My Take

[OrangeMojo]

Tuba count:

Tenn 20
SU 6

You really couldn’t hear the SU band at all in there

 

[syracuse95]

I’m not that down on erob - doesn’t have the guys to do what he wants just yet. If any coaches can build the talent here at Syracuse to eventually get there, it’s Fran and co

I get what you're saying, but I'm concerned. We had, objectively, some defensive talent last year. But we were ranked #122 in YPP allowed at 6.5 YPP, and that was against a really soft schedule.

Obviously we played a tough opponent yesterday (and the weekend's games aren't even over yet), but through last night's games only Ohio and Missouri State have allowed more YPP than us. Albany allowed fewer yards per play against Iowa than we did against Tenn. Nevada allowed fewer YPP against PSU than we did against Tenn.

I get that we need more defensive talent, but our defense shouldn't be this bad even for the talent level we have.

 

[sufandu]

We were down two scores midway in the 4th and were inside the Tenn 20, but a batted ball stopped the potential score that could have closed it to 8 points. Not sure many figured we'd be in that situation given how the first quarter went. Wipe out the two defensive TDs for Tenn and it's tied (or close to it) in the fourth. I'm thinking there's more positive than negative out of this game.

The batted ball (there were a few) and defensive TDs weren't accidents, so I don't know that we can simply say if this didn't happen or if that didn't happen. Tennessee caused those things. Over all, though, I agree with your last sentence. We went toe to toe for stretches and counterpunched a few times. I just think they were able to consistently keep the pressure up on both sides of the ball and took advantage when we cracked here and there. We have things to build on. I'm disappointed but not disheartened.

 

[upperdeck]

I am still struggling with how we approached the LB room this off-season. LB should have been the top priority to address, and besides Bryant we did nothing.

Against Tennessee, PFF run defense grades.

McDonald- 39.5, worst on team
Deslauriers- 44.4, second worst on team
Sparrow- 48.1, 4th worst on team

Deslauriers is a freshman in his first game so he gets a pass. Sparrow is disappointing, and McDonald as a 5th year senior is just unacceptable. Not upgrading at his spot may kill us this year, he's that bad

McDonald didnt stop the TD pass when the QB was really out of options and just lobbed it up.
He also was in the hole on the short TD run where he got run over

one thing Tenn did much better was win the 1-1 tackling to limit our rushing game.

 

[Justlooking]

My thoughts from a TN Fan. Syracuse’s biggest Oline problem can be fixed. A lot of times it was confusion not talent. TN got home several times with simple delayed linebacker blitzes. I know yall don’t want to believe it but the majority of TN players that went down injured never came back. We lost Jaxson Moi and Bryson Eison early. Our interior Dline was down to walk on at one point and yall RB was way too much for arm tackling. When Heupel has a Qb with a pulse he will always score. It spreads out the defense so much they can’t stack the box to slow the run. I Think Syracuse will be a good team this year. They won’t have to face many more that run hurry up and spread them out. Plus it’s hard to game plan for a team with so many new faces.

 

[blizz]

Outcome was better than I expected and we had a few things go against us early that made a huge difference, hard to overcome all three factors: talent chasm, Mr Murphy, and zebras running wild with chisels in their clippity-cloppity hooves.

Their corners were bigger and more athletic than any I have seen in quite a while. We could not cope with press coverage and the disruption to timing and spacing on routes into the boundary and the seams were noticeable. Their edges dominated and they were able to attack the protection with a combination of things but in the end they were simply overwhelmingly athletic and physical up front.

 

[Oakland]

Going into the game, I did not expect us to keep it close. Maybe if the game was later in the season but with all the turnover, it was just not realistic to expect us to be competitive here.

And yet, despite many issues and problems, the team found itself down 12 with the ball halfway through the fourth quarter or so.

So I guess I am pleased in some ways. But it felt like we blew an opportunity to pull an upset here. Kind of.

Heupel is a terrific offensive coach. He has a great scheme and he has high level athletes everywhere on the roster, except maybe QB, to execute his plans. Thought Aguilar did well overall, even though he isn’t very good throwing the ball. Lots of bad passes. But they gave him easy plays to execute and he got the job done.

