My Take | Syracusefan.com

My Take

sutomcat

No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Couldn't post last night. Was in the Fine Lot until late celebrating. It has been a while since we had a home game like this one to enjoy.

Should start by saying the pregame tailgate was excellent, props to Jeremy and Mike for doing a great job grilling. There was a lot to eat, a lot to drink and we had a big turnout, as our little venture, our little project, continues to develop over time. I can see the day when we will routinely have 100 plus people attending each tailgate. Great to see so many new and old friends, too many to even consider trying to mention everyone. But the Fine Lot thing is a blast and I want to encourage lurkers and newbies to stop by and join us for future games.

9 tubas after a good season and a bowl win. It was a bitter pill to swallow. That being said, the SUMB was in fine form, sounded great, marched sharply and it was great to hear them again. They have 2 trumpets playing the flourishes (I am sure there is a better name but I am not a music major) during the NA this year. Sounded very nice.

Unsolicited complaint: someone needs to do something about whoever was playing the piped in music. They played way too long, often running into snap counts. Even the SUMB played a few times when Ryan was trying to snap the ball. But the worse after regulation time ended, and someone was trying earnestly to explain the rules of college football overtime, and to carry coverage of the coin flip to determine who had the ball first, and a Journey song (Midnight Train, nice try, it was about 11:27 PM then) was simultaneously being played at full volume. They allowed the two to run together on the PA system for well over a minute. Amateur hour, very unprofessional and embarassing.

Looking at the crowd just before kickoff, I thought there were about 34000 in the stands. Lots of silver between the goallines again this year, which tells me our ticket pricing remains woefully out of touch with market forces. Hopefully some day the tickets will again be worth what the AD is charging for them. Right now, it looks bad as a fan to see these seats empty.

On the positive side, we had one of the best turnouts of students in recent memory, helped in great part by the policy to give all frosh free tickets to the home opener. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the students were gone halfway through the 3rd quarter, and missed what might well be the most dramatic comeback victory that will be played on The Hill during their time as students at SU.

On to the game...

Thought WF was well prepared for us. Did a great job defending us, was exceptionally aggressive trying to take away our bread and butter short passing routes, and got great pressure on Nassib the whole first half. Their quick little NT gave Mackey fits and looked every bit the AA candidate WF fans think he is. Their corners are a little undersized but very fast and our WRs had problems getting open given the short amount of time WF was allowing Nassib before hitting him in the face. When we tried to roll from the pressure, their DEs showed great discipline, consistently got in Ryan's face and blew up a lot of plays with strong pressure.

Overall, I was very impressed with the speed of the Wake defense. We had TEs out in space many times and they really struggled to make catches, forget about getting big yards against the WF linebackers, who looked every bit as fast and athletic as our guys, if not more so. If not for the heat of the Dome and the constant pounding of an inspired SU OL in the second half, which I think really wore down their undersized defense, we might well have ended up with only 14 points last night.

I find a few things about this program really encouraging. One is the fight that DM teams have. All SU teams play hard, even the GRob ones. But DM's seem to me to continue to fight and compete better than many others. They just don't quit until the final whistle.

I love the ability of the staff to make adjustments at half time. Don't know what they did with the OL, especially Mackey, but there was a big difference in the amount of time Ryan had to throw the ball the second half. Suddenly Ant Bailey, who had no room to run and was a dancing fool in the first half, consistently got holes to run through and became a different player. And the defense, which struggled to get a hand on the QB in the first half, got quality pressure on him time and time again in the second half, ultimately resulting in knocking the heady Wake QB out of the game, which was certainly one of the major turning points of the game.

Also very encouraging how well we stopped the run against a very good RB. Harris had only 66 yards on 22 carries. That is a heck of a performance for a bunch of young DTs and LBs. We might be a lot better against the run this year than we have been thinking. Doubt we could have done that well against the run last year. But maybe a strong emphasis on stopping the game is a big reason why we were burned long several times. Hopefully we can get to a point where we can stop the run and avoid yielding multiple long completions.

