My Take

[sutomcat]

First. regarding the pending move to the ACC, I am happy to be a survivor, and sad that UConn, WVU and yes, even RU are not going to come wiyh us. at least for now. My ideal long term conference home for SU was in an ACC-BE merged conference with all those schools, along with Pitt. Kudos to Dr Gross and the SU administration for staying on top of this.

IMHO, it doesn't make sense for the ACC to expand to the NE unless it does it with 4 schools, and gets enough NE schools on board to really capture that area of the country. There is no doubt in my mind that the ACC is going to 16 schools. Right now, they are trying to land the big fish (ND and Texas) and I think until they have exhausted the chance to land them, they will not go with plan B, which is surely to offer UConn, and either WVU or RU. My guess is that RU becomes the 16th school...time will tell. Personally, I would much prefer those schools to UT and TT. Though that might be worth more money to SU, I want easy road trips, and some schools on the schedule we have been playing for many years.

On to the game...

Wow, some serious hitting going on from both teams. Spruill is an impressive looking player. I think SU has the speed on defense now to be capable of stopping most anyone. They don't have the experience they need yet, because they are getting there. Hope the injury to Lyn is not serious. We need him and his talent out there again ASAP. Same goes for the Thomas safeties.

We hurt them early throwing underneath coverage with Bailey. Good to see us passing the ball to him again. Thought we did a decent job running the ball with Ant too, though we should given they were playing nickel coverage most of the game. Our pass blocking wasn't great but wasn't awful either. Our backs have to do a better job blocking here. I thought Nassib did a nice job. Like his ability to go to 2nd or 3rd options, thought his accuracy and toughness were good. He isn't a superstar but he is developing into a solid and reliable QB.

Our WRs appeared to have problems beating the USC press coverage...had a lot more success against cover 2. Just don't have WRs that are quite big enough and strong enough to do this. Though I thought Chew and Lemon again had fine games, and played very tough tonight. We desperately need to develop more WR depth. Thought Provo did a fine job working with what God gave him.

Fisher took over at punter for a slumping Raupers. It was time. Raupers had a bunch of low, 30 yarders going, not good. Fisher definitely has a stronger leg. Kobena looked scared and intimidated out there on KO returns. He might need to be replaced.

Lots of mistakes out there on defense. Some stupid penalties. some blown coverages. Barkley ate us up, Woods was impressive, and I really liked how well the USC players tackled in the open field. Textbook stuff. I did like our defense against the run most of the game...we look like we are going to be legit in this area. Goggins is coming on...no question about it. Ball and Sharpe are doing a nice job with the additional PT too.

Disappointing effort in some ways but I am encouraged that we were not overwhelmed by USC's great athletes. I am encouraged they couldn't run on us until near the end of the game. I do not believe we will see a group of athletes like that again this season. Also good that BC lost. UConn and Pitt look pretty bad, and while WVU looked good on offense, what happened to their defense?

Should be an interesting conference season. Weird that BE conference games are almost over. I will miss the conference...it had a lot of warts and weirdness, but it was home for me and we had some good times while we were in it.

 

[44PRIDE]

I will miss the conference...it had a lot of warts and weirdness, but it was home for me and we had some good times while we were in it.

+1

 

[MadNY3]

Much too kind of an assessment. But perhaps I was expecting too much from the coaches and players to do to 'SC what was done to us last week.

Still feels like for all this sense of discipline around the program, there are a number of stupid things that happen on the executional level. That said, I did not expect a win, but very much hoped for a tighter ball game. And agree that Raupers and Kobena just went so far backwards from what they've showed in the Dome thus far.

Beat the Mud Hens.

 

[GoCuse44]

With the number of young kids playing for SU it was tough for me to be very disappointed. I would have loved to see the Cuse shock the football world but with kids like Reddish, Lynch, Lyn, etc. playing against the talented players from USC they learned some valuable lessons tonight.

This team has a legit shot at starting the season 5-1. Who would have thought that was possible 4 years ago when we were losing to Akron.

