Phil Steele Preview

[kcsu]

All home games are important. We need to beat ville to get to a bowl. Huge whiff on the DL portal isn't going to help.

 

[money3189]

No matter what these college football previews say about our QB and Receiver rankings, we have 1) huge X factors in Anae and Beck that will help make these position groups make some noise, and 2) after watching the spring game this year, I am much higher on the potential of the receiver unit to completely erase all thoughts of what happened under Gilbert ball

As far as DL, we have questions at tackle, but we have some hot young studs at DE. We will see how this plays out

Good points. Passing game will have better continuity and production.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

About that decent chance of going to a bowl game:

Might be more of a longshot than I inferred...the Top 12 teams rated with a tougher schedule this year over last year...guess who is #2 on the list?

Yeah Cuse. (BTW, Ruttie is #1). Both teams each power rated around the 10th toughest schedule in CFB.

So anyways his stats suggest over the last 17 years that the Top 12 teams that have much tougher schedules compared to the prior year, have an 85% chance of winning the same number or worse amount of games. So SU's chances at a bowl game (6 wins) is pretty long.

Eh, it's informative, but doesn't really matter.

We have to perform.

 

[Bulldog04]

Honestly I’m not worried about the Defense as much as some are. The dungey days were great when they would win games that totalled 90 points. Doesn’t matter how much you give up if you outscore the opponent. I think they score a ton this year

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Honestly I’m not worried about the Defense as much as some are. The dungey days were great when they would win games that totalled 90 points. Doesn’t matter how much you give up if you outscore the opponent. I think they score a ton this year

Yup, one way to get what you need from your defense is to just not need as much from them.

Part of why that season worked so well is because we rarely had empty possessions. At the very least always moved the chains, and even if we didn't get a TD, we moved the ball well enough to get a field goal.

If we can get back to that and Andre becomes the dependable guy we know he can be, the outlook is really bright.

 

[All4SU]

I want to see SU get back to generating some turnovers. Instant momentum shift. Short field. More offensive opportunities. We just didn’t get enough of those last year.

 

[djorange1989]

If we had the 2021 schedule in 2022 I would feel great about a bowl, this team will be better than last year. Gilbert was so incredibly bad and we had no ST coach(and boy did it show). Just like Rutgers killed our bowl bid(I know we had several almost wins but you can’t lose at home to Rutgers) I think the Purdue game is what will decide it, obviously Purdue is better than Rutgers. We need to be 3-1 OOC and I don’t think we beat ND. I think we get 3 ACC wins, hence the need for 3-1 OOC.

 

[money3189]

Yup, one way to get what you need from your defense is to just not need as much from them.

Good point. This is often overlooked.

 

[JoeSU]

Yup, one way to get what you need from your defense is to just not need as much from them.

Yea, like our offense not regularly going 3-and-out on each possession.

 

[elimunelson]

If we had the 2021 schedule in 2022 I would feel great about a bowl, this team will be better than last year. Gilbert was so incredibly bad and we had no ST coach(and boy did it show). Just like Rutgers killed our bowl bid(I know we had several almost wins but you can’t lose at home to Rutgers) I think the Purdue game is what will decide it, obviously Purdue is better than Rutgers. We need to be 3-1 OOC and I don’t think we beat ND. I think we get 3 ACC wins, hence the need for 3-1 OOC.

I don't know what we'll be yet. We have a qb who can't throw a football (but has a ton of moxy), no real WRs, and the best RB since Reyes. This could go 100 diff ways. We also have new coordinators who may be home runs or may realize that no one mortal can fix the issues from last year in 1 season.

I'm pessimistically thinking 3 wins but optimistically thinking 7 os i'll lean on 5 as the most likely scenario. At that point Wildhack will have to pull the plug on the Dino era and determine if these coordinators are worth making HC/OC or if they should give the program an enema and look towards the model of success of hiring a guy from New England (Mac/Pasqualoni) and have him build the infastructure through that lens

 

[TexanMark]

I think/hope our 2 safety transfers are good. Adding them in the mix with our returners, plus the addition of the CB from Dartmouth, I think we will be better than ranked 11.
I am not going to say anything about the DL. I think it has been brought up maybe once or twice. I feel like I’m living in that commercial, “we all see it, we all see it.”

He forecasted UL transfer Oliver as a starter over Barron

Had Carter and Simmons as the starters at safety.

We have Coley back as a capable backup. Rutgirls transfer Clark is a huge wildcard.

The back 5 unit is going to be super important and must overachieve for the team to excel.

 

[Trueblue25]

He forecasted UL transfer Oliver as a starter over Barron

Had Carter and Simmons as the starters at safety.

We have Coley back as a capable backup. Rutgirls transfer Clark is a huge wildcard.

The back 5 unit is going to be super important and must overachieve for the team to excel.

Agreed. Size and athleticism at safety helps take the burden off the Lb’s trying to compensate from a weaker DL.

It’s harsh but we can’t win with the same undersized reserves at safety, no need for names. Hope Carter, Barron and Oliver stay healthy. Need Simmons to improve.

 

[money3189]

I don't know what we'll be yet. We have a qb who can't throw a football (but has a ton of moxy), no real WRs, and the best RB since Reyes. This could go 100 diff ways. We also have new coordinators who may be home runs or may realize that no one mortal can fix the issues from last year in 1 season.

