My Take

[sutomcat]

Very nice tailgate before the game headed up by JeremyCuse. Good turnout; the Fine Lot crew is having a strong year so far. Lots of good food. Burgers, dogs, baked ziti, frittatas, sausages, pork rolls, half moons and chocolate chip cookies from Harrison Bakery. Delicious. And excellent Schwepes GA. Solid.

36K announced. Maybe 23K actually attended. Students were down big time from last week. Tulane is a perfect fit foe the ACK, as they brought about 30 fans, much like UConn, RU, Temple and Cincy.

The fans that did come were into it early, made a lot of noise and appeared to bother the Green Wavers. They had to call TO, had a shot clock violation or jumped offsides a number of times on offense.

They built a little wooden choo choo on top of the new train whistle box thingee. It looked okay, I guess. The big production when theta initially takes the field appeared to have some production issues, and took a long while to happen.

SU wore the all blues again, only this time they also wore the new blue helmet design from revealed on this board. I thought they looked terrible and had nothing to do with SU football. All it really did was remove another orange item from the uniform, as Nike continues in their desperate struggle to remove orange as an official color on Syracuse uniforms. SU uniforms are not at the top of my list of concerns. I am not freaking out about all the messing around with them, I just think there are some nice things that could be done to change things up and find it unfortunate opportunities are being wasted. I for one would love to see a 1950s throwback jersey, which would ideally also be available for purchase (white shirt with blue stripes with orange pants).

Was critical of the poor job SU did with out of town scores last week. This week, there was a complete turnaround. The scores were updated regularly and were very timely. Props to them for doing this. Really hope it becomes the normal practice on gameday.

The band did a nice tribute to the armed forces today, playing a medley of all the songs associated with the Air Force, the Navy, the Army and the Marines. Really nice, great songs too. They also did a reprise of the FUN show they did last week, which was good to see again. Still only 10 tubas. I hope we can add at least 2 for the Clemson game.

Regarding the game, SU had a dominating performance from all the units. The offense was greet, the defense pretty darned solid and the special teams unit was special for the first time in a very very long time.

Give some credit to George McDonald, who had a good gameplay for attacking the Tulane defense. They ran the ball a lot, regularly cutting sideways to daylight for big gains, with PTG leading the way.

GM also called a lot of passes, with much success. They were able to throw screens, short passes to the sidelines, and did a lot of damage with passes over the middle. TU had a little success early getting into passing lanes and getting SU WRs to break off their routes. This almost caused a couple of picks early but the SU receivers adjusted and the rout was on.

Hunt had a strong game. He can do damage running the ball and is using this to great advantage, drawing defenders away from receivers on broken plays, freezing linebackers as he approaches the LOS, etc. He is making good choices on a consistent basis and showed a lot of maturity against a defense, that while hardly at the level of Clemson, was much more athletic and fast compared to Wagner last week.

Chris Clark had another fine day. Kobena dropped a couple of easy ones, rarely seen since Hunt took over. GM spread the ball around pretty effectively, lots of players with a touch or two. The play calling was too conservative in the second half, but overall, he did a nice job here.

The OL was dominant. Very little pressure on hunt and he is so good on broken plays, flushing him from the pocket caused more problems than it solved. Mackey, Hickey and Nick Robinson.were running people over. Omari Palmer got some snaps but made a couple of mistakes and faced the earth of the staff. Foy appears to be getting better too, he was solid today.

On defense, TU has some good skilled players. #24 was impressive at RB, and they had 3 solid WRs as well. And I was really impressed with Montana, who was abused all game long but showed a lot of courage standing up strong against heavy pressure time after time. He can throw it and can run it too. Gonna put up some good numbers this year and next.

But SU, led by a dominating DL, did a good job overall Great games for Bromley, nothing new there, and Raymon,who used this game as his coming out party. Sugar Bear was up and down (big missed tackle), Welsh got hurt (looked bad) but Johnson had some great moments. He is gonna be a good one.

After some growing pains in his first couple of games, Eskridge is making a lot of plays. For the first time this season, the DBs tightened their coverage and broke up a lot of passing plays.

