A ton has been covered, so just a quick thought or two (or a few) after watching back, with the obvious caveat that Colgate looked brutal and, for the most part, we'll have to let some things play out:
- As many have pointed out, we appear to have some depth for the first time in a really long time. When I look at games like this, essentially my only interest is how the backups play. That's particularly intriguing when they are in early enough to legitimately run an offense. We didn't appear to lose much of a step on either side of the ball as a couple different waves of players came in. Young WRs, LBs, DBs, DL all looked good, Not especially pretty day for Price, but I'm willing to hold out judgment as I thought he had a few runs where he got stuffed but there wasn't anywhere to go. Daniels looked good. CDRW looked confident. Not sure he's anywhere close to Shrader from that one outing but you can see why the staff would be intrigued. Overall, just a bunch of depth, which is good.
- OL seemed OK to me. This group is unlikely to ever be a huge strength for us. I can remember a few OLs in my time as a Cuse fan going back to the late-80s that were a legit strength but it's really rare. Those big guys who can move and have high-level athleticism are tough to find for this program. This group seemed OK -- not great, not super exciting and certainly not dominant -- but they seem ok. Thought some of Shrader's pressure was brought on by his looking to run or leave the pocket a bit unnecessarily.
- Shrader played pretty well overall. Saw a bunch of concerned posts about Shrader. I think you just have to evaluate him as a football player instead of as a pure QB, since he's unlikely to grade out overwhelmingly positive as a pure quarterback. On the downside, the deep balls were not great (the one to Jones before he caught the TD might have been a bit late and was definitely underthrown. Need to get that ball up to take advantage of his size. A couple others were a step or two behind. He also got a bit antsy in the pocket at times and the pick was terrible. That said, this kid has done nothing but produce since he's been here, he battles hard and he appears to have a few more weapons this year. He'll be good for us if he can stay healthy.
- Classic review of a Dino game: He's great and terrible. I'm exaggerating here but Dino has clearly done some things really, really well here. This team is deep and it's a difficult era for a school like Syracuse to accrue legit talent. So credit to Dino. Beck and Long got the job done. Our punter looked better in his one opportunity. So he did a nice job. But the sloppiness and weird decisions continue. I would have had Shrader and Allen out in the first half. Not sure if they wanted to get them some numbers but honestly, I would have given that last drive of the first half to CDRW. And the first drive of the third quarter? Shrader took a couple big hits there. I just don't really understand that gamble. But, to be fair to Dino, 65-0 and plenty of reasons to feel good, so it is what it is in some ways.
- Clark play fast and violent. Not much more to add but he is a super aggressive football player who plays really fast. Like him a lot.
- Interested to see if the WRs continue to make plays against stiffer competition. We've had teams with some good receivers but this game appeared to show that outside of Jones and Gadsden, there are a bunch of talented guys who seem like legit threats to contribute. Hatcher not only caught the ball and made plays, he blocked well (always an underrated thing). Brown appears to have great hands and is a legit option in the slot. Alford made some nice plays, Gill and looked good on their few opportunities. Really nice to see. Hope it continues.