I don't have a lot of time, but props to Van Chew for playing a great game and getting open for some big time catches against very tight coverage. I hope he can stay healthy all year. Props to Alec Lemon for a big game. The broken play early in the 3rd quarter where he say Ryan running for his life, broke off his route and ran all the way across the sideline to Ryan's side, where Ryan threw a perfect lob pass over a defender and around another to lead Alec perfectly for a desperately needed first down on a broken play...that was huge and one of my favorite SU plays ever. Alec (and Graham) did yeo-manlike work blocking downfield as well.

Props to Provo who overcame a bad start and some athletic LBs to have a solid game. Props to Bailey who struggled for a long time, all the way up to the bad fumble, and then was a man possessed from that point forward. A lot of his success comes down to the OL giving him a little room to run to. If they can block like they did in the second half all season...

The Natural had a big game. Showed leadership the whole fashion way, by setting an example on the field. His inspired power runs and blocks were great.

On defense, thought Spruill was good, Vaughn was all over the place, Jones had a great second half after a quiet start, Crume is living up to the hype, gonna be special, Davis was up and down, P Thomas really struggled but played hurt so I can't be that down on him. But you can't let people get that far behind you...no matter what.

Shamarko was all over the field, closes with remarkable speed, kept us in the game in the first half. We might have caught a break when P Thomas got hurt, Wilkes was all over the field and obviously had a couple of huge plays for us. Smart kid. Was also very impressed by the play of Lyn, who got picked on some when Anderson went down but came back strong and had some great coverages on long passing plays in the second half. Another future star. Lynch is a great blitzer, got some quality time in his first game and will get some sacks before the season is done.

We need to address the issue with the short snapping. Raupers did well as the punter, the long snapping was great, thought Kobena was excellent returning KOs and on the coverage units. The missed FG late was not Ross' fault, props to Loeb for making a couple of great saves on bad snaps (Ross too, the timing on those kicks was messed up).

Thought the refs gave a lot of close calls to Wake in the first half, lots of questionable marks too. That certainly changed some in the second half, though I think a big part of that was WF players getting exhausting and having to resort to holds and the like to complete their assignments.

Great win. I am happy for the fans, the coaches and more than anyone, the kids. Really believe they work as hard or harder than any team and they deserve to be rewarded for that. Really happy for the fans that stayed and got to see a remarked and truly inspired comeback. There have been too many times in the last 10 years or so when fans have come to a home opener full of hope and had that crushed for the season when the team laid an egg. I think this win will really help attendance the rest of the season.

How good was the win really? How good is Wake Forest? I like their QB, hope he is okay. He showed me a lot of poise and moxie standing in the pocket and waiting for receivers to get open. When rushed, he doesn't throw it that well but given time, he make some really nice throws and beat up deep too many times. They have some WRs who can run, a very good running back and what looks to me like a very servicable OL. Their defense looked very good in the first half, their pressure caused us a ton of problems and they have a nice group of athletes. Like us, they are a little undersized but play hard. I think they are headed for a 6-6 type year, minor bowl. Should be better than last year but not ACC champion quality. Edit: just found out their QB is out for the season. That is going to leave a mark..based on what I saw from the backup QB, they will be lucky if they can even beat BC. Sorry to hear that...he played a heck of a game for them.

Great to win an opener two years in a row. Great to beat an ACC team. We are well positioned now to go bowling two years in a row...this is the type of team we might competing against for a bowl bid. But most of all, wins like this breed confidence, something this program needs. There is much still to do, but this was a big step forward. I kept ranting last night about us being back. We aren't yet, but we are getting closer and someday, I think we might point back to this game as one of those crucial turning points in the history of the program.

I can't wait for the next game.
 
The music was obnoxious and did play well into a few plays.

I agree with pretty much everything you said.

I still want to see improvement regarding clock usage, coming out of a TO and having to do a quick snap to beat it is not good.

I liked seeing kids make plays after they dropped the ball or were beat downfield and other mistakes show a lot of heart and kept to it.

Nassib showed a nice touch throughout the game even though he often didn't have a lot of time. The soft lead pass to Lemon on the crossover was a thing of beauty.

Watching Provo catch the ball and break a tackle to score a TD, I loved it.

The O-Line was getting beat and props to the players and staff for their adjustments.

The fans that stayed, way to step up and be loud. It was nice to see the student section full.
 
Great post Tom. I agree with every thing. You had me at 9 Tubas. Our lines were a huge concern going into half time, but as I had posted in another thread, the halftime adjustments helped. Shame about their QB. He stays in, we lose. No question.

