Some thoughts on Fran's debut | Syracusefan.com

Some thoughts on Fran's debut

billsin01

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So I want to preface this by saying the odds that Fran was going to be able to come in and turn around in an instant a program that has been largely floundering for going on 25 years now were always extremely small. He is going to need some time. The big portal wins and exciting commits aside, this is still a remarkably tough task. Competing -- truly competing in a meaningful way -- against the big boys of college football still feels, to me at least, like threading an incredibly small needle. But the excitement has certainly been a breath of fresh air.

Having said that -- Week 1 of the Fran era was a heavy dose of reality ... at least as I saw it. I'll start with the positives because I think there were plenty. But the negatives were super concerning and, unless we see a massive jump defensively in the next few weeks, the thoughts of this team being an 8-, 9-, or 10-win team and making the playoff seem really remote.

The positives:
  • McCord was as advertised: McCord probably got a bit lucky with a couple bounces that could have been picks, but the kid made a bunch of throws we haven't seen here in a long time. He makes good decisions generally and appeared to have a nice grasp of what we were trying to accomplish. His back-shoulder throw to Pena was a thing of beauty. Best thing he did, IMO, was on the deep balls, his receivers had a chance to make plays. Haynes and Meeks both make big plays in large part because McCord kept the ball in field of play and put it where they at least had a chance. The pick on the throw to Hatcher wasn't ideal but Hatcher played that as if he didn't know the ball was even thrown in his direction. I won't say it was a poor effort, per se, but he made zero play on that ball. The worst thing other than his first throw, was that McCord was a little late and a little behind on some throws. That feels like something that will get better as he gets more comfortable with the scheme and the personnel. All in all, fun to watch.

  • The offensive design was impressive: There were a few plays in that game where I raised an eyebrow at the design of the play. The back-shoulder throw to Pena was a beautiful design and there were plenty of others. Would love to see Villari get involved a bit, but for a transition to pro style offense, that was an impressive debut against a team that may have been a bit deficient in talent and size, but was well-coached and ready to play.

  • OG is a stud and we have some weapons: OG is an NFL guy. I mean, that analysis doesn't make me a genius -- pretty sure everyone here sees that. But he is a monster physically and makes it look really easy. The RBs were good, the TEs were good (and probably can be even better) and the new blood at WR looks solid. Should be a fun group of skill guys.

  • Specials were fine: Not sure there was anything super exciting here, though i thought Stonehouse was good punting the ball. But otherwise, it was an OK debut, not sloppy and hopefully our improved talent will show up in the return game eventually.

  • OL was better as the game went on: Not sure I'm in love with this group, but for Week 1, it was fine. First quarter was rough but they were better in pass protection as the game went along and we started to see some holes for allen.

  • A win is better than a loss: We've seen smaller schools take down bigger schools early in the season over and over again for a while now. Ohio was well-coached and ready to play and we won the game. That's better than losing ... and I'm not being snarky. It just is nice to get the win and hopefully we can build on the good things and fix the bad.
The negatives:
  • The most impressive defensive player on the field was the 180-pound Ohio safety: I thought Diggs had a handful of really nice moments and Barnes made a couple nice plays on the ball. My issue is that was about as much positive as I could say about our defensive performance. That may be a bit of an exaggeration -- we got nice penetration up the middle on the ball that was tipped and picked late and we had a bunch of tackles for loss -- but watching that Ohio kid fly around, take perfect angles and blow up ball carrier after ball carrier was stunning compared to watching our guys on their heels, constantly taking terrible angles was painful.

  • Wax's injury is really, really bad news: I feel for any kid -- our team or the other -- that suffers a bad injury. But in this case, from a football standpoint, we lost our best tackler and most dynamic physical player other than maybe Diggs. And we lose him from a defense that didn't look dynamic to begin with. I thought Sparrow got held on the option play that went for a touchdown (thought Chesnut took a brutal angle on that) but the Heard/Sparrow combo has huge shoes to fill.