Lynch had some big hits, including a nice blindside sack of Montana. Spruill, Davis, Kirkwood and Arciniega were solid.

But the biggest plays of the game might have been made by special teams. 3 kicks blocked. Huge. Good coverage on kicks and punts. Great numbers punting (though a big part of that were good bounces again on poor punts).

So big props to the special teams coaches for scheming to get those blocks. The one Crume got was almost embarrassing it was so easy.

The Clemson game just might be an interesting one. Looking forward to it. Big time.


















Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[HtownOrange]

Thanks, Tom. Really appreciate these after game posts. Agree with your assessments. Watching special teams was special again.

 

[Shenexon]

I don't think I've ever seen three blocked kicks before. It's a special accomplishment. The team was impressive even though Tulane came with a decent team, at least offensively. Hunt is a playmaker and was fun to watch. Wonderful day overall. I'm really looking forward to Clemson and hope we play them tough.

 

[dinosaurbbq]

SU 206 yards passing, Tulane 209. Please don't say secondary did well. The long pass on 3d down when Eskeridge was just hanging out behind the receiver instead of getting between him and the QB sucked. Montana wasn't good and he won't have an excellent year. He found a place he can actually play finally and good for him, but he is subpar.

Lynch's sack was all on the OT, as Lynch was untouched coming in. Give fault to the OL or credit to Bullough for calling the blitz, but Lynch doesn't get Kudos on that.

Kobena's drops wear me out. If this team had average WR talent, he would be benched until he can figure out how to catch the ball.

I'm not one of those people who looks for bad in everything and I am ecstatic about how SU performed and the win and final score. Great job guys! George McD called good plays, particularly first half and we saw yet again that Hunt moves this team much better than Allen. Hunt did great, Clark did great. Rome did great in the pass and PTG did great on the ground. GMII and McFarlane both looked very good, albeit against a tired Tulane D by then.

 

[Deano]

SU 206 yards passing, Tulane 209. Please don't say secondary did well. The long pass on 3d down when Eskeridge was just hanging out behind the receiver instead of getting between him and the QB sucked. Montana wasn't good and he won't have an excellent year. He found a place he can actually play finally and good for him, but he is subpar.

Lynch's sack was all on the OT, as Lynch was untouched coming in. Give fault to the OL or credit to Bullough for calling the blitz, but Lynch doesn't get Kudos on that.

Kobena's drops wear me out. If this team had average WR talent, he would be benched until he can figure out how to catch the ball.

I'm not one of those people who looks for bad in everything and I am ecstatic about how SU performed and the win and final score. Great job guys! George McD called good plays, particularly first half and we saw yet again that Hunt moves this team much better than Allen. Hunt did great, Clark did great. Rome did great in the pass and PTG did great on the ground. GMII and McFarlane both looked very good, albeit against a tired Tulane D by then.

I still want to know how R. Anderson starts. He's one of the worst cover's. If I'm the Clemson OC I'm licking my chops and going after him.

 

[cto]

Tom, thanks so much. As someone who had to miss the entire game today, your reports always make me feel like I was there.

 

[All4SU]

Esker kedge got beat, but recovered while the ball was in the air. Unfortunately. It looked like he didn't recognize that he had help deep, and decided to drop behind the receiver instead of making a play on the ball. Had he simply turned to the ball, he would have has the pick.

 

[Melancer46]

I was really interested to see Montana, and was really disappointed. How you can be the son of arguably the greatest QB of all time and yet you have terrible mechanics is beyond me.

Our defensive line was amazing though. We were in their backfield literally on every single play. And while Hunt doesn't seem to be a great passer or a great runner, he seems to be a great football player. Russell Wilson-esq in his feel for the game.

 

[anglerman]

I still want to know how R. Anderson starts. He's one of the worst cover's. If I'm the Clemson OC I'm licking my chops and going after him.

Wow I think Syracuse fans are the most negative people on earth I think I've seen more negative posts than positive on a day SU won 52-17. I honestly think some of you are actually disappointed in the blow out. There is no such thing as perfect and this game was no exception but you guys need to get some damn pride and perspective. It's just ridiculous.