The Journey song was "Don't Stop Believin'" which given the theme of hope and keeping the faith, was appropriate at the time it was pumped- I believe I heard it as we were headed into overtime, but my beer-addled brain could have gotten that wrong.

I hope we don't start like that all season long, but I sure do hope the finishes are as strong.
 
Great post Tom. I agree with every thing. You had me at 9 Tubas. Our lines were a huge concern going into half time, but as I had posted in another thread, the halftime adjustments helped. Shame about their QB. He stays in, we lose. No question.

The Journey song was "Don't Stop Believin'" which given the theme of hope and keeping the faith, was appropriate at the time it was pumped- I believe I heard it as we were headed into overtime, but my beer-addled brain could have gotten that wrong.

I hope we don't start like that all season long, but I sure do hope the finishes are as strong.

It was played headed into overtime. I kept expecting the Meredith Viera viral video flash mob to come out of the tunnel when the song came on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GGdCsktwNg
 
It was played headed into overtime. I kept expecting the Meredith Viera viral video flash mob to come out of the tunnel when the song came on.

That's what my mom said, too. Not that I'm saying you're a 71 year old devout Catholic little old lady like my saintly mother.
 
Couldn't post last night. Was in the Fine Lot until late celebrating. It has been a while since we had a home game like this one to enjoy.

Should start by saying the pregame tailgate was excellent, props to Jeremy and Mike for doing a great job grilling. There was a lot to eat, a lot to drink and we had a big turnout, as our little venture, our little project, continues to develop over time. I can see the day when we will routinely have 100 plus people attending each tailgate. Great to see so many new and old friends, too many to even consider trying to mention everyone. But the Fine Lot thing is a blast and I want to encourage lurkers and newbies to stop by and join us for future games.

9 tubas after a good season and a bowl win. It was a bitter pill to swallow. That being said, the SUMB was in fine form, sounded great, marched sharply and it was great to hear them again. They have 2 trumpets playing the flourishes (I am sure there is a better name but I am not a music major) during the NA this year. Sounded very nice.

Unsolicited complaint: someone needs to do something about whoever was playing the piped in music. They played way too long, often running into snap counts. Even the SUMB played a few times when Ryan was trying to snap the ball. But the worse after regulation time ended, and someone was trying earnestly to explain the rules of college football overtime, and to carry coverage of the coin flip to determine who had the ball first, and a Journey song (Midnight Train, nice try, it was about 11:27 PM then) was simultaneously being played at full volume. They allowed the two to run together on the PA system for well over a minute. Amateur hour, very unprofessional and embarassing.

Looking at the crowd just before kickoff, I thought there were about 34000 in the stands. Lots of silver between the goallines again this year, which tells me our ticket pricing remains woefully out of touch with market forces. Hopefully some day the tickets will again be worth what the AD is charging for them. Right now, it looks bad as a fan to see these seats empty.

On the positive side, we had one of the best turnouts of students in recent memory, helped in great part by the policy to give all frosh free tickets to the home opener. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the students were gone halfway through the 3rd quarter, and missed what might well be the most dramatic comeback victory that will be played on The Hill during their time as students at SU.

On to the game...

Thought WF was well prepared for us. Did a great job defending us, was exceptionally aggressive trying to take away our bread and butter short passing routes, and got great pressure on Nassib the whole first half. Their quick little NT gave Mackey fits and looked every bit the AA candidate WF fans think he is. Their corners are a little undersized but very fast and our WRs had problems getting open given the short amount of time WF was allowing Nassib before hitting him in the face. When we tried to roll from the pressure, their DEs showed great discipline, consistently got in Ryan's face and blew up a lot of plays with strong pressure.

Overall, I was very impressed with the speed of the Wake defense. We had TEs out in space many times and they really struggled to make catches, forget about getting big yards against the WF linebackers, who looked every bit as fast and athletic as our guys, if not more so. If not for the heat of the Dome and the constant pounding of an inspired SU OL in the second half, which I think really wore down their undersized defense, we might well have ended up with only 14 points last night.

I find a few things about this program really encouraging. One is the fight that DM teams have. All SU teams play hard, even the GRob ones. But DM's seem to me to continue to fight and compete better than many others. They just don't quit until the final whistle.

