SU's schedule

[Fjoinkay]

As of today, here are the national rankings for the total defense of each BCS team SU has played.

Minny #17
Rut #18
USC #25
Pitt #34
NW #54

Not too shabby.

Here are the offenses.

Pitt #39
USC #57
NW #61
Minny #85
Rut #97

SU is currently #28 in total Defense and #39 in total Offense (tied with Pitt). The special teams and turnovers are killing SU, duh. I do think special teams are improving. SU is currently #115 in turnover margin.

 

[PhatOrange]

As of today, here are the national rankings for the total defense of each BCS team SU has played.

Minny #17
Rut #18
USC #25
Pitt #34
NW #54

Not too shabby.

Here are the offenses.

Pitt #39
USC #57
NW #61
Minny #85
Rut #97

SU is currently #28 in total Defense and #39 in total Offense. The special teams and turnovers are killing SU, duh.

That's just a crazy crazy stat. Syracuse is probably the toughest team 'statistically' that all of those teams have played, and here we sit 2-4.

Just can't give the ball away.

 

[Fjoinkay]

Yep. Giving the ball away is giving the season away. What the defense is putting together so far is very impressive.

 

[SmilinBob]

That's just a crazy crazy stat. Syracuse is probably the toughest team 'statistically' that all those teams has played, and here we sit 2-4.

Just can't give the ball away.

Because a lot of those teams are playing bad teams OOC. USC's numbers would be better if they played 3 Hawaii type teams but they don't. Who you play skews the numbers and SU's numbers are even better when you factor in SOS.

 

[anglerman]

Yep. Giving the ball away is giving the season away. What the defense is putting together so far is very impressive.

The offense moves the ball but now turns it over or doesn't score. What a frustrating season so far. SU is almost good. They do most things well but just can't close the deal.

 

[Fjoinkay]

The program is almost there and much better off than it was 3.5 years ago. Right now we'll see what this team is made of because it won't be easy and they dug this hole for themselves.

 

[SmilinBob]

The offense moves the ball but now turns it over or doesn't score. What a frustrating season so far. SU is almost good. They do most things well but just can't close the deal.

It's like having a decent looking girlfriend and likes the same things you do that cheats on you once in a while.

 

[Alsacs]

Honestly, we need to go with the 2010 type of schedule in the future.
1 1-AA school like a Maine
1 Mac school like a Akron
1 lower level BCS/Service Academy/CUSA team like a Navy. Army, Northwestern, Minnesota Tulane
1 decent BCS school like a Washington, Missouri, Penn State.
This type of schedule should get us 3-1 every year and at worst 2-2 and in good years 4-0. Seeing how Rutgers has beaten nobody really good and they were ranked 11th by the computers tells me they don't give a you know what about schedule strength all the computers care about is going undefeated. Thus, I suggest we scale back our schedules for the forseeable future next 2 to 3 years and schedule easier opponents to get better win totals.

 

[NineOneSeven]

At the end of the day the only stat that matters is the win loss record. Sure, other stats are significant and help contribute to the wins and losses, but after week 14 of the regular season, the numbers you have to judge a team are between 12-0 and 0-12. And we are 2-4.

Is Friday a must win yet

 

[Upstate]

What does the remaining schedule look like in terms of overall defense?

 

[rrlbees]

Yep. Giving the ball away is giving the season away. What the defense is putting together so far is very impressive.

While turnover margin (and margin means take aways too) is the #1 culprit, there have been a couple losses where the defense and specials did us no favors, especially NW.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[Fjoinkay]

NW was a crushing loss and in my opinion the most painful because it was at home and because as others have put it SU essentially gave away 28 points...between turnovers and special teams. The pick 6 in that game (the ball was thrown low and bounced off Sales' hands to the NW defender) was one of a series of painful blunders.

The defense gave up a few TDs that I'm sure they would like to have back, and it remains to be seen how they grow on the back end. However, just like the the pattern we've seen especially against Rut and Minny the offense and especially the special teams put the defense in some difficult situations.

 

[SmilinBob]

A schedule like the one that SU plays leaves no room for error and we just don't have the talent/recruiting to overcome those odds. Marrone should go talk to Boeheim about how to do it successfully.

 

[Fjoinkay]

Yea, JB has been criticized for years for his OOC schedule, and at the end of the day he is a deserved hall of fame coach.

 

[Fjoinkay]

At the end of the day the only stat that matters is the win loss record. Sure, other stats are significant and help contribute to the wins and losses, but after week 14 of the regular season, the numbers you have to judge a team are between 12-0 and 0-12. And we are 2-4.

Is Friday a must win yet

I feel a lot of frustration and anger over some of these losses and the way they have played out. I have even edited a few of my angry posts immediately because I realized I was just reacting emotionally. But for me right now, after taking a pause from the immediate sense of anger, I feel like it's the wrong time to consider a change at the top. That's just my feeling, and I prefer to be optimistic. I see a lot of progress to be optimistic about.

 

[Fjoinkay]

What does the remaining schedule look like in terms of overall defense?

I'm going to respond the way I hope the team is thinking right now and only focus on the next opponent.

UConn is #6 in total defense and #107 in total offense. Their defense is more balanced that Rut's as they do a better job against the pass, but they do give up about 30 more yards a game against the run than Rut. I'm curious to see the SU game plan on offense. The SU defense needs to continue to improve and to play at a high level. Once again special teams and turnovers will be crucial.