really compete right now with the likes of Clemson, FSU or UL. At least not on the defensive side of the ball. The hope is that we are good enough to steal some wins against mediocre opponents like NC State, WF, BC and V Tech. Hard to include Pitt in that grouping as I saw them destroy Penn State but maybe it is because Penn State is just crappy. One positive: three turnovers.
On the offensive side of the ball, things weren't nearly as grim. Thought UL was very impressive...their front seven is legit and is going to cause problems for a lot of schools this year. Their secondary is suspect enough that I don't think they can bea the big 2 but they should beat everyone else they play in the ACC this season.
Why did SU run the ball up the middle so much when it was consistently so unsuccessful? Short answer is, because UL was giving us the middle and it should have worked. That it didn't is partly a credit to the UL front seven and partly a concern over the ability of our OL and RB to execute in a situation where they should be successful.
One of the fundamental differences between UL and SU last night was the way the pass was defended. The UL CBs and safeties were consistently in position and even when they were beaten, they played physical, bodied up the SU receivers and made it tough to make a catch. They interfered or came really come to interfering all the time. They played really physical. When we played pass defense, we were often fortunate to be within 5 yards of the intended receiver. Why? Bad technique to be sure, but our secondary and linebackers were noticeably smaller and slower than the UL skilled guys. And sadly, this was true on the other side of the ball too.
Only Amba plays with the toughness and physical nature needed to be successful against good ACC CBs. Moe Neal has the quickness to be dangerous. Ishmael is good enough to do some damage. Was really disappointed with what Strickland has done so far. Maybe Fredericks deserves more playing time?
Thought Dungey played hard and showed toughness but he made a lot of mental errors, checked into the wrong play too often, threw the ball poorly and waited way too long on passing plays, taking sacks for no reason. It is hard when your receivers are struggling to get open and your OL struggles to pass block. But he can and should do better than what happened last night. He is a different QB when the other team gets consistent pressure on him and it showed again.
On special teams, Murphy almost made a 55 yard FG, which would have been one of the lowest kicks for a FG ever had it not lined wide left. Hof isn't a punter and his work there reflects that. I don't know why Shafer didn't recruit a punter and I don't know why Babers hasn't recruited one. We really could use one with this team. Our return teams were really out-talented. Thought our coverage teams were really good.
Was really disappointed at how gassed the team got in the third quarter. Thought this team would own the fourth quarter. No evidence of that so far. As the offense gets better, maybe that will happen. We need the offense to be more consistent to have a chance to do this.
It is fun to watch this offense. It is nice to know there is still a chance to come back when SU gets down by 14 or 21 points. But when a defense gives up over 400 yards of passing yards and rushing yards, it is pretty sobering stuff. Good lord that was hard to watch.
Also met the director of the SUMB, who expressed appreciation for all the support people on the board have expressed towards the band and apologized for the poor tuba turnout this season. The number is five. He doesn't know what to do to address this. I suggest an alumni funded tuna incentive fund. Play tuba in the SUMB for a season, get paid $500. Is this legal? If not, maybe we use special handshakes at SUMB meet and greet functions with alums.
SU sent cheerleaders, jugglers and some of the SUMB to the Fine Lot this time. The cheerleaders brought bling; SU buttons, SU key holders with a light, orange iPhone case covers, etc. It was nice to be appreciated.
The juggler/magician dude defies description.
After a time, we headed to the Dome. It was really hot in there, really humid and really uncomfortable. That air conditioning can't get here soon enough. Some disjointed thoughts on the fan experience: I had no problems with the cell reception, but I have AT&T, so I am a bit of an outlier. I like the new Otto short they show just before he/she runs on the field before the game. It shows Otto visiting the sports facilities at Manley, worshiping the trophies there, high fiving coaches, etc. and chronicles his odyssey to the Dome. Well done. That being said, Otto's outfit is looking worn and faded. He/she badly needs a makeover.
When The Maestro was thankfully reassigned to the Saturday night midnight shift at WJPZ, it opened up a lot of time for college football stuff, like the SUMB playing more songs. It also opened up time for a feature on Orange Girl. She apparently won the Miss Syracuse content and is in the running for Miss New York. Not sure of her chances there but I can say she is a terrific talent as a baton twirler and when she was featured, she drew oohs and aahs from the crowd with her mad skills. Really like hearing the band and seeing stuff like this instead of listening to awful songs 90% of the crowd despises having to endure.
I think SU is using the ribbon boards to show game stats a lot better than in past years. The stats were timely and quite comprehensive. The only issue I had were the numbers listed for UL. But they wasn't on the people who operate the scoreboard. The crucial test will coming in coming weeks. Can someone find a way to get the scores of out of town games on the scoreboards in a comprehensive and readable way? It hasn't happened since the ribbon scoreboards were installed. There were a couple of other games played last night. I didn't see a score once. So things don't look really promising on that front.