I love the ability of the staff to make adjustments at half time. Don't know what they did with the OL, especially Mackey, but there was a big difference in the amount of time Ryan had to throw the ball the second half. Suddenly Ant Bailey, who had no room to run and was a dancing fool in the first half, consistently got holes to run through and became a different player. And the defense, which struggled to get a hand on the QB in the first half, got quality pressure on him time and time again in the second half, ultimately resulting in knocking the heady Wake QB out of the game, which was certainly one of the major turning points of the game.

Also very encouraging how well we stopped the run against a very good RB. Harris had only 66 yards on 22 carries. That is a heck of a performance for a bunch of young DTs and LBs. We might be a lot better against the run this year than we have been thinking. Doubt we could have done that well against the run last year. But maybe a strong emphasis on stopping the game is a big reason why we were burned long several times. Hopefully we can get to a point where we can stop the run and avoid yielding multiple long completions.

I don't have a lot of time, but props to Van Chew for playing a great game and getting open for some big time catches against very tight coverage. I hope he can stay healthy all year. Props to Alec Lemon for a big game. The broken play early in the 3rd quarter where he say Ryan running for his life, broke off his route and ran all the way across the sideline to Ryan's side, where Ryan threw a perfect lob pass over a defender and around another to lead Alec perfectly for a desperately needed first down on a broken play...that was huge and one of my favorite SU plays ever. Alec (and Graham) did yeo-manlike work blocking downfield as well.

Props to Provo who overcame a bad start and some athletic LBs to have a solid game. Props to Bailey who struggled for a long time, all the way up to the bad fumble, and then was a man possessed from that point forward. A lot of his success comes down to the OL giving him a little room to run to. If they can block like they did in the second half all season...

The Natural had a big game. Showed leadership the whole fashion way, by setting an example on the field. His inspired power runs and blocks were great.

On defense, thought Spruill was good, Vaughn was all over the place, Jones had a great second half after a quiet start, Crume is living up to the hype, gonna be special, Davis was up and down, P Thomas really struggled but played hurt so I can't be that down on him. But you can't let people get that far behind you...no matter what.

Shamarko was all over the field, closes with remarkable speed, kept us in the game in the first half. We might have caught a break when P Thomas got hurt, Wilkes was all over the field and obviously had a couple of huge plays for us. Smart kid. Was also very impressed by the play of Lyn, who got picked on some when Anderson went down but came back strong and had some great coverages on long passing plays in the second half. Another future star. Lynch is a great blitzer, got some quality time in his first game and will get some sacks before the season is done.

We need to address the issue with the short snapping. Raupers did well as the punter, the long snapping was great, thought Kobena was excellent returning KOs and on the coverage units. The missed FG late was not Ross' fault, props to Loeb for making a couple of great saves on bad snaps (Ross too, the timing on those kicks was messed up).

Thought the refs gave a lot of close calls to Wake in the first half, lots of questionable marks too. That certainly changed some in the second half, though I think a big part of that was WF players getting exhausting and having to resort to holds and the like to complete their assignments.

Great win. I am happy for the fans, the coaches and more than anyone, the kids. Really believe they work as hard or harder than any team and they deserve to be rewarded for that. Really happy for the fans that stayed and got to see a remarked and truly inspired comeback. There have been too many times in the last 10 years or so when fans have come to a home opener full of hope and had that crushed for the season when the team laid an egg. I think this win will really help attendance the rest of the season.

How good was the win really? How good is Wake Forest? I like their QB, hope he is okay. He showed me a lot of poise and moxie standing in the pocket and waiting for receivers to get open. When rushed, he doesn't throw it that well but given time, he make some really nice throws and beat up deep too many times. They have some WRs who can run, a very good running back and what looks to me like a very servicable OL. Their defense looked very good in the first half, their pressure caused us a ton of problems and they have a nice group of athletes. Like us, they are a little undersized but play hard. I think they are headed for a 6-6 type year, minor bowl. Should be better than last year but not ACC champion quality. Edit: just found out their QB is out for the season. That is going to leave a mark..based on what I saw from the backup QB, they will be lucky if they can even beat BC. Sorry to hear that...he played a heck of a game for them.