I'm pessimistically thinking 3 wins but optimistically thinking 7 os i'll lean on 5 as the most likely scenario. At that point Wildhack will have to pull the plug on the Dino era and determine if these coordinators are worth making HC/OC or if they should give the program an enema and look towards the model of success of hiring a guy from New England (Mac/Pasqualoni) and have him build the infastructure through that lens

Dino is not getting fired with 5 wins. Not with the hires he made and the returning players for the 2023 season.

 

[Cuse181]

Dino is not getting fired with 5 wins. Not with the hires he made and the returning players for the 2023 season.

This schedule is basically set up for him to get 5 with an okay team, a good team could get 6-7, but this is just a such a bad year to be bottom rung in the Atlantic, NC State, Clemson, wake, Louisville (maybe B.C. with a healthy QB) all have legit chances to make a run at the Atlantic title, add in Pitt playing good football again and it gets really hard to see 6…

 

[OttoinGrotto]

This schedule is basically set up for him to get 5 with an okay team, a good team could get 6-7, but this is just a such a bad year to be bottom rung in the Atlantic, NC State, Clemson, wake, Louisville (maybe B.C. with a healthy QB) all have legit chances to make a run at the Atlantic title, add in Pitt playing good football again and it gets really hard to see 6…

Yeah, except, where is all this improvement from all of those other programs coming from?

The ACC sucked last season. It's magically all getting better on our side of the conference? How?

 

[AAM62]

Yeah, except, where is all this improvement from all of those other programs coming from?

The ACC sucked last season. It's magically all getting better on our side of the conference? How?

The reason the ACC sucked is because the Atlantic was down. Reason for the sentiment shift is mean reversion from clemson, some optimism from FSU, and wake and ncst staying at the top 25 level. Pitt won’t be as good as last year.

 

[Cuse181]

Yeah, except, where is all this improvement from all of those other programs coming from?

The ACC sucked last season. It's magically all getting better on our side of the conference? How?

What changed for Syracuse that didn’t change for anyone to get them to jump above Wake, Louisville, NC State, Pitt and BC with a healthy QB?

The coordinator hires were great, but they need to figure out a completely anemic passing offense in a single offseason, that’s not easy.

 

[cuse62]

The media is hyping all the returning QBs in the Atlantic.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

What changed for Syracuse that didn’t change for anyone to get them to jump above Wake, Louisville, NC State, Pitt and BC with a healthy QB?

The coordinator hires were great, but they need to figure out a completely anemic passing offense in a single offseason, that’s not easy.

First off, Syracuse doesn't have to jump above all of them. We're talking about needing 3 or 4 wins in conference. We just have to win against enough of them to achieve that. I'm not saying we have to contend for an appearance in the conference championship game.

Second, Syracuse has one of the best returning players in all of college football. Despite not being able to throw for crap we piled up rushing yards last season. If you want to point to a reason why we make a jump, yeah, it's not crazy thinking Anae and Beck get us a competent passing game, and that changes everything for the team because a better offense takes stress off of our defense.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Dino is not getting fired with 5 wins. Not with the hires he made and the returning players for the 2023 season.

I don't even really want to talk about this but 5 wins would be such a let down of a season.

It's like running on the hamster wheel, except we likely don't have Tucker that following season.

 

[baggerbob]

First off, Syracuse doesn't have to jump above all of them. We're talking about needing 3 or 4 wins in conference. We just have to win against enough of them to achieve that. I'm not saying we have to contend for an appearance in the conference championship game.

Second, Syracuse has one of the best returning players in all of college football. Despite not being able to throw for crap we piled up rushing yards last season. If you want to point to a reason why we make a jump, yeah, it's not crazy thinking Anae and Beck get us a competent passing game, and that changes everything for the team because a better offense takes stress off of our defense.

You get it, with even a decent passing attack, we can run the clock, and wear defenses down.
If our FG kicker recovers and becomes fairly automatic again, we will win games.
We had too many times we came away with noting last year because we couldn't score when in Field Goal range.

 

[rrlbees]

I don't even really want to talk about this but 5 wins would be such a let down of a season.

It's like running on the hamster wheel, except we likely don't have Tucker that following season.

Why would 5 wins be a letdown? We were 5-7 last year. I estimate the new coaches and the return and improvement of some players is worth 2 wins. But the schedule is far more difficult and some of our opponents are as much improved if not more so in who they have returning. I figure those things are a negative of 2 losses. So that probably offsets our +2 and makes it 5-7 again. 6-6 I’ll be happy as hell.

 

[TheCusian]

Yeah, except, where is all this improvement from all of those other programs coming from?

The ACC sucked last season. It's magically all getting better on our side of the conference? How?

I don’t think the ACC sucked last season… no playoff team colors national perception. Not trad teams having great years (Wake and PITT) obscured NC state and Clemson even down, was a top 30. Miami and UVA had/have very good QBs.

Only Duke was putrid

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Why would 5 wins be a letdown? We were 5-7 last year. I estimate the new coaches and the return and improvement of some players is worth 2 wins. But the schedule is far more difficult and some of our opponents are as much improved if not more so in who they have returning. I figure those things are a negative of 2 losses. So that probably offsets our +2 and makes it 5-7 again. 6-6 I’ll be happy as hell.

Because 5 wins for a P5 program sucks, bees.

It's that simple.

We just have to break through.

 

[rrlbees]

Because 5 wins for a P5 program sucks, bees.

It's that simple.

We just have to break through.

5 wins is tough to take. But we will be better this year than last and that improvement is what is the most important thing this year with such a young team and new coaches. But it may not be reflected in the record this year because of the schedule.