sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 27,270
- Like
- 120,207
Didn't think I was going to the game but my wife surprised me with her gift to me for our first anniversary with a travel package for the two of us to Boston, which included tickets to the game. I am a lucky man.
Flew in Thursday night. We are staying at the Intercontinental, which is pretty swank and in a great location right by the harbor and South Station. Did the sightseeing thing on Friday, had a great time. Boston is a wonderful city and has a lot to offer. Really glad to be playing BC regularly again for that reason.
We used Uber to go to and get from the game. Was impressed. Car was there within 5 minutes both ways, very affordable and the drivers were friendly and helpful. I can see why SU students want it in Syracuse. It is a great service.
The BC campus is nice. The buildings almost all use the same type of bricks and look like they were designed with a coherent plan in mind. Even the new ones. And they aren't down with the latest innovations from the school of East German architecture. Syracuse, please take note.
Great to see the SUMB attend. Hope the kids had a good time. Glad they will have two weeks to dry out the uniforms. BC's band was in all white and looked like a convention of ice cream sales people. Weird.
I was struck by the size of the infamous BC Superfan section. They bought at least 500 to the game, though most left by the end of the first quarter. Like all superheroes, the Superfans have one weakness. It was revealed yesterday. Water.
The BC fans were really quiet. Cheered on the 3 or 4 big plays their team made. Perhaps were loudest booing when The Dazzler punted on 4th and short late in the game. They were friendly, and everyone I asked confirmed they were rooting for BC to lose so that Addazio would be more likely to new fired. Solid.
There were less than 20K in the seats at kickoff, though the stands filled in later, to the point where I think there were actually 30K watching for a time. SU travelled well. Would guess we had about 20% of the fans there. Didn't go to the UConn game. How was our turnout for that one?
They have added a nice replay scoreboard to one of the end zones and ribbon scoreboards on both sidelines. The concourses are narrow, concession stands are few, with extremely limited options (but surprisingly cheap prices) and have a high school feel to them.
I had a hot dog that that appeared to be boiled. And a watered down hot chocolate. Forget about providing a wide selection, they sold no beer of any kind. Other than the attractive prices (about in line with the Carrier Dome), this is the worst setup for fans I have seen for college football. They need to add some local cuisine and move into the 1980s.
No individual seats. No backs on seats. Just aluminum benches throughout. Worst of all, no trough technology in the bathrooms.
I sat just behind the SU bench. Was struck by the stoic, rational demeanor of the staff, led by HCDB. In a game that featured many twists and turns, they remained calm throughout.
Let's talk football.
Conway has won the LT job. Played there the whole game. And played well. I didn't see anyone on the OL substituted out. Byrne's snaps were often low and a little crooked but given the conditions, not too bad. I don't think he was called for any illegal procedure penalties. Adams and McGloster were responsible for most of them, which is not new. They have to improve on this.
Early on BC really went after Dungey hard. They were poorly prepared and not ready for the delayed snaps designed to stop them from jumping the count, and SU got 4 or 5 free plays as a result. One of these plays was not called offsides and ended up being a BC interception that almost got ED thrown out of the game. Looked offsides live, no replay was shown.
After some shaky passes early, ED played really well. Was really accurate passing with short, mediums and long routes, even in hard rain. More so, he again took responsibility for keeping the BC defense honest by running the ball at times, and when he did, he get quality yardage. Even broke into the secondary for long runs several times. Looked to be the best athlete on the field all game long...the BC defenders couldn't take him in the open field. Great game for him, probably the best of his career.
BC's secondary could not handle the SU receivers. One of the CBs, #20, was picked on relentlessly, but all of them were burned often as SU was able to do what they wanted pretty much all game long. Really good game plan and it was great to see screens to the interior work consistently for the first time all year.
Amba was great again. I don't think we have had an all conference player in the ACC so far other than special team players. Amba should change that. Wow, he was good yesterday. Looked like a man among boys all game long. Philips looks more comfortable with each passing game and I love his nose for the goal line. Ismael is quietly having a terrific season as well and his catch for a TD was probably the biggest play in the game. Brisly seems to get a huge gain or two each game as well. Good to see though I would like to see someone else step up and start contributing.