Great to win an opener two years in a row. Great to beat an ACC team. We are well positioned now to go bowling two years in a row...this is the type of team we might competing against for a bowl bid. But most of all, wins like this breed confidence, something this program needs. There is much still to do, but this was a big step forward. I kept ranting last night about us being back. We aren't yet, but we are getting closer and someday, I think we might point back to this game as one of those crucial turning points in the history of the program.

I can't wait for the next game.

I thought Lyn had a very good game playing with one arm. Scott made some huge plays late. Wilkes pumped up the crowd with some huge hits. Crume, Bromley, Googins all did a very good job. Crume moves the pile. I thought Reddish looked very confident out there, didn't look lost. Came up and played press.

Phil Thomas may be a warrior, but I'd shut him down until Toledo.
 
Great report. You see a lot more at the games than I can see.
 
Couldn't post last night. Was in the Fine Lot until late celebrating. It has been a while since we had a home game like this one to enjoy.

Should start by saying the pregame tailgate was excellent, props to Jeremy and Mike for doing a great job grilling. There was a lot to eat, a lot to drink and we had a big turnout, as our little venture, our little project, continues to develop over time. I can see the day when we will routinely have 100 plus people attending each tailgate. Great to see so many new and old friends, too many to even consider trying to mention everyone. But the Fine Lot thing is a blast and I want to encourage lurkers and newbies to stop by and join us for future games.

9 tubas after a good season and a bowl win. It was a bitter pill to swallow. That being said, the SUMB was in fine form, sounded great, marched sharply and it was great to hear them again. They have 2 trumpets playing the flourishes (I am sure there is a better name but I am not a music major) during the NA this year. Sounded very nice.

Unsolicited complaint: someone needs to do something about whoever was playing the piped in music. They played way too long, often running into snap counts. Even the SUMB played a few times when Ryan was trying to snap the ball. But the worse after regulation time ended, and someone was trying earnestly to explain the rules of college football overtime, and to carry coverage of the coin flip to determine who had the ball first, and a Journey song (Midnight Train, nice try, it was about 11:27 PM then) was simultaneously being played at full volume. They allowed the two to run together on the PA system for well over a minute. Amateur hour, very unprofessional and embarassing.

Looking at the crowd just before kickoff, I thought there were about 34000 in the stands. Lots of silver between the goallines again this year, which tells me our ticket pricing remains woefully out of touch with market forces. Hopefully some day the tickets will again be worth what the AD is charging for them. Right now, it looks bad as a fan to see these seats empty.

On the positive side, we had one of the best turnouts of students in recent memory, helped in great part by the policy to give all frosh free tickets to the home opener. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the students were gone halfway through the 3rd quarter, and missed what might well be the most dramatic comeback victory that will be played on The Hill during their time as students at SU.

On to the game...

Thought WF was well prepared for us. Did a great job defending us, was exceptionally aggressive trying to take away our bread and butter short passing routes, and got great pressure on Nassib the whole first half. Their quick little NT gave Mackey fits and looked every bit the AA candidate WF fans think he is. Their corners are a little undersized but very fast and our WRs had problems getting open given the short amount of time WF was allowing Nassib before hitting him in the face. When we tried to roll from the pressure, their DEs showed great discipline, consistently got in Ryan's face and blew up a lot of plays with strong pressure.

Overall, I was very impressed with the speed of the Wake defense. We had TEs out in space many times and they really struggled to make catches, forget about getting big yards against the WF linebackers, who looked every bit as fast and athletic as our guys, if not more so. If not for the heat of the Dome and the constant pounding of an inspired SU OL in the second half, which I think really wore down their undersized defense, we might well have ended up with only 14 points last night.

I find a few things about this program really encouraging. One is the fight that DM teams have. All SU teams play hard, even the GRob ones. But DM's seem to me to continue to fight and compete better than many others. They just don't quit until the final whistle.

I love the ability of the staff to make adjustments at half time. Don't know what they did with the OL, especially Mackey, but there was a big difference in the amount of time Ryan had to throw the ball the second half. Suddenly Ant Bailey, who had no room to run and was a dancing fool in the first half, consistently got holes to run through and became a different player. And the defense, which struggled to get a hand on the QB in the first half, got quality pressure on him time and time again in the second half, ultimately resulting in knocking the heady Wake QB out of the game, which was certainly one of the major turning points of the game.

