My Take

[sutomcat]

This has to be kind of short. I am exhausted. No juice left. Thank God we didn’t go into OT.

The tailgate went off perfectly. Props to all involved for serving over 200 in windy, cold conditions. At times, the wind died down and with the sun it, it was kind of nice. But hard to cook food in those temperatures. And hard to keep it warm. Good job all. Also props to those who set up the heated tented areas, where one could regain feeling in owns toes and remember what it is like to be a comfortable human. The food was all good but special props to the smash burgers, which were smashing. John is the man! Aaron and Rich are damn good too. These are the men on the grill for the SyraCruz tailgate.

I left for the dome a little early, hoping to keep my core temperature fro dropping too low. Wore a bunch of layers and sweated a lot. But I stayed pretty warm and got to see a lot of the warmups.

Miami brought some fans. Maybe close to 500. Most were in the visitor corner but a few bought better seats and sat in hostile territory. They would regret that decision later. I give UM credit for bringing their mascot and their cheerleaders up north. They had a lot of activity early running on the team celebrating TDs but alas, things slowed down pretty quickly after that.

SUMB did a tribute to Pit Bull at half time. I didn’t recognize any of the songs but I learned this thing existed reading a review in the Post Standard. Maybe it was because Pit Bull is from Miami? Anyway, it didn’t do much for me but some in the crowd seemed to appreciate it.

Let’s talk about the game. SU won the toss and deferred. Miami got the ball first. And prompted marched all the way down the field, looking every bit like the highest scoring team in the country. SU again got off to a a slow start on offense, Miami got it back and scored again. SU got stopped again and Miami scored again. It was 21-0 and things were looking quite grim. But SU executed a drive very nicely and scored a key TD to keep them in the game. They finally got a stop from the defense and scored again. And even got another stop and had a chance to tie the game up before halftime but could not make it happen.

It looked like part of our early problems on offense was too much emphasis on establishing the run. I think Coach Nixon saw something that made him think SU could run the ball on the Canes. But we couldn’t open any holes for a long time and got in the hole too often. UM was sometimes able to get a pass rush on Kyle and early on, Kyle was not playing really sharp and missed with a few passes. That would soon change.

UM has two terrific WRs, Restrepo and George and they ran a lot of play action over the middle, getting man coverage and hurt us badly for most of the game that way. They had a mismatch with Devon Grant matched up mostly against Restrepo and UM took advantage of it a lot. I saw Coach Fran talking with Grant intently before a drive, I think late in the first half and I got the feeling he was telling him he believed in him and knew he could do it. He improved some by Restrepo is a terrific WR and is going to play in the NFL got a long time. As is George (I think that was the name of number 3). Two terrific athletes.

Thought Cam Ward played quite well. He missed some throws and I think he made some bad checks, especially in the last 3 quarters, they got them in trouble. Didn’t see him completing some of the tough NFL type throws McCord did but he was solid and also hurt us some with his legs. Good, not great runner. I think we started off with no pressure and he carved us up like a turkey on Thanksgiving. We eventually started to bring pressure with the blitz and got some pressure from our DL in the second half, and that helped us out a lot in shutting them down some.

On offense, it seemed like we had little concern or respect for their CBs. We threw it long a ton and a lot of the throws were into fairly decent coverage. But our receivers are really good at catching the ball when contested and they regularly beat the UM CBs. The guy we really did not respect was #29. He looked pretty small and he wore his football pants cut up to mid thigh. Must think he has good legs or something. It was bizarre.

Anyway, if there was any debate over who the best QB in the ACC is this season, it should have been answered today. McCord made better decision, better checks, was more accurate, had more touch. You made it, Klye was better at it than Cam was. Game, set, match McCord. I hope the people that vote for the all conference team agree with me on this. If Klubnick, or whatever that guy is who tries to play QB at Clemson gets it, I will lose it. Good lord.

Thought Trevor Pena was the most dominant player in the game and he made a number of huge plays for us to put us in position to win. It was only appropriate for him to be the guy to get the final first down of the game, which effectively iced the win for Syracuse. UM simply could not cover him. I hope Trevor comes back for one more ear but if this was his last college game, he went out like a champion.

There were some changes on the OL, which by the way probably had its best game of the season. Wohlabaugh again started at LT but after a while, he was replaced by Weatherspoon and I am not sure if David ever returned. Hope he is okay. Reed didn’t play at all. Ilaoa, a fifth year senior playing in his last game in the dome, got the start and I think played quite well. Joe Cruz came in for a while in the second half at OG and again seemed to play solidly. I think he is well positioned to because a starter at OG in 2025.

Gotta take some time to ta.k about LeQuint Allen. Okay, I agree with those on the board who say he lacks breakaway speed. But he gets the most of of ever play that you can get. He almost never makes a bad decision. He is the best blocking RB we have had in many years. He is the best receiver that we have had at RB ever. And when he gets the ball inside the 10 yard line, he becomes an AA running the ball. So tough, so smart. He again came close to winning the game almost by himself down the stretch, getting up big yards and first downs when we needed them so UM could not get the ball back. If this was LeQuint’s last college game, again, props to him for going out like a champ.

Oronde was terrific again. Didn't get a ton of touches but he was doubled a lot and it opened space for the rest of the receivers. Jackson was a warrior again, fighting like a junkyard dog in the trenches for the ball, and winning 90% of the time. He is everything I was hoping for when we got him from Georgia. And more. JRS had a big play or two. We have some dogs at WR and it has made all the difference this season.

Though Coach Nixon did a great job attacking the UM defense. Had some terrific cllls, worked in some new plays and seemed to always have something up his sleeve when he neeeded it the most.

Our defense looked pretty unprepared for UM early but they settled in and ended up doing a reall good job against a unit that is legitimately as good as any offense in college football. We mixed up our overages, sent a bunch of blitzes in there and there was that one other thing that seemed to mess the UM offense up.

