sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 27,133
- Like
- 119,319
Let me start by talking about the Fine Mess tailgate*. A big crowd was not expected but there was still quite a turnout. The food was good and today marked by first time eating a burger with a fried egg up top. No bun of course. Looked like everyone had a good time, including my nerd sister, who recently completed her doctorate in education. Solid.
Stopped at the West Lot tent to get our vaccination wristbands. The staff looked a lot better at the screening than last week. No issues. No issues getting in using mobile tickets either, just like last week. I give props to SUAD for wisely separating the proof of vac/neg test from the mobile ticket scanning. Very smooth. Of course, a lot of the credit for this goes to the fans, who are doing some good work up front, loading tickets into electronic wallets, etc.
We got to the dome early and I finally had a chance to check out the new bathrooms on the lower level of the eastern concourse. They were fine. Very clean. They lack the great efficiency of pee troughs (they use antiquated individual urinals) and instead of the Uber efficient foot operated community sink, there are individual sinks. I guess everything is touchless at least. It was very clean in there.
The best thing they did in the lower level western concourse was open up the area on the exterior wall between the bathrooms. It is just a big open area where they have installed a bunch of tables. The goal was to create an area for fans to take their food and eat it, and talk a bit. This was desperately needed and I hope to see more of it in the future. It won’t be easy to do without expanding the footprint of the dome but it would be great to see more of this.
I like the kiosk type food stands and the improved food choices. They make better use of the precious space available and work well. No issues with cashless concessions as well. Getting good at waving my credit card above the reader. Yay. Hope someday to see some local specialities, but there is plenty of time for that in the future. I think we are on the right track and like what I see.
The SUMB was on their game. They only had 11 tubas today, down from 12 last week, but they sounded great and marched well. The atmosphere at a college game is great and a big part of it is the presence of the SUMB. Props to SUAD for letting them play a lot today. Seemed to be very little piped in music, which is how it should be.
Thought the sound system was markedly better than last week. It was fine in the spring during the lacrosse games. Don’t know what happened but someone screwed up the system badly during the summer. Hope that person is never allowed to touch the sound system again. That was a minor PR disaster and quite unfortunate.
Much to my surprise, Albany had some fans and they came to the game. Might have had 2 or 3 thousand there. Similar numbers to the Scarlet Plague.
Also to my surprise, Albany had a marching band and even more surprising, they came to the dome. SU even allowed them to perform at halftime. They were a small band…guessing around 40 or 45 members (2 tubas) but their uniforms looked good and they tried really hard. Glad to see one of the SUNY teams play in the dome. The state put up a lot of money to get the building built and it makes sense to have SUNY teams enjoy playing in the facility from time to time.
Let’s talk about the game now.
Albany was obviously smaller, slower and weaker than Syracuse. I am not sure a lot should be taken from watching this ongame. But it was good to see a dominating performance. It was good to see our offense move the ball and score points consistently and it was good to see another terrific performance from the defense.
Was surprised to see the new starting lineup at OL. No Davis. Vet and Servais switching positions. And Tisdale still starting. Not what I would have done and maybe Dino decided it was a bad move too. After more struggling from Tisdale, he was eventually replaced by Davis. That addressed the weak link on the OL, who otherwise played well. Bergeron continues to quietly put together terrific games and looks to be our best OL by a large margin. Bleich made a couple of dumb penalties but consistently dominates his guy. Davis looks a lit out of shape but made a big difference in pass and run blocking the moment he stepped on the field. It looked like Vet got beat on some pass plays but was not awful at RT. Looked like Servais was more than serviceable at center. Those regular instances of defenders coming at the QB untouched up the middle ended or almost ended today. Not sure what happened on the snap that went over Shrader’s head. Might have been Garrett’s fault, could not tell from my seat. Anyway, great to have Dakota back. We missed him a lot, just like last year.
The best player on the field when Syracuse was on offense was Sean Tucker. Wow, can’t say enough of how good he was. He was really good against Ohio and good against RU and came close to breaking long runs against both, but today, he was sublime. Great to also see him excel as a receiver. Getting that performance on film is going to scare a lot of DCs and give our passing game more room to operate.
Loved seeing the long pass to Alford as well. Getting that on film is great…look for him to get zoned a lot the rest of the year. He had his moment and came through. We so need a big WR with his size and speed. Losing Taj for a game might end up getting Steve going, which would be awesome.
