People we were 8-5 last year, anyone who thinks we haven't turned

[Cuseman78]

Then I think your book is not a book I want to read, good sir!

Yup, I just went there.

Try to deal in reality. %$&#in' gimme a break.

Reality is that his career record is 11 and 15 against FBS teams, his teams perform horribly in the Dome, and with the exception of the Pinstripe bowl the offense that gets rolled out is among the worst in college football. If not for Scott Shafer there isn't a whole lot of accomplishment yet to the tenure. That's reality.

My reality is that he's 15-15 with a bowl victory coming off a 4 year stretch with 10 wins overall and the laughing stock of the country. Were you really expecting top 25 teams in year 3? I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you don't watch a lot of non-SU college football if that's what you were expecting.

And maybe fantastic was a bit much but I threw it out there as bait anyway knowing I'd get somebody cranky enough to argue with me. Ok, so instead of fantastic, I'll go with very, very, very, very, very, very good. That's 6 verys. Does that work for you boss?

And just to be clear, I'm talking about being 6 very good up TO THIS POINT. Obviously, expectations are ratcheted up now that we've stabilized the sinking Grob ship. I don't expect a .500 football team going forward so don't think I'm a soft grader. I'm just a realist (hint: you are not).

 

[SoBristol]

OK yesterday was a bad game, but Marrone has turned the program around. He hired Shafer; we have a legit defense even with kids at LB. Good chance to get 7 wins this year.
The one issue -- not yet clear that Marrone has recruited a RB of the caliber of Carter or Bailey; a DE of the caliber of Jones; or a TE as good as Provo; or a WR as good as Mike Williams or even Chew, Sales or Lemon. Hasn't really added playmakers to the mix, and that is the biggest reason we struggle on offense.
Still time to get that done, and he better -- because Provo, Bailey and Chew are (with Lemon) the only playmakers we have.

 

[kingottoiii]

Actually I think we have about 77 players on the scholarhip roster right now (not including the walk ons who earned one this year), and by my count only 17 of them are GRob recruits. 11 of them are guys who see the field.

By my count 21 guys with 13 who see the field.

Sales, Graham, Nassib, Lemon, Scott, Bailey, Vaughan, Kimmel, Cutler, Haney, Marinovich, Boatman, Phillips, Lowery, Pugh, Lepak, Allport, Provo, Chew, Stevens, and Chandler.

 

[orange03]

My reality is that he's 15-15 with a bowl victory coming off a 4 year stretch with 10 wins overall and the laughing stock of the country. Were you really expecting top 25 teams in year 3? I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you don't watch a lot of non-SU college football if that's what you were expecting.

And maybe fantastic was a bit much but I threw it out there as bait anyway knowing I'd get somebody cranky enough to argue with me. Ok, so instead of fantastic, I'll go with very, very, very, very, very, very good. That's 6 verys. Does that work for you boss?

And just to be clear, I'm talking about being 6 very good up TO THIS POINT. Obviously, expectations are ratcheted up now that we've stabilized the sinking Grob ship. I don't expect a .500 football team going forward so don't think I'm a soft grader. I'm just a realist (hint: you are not).

Maybe I'm too hard of a grader, but all things considered I'm not as enamored with Marrone as some on here are. Let's be honest, anyone with any football knowledge would be an improvement over what GROB was and did here. Fact is, up to now I don't see him being that much better a recruiter than GR was. A better teacher and coach for sure, but given the lack of overall talent that will only get us so far. The ACC isn't a great football conference, but it's a helluva lot better than the Big East. IMO he still has a lot left to prove.

 

[Chip]

By my count 21 guys with 13 who see the field.

Sales, Graham, Nassib, Lemon, Scott, Bailey, Vaughan, Kimmel, Cutler, Haney, Marinovich, Boatman, Phillips, Lowery, Pugh, Lepak, Allport, Provo, Chew, Stevens, and Chandler.

I meant to say I wasn't sure where to put Lemon, but since he committed to GRob that makes sense. Marrone may not even have found him (wasn't like Marrone came in and said let's start with Anne Arundel county in Maryland and then work from there).

