Let me start by thanking the 36 people who played in the golf tournament yesterday. Actually, 35 played, 34 not counting me. Hope everyone had a good time. At this time, the plan is to do it again next year, hopefully with more help and more participants. I won't have the final numbers for a couple of days but we raised something in the range of 300 to 400 dollars for the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation. Special thanks to DCCuse and Orangeyes for helping me organize and run the tournament. And thanks to the crew at the Links at Erie Village. The course was in fine shape, they did a solid job hosting and the food and service was excellent.
This game was the board tailgate and as such, was unusually well attended. I don't know what the count was, but I would guess it was somewhere about 80 or 90. ESPN came with their cameras and asked permission to shoot the scene for the opening of their telecast. I told them fine...assume they used it on air. They tend to do this for every game they televise at the Dome.
The tailgate was well run. CuseRegular had his famous egg, sausage and cheese breakfast sandwiches going. In addition, there was sausage with peppers and onions and lots of other stuff, including hash browns. Well done to everyone involved.
I had a chance to talk to albanycuse, mantonio, shizzle, and a number of others for the first time and renewed acquiescences with many others. Very good time.
Headed up to the Dome where on the way, I was dissed by Floyd Little. If you have to be dissed, get dissed by a 3 time All American. Thanks Floyd.
Lots of changes this year. Let's start with the most important. 11. That was the number of tubas. We haven't been at double figures for years, so I think this is good news. We must be at a minimum of 12 for our entry into the ACC next year, so we are almost there. Okay, there probably isn't an ACC rule on the minimum numbers of tubas required in the marching band for conference members, but there should be. And the number should be 12.
Didn't see a lot of the half time show so I can't comment on it much. I will say that the band got way out of whack on the national anthem, different sections were seconds apart from each other and the result was quite alarming to the crowd and all animals in the areas surrounding the Dome.
The new video was, I thought, very well done. Did a fine job of getting the crowd into a frenzy just before the team ran on the field. Against all odds, the timing for it was perfect today. 44 is featured prominently in it. That enough would be good for me. Well done Roger.
Really like the look of the ribbon scoreboards but as feared, they were completely wasted as the inept SU staff used them to show the score and time remaining (available in many places already) and to display a series of mind numbing ads. They also have a pyromaniac fetish fire thing they show when they want the crowd to make noise. These boards can and should be used to showing real time statistics like QB throwing stats, RB running stats, yardage and first down info, etc. What a pathetic waste of money. I hope this changes and changes soon.
The two new LED scoreboards are a tremendous upgrade over the 2 crappy ones that were installed about 10 years ago. You can clearly see replays on them, can read text and see what on them from any seat in the Dome. I know because I sit about as far as possible from both of them. They showed a ton of replays and I really enjoyed being able to see what happened on a given play, as if I were at home, while sitting in my seat in the Dome. Thanks Pepsi for paying for these things. Even if you don't make any ginger ale products you backward, flatulent running dogs of imperialism. Kudos to Dr Gross for getting them in. The Dome is now miles in front of the bare bones Dollar Store atmosphere of the Rent and a half a mile in front of unsightly and second rate Alliance KMart Rutgers Stadium, or whatever it is they call it now. My biggest peeve is that I want more stats and I want them real time, all the time and I want them for basketball too so you better get going on it Sala, because I am not a patient man and this needs to get done now.
Was interested in the much improved wireless access in the Dome. Swing and a miss for me anyway. I saw there were several wifi networks I could join, but my attempts to connect failed for a long time. I eventually connected, but the speed was bad. I sit under a vent, next to the opponent's coaching box, and to be fair, it is hard to get a signal in such a confined space, but still, this was a big disappointment. Even when I dropped down several rows, the speed of my connection was bad. This was particularly disappointing because of the size of the crowd.
At kickoff, there were about 20K in the stands. A lot of people were late, especially students, and the crowd later got in the range of 27 or 28K. Props to the students for eventually getting to the Dome. They filled their sections on the lower level and and upper level. Might have been the biggest turnout of students ever for a football game.
That being said, I believe tickets were free, as already mentioned, thousands were not there at kickoff and at least 25% left before the 3rd quarter ended, missing a remarkable comeback.
The people that were there were loud and I think crowd noise played a role in the struggles NW had at the beginning and end of the game moving the ball.
What a strange game it was. Syracuse completely dominates the 1st quarter and ends up trailing by one anyway. NW was not able to move the ball on offense much, our DL was very good early, and it took several freak plays to keep them in the game.