  • Tackling was bizarrely bad: I've seen a lot of posts about 'cleaning things up' and 'making adjustments' ... I don't know. We just did not look ready to play defensively (or offensively, in the first quarter). Navarro/Owen/Tyus got every single thing we wanted and we got beat in the trenches more often than we won. Many of the big plays were a result of awful angles and absolutely zero solid tackling. I'm sure there are things that will be cleaned up and adjustments that will be made -- but I'm not so sure this defense doesn't have a lot of work to do on the basic fundamentals of tackling. I also though they played really, really slow. A well-coached team can make players look a step or two faster. We looked soft and slow. I'd be lying if I wasn't concerned about what that says about Fran/Robinson thus far.

  • Fran is a first-time head coach. He looked like it.: As I said, gotta give Fran time, but man, that Ohio coach ran circles around us. Got whatever they wanted offensively and battled defensively. The way they turned Diggs' aggressiveness and pressure against us -- and Diggs still made his fair share of plays -- was a thing of beauty. Fran will only get better but this was a rocky start.

  • Allen is not great in open space: This is a nit pick and I love a physical runner who is looking to turn upfield. Allen is also great catching the ball, which should be a good weapon for us. But he's not quite the home run threat his physical attributes suggest he should be. He has nice moves to get to space at the line of scrimmage, but downfield, he tends to put his head down and seek out contact. Would love to see him bounce out side at times. Again, nit pick. He played well, but something to watch for.
All in all, good to get the win. But this team has a TON of work to do if it has ideas of competing for 8 wins, let alone a playoff.
 
So I want to preface this by saying the odds that Fran was going to be able to come in and turn around in an instant a program that has been largely floundering for going on 25 years now were always extremely small. He is going to need some time. The big portal wins and exciting commits aside, this is still a remarkably tough task. Competing -- truly competing in a meaningful way -- against the big boys of college football still feels, to me at least, like threading an incredibly small needle. But the excitement has certainly been a breath of fresh air.

Having said that -- Week 1 of the Fran era was a heavy dose of reality ... at least as I saw it. I'll start with the positives because I think there were plenty. But the negatives were super concerning and, unless we see a massive jump defensively in the next few weeks, the thoughts of this team being an 8-, 9-, or 10-win team and making the playoff seem really remote.

The positives:
  • McCord was as advertised: McCord probably got a bit lucky with a couple bounces that could have been picks, but the kid made a bunch of throws we haven't seen here in a long time. He makes good decisions generally and appeared to have a nice grasp of what we were trying to accomplish. His back-shoulder throw to Pena was a thing of beauty. Best thing he did, IMO, was on the deep balls, his receivers had a chance to make plays. Haynes and Meeks both make big plays in large part because McCord kept the ball in field of play and put it where they at least had a chance. The pick on the throw to Hatcher wasn't ideal but Hatcher played that as if he didn't know the ball was even thrown in his direction. I won't say it was a poor effort, per se, but he made zero play on that ball. The worst thing other than his first throw, was that McCord was a little late and a little behind on some throws. That feels like something that will get better as he gets more comfortable with the scheme and the personnel. All in all, fun to watch.

  • The offensive design was impressive: There were a few plays in that game where I raised an eyebrow at the design of the play. The back-shoulder throw to Pena was a beautiful design and there were plenty of others. Would love to see Villari get involved a bit, but for a transition to pro style offense, that was an impressive debut against a team that may have been a bit deficient in talent and size, but was well-coached and ready to play.

  • OG is a stud and we have some weapons: OG is an NFL guy. I mean, that analysis doesn't make me a genius -- pretty sure everyone here sees that. But he is a monster physically and makes it look really easy. The RBs were good, the TEs were good (and probably can be even better) and the new blood at WR looks solid. Should be a fun group of skill guys.

  • Specials were fine: Not sure there was anything super exciting here, though i thought Stonehouse was good punting the ball. But otherwise, it was an OK debut, not sloppy and hopefully our improved talent will show up in the return game eventually.

  • OL was better as the game went on: Not sure I'm in love with this group, but for Week 1, it was fine. First quarter was rough but they were better in pass protection as the game went along and we started to see some holes for allen.

