my two cents

[Roger N]

Yup. He owned it. What kind of word salad would Dino have given us?

Dino would have said "We suffered an Owie!"

 

[kcsu]

On the 4th and 9 I think they called TO first then we called TO when we saw how they came out. I don't think our TO gave them any advantage. We just defended terribly.

you are correct i was at the game and didnt realize the first TO was on Stanford. Sometimes you get beat and the kid made a perfect throw. Maybe if he sees pressure he pulls the trigger too fast who knows it was a tough loss one that we should have had.

 

[Ozone!]

How much of the flatness of the team may be attributed to overconfidence; all the experts were saying we would easily lose.
Yes, we were out coached and our coaches will learn from this and grow,IMO.

 

[sufandu]

Concerning games after a bye: Different coaches, same results. It seems the bye week strategy is to give players rest and an altered practice schedule. Question: Why not keep everything the same and practice during the bye, like you have a game on Saturday?

P changed practices during bye weeks and he had a great record afterward, although least until we were in out decline.

I don't think poor use of the bye had an effect on this game. Stanford capitalized on the weaknesses that were there the first two weeks and we played poorly. It's a bad combo.

 

[kcsu]

Moves to consider

Move Fadil all over the field. Put him at LB, Edge and inside. Use his skills. Personally id like to see him at LB more with McDonald.

Target Meeks more.

Run the wildcat Dan

Get Pena some run at RB

Basically try and get your playmakers more involved

 

[007]

Moves to consider

Move Fadil all over the field. Put him at LB, Edge and inside. Use his skills. Personally id like to see him at LB more with McDonald.

Target Meeks more.

Run the wildcat Dan

Get Pena some run at RB

Basically try and get your playmakers more involved

Fadil has been moved around all 3 games

Meeks has been situationally good and benefits from the attention given to OG, Pena

Dan at the wildcat?? Any plan that takes McCord off the field is...not good

Pena has been the most consistent and productive WR of the group. Teams have to game plan for him. Giving him "run" at RB would be counterproductive and expose him to unnecessary risk

Getting play makers more involved = water is wet

 

[orangecuse]

How much of the flatness of the team may be attributed to overconfidence; all the experts were saying we would easily lose.
Yes, we were out coached and our coaches will learn from this and grow,IMO.

I don't buy it. I mean, you're talking about players whom play for a program that basically hasn't been relevant for the better part of two decades plus. Compartmentalizing to this season, the team was 2-0 and won both games at home against opponents that most likely will end up being/having mediocre records when it's all said and done. "Overconfidence!" Good frigging grief! Insert Jim Mora's "playoffs" rant here.

One thing for sure is accurate in your sentiment, our coaches were simple out coached! I guess in the end, this really shouldn't surprise anyone when you have a first time 'head coach' learning on the job.

 

[Dr. Bill]

Fadil has been moved around all 3 games

Meeks has been situationally good and benefits from the attention given to OG, Pena

Dan at the wildcat?? Any plan that takes McCord off the field is...not good

Pena has been the most consistent and productive WR of the group. Teams have to game plan for him. Giving him "run" at RB would be counterproductive and expose him to unnecessary risk

Getting play makers more involved = water is wet

This game was one that we all thought we would win...and we lost! Good Coaching staffs design game plans to expose the other team's weaknesses, so, lets analyze what Stanford did well: 1) Stopped our run game, forcing us to pass. 2) Forced us to pass, which is our strength, but applied heavy pressure, which is McCord's weakness. Weaknesses identified: O Line and Pass blocking. Stanford on offense, ran the ball extremely well identifying our run defense weakness. The bottom line moving forward, strengthening the clear weaknesses that we display on film and changing game plans based on our opponent's weaknesses.

 

[Offthedome]

Fran is going to end up being a great coach for SU. He is a perfect fit as he was raised in our prime recruiting area and his background is the same as many of the kids and their families that he is recruiting. If we can support him with NIL he will land talent. Hes already proven that. In my mind he has already changed the culture and energized the community and most importantly the students. Yesterday was pretty amazing. I think it was the largest student turnout for a football game ever. We can beat every team we play this year. We can also lose to all of them with the exception of Holy Cross and Uconn. Its going to be a great ride lots of ups and downs but at the end of the year regardless of final record the program will be in much better shape.