When Nassib, who was brilliant in the first half, threw a screen back a little low to Smith at the start of the 2nd half, and Smith a) did not make a good effort to catch it and 2) did not bother to try and recover the ball that had bounced off his hands even 3) after the NW player who picked it up stopped running and looked around to see what the refs were going to do. TexanMark or LincolnCuse thought Smith would not enter the game again but he did get a few snaps later in the game. Probably lost his starting job and featured role though.
So NW scores 28 straight points to put the game almost out of reach. A lot of people left. And then, it happened. Syracuse suddenly starts moving the ball again, mostly on long passes, and the SU defense, which was very bad in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, becomes stout again (helped by the injury to the NW starting QB, who constitutes approximately 80% of their offense). When the dust had settled, SU answered the 28-0 run and their own 27-0 run and SU had the lead with 2:40 left.
I give NW a lot of credit for marching down the field and getting into the red zone with the SU crowd making so much noise and NW forced to use their 2nd string QB (though truth be told he threw the ball a lot better than the starter and it might have been a good break for them to have him in the game late like he was).
I couldn't bring myself to listen to the radio after and haven't seen any highlights or replays, and haven't read any posts on the board. That being said, I thought the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Lyn was a bad call. There was no intent to injure the player. Yes, he gave him a shove but it was not a hard one and in that situation, late in the game when it is almost impossible to make up a bad call, you don't make that call unless something blatant was done. Still, Lyn was foolish to shove the NW player, it just gave the refs an opportunity to make a bad call and they did. This is not the first time Lyn has done this. He has to learn to control himself. If the call is not made, NW has what, 4th down and about 14 yards to go. The game is over with one more play.
Given that Lemon and Stevens, our two best receivers, both sat out the game, I thought the offense was overall very good. Nassib threw the ball really well until he was injured (I hope it wasn't a concussion). After that, it took a while before he was back to throwing the ball well and during that time, the game really got out of hand. Overall, I thought he had a really good game and looks to be well positioned to have a huge senior season. Watching him run all those option plays was unnerving for me. He doesn't have great foot speed or agility and looked like he was a drunk sailor hurrying to go to pee. But it got the job done. I hope he can stay healthy.
Thought Jerome Smith had a good game other than the fumble/drop/brain fart whatever you want to call it. He has some speed and moves the pile when he makes contact. Wasn't like shovel pass Nassib made to Smith while running for his life that ended up gaining 40 or so yards a thing of beauty? He showed some agility too. Still, that turnover was huge.
Thought Gulley did a nice job too. He did some damage inside and outside, cuts really well and was able to beat his man one on one a couple of times. As Smith and Broyld also did. It is great having RBs this year that can make someone miss in the open field. It is one of the reasons the offense is going to be far better this year than last.
I too was disappointed Broyld did not get more snaps (I haven't read it but I know CuseRegular was unhappy about this). He makes things happen when he gets in the game. But he also missed a block on a play early which caused a running play to lose yardage. He is not where he needs to be or will end up being but even now, he is fun to watch and a player to be reckoned with. I look forward to more Broyld in the future.
Looked to me like we put some new plays in for the game that NW was completely unprepared for. The quick outside pitches did some damage early, despite the efforts of Alexander, who jumped offsides 3 times I think, all on this play. Was really pleased to see us using a no huddle offense, where plays were executed as quickly as we could run them. What a refreshing thing it was to see our offense putting pressure on a defense, catching them in the wrong package sometimes, seeing confusion and panic from time to time. Well done Hackett and DM!
Really liked the new approach with personnel too. I think a fullback might have played a few snaps in short yardage situations, not even sure if that happened. The base formation had 3 WRs out there, which put a lot more speed on the field for Syracuse and gave us the ability to spread the field more and get more open space to throw to. With Lemon and Foster, arguably our best 2 WRs out, along with Flemming, we played 4 WRs in those 3 slots most of the game. Sales, West, Clark and Kobena played a ton of snaps. Thought they did well...we really missed Lemon's downfield blocking and his ability to make big catches over the middle, but our healthy WRs rose to the occasion. Sales played a key role in two interceptions...one was a bad pass by Nassib that was one Ryan. The other...Sales has to hold on to the ball. He had another bad drop but overall, for his first game back in a long while, he did really well and I am happy for him. Thought West did a nice job out there, he can run and he can catch it and is much improved over last season. Clark had a really bad fumble where it looked like he separated his shoulder landing awkwardly, but he was back in the game later and he made some big plays for us. He is really thin and weak, almost didn't get a PI against NW because he did not run hard through a blatant hold from a CB. Good to see him run though, he really can fly. And Kobena made some nice plays, most memorably the big TD late in the game to get us the lead. Thought our WRs looked really tired on the last drive. Wish we had more bodies to play there. Wish we had Broyld out there with his fresh legs.