Also very encouraging how well we stopped the run against a very good RB. Harris had only 66 yards on 22 carries. That is a heck of a performance for a bunch of young DTs and LBs. We might be a lot better against the run this year than we have been thinking. Doubt we could have done that well against the run last year. But maybe a strong emphasis on stopping the game is a big reason why we were burned long several times. Hopefully we can get to a point where we can stop the run and avoid yielding multiple long completions.

I don't have a lot of time, but props to Van Chew for playing a great game and getting open for some big time catches against very tight coverage. I hope he can stay healthy all year. Props to Alec Lemon for a big game. The broken play early in the 3rd quarter where he say Ryan running for his life, broke off his route and ran all the way across the sideline to Ryan's side, where Ryan threw a perfect lob pass over a defender and around another to lead Alec perfectly for a desperately needed first down on a broken play...that was huge and one of my favorite SU plays ever. Alec (and Graham) did yeo-manlike work blocking downfield as well.

Props to Provo who overcame a bad start and some athletic LBs to have a solid game. Props to Bailey who struggled for a long time, all the way up to the bad fumble, and then was a man possessed from that point forward. A lot of his success comes down to the OL giving him a little room to run to. If they can block like they did in the second half all season...

The Natural had a big game. Showed leadership the whole fashion way, by setting an example on the field. His inspired power runs and blocks were great.

On defense, thought Spruill was good, Vaughn was all over the place, Jones had a great second half after a quiet start, Crume is living up to the hype, gonna be special, Davis was up and down, P Thomas really struggled but played hurt so I can't be that down on him. But you can't let people get that far behind you...no matter what.

Shamarko was all over the field, closes with remarkable speed, kept us in the game in the first half. We might have caught a break when P Thomas got hurt, Wilkes was all over the field and obviously had a couple of huge plays for us. Smart kid. Was also very impressed by the play of Lyn, who got picked on some when Anderson went down but came back strong and had some great coverages on long passing plays in the second half. Another future star. Lynch is a great blitzer, got some quality time in his first game and will get some sacks before the season is done.

We need to address the issue with the short snapping. Raupers did well as the punter, the long snapping was great, thought Kobena was excellent returning KOs and on the coverage units. The missed FG late was not Ross' fault, props to Loeb for making a couple of great saves on bad snaps (Ross too, the timing on those kicks was messed up).

Thought the refs gave a lot of close calls to Wake in the first half, lots of questionable marks too. That certainly changed some in the second half, though I think a big part of that was WF players getting exhausting and having to resort to holds and the like to complete their assignments.

Great win. I am happy for the fans, the coaches and more than anyone, the kids. Really believe they work as hard or harder than any team and they deserve to be rewarded for that. Really happy for the fans that stayed and got to see a remarked and truly inspired comeback. There have been too many times in the last 10 years or so when fans have come to a home opener full of hope and had that crushed for the season when the team laid an egg. I think this win will really help attendance the rest of the season.

How good was the win really? How good is Wake Forest? I like their QB, hope he is okay. He showed me a lot of poise and moxie standing in the pocket and waiting for receivers to get open. When rushed, he doesn't throw it that well but given time, he make some really nice throws and beat up deep too many times. They have some WRs who can run, a very good running back and what looks to me like a very servicable OL. Their defense looked very good in the first half, their pressure caused us a ton of problems and they have a nice group of athletes. Like us, they are a little undersized but play hard. I think they are headed for a 6-6 type year, minor bowl. Should be better than last year but not ACC champion quality. Edit: just found out their QB is out for the season. That is going to leave a mark..based on what I saw from the backup QB, they will be lucky if they can even beat BC. Sorry to hear that...he played a heck of a game for them.

Great to win an opener two years in a row. Great to beat an ACC team. We are well positioned now to go bowling two years in a row...this is the type of team we might competing against for a bowl bid. But most of all, wins like this breed confidence, something this program needs. There is much still to do, but this was a big step forward. I kept ranting last night about us being back. We aren't yet, but we are getting closer and someday, I think we might point back to this game as one of those crucial turning points in the history of the program.

