sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
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The tailgate was well attended. The caterers did a nice job. The food was good and plentiful. One of my friends is a drinker and he really enjoyed the Centennial IPAs. Their higher alcohol content had him very uninhibited well before kickoff. Someone brought a UNC fan with them. He was a good dude.
As always, I enjoyed talking to. A wide variety of people about a wide variety of topics. The board tailgates are awesome. If you have been thinking about stopping by and checking one out, please do so. I can almost guarantee you will have a good time, and regret not joining us far earlier.
I left the tailgate late and barely got in the Dome for the national anthem. I was too late to hear her introduced, but it was sung by a woman in orange with a really good voice. An alum I presume?
10 tubas. When the SUMB alums joined the band for halftime festivities, we got to 12, which was really nice. Said it before but the marching and sound of the SUMB has markedly improved over the new band director. Props to all involved.
At one point, I think it was when the team took the field initially (which happened appropriately at 4:44), the cheerleaders ran on the field holding flag, as is their wont. But instead of SYRACUSE, the flags spelled OUR HOUSE, with an angry Otto flag between the words. As an aside, I always feel a sense of pride when I see Angry Otto, as I believe cto and I (maybe others) invented the concept when spitballing ideas for a board shirt (ours also sported a Viking helmet and oversized beer stein). Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool.
On the topic of ‘Our House’, there was an attempt to do the chant, led by an announcer, and unlike the last few games, this one was not very successful. It was all about timing. The worst time possible to do this chant is just as halftime is ending. Many fans are still away from their seats, unaware of what is going on. The fans that are sitting are checking their phones, having discussions with their neighbors and not very engaged. ‘Our House’ should be reserved for a timeout during the game, when the fans are really hyped up, to keep them fired up and excited. Please deploy this weapon at more appropriate times in the future.
UNC appeared to bring a couple hundred fans, which given their record, was pretty good. Nothing close to what they bring to the Dome for basketball, where they probably bring more fans than any other ACC school.
At last, it is time to talk about the game. I think ACC schools figured out very early how to defend the Babers offense. Play the receivers in tight press (man) coverage. Make all throws difficult to complete. Play 8 men in the box and blitz as needed to put pressure on Dungey. In general, if the opponent has good pass rushers and good cornerbacks, they can largely shut down the offense and we often rely on Eric to get first downs running for his life on broken plays.
The way to beat this approach is to throw the ball long. The safeties are cheating to take away short and medium passes and the run and the CBs have little or no help. If you have fast, talented WRs and a QB who can throw the long ball, this should work.
I don’t think it is a secret that Eric, never the same accurate long passer when healthy, is not 100%. I saw him working his shoulder after almost every throw he made. I think whatever is wrong with his shoulder gets worse as the game goes on. Was really hoping the bye week would allow him to heal fully but this was clearly not the case.
Anyway, I thought we rarely tried to throw long the last few weeks, which kind of plays into the hands of our opponents. Part of this might be due to bad protection by the SU OL but when you get man coverage on an island all game long, you have to make the defense pay for taking away so much of your offense with this high risk gamble.
Was happy to see us throw the ball long yesterday a lot. Heck, I bet we threw it long more than any team in the country yesterday. I have a friend who is casual fan or football. He goes to a game with me once every 2 years or so. Doesn’t understand the game. Wants SU to threw it long on every play. I try to explain how you have to run the ball and throw short and intermediate routes to influence the defense and open things up for throwing long but he doesn’t understand. This was the game plan he has been pining for,
Bottom line, Eric, who I am a huge fan of, was not making the long throws the game plan called for. Further, I think Eric was getting frustrated and made some bad decisions, forcing the ball to civered receivers, and throwing the ball to double civered receivers repeatedly. Dino had to make a change to have a chance to win.