Looked like they identified a major mismatch with young Samuel, and attacked him whenever they could. The kid really struggled and hopefully learned some things today. He has to improve a lot or this is going to be a long season. It did look like he got better as the game progressed.

On the positive side, it looked like Peal had a good game. Thought Bryant looked good, along with Chestnut. Pretty sure McDonald is playing with an injury so I am reluctant to criticize him a lot. But he struggled.

Thought Omopariola looked good, and Reese was okay too. Liked what Grant did. Made some nice tackles. Our DTs got dominated pretty badly. And a bunch of them got hurt. Rooks, Wilson and Thomas. They all returned to the game but it is not an encouraging thing to see so many hurt so early.

Disappointing we still can’t stop the run. Simple power runs seemingly can’t be stopped. We have a bunch of other schools on the schedule that will exploit this weakness if it continues. Also disappointing was our lack of ability to put pressure on the QB. Did we blitz at all? UT did a lot and it was a big factor in aiding them stopping some of our drives.

On offense, thought we ran it okay. Willis looks legit. Runs hard, tough guy. Nixon looked good too. We all know he is terrific as a receiver out of the backfield. Thought Angeli was good. His best play was when a blitzer came in untouched (that happened way too much), and he sidestepped him, stepped up, and just before getting sacked threw it to Bennett for a completion (pretty sure it extended a drive). Seemed to me as though he made almost all the passes he needed to make. Made the right reads for the most part and hung in there with guys in his grill.

We have to, pass block better. Our RBs have to be better picking up blitzes. Angeli needs to read blitzes and get rid of the ball faster. Thought our WRs did okay against the UT coverage, though Hood won almost every time they targeted him. He also committed PI almost every time they targeted him.

Cook appears to be a legit #1 receiver. He was open a lot and did damage when he got the ball. JRS was good. Russell made a few plays and impressed me. Gill didn’t get a lot of good chances but was there when he did. Villari was very good as a receiver and looked okay as a blocker but I think he was called for a couple procedure penalties where he presumably lined up off the LOS. Veterans can’t do that.

Stonehouse was excellent punting. Oh was good kicking off. Tripp was good kicking PATs. Kerr has to know where the ball is on coverage. Coverage units looked good. Special teams were solid. We looked like we were coached by a special teams coach who had done this job before.

I liked our game plan on offense and thought Nixon did a solid job other than the regular issues he apparently had getting plays to the offense. Plays always seemed to be coming in late and this led to rushed plays and wasted time outs. We need to do better here.

UConn enjoyed a cupcake today while we got banged up against a huge tough team. That is going to make the game more competitive. Hope we come to play and take the game seriously.

I thought the o-line talent looked pretty good, but our blocking scheme was ineffective against their front 7 schemes. I was really impressed when their 300 lb DT, paused at the LOS, then ran around our LT (who was busy blocking someone else) and tackled our QB for a sack. Impressed with that defensive play design and a 300 lb DT who is that mobile. Another sack was when we left their DE (or maybe a LB at the LOS) completely unblocked as Angeli rolled out right in front of him (very reminiscent of Brock Purdy's first career play with the 49ers when he was absolutely crushed - welcome to the NFL).

Would like to know what Fran thought of Samuel's fake injury; didn't seem very DART.

 

[wiseman3]

Would like to know what Fran thought of Samuel's fake injury; didn't seem very DART.

He was told to do it by the staff. Just look back at the replay, another player was going down at the same time before he realized Samuel was already doing it. Fran or some coach obviously signaled to do it

Zero issue with it, Tennessee was doing the same thing the whole game. Samuel was just much more obvious, lol

 

[007]

My thoughts from a TN Fan. Syracuse’s biggest Oline problem can be fixed. A lot of times it was confusion not talent. TN got home several times with simple delayed linebacker blitzes. I know yall don’t want to believe it but the majority of TN players that went down injured never came back. We lost Jaxson Moi and Bryson Eison early. Our interior Dline was down to walk on at one point and yall RB was way too much for arm tackling. When Heupel has a Qb with a pulse he will always score. It spreads out the defense so much they can’t stack the box to slow the run. I Think Syracuse will be a good team this year. They won’t have to face many more that run hurry up and spread them out. Plus it’s hard to game plan for a team with so many new faces.