I can't wait for the next game.
their quarterback was not very good, several poorly thrown balls to wide open receivers---behind them, overtheir heads, out of reach---thank god for that. missed several times if he were that good they would have put up 35pts in the first have. our pass defense was a c-
 
I thought their punt returner would back away from every punt after that illegal hit SU put on him early in the game. SU player should have known better. But man he popped him.
 
we need a power back BADLY, i wonder why moore did not play?bailey does not have the power to run inside thus making us offensively predictable
 
I thought their punt returner would back away from every punt after that illegal hit SU put on him early in the game. SU player should have known better. But man he popped him.

Two seconds later and it's a legal hit.
 
Great post as usual. Your take always provides good insight. I just think the team played the way it was supposed to in the second half and managed to pull out the win. We were very fortunate with Price's injury and WF special teams play but a win is a win. The game ended up exciting for those that watched till the end and looks good in the highlight reels. Not the perfect way to start the season, but a great comeback that should energize the team and the fans. Congratulations and thanks to the team and coaches.
 
Good stuff.

The game really turned on one play where the WF QB got hit and they went from being at the 2 yard line (and presumably putting Cuse away) to be in a 3rd and 29. That was maybe the strangest sequence of events I have seen in a football game, losing the QB and really the game all on one play.

Ryan Nassib may not be Peyton Manning but this kid doesnt make mistakes which is really impressive.

The offensive line was atrocious, which makes Nassib's play (and Ant's) even more impressive.

The defensive secondary was awful. The d-line got little push. I thought the linebackers looked really good.

The kick returner is going be a good one.
 
I kept ranting last night about us being back.

You sure did. Walking down the hill to the tailgate, I heard the distinctive tomcat postgame commentary voice coming from behind us, but last night you were almost breathless. Whatever euphoria the rest of us felt, you seemed to double it as we walked. Such an exciting game and a truly great win!
 
we need a power back BADLY, i wonder why moore did not play?bailey does not have the power to run inside thus making us offensively predictable
This doesn't seem to make sense, but I think our lack of success early prevented Moore from getting a chance. No need to rest Bailey when we only ran about 9 plays in the first quarter - I don't even think our #2 TB (Gulley) got a series until well into the 2nd half. So then they had to decide whether to mess with AB's psyche by using a quick hook in the opening game, and burn AAM's redshirt in the process (not a big issue, since I'm sure they know if he'll get PT or not this season). Since Wake wasn't taking much advantage of their opportunities, we were still close enough in the game to give Antwon a chance to get going. Then once they made adjustments and he got going, they just stuck with what was working.

Also don't know how much confidence they have in AAM in our passing game yet. I suppose they could've given him a carry in some of the few __ and short plays we had, but Bailey made it into the endzone from in close when we needed it.
 
A couple of additional observations:

I really thought both WF lines wore down in the second half. Didn't seem to rotate many players in on either side of the ball and the D-Line particularly was very slow getting up and back to the line after plays. In contrast, we played at least 8 on the D-Line and as the tide turned we looked fresh and aggressive.

A shame about Price. (No relation to former WF PG Mark Price, is he?) Kid showed good poise and leadership and was a key to their early play. Big drop off to QB2. This will really hurt prospects for the rest of 2011.

Lemon and Chew looked very solid, but none of the other WRs showed much of anything despite the hype coming out of camp. Hope 15 and 82 get some help so they don't wear down like last year.

David Stevens is an absolute terror blocking downfield. Very impressive.

Thought I saw Krautman mouthing the words to "Don't Stop Believing" as he kicked off after our first score with the music still blaring. No wonder he booted it out of bounds. ;)

Sorry I missed the tailgate. Thought about stopping by to celebrate afterwards, but as it is we didn't get home until almost 2 a.m. I'll be there later in the year.

And for all of those who did leave early, I only hope that some day my life is so compelling that I need the 30 minutes I get for leaving a game early.
 
A couple of additional observations:

I really thought both WF lines wore down in the second half. Didn't seem to rotate many players in on either side of the ball and the D-Line particularly was very slow getting up and back to the line after plays. In contrast, we played at least 8 on the D-Line and as the tide turned we looked fresh and aggressive.

A shame about Price. (No relation to former WF PG Mark Price, is he?) Kid showed good poise and leadership and was a key to their early play. Big drop off to QB2. This will really hurt prospects for the rest of 2011.