It was also great to see Benson get a couple of looks early. Seemed destined to have a big game but got banged up on the 2nd reception. Hope he is going to be okay. Would love to see what he can do with 5 or 6 targets a game.
The second best player on the field when Syracuse had the ball might have been #96 on Albany. He was all over the field. Great athlete and someone who belongs on a bigger stage than SUNY Albany. If anyone wants to know if i want him at SU, the answer is yes!
I know what everyone is waiting for. Devito vs Shrader. What do I think?
Well I don’t think there is a clear separation yet and understand why Dino is holding off on picking a guy. Tommy is going to make less mistakes. He is going to take less chances and make less great plays too. If we end up having a strong rushing attack this year, he is probably the guy we should go with. Shrader is going to take more risks. He is going to throw more interceptions and probably more touchdowns too. He is more of a wildcard. It we need a spark when the offense becomes dysfunctional, he is the guy who might get things rolling again. Or he might be like adding gasoline to a fire. You never know.
If I were the coach, I would probably do the same thing Dino is doing. Play both for a while longer and wait for someone to emerge. Today, Tommy was probably better but against ACC defenses, there are probably going to be games Shrader will be a better fit.
Was really happy with the defenwe. Chestnut got burned early, probably over confident, then put his man on lockdown the rest of the game. Though the LBs played really well. Thompson is great, Jones is terrific and Wax is also very impressive each game.
We miss Jonathan but the rest of the DL were good and did well. With LaBrosse out, Barron played a lot and I though did well. Coley seems to play more with each game. Simmons seems to be getting better as the season progresses. Thought Cole had a solid game at CB.
Pena had a rough game. Had that pass go through his hands (looked catchable live) and got drilled by an over anxious Greyhound inside the halo on a PR. Albany rarely kicked off long, preferring to kick pooch kicks to our new #1 kickoff return guy, Darton. Darton has gotten rocked like 3 times and I think was close to fumbling all three times. Might want to replace him with someone a little more qualified to be returning kicks, at least against bad teams.
At the start of the season, I would have been happy to start the season 3-1. Liberty should be a good matchup for us. It looks like their offense is not nearly as good as last year but their defense is solid. I am guessing this is going to be a low scoring defensive struggle. It is going to be a huge game for the seniors, for Dino, for the program and the community. I hope we can get a win.
*=new and improved, now featuring Diet Dr Pepper
Stopped at the West Lot tent to get our vaccination wristbands. The staff looked a lot better at the screening than last week. No issues. No issues getting in using mobile tickets either, just like last week. I give props to SUAD for wisely separating the proof of vac/neg test from the mobile ticket scanning. Very smooth. Of course, a lot of the credit for this goes to the fans, who are doing some good work up front, loading tickets into electronic wallets, etc.
We got to the dome early and I finally had a chance to check out the new bathrooms on the lower level of the eastern concourse. They were fine. Very clean. They lack the great efficiency of pee troughs (they use antiquated individual urinals) and instead of the Uber efficient foot operated community sink, there are individual sinks. I guess everything is touchless at least. It was very clean in there.
The best thing they did in the lower level western concourse was open up the area on the exterior wall between the bathrooms. It is just a big open area where they have installed a bunch of tables. The goal was to create an area for fans to take their food and eat it, and talk a bit. This was desperately needed and I hope to see more of it in the future. It won’t be easy to do without expanding the footprint of the dome but it would be great to see more of this.
I like the kiosk type food stands and the improved food choices. They make better use of the precious space available and work well. No issues with cashless concessions as well. Getting good at waving my credit card above the reader. Yay. Hope someday to see some local specialities, but there is plenty of time for that in the future. I think we are on the right track and like what I see.
The SUMB was on their game. They only had 11 tubas today, down from 12 last week, but they sounded great and marched well. The atmosphere at a college game is great and a big part of it is the presence of the SUMB. Props to SUAD for letting them play a lot today. Seemed to be very little piped in music, which is how it should be.
Thought the sound system was markedly better than last week. It was fine in the spring during the lacrosse games. Don’t know what happened but someone screwed up the system badly during the summer. Hope that person is never allowed to touch the sound system again. That was a minor PR disaster and quite unfortunate.
Much to my surprise, Albany had some fans and they came to the game. Might have had 2 or 3 thousand there. Similar numbers to the Scarlet Plague.