Good post and very good point on the delayed LB blitzes getting home. That's typically a communication issue and something that can improve. With improvement in that area I am optimistic about the OL play going forward.

And you're right, Heupel's offense is a nightmare match up vs the glaring weakness of our D. We handled the uptempo reasonably well. But, even when we stacked the box and run blitzed with the LBs we couldn't limit the power rushing attack. This will likely continue to be an issue for our D going forward.

 

[upperdeck]

It will help to see film since it looks like oline never sees these schemes in practice

 

[kingtidge]

My take, is Jim Mora is going to run circles around ERob

We are going to need to score 40

That's my worry.

The defense is abysmal enough that "should win" games may be tighter than we would hope.

 

[007]

It will help to see film since it looks like oline never sees these schemes in practice

I'm certain this isn't true. There is more than enough experience on staff to simulate scout team looks for every scheme the offense will face. The issue is you can't replicate the size, strength, speed, athleticism, and execution of teams like Tenn, ND, Clemson, Miami.

What matter is that the players have to understand the concept of picking up those blitzes and stunts. The ability to execute those concepts at game speed vs the talent they will face is a different issue. Film study will help now that we have examples vs an elite defense.

 

[Crusty]

Going into the game, I did not expect us to keep it close. Maybe if the game was later in the season but with all the turnover, it was just not realistic to expect us to be competitive here.

And yet, despite many issues and problems, the team found itself down 12 with the ball halfway through the fourth quarter or so.

So I guess I am pleased in some ways. But it felt like we blew an opportunity to pull an upset here. Kind of.

Heupel is a terrific offensive coach. He has a great scheme and he has high level athletes everywhere on the roster, except maybe QB, to execute his plans. Thought Aguilar did well overall, even though he isn’t very good throwing the ball. Lots of bad passes. But they gave him easy plays to execute and he got the job done.

Looked like they identified a major mismatch with young Samuel, and attacked him whenever they could. The kid really struggled and hopefully learned some things today. He has to improve a lot or this is going to be a long season. It did look like he got better as the game progressed.

On the positive side, it looked like Peal had a good game. Thought Bryant looked good, along with Chestnut. Pretty sure McDonald is playing with an injury so I am reluctant to criticize him a lot. But he struggled.

Thought Omopariola looked good, and Reese was okay too. Liked what Grant did. Made some nice tackles. Our DTs got dominated pretty badly. And a bunch of them got hurt. Rooks, Wilson and Thomas. They all returned to the game but it is not an encouraging thing to see so many hurt so early.

Disappointing we still can’t stop the run. Simple power runs seemingly can’t be stopped. We have a bunch of other schools on the schedule that will exploit this weakness if it continues. Also disappointing was our lack of ability to put pressure on the QB. Did we blitz at all? UT did a lot and it was a big factor in aiding them stopping some of our drives.

On offense, thought we ran it okay. Willis looks legit. Runs hard, tough guy. Nixon looked good too. We all know he is terrific as a receiver out of the backfield. Thought Angeli was good. His best play was when a blitzer came in untouched (that happened way too much), and he sidestepped him, stepped up, and just before getting sacked threw it to Bennett for a completion (pretty sure it extended a drive). Seemed to me as though he made almost all the passes he needed to make. Made the right reads for the most part and hung in there with guys in his grill.

We have to, pass block better. Our RBs have to be better picking up blitzes. Angeli needs to read blitzes and get rid of the ball faster. Thought our WRs did okay against the UT coverage, though Hood won almost every time they targeted him. He alsoHow about that committed PI almost every time they targeted him.

Cook appears to be a legit #1 receiver. He was open a lot and did damage when he got the ball. JRS was good. Russell made a few plays and impressed me. Gill didn’t get a lot of good chances but was there when he did. Villari was very good as a receiver and looked okay as a blocker but I think he was called for a couple procedure penalties where he presumably lined up off the LOS. Veterans can’t do that.

Stonehouse was excellent punting. Oh was good kicking off. Tripp was good kicking PATs. Kerr has to know where the ball is on coverage. Coverage units looked good. Special teams were solid. We looked like we were coached by a special teams coach who had done this job before.

