Some thoughts on Fran's debut

[billsin01]

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.

Like I mentioned in an earlier reply, I just worry about the sustainability if you're giving up all those chunk plays. I could be wrong, however. The general improvement could be a key -- if it's a new system those guys are still learning, it would explain why we looked a step slow most of the day. If that's the case and we see improvement, I'll exhale a bit.

Edit: Meant to mention that I've never gotten the Barron thing. I've seen a bunch of not awesome plays from him but rarely wowed in a positive way. Hope he has a huge season, however, as we're going to need it.

 

[tep624]

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.

Yeah I think it’s fair to say the defense was bad but not all bad to sum it up.

 

[money3189]

This staff is exactly what I thought it would be at this point. Myself and others have said it will take time for this staff to build continuity with each other and teach the players the scheme. I never understood the play off talk. Other teams, get better and add transfers as well. Lets take 1 game at a time and hope they improve on their deficiencies. Every team has them. Even some of the top teams.

 

[upperdeck]

Ohio didn't create holes but they created some seams and the one RB found them

Is the D the team that allowed the starting RB and the QB to 22 times for 50 yds or the one that allowed the backup RB to run 16 times for 200 yds?

We also had 10 TFL which is a pretty good number.

the DL actually controlled the LOS most of the game. the gap contain by the LBs was poor and the missed tackling was poor. Those you can fix, and we better, or GT will gash us.

 

[OrangeTarheel]

Random comment here because most of what I noticed was covered in the back and forth … loved McCord’s arm but when he dove head first at the end of a run in the second half I just about stroked out. Does he need to practice sliding? I would have thought this would be a priority for us and we would never ever see him endanger himself that way?

 

[cayugacuse]

This staff is exactly what I thought it would be at this point. Myself and others have said it will take time for this staff to build continuity with each other and teach the players the scheme. I never understood the play off talk. Other teams, get better and add transfers as well. Lets take 1 game at a time and hope they improve on their deficiencies. Every team has them. Even some of the top teams.

Exactly! Ohio's coach Albin is just starting his 4th year. 1st year 3-9, 2nd 10-4, 3rd 10-3. He is no slouch of a coach. He has had time to implement his plan. We have a roster in a large transition. I listened to Tyus being interviewed after the game and he spoke like a 10 year NFL vet. He is a grad student with a degree from Northwestern! We beat a pretty darn good program imo. Of course we have tons to work on. I am thrilled to get this win.

 

[bigmike]

In fairness, I'm lousy at Xs and Os so I could be way off in my pressure observation!

I am no X’s and O’s expert either, and I had a similar observation.

 

[swish7]

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.

Great analysis.

This about sums it up for me.

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.

 

[Chip]

Random comment here because most of what I noticed was covered in the back and forth … loved McCord’s arm but when he dove head first at the end of a run in the second half I just about stroked out. Does he need to practice sliding? I would have thought this would be a priority for us and we would never ever see him endanger himself that way?

Same here.

And on the next play, he scrambled to the left, held the ball too long, and took another hit.

My immediate thought was no more running. Rollouts when the play calls for it, but go full DeVito and sling that thing in the 3rd row if the D didn't fall for the fake, have everyone covered, and a monster is pursuing quickly.

 

[DoctahLexus]

Agree with a lot of the original post, but do not think the Ohio coach coached circles around Fran Brown by any means. I thought there were far more head scratching decisions from the Ohio coach. You run it all the way down the field with ease, but then when you get to the red zone you do nothing but weird complex short passing plays that fail every time? If they run the ball more in the redzone they were looking at at least one more TD against us. Meanwhile Fran had some good clock management moments that our old coach regularly messed up. Using those timeouts late in the second quarter when they were in the red zone so we had time to score on our last possession is an excellent sign. Dino would have us going into half time with two time outs left and 7 less points on the board. It was his specialty. Fran Brown is already outperforming him in that area.

 

[baggerbob]

Like I mentioned in an earlier reply, I just worry about the sustainability if you're giving up all those chunk plays. I could be wrong, however. The general improvement could be a key -- if it's a new system those guys are still learning, it would explain why we looked a step slow most of the day. If that's the case and we see improvement, I'll exhale a bit.

Edit: Meant to mention that I've never gotten the Barron thing. I've seen a bunch of not awesome plays from him but rarely wowed in a positive way. Hope he has a huge season, however, as we're going to need it.

I think this season really needs to go by the saying win one game at a time. Win that weeks game and go on to the next.
I expect different things will come up each week as the strengths and weaknesses are exposed.
But I think we all will have fun along the way. Fran at least seems to understand, you need building blocks along the way.
As the saying goes,( Rome wasn't built in a day).
Let's just enjoy the ride that Fran is going to take us on.

 

[djcon57]

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.

Great post. Think I agree with every one of your points specfically the concerns about tackling. That cant really be fixed with scheme. Guys were in the spot to make the tackle and just didn't. Think we'll see ultimately see next week what we'll be, my hope is it's at least somewhat improved

 

[bnoro]

• 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.

He broke one run where I think he would've scored if he bounced outside but ran straight toward his blocker and the defender made the tackle. Maddening.

 

[sufan59]

Exactly! Ohio's coach Albin is just starting his 4th year. 1st year 3-9, 2nd 10-4, 3rd 10-3. He is no slouch of a coach. He has had time to implement his plan. We have a roster in a large transition. I listened to Tyus being interviewed after the game and he spoke like a 10 year NFL vet. He is a grad student with a degree from Northwestern! We beat a pretty darn good program imo. Of course we have tons to work on. I am thrilled to get this win.