 

[anglerman]

SU 206 yards passing, Tulane 209. Please don't say secondary did well. The long pass on 3d down when Eskeridge was just hanging out behind the receiver instead of getting between him and the QB sucked. Montana wasn't good and he won't have an excellent year. He found a place he can actually play finally and good for him, but he is subpar.

Lynch's sack was all on the OT, as Lynch was untouched coming in. Give fault to the OL or credit to Bullough for calling the blitz, but Lynch doesn't get Kudos on that.

Kobena's drops wear me out. If this team had average WR talent, he would be benched until he can figure out how to catch the ball.

I'm not one of those people who looks for bad in everything and I am ecstatic about how SU performed and the win and final score. Great job guys! George McD called good plays, particularly first half and we saw yet again that Hunt moves this team much better than Allen. Hunt did great, Clark did great. Rome did great in the pass and PTG did great on the ground. GMII and McFarlane both looked very good, albeit against a tired Tulane D by then.

Just a wow post Sorry you are so disappointed in this game. I agree SU played very poorly and underachieved. Way to have perspective.

 

[suloyalfan]

Just a wow post Sorry you are so disappointed in this game. I agree SU played very poorly and underachieved. Way to have perspective.

The only thing I'm "disappointed" in was the sloppy tackling in the 1st half... but they cleaned that up and were much better in the 2nd half. Either way, an excellent game against much better competition that last week.

 

[longislandcuse]

I was really interested to see Montana, and was really disappointed. How you can be the son of arguably the greatest QB of all time and yet you have terrible mechanics is beyond me.

Our defensive line was amazing though. We were in their backfield literally on every single play. And while Hunt doesn't seem to be a great passer or a great runner, he seems to be a great football player. Russell Wilson-esq in his feel for the game.

I thought he was pretty good given the fact that he came pretty close to having a chalk outline of himself on the football field.

 

[SmilinBob]

Good job of preparation by the staff and for the players to execute it. I was texting my daughter the scores and it felt like I was making stuff up for the second week in a row. Way to go Orange, loved it!

 

[wfschrec]

SU 206 yards passing, Tulane 209. Please don't say secondary did well. The long pass on 3d down when Eskeridge was just hanging out behind the receiver instead of getting between him and the QB sucked. Montana wasn't good and he won't have an excellent year. He found a place he can actually play finally and good for him, but he is subpar.

Lynch's sack was all on the OT, as Lynch was untouched coming in. Give fault to the OL or credit to Bullough for calling the blitz, but Lynch doesn't get Kudos on that.

Kobena's drops wear me out. If this team had average WR talent, he would be benched until he can figure out how to catch the ball.

I'm not one of those people who looks for bad in everything and I am ecstatic about how SU performed and the win and final score. Great job guys! George McD called good plays, particularly first half and we saw yet again that Hunt moves this team much better than Allen. Hunt did great, Clark did great. Rome did great in the pass and PTG did great on the ground. GMII and McFarlane both looked very good, albeit against a tired Tulane D by then.

Terrible ... terrible ... terrible that you look at absolutes like this. SU scored TDs on 6 of their 7 drives in the first half and on the 7th punted from around their own 35 leaving only a possible 65 yards to gain on the field on the first half. The reason they didn't compile better numbers was simply because they had a short field .. its not like Tulane held them. SU was very efficient on offense particularly in the 1st half.

In the second half Hunt was only in on 3 offensive drives ... they put up 1 TD and punted on the other two after going into cruise control ... they had so many points on the board they weren't going out there to accumulate stats ... "Statistics are for losers ... " per Shafer.

Montana spent more time on his back than a p*rn star and was lucky to survive, he made some really nice throws but without much time in the pocket he couldn't do much honestly. You can't fault him ... he was fairly accurate and did get lucky on the duck he threw to Shackelford however his 1 TD pass was perfect. Montana was far from the issue for that ball club.