Tommy is not going to turn broken plays into 20 yard gains very often. He is going to be super aggressive and make a really bad decision from time to time, being the frosh that he is. But he is also going to connect on long passes a lot. Even on short and intermediate passes, the difference in the zip on the passes Eric threw and Tommy threw was startling. Right now, Eric can;t throw with the accuracy and power needed to beat press coverage, so if a team is going to play press coverage against us, Tommy needs to play,
I can imagine the DC at NC State putting the film in from this game, writing down notes ‘definitely play press, 8 men in the box, business as usual’. Then DeVito enters the game. Oh uh. Is he going to start? We gotta change the whole game plan. Who do we prepare for?
I think the right thing to do is start Eric and see if we get press coverage. If so, bring in Tommy. If not, play Eric. I think Dino is smart not to say much on this. Just playing Tommy and getting him destroying press coverage on film is, imho, incredibly important and makes the task of defending the Syracuse offense far more challenging,
We might actually see teams try and defend us straight up the rest of the season. If so, that should make it far easier to run the ball and throw short and intermediate routes. We have by and large not been able to run the true Baylor spread offense to date because of our long term inability to force defenses out of press coverage. That might have changed because of what happened late yesterday.
If not, look for Tommy to come in and go deep. A lot,
I love it.
Thought this game was a huge one for the defensive coaches. In recent weeks, we have been shockingly reluctant to play backups much, especially st linebacker, and have been shockingly reluctant to change personnel to adjust even when the offense we are playing has made it clear they are running the ball no matter what.
This had to change, It was good to see the coaches took advantage of the bye week to make some changes and try and firm up the defense against the run in running situations. Thought Shy played well and having 3 linebackers on the field was a big help against the run. (Where was the call on the UNC guy that took Shy out on their punt return for the TD though)?
Was disappointed at our relative lack of a pass rush. Was sad to see the defense appear to get worn down and give up points easily towards the end of the game. Again. Was delighted to see them find a way to regroup and make key stops down the stretch to give us a chance to win.
Props to Iffy for coming in and doing well in his first real playing time here. He and Trill and Andre are going to be fun to watch the next 3.5 years in that defensive backfield.
Another crazy game either team could have won. At the least, thus has been a really interesting season. Great win,. We match up pretty well with NC State though the injuries to both starting CBs are very concerning going against their WRs. It is the battle for 2nd place in the Atlantic and if we can win, things really get interesting,
War Damn Otto!
As always, I enjoyed talking to. A wide variety of people about a wide variety of topics. The board tailgates are awesome. If you have been thinking about stopping by and checking one out, please do so. I can almost guarantee you will have a good time, and regret not joining us far earlier.
I left the tailgate late and barely got in the Dome for the national anthem. I was too late to hear her introduced, but it was sung by a woman in orange with a really good voice. An alum I presume?
10 tubas. When the SUMB alums joined the band for halftime festivities, we got to 12, which was really nice. Said it before but the marching and sound of the SUMB has markedly improved over the new band director. Props to all involved.
At one point, I think it was when the team took the field initially (which happened appropriately at 4:44), the cheerleaders ran on the field holding flag, as is their wont. But instead of SYRACUSE, the flags spelled OUR HOUSE, with an angry Otto flag between the words. As an aside, I always feel a sense of pride when I see Angry Otto, as I believe cto and I (maybe others) invented the concept when spitballing ideas for a board shirt (ours also sported a Viking helmet and oversized beer stein). Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool.
On the topic of ‘Our House’, there was an attempt to do the chant, led by an announcer, and unlike the last few games, this one was not very successful. It was all about timing. The worst time possible to do this chant is just as halftime is ending. Many fans are still away from their seats, unaware of what is going on. The fans that are sitting are checking their phones, having discussions with their neighbors and not very engaged. ‘Our House’ should be reserved for a timeout during the game, when the fans are really hyped up, to keep them fired up and excited. Please deploy this weapon at more appropriate times in the future.
UNC appeared to bring a couple hundred fans, which given their record, was pretty good. Nothing close to what they bring to the Dome for basketball, where they probably bring more fans than any other ACC school.
At last, it is time to talk about the game. I think ACC schools figured out very early how to defend the Babers offense. Play the receivers in tight press (man) coverage. Make all throws difficult to complete. Play 8 men in the box and blitz as needed to put pressure on Dungey. In general, if the opponent has good pass rushers and good cornerbacks, they can largely shut down the offense and we often rely on Eric to get first downs running for his life on broken plays.