  • A win is better than a loss: We've seen smaller schools take down bigger schools early in the season over and over again for a while now. Ohio was well-coached and ready to play and we won the game. That's better than losing ... and I'm not being snarky. It just is nice to get the win and hopefully we can build on the good things and fix the bad.
The negatives:
  • The most impressive defensive player on the field was the 180-pound Ohio safety: I thought Diggs had a handful of really nice moments and Barnes made a couple nice plays on the ball. My issue is that was about as much positive as I could say about our defensive performance. That may be a bit of an exaggeration -- we got nice penetration up the middle on the ball that was tipped and picked late and we had a bunch of tackles for loss -- but watching that Ohio kid fly around, take perfect angles and blow up ball carrier after ball carrier was stunning compared to watching our guys on their heels, constantly taking terrible angles was painful.

  • Wax's injury is really, really bad news: I feel for any kid -- our team or the other -- that suffers a bad injury. But in this case, from a football standpoint, we lost our best tackler and most dynamic physical player other than maybe Diggs. And we lose him from a defense that didn't look dynamic to begin with. I thought Sparrow got held on the option play that went for a touchdown (thought Chesnut took a brutal angle on that) but the Heard/Sparrow combo has huge shoes to fill.

  • Tackling was bizarrely bad: I've seen a lot of posts about 'cleaning things up' and 'making adjustments' ... I don't know. We just did not look ready to play defensively (or offensively, in the first quarter). Navarro/Owen/Tyus got every single thing we wanted and we got beat in the trenches more often than we won. Many of the big plays were a result of awful angles and absolutely zero solid tackling. I'm sure there are things that will be cleaned up and adjustments that will be made -- but I'm not so sure this defense doesn't have a lot of work to do on the basic fundamentals of tackling. I also though they played really, really slow. A well-coached team can make players look a step or two faster. We looked soft and slow. I'd be lying if I wasn't concerned about what that says about Fran/Robinson thus far.

  • Fran is a first-time head coach. He looked like it.: As I said, gotta give Fran time, but man, that Ohio coach ran circles around us. Got whatever they wanted offensively and battled defensively. The way they turned Diggs' aggressiveness and pressure against us -- and Diggs still made his fair share of plays -- was a thing of beauty. Fran will only get better but this was a rocky start.

  • Allen is not great in open space: This is a nit pick and I love a physical runner who is looking to turn upfield. Allen is also great catching the ball, which should be a good weapon for us. But he's not quite the home run threat his physical attributes suggest he should be. He has nice moves to get to space at the line of scrimmage, but downfield, he tends to put his head down and seek out contact. Would love to see him bounce out side at times. Again, nit pick. He played well, but something to watch for.
All in all, good to get the win. But this team has a TON of work to do if it has ideas of competing for 8 wins, let alone a playoff.
I think you left out (and apologize if I missed it) the 45 second drill at the end of the first half that ended in a TD. That NEVER would have happened under Dino with his unique ability to screw up decision making at the end of halves / games. Enormous improvement and those things do win / lose games.
 
Last edited:
So I want to preface this by saying the odds that Fran was going to be able to come in and turn around in an instant a program that has been largely floundering for going on 25 years now were always extremely small. He is going to need some time. The big portal wins and exciting commits aside, this is still a remarkably tough task. Competing -- truly competing in a meaningful way -- against the big boys of college football still feels, to me at least, like threading an incredibly small needle. But the excitement has certainly been a breath of fresh air.

Having said that -- Week 1 of the Fran era was a heavy dose of reality ... at least as I saw it. I'll start with the positives because I think there were plenty. But the negatives were super concerning and, unless we see a massive jump defensively in the next few weeks, the thoughts of this team being an 8-, 9-, or 10-win team and making the playoff seem really remote.

The positives:
  • McCord was as advertised: McCord probably got a bit lucky with a couple bounces that could have been picks, but the kid made a bunch of throws we haven't seen here in a long time. He makes good decisions generally and appeared to have a nice grasp of what we were trying to accomplish. His back-shoulder throw to Pena was a thing of beauty. Best thing he did, IMO, was on the deep balls, his receivers had a chance to make plays. Haynes and Meeks both make big plays in large part because McCord kept the ball in field of play and put it where they at least had a chance. The pick on the throw to Hatcher wasn't ideal but Hatcher played that as if he didn't know the ball was even thrown in his direction. I won't say it was a poor effort, per se, but he made zero play on that ball. The worst thing other than his first throw, was that McCord was a little late and a little behind on some throws. That feels like something that will get better as he gets more comfortable with the scheme and the personnel. All in all, fun to watch.