Also to my surprise, Albany had a marching band and even more surprising, they came to the dome. SU even allowed them to perform at halftime. They were a small band…guessing around 40 or 45 members (2 tubas) but their uniforms looked good and they tried really hard. Glad to see one of the SUNY teams play in the dome. The state put up a lot of money to get the building built and it makes sense to have SUNY teams enjoy playing in the facility from time to time.
Let’s talk about the game now.
Albany was obviously smaller, slower and weaker than Syracuse. I am not sure a lot should be taken from watching this ongame. But it was good to see a dominating performance. It was good to see our offense move the ball and score points consistently and it was good to see another terrific performance from the defense.
Was surprised to see the new starting lineup at OL. No Davis. Vet and Servais switching positions. And Tisdale still starting. Not what I would have done and maybe Dino decided it was a bad move too. After more struggling from Tisdale, he was eventually replaced by Davis. That addressed the weak link on the OL, who otherwise played well. Bergeron continues to quietly put together terrific games and looks to be our best OL by a large margin. Bleich made a couple of dumb penalties but consistently dominates his guy. Davis looks a lit out of shape but made a big difference in pass and run blocking the moment he stepped on the field. It looked like Vet got beat on some pass plays but was not awful at RT. Looked like Servais was more than serviceable at center. Those regular instances of defenders coming at the QB untouched up the middle ended or almost ended today. Not sure what happened on the snap that went over Shrader’s head. Might have been Garrett’s fault, could not tell from my seat. Anyway, great to have Dakota back. We missed him a lot, just like last year.
The best player on the field when Syracuse was on offense was Sean Tucker. Wow, can’t say enough of how good he was. He was really good against Ohio and good against RU and came close to breaking long runs against both, but today, he was sublime. Great to also see him excel as a receiver. Getting that performance on film is going to scare a lot of DCs and give our passing game more room to operate.
Loved seeing the long pass to Alford as well. Getting that on film is great…look for him to get zoned a lot the rest of the year. He had his moment and came through. We so need a big WR with his size and speed. Losing Taj for a game might end up getting Steve going, which would be awesome.
It was also great to see Benson get a couple of looks early. Seemed destined to have a big game but got banged up on the 2nd reception. Hope he is going to be okay. Would love to see what he can do with 5 or 6 targets a game.
The second best player on the field when Syracuse had the ball might have been #96 on Albany. He was all over the field. Great athlete and someone who belongs on a bigger stage than SUNY Albany. If anyone wants to know if i want him at SU, the answer is yes!
I know what everyone is waiting for. Devito vs Shrader. What do I think?
Well I don’t think there is a clear separation yet and understand why Dino is holding off on picking a guy. Tommy is going to make less mistakes. He is going to take less chances and make less great plays too. If we end up having a strong rushing attack this year, he is probably the guy we should go with. Shrader is going to take more risks. He is going to throw more interceptions and probably more touchdowns too. He is more of a wildcard. It we need a spark when the offense becomes dysfunctional, he is the guy who might get things rolling again. Or he might be like adding gasoline to a fire. You never know.
If I were the coach, I would probably do the same thing Dino is doing. Play both for a while longer and wait for someone to emerge. Today, Tommy was probably better but against ACC defenses, there are probably going to be games Shrader will be a better fit.
Was really happy with the defenwe. Chestnut got burned early, probably over confident, then put his man on lockdown the rest of the game. Though the LBs played really well. Thompson is great, Jones is terrific and Wax is also very impressive each game.
We miss Jonathan but the rest of the DL were good and did well. With LaBrosse out, Barron played a lot and I though did well. Coley seems to play more with each game. Simmons seems to be getting better as the season progresses. Thought Cole had a solid game at CB.
Pena had a rough game. Had that pass go through his hands (looked catchable live) and got drilled by an over anxious Greyhound inside the halo on a PR. Albany rarely kicked off long, preferring to kick pooch kicks to our new #1 kickoff return guy, Darton. Darton has gotten rocked like 3 times and I think was close to fumbling all three times. Might want to replace him with someone a little more qualified to be returning kicks, at least against bad teams.
At the start of the season, I would have been happy to start the season 3-1. Liberty should be a good matchup for us. It looks like their offense is not nearly as good as last year but their defense is solid. I am guessing this is going to be a low scoring defensive struggle. It is going to be a huge game for the seniors, for Dino, for the program and the community. I hope we can get a win.
*=new and improved, now featuring Diet Dr Pepper