Thought the OL did a fine job. Alexander had his problems and I think it is going to be a no brainer to move Hickey to RT once Pugh returns. Saw Phillips in there for Lou briefly. Looked like they gave Trudo a lot of work at RG, though Foy played there more than Rob did. Thought both did pretty well though Trudo had an embarassing penalty early on. Thought Mackey had his best game ever. He is bigger now and I think is much more ready to play at this level now. He got cramps and was replaced by Trudo in the series that ended up getting us the lead. Trudo was solid in that series at center by the way. Thought Hickey and Chibane were solid. Impressed Hickey ended up looking like a vet in his first start.
Liked what Wales and Cutler did at TE. Call me crazy but I think Wales is faster and more agile than Provo was last year (pretty sure Nick played hurt most or all of the season). Shame we didn't have Stevens out there against that putrid NW secondary. He could have really done damage after he beat his linebacker. Really glad to see Cutler contributing to the team. He looked genuinely good out there and I hope he continues to get touches as the season progresses. Still can't get enough of super sugar crisps (bear). Hope he is back for USC, along with Lemon and Stevens.
We played a ton of people on defense. We always play a lot of DL and that did not change today but we also played a lot of linebackers, which is something new. Spruill, Diet Tab and Davis started but Vaughn played a lot, and Lynch probably got more snaps than Vaughn did.
Liked what I saw from Brewster, whose sack late almost clinched a victory. I think he is easily our best pass rusher, at least from the DL. Lynch blitzes well and got at least one sack today. For now, I think that is his primary role...blitz the QB in passing situations. He is still small and struggled to get free when a blocker was able to get his hands on him. Vaughn also had a nice sack in a blitzing situation but he also got beat for a TD in man coverage. I thought the NW secondary was bad and not well coached, always putting their hands on our receivers, dragging and bumping on almost every passing play, hence all the PI call on them, but one thing I liked is that when they got burned, they just held their guy and took the 15 yard penalty. We might learn from that sometimes.
Thought Thomas, who also had a sack on a blitz, tackled poorly and was really bothered having to play with one hand. He still made some big plays but a lot of the many missed tackles were on him. Hope he gets that cast off soon. Wilkes made some really nice plays, missed some important tackles too but was in the right place a lot and did okay. Eskridge is a big hitter who is going to knock someone out some day. He is fun to watch but he also, while trying to fireball NW players, missed some tackles badly. Also got banged up badly at one point, but I believe he returned to action later. I believe Eskridge was our Okie out there...I think he replaced Diet Tab when we were in the Okie. NW used 3 or 4 WRs a lot, so Eskridge played a lot and probably had more snaps than Diet Tab did. Thought Diet Tab was pretty quiet.
Was really impressed with our DL early. They tried to run a lot in the 1st quarter and our DL got strong penetration, did not get pushed back and blew up a lot of plays. Bromley and Crume played pretty well. Sharpe, Robinson, Welsh didn't do much. Thought Goggins had a really good game I thought and might have been our defensive MVP.
I think NW saw our DL were doing well against the run and went with a different approach, spreading the field using 3 or 4 WRs almost every set and often running out of that. Their dual threat QB was good and made a lot of big plays for them when they were in trouble. They have some decent WRs and I liked their starting RB but if you stop their QB, they stall out fast. Once he got hurt, they didn't have much to work with.
Overall, I thought our offense was better than theirs. I thought our defense was better than theirs. The difference in the game was special teams. The TD return, the penalties we had, the missed FG, our inability to get good returns on kickoffs compared to them were all key factors in the loss. On the positive side, I thought Norton was terrific, giving him a scholarship was a great investment. And it was great to see us return a punt for positive yardage, even if it was only one time.
This was a devastating loss and it might well cost the team a bowl game. Really disappointed with the way we played the 2nd and 3rd quarters, disappointed with our performance in the red zone, which was awful. I am tremendously encouraged by the comeback and the character the team showed in the 4th quarter. Just watching the team play offense, defense and special teams, the overall speed and athletic ability of this team is leaps and bounds beyond what we have had in recent years, and that is with a number of our best players out.
The margin for error is not as wide as it was yesterday but I really like this team, I like the direction it is going and I think there are going to be a lot more good days than bad days for the program in the near and long term. This was one of the most entertaining games I have seen in the Dome for a long time. I think the people that came enjoyed it and know this team is fun to watch and is capable of having a good year.
Against all odds, I am looking forward to next week in New Jersey. Hope to see you there.
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