Positives Only Thread

[cusefan88]

Tennessee is a tough first game. Probably the second or third best team we'll play all season.

 

[Cuse On 3]

Willis is really good. Very hard to bring down. No idea about his speed but I'm hoping the OL can open up some big holes in the next couple games so we can test that out.

I think acceleration wise he isn’t super fast but his top end speed is really good. If that makes sense

 

[Cuse On 3]

Positives (without reading the thread)
* Frans main recruits are, athletically, a step in the right direction
* A few different bounces & basic execution its a 1 score game
* some moments where Angeli looked good. Same for Samuels.
* impressed w Yaz & Nixon, but not surprised

Well said

 

[djorange1989]

I like Angeli, not a runner of course but I like his make up and I think he will get better and better after just coming over 4 months ago

 

[Cuse On 3]

I like Angeli, not a runner of course but I like his make up and I think he will get better and better after just coming over 4 months ago

I just think Tennessee’s defense will be smothering for most teams again this season. I think he’ll be much more comfortable the rest of this season. Our entire team was thrown into the fire first game

 

[Archimedes]

1.) Demetrus Samuel showed a lot of courage just being out there. At his age. To do that. Just wow.

2.) It was nice to the see the option make a comeback on a TD. It warmed the heart of this 55-year-old.

3.) Angeli throws an outstanding slant pass. Cook is gonna break a few this year.

4.) I think we only ran the jet sweep once. That was a bread-and-butter play last year. I bet we see more of it. Cook could be very good running it.

5.) Stonehouse really has his act together.

 

[orangeinjersey]

1st game, lots of new guys. Procedural, lining up, play call errors...that should all get cleaned up.Tough opponent to start the year. Im not worried, we can score. At worst, we will have to play Big12 trype football and win 42-35

 

[5OutFred]

Felt like watching the GT offense last year in the sense you could tell the pieces were there for that offense to be special the following season.

Another year in the Nixon system while adding Calvin Russell will be scary. Just enjoy the process of growth this year and buckle up in 2026.

 

[AngryOtto]

Special Teams big improvement. No penalties. No blocked punts. All but one kick off went into the end zone. Stonehouse crushed the ball. Limited any returns.
FG will have to wait. But compared to last year massive leap forward.

 

[CuseLegacy]

Someone at my ATL gate turned their poodle into a giraffe. Not sure if that’s a positive or negative. But it captured the attention of everyone within 50 feet.

View attachment 254572

I think that giraffe isn't a poodle but is a doodle. ; )

 

[Oakland]

I was happy they team didn't fold after about as bad a start as we could have imagined. They regrouped, hung in there and fought hard.

We basically played them even the last 3 quarters.

 

[DuxburyO]

Syracuse orange is better than Tennessee's lame attempt.

 

[SUskibum]

1st - As mentioned 1 of 2 massive issues from last year looked ok -> Special teams looked at least average, including KO’s into the end zone that seems like a question mark going into the season

D/tackling still looks the same but this is a positive thread

2nd It looked like most of the issues were execution and not talent. Couple bad penalties, couple missed blitz pickups and couple turnovers by Steve caused by holding the ball too long etc

Not a lot of getting bullied (in fact we did a little bullying ourselves at times). Execution can be improved easier than talent

 

[anglerman]

Willis is really good. Very hard to bring down. No idea about his speed but I'm hoping the OL can open up some big holes in the next couple games so we can test that out.

He has good speed

 

[Bball44]

Felt like watching the GT offense last year in the sense you could tell the pieces were there for that offense to be special the following season.

Another year in the Nixon system while adding Calvin Russell will be scary. Just enjoy the process of growth this year and buckle up in 2026.

Is Angeli here for two years?

 

[djorange1989]

I think that giraffe isn't a poodle but is a doodle. ; )

I think we need to call the ASPCA, animal abuse!!

 

[djorange1989]

Is Angeli here for two years?

He has 2 years of eligibility left, yes

 

[TheHaze315]

I was happy they team didn't fold after about as bad a start as we could have imagined. They regrouped, hung in there and fought hard.