Who cares why Lynch had the sack or who was at fault ... you could literally pick every sack apart like that it doesn't matter ... what matters is that he got to Montana. The longest drive Tulane had was 34 yards in the second half .. adjustments were made and we coasted through the second half ... being up 25 at halftime gives you that luxury ... and to make it worse we still outscored them by 10 in the second half ... and we only had 5 possessions ...

Can't we just enjoy this?

 

[CuseOnly]

Terrible ... terrible ... terrible that you look at absolutes like this. SU scored TDs on 6 of their 7 drives in the first half and on the 7th punted from around their own 35 leaving only a possible 65 yards to gain on the field on the first half. The reason they didn't compile better numbers was simply because they had a short field .. its not like Tulane held them. SU was very efficient on offense particularly in the 1st half.

In the second half Hunt was only in on 3 offensive drives ... they put up 1 TD and punted on the other two after going into cruise control ... they had so many points on the board they weren't going out there to accumulate stats ... "Statistics are for losers ... " per Shafer.

Montana spent more time on his back than a p*rn star and was lucky to survive, he made some really nice throws but without much time in the pocket he couldn't do much honestly. You can't fault him ... he was fairly accurate and did get lucky on the duck he threw to Shackelford however his 1 TD pass was perfect. Montana was far from the issue for that ball club.

Who cares why Lynch had the sack or who was at fault ... you could literally pick every sack apart like that it doesn't matter ... what matters is that he got to Montana. The longest drive Tulane had was 34 yards in the second half .. adjustments were made and we coasted through the second half ... being up 25 at halftime gives you that luxury ... and to make it worse we still outscored them by 10 in the second half ... and we only had 5 possessions ...

Can't we just enjoy this?

Some people just can't...and most of them seem to live in Syracuse unfortunately.

 

[wfschrec]

Some people just can't...and most of them seem to live in Syracuse unfortunately.

What makes it worse was that 5th drive was at the end of the game and time expired ... so really it was only 4 drives total ... which means they literally scored on 8 of 11 drives ... including 7 TDs that is very high efficiency.

 

[anglerman]

Grat

Terrible ... terrible ... terrible that you look at absolutes like this. SU scored TDs on 6 of their 7 drives in the first half and on the 7th punted from around their own 35 leaving only a possible 65 yards to gain on the field on the first half. The reason they didn't compile better numbers was simply because they had a short field .. its not like Tulane held them. SU was very efficient on offense particularly in the 1st half.

In the second half Hunt was only in on 3 offensive drives ... they put up 1 TD and punted on the other two after going into cruise control ... they had so many points on the board they weren't going out there to accumulate stats ... "Statistics are for losers ... " per Shafer.

Montana spent more time on his back than a p*rn star and was lucky to survive, he made some really nice throws but without much time in the pocket he couldn't do much honestly. You can't fault him ... he was fairly accurate and did get lucky on the duck he threw to Shackelford however his 1 TD pass was perfect. Montana was far from the issue for that ball club.

Who cares why Lynch had the sack or who was at fault ... you could literally pick every sack apart like that it doesn't matter ... what matters is that he got to Montana. The longest drive Tulane had was 34 yards in the second half .. adjustments were made and we coasted through the second half ... being up 25 at halftime gives you that luxury ... and to make it worse we still outscored them by 10 in the second half ... and we only had 5 possessions ...

Can't we just enjoy this?

Great post with accuracy and proper perspective. Some of these guys like I said will find something to complain about even when you win by 5 scores. It makes no sense.

 

[CuseOnly]

What makes it worse was that 5th drive was at the end of the game and time expired ... so really it was only 4 drives total ... which means they literally scored on 8 of 11 drives ... including 7 TDs that is very high efficiency.

They looked good yesterday, couple of gaffes but other than that things seem to be coming together and running much smoother than we saw in the first 2 games.

 

[Fjoinkay]

I agree, solid game for SU.

Tulane had 2 chunk plays that combined to account for 90 of their total yards on offense. The 45 yard TD run, and a 45 yard throw where Montana was nearly sacked, yet again, and the Tulane receiver made a great play to haul in the underthrown ball. Tulane's second TD was a 4th down throw to the back corner of the end zone where Montana made a great throw, and the Tulane receiver made a fine catch. Tip of the hat to Tulane on that one. SU's defense pitched a shutout in the second half which is about as good as it gets for any half of play. SU outscored Tulane in the 1st quarter and continued to play hard nosed.