The crowd. This was the loudest crowd of the season and it was pretty electric from the start of the game. But the fans never gave up hope and stopped making noise and they had a big impact on the Canes in the second half, when they got in trouble and really needed to take control of the game again (and could not). Props to all you fans out there for shouting your lungs out. None of the Canes had played here and I think they were shocked at how loud it was. Will be interested to hear the comments from their players and coaches. Haven’t read a thing yet.

Not sure where we are headed. We needed UL to lose, Duke to lose, Clemson to win. All these things would have helped us and none of them happened. I think we really need at least two ACC teams to make the playoffs. Obviously Clemson can if they win the ACC championship game. It will be pretty much a home game for them so that might happen. If it does, I think the committee has to take SMU. Is there any chance Miami can also make it? I

Maybe. So many things still in play that could affect it. Would really like to see our team go out in the Florida bowl. I feel like a lot of the seniors would play if it was in a nice bowl in a warm place. Would really love to see Kyle, Justin, Marlowe and Oronde play one more time in orange so I hope it happens. Look forward to reading about all the speculation once I make this post.

It was a fun team to watch. So much of what Fran preached came true. Very proud of this team and how they hung together under adversity. On the radio, they said there was 300 recruits at the game. I think those kids couldn’t have had a better experience if a scriptwriter from Hollywood wrote out what they saw today. I think this game is going to have some significant long term impact on the program. But time will tell on that.

As for now, I am a happy dude. Let’s to Coach Fran and the players and the rest of the staff for making SU football such a pleasure to be a fan of again.

War Damn Otto!

 

[stuckinbig11]

Thank you, Tom. It is great to have My Take back.

 

[IthacaMatt]

This has to be kind of short. I am exhausted. No juice left. Thank God we didn’t go into OT.

The tailgate went off perfectly. Props to all involved for serving over 200 in windy, cold conditions. At times, the wind died down and with the sun it, it was kind of nice. But hard to cook food in those temperatures. And hard to keep it warm. Good job all. Also props to those who set up the heated tented areas, where one could regain feeling in owns toes and remember what it is like to be a comfortable human. The food was all good but special props to the smash burgers, which were smashing. John is the man! Aaron and Rich are damn good too. These are the men on the grill for the SyraCruz tailgate.

I left for the dome a little early, hoping to keep my core temperature fro dropping too low. Wore a bunch of layers and sweated a lot. But I stayed pretty warm and got to see a lot of the warmups.

Miami brought some fans. Maybe close to 500. Most were in the visitor corner but a few bought better seats and sat in hostile territory. They would regret that decision later. I give UM credit for bringing their mascot and their cheerleaders up north. They had a lot of activity early running on the team celebrating TDs but alas, things slowed down pretty quickly after that.

SUMB did a tribute to Pit Bull at half time. I didn’t recognize any of the songs but I learned this thing existed reading a review in the Post Standard. Maybe it was because Pit Bull is from Miami? Anyway, it didn’t do much for me but some in the crowd seemed to appreciate it.

Let’s talk about the game. SU won the toss and deferred. Miami got the ball first. And prompted marched all the way down the field, looking every bit like the highest scoring team in the country. SU again got off to a a slow start on offense, Miami got it back and scored again. SU got stopped again and Miami scored again. It was 21-0 and things were looking quite grim. But SU executed a drive very nicely and scored a key TD to keep them in the game. They finally got a stop from the defense and scored again. And even got another stop and had a chance to tie the game up before halftime but could not make it happen.

It looked like part of our early problems on offense was too much emphasis on establishing the run. I think Coach Nixon saw something that made him think SU could run the ball on the Canes. But we couldn’t open any holes for a long time and got in the hole too often. UM was sometimes able to get a pass rush on Kyle and early on, Kyle was not playing really sharp and missed with a few passes. That would soon change.

UM has two terrific WRs, Restrepo and George and they ran a lot of play action over the middle, getting man coverage and hurt us badly for most of the game that way. They had a mismatch with Devon Grant matched up mostly against Restrepo and UM took advantage of it a lot. I saw Coach Fran talking with Grant intently before a drive, I think late in the first half and I got the feeling he was telling him he believed in him and knew he could do it. He improved some by Restrepo is a terrific WR and is going to play in the NFL got a long time. As is George (I think that was the name of number 3). Two terrific athletes.

Thought Cam Ward played quite well. He missed some throws and I think he made some bad checks, especially in the last 3 quarters, they got them in trouble. Didn’t see him completing some of the tough NFL type throws McCord did but he was solid and also hurt us some with his legs. Good, not great runner. I think we started off with no pressure and he carved us up like a turkey on Thanksgiving. We eventually started to bring pressure with the blitz and got some pressure from our DL in the second half, and that helped us out a lot in shutting them down some.

On offense, it seemed like we had little concern or respect for their CBs. We threw it long a ton and a lot of the throws were into fairly decent coverage. But our receivers are really good at catching the ball when contested and they regularly beat the UM CBs. The guy we really did not respect was #29. He looked pretty small and he wore his football pants cut up to mid thigh. Must think he has good legs or something. It was bizarre.

Anyway, if there was any debate over who the best QB in the ACC is this season, it should have been answered today. McCord made better decision, better checks, was more accurate, had more touch. You made it, Klye was better at it than Cam was. Game, set, match McCord. I hope the people that vote for the all conference team agree with me on this. If Klubnick, or whatever that guy is who tries to play QB at Clemson gets it, I will lose it. Good lord.

Thought Trevor Pena was the most dominant player in the game and he made a number of huge plays for us to put us in position to win. It was only appropriate for him to be the guy to get the final first down of the game, which effectively iced the win for Syracuse. UM simply could not cover him. I hope Trevor comes back for one more ear but if this was his last college game, he went out like a champion.