  • The offensive design was impressive: There were a few plays in that game where I raised an eyebrow at the design of the play. The back-shoulder throw to Pena was a beautiful design and there were plenty of others. Would love to see Villari get involved a bit, but for a transition to pro style offense, that was an impressive debut against a team that may have been a bit deficient in talent and size, but was well-coached and ready to play.

  • OG is a stud and we have some weapons: OG is an NFL guy. I mean, that analysis doesn't make me a genius -- pretty sure everyone here sees that. But he is a monster physically and makes it look really easy. The RBs were good, the TEs were good (and probably can be even better) and the new blood at WR looks solid. Should be a fun group of skill guys.

  • Specials were fine: Not sure there was anything super exciting here, though i thought Stonehouse was good punting the ball. But otherwise, it was an OK debut, not sloppy and hopefully our improved talent will show up in the return game eventually.

  • OL was better as the game went on: Not sure I'm in love with this group, but for Week 1, it was fine. First quarter was rough but they were better in pass protection as the game went along and we started to see some holes for allen.

  • A win is better than a loss: We've seen smaller schools take down bigger schools early in the season over and over again for a while now. Ohio was well-coached and ready to play and we won the game. That's better than losing ... and I'm not being snarky. It just is nice to get the win and hopefully we can build on the good things and fix the bad.
The negatives:
  • The most impressive defensive player on the field was the 180-pound Ohio safety: I thought Diggs had a handful of really nice moments and Barnes made a couple nice plays on the ball. My issue is that was about as much positive as I could say about our defensive performance. That may be a bit of an exaggeration -- we got nice penetration up the middle on the ball that was tipped and picked late and we had a bunch of tackles for loss -- but watching that Ohio kid fly around, take perfect angles and blow up ball carrier after ball carrier was stunning compared to watching our guys on their heels, constantly taking terrible angles was painful.

  • Wax's injury is really, really bad news: I feel for any kid -- our team or the other -- that suffers a bad injury. But in this case, from a football standpoint, we lost our best tackler and most dynamic physical player other than maybe Diggs. And we lose him from a defense that didn't look dynamic to begin with. I thought Sparrow got held on the option play that went for a touchdown (thought Chesnut took a brutal angle on that) but the Heard/Sparrow combo has huge shoes to fill.

  • Tackling was bizarrely bad: I've seen a lot of posts about 'cleaning things up' and 'making adjustments' ... I don't know. We just did not look ready to play defensively (or offensively, in the first quarter). Navarro/Owen/Tyus got every single thing we wanted and we got beat in the trenches more often than we won. Many of the big plays were a result of awful angles and absolutely zero solid tackling. I'm sure there are things that will be cleaned up and adjustments that will be made -- but I'm not so sure this defense doesn't have a lot of work to do on the basic fundamentals of tackling. I also though they played really, really slow. A well-coached team can make players look a step or two faster. We looked soft and slow. I'd be lying if I wasn't concerned about what that says about Fran/Robinson thus far.

  • Fran is a first-time head coach. He looked like it.: As I said, gotta give Fran time, but man, that Ohio coach ran circles around us. Got whatever they wanted offensively and battled defensively. The way they turned Diggs' aggressiveness and pressure against us -- and Diggs still made his fair share of plays -- was a thing of beauty. Fran will only get better but this was a rocky start.

  • Allen is not great in open space: This is a nit pick and I love a physical runner who is looking to turn upfield. Allen is also great catching the ball, which should be a good weapon for us. But he's not quite the home run threat his physical attributes suggest he should be. He has nice moves to get to space at the line of scrimmage, but downfield, he tends to put his head down and seek out contact. Would love to see him bounce out side at times. Again, nit pick. He played well, but something to watch for.
All in all, good to get the win. But this team has a TON of work to do if it has ideas of competing for 8 wins, let alone a playoff.
This is, as Howard Cosell famously said, telling it like it is.

Frank and accurate assessment in my view.

One thing: if we’re going to ding LQA for inability to bounce and break, it probably also should be said that there may not be a better pass-catching back in the country.
 
I would hold off on making any judgements for a few games. the biggest improvements are made between week 1 and 2. The things you listed are all fixable. Missed tackling can always be correct, especially since some upperclassmen who have performed at high levels previously were culprits.