Lemon and Chew looked very solid, but none of the other WRs showed much of anything despite the hype coming out of camp. Hope 15 and 82 get some help so they don't wear down like last year.

David Stevens is an absolute terror blocking downfield. Very impressive.

Thought I saw Krautman mouthing the words to "Don't Stop Believing" as he kicked off after our first score with the music still blaring. No wonder he booted it out of bounds. ;)

Sorry I missed the tailgate. Thought about stopping by to celebrate afterwards, but as it is we didn't get home until almost 2 a.m. I'll be there later in the year.

And for all of those who did leave early, I only hope that some day my life is so compelling that I need the 30 minutes I get for leaving a game early.
A WF fan posted that Price had a torn ACL and was out for the season but the published reports I read from Winston-Salem indicated he just suffered a sprained knee. Hopefully those reports are correct and Price will play the rest of the season. I think Mark Price played at Georgia Tech. He is originally from Oklahoma and Tanner Price is originally from Texas, so who knows, you could be right on this.
 
I love the ability of the staff to make adjustments at half time. Don't know what they did with the OL, especially Mackey, but there was a big difference in the amount of time Ryan had to throw the ball the second half.

Until someone can pinpoint what those adjustments were, it's hard to feel warm and fuzzy about the shape of the line going forward. Is Mackey getting blown up?

This offensive scheme will struggle and sputter without a power back to put them in more favorable down and distance, especially on 3rd down. Carter was a guaranteed 2 or 3 yards every time, and that resulted in many 3rd and short situations as well as more effective play action -- both of which take a lot of pressure off pass protection. Give Moore some opportunities to grow up in a hurry and see what he can do. Same goes for finding another playmaker at wideout. Relying on Chew to stay healthy is like betting on the stock market. The team desperately needs more playmakers especially with a green defense that won't be as opportunistic as last year.

That being said, they just need to find a way to win games any way they can until they can recruit better talent.
 
Tomcat reported: "Edit: just found out their QB is out for the season. That is going to leave a mark..based on what I saw from the backup QB, they will be lucky if they can even beat BC. Sorry to hear that...he played a heck of a game for them."

Yet this report that came off the wire moments ago from The Winston-Salem Journal said:

Quarterback Tanner Price of Wake Forest, who was injured in the second half of Thursday's season-opener against Syracuse, has a sprained left knee, trainer Don Steelman said Friday.
Steelmen said that Price would be evaluated by a team physician later Friday, at which time doctors would make a decision on whether Price needs an MRI.
WSJ

Hopefully this means a week or two at most. The kid is as cool a cuccumber.
 
It's nice to be on the winning side of a What game. How many times have we lost games like this? It goes back decades. Very rare to be on the other side. Agreed with the person who side Marrone is a winner.
 
Until someone can pinpoint what those adjustments were, it's hard to feel warm and fuzzy about the shape of the line going forward. Is Mackey getting blown up?

This offensive scheme will struggle and sputter without a power back to put them in more favorable down and distance, especially on 3rd down. Carter was a guaranteed 2 or 3 yards every time, and that resulted in many 3rd and short situations as well as more effective play action -- both of which take a lot of pressure off pass protection. Give Moore some opportunities to grow up in a hurry and see what he can do. Same goes for finding another playmaker at wideout. Relying on Chew to stay healthy is like betting on the stock market. The team desperately needs more playmakers especially with a green defense that won't be as opportunistic as last year.

That being said, they just need to find a way to win games any way they can until they can recruit better talent.

This power back stuff is overblown

carter was absolutely not guaranteed 2 or 3 yards everytime. no one is.

bailey is the least of our worries.

when carter gets stuffed, people assumed it was the line. when bailey gets stuffed, people assume it's bailey. the bad 3/4 of the game on offense came down to the line. hopefully it gets sorted out. bailey is fine.
 
This power back stuff is overblown

carter was absolutely not guaranteed 2 or 3 yards everytime. no one is.

bailey is the least of our worries.

when carter gets stuffed, people assumed it was the line. when bailey gets stuffed, people assume it's bailey. the bad 3/4 of the game on offense came down to the line. hopefully it gets sorted out. bailey is fine.

Agree about the power back comment-I think Bailey is powerful enough.
 

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