There were some changes on the OL, which by the way probably had its best game of the season. Wohlabaugh again started at LT but after a while, he was replaced by Weatherspoon and I am not sure if David ever returned. Hope he is okay. Reed didn’t play at all. Ilaoa, a fifth year senior playing in his last game in the dome, got the start and I think played quite well. Joe Cruz came in for a while in the second half at OG and again seemed to play solidly. I think he is well positioned to because a starter at OG in 2025.

Gotta take some time to ta.k about LeQuint Allen. Okay, I agree with those on the board who say he lacks breakaway speed. But he gets the most of of ever play that you can get. He almost never makes a bad decision. He is the best blocking RB we have had in many years. He is the best receiver that we have had at RB ever. And when he gets the ball inside the 10 yard line, he becomes an AA running the ball. So tough, so smart. He again came close to winning the game almost by himself down the stretch, getting up big yards and first downs when we needed them so UM could not get the ball back. If this was LeQuint’s last college game, again, props to him for going out like a champ.

Oronde was terrific again. Didn't get a ton of touches but he was doubled a lot and it opened space for the rest of the receivers. Jackson was a warrior again, fighting like a junkyard dog in the trenches for the ball, and winning 90% of the time. He is everything I was hoping for when we got him from Georgia. And more. JRS had a big play or two. We have some dogs at WR and it has made all the difference this season.

Though Coach Nixon did a great job attacking the UM defense. Had some terrific cllls, worked in some new plays and seemed to always have something up his sleeve when he neeeded it the most.

Our defense looked pretty unprepared for UM early but they settled in and ended up doing a reall good job against a unit that is legitimately as good as any offense in college football. We mixed up our overages, sent a bunch of blitzes in there and there was that one other thing that seemed to mess the UM offense up.

The crowd. This was the loudest crowd of the season and it was pretty electric from the start of the game. But the fans never gave up hope and stopped making noise and they had a big impact on the Canes in the second half, when they got in trouble and really needed to take control of the game again (and could not). Props to all you fans out there for shouting your lungs out. None of the Canes had played here and I think they were shocked at how loud it was. Will be interested to hear the comments from their players and coaches. Haven’t read a thing yet.

Not sure where we are headed. We needed UL to lose, Duke to lose, Clemson to win. All these things would have helped us and none of them happened. I think we really need at least two ACC teams to make the playoffs. Obviously Clemson can if they win the ACC championship game. It will be pretty much a home game for them so that might happen. If it does, I think the committee has to take SMU. Is there any chance Miami can also make it? I

Maybe. So many things still in play that could affect it. Would really like to see our team go out in the Florida bowl. I feel like a lot of the seniors would play if it was in a nice bowl in a warm place. Would really love to see Kyle, Justin, Marlowe and Oronde play one more time in orange so I hope it happens. Look forward to reading about all the speculation once I make this post.

It was a fun team to watch. So much of what Fran preached came true. Very proud of this team and how they hung together under adversity. On the radio, they said there was 300 recruits at the game. I think those kids couldn’t have had a better experience if a scriptwriter from Hollywood wrote out what they saw today. I think this game is going to have some significant long term impact on the program. But time will tell on that.

As for now, I am a happy dude. Let’s to Coach Fran and the players and the rest of the staff for making SU football such a pleasure to be a fan of again.

War Damn Otto!

You know, Tomcat, you could gather these up into a book. Of course the title would be "I Have to Keep This Short". LOL

What a remarkable day to be a Syracuse fan! I agree, this is a huge day for the future of the program.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

Great call on Pena he was amazing today. OG and Meeks great games too Allen was himself in big spots.

If Clemson wins no way SMU is in front of Miami if each have 2 losses.

Don't think any of those schools played each other this year which is odd. The California schools were stupid to add honestly should have stayed pat.

 

[domedog]

Time for my annual post to thank you for your commentary! What a season!

 

[sufandu]

Loved our fight, especially after the refs did their best to give it to Miami early. I think this is the first time I've seen two huge early bad calls called out by the commentators (the PI that led to Miami's first TD) and the officiating consultant (the illegal formation that stole our first TD from us) like they were. The screw job seemed to be in at that point. It felt like that scene in Remember the Titans where the refs were clearly crooked and the coaches challenged the team to overcome it.

 

[OrangePA]

This has to be kind of short. I am exhausted. No juice left. Thank God we didn’t go into OT.

The tailgate went off perfectly. Props to all involved for serving over 200 in windy, cold conditions. At times, the wind died down and with the sun it, it was kind of nice. But hard to cook food in those temperatures. And hard to keep it warm. Good job all. Also props to those who set up the heated tented areas, where one could regain feeling in owns toes and remember what it is like to be a comfortable human. The food was all good but special props to the smash burgers, which were smashing. John is the man! Aaron and Rich are damn good too. These are the men on the grill for the SyraCruz tailgate.

I left for the dome a little early, hoping to keep my core temperature fro dropping too low. Wore a bunch of layers and sweated a lot. But I stayed pretty warm and got to see a lot of the warmups.

Miami brought some fans. Maybe close to 500. Most were in the visitor corner but a few bought better seats and sat in hostile territory. They would regret that decision later. I give UM credit for bringing their mascot and their cheerleaders up north. They had a lot of activity early running on the team celebrating TDs but alas, things slowed down pretty quickly after that.

SUMB did a tribute to Pit Bull at half time. I didn’t recognize any of the songs but I learned this thing existed reading a review in the Post Standard. Maybe it was because Pit Bull is from Miami? Anyway, it didn’t do much for me but some in the crowd seemed to appreciate it.

Let’s talk about the game. SU won the toss and deferred. Miami got the ball first. And prompted marched all the way down the field, looking every bit like the highest scoring team in the country. SU again got off to a a slow start on offense, Miami got it back and scored again. SU got stopped again and Miami scored again. It was 21-0 and things were looking quite grim. But SU executed a drive very nicely and scored a key TD to keep them in the game. They finally got a stop from the defense and scored again. And even got another stop and had a chance to tie the game up before halftime but could not make it happen.