Re: students. I agree, but now he has to convince them to stay for the entire game.

 

[VTAaron]

Yup and I think some people had sky high expectations because of all the recruiting talent and energy he brought early on and they just assumed we were national champion contenders.

There was a reason sports analysts weren’t calling us that etc.

We’ve still got to build this program, give Fran 3 years and we will win that game last night like everyone thought we wouldAg

Agreed. It can't all be in one season, and it can't be from one game to another either. Regardless, this year is still looking pretty cool!

 

[VTAaron]

Re: students. I agree, but now he has to convince them to stay for the entire game.

I noticed that... Maybe it was just about the free tshirt participation thing, and they left after halftime more or less... on the upper levels... could have used the support, but just like my and myself now, I go for one thing do another and it was a late night and I'm sure they wanted to party... However, Frans opinion of midday games is an issue too as I'd like to spend some sun time around 10-5pm and rather do the dome 6+

 

[VTAaron]

I noticed that... Maybe it was just about the free tshirt participation thing, and they left after halftime more or less... on the upper levels... could have used the support, but just like my and myself now, I go for one thing do another and it was a late night and I'm sure they wanted to party... However, Frans opinion of midday games is an issue too as I'd like to spend some sun time around 10-5pm and rather do the dome 6+

SO LETS BRING UP ANOTHER TOPIC... STUDENT RESALE TICKETS IN THE STUDENT SECTION. Should not be ALLOWED! Looks like they blocked it, but last week it was happening on a third party ticket forum.. Not cool

 

[Cuseregular]

How much of the flatness of the team may be attributed to overconfidence; all the experts were saying we would easily lose.
Yes, we were out coached and our coaches will learn from this and grow,IMO.

Definitely a factor IMO. Watching McCord drink the rat poison of self satisfaction from the comments and compliments of those two bball goofs during that podcast last week had me concerned. Between that and his radio duties could’ve distracted him a bit too much last week.

And I think we saw that play out during that game. Strangely enough, this loss might be a blessing to get the emphasis off of that kind of stuff, refocus to kno you can lose on any given Friday/Saturday without being 100% all in focused.

As others have said, with this combination of a shaky defense, but with a great quarterback and other weapons on offense, we can win or lose virtually every game except the obvious. And the fact playing sub par we were STILL in a position to win overcoming ourselves, and AGAIN!, the horrendous officiating, is a positive.

So yeah Other than holy Cross, and UConn, every single game is going to be a barnburner. Thought we did have an outside chance of a special season, but with those combination of factors and circumstances that means that it’s not gonna happen, but doesn’t mean we cannot have a good season, better than the past couple.

Great “special” seasons are likely a way off now, which is why I think everybody, including myself, was so disappointed thinking there was an outside chance of that happening this year. Realistically, that’s not going to happen, but resetting a little bit, this can still be a fun and satisfying season

 

[OrangePA]

Got to Manley about 6 had some great food drink and company and walked over the JMA on a beautiful night. The energy was high and i was expecting Fran the team to come off the bye firing on all cylinders. Oh well.