On offense SU punted 4 times, and one of those punts resulted in a Tulane turnover. The excellent special teams play made some of the SU TDs look too easy, and if you look at SU's total yards on offense it's easy to think SU's offense somehow had a disappointing day. But the reality is both blocked punts came off of SU defensive stops on 3rd down against an offense that was superb on 3rd conversions coming into this game. Both blocked punts gave SU's offense tremendous field position, and the offense put up 7 points both times. I suggest that without the blocked punts SU's offense would have moved the ball quite well. The score may have been a touch closer at the end, but SU's total yards on offense probably would have been over 500 easily and time of possession would have been different too. But blocked punts are GOOD! SU scored 52 points!! Enjoy for a day.

Go Cuse!! Clemson will be a formidable challenge and also an excellent opportunity. Looking forward!!

 

[GoCuse14]

Only thing i disagree with is the uniforms. I though they looked sharp, and realize that they are an alternate not an every week deal. Too many people are too concerned over a lack of Orange in an alternate uniform.

 

[chakka3421]

SU 206 yards passing, Tulane 209. Please don't say secondary did well. The long pass on 3d down when Eskeridge was just hanging out behind the receiver instead of getting between him and the QB sucked.

Eskeridge had a slight limp during the game while walking around on the sideline when no one was looking - I'm not defending him but I think he's a little banged up. He didn't look normal out there nor do I think his head was in this game much. A week off will help everyone before Clemson comes to town.

 

[dinosaurbbq]

People seeing my post as me being upset about the game or a pessimist or looking to find something bad in everything have it all wrong. If you read my post, you will see that I said I'm ecstatic with the win, the score, the play, the play calling in all 3 facets. I'm one of the optimists on this board and I love what my team did this week. Way better than what the spread was or what I figured would be the final results.

I merely pointed out that Tom's perspective that the secondary was great and that Montana is "gonna put up some good numbers this year and next" is not the same as mine. The secondary was bad in cover D and will get eaten alive by Clemson if it plays like that again in that game. There is a chance we'll be better, but that was not good cover by the secondary. Montana is piss poor and will play this year, because Tulane has no one else competent, but will put up mediocre numbers. As far as next year goes, I can guarantee Tulane is hoping to over recruit him. He just flat out isn't good, which is why he ended up at Tulane.

Despite those differing opinions, I appreciate Tom and the others who were there posting their thoughts. I love this team and I'm excited and firmly believe we are headed in the right direction. If you look at my posts, I seem like a lone defender of SU versus Maryland in the future opponents thread and I have often defended this team and program.

 

[wfschrec]

People seeing my post as me being upset about the game or a pessimist or looking to find something bad in everything have it all wrong. If you read my post, you will see that I said I'm ecstatic with the win, the score, the play, the play calling in all 3 facets. I'm one of the optimists on this board and I love what my team did this week. Way better than what the spread was or what I figured would be the final results.

I merely pointed out that Tom's perspective that the secondary was great and that Montana is "gonna put up some good numbers this year and next" is not the same as mine. The secondary was bad in cover D and will get eaten alive by Clemson if it plays like that again in that game. There is a chance we'll be better, but that was not good cover by the secondary. Montana is piss poor and will play this year, because Tulane has no one else competent, but will put up mediocre numbers. As far as next year goes, I can guarantee Tulane is hoping to over recruit him. He just flat out isn't good, which is why he ended up at Tulane.

Despite those differing opinions, I appreciate Tom and the others who were there posting their thoughts. I love this team and I'm excited and firmly believe we are headed in the right direction. If you look at my posts, I seem like a lone defender of SU versus Maryland in the future opponents thread and I have often defended this team and program.

So calling the secondary piss poor is being optimistic? ... OK color me skeptical ... there are some basic facts to note here ...

Longest sustained drive for Tulane in the second half was 34 yards ...
They didn't score in the second half either ...