It looked like part of our early problems on offense was too much emphasis on establishing the run. I think Coach Nixon saw something that made him think SU could run the ball on the Canes. But we couldn’t open any holes for a long time and got in the hole too often. UM was sometimes able to get a pass rush on Kyle and early on, Kyle was not playing really sharp and missed with a few passes. That would soon change.

UM has two terrific WRs, Restrepo and George and they ran a lot of play action over the middle, getting man coverage and hurt us badly for most of the game that way. They had a mismatch with Devon Grant matched up mostly against Restrepo and UM took advantage of it a lot. I saw Coach Fran talking with Grant intently before a drive, I think late in the first half and I got the feeling he was telling him he believed in him and knew he could do it. He improved some by Restrepo is a terrific WR and is going to play in the NFL got a long time. As is George (I think that was the name of number 3). Two terrific athletes.

Thought Cam Ward played quite well. He missed some throws and I think he made some bad checks, especially in the last 3 quarters, they got them in trouble. Didn’t see him completing some of the tough NFL type throws McCord did but he was solid and also hurt us some with his legs. Good, not great runner. I think we started off with no pressure and he carved us up like a turkey on Thanksgiving. We eventually started to bring pressure with the blitz and got some pressure from our DL in the second half, and that helped us out a lot in shutting them down some.

On offense, it seemed like we had little concern or respect for their CBs. We threw it long a ton and a lot of the throws were into fairly decent coverage. But our receivers are really good at catching the ball when contested and they regularly beat the UM CBs. The guy we really did not respect was #29. He looked pretty small and he wore his football pants cut up to mid thigh. Must think he has good legs or something. It was bizarre.

Anyway, if there was any debate over who the best QB in the ACC is this season, it should have been answered today. McCord made better decision, better checks, was more accurate, had more touch. You made it, Klye was better at it than Cam was. Game, set, match McCord. I hope the people that vote for the all conference team agree with me on this. If Klubnick, or whatever that guy is who tries to play QB at Clemson gets it, I will lose it. Good lord.

Thought Trevor Pena was the most dominant player in the game and he made a number of huge plays for us to put us in position to win. It was only appropriate for him to be the guy to get the final first down of the game, which effectively iced the win for Syracuse. UM simply could not cover him. I hope Trevor comes back for one more ear but if this was his last college game, he went out like a champion.

There were some changes on the OL, which by the way probably had its best game of the season. Wohlabaugh again started at LT but after a while, he was replaced by Weatherspoon and I am not sure if David ever returned. Hope he is okay. Reed didn’t play at all. Ilaoa, a fifth year senior playing in his last game in the dome, got the start and I think played quite well. Joe Cruz came in for a while in the second half at OG and again seemed to play solidly. I think he is well positioned to because a starter at OG in 2025.

Gotta take some time to ta.k about LeQuint Allen. Okay, I agree with those on the board who say he lacks breakaway speed. But he gets the most of of ever play that you can get. He almost never makes a bad decision. He is the best blocking RB we have had in many years. He is the best receiver that we have had at RB ever. And when he gets the ball inside the 10 yard line, he becomes an AA running the ball. So tough, so smart. He again came close to winning the game almost by himself down the stretch, getting up big yards and first downs when we needed them so UM could not get the ball back. If this was LeQuint’s last college game, again, props to him for going out like a champ.

Oronde was terrific again. Didn't get a ton of touches but he was doubled a lot and it opened space for the rest of the receivers. Jackson was a warrior again, fighting like a junkyard dog in the trenches for the ball, and winning 90% of the time. He is everything I was hoping for when we got him from Georgia. And more. JRS had a big play or two. We have some dogs at WR and it has made all the difference this season.

Though Coach Nixon did a great job attacking the UM defense. Had some terrific cllls, worked in some new plays and seemed to always have something up his sleeve when he neeeded it the most.

Our defense looked pretty unprepared for UM early but they settled in and ended up doing a reall good job against a unit that is legitimately as good as any offense in college football. We mixed up our overages, sent a bunch of blitzes in there and there was that one other thing that seemed to mess the UM offense up.

The crowd. This was the loudest crowd of the season and it was pretty electric from the start of the game. But the fans never gave up hope and stopped making noise and they had a big impact on the Canes in the second half, when they got in trouble and really needed to take control of the game again (and could not). Props to all you fans out there for shouting your lungs out. None of the Canes had played here and I think they were shocked at how loud it was. Will be interested to hear the comments from their players and coaches. Haven’t read a thing yet.

Not sure where we are headed. We needed UL to lose, Duke to lose, Clemson to win. All these things would have helped us and none of them happened. I think we really need at least two ACC teams to make the playoffs. Obviously Clemson can if they win the ACC championship game. It will be pretty much a home game for them so that might happen. If it does, I think the committee has to take SMU. Is there any chance Miami can also make it? I

Maybe. So many things still in play that could affect it. Would really like to see our team go out in the Florida bowl. I feel like a lot of the seniors would play if it was in a nice bowl in a warm place. Would really love to see Kyle, Justin, Marlowe and Oronde play one more time in orange so I hope it happens. Look forward to reading about all the speculation once I make this post.

It was a fun team to watch. So much of what Fran preached came true. Very proud of this team and how they hung together under adversity. On the radio, they said there was 300 recruits at the game. I think those kids couldn’t have had a better experience if a scriptwriter from Hollywood wrote out what they saw today. I think this game is going to have some significant long term impact on the program. But time will tell on that.

As for now, I am a happy dude. Let’s to Coach Fran and the players and the rest of the staff for making SU football such a pleasure to be a fan of again.

War Damn Otto!

