Remember what Babers asked of the fans?

[Finwad32]

On O, I don't worry a lick about the skill positions. It's the OL that is deplorable.

Deplorable is a touch strong. Inexperienced and struggling, absolutely.

 

[Townie72]

You want posters on this board to wait 15 or 16 games for the offense to jell?

Good luck with that.

Some of these people can't wait 15 or 16 minutes.

 

[MadNY3]

Deplorable is a touch strong. Inexperienced and struggling, absolutely.

Not being able to run on Colgate doesn't seem like inexperience. That's scary.

 

[Finwad32]

Not being able to run on Colgate doesn't seem like inexperience. That's scary.

Although I agree to a degree, there's reasons. If that trend continues throughout this season into next, I'd be concerned. It's not hurting us badly yet, but, it will hinder us.

I mean, there's been more than a handful of games over the past 6-7 years where we couldn't top 300 yds offensively.

 

[djorange1989]

Babers also said we would play fast. apparently what he meant is we would line up fast, then spend 30 seconds looking at the sidelines playing pictionary/charades with the coaches.

He also had some post game comment about Louisville's "Jimmy's and Joe's". He's very Shafer-esque in many ways.

Go back to the Syracuse.com forum please. Worst post ever.

 

[TheCusian]

This season reminds me of Shafer's first - whacked by the elite (FSU/Clemson/GTech), good enough vs peer teams (NC State, Maryland, BC).

We'll see how it shakes out.

 

[djorange1989]

This season reminds me of Shafer's first - whacked by the elite (FSU/Clemson/GTech), good enough vs peer teams (NC State, Maryland, BC).

We'll see how it shakes out.

Agreed. I think next week is crucial to our bowl hopes. I wouldn't mind if Flowers got in trouble and is suspended for the game (I refuse to wish injury on anyone).

 

[SoBristol]

The kids they are bringing in on O at WR this year are players with speed and size.

Sure -- and the true frosh WRs next season won't have the benefit of Spring practices, and probably won't be as good right away as Estime & Etta Tawo. We need to replace our TEs, 2 or 3 OLs, and we could sure use an upgrade at RB. So, now we need another block of time (18 months?) for the new kids to pick up the pace and the schemes? It is like the arrow that can never reach its target.

So, I am impatient. Would expect our very good coaching staff to pull things together and win a few this season with what we have.

 

[alphaorange]

Sure -- and the true frosh WRs next season won't have the benefit of Spring practices, and probably won't be as good right away as Estime & Etta Tawo. We need to replace our TEs, 2 or 3 OLs, and we could sure use an upgrade at RB. So, now we need another block of time (18 months?) for the new kids to pick up the pace and the schemes? It is like the arrow that can never reach its target.

So, I am impatient. Would expect our very good coaching staff to pull things together and win a few this season with what we have.

I assume it won't be like this for the duration. I expect an upward trend. It's never that we're bad, bad, bad, bad, and then suddenly great. It's more like bad, less bad, better, decent, good, and then very good. 2 to 3 years is not too much to ask to get to that point.

 

[TheCusian]

Sure -- and the true frosh WRs next season won't have the benefit of Spring practices, and probably won't be as good right away as Estime & Etta Tawo. We need to replace our TEs, 2 or 3 OLs, and we could sure use an upgrade at RB. So, now we need another block of time (18 months?) for the new kids to pick up the pace and the schemes? It is like the arrow that can never reach its target. So, I am impatient. Would expect our very good coaching staff to pull things together and win a few this season with what we have.

That's CFB. We've been bad, so our recruiting has suffered. That's why it's a rebuild and not a quick fix.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

I don't worry about the O. I think long term it will all work out. Plus we have seen this O work at Baylor and with Babers as a HC. So it is easy to put my faith into that side of the ball.

The question mark is the D. Ward for the most part has been a small college coach. Two years ago he was in the FCS which is a big jump to the ACC. From what I can tell he hasn't coached under any notable DCs in the past. So the D is truly blind faith. One day we may look back and say wow we were lucky to have Ward, but as of now I think it is hard to tell what we have on that side of the football.

 

[TheCusian]

I don't worry about the O. I think long term it will all work out. Plus we have seen this O work at Baylor and with Babers as a HC. So it is easy to put my faith into that side of the ball. The question mark is the D. Ward for the most part has been a small college coach. Two years ago he was in the FCS which is a big jump to the ACC. From what I can tell he hasn't coached under any notable DCs in the past. So the D is truly blind faith. One day we may look back and say wow we were lucky to have Ward, but as of now I think it is hard to tell what we have on that side of the football.

I think that's fair.

