Some frustrated snap reactions after taking an hour to cool down

[HRE Otto IV]

I am not going to get in the Erod thing but I think our players just aren't good enough. Last year, we had one guy placed on the All Acc teams and he was 3rd team. And I think we lost our best players off that defense. Guys don't tackle. It is one of the reasons that I said floor of 4 and ceiling of 7. It might actually be worse than that.

We had enough talent last year for the former #1 team this year to grab a guy, a preason Top 20 team take a guy, another P4 team to take 2 guys, another 4 guys make NFL squads, and another make an NFL camp.

The output last year did not match the talent. The above is better than SU usually has and yet our D stunk playing a pretty light schedule.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

There is no way to clean up tackling - that’s a myth - bigger, stronger and faster is what tackles better - we are weak defensively

So UConn and Ohio have bigger, stronger, faster players?

 

[Tony DeFranco]

So UConn and Ohio have bigger, stronger, faster players?

No, they do not - nor do they tackle better than us

 

[Surfan06001]

Every year I hope for a serviceable OL. And yet…

 

[tbonezone]

Every year I hope for a serviceable OL. And yet…

we keep letting our guard down ...

 

[dasher]

We had enough talent last year for the former #1 team this year to grab a guy, a preason Top 20 team take a guy, another P4 team to take 2 guys, another 4 guys make NFL squads, and another make an NFL camp.

The output last year did not match the talent. The above is better than SU usually has and yet our D stunk playing a pretty light schedule.

And how many guys made any All Acc teams. And lets see how those guys do at their new school. I am not saying we were well coached. Just that the talent matched the coaching

 

[HRE Otto IV]

And how many guys made any All Acc teams. And lets see how those guys do at their new school. I am not saying we were well coached. Just that the talent matched the coaching

They didn't make all ACC because they didn't have the output. Which was my point. Enough talent but no stats to reflect that talent. That isn't on talent.

 

[dasher]

They didn't make all ACC because they didn't have the output. Which was my point. Enough talent but no stats to reflect that talent. That isn't on talent.

Impossible to prove.

 

[SU68]

At least Florida State (ugh) rescued the ACC's dignity today.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Impossible to prove.

No it is not. The fact that they move don to bigger an better places proves they have talent.

 

[DomeHolmes]

There is no way to clean up tackling - that’s a myth - bigger, stronger and faster is what tackles better - we are weak defensively

I argued last year too that “cleaning up” tackling was a myth. If you’re 20 years old and been playing football for 15 years and still don’t know how to tackle, coaching now wont help you. However, IMO, I would argue that bigger, strong or faster has a somewhat less to do with it than instinct and understanding angles. If Shamarko Thomas never touched a weight in his life, he would be a better tackler than anyone on this team.

 

[RedtheGOB]

The Defense just does not play aggressive football. They don’t have the horses or experience like Tennessee to do that right now in August. They run a stay in your lane and make them beat you with short accurate passes defense and hope the secondary and LBs can keep the running game under control. Sacks nope, tackles for loss maybe a few but not much else for the box score for the DL and LBs.

The killer is that if they play this style D they just can not ever ever ever give up big plays over the top which was a backbreaker today or have the offense put them in a big hole with turnovers. Thats 14-21 points and too much today. Stopping the run and tackling is just the talent and experience gap hitting us in August.

I know people hate this style of defense. It’s boring and doesn’t show up on the stat sheet but until they get the horses and experience I don’t see another option. Maybe later in the season or maybe next year. I just need to see more still.

 

[UpstateSM]

I don't expect Fran to demote or fire ERob but if what we see doesn't drastically change this season (unlikely) he needs to find a parachute gig or we need to hire a co-coordinator who is making all of the significant decisions.

We are bringing in so, so much more size, speed and talent than I have ever seen at Syracuse and we can't afford not to squeeze every drop of potential out of it. I don't think our DC is capable of that. Rooting for him to prove me wrong.

 

[dasher]

No it is not. The fact that they move don to bigger an better places proves they have talent.

I am not saying that they didn't have any talent. Just that they weren't all that good. You need at least some stars on defense and on offense. We had 4 guys that made All Acc on our offense. I'm confidant other guys on our offense could have transferred to other schools. They just weren't good enough to make a difference. Guys on this team could transfer and make another team. They wouldn't be guys that make a difference on making you win though. For example, Duce. He transferred to LSU. Couldn't play there though. Comes back here and bam, he starts.