Love LeQuint Allen. So tough!

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

Loved our fight, especially after the refs did their best to give it to Miami early. I think this is the first time I've seen two huge early bad calls called out by the commentators (the PI that led to Miami's first TD) and the officiating consultant (the illegal formation that stole our first TD from us) like they were. The screw job seemed to be in at that point. It felt like that scene in Remember the Titans where the refs were clearly crooked and the coaches challenged the team to overcome it.

Looking back it's probably best we got such an egregious bad call out of the way early. Pretty clean calls second half and when teams score quick like that the refs become more important than a ground and pound rock fight game.

 

[JustPherU]

Love LeQuint Allen. So tough!

I think we can buy him for another year, probably make more than in the league if he makes it.

 

[bballbeadle]

Looking back it's probably best we got such an egregious bad call out of the way early. Pretty clean calls second half and when teams score quick like that the refs become more important than a ground and pound rock fight game.

Tom, I found you in the second page! A lot of people posting last night and today. Wonderful write up, as always!

I know that Fran spent a long time talking to three refs. Anyone know what he said? Because the calls seemed to be more reasonable after that.

 

[sendithome]

I’m guessing Miami will fire their defensive coaches (if it hasn’t happened already). #29 played man “press” coverage however he never actually pressed. He never rerouted or even put his hands on our receivers early in the route. He used his hands once downfield plenty (often grabbing the receiver’s jersey). I don’t know if that was his playing style or the technique he was coached. The SU coaching staff made him a frequent play design target and with good reason.

 

[nycfan]

This has to be kind of short. I am exhausted. No juice left. Thank God we didn’t go into OT.

On the radio, they said there was 300 recruits at the game. I think those kids couldn’t have had a better experience if a scriptwriter from Hollywood wrote out what they saw today. I think this game is going to have some significant long term impact on the program. But time will tell on that.

Thanks Tom, sensational recap as always. This can't be overlooked -- it gets me VERY excited for the future of the program!!!

 

[DoubleDee]

The Pitbull stuff wasn’t new this week. Probably nothing to do with Miami, as much as college kids liking him?

 

[sutomcat]

Tom, I found you in the second page! A lot of people posting last night and today. Wonderful write up, as always!

I know that Fran spent a long time talking to three refs. Anyone know what he said? Because the calls seemed to be more reasonable after that.

Not sure. Haven’t seen the tv broadcast. I believe he freaked out on the illegal formation call that took a TD off the board for us. Argued passionately against that one.

Believe he was really upset about the call against the SU defense when a pass was tipped at the LOS as well. Believe that one was initially called PI but when the SU defenders pointed out the ball was tipped (can’t have defensive PI in a tipped ball), they changed the call to defensive holding.

I think there were other calls he was mad about but I was mostly focusing on the game and not his lobbying efforts.

 

[Marsh01]

Not sure. Haven’t seen the tv broadcast. I believe he freaked out on the illegal formation call that took a TD off the board for us. Argued passionately against that one.

Believe he was really upset about the call against the SU defense when a pass was tipped at the LOS as well. Believe that one was initially called PI but when the SU defenders pointed out the ball was tipped (can’t have defensive PI in a tipped ball), they changed the call to defensive holding.

I think there were other calls he was mad about but I was mostly focusing on the game and not his lobbying efforts.

That one i thought was called correctly. he literally grabbed his jersey which is clear holding. I had no problem with that call but the one where they took the td away was garbage

 

[VTAaron]

That one i thought was called correctly. he literally grabbed his jersey which is clear holding. I had no problem with that call but the one where they took the td away was garbage

I Agree... There were 2-3 questionable calls, but I think the one mentioned they got right. In all I think the Refs did a very decent job and in all fair compared to past experiences with ACC refs. Of course there were holding calls, and some other ones missed, but that is typical. There weren't any gotcha calls out side the early ones that I had much of a complaint about. Instant replay certainly got a workout in our last two home games for sure. Face it Miami did some of it to themselves with the unsportsmanlike and the offside in the end which made the difference other than LaQuint's outside runs ( I think the most I've seen all season) and Pena with those 1st downs.

What a great game to remember.

 

[Crusty]

This has to be kind of short. I am exhausted. No juice left. Thank God we didn’t go into OT.

The tailgate went off perfectly. Props to all involved for serving over 200 in windy, cold conditions. At times, the wind died down and with the sun it, it was kind of nice. But hard to cook food in those temperatures. And hard to keep it warm. Good job all. Also props to those who set up the heated tented areas, where one could regain feeling in owns toes and remember what it is like to be a comfortable human. The food was all good but special props to the smash burgers, which were smashing. John is the man! Aaron and Rich are damn good too. These are the men on the grill for the SyraCruz tailgate.

I left for the dome a little early, hoping to keep my core temperature fro dropping too low. Wore a bunch of layers and sweated a lot. But I stayed pretty warm and got to see a lot of the warmups.

Miami brought some fans. Maybe close to 500. Most were in the visitor corner but a few bought better seats and sat in hostile territory. They would regret that decision later. I give UM credit for bringing their mascot and their cheerleaders up north. They had a lot of activity early running on the team celebrating TDs but alas, things slowed down pretty quickly after that.

SUMB did a tribute to Pit Bull at half time. I didn’t recognize any of the songs but I learned this thing existed reading a review in the Post Standard. Maybe it was because Pit Bull is from Miami? Anyway, it didn’t do much for me but some in the crowd seemed to appreciate it.

Let’s talk about the game. SU won the toss and deferred. Miami got the ball first. And prompted marched all the way down the field, looking every bit like the highest scoring team in the country. SU again got off to a a slow start on offense, Miami got it back and scored again. SU got stopped again and Miami scored again. It was 21-0 and things were looking quite grim. But SU executed a drive very nicely and scored a key TD to keep them in the game. They finally got a stop from the defense and scored again. And even got another stop and had a chance to tie the game up before halftime but could not make it happen.