I can't wait to see the boys take the field next Saturday afternoon. GO ORANGE !!!

 

[44PRIDE]

We were not out-coached. We just saw the difference between a team of 2-3 star players and a team of 4-5 star players. If talent were equal, I believe Syracuse wins...

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Still feels like for all this sense of discipline around the program, there are a number of stupid things that happen on the executional level.

That's something that bothers me too.

 

[GoCuse44]

We were not out-coached. We just saw the difference between a team of 2-3 star players and a team of 4-5 star players. If talent were equal, I believe Syracuse wins...

I could not agree more. Our talent level is getting better but we are no where near USC in year #3 of HCDM.

 

[jekelish]

Despite the final score and the point differential for much of the game, I think we actually competed pretty well. We just failed to convert when we needed to, and failed to STOP them from converting when we needed. Our secondary is thin as is, so losing Keon and Shamarko was just brutal. I was really impressed with Lynch, he gets after it. Everyone has been saying this at this point, but that kid is going to be a player. And Spruill is 100% going to play on Sundays.

 

[Cootface]

Our WRs appeared to have problems beating the USC press coverage...had a lot more success against cover 2. Just don't have WRs that are quite big enough and strong enough to do this. Though I thought Chew and Lemon again had fine games, and played very tough tonight. We desperately need to develop more WR depth. Thought Provo did a fine job working with what God gave him.

How do we develop depth when it seems that the only two WR out there ever are Lemon and Chew? Graham got a bit of run today, but I don't recall ever seeing West, Fleming, or any other WR. Just put one of them out there instead of our "four wide" with 2 WR and 2 TE, right?

 

[MadNY3]

We were not out-coached. We just saw the difference between a team of 2-3 star players and a team of 4-5 star players. If talent were equal, I believe Syracuse wins...

Having watched USC's first two games and having belief that Marrone could muster something against Lane Kiffin, I just expected a more competitive situation.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

How do we develop depth when it seems that the only two WR out there ever are Lemon and Chew? Graham got a bit of run today, but I don't recall ever seeing West, Fleming, or any other WR. Just put one of them out there instead of our "four wide" with 2 WR and 2 TE, right?

Good catch. We went into this season thinking that WR was one of the deepest units on the team. So far all we see is Chew, Lemon, and the occasional Sasquatch like Graham appearance. Where are the other guys?

 

[mountaincuse]

Didn't think we played terrible - just too many big plays for them and only one for us. Talent does that, score reads more lopsided than the game felt.

Team grew this week and will be better off for it. Here's to revenge next year at giant's stadium.

 

[OrangeMuskyFish]

IMO we are that team that is sitting there waiting for that one certain thing that takes us over the hump. I believe we can compete with anybody, but then, as the game gets long, you can see that we are just missing "it". A lot of positives about this game, but also that annual realization that we just aren't there yet.

 

[Rocco]

That's something that bothers me too.

It all started with Sharpe on USC's first possession. We had them pinned and he made a really bad decision on the late hit. Never really recovered from that.

 

[Madbiker]

Big disparity in overall team speed which is often what separates 5 star athletes from 2-3 star athletes.
We're making progress. It takes time.

 

[orangecuse]

Having watched USC's first two games and having belief that Marrone could muster something against Lane Kiffin, I just expected a more competitive situation.

Agree. SC this year is more like your father's Oldsmobile and not the powerhouse of recent years. Both the Golphers and Utes had SC sweating it out...so, though I did not expect a W, I certainly expected a much more competitve game...

 

[sadlerhall]

good effort by the team, but usc is just too good and has too many athletes. syracuse did not look scared or intimidated. some costly penalties and drops hurt our chances. but thought we competed well.

couldn't get any pressure on barkley and he was able to pick us apart. when we blitzed, they picked it up and recievers were open. feel confident that we can compete in the big east

 

[mantonio]

This game was MUCH closer than the score indicated. There were at least 14 points that bad ref calls gave to USC. This game was a 24-17 score...

 

[mountaincuse]

This game was MUCH closer than the score indicated. There were at least 14 points that bad ref calls gave to USC. This game was a 24-17 score...