I liked our game plan on offense and thought Nixon did a solid job other than the regular issues he apparently had getting plays to the offense. Plays always seemed to be coming in late and this led to rushed plays and wasted time outs. We need to do better here.

UConn enjoyed a cupcake today while we got banged up against a huge tough team. That is going to make the game more competitive. Hope we come to play and take the game seriously.

How about that pooch punt?!

 

[blizz]

It will help to see film since it looks like oline never sees these schemes in practice

Always hard to simulate the athleticism and timing along with the environmental factors. You can draw it on the chalkboard a million times and account for all of the different pressures in a simulated environment until it's rote, but live is a different story.

 

[Crusty]

Uconns a tricky opponent. I suspect it will be closer them people think. Their offense has some nice skill pieces at Wr in Bell and a good RB stable. The QB Fagnano is in his 7th year (no joke) and can sling it though he has accuracy issues. If the Syracuse D doesn't shore up some of the run and coverage issues were gonna have a problem.

On the other hand Uconn defensively lost its entire front 7 from last year and 2 secondary guys. They apparently got zero pressure today vs a 1AA school and the dline struggled. I suspect SU is gonna try and ram it Down their throats and PA them once they get it going.

This game comes down to whatever D can get a few stops and or multiple turnovers. SU dominated yardage last year but mistakes had it a 1 score game. Again tricky game

And they are extremely well coached. We need to show up early.

 

[swish7]

If Samuels had intercepted that one that got tipped his way (i.e. was more alert / ready / focused) and if the bad call which stalled our 1st drive didn't happen and if they called at least 2 PIs among the blatant 6 or so, then it would be a different outcome. Not a win per se, but we would have been in it the whole time.

On a rewatch now..

If the ref doesn't call illegal shift on our 1st drive, we score on that drive. And it was also a gut punch of a call.

& if Angeli D doesn't fumble for a scoop & score, the play after we revover their fumble, the 1st quarter ends at 3-10 or 7-10, not 0-17.

2 gut punches in the 1st quarter.

 

[Oakland]

It will help to see film since it looks like oline never sees these schemes in practice

But isn't this more of a coaching/scheming issue?

 

[upperdeck]

I was joking that since we don't actually seem to want to apply pressure with our D that our oline doesnt get to practice against it much

 

[Chip]

My thoughts from a TN Fan. Syracuse’s biggest Oline problem can be fixed. A lot of times it was confusion not talent. TN got home several times with simple delayed linebacker blitzes. I know yall don’t want to believe it but the majority of TN players that went down injured never came back. We lost Jaxson Moi and Bryson Eison early. Our interior Dline was down to walk on at one point and yall RB was way too much for arm tackling. When Heupel has a Qb with a pulse he will always score. It spreads out the defense so much they can’t stack the box to slow the run. I Think Syracuse will be a good team this year. They won’t have to face many more that run hurry up and spread them out. Plus it’s hard to game plan for a team with so many new faces.

One of the best TN defensive plays was when that LB turned his head and looked back like he was headed into coverage, which then our center slid to the left to help the guard, then the guy turned and looked like he was shot out of cannon into Angeli.

 

[Chip]

Uconns a tricky opponent. I suspect it will be closer them people think. Their offense has some nice skill pieces at Wr in Bell and a good RB stable. The QB Fagnano is in his 7th year (no joke) and can sling it though he has accuracy issues. If the Syracuse D doesn't shore up some of the run and coverage issues were gonna have a problem.

On the other hand Uconn defensively lost its entire front 7 from last year and 2 secondary guys. They apparently got zero pressure today vs a 1AA school and the dline struggled. I suspect SU is gonna try and ram it Down their throats and PA them once they get it going.

This game comes down to whatever D can get a few stops and or multiple turnovers. SU dominated yardage last year but mistakes had it a 1 score game. Again tricky game

We only beat UConn by 7 last year and we had a much better team.

I have a hard time thinking we have a lopsided win, but sure hope so.

 

[sufan59]

and we had a much better team.

I’m not so sure about this one yet. What I saw with my eyes on Saturday gave me the impression that the ceiling is higher for this team. We are noticeably bigger and faster. If we can execute consistently we could have even better results. If we don’t execute consistently then yes we had a much better team last year.