Post SU-BC Thoughts | Syracusefan.com

Post SU-BC Thoughts

orangepassion

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  • We are physically overmatched on Defense, but am proud of how our guys battled and held up better against the run later in the game. As BC started the second half marching down the field, I said to my son "It looks like we're about to fall apart in the second half again" or something along those lines. To my pleasant surprise, we did not and gave the Offense a chance. We still have a lot of work to do on our run Defense, but we managed to make just enough plays (Plus BC missed 2 FG's) to keep us in the game
  • Agree w/ Tomcat about the continued lack of discipline with the penalties. It has been a constant in Dino's 5 years and at this point, it's not just a "happening" to quote Dino
  • The OL was okay, not great, not terrible. It would be great if we can have a couple of games where we can actually run the ball consistently. By the amount of times they had a True Freshman throwing the ball in his 1st start, It's clear the staff has little faith in our run game. Similarly to the penalties, our run game hasn't been good in 5 years. The staff needs to do something different recruiting wise (Hello, Transfer portal) to get some physical players there.
  • I thought Morgan had some nice plays, especially loved the nice throws under pressure, but am not ready to declare him the Messiah. Just like Parcells says you are what your record says you are, your points are what what the scoreboard says and we only scored 6 points until the game was effectively over in the end. Obviously, you have to grade on a curve with it being his 1st start and the lack of a consistent running game, but I'd still also like to see some Dillon these next few games to see what we can do.
  • I think Greenwood is our biggest weak link, Hanna probably #2, but I have more faith that Hanna gets better. Would like more Labrosse than these other two for the extra size and strength he would bring to help us tackle
  • This is old news, but would like to see more quick passes, specifically slants to the TE's behind the opposing LB's when they attack our running game. We need to slow those LB's down and make them pay when they don't. I actually wouldn't mind trying some of those slow Wake Forest RPO's and see how that goes
  • We need to see what young WR's can do. We know what Taj and Queeley can do and they should also play, but these next few games are our defacto Bowl practices and need to be utilized to see what we have.
  • Will probably have some more thoughts after I watch the condensed game while treadmilling tonight
 
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Don't believe there's any condensed game yet for this game, so I went through the 1st half quickly.
A few more thoughts:
  • Thought it was interesting that we mostly just left 4 guys on the Defensive line-3 linemen and a LB, Richards, Linton, and/or Thompson. Not nearly as much stunting. Would think if you're going to do that, might as well just leave 4 linemen out there to better stop the run, but we ended up only giving up 16 points, so can't complain.
  • I know Dino disagreed with me when I brought it up with him, but if there's a worse blocking WR corps out there, I haven't seen them. We had a few plays that had some potential by the sideline if the WR blocked, but did not get the job done there. They're just not very physical. Oh, the days of Ish and Custis.
  • Jacobian did miss on a few throws, including shorting a sideline throw to Tucker on the last drive of the 1st half and missing a slant to Taj. However, as others have said, very poised for his 1st start. The penalties killed us, as they often accompanied and took away a big gain.
  • Wish we'd keep Lutz in instead of Tucker on obvious passing plays. While Tucker is the superior runner, Lutz is a better blocker and might be a better Receiver.
  • Kingsley beat his man and was clearly held from behind on the Flowers TD catch. It's amazing how rare it is other teams get called for holds against us, while we get called on almost every big play
  • Special Teams played well-Love watching Nykeim run with the ball-explosive.
 
  • We are physically overmatched on Defense, but am proud of how our guys battled and held up better against the run later in the game. As BC started the second half marching down the field, I said to my son "It looks like we're about to fall apart in the second half again like we've been doing" or something along those lines. To my pleasant surprise, we did not and gave the Offense a chance. We still have a lot of work to do on our run Defense, but we managed to make just enough plays (Plus BC missed 2 FG's) to keep us in the game
  • Agree w/ Tomcat about the continued lack of discipline with the penalties. It has been a constant in Dino's 5 years and at this point, it's not just a "happening" to quote Dino
  • The OL was okay, not great, not terrible. It would be great if we can have a couple of games where we can actually run the ball consistently. By the amount of times they had a True Freshman throwing the ball in his 1st start, It's clear the staff has little faith in our run game. Similarly to the penalties, our run game hasn't been good in 5 years. The staff needs to do something different recruiting wise (Hello, Transfer portal) to get some physical players there.
  • I thought Morgan had some nice plays, especially loved the nice throws under pressure, but am not ready to declare him the Messiah. Just like Parcells says you are what your record says you are, your points are what what the scoreboard says and we only scored 6 points until the game was effectively over in the end. Obviously, you have to grade on a curve with it being his 1st start and the lack of a consistent game, but I'd still also like to see some Dillon these next few games to see what we can do.
  • I think Greenwood is our biggest weak link, Hanna probably #2, but I have more faith that Hanna gets better. Would like more Labrosse than these other two for the extra size and strength he would bring to help us tackle
  • This is old news, but would like to see more quick passes, specifically slants to the TE's behind the opposing LB's when they attack our running game. We need to slow those LB's down and make them pay when they don't. I actually wouldn't mind trying some of those slow Wake Forest RPO's and see how that goes
  • We need to see what young WR's can do. We know what Taj and Queeley can do and they should also play, but these next few games are our defacto Bowl practices and need to be utilized to see what we get.
  • Will probably have some more thoughts after I watch the condensed game while treadmilling tonight

I could not agree more with this. Those 2 guys are terribly undersized and are killing us out there. A healthy Cisco and Trill, and results of some of these games are different.