It looked like part of our early problems on offense was too much emphasis on establishing the run. I think Coach Nixon saw something that made him think SU could run the ball on the Canes. But we couldn’t open any holes for a long time and got in the hole too often. UM was sometimes able to get a pass rush on Kyle and early on, Kyle was not playing really sharp and missed with a few passes. That would soon change.

UM has two terrific WRs, Restrepo and George and they ran a lot of play action over the middle, getting man coverage and hurt us badly for most of the game that way. They had a mismatch with Devon Grant matched up mostly against Restrepo and UM took advantage of it a lot. I saw Coach Fran talking with Grant intently before a drive, I think late in the first half and I got the feeling he was telling him he believed in him and knew he could do it. He improved some by Restrepo is a terrific WR and is going to play in the NFL got a long time. As is George (I think that was the name of number 3). Two terrific athletes.

Thought Cam Ward played quite well. He missed some throws and I think he made some bad checks, especially in the last 3 quarters, they got them in trouble. Didn’t see him completing some of the tough NFL type throws McCord did but he was solid and also hurt us some with his legs. Good, not great runner. I think we started off with no pressure and he carved us up like a turkey on Thanksgiving. We eventually started to bring pressure with the blitz and got some pressure from our DL in the second half, and that helped us out a lot in shutting them down some.

On offense, it seemed like we had little concern or respect for their CBs. We threw it long a ton and a lot of the throws were into fairly decent coverage. But our receivers are really good at catching the ball when contested and they regularly beat the UM CBs. The guy we really did not respect was #29. He looked pretty small and he wore his football pants cut up to mid thigh. Must think he has good legs or something. It was bizarre.

Anyway, if there was any debate over who the best QB in the ACC is this season, it should have been answered today. McCord made better decision, better checks, was more accurate, had more touch. You made it, Klye was better at it than Cam was. Game, set, match McCord. I hope the people that vote for the all conference team agree with me on this. If Klubnick, or whatever that guy is who tries to play QB at Clemson gets it, I will lose it. Good lord.

Thought Trevor Pena was the most dominant player in the game and he made a number of huge plays for us to put us in position to win. It was only appropriate for him to be the guy to get the final first down of the game, which effectively iced the win for Syracuse. UM simply could not cover him. I hope Trevor comes back for one more ear but if this was his last college game, he went out like a champion.

There were some changes on the OL, which by the way probably had its best game of the season. Wohlabaugh again started at LT but after a while, he was replaced by Weatherspoon and I am not sure if David ever returned. Hope he is okay. Reed didn’t play at all. Ilaoa, a fifth year senior playing in his last game in the dome, got the start and I think played quite well. Joe Cruz came in for a while in the second half at OG and again seemed to play solidly. I think he is well positioned to because a starter at OG in 2025.

Gotta take some time to ta.k about LeQuint Allen. Okay, I agree with those on the board who say he lacks breakaway speed. But he gets the most of of ever play that you can get. He almost never makes a bad decision. He is the best blocking RB we have had in many years. He is the best receiver that we have had at RB ever. And when he gets the ball inside the 10 yard line, he becomes an AA running the ball. So tough, so smart. He again came close to winning the game almost by himself down the stretch, getting up big yards and first downs when we needed them so UM could not get the ball back. If this was LeQuint’s last college game, again, props to him for going out like a champ.

Oronde was terrific again. Didn't get a ton of touches but he was doubled a lot and it opened space for the rest of the receivers. Jackson was a warrior again, fighting like a junkyard dog in the trenches for the ball, and winning 90% of the time. He is everything I was hoping for when we got him from Georgia. And more. JRS had a big play or two. We have some dogs at WR and it has made all the difference this season.

Though Coach Nixon did a great job attacking the UM defense. Had some terrific cllls, worked in some new plays and seemed to always have something up his sleeve when he neeeded it the most.

Our defense looked pretty unprepared for UM early but they settled in and ended up doing a reall good job against a unit that is legitimately as good as any offense in college football. We mixed up our overages, sent a bunch of blitzes in there and there was that one other thing that seemed to mess the UM offense up.

The crowd. This was the loudest crowd of the season and it was pretty electric from the start of the game. But the fans never gave up hope and stopped making noise and they had a big impact on the Canes in the second half, when they got in trouble and really needed to take control of the game again (and could not). Props to all you fans out there for shouting your lungs out. None of the Canes had played here and I think they were shocked at how loud it was. Will be interested to hear the comments from their players and coaches. Haven’t read a thing yet.

Not sure where we are headed. We needed UL to lose, Duke to lose, Clemson to win. All these things would have helped us and none of them happened. I think we really need at least two ACC teams to make the playoffs. Obviously Clemson can if they win the ACC championship game. It will be pretty much a home game for them so that might happen. If it does, I think the committee has to take SMU. Is there any chance Miami can also make it? I

Maybe. So many things still in play that could affect it. Would really like to see our team go out in the Florida bowl. I feel like a lot of the seniors would play if it was in a nice bowl in a warm place. Would really love to see Kyle, Justin, Marlowe and Oronde play one more time in orange so I hope it happens. Look forward to reading about all the speculation once I make this post.

It was a fun team to watch. So much of what Fran preached came true. Very proud of this team and how they hung together under adversity. On the radio, they said there was 300 recruits at the game. I think those kids couldn’t have had a better experience if a scriptwriter from Hollywood wrote out what they saw today. I think this game is going to have some significant long term impact on the program. But time will tell on that.

As for now, I am a happy dude. Let’s to Coach Fran and the players and the rest of the staff for making SU football such a pleasure to be a fan of again.

War Damn Otto!

Other than the obvious performances by the offensive stars, I was glad that Marlowe made a touchdown saving tackle and Dills with a timely sack. Nice for them. Great day to be Orange.