I hate to go in the past but I do think in certain situations it is necessary to show team/program development. If yesterday happened and DB was at the helm the final score would’ve been around 59-3. Fran Brown led teams do not crumble when they get punched in the mouth like we’ve seen from previous coaches here.

 

[McNabb2Brominski]

The game would’ve much closer if Nico was still their QB. Aguilar is legit. The 70 yd TD throw was a thing of beauty. Will be interesting to see how they do in sec play

 

[upperdeck]

I thought Agular was avg. He had tons of time, he made a ton of bad throws.

Reverse the two tipped pass plays.

We probably score something and they dont score at the end of the half

ours who knows but we got it back and went down and scored.

That ties the game or in a perfect world we take the lead. He never had to play from any stress

 

[Rautins07]

Thank You for this thread. I felt even if we played a perfect game it would be tough to win.
I was not that unhappy with what I saw, we are definitely bigger and faster and a physical game like this only will only help.
I was happy to see Mack at LT, we need a young anchor (Bergeron) that will be around a few years.
Samuel if I’m not mistaken re-classified, so really would be playing HS instead of starting against an SEC team in front of 70,000, he didn’t give up tried to punch the ball out, hey good coaching staffs are gonna do what Tennessee did to him.
I love Willis! Gonna be a beast, Angeli just needs to work out some kinks, plays need to get in faster
Fran is definitely trying to build an SEC that plays in the ACC.

I thought we ran the ball well, and hope we do more of it consistently, it will only help Angeli.

On to UCONN

GO ORANGE

 

[Archimedes]

The game would’ve much closer if Nico was still their QB. Aguilar is legit. The 70 yd TD throw was a thing of beauty. Will be interesting to see how they do in sec play

He made some terrible throws out in the flat. He sailed a number of passes that will get picked 6'd or someone injured at some point.

 

[BomberOrange]

Downvote me if you want, but man. If this is how the offensive line looked against an elite SEC defense then I’m okay with it, especially considering the entire offensive line is brand new aside from Cruz & Weatherspoon.

Positives:
— Good run blocking against an elite SEC defense with multiple blue chip run stuffing freak athletes.

— Trevion Mack looked the part and Joe Cruz I thought was solid again.

— While pass blocking was below average, 4 out of the 5 sacks came on blitzing LB’s. It was encouraging to see our tackles not get burned by their DE’s besides one play on Weatherspoon.

Wouldn’t call them an elite sec defense.

 

[JoeSU]

I thought Agular was avg. He had tons of time, he made a ton of bad throws.

Reverse the two tipped pass plays.

We probably score something and they dont score at the end of the half

ours who knows but we got it back and went down and scored.

That ties the game or in a perfect world we take the lead. He never had to play from any stress

I agree about Agular.
If it's any consolation to Vol fans, Nico Iamaleava didn't look very impressive in his UCLA debut.

 

[smartman]

Kudos for the positive thread.

OLINE - Certainly got beat a bunch, but did not look overwhelmed. As this team gels, there is good talent and size to be optimistic to power a strong power running game.

RBs - Willis really earned the yards and looked good even if the stats were pedestrian -- aside for the THREE TDs in his first start! Nixon seems like an excellent spell and receiving back. Think this is a good 1-2 punch.

TE/WR - Seems like good depth here, but nobody really stuck out before the year. Cook looks the part and can both stretch the field and be dangerous at all levels. The others are solid compliments (JRS and Russell in particular). Villari looks like he is really going to be a good weapon at TE finding the soft spots and good hands (would be great to see a favorite really shine in his last year).

QB - There were some tough plays with Angelli, but even with that he seems somebody that can be a solid QB this season. I'm not concerned about QB after this game (even better we have another solid one in Collins).

D - Not much on the positive here, but am excited to see true freshman crack the lineup. Bodes well for the future. Reese and Bryant were very involved.

Tough game with Tennessee to start in Atlanta (virtual home game) against a team that was in the CFP. I do like that Fran is looking to take on tough teams to harden the 'Cuse. We're going to surprise in a game or two this year. Optimistic about 2025.