On defense, yes, one has to keep in mind this effort was against BC but wow, this unit played well. It was interesting that we elected to use the base defense against them even when they were using 3 TEs but it didn't matter, they couldn't run the ball even with that advantage. Thought the SU DL dominated the BC OL at the line of scrimmage on running plays, and that was the key, though the SU LBs and safeties, and even CBs tackled really well and again were positioned properly on a consistent basis. My one quibble was the lack of a pass rush. We didn't blitz almost at all but the BC QBs had too much time way too often. If we had Sugar Bear on this team, it really would have helped a lot.
The staff has settled in with Thomas as the third LB and he keeps getting better. Really coming on. Love his speed. When they try and hard wide to his side, he beats the RB to the corner consistently. Thought Bennett had another monster game. Franklin tried to blitz some but was picked up and not a factor on passing plays very often. Ellison and Williams are set as the safeties now, Whitner isn't getting any snaps and this is probably for the best. Fredericks again started opposite Winfield at CB, again did well. Scoop got a lot of snaps backing up both of them and looks like he is going to win a starting job soon. Impressive athete.
On special teams, Hof almost had two punts blocked and needs to get his kicks off faster. Decent job in tough conditions. I am happy with what he had done. Our long snapper (Keller I think) has been great all year, with a couple games in tough conditions. Cole is kicking the ball cleaner and longer than I have ever seen from him but it doesn't matter if he can't kick it straight. I am disappointed in him. He should be better than this at this point in his career.
Brisly is leading the country in punt returns and delivered again yesterday. Fun to watch, I will miss him next year. Riley has been about as bad returning KOs as I have ever seen. Seems to run into a tackle as soon as possible all the time. Hope something clicks soon. I would guess he is close to losing that job. Hoping Shy will get one soon and have a chance to show what he can do.
BC played really physical. They have a couple good LBs they were hard hitters. Lots of hard hits during the game. Was proud of how hard SU played and thought the SU defense had some great hits, led again by Ellison, whose presence has foundamentally changed this defense, particularly against the run.
I think this is a really young Syracuse team that is learning how to win. It is really tough with almost no upperclassmen to lead the way, but the youngsters are learning and the few vets are stepping up and providing leadership. The future looks great but I am hoping we can steal another victory or two and extend this season a bit more. It is great to be able to dream about a bowl a while longer, isn't it?
Flew in Thursday night. We are staying at the Intercontinental, which is pretty swank and in a great location right by the harbor and South Station. Did the sightseeing thing on Friday, had a great time. Boston is a wonderful city and has a lot to offer. Really glad to be playing BC regularly again for that reason.
We used Uber to go to and get from the game. Was impressed. Car was there within 5 minutes both ways, very affordable and the drivers were friendly and helpful. I can see why SU students want it in Syracuse. It is a great service.
The BC campus is nice. The buildings almost all use the same type of bricks and look like they were designed with a coherent plan in mind. Even the new ones. And they aren't down with the latest innovations from the school of East German architecture. Syracuse, please take note.
Great to see the SUMB attend. Hope the kids had a good time. Glad they will have two weeks to dry out the uniforms. BC's band was in all white and looked like a convention of ice cream sales people. Weird.
I was struck by the size of the infamous BC Superfan section. They bought at least 500 to the game, though most left by the end of the first quarter. Like all superheroes, the Superfans have one weakness. It was revealed yesterday. Water.
The BC fans were really quiet. Cheered on the 3 or 4 big plays their team made. Perhaps were loudest booing when The Dazzler punted on 4th and short late in the game. They were friendly, and everyone I asked confirmed they were rooting for BC to lose so that Addazio would be more likely to new fired. Solid.
There were less than 20K in the seats at kickoff, though the stands filled in later, to the point where I think there were actually 30K watching for a time. SU travelled well. Would guess we had about 20% of the fans there. Didn't go to the UConn game. How was our turnout for that one?
They have added a nice replay scoreboard to one of the end zones and ribbon scoreboards on both sidelines. The concourses are narrow, concession stands are few, with extremely limited options (but surprisingly cheap prices) and have a high school feel to them.
I had a hot dog that that appeared to be boiled. And a watered down hot chocolate. Forget about providing a wide selection, they sold no beer of any kind. Other than the attractive prices (about in line with the Carrier Dome), this is the worst setup for fans I have seen for college football. They need to add some local cuisine and move into the 1980s.