The way to beat this approach is to throw the ball long. The safeties are cheating to take away short and medium passes and the run and the CBs have little or no help. If you have fast, talented WRs and a QB who can throw the long ball, this should work.
I don’t think it is a secret that Eric, never the same accurate long passer when healthy, is not 100%. I saw him working his shoulder after almost every throw he made. I think whatever is wrong with his shoulder gets worse as the game goes on. Was really hoping the bye week would allow him to heal fully but this was clearly not the case.
Anyway, I thought we rarely tried to throw long the last few weeks, which kind of plays into the hands of our opponents. Part of this might be due to bad protection by the SU OL but when you get man coverage on an island all game long, you have to make the defense pay for taking away so much of your offense with this high risk gamble.
Was happy to see us throw the ball long yesterday a lot. Heck, I bet we threw it long more than any team in the country yesterday. I have a friend who is casual fan or football. He goes to a game with me once every 2 years or so. Doesn’t understand the game. Wants SU to threw it long on every play. I try to explain how you have to run the ball and throw short and intermediate routes to influence the defense and open things up for throwing long but he doesn’t understand. This was the game plan he has been pining for,
Bottom line, Eric, who I am a huge fan of, was not making the long throws the game plan called for. Further, I think Eric was getting frustrated and made some bad decisions, forcing the ball to civered receivers, and throwing the ball to double civered receivers repeatedly. Dino had to make a change to have a chance to win.
Tommy is not going to turn broken plays into 20 yard gains very often. He is going to be super aggressive and make a really bad decision from time to time, being the frosh that he is. But he is also going to connect on long passes a lot. Even on short and intermediate passes, the difference in the zip on the passes Eric threw and Tommy threw was startling. Right now, Eric can;t throw with the accuracy and power needed to beat press coverage, so if a team is going to play press coverage against us, Tommy needs to play,
I can imagine the DC at NC State putting the film in from this game, writing down notes ‘definitely play press, 8 men in the box, business as usual’. Then DeVito enters the game. Oh uh. Is he going to start? We gotta change the whole game plan. Who do we prepare for?
I think the right thing to do is start Eric and see if we get press coverage. If so, bring in Tommy. If not, play Eric. I think Dino is smart not to say much on this. Just playing Tommy and getting him destroying press coverage on film is, imho, incredibly important and makes the task of defending the Syracuse offense far more challenging,
We might actually see teams try and defend us straight up the rest of the season. If so, that should make it far easier to run the ball and throw short and intermediate routes. We have by and large not been able to run the true Baylor spread offense to date because of our long term inability to force defenses out of press coverage. That might have changed because of what happened late yesterday.
If not, look for Tommy to come in and go deep. A lot,
I love it.
Thought this game was a huge one for the defensive coaches. In recent weeks, we have been shockingly reluctant to play backups much, especially st linebacker, and have been shockingly reluctant to change personnel to adjust even when the offense we are playing has made it clear they are running the ball no matter what.
This had to change, It was good to see the coaches took advantage of the bye week to make some changes and try and firm up the defense against the run in running situations. Thought Shy played well and having 3 linebackers on the field was a big help against the run. (Where was the call on the UNC guy that took Shy out on their punt return for the TD though)?
Was disappointed at our relative lack of a pass rush. Was sad to see the defense appear to get worn down and give up points easily towards the end of the game. Again. Was delighted to see them find a way to regroup and make key stops down the stretch to give us a chance to win.
Props to Iffy for coming in and doing well in his first real playing time here. He and Trill and Andre are going to be fun to watch the next 3.5 years in that defensive backfield.
Another crazy game either team could have won. At the least, thus has been a really interesting season. Great win,. We match up pretty well with NC State though the injuries to both starting CBs are very concerning going against their WRs. It is the battle for 2nd place in the Atlantic and if we can win, things really get interesting,
War Damn Otto!