I'm not sure what happened or didn't happen during the week off, but the team was completely flat. Nothing seemed in synch from the get-go, and we didn't find our rhythm as an O the entire game. Kyle and the WR were not on the same page, and I thought the play calling wasn't taking into account what the D was giving. If not for some solid redzone stands by the D this game would have been ugly at the half. Second half same thing. Team came out flat and the initial series was simply horrible. Stanford is a team that if we played 10 times, I believe we win 8 with 6 of those being blow outs. Yesterday they out schemed, out physical, and of course out coached us. Still, we should have been able to take advantage of their D, and we didn't. Lots of credit to the Stanford coaching staff who took Fran and his to the woodshed as our staff not our players lost this game yesterday. Poor officiating again which I find hard to fathom as it seems we get the worst of it when we are home. Not sure what is behind the poor officiating, but JW needs to step in because this game was really bad. Too many to mention but Stanford could have been called for holding on half their plays.
As to 4th down D. One I don't like calling a TO in that situation. We had them on their heels, and I believe that the D had the advantage. Giving them a TO was in my opinion giving them an opportunity to regroup and plan. I would have much rather the TOs all occur on their side of the ledger if at all. Second Dont give him time. Bring it and last point is if you are not going to bring it for God's sake double down and take their stud out of the play.
Still the kid threw a beautiful pass, and of course future NFL made a great catch.
Going forward I think that the program is in excellent shape. I'm a big believer in Fran and even bigger after listening to his post-game when I got home. He owned the loss, and his comments were spot on, honest and accurate. He realizes he was out coached and also realizes we have holes that have to be fixed.
I'm not sure what the issue is as far as the run game but I don't believe it is all on the OL rather more on the scheme.
Losing Marlow is as big or bigger than most of us realized as I'm beginning to think that our LB situation has as much to do with our D issues as any position group. I posted that i felt that we could win every game we played and i still feel that way. This is one that we let get away and it sucks but the wheels are not off, and this staff is as solid as we have had in a very long time.
Keep the faith Rome wasn't built in a day.
Go Orange!

I would not have called TO either in that situation.

 

[ECE '76]

I think a lot of Syr fans don't realize how good Stanford was under David Shaw and Jim Harbaugh. The program was better than any team in the ACC over those years except for Clemson and FSU (only because FSU won 1 NC). Shaw's teams had OL and DL that could stand up to and beat Notre Dame, USC, and Oregon regularly. Syr hasn't been capable of matching ND's physicality since that 1 game with Charlie Weis. Stanford did crash over the last 5 years, but they obviously still retain some of the bones of Shaw's good OL and DL - better than what Syracuse has. Taylor has a lot of experience as a HC and winning games. He got a lot out of his roster Friday. They committed a lot of penalties, but otherwise were well prepared and had a good game plan.

About the bye weeks: when MacPherson and then P were HCs, SU played fantastic after the bye. It was essentially guaranteed. Mac was also amazing given 5 or 6 weeks to prepare for bowl games. P started out the same way about bowl games, but eventually they became more 50/50 in bowls.

 

[baggerbob]

Fadil has been moved around all 3 games

Meeks has been situationally good and benefits from the attention given to OG, Pena

Dan at the wildcat?? Any plan that takes McCord off the field is...not good

Pena has been the most consistent and productive WR of the group. Teams have to game plan for him. Giving him "run" at RB would be counterproductive and expose him to unnecessary risk

Getting play makers more involved = water is wet

Get the 2 Freshman some time at running back against Holy Cross, we need speed, and someone who might break a tackle.
When people are saying about your 1st string running back he's a great blocker, or he's a great receiver, and not he's a great running back you have a problem.

 

[007]

Get the 2 Freshman some time at running back against Holy Cross, we need speed, and someone who might break a tackle.
When people are saying about your 1st string running back he's a great blocker, or he's a great receiver, and not he's a great running back you have a problem.

Yeah, the only people saying LQA is not a good RB are a few posters on this board. Allen rushed for over 1k last season with that OL and no real passing threat. He is averaging nearly 5.5 yards/carry this season and teams needs to game plan for him as a receiving threat.

 

[Ozone!]

I don't buy it. I mean, you're talking about players whom play for a program that basically hasn't been relevant for the better part of two decades plus. Compartmentalizing to this season, the team was 2-0 and won both games at home against opponents that most likely will end up being/having mediocre records when it's all said and done. "Overconfidence!" Good frigging grief! Insert Jim Mora's "playoffs" rant here.

One thing for sure is accurate in your sentiment, our coaches were simple out coached! I guess in the end, this really shouldn't surprise anyone when you have a first time 'head coach' learning on the job.

Learning on the job, while significantly upgrading the talent, support systems for the players and staff, taking responsibility for the coaching miscues, while having a great relationship with players, coaches and staff, while taking up community support efforts with his players; it the beginning of his tenure.