No individual seats. No backs on seats. Just aluminum benches throughout. Worst of all, no trough technology in the bathrooms.
I sat just behind the SU bench. Was struck by the stoic, rational demeanor of the staff, led by HCDB. In a game that featured many twists and turns, they remained calm throughout.
Let's talk football.
Conway has won the LT job. Played there the whole game. And played well. I didn't see anyone on the OL substituted out. Byrne's snaps were often low and a little crooked but given the conditions, not too bad. I don't think he was called for any illegal procedure penalties. Adams and McGloster were responsible for most of them, which is not new. They have to improve on this.
Early on BC really went after Dungey hard. They were poorly prepared and not ready for the delayed snaps designed to stop them from jumping the count, and SU got 4 or 5 free plays as a result. One of these plays was not called offsides and ended up being a BC interception that almost got ED thrown out of the game. Looked offsides live, no replay was shown.
After some shaky passes early, ED played really well. Was really accurate passing with short, mediums and long routes, even in hard rain. More so, he again took responsibility for keeping the BC defense honest by running the ball at times, and when he did, he get quality yardage. Even broke into the secondary for long runs several times. Looked to be the best athlete on the field all game long...the BC defenders couldn't take him in the open field. Great game for him, probably the best of his career.
BC's secondary could not handle the SU receivers. One of the CBs, #20, was picked on relentlessly, but all of them were burned often as SU was able to do what they wanted pretty much all game long. Really good game plan and it was great to see screens to the interior work consistently for the first time all year.
Amba was great again. I don't think we have had an all conference player in the ACC so far other than special team players. Amba should change that. Wow, he was good yesterday. Looked like a man among boys all game long. Philips looks more comfortable with each passing game and I love his nose for the goal line. Ismael is quietly having a terrific season as well and his catch for a TD was probably the biggest play in the game. Brisly seems to get a huge gain or two each game as well. Good to see though I would like to see someone else step up and start contributing.
On defense, yes, one has to keep in mind this effort was against BC but wow, this unit played well. It was interesting that we elected to use the base defense against them even when they were using 3 TEs but it didn't matter, they couldn't run the ball even with that advantage. Thought the SU DL dominated the BC OL at the line of scrimmage on running plays, and that was the key, though the SU LBs and safeties, and even CBs tackled really well and again were positioned properly on a consistent basis. My one quibble was the lack of a pass rush. We didn't blitz almost at all but the BC QBs had too much time way too often. If we had Sugar Bear on this team, it really would have helped a lot.
The staff has settled in with Thomas as the third LB and he keeps getting better. Really coming on. Love his speed. When they try and hard wide to his side, he beats the RB to the corner consistently. Thought Bennett had another monster game. Franklin tried to blitz some but was picked up and not a factor on passing plays very often. Ellison and Williams are set as the safeties now, Whitner isn't getting any snaps and this is probably for the best. Fredericks again started opposite Winfield at CB, again did well. Scoop got a lot of snaps backing up both of them and looks like he is going to win a starting job soon. Impressive athete.
On special teams, Hof almost had two punts blocked and needs to get his kicks off faster. Decent job in tough conditions. I am happy with what he had done. Our long snapper (Keller I think) has been great all year, with a couple games in tough conditions. Cole is kicking the ball cleaner and longer than I have ever seen from him but it doesn't matter if he can't kick it straight. I am disappointed in him. He should be better than this at this point in his career.
Brisly is leading the country in punt returns and delivered again yesterday. Fun to watch, I will miss him next year. Riley has been about as bad returning KOs as I have ever seen. Seems to run into a tackle as soon as possible all the time. Hope something clicks soon. I would guess he is close to losing that job. Hoping Shy will get one soon and have a chance to show what he can do.
BC played really physical. They have a couple good LBs they were hard hitters. Lots of hard hits during the game. Was proud of how hard SU played and thought the SU defense had some great hits, led again by Ellison, whose presence has foundamentally changed this defense, particularly against the run.
I think this is a really young Syracuse team that is learning how to win. It is really tough with almost no upperclassmen to lead the way, but the youngsters are learning and the few vets are stepping up and providing leadership. The future looks great but I am hoping we can steal another victory or two and extend this season a bit more. It is great to be able to dream about a bowl a while longer, isn't it?
That was my one take on it. Felt like a glorified hs stadium but man what great chow.