The safety/rover situation for next year is frightening right now. Ja'Had Carter & Eric Coley are basically it. They've been decent, but they're certainly nowhere near Trill & Cisco (which I don't expect). People seem to be high on Labrosse right now, but if he's as good as advertised, why is he not on the field over Hanna & Greenwood? This group looks very thin on paper.
 
Maybe my expectations are unrealistic, but rough guidelines for tackling responsibility on run fits should be: 40% on the DL; 30% on the LB's; 20% on the safeties; and 10% on other guys in the secondary. Might be slightly more with the LB's in the 335, but even so, our percentages are inverted. We have a 168 pound frosh (Hanna) as our leading tackler ... which is completely unsustainable. Bailey is almost 240 pounds. It's not fair (or even safe) to rely on speed guys to stop him in the box. We need our linemen to do that most of the time, helped by our LB's. And despite a courageous effort by KJ/MW, except the 4th QR when we sold out to stop the run with 6/7 guys, our DL were taken out. Having 2 "bigs" just isn't working - our guys are getting doubled and blown out of the play and our LB's are 5 yards too late. I love our younger players, but problems with the run have been acute since Slayton left.

Yes, safeties (or rovers) can come up. Cisco was particularly good at this. Trill was also good against the run - and almost single-handedly shut down Liberty in the second half (nicked up!). But our DL needs to be significantly upgraded for us to have a chance against bread and butter ground/pound in the ACC. And our LB's have to learn (faster) on the job to stick with their assignments and get off blocks. Jones is a good player ... tough and rangy. But I don't think he's the answer in the middle in this league. While the staff addresses this (long-term) with recruiting and development, I think some creative player/personnel changes need to be made (while Hanna's still alive).
 
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Agree. Think we either need to play Labrosse or our best cover LB at Rover. Think Hanna has some talent, but don't think he can hold up at this point.
Maybe my expectations are incorrect (or unrealistic), but rough guidelines for tackling responsibility on run fits should be: 40% on the DL; 30% on the LB's; 20% on the safeties; and 10% on other guys in the secondary. Unfortunately our percentages are inverted. We have a 168 pound frosh (Hanna) as our leading tackler ... which is completely unsustainable. Bailey is almost 240 pounds. It's not fair (or even safe) to rely on speed guys to stop him in the box. We need our linemen to do that most of the time, helped by our LB's. And despite a courageous effort by KJ/MW, on most plays (except the 4th QR when we sold out to stop the run with 6/7 guys) they were no where to be found. Having 2 "bigs" isn't working - our DL are getting doubled and blown out of the play and our LB's are 5 yards too late. I love our new guys and the direction recruiting's going in, but problems with the run have been acute since Slayton left.

Yes, safeties (or rovers) can come up. Cisco was particularly good at this. Trill was also good against the run - and almost single-handedly shut down Liberty in the second half (nicked up!). But our DL has to be totally upgraded for us to have a chance at defending bread and butter ground/pound in the ACC. And our LB's have to learn (faster) on the job to stick with their assignments and get off blocks. Jones is a good player ... tough and rangy. But I don't think he's the answer in the middle in this league. While we address this with recruiting and development, I think some creative player/personnel changes need to be on the table (while Hanna's still alive).
 
  • Noticed last night when skimming through that our sacks were generally not getting overpowered or beaten. Just miscommunication and totally not seeing the rusher and him coming in unblocked. This happened to our OL and our RB's. Not sure if that makes me feel better or worse
  • Loved the short throws to Lutz where he caught it and ran for more good yardage. Would love to see more of that. We still had several plays where all our receivers are going deep and there's just enough time for the QB to get it to them. This invariably leads to a sack, a holding penalty, or a throw out of bounce. Except for rare circumstances, need to always have someone available for a quick dump off.
 
The team in general lacks size, strength, and physicality.
We desperately need some men on the DL, need our LBs and DBs to add weight and strength.
As to the OL we need a ready made transfer at center.
 
The team in general lacks size, strength, and physicality.
We desperately need some men on the DL, need our LBs and DBs to add weight and strength.
As to the OL we need a ready made transfer at center.
That first line is an accurate yet tough to swallow statement. Hard to be good in football lacking any of those let alone 3.
 
The team in general lacks size, strength, and physicality.
We desperately need some men on the DL, need our LBs and DBs to add weight and strength.
As to the OL we need a ready made transfer at center.

This isn't exactly a revelation. Everyone playing in the back 8, with the exception of Iffy (for which size and strength are not a problem) is in their first or second year in the program.

As for the DL, I don't think size and strength are the issue for Black, Williams, Jonathan. But they are just probably better suited to the requirements of a 4 man front. Or they just aren't good enough.
 

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