There really isn't anything good that came out of last night. This quite easily could have been the most disappointing performance I have ever seen from a Syracuse Football team. We finally get to the point where we feel we have turned the corner, and are back to being a real Football program and then last night happened. I feel part of the uproar and avalanche of negativity came from the expectations we had going into the season. I finally felt we got back to the level where we could compete talent wise with everyone on our schedule minus FSU and Clemson. There is absolutely no excuse for what happened last night. None! You had all off-season to get prepared for that team, and had absolutely no reason not to be fired up to play opening the season in your building. Our coaching staff was thoroughly exposed. I was skeptical going into the season, but I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt being it their first seasons here, breaking in a new qb, and any other excuse I could come up with. Well unfortunately last night proved that we are rarely going to be able to out scheme the opponent. I really don't think this is an overreaction either. In 2012, with far less overall talent, I had confidence in every single game we went into. We may not win, but I felt we had a chance in every single game because we were most likely going to out scheme you. There was a plan going into each game, and then there were adjustments. That didn't happen last year, and it certainly didn't happen last night. I also don't want to hear about how Villanova is good. Sure they are good, and even better coached, but still we have absolutely no excuse for not winning by multiple td's. To a man our offensive line had 50lbs on the man in front of them. Nova's db's and wr's were tiny. They really only had 1 player, their qb. Unlike other sports having an advantage in the coaching box is arguably more important then having the advantage on the field. So while our talent has increased there has been a significant downgrade in the coaching. I can't even imagine what would have happened if we did not get that fake fg. The fact alone that it was called was alarming. You do not go for a fake FG at home with an OL that is 50lbs bigger to a man on the 4 inch line. If you can't pump that in with distance and that situation then you don't deserve to win. Hell we didn't deserve to win anyways.
I guess what I am trying to say is I am extremely disappointed. Honestly I didn't find any joy in the win. Disappointed, depressed, dumbfounded, and dreadful round out my feelings. Bare minimum this team is talented enough to win 6 games, but with that performance we'd be lucky to eek out 3.
Finally this is a critical year for us. We cannot afford a slip up. I really hope Shafer, his coordinators, and the players figure it out real quick or it could get really ugly.
