perhaps overlooked the UL game disappointment

[upperdeck]

Once you take the first 14 pts and 10 minutes of the game for UL out of the equation.. and that period only last for 17 plays. the effort on D was pretty good

UL had 10 more drives.. the longest drive was 27 yds, except for the one long scoring run ,which came in a blown 3rd and long play where the coaches admitted they sold out to try and make a TO happen instead of trying to get the stop. UL had 100 yds in 9 of those drives and five first downs. two of the scoring drives were starting in SU territory and moving 16 and 11 yards.even one of the td drives was only 50 yards.

as bad as the SU offense was , they still had the 3 longest drives in plays at 11,10,9 plays. the drive in the 2nd where we drove to the 30 and had a false start, missed TD pass, sack. it was followed by another long drive to the 17 with with another missed Td.

the game was much more even than the score says and that includes the huge difference in field position ..

 

[orangenirvana]

I just think Louisville played the best they can possibly play and Syracuse played poorly.

The second play from scrimmage where Bridgewater found his receiver for 40+ on the rollout due to a blown coverage was the worst thing SU could have done. Because it got the crowd into the game and it got the young UL offense feeling good about themselves. And then another poor play by SU's defense (bad coverage by Lyn and blown assignment by Thomas) 2 plays later and they're up 7-0 and the whole stadium is fired up.

The defense wasn't ready to play until the second quarter. And the offense was very rattled really for the entire game.

Kind of a perfect storm. It happens. Just can't let it linger on into the next game.

 

[SoBristol]

With that approach (except for those 3 TDs, we did pretty well), you could turn GROB into Vince Lombardi.

But, in this case, you are right that the defense did OK after the first quarter. We were in the game, until the offense didn't do anything in the third quarter when it had field position. The offense wasn't rattled at that point -- it had the half time to get composed.

Another way to look at this -- Louisville had the ability to make the big plays on offense. We had to move the ball in small chunks, and when we got into so many 2nd and long or 3rd and long situations, we don't have big play ability to overcome it.

 

[Chip]

With that approach (except for those 3 TDs, we did pretty well), you could turn GROB into Vince Lombardi.

But, in this case, you are right that the defense did OK after the first quarter. We were in the game, until the offense didn't do anything in the third quarter when it had field position. The offense wasn't rattled at that point -- it had the half time to get composed.

Another way to look at this -- Louisville had the ability to make the big plays on offense. We had to move the ball in small chunks, and when we got into so many 2nd and long or 3rd and long situations, we don't have big play ability to overcome it.

Our QB is having way too much trouble hitting open WRs downfield. I know it's generally low %, but needs to be something above 0%. Chew was open twice, they didn't look like very difficult throws.

Our defense can expect more of the same. Teams are not having success running the ball against us (outside of one random option play). But teams are having great success completing the deeper passes against us, even if they have to push off to do it.

 

[DezisOrange]

Thanks for soome perspective upperdeck. With the exception of the secondary which has been really bad, I as many feel that overall the D has been far and away better than expected. Possibly if we could get more pressure with our front four it would help the secondary, but nothing helps you as much as having your head turned. Its maddening to see how many times our cover people aren't even seeing the ball cause they don't turn their heads. I swear we'd have at least 15 more interceptions this year if they would. Anyhow, this was supposed to be the year that the offense helped the young D by basically being more offensive. And they have been slightly better, but the inconsistency...aaarrrrggghhh! Somehow we need better play calling (more creative or better deception). I also think Nassib should pull it down and run a bit more. He's not fast but move the chains for 2-4 yards and make the agressive D's hesitate just a bit. Wildcat...excuse, Express is fine, however i feel that type of play needs to be run by someone who is at least a threat to throw the ball if your going to use it more than once or twice, otherwise it's just a dead giveaway. UConn is not L'ville, however in this up and down season we can't take anyone for granted. I feel like we won't score a ton in a win for 'cuse....however,...i felt that way last week too. Folks, I know its frustrating and not exciting to hear, but coming from where we've just come from, we are ahead of schedule and you'll only know for sure what ya got til year 5-6. Til then we gotta enjoy the slow but steady turn around and support this team. Go Orange!