They are still showing the new interviews with players. Great idea. Some of the questions are pretty stupid: "What do you think Otto dreams about"? But the big problem is that few, if any can understand what the players are saying. That brings me to a big issue: the sound system of the Dome is horrible. It has never been even remotely close to good, but it is worse now than it has ever been. Someone wake up Pete Sala and get him to work on this please.
It appears they are trying to do a version of the 'running of the flags' that has become a staple of basketball games, for football games. It is a disorganized mess. Appreciate the effort but it isn't happening right now.
I complained about the strong smell of diesel fumes that kind of ruined the Colgate game for me. It appears someone listened; I didn't smell a whiff of fumes last night.
Let's move on to the game now. Wow, I don't remember a game starting quite that way for Syracuse. Ever. We knew good things and bad things would come with the new coach and we saw a lot of the bad stuff last night.
The tackling was exceptional and not in a good way. I believe UL could have just run the ball outside all game long and ran up 700 yards and 50 points. Our DEs just could not hold the edge. Our OLBs were out of position on a continual basis. Our CBs were like ants trying to stop a bullet train. It was horrific. It was astounding. And the SU defense never adjusted to stop it. They had some limited success stopping runs inside but wow, stopping outside runs is going to be a problem. You can see why Slayton was moved to DE. Too mad we don't have a couple more players like him we can also move.
This wouldn't have been so bad if we were aligned to take away the pass and we were able to force UL to become one dimensional. But our pass defense was just as bad. Perhaps worse. Though it did improve somewhat over time.
What the hell happened?
I think it was a combination of things. First, give some credit to UL. Their QB is a freak athlete who is a bigger version of Michael Vick. He might be the most explosive athlete to ever play football at the Carrier Dome. It isn't just his ridiculous speed. He has exceptional agility and is also big and strong. They have some big, fast backs who also can really run. And they have some solid WRs. One in particular killed us...he was big, fast and will play for a long time on Sundays.
There is also an issue where the SU players are still learning a new system for defense and don't quite have their responsibilities down yet. Lots of blown coverages,
But the biggest problem is the athletes we have playing right now. They are small, not very fast and they are almost to a man, really poor at tackling. We have 2 DL that are ready to play at this level right now. We have 1 or no LBs ready to play at this level now. We have maybe 1 DB right to play at this level right now. The talent level is just not where it needs to be to excel at the highest level of college football. We can't really compete right now with the likes of Clemson, FSU or UL. At least not on the defensive side of the ball. The hope is that we are good enough to steal some wins against mediocre opponents like NC State, WF, BC and V Tech. Hard to include Pitt in that grouping as I saw them destroy Penn State but maybe it is because Penn State is just crappy. One positive: three turnovers.
On the offensive side of the ball, things weren't nearly as grim. Thought UL was very impressive...their front seven is legit and is going to cause problems for a lot of schools this year. Their secondary is suspect enough that I don't think they can bea the big 2 but they should beat everyone else they play in the ACC this season.
Why did SU run the ball up the middle so much when it was consistently so unsuccessful? Short answer is, because UL was giving us the middle and it should have worked. That it didn't is partly a credit to the UL front seven and partly a concern over the ability of our OL and RB to execute in a situation where they should be successful.
One of the fundamental differences between UL and SU last night was the way the pass was defended. The UL CBs and safeties were consistently in position and even when they were beaten, they played physical, bodied up the SU receivers and made it tough to make a catch. They interfered or came really come to interfering all the time. They played really physical. When we played pass defense, we were often fortunate to be within 5 yards of the intended receiver. Why? Bad technique to be sure, but our secondary and linebackers were noticeably smaller and slower than the UL skilled guys. And sadly, this was true on the other side of the ball too.
Only Amba plays with the toughness and physical nature needed to be successful against good ACC CBs. Moe Neal has the quickness to be dangerous. Ishmael is good enough to do some damage. Was really disappointed with what Strickland has done so far. Maybe Fredericks deserves more playing time?
Thought Dungey played hard and showed toughness but he made a lot of mental errors, checked into the wrong play too often, threw the ball poorly and waited way too long on passing plays, taking sacks for no reason. It is hard when your receivers are struggling to get open and your OL struggles to pass block. But he can and should do better than what happened last night. He is a different QB when the other team gets consistent pressure on him and it showed again.
On special teams, Murphy almost made a 55 yard FG, which would have been one of the lowest kicks for a FG ever had it not lined wide left. Hof isn't a punter and his work there reflects that. I don't know why Shafer didn't recruit a punter and I don't know why Babers hasn't recruited one. We really could use one with this team. Our return teams were really out-talented. Thought our coverage teams were really good.
Was really disappointed at how gassed the team got in the third quarter. Thought this team would own the fourth quarter. No evidence of that so far. As the offense gets better, maybe that will happen. We need the offense to be more consistent to have a chance to do this.
It is fun to watch this offense. It is nice to know there is still a chance to come back when SU gets down by 14 or 21 points. But when a defense gives up over 400 yards of passing yards and rushing yards, it is pretty sobering stuff. Good lord that was hard to watch.