 

[JRHEETER]

Definitely a factor IMO. Watching McCord drink the rat poison of self satisfaction from the comments and compliments of those two bball goofs during that podcast last week had me concerned. Between that and his radio duties could’ve distracted him a bit too much last week.

And I think we saw that play out during that game. Strangely enough, this loss might be a blessing to get the emphasis off of that kind of stuff, refocus to kno you can lose on any given Friday/Saturday without being 100% all in focused.

As others have said, with this combination of a shaky defense, but with a great quarterback and other weapons on offense, we can win or lose virtually every game except the obvious. And the fact playing sub par we were STILL in a position to win overcoming ourselves, and AGAIN!, the horrendous officiating, is a positive.

So yeah Other than holy Cross, and UConn, every single game is going to be a barnburner. Thought we did have an outside chance of a special season, but with those combination of factors and circumstances that means that it’s not gonna happen, but doesn’t mean we cannot have a good season, better than the past couple.

Great “special” seasons are likely a way off now, which is why I think everybody, including myself, was so disappointed thinking there was an outside chance of that happening this year. Realistically, that’s not going to happen, but resetting a little bit, this can still be a fun and satisfying season

I don’t think “way” off is necessarily it either

Look how far we’ve come in only a few months.

Imagine what can happen with a whole year etc

As McCord said in his presser “all of our goals as a team are still on the table”

 

[Millhouse]

I would not have called TO either in that situation.

I think defensive head coaches are generally too focused on what is best for the defense in absolute terms and not what's best for the team relative to the other team

Calling a timeout helps the defense so they do it. An offensive coach is more likely in my opinion to consider if it helps the other teams offense more than it helps you

Punt decisions are often made thinking of how hard it would be for the defense to potentially defend a short field.

I'm talking generally here

It's not awful to call timeout, not killing him for that by itself but it just didn't seem like it accomplished a thing while it had to have helped Stanford

 

[Millhouse]

Definitely a factor IMO. Watching McCord drink the rat poison of self satisfaction from the comments and compliments of those two bball goofs during that podcast last week had me concerned. Between that and his radio duties could’ve distracted him a bit too much last week.

And I think we saw that play out during that game. Strangely enough, this loss might be a blessing to get the emphasis off of that kind of stuff, refocus to kno you can lose on any given Friday/Saturday without being 100% all in focused.

As others have said, with this combination of a shaky defense, but with a great quarterback and other weapons on offense, we can win or lose virtually every game except the obvious. And the fact playing sub par we were STILL in a position to win overcoming ourselves, and AGAIN!, the horrendous officiating, is a positive.

So yeah Other than holy Cross, and UConn, every single game is going to be a barnburner. Thought we did have an outside chance of a special season, but with those combination of factors and circumstances that means that it’s not gonna happen, but doesn’t mean we cannot have a good season, better than the past couple.

Great “special” seasons are likely a way off now, which is why I think everybody, including myself, was so disappointed thinking there was an outside chance of that happening this year. Realistically, that’s not going to happen, but resetting a little bit, this can still be a fun and satisfying season

McCord makes this year fun
It'll be a good first year
But it won't be as good as it should be when you have a QB this good

 

[upperdeck]

the fact that we had a 80% chance to win late with an oline that played that poorly is a good thing.

Other than Miami no team we will play is not just as flawed.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

McCord makes this year fun
It'll be a good first year
But it won't be as good as it should be when you have a QB this good

Haiku?

 

[shu 49]

Yeah, the only people saying LQA is not a good RB are a few posters on this board. Allen rushed for over 1k last season with that OL and no real passing threat. He is averaging nearly 5.5 yards/carry this season and teams needs to game plan for him as a receiving threat.

I see the people saying thatsnd thought we were a high level team and we aint. Any great oline allen could run thrue easily. Georgia s run game has massive holes their oline makes. My fat ass could get 5 yds sometimes lol

 

[kcsu]

I would not have called TO either in that situation.

If you listen to the Stanford head coach he even talks about how he told his team that if SU comes out with the same coverage we are going to 13. He goes onto say that because of the TO he had a full 15 seconds to talk to his qb once they lined up and he gave him the green light. The TO that we called really helped them.