Also, Fran should get credit for his clock management getting us 7 points at the end of the 1H. that was masterfully done for a HC in his first game. Nobody coached circles around him. A lot of stuff were player errors by not containing. These are easy fixes. Let’s wait a bit and see what happens because this offense should keep us competitive in all games.
 
For some reason this got deleted from the game thread but I wished Fran would have been more aggressive with the refs after that horrible no call on targeting in the 1Q. Seemed a little to similar to Dino there.
 
I think you left out (and apologize if I missed it) the 45 second drill at the end of the first half that ended in a TD. That NEVER would have happened under Dino with his unique ability to decision making at the end of halves / games. Enormous improvement and those things do win / lose games.
Yes, I absolutely did forget to mention that. Good catch. That was absurd and very well-played. Hard to imagine us even trying that in previous eras.
 
This is, as Howard Cosell famously said, telling it like it is.

Frank and accurate assessment in my view.

One thing: if we’re going to ding LQA for inability to bounce and break, it probably also should be said that there may not be a better pass-catching back in the country.
Yes it’s a nitpick for sure. Excellent out of the backfield. MCCord will take advantage of those skills all year.
 
I was watching a replay last night.. Pass protection was decent, but I counted 11 blown protections. Mostly related to Reed and the handing off of stunts inside.

both BC and GT tore up FSUs vaunted oline so who knows if its them being good or FSU being bad yet.
 
For some reason this got deleted from the game thread but I wished Fran would have been more aggressive with the refs after that horrible no call on targeting in the 1Q. Seemed a little to similar to Dino there.

That was not even 30 minutes into his first time ever head coaching

I’ll give it a pass

Especially since they reviewed it, not much could be done at that point
 
So I want to preface this...
I always enjoy your weekly takes, billsin01

My one concern about McCord was that he turned into pressure a couple of times, and generally didn't step up in the pocket particularly well in pressure situations. I think that was a knock on him at tOSU. Just something to keep an eye on as we play tougher teams.

They said during the broadcast that Allen worked on his breakaway ability in the offseason. So he knows it's an issue. Maybe seeing some tape of his downfield tackles vs. Ohio will help him make adjustments going forward.
 
Great post
Ohio’s running back might be one of the best we see this year. They have a gem.
Ohio did not coach circles around Fran and co.
Our offense had a great scheme against Ohio and you take away the multiple bad tackles and angles it’s a blow out.
Oh also if the refs sure loved Ohio.
 
Great post
Ohio’s running back might be one of the best we see this year. They have a gem.
Ohio did not coach circles around Fran and co.
Our offense had a great scheme against Ohio and you take away the multiple bad tackles and angles it’s a blow out.
Oh also if the refs sure loved Ohio.

6’2 225lbs RB

Not sure how he didn’t see the field at Northwestern but he is clearly at Ohio to prove a point.

He will be transferring after this season to a P4

Book it
 
Great post
Ohio’s running back might be one of the best we see this year. They have a gem.
Ohio did not coach circles around Fran and co.
Our offense had a great scheme against Ohio and you take away the multiple bad tackles and angles it’s a blow out.
Oh also if the refs sure loved Ohio.
I can see the point and I would agree if it was a handful of tackles/missed assignments that led to some big chunk plays to keep Ohio close. I actually thought it was a pretty dismal defensive performance. I did really like the offensive design and, as I neglected to mention, the clock management at the end of the half.

Maybe I'm too harsh on Fran. Maybe a better way of phrasing it is that I thought Ohio did a really nice job of accentuating their strengths and attempting to mask their weaknesses against a better team on the road. Their coach impressed me.
 
I always enjoy your weekly takes, billsin01

My one concern about McCord was that he turned into pressure a couple of times, and generally didn't step up in the pocket particularly well in pressure situations. I think that was a knock on him at tOSU. Just something to keep an eye on as we play tougher teams.

They said during the broadcast that Allen worked on his breakaway ability in the offseason. So he knows it's an issue. Maybe seeing some tape of his downfield tackles vs. Ohio will help him make adjustments going forward.
Good points on both. I didn't notice the movement within the pocket so much but worth keeping an eye on. I did like that he clearly went to second or third reads a few times and look off DBs on a couple other throws. Nice touch on the ball. Clearly and upgrade from a passing perspective over pretty much anyone we've had here in a long time. But we need to keep him clean and upright, which is easier said than done.
 