I wouldn’t be surprised by these two things, the Ohio RB is going to be in the NFL next year. Albin will be the head coach at a big 10 program next season if Ohio has a winning record again this season.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

He broke one run where I think he would've scored if he bounced outside but ran straight toward his blocker and the defender made the tackle. Maddening.

Yeah he had Haynes a little ahead of him, just needed to cut left toward the sideline and at the very least he probably gets another 5-10 yards.

 

[Chip]

He broke one run where I think he would've scored if he bounced outside but ran straight toward his blocker and the defender made the tackle. Maddening.

Yep, it was the first big run of the 2nd half. Couldn't believe he ran right back into traffic.

 

[billsin01]

Same here.

And on the next play, he scrambled to the left, held the ball too long, and took another hit.

My immediate thought was no more running. Rollouts when the play calls for it, but go full DeVito and sling that thing in the 3rd row if the D didn't fall for the fake, have everyone covered, and a monster is pursuing quickly.

yeah, goes without saying that he needs to stay upright. I hate the idea of losing a game or something because McCord is playing it safe, but long-term you need him to at least be as smart as possible with his decisions.

 

[billsin01]

He broke one run where I think he would've scored if he bounced outside but ran straight toward his blocker and the defender made the tackle. Maddening.

Yeah, that was the one that jumped out at me because there was pretty good downfield, second-level blocking on that play. Not totally sure if he would have scored but there were a bunch of extra yards outside. Not trying to knock the kid -- he's a good back. But, with his talent, when he gets into that much space it feels like he could improve at making it more of a home run play.

 

[billsin01]

This staff is exactly what I thought it would be at this point. Myself and others have said it will take time for this staff to build continuity with each other and teach the players the scheme. I never understood the play off talk. Other teams, get better and add transfers as well. Lets take 1 game at a time and hope they improve on their deficiencies. Every team has them. Even some of the top teams.

Agreed, for the most part. I'm probably a bit more concerned than you are by what I saw defensively in the sense that I don’t think it’s a case of minor tweaks and adjustments. That felt like a bit of a disaster, with the caveat that I think we faced a well-coached team so it might have looked a bit worse than it really was.

But, overall, any sort of dramatic turnaround was always going to take some time. Not off the Fran bandwagon by any means.

 

[money3189]

Agreed, for the most part. I'm probably a bit more concerned than you are by what I saw defensively in the sense that I don’t think it’s a case of minor tweaks and adjustments. That felt like a bit of a disaster, with the caveat that I think we faced a well-coached team so it might have looked a bit worse than it really was.

But, overall, any sort of dramatic turnaround was always going to take some time. Not off the Fran bandwagon by any means.

My expectations for the defense was lower than most people. I never expected this lights out defense. I figured they will struggle early on. I think that’s what people with higher expectations are struggling with. I think the fundamentals and familiarity with the scheme will improve but I’m not predicting it generates more wins.

 

[Oakland]

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.

Nor Scott, nor Doug.

 

[billsin01]

My expectations for the defense was lower than most people. I never expected this lights out defense. I figured they will struggle early on. I think that’s what people with higher expectations are struggling with. I think the fundamentals and familiarity with the scheme will improve but I’m not predicting it generates more wins.

Yeah, I can see that. I’m not sure I was expecting a world-beating defense but that display of tackling (or lack thereof) was appalling. I’ve never been a big Barron fan but to see he, chestnut and Clark really struggling. MacDonald was brutal. We lost Wax. I just thought with all the talk of toughness this team would be a bit more effective in that area. Wasn’t thinking ‘85 Bears but that was … not awesome. Hopefully it improves as we move along.

 

[SkyTopBus44]

Fran is fortunate he had the existing relationship with McCord and was able to sign him. Any of our other qbs are under center and I think we lose to Ohio. The entire thing starts with the QB. If the McCord is not here than neither is Our offense would have been a mess without the passing game on Saturday.

When we hired Dino I was so into the Orange is the new fast system that he brought. Really it did not matter because his staff couldn’t bring the recruits to fit the system. A few wide outs, maybe.

There did not seem to be anything unique about our offense/defense except the players who were in it. Many were new to Syracuse and Fran had a part in getting them here.

Maybe there is something to hiring a recruiter as a coach. Systems don’t seem to matter as much and it is all about the players in it. It is early but I left the debut happy we had a new recruiter who knew that we needed a qb…had the target and closed him. I shudder to think of what would have happened if McCord went elsewhere.

 

[kingtidge]

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.

Not sure about Barron TBH...

Diggs certainly showed glimpses of his talent... He was team captain at TA&M in 2023 under EROB as well, so he has the experience, the coach's respect, and might be the best choice under EROB again and the new schemes.

 

[GoSU96]

Agreed, for the most part. I'm probably a bit more concerned than you are by what I saw defensively in the sense that I don’t think it’s a case of minor tweaks and adjustments. That felt like a bit of a disaster, with the caveat that I think we faced a well-coached team so it might have looked a bit worse than it really was.

But, overall, any sort of dramatic turnaround was always going to take some time. Not off the Fran bandwagon by any means.

What dramatic turnaround, in particular on defense? It’s not like they’ve sucked the last three years, 67th, 21st, 18th in total defense. It’s been an 8 win team that was degraded by multiple injuries to key players each of those seasons.

As for last week there were 10 rushing plays of 10 or more yds for 206, the other 29 went for 49. They hit two big runs losing contain on the edge and cut back for 100. It wasn’t like we were getting run over like BC did to FSU last night. You don’t have 4 sacks/10 tackles for a loss and hold for 2 conversions for 11 attempts on 3rd getting dominated on the LoS. Ohio gave up 4 sacks on 24 called passes, by contrast SU 1 on 43.