 

[Rocco]

Sure -- and the true frosh WRs next season won't have the benefit of Spring practices, and probably won't be as good right away as Estime & Etta Tawo. We need to replace our TEs, 2 or 3 OLs, and we could sure use an upgrade at RB. So, now we need another block of time (18 months?) for the new kids to pick up the pace and the schemes? It is like the arrow that can never reach its target.

So, I am impatient. Would expect our very good coaching staff to pull things together and win a few this season with what we have.

If there is one position that has depth and talent, it's at WR and RB. The OL and secondary remain my two biggest concerns.

The OL will get better, not so sure about the secondary. Hopefully they will make the right adjustments and we can stay healthy. Secondary depth is razor thin. Terrifying, actually.

 

[SoBristol]

If there is one position that has depth and talent, it's at WR and RB. The OL and secondary remain my two biggest concerns.

The OL will get better, not so sure about the secondary. Hopefully they will make the right adjustments and we can stay healthy. Secondary depth is razor thin. Terrifying, actually.

The secondary is the biggest issue -- absolutely agree.
I don't know about the OL. It needs to get better, but there wasn't much push and very few running lanes against Colgate.
RBs -- apart from Moe Neal, it seems like an under-performing unit so far. Pretty sure Babers will make RB a priority in closing his 2017 class.

 

[Rocco]

The secondary is the biggest issue -- absolutely agree.
I don't know about the OL. It needs to get better, but there wasn't much push and very few running lanes against Colgate.
RBs -- apart from Moe Neal, it seems like an under-performing unit so far. Pretty sure Babers will make RB a priority in closing his 2017 class.

It's probably too early to tell, but it seems like Moe is better suited for the up-tempo, no huddle offense. Fredericks and Strickland are bigger backs, that could be useful in goal line situations, but it's hard to tell, at least to my eye, how they're going to have a big role moving forward. This could be entirely premature, but I think staff knows they got something with Moe back there. He's quick and can catch the ball out of the backfield.

 

[orangetrojan]

The biggest key is that unlike at his last stop, the difference in talent between his team and the rest of the conference is a lot bigger. He won't have as immediate of success because of this. But the important thing is to look for improvement which may not necessarily translate to a lot of wins at first. It takes time to change a culture and implement players for a unique scheme.

 

[SoBristol]

The biggest key is that unlike at his last stop, the difference in talent between his team and the rest of the conference is a lot bigger. He won't have as immediate of success because of this. But the important thing is to look for improvement which may not necessarily translate to a lot of wins at first. It takes time to change a culture and implement players for a unique scheme.

Eastern Illinois was in the dumper when Babers took over, but I agree there is a big difference between our team and the top of the ACC. Unluckily, the three best teams in the ACC are in our division.

Does it take time to implement the schemes? Lester did not have a lot of time -- he had to go with a true frosh QB (after he lost Hunt in the first game), and a walk on replacement. We had first year DTs, a small secondary, and our best RB was a true frosh. We were still competitive in the majority of games last season, with a team younger than the one we have now.
No reason we should regress on offense or defense. This team should get better, week to week.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

To give him TIME. It generally takes 16-18 games before everything "clicks", but it could take a little bit longer based on the current roster and the level of play in the ACC. He is staring at a massive talent gap between Clem, FSU and LVille and then Cuse. He needs time to recruit his players and restock the cupboard.

I knew that people would be pulling their hair out with the first loss and that is exactly what has happened. Is the Tampa 2 ideal with the players they have? Probably not, but that's his DC's defense. Not going to change it, so let's just drop that discussion. Did Whitner and Cordy get toasted all game? Yep, but they wouldn't be starters in an ideal world. They need to get their players in. They will, but it takes time.

Is it ideal that the offensive line looked like mashed potatoes? No, but again, you have guys playing in a new offense and still trying to get comfortable with each other. It's going to take time to gel and again, in an ideal world, some of those guys wouldn't be starting. It's going to take time.

Was it ideal that the Dome was a sauna? A very cozy 147 degrees with a dousing of humidity? Was it ideal that the bathrooms were even hotter and smelled like a baby diaper caddy? No, but oh wait, that has nothing to do with Babers.

I know it's tough to sit back and be patient as a fan. It's been a miserable run since 2002. Absolutely abysmal. However, Babers has proven to be a successful coach at two different levels so far. There is no reason to think he can't do it here either. For fock's sake, let's give the guy some time to get his system installed and HIS type of player here (I do think he's got some talent to start with). This was the friggin 2nd game the guy has coached here. You can tell he is still taking it all in on the sidelines and determining what he needs to do to make it better. Louisville is loaded with talent all over the place. That QB reminds me of Michael & Marcus Vick. Just absurd speed with a cannon arm. Impressive stuff.