Good points on both. I didn't notice the movement within the pocket so much but worth keeping an eye on. I did like that he clearly went to second or third reads a few times and look off DBs on a couple other throws. Nice touch on the ball. Clearly and upgrade from a passing perspective over pretty much anyone we've had here in a long time. But we need to keep him clean and upright, which is easier said than done.
In fairness, I'm lousy at Xs and Os so I could be way off in my pressure observation!
 
I was watching a replay last night.. Pass protection was decent, but I counted 11 blown protections. Mostly related to Reed and the handing off of stunts inside.

both BC and GT tore up FSUs vaunted oline so who knows if its them being good or FSU being bad yet.
Good observation on the OL play. I'm not sure I really understand how it's all supposed to work in terms of handing off rushers, etc. What did you think of the run blocking because it didn't feel like we got consistent push there, but we had some nice moments as the game went on.
 
Run blocking got better but some good plays got blown up by missed assignments, Reed missed several

We ran some trap plays that were creating some nice holes, but someone always let a player slip thru.

I though Ohio DL was much more physical than ours on way too many plays.

But I think it was a step up from last yr.
 
I can see the point and I would agree if it was a handful of tackles/missed assignments that led to some big chunk plays to keep Ohio close. I actually thought it was a pretty dismal defensive performance. I did really like the offensive design and, as I neglected to mention, the clock management at the end of the half.

Maybe I'm too harsh on Fran. Maybe a better way of phrasing it is that I thought Ohio did a really nice job of accentuating their strengths and attempting to mask their weaknesses against a better team on the road. Their coach impressed me.
Agreed Ohio is a well coached team
Defense talked about being bend don’t break, which I don’t mind and enjoyed the red zone D BUT they broke way to many times.
 
at the end of the day, I think ohio is a very well coached team but I certainly don't think Fran ever looked over his head or was coached circles around. The run defense, D line physicality, and tackling was really bad and needs to improve, but I think Fran did just fine for first game out. we won 38-22 in a game where we were favored by 17 to win.

Got the win with a ton to work on. We should know A LOT more come Saturday around 3:30. Like at Ga Tech -3.
 
As bad as the D was at giving up chunk plays, they should be commended for how they did in the red zone. It's easy to give up, but they kept fighting and saved 12 points. Some of that was helped by Ohio's bizarre red zone play calling on that drive before half, but still.

I'm not a believer in the greatest improvement is between week 1 and week 2 theory, but I do believe in improvement over time. I think the D will get better. The biggest keys right now are probably Coach Wright (because he's not only Co-DC, but has been a successful DC) and Justin Barron. Barron has to step up and be the leader with Wax down, and just has to play all around better than he did against Ohio.

I think the GT game is going to be a shootout, so if you hate defense, you should definitely buy a ticket.
 
As bad as the D was at giving up chunk plays, they should be commended for how they did in the red zone. It's easy to give up, but they kept fighting and saved 12 points. Some of that was helped by Ohio's bizarre red zone play calling on that drive before half, but still.

I'm not a believer in the greatest improvement is between week 1 and week 2 theory, but I do believe in improvement over time. I think the D will get better. The biggest keys right now are probably Coach Wright (because he's not only Co-DC, but has been a successful DC) and Justin Barron. Barron has to step up and be the leader with Wax down, and just has to play all around better than he did against Ohio.

I think the GT game is going to be a shootout, so if you hate defense, you should definitely buy a ticket.
Barron getting that flag on the hit out of bounds was classic Barron, and that's not good.

I think it's a legitimate concern to wonder if he's up to being an on field leader.
 
they didn’t get whatever they wanted offensively. They scored 22 points and lost by 16.

Passing numbers

18/301816.001

their 3rd down efficiency was 2-11
Yeah, third-down defense should have been listed as a positive. that's a miss on my part. I guess your evaluation focuses more on the positives in our red zone defense. I tend to view that as a bit lucky. Like I thought Ohio did whatever they wanted between the 20s and then we managed to make some plays deep in our own end to force field goals and the one interception. If that's our style and we can pull it off consistently, I guess that's a good thing. I just worry a bit that that style is unsustainable against better competition.
 

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