The secondary was fine and Montana is a solid D1 QB ... is he as good as his father? No ... but he is a decent QB that will average about 230 ypg in the air this year as a junior transfer ... he is on pace to throw for 24 scores against 9 picks ... with a rating of around 130 ... that is average for a D1 QB ... and he is doing this behind an OL that will get him killed at some point ... his numbers would be better if he had better talent around him ... they have a little talent at the skill positions but until they shore up that OL he is going to have it rough ... he throws the ball well medium to short range with good touch and placement. Your criticism of Montana is off-base ...

 

[sutomcat]

SU 206 yards passing, Tulane 209. Please don't say secondary did well. The long pass on 3d down when Eskeridge was just hanging out behind the receiver instead of getting between him and the QB sucked. Montana wasn't good and he won't have an excellent year. He found a place he can actually play finally and good for him, but he is subpar.

Lynch's sack was all on the OT, as Lynch was untouched coming in. Give fault to the OL or credit to Bullough for calling the blitz, but Lynch doesn't get Kudos on that.

Kobena's drops wear me out. If this team had average WR talent, he would be benched until he can figure out how to catch the ball.

I'm not one of those people who looks for bad in everything and I am ecstatic about how SU performed and the win and final score. Great job guys! George McD called good plays, particularly first half and we saw yet again that Hunt moves this team much better than Allen. Hunt did great, Clark did great. Rome did great in the pass and PTG did great on the ground. GMII and McFarlane both looked very good, albeit against a tired Tulane D by then.

The frustrating thing about the play by Eskridge where he was beat deep was that he WASN'T beaten deep. He established perfect position as the ball was thrown and it should have been a given that he make the interception. But somehow he lost his balance, and basically fell backwards on his own out of the play, leaving the Tulane receiver alone to make the catch.

I really don't know what he was doing on that play, hoping it was one of those once in a career types mistakes. Durell has made a disturbing number of these so far in his career. It is a shame because he is making a lot of excellent plays too. But a mistake that costs the defense a TD or a huge gain offsets a lot of good but fairly routine plays.

The TD over Reddish was, I thought, just a perfect pass. Brandon had excellent coverage on it. Sometimes you have to tip your cap to the QB. That was an exceptional pass by young Montana made all the more remarkable by the heavy pressure he was under when he delivered the ball.

Passing yards alone are not a great indication of defensive performance. Tulane fell way behind early and had to pass a ton to have any chance to get back in the game. Montana was 22 of 38 with 1 TD and 1 pick, 213 yards, with 3 sacks. Given all the times they passed, the secondary did well and only were beaten deep once or twice. Further, one of the reasons the pressure was successfuly was because the coverage on the Tulane WRs was largely good.

 

[Crusty]

The frustrating thing about the play by Eskridge where he was beat deep was that he WASN'T beaten deep. He established perfect position as the ball was thrown and it should have been a given that he make the interception. But somehow he lost his balance, and basically fell backwards on his own out of the play, leaving the Tulane receiver alone to make the catch.

I really don't know what he was doing on that play, hoping it was one of those once in a career types mistakes. Durell has made a disturbing number of these so far in his career. It is a shame because he is making a lot of excellent plays too. But a mistake that costs the defense a TD or a huge gain offsets a lot of good but fairly routine plays.

The TD over Reddish was, I thought, just a perfect pass. Brandon had excellent coverage on it. Sometimes you have to tip your cap to the QB. That was an exceptional pass by young Montana made all the more remarkable by the heavy pressure he was under when he delivered the ball.

Passing yards alone are not a great indication of defensive performance. Tulane fell way behind early and had to pass a ton to have any chance to get back in the game. Montana was 22 of 38 with 1 TD and 1 pick, 213 yards, with 3 sacks. Given all the times they passed, the secondary did well and only were beaten deep once or twice. Further, one of the reasons the pressure was successfuly was because the coverage on the Tulane WRs was largely good.

It was an excellent pass but don't you think there was too much separation? I didn't think Reddish made a particularly good play. I should look at it again I suppose.