Everyone take a pill, enjoy the weekend and get your asses back in the Dome next Saturday. Another huge challenge awaits us with USF. They got a good squad again this year.

Belief without evidence?

I was okay with the game. We played Cam Newton, II. With where we are right now, what do people expect.

 

[SUintheVille]

I'm not so sure that our talent level is that bad against the majority of the teams in the ACC. The problem is the division we are stuck in.

Yeah, the ACC for football is very lopsided, with Clemson, FSU, and Louisville in one division. There are some decent teams in the other division, but not like those 3.

 

[Rocco]

Yeah, the ACC for football is very lopsided, with Clemson, FSU, and Louisville in one division. There are some decent teams in the other division, but not like those 3.

That has always been an issue IMO. The top 3 teams on the other side are Duke, UNC and maybe Pitt? Not even the same echelon.

FSU and Clemson are in a league of their own. They should be in separate divisions because I have a hard time seeing them outside of the Top 20 anytime soon.

 

[Chip]

That has always been an issue IMO. The top 3 teams on the other side are Duke, UNC and maybe Pitt? Not even the same echelon. FSU and Clemson are in a league of their own. They should be in separate divisions because I have a hard time seeing them outside of the Top 20 anytime soon.

Replace Duke with Miami and I agree.

Atlantic has 1-2-3, Coastal has 4-5-6. Probably the next couple as well. GT may have resolved some of their issues.

Atlantic is top heavy and bottom light. It's like the old Big East of the mid 90s.

 

[RandygoCuse]

Only problem I have is that he didn't go for it on fourth enough.

 

[Rocco]

Replace Duke with Miami and I agree.

Atlantic has 1-2-3, Coastal has 4-5-6. Probably the next couple as well. GT may have resolved some of their issues.

Atlantic is top heavy and bottom light. It's like the old Big East of the mid 90s.

Agreed.

Only problem I have is that he didn't go for it on fourth enough.

Ha, he will over time. I'm not sure about what was going through his mind on Friday, but he obviously thought it was not in their best interests to go for it. I still think he is purely assessing the team.

 

[dollarbill44]

I have a feeling it's not as simple as you think it is, because he said it wouldn't be running where he wants it until year 2 between games 4 & 6. I guess we should just pretend he didn't say that though and complain.

I think a lot of people hear "simple" and confuse it with "easy". My understanding is the offense is rather simple, but it isn't easy to run, hence why Coach Babers has repeatedly said it takes midway through year two to really start to roll.

 

[Rocco]

To give him TIME. It generally takes 16-18 games before everything "clicks", but it could take a little bit longer based on the current roster and the level of play in the ACC. He is staring at a massive talent gap between Clem, FSU and LVille and then Cuse. He needs time to recruit his players and restock the cupboard.

I knew that people would be pulling their hair out with the first loss and that is exactly what has happened. Is the Tampa 2 ideal with the players they have? Probably not, but that's his DC's defense. Not going to change it, so let's just drop that discussion. Did Whitner and Cordy get toasted all game? Yep, but they wouldn't be starters in an ideal world. They need to get their players in. They will, but it takes time.

Is it ideal that the offensive line looked like mashed potatoes? No, but again, you have guys playing in a new offense and still trying to get comfortable with each other. It's going to take time to gel and again, in an ideal world, some of those guys wouldn't be starting. It's going to take time.

Was it ideal that the Dome was a sauna? A very cozy 147 degrees with a dousing of humidity? Was it ideal that the bathrooms were even hotter and smelled like a baby diaper caddy? No, but oh wait, that has nothing to do with Babers.

I know it's tough to sit back and be patient as a fan. It's been a miserable run since 2002. Absolutely abysmal. However, Babers has proven to be a successful coach at two different levels so far. There is no reason to think he can't do it here either. For fock's sake, let's give the guy some time to get his system installed and HIS type of player here (I do think he's got some talent to start with). This was the friggin 2nd game the guy has coached here. You can tell he is still taking it all in on the sidelines and determining what he needs to do to make it better. Louisville is loaded with talent all over the place. That QB reminds me of Michael & Marcus Vick. Just absurd speed with a cannon arm. Impressive stuff.

Everyone take a pill, enjoy the weekend and get your asses back in the Dome next Saturday. Another huge challenge awaits us with USF. They got a good squad again this year.

Belief without evidence?

*BUMP*

Everyone is pissed, I get it. Let's just keep things in perspective. The cupboard he inherited was fairly bare. It's going to take time.

The worst thing we could do as fans is set the worst season attendance record in his 1st season. Oh wait, check.

Have faith people, he's the best chance we've got moving forward at success IMHO. Let's hope he sticks around.