 

[Atlcuse44]

Maybe I am mistaken but I thought Coach Fran said last year that we should enjoy ERob while we can because he won't be here for long. My take on that was that he was doing this as a favor to Fran and he expects to go on to bigger things. Seems like a good guy but nobody will hire him away as a D-coordinator if this keeps up.

 

[dasher]

Maybe I am mistaken but I thought Coach Fran said last year that we should enjoy ERob while we can because he won't be here for long. My take on that was that he was doing this as a favor to Fran and he expects to go on to bigger things. Seems like a good guy but nobody will hire him away as a D-coordinator if this keeps up.

I think Fran was thinking that ERob would get a head coaching job. Try not to laugh

 

[Newhouser]

Of course it is the coaching. We have the talent, except at DE. Which is a big, glaring gap -- admittedly. But everywhere else, we have the horses.

I think that ERob might have had things easier at aTm, where they recruit nothing but blue chip guys. So you're bound to have quality d-linemen at a factory like that. Here, where coaching matters, and we have to build up quality depth, you get exposed if you can't coach.

Well... he struggled as a DC last year, and didn't inspire today. He seems like the weak link on an otherwise good staff. Just IMO.

We aren't talented at DT either.

 

[Tony DeFranco]

We don’t have one Darius, Ponds, Bulluck or Freeney - not one play maker anywhere - really weak at LB - I agree we have to come up with some creative sets - felt like every sack they had came off a blitz unblocked

 

[Orangefan1]

I am not going to get in the Erod thing but I think our players just aren't good enough. Last year, we had one guy placed on the All Acc teams and he was 3rd team. And I think we lost our best players off that defense. Guys don't tackle. It is one of the reasons that I said floor of 4 and ceiling of 7. It might actually be worse than that.

I agree our tackling is atrocious and it led to momentum killing plays following a good drive by our offense

 

[Archimedes]

Lets schedule Alabama, Ohio State, and Florida next year.

Absolute stupidity.

Im angry that after last year, this was what these kids had to open with. The program wasnt ready for this. And with transfer dynamics being what they are i dont know that we will ever be in a position to win a defacto road SEC game in week 1.

Did the ACC put us in this game or did we arrange this on our own?

 

[Yeti]

There is no way to clean up tackling - that’s a myth - bigger, stronger and faster is what tackles better - we are weak defensively

This is the most absurd thing I’ve ever read.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I agree our tackling is atrocious and it led to momentum killing plays following a good drive by our offense

The conversions we gave up on 3rd and long weren't due to missed tackles though.

 

[JeffCuse]

Did the ACC put us in this game or did we arrange this on our own?

I dont believe the ACC dictates OOC scheduling

 

[AngryOtto]

I know that everyone is not happy with the loss but some of the H0T Takes are a little over the top. The o was able to move the ball on a very good D. The D does need to improve but to think we cannot improve over the season is a ridiculous take. We have the size at DT and LB. Safety is good for most games. Cb is young and will be a work in progress.
ERobb needs to make adjustments. I feel he will. He is like family to Fran but Fran wants to win. He will not throw ERobb down in public but will get other staff members involved to help if needed.

 

[sufan59]

I know that everyone is not happy with the loss but some of the H0T Takes are a little over the top. The o was able to move the ball on a very good D. The D does need to improve but to think we cannot improve over the season is a ridiculous take. We have the size at DT and LB. Safety is good for most games. Cb is young and will be a work in progress.
ERobb needs to make adjustments. I feel he will. He is like family to Fran but Fran wants to win. He will not throw ERobb down in public but will get other staff members involved to help if needed.

100% agree. I’ll add to for the we shouldn’t have played this game crowd. One, it was a lot of fun despite the end result and it’s really a privilege for the program to be invited to one of these events and in really a magnificent stadium. Two, an opponent like Tennessee would not agree to play us for when we determine we are ready (how do we know if we are or not truly?). If we declined to meet before because we didn’t feel that we were. It sucks to lose this game, but I think the guys got great experience. We have 11 more games atleast. Three, we made a lot of money. Money matters. Programs that win need a lot of money to come in to invest that money in the program to make it better. I just hope we did enough to get the invite again down the road to play events like these. Because we should play in more events like these and we should play as hard of a schedule that we can make. Champions don’t take the easy route, to be the best you have to beat the best.