 

[GoSU96]

Not sure. Haven’t seen the tv broadcast. I believe he freaked out on the illegal formation call that took a TD off the board for us. Argued passionately against that one.

Believe he was really upset about the call against the SU defense when a pass was tipped at the LOS as well. Believe that one was initially called PI but when the SU defenders pointed out the ball was tipped (can’t have defensive PI in a tipped ball), they changed the call to defensive holding.

I think there were other calls he was mad about but I was mostly focusing on the game and not his lobbying efforts.

It was Miami moving just before the snap on a td

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

It was Miami moving just before the snap on a td

Miami was really pushing it with the hard late shift. To me that’s too close to a false start. It throws the defense off, so it creates an unfair advantage for the offense. Should be a penalty.

 

[hoopsupstate]

Best group of receivers we’ve ever had. Clutch and make tough catches.

 

[VTAaron]

Other than the obvious performances by the offensive stars, I was glad that Marlowe made a touchdown saving tackle and Dills with a timely sack. Nice for them. Great day to be Orange.

The D was big on Orange for sure. and all the complaints about ST/O-DLines went away this game. I can't find really any concern faults...

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

That one i thought was called correctly. he literally grabbed his jersey which is clear holding. I had no problem with that call but the one where they took the td away was garbage

I think the question may have been if it was before or after the throw. If the ball is in the air, isn’t it PI, rather than holding, by rule?

 

[VTAaron]

I think the question may have been if it was before or after the throw. If the ball is in the air, isn’t it PI, rather than holding, by rule?

Agree, It sorta depends on where the ball was with that holding... technically it was holding because the ball was behind both with the hold call, so I would say it valid. It wasn't interference in any space of mind in my opinion. The TD bring back of course was a failed arbitrary call. It should be thrown at the start of the play/ball caught, not after the ball ran 10+ yards.. Illegal formation is mostly a bogus call these days as technically everyone is eligible if open, and the guys off the line when they got someone covering them, saying they are ineligible is a bunch of horse hockey as Henry Potter would say... And if you put the foot in the ball space your in the neutral zone garbage, so they look at the line judges and the line itself to determine a position.. Honestly 1y off should be fair game and a no call these days.

 

[Nicknack]

This has to be kind of short. I am exhausted. No juice left. Thank God we didn’t go into OT.

The tailgate went off perfectly. Props to all involved for serving over 200 in windy, cold conditions. At times, the wind died down and with the sun it, it was kind of nice. But hard to cook food in those temperatures. And hard to keep it warm. Good job all. Also props to those who set up the heated tented areas, where one could regain feeling in owns toes and remember what it is like to be a comfortable human. The food was all good but special props to the smash burgers, which were smashing. John is the man! Aaron and Rich are damn good too. These are the men on the grill for the SyraCruz tailgate.

I left for the dome a little early, hoping to keep my core temperature fro dropping too low. Wore a bunch of layers and sweated a lot. But I stayed pretty warm and got to see a lot of the warmups.

Miami brought some fans. Maybe close to 500. Most were in the visitor corner but a few bought better seats and sat in hostile territory. They would regret that decision later. I give UM credit for bringing their mascot and their cheerleaders up north. They had a lot of activity early running on the team celebrating TDs but alas, things slowed down pretty quickly after that.

SUMB did a tribute to Pit Bull at half time. I didn’t recognize any of the songs but I learned this thing existed reading a review in the Post Standard. Maybe it was because Pit Bull is from Miami? Anyway, it didn’t do much for me but some in the crowd seemed to appreciate it.

Let’s talk about the game. SU won the toss and deferred. Miami got the ball first. And prompted marched all the way down the field, looking every bit like the highest scoring team in the country. SU again got off to a a slow start on offense, Miami got it back and scored again. SU got stopped again and Miami scored again. It was 21-0 and things were looking quite grim. But SU executed a drive very nicely and scored a key TD to keep them in the game. They finally got a stop from the defense and scored again. And even got another stop and had a chance to tie the game up before halftime but could not make it happen.

It looked like part of our early problems on offense was too much emphasis on establishing the run. I think Coach Nixon saw something that made him think SU could run the ball on the Canes. But we couldn’t open any holes for a long time and got in the hole too often. UM was sometimes able to get a pass rush on Kyle and early on, Kyle was not playing really sharp and missed with a few passes. That would soon change.

UM has two terrific WRs, Restrepo and George and they ran a lot of play action over the middle, getting man coverage and hurt us badly for most of the game that way. They had a mismatch with Devon Grant matched up mostly against Restrepo and UM took advantage of it a lot. I saw Coach Fran talking with Grant intently before a drive, I think late in the first half and I got the feeling he was telling him he believed in him and knew he could do it. He improved some by Restrepo is a terrific WR and is going to play in the NFL got a long time. As is George (I think that was the name of number 3). Two terrific athletes.

Thought Cam Ward played quite well. He missed some throws and I think he made some bad checks, especially in the last 3 quarters, they got them in trouble. Didn’t see him completing some of the tough NFL type throws McCord did but he was solid and also hurt us some with his legs. Good, not great runner. I think we started off with no pressure and he carved us up like a turkey on Thanksgiving. We eventually started to bring pressure with the blitz and got some pressure from our DL in the second half, and that helped us out a lot in shutting them down some.

On offense, it seemed like we had little concern or respect for their CBs. We threw it long a ton and a lot of the throws were into fairly decent coverage. But our receivers are really good at catching the ball when contested and they regularly beat the UM CBs. The guy we really did not respect was #29. He looked pretty small and he wore his football pants cut up to mid thigh. Must think he has good legs or something. It was bizarre.