I kept Sales off, he's been on my "don't think I'll ever see him again" list.

Pugh and Phillips were GRob recruits? I'll have to change them.

 

[Cuseman78]

Maybe I'm too hard of a grader, but all things considered I'm not as enamored with Marrone as some on here are. Let's be honest, anyone with any football knowledge would be an improvement over what GROB was and did here. Fact is, up to now I don't see him being that much better a recruiter than GR was. A better teacher and coach for sure, but given the lack of overall talent that will only get us so far. The ACC isn't a great football conference, but it's a helluva lot better than the Big East. IMO he still has a lot left to prove.

That's fair though I'm certainly towards the other end of the spectrum regarding the job he has done to this point. Just the fact that he's stabilized a sinking ship was big in my book. For example, if we were in the midst of Grob land, would we have gotten the ACC invite? I think ACC football schools certainly would have had to think twice about adding us if we were in the midst of the 1-10, 2-10 type seasons we became accustomed to.

Now, I agree that he really needs to upgrade offensive recruiting (his biggest shortcoming to this point) and keep moving this thing forward. I expect the good Coach P level teams. I just never thought it was really fair or realistic to expect that in year 3.

 

[Millhouse]

That's fair though I'm certainly towards the other end of the spectrum regarding the job he has done to this point. Just the fact that he's stabilized a sinking ship was big in my book. For example, if we were in the midst of Grob land, would we have gotten the ACC invite? I think ACC football schools certainly would have had to think twice about adding us if we were in the midst of the 1-10, 2-10 type seasons we became accustomed to.

Now, I agree that he really needs to upgrade offensive recruiting (his biggest shortcoming to this point) and keep moving this thing forward. I expect the good Coach P level teams. I just never thought it was really fair or realistic to expect that in year 3.

I expected better offense by now. Defense has exceeded expectations. Toughness and mettle in close games exceed expectations. White knuckling until Broyld or Hunt are ready. I'm not expecting much this year. I just expected to beat Rutgers. Pitt will push us around, WVU will torch us, Cincinnati will outscore us. Uconn Tulane should be wins. Hopefully louisville? who knows. USF maybe they implode again.

this was a bad weekend. hope i don't look back and think that SU missed a bowl because of rutgers and Bills missed playoffs because the worst reviewed call since Toledo

 

[tep624]

why is it that if you question Marrone, it means you want him fired? I said he isn't the guy. really meant probably isn't the guy. Doesn't mean fire him today. Tristan thinks the answer is spend a bundle and hire a big, big name. He is wrong on that. We need a football coach. I wanted Marrone to be that guy but this whole week, he made me ill. Every team has injuries. I have never seen a coach whine about it like he did. Never. I never got the sense that he wanted to just take that game and stuff it. It was always a little , okay the clock is running and we have a 10 point lead. I was very surprised all week by Doug. I can't believe some of you weren't.

Questioning decisions/play calls in the context of a game, especially this last one, is perfectly acceptable. Saying he isn't the guy is essentially calling for him to be replaced. So tha's why people think you're crazy, and rightly so.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you don't watch a lot of non-SU college football if that's what you were expecting.

What's hilarious about this comment is that I habitually tell people on the board to watch other college football games so that they can get an appreciation for what offense is like in college football right now.

 

[Millhouse]

What's hilarious about this comment is that I habitually tell people on the board to watch other college football games so that they can get an appreciation for what offense is like in college football right now.

WVU is 50% better than us on offense this year against FBS competition.

Last year they were 19% better than us on offense against FBS competition

This year WVU is 64% better on offense against BCS schools than we are.

Last year they were 18% better.

What is different this year? (hint - it's not just delone carter being gone)

 

[suloyalfan]

a corner under Marrone is insane and I like to usually make arguments like this for the hell of it, but come on now. We played like **** and lost, should have won by 14-17 points but didn't. As I have said, 100 times Syracuse and Rutgers are two evenly matched teams, we made too many mistakes and I give Rutgers a lot of credit, they hung in there and never quit

FWIW, Wake wins again yesterday, Toledo throttled Temple.. This team will continue to get better,

Exactly... the team has turned a corner and will continue to get better. This is the THIRD season people. Get a grip. As much as it pains me, you do have to give Rutgers credit in this game. Syracuse was close to walking away with this game a couple times in the second half but Rutgers made plays to keep themselves in the game.