Don't know about two scores worth of points on bad calls but I agree it was closer than the final.

 

[PhatOrange]

Having watched USC's first two games and having belief that Marrone could muster something against Lane Kiffin, I just expected a more competitive situation.

Did it cross your mind that maybe usc finally played close to their A game? I thought USC played 10x better than they have all season. Conversley if Syracuse played this same game against rhode island they would have won by 60 points. I thought syracuse played pretty well today for what they are/have. USC's speed was unbelievable they played great.

 

[mantonio]

Syracuse is ON THE RISE !!!! National Power Very Soon !!!

 

[mantonio]

Having watched USC's first two games and having belief that Marrone could muster something against Lane Kiffin, I just expected a more competitive situation.

Kiffin is a joke. USC will be a laughing stock before Kiffin gets fired. They cheated to get where they are with talent, & they will pay for it...

 

[Jasoncuse]

I thought the team competed and played hard tonight. For the most part, they weren't intimidated. They were really outmatched in terms of talent and especially speed on O. For this program to beat the likes of a USC, or eventually FSU, Miami, Va Tech, they must find playmakers on offense and some more players with speed. You can't win at the collegiate level trying to dink and dunk a team to death. You absolutely must have a breakaway threat or two, most notably at RB. Maybe the move to the ACC will help improve recruiting, because to me, Coach Marrone has a ways to go in that area. He gets the most out of the kids, but I'm nervous about his ability to recruit impact players. We shall see.

I was happy the kids didn't roll over against a much more talented USC team. They fought hard, came out ready to hit and left it all out there. Can't ask for much more than that. Hopefully, in the coming years the talent will really increase on the roster giving this program a chance to win these games. I look forward to those days.

 

[SoBeCuse]

I thought the team competed and played hard tonight. For the most part, they weren't intimidated. They were really outmatched in terms of talent and especially speed on O. For this program to beat the likes of a USC, or eventually FSU, Miami, Va Tech, they must find playmakers on offense and some more players with speed. You can't win at the collegiate level trying to dink and dunk a team to death. You absolutely must have a breakaway threat or two, most notably at RB. Maybe the move to the ACC will help improve recruiting, because to me, Coach Marrone has a ways to go in that area. He gets the most out of the kids, but I'm nervous about his ability to recruit impact players. We shall see.

I was happy the kids didn't roll over against a much more talented USC team. They fought hard, came out ready to hit and left it all out there. Can't ask for much more than that. Hopefully, in the coming years the talent will really increase on the roster giving this program a chance to win these games. I look forward to those days.

This is a very good post and the others are good too in this thread. I predicted 38-6 SC and just finished watching my DVR of it due to a concert I had to play. Like you say, SU did not roll over. They were not intimidated, played hard, and executed pretty well with the horses they have. They just don't have enough talent. No deep threat, no shifty receivers. Provo and Lemon can't be your best option in the passing game. Don't understand why the youngsters don't get more run. What's the love affair with Graham, anyways? Gotta develop a compliment to Bailey. Preferably AAM. Gulley is ok but he is another small guy. We are lucky to have Nassib. I thought the OLine played pretty darn well. Nobody could get open except for the dink'n dunks and on late game Kiffin Cover 2 scheme. Really need WR playmakers in space and down the field...on EVERY down snaps and not just gimmick or blown coverage plays! The defense performed as well as they could've minus CJones and too much time on the field. Still, Barkley had too much time back there. I was impressed how they did a pretty good job on the SC running game until garbage time.

Woods is so fluid. NICE player. Barkley was on point. They always have good FBs and Rhett Ellison is another good one. I am happy that SU was reasonably competitive in a match where the talent gap from an offensive standpoint was glaring.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Agree. SC this year is more like your father's Oldsmobile and not the powerhouse of recent years. Both the Golphers and Utes had SC sweating it out...so, though I did not expect a W, I certainly expected a much more competitve game...

Gophers did but the Utes weren't really in it. Those teams especially the Utes have more talent than SU on offense.