Anyway, if there was any debate over who the best QB in the ACC is this season, it should have been answered today. McCord made better decision, better checks, was more accurate, had more touch. You made it, Klye was better at it than Cam was. Game, set, match McCord. I hope the people that vote for the all conference team agree with me on this. If Klubnick, or whatever that guy is who tries to play QB at Clemson gets it, I will lose it. Good lord.

Thought Trevor Pena was the most dominant player in the game and he made a number of huge plays for us to put us in position to win. It was only appropriate for him to be the guy to get the final first down of the game, which effectively iced the win for Syracuse. UM simply could not cover him. I hope Trevor comes back for one more ear but if this was his last college game, he went out like a champion.

There were some changes on the OL, which by the way probably had its best game of the season. Wohlabaugh again started at LT but after a while, he was replaced by Weatherspoon and I am not sure if David ever returned. Hope he is okay. Reed didn’t play at all. Ilaoa, a fifth year senior playing in his last game in the dome, got the start and I think played quite well. Joe Cruz came in for a while in the second half at OG and again seemed to play solidly. I think he is well positioned to because a starter at OG in 2025.

Gotta take some time to ta.k about LeQuint Allen. Okay, I agree with those on the board who say he lacks breakaway speed. But he gets the most of of ever play that you can get. He almost never makes a bad decision. He is the best blocking RB we have had in many years. He is the best receiver that we have had at RB ever. And when he gets the ball inside the 10 yard line, he becomes an AA running the ball. So tough, so smart. He again came close to winning the game almost by himself down the stretch, getting up big yards and first downs when we needed them so UM could not get the ball back. If this was LeQuint’s last college game, again, props to him for going out like a champ.

Oronde was terrific again. Didn't get a ton of touches but he was doubled a lot and it opened space for the rest of the receivers. Jackson was a warrior again, fighting like a junkyard dog in the trenches for the ball, and winning 90% of the time. He is everything I was hoping for when we got him from Georgia. And more. JRS had a big play or two. We have some dogs at WR and it has made all the difference this season.

Though Coach Nixon did a great job attacking the UM defense. Had some terrific cllls, worked in some new plays and seemed to always have something up his sleeve when he neeeded it the most.

Our defense looked pretty unprepared for UM early but they settled in and ended up doing a reall good job against a unit that is legitimately as good as any offense in college football. We mixed up our overages, sent a bunch of blitzes in there and there was that one other thing that seemed to mess the UM offense up.

The crowd. This was the loudest crowd of the season and it was pretty electric from the start of the game. But the fans never gave up hope and stopped making noise and they had a big impact on the Canes in the second half, when they got in trouble and really needed to take control of the game again (and could not). Props to all you fans out there for shouting your lungs out. None of the Canes had played here and I think they were shocked at how loud it was. Will be interested to hear the comments from their players and coaches. Haven’t read a thing yet.

Not sure where we are headed. We needed UL to lose, Duke to lose, Clemson to win. All these things would have helped us and none of them happened. I think we really need at least two ACC teams to make the playoffs. Obviously Clemson can if they win the ACC championship game. It will be pretty much a home game for them so that might happen. If it does, I think the committee has to take SMU. Is there any chance Miami can also make it? I

Maybe. So many things still in play that could affect it. Would really like to see our team go out in the Florida bowl. I feel like a lot of the seniors would play if it was in a nice bowl in a warm place. Would really love to see Kyle, Justin, Marlowe and Oronde play one more time in orange so I hope it happens. Look forward to reading about all the speculation once I make this post.

It was a fun team to watch. So much of what Fran preached came true. Very proud of this team and how they hung together under adversity. On the radio, they said there was 300 recruits at the game. I think those kids couldn’t have had a better experience if a scriptwriter from Hollywood wrote out what they saw today. I think this game is going to have some significant long term impact on the program. But time will tell on that.

As for now, I am a happy dude. Let’s to Coach Fran and the players and the rest of the staff for making SU football such a pleasure to be a fan of again.

War Damn Otto!

Another great write up as usual! Just a few things that came to mind while reading your points...

- Seems like when OG gets involved and makes a play early, good things happen. I was very happy when he caught the first throw (or maybe second - I don't recall, I was drinking). When he doesn't make a play early, sometimes he vanishes.

- Pena is soooo good. Just a damn good football player.

- LeQuint Allen is a flat out warrior. Watching his comments in pressers, I think he's half crazy, but that's what makes him a guy that you always want on your team. He makes plays when you desperately need them.

- I am so happy and thankful to have experienced McCord this year. Aside from his amazing talent, he just handles himself like a pro. Unfortunately, it may be a loooong time before we get another QB of his caliber.

- Was it Nixon that Fran went ballistic at after Willis fumbled the ball. It appeared, while watching on tv, that he was upset LA didn't get the ball which he probably attributed to the fumble. He was beyond pissed. What was cool though was a little later in the game, they showed the two coaches hugging each other. Great moment.

 

[VTAaron]

Another great write up as usual! Just a few things that came to mind while reading your points...

- Seems like when OG gets involved and makes a play early, good things happen. I was very happy when he caught the first throw (or maybe second - I don't recall, I was drinking). When he doesn't make a play early, sometimes he vanishes.

- Pena is soooo good. Just a damn good football player.

- LeQuint Allen is a flat out warrior. Watching his comments in pressers, I think he's half crazy, but that's what makes him a guy that you always want on your team. He makes plays when you desperately need them.

- I am so happy and thankful to have experienced McCord this year. Aside from his amazing talent, he just handles himself like a pro. Unfortunately, it may be a loooong time before we get another QB of his caliber.

- Was it Nixon that Fran went ballistic at after Willis fumbled the ball. It appeared, while watching on tv, that he was upset LA didn't get the ball which he probably attributed to the fumble. He was beyond pissed. What was cool though was a little later in the game, they showed the two coaches hugging each other. Great moment.

It's ironic as I sit on the home side in 335, and it appears you and sutomcat see across the field at the SU teams. I missed all the coach interactions.