Looking back, the wins against Wake Forest and Toledo were both good victories over good teams. I still see 6 or 7 wins this season minimum. It hurts to miss an opportunity against Rutgers to get a 4th win on the season, but that doesn't mean the season is over.

Tulane, UCONN, Louisville, and at least one upset against Cinci/Pitt/WVU/USF sounds reasonable to me given what I've seen on the field from Syracuse and those teams. USF was exposed a bit against Pittsburgh, and they definitely don't play well on the road. We have Cinci at home late in the season, with 2 weeks to prepare for them. Pittsburgh and WVU are tough, but they were tough last year and Syracuse managed to beat WVU in Morgantown. This year we have WVU at home with 2 weeks to prepare for them. Anyone thinking that Syracuse can't beat any of the teams left on their schedule hasn't been paying attention. I'm not saying that they will beat them, just saying that they CAN beat them.

Lastly, anyone talking about how Marrone isn't the right coach for this team, or that he should be fired, or that we aren't better off now than we have been for a long time is insane. Talk about an over-reaction. People of this mindset are the primary reason why coaches are getting less and less of a chance to build a program over a reasonable amount of time. People demand immediate results and when they don't get it, off with the coaches head and let's try someone else. If you really don't like the direction of the Syracuse program then maybe you should find another team to root for... I, for one, an proud of the team and I have faith in Marrone and the players that they will play hard every week and fight through adversity. This was a tough loss to swallow given the opportunities lost, but there are still 7 more games to play. It's not like the season is lost!

 

[SaltineWarrior]

IB, I pretty much agree with your comments. SU deserved to lose but that doesn't mean this team can't make or isn't making progress. The Wake and Toledo wins show we may not be as bad as some in this forum are suggesting.

Perhaps the definition of "the corner" that we are turning is where some people disagree. We have turned a corner from 1-10 to somewhere just north or south of a .500 record. Have we "turned the corner" towards a team and a program that will start in the Top 20 every year and make a run into the Top 10 every couple of years? Probably not. However, in the grand scheme of things, it might not be that bad.

This team is young, learning and somewhat banged up. The defense looks like it was dead and actually showed up last weekend. If the offense can actually learn from this loss and go on and win some games we all believe they should lose, the lose may sting less. A loss against RU hurts on the recruiting front, but a win against a team like Pitt or WVU would wipe that out.

 

[OrangePA]

Jefferson has 3 catches all year and none the last two games. I don't know or care which one is faster, stronger, or can jump higher. What I do know is that Provo is the better and more talented TE.

Yeah, I haven't compared stats - I wasn't really referring to stats. I really don't know how Rutgers uses their TEs.

My point was, again, that Rutgers is longer, bigger and more athletic than SU is right now. They have better athletes than we do across the board.

The notion that the Rutgers talent level is that of a very poor football team I think is inaccurate.

While it is true that Schiano does not appear to put his players or coaches in position to win as many games as they should, given the team's athleticism, we played a talented and physical team on Saturday - especially our offense versus their defense.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Yeah, I haven't compared stats - I wasn't really referring to stats. I really don't know how Rutgers uses their TEs.

My point was, again, that Rutgers is longer, bigger and more athletic than SU is right now. They have better athletes than we do across the board.

The notion that the Rutgers talent level is that of a very poor football team I think is inaccurate.

While it is true that Schiano does not appear to put his players or coaches in position to win as many games as they should, given the team's athleticism, we played a talented and physical team on Saturday - especially our offense versus their defense.

Have to agree with that. Rutgers has a lot of athletes on their team.. I will be curious when we move up to the ACC if we see any Big east transfers, in general more or less, would be a nice landing spot for kids from the Northeast