SWC75
Bored Historian
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The show this year will be broadcast from the Canyons at Destiny USA on the second level in front of Cantina Laredo. I don’t know if they will take questions from the audience there but they say you can watch the show whereas when it was a t a restaurant, their table tended to be in a secluded location. You can call in questions at 1-888-7-Go Cuse (746-2873) or, locally 424-8599. You can also send them in advance at this site:
http://cuse.com/news/2014/8/26/FH_0826140732.aspx#.U_39wfldX5N
(I do both so they can be prepared to give me an informed, reasoned answer.) You can also contact them via Twitter (@SUSportsNetwork) using #AskShafe. The football show is an hour in duration, (Coach Boeheim’s basketball show is usually 2 hours).
They’ve actually been kind enough to post a schedule in advance:
The show will air at 7 pm on the following dates:
Wednesday, Aug. 27
Thursday, Sept. 11
Thursday, Sept. 18
Thursday, Sept. 25
Wednesday, Oct. 1
Thursday, Oct. 9
Thursday, Oct. 16
Thursday, Oct. 23
Thursday, Oct. 30
Thursday, Nov. 6
Thursday, Nov. 13
Wednesday, Nov. 26
The show can be heard in Syracuse on AM 1260 or FM 97.7.
My Question(s)
Coach, people are wondering about two plays: the bubble screen and our goal line offense. The bubble screen looks to me like a sideways or backwards pass to a receiver and blocker who are always out-numbered by the defense, such that the receiver has to fight his way back to the line of scrimmage. All those carries by Adonis Ameen-Moore were plays where he was the only running back in the backfield the defense knew he was getting the ball. Wouldn’t it be better to have the versatile Prince-Tyson Gulley in there so the defense can’t key on Moore? Could you discuss those plays, why you like them, how they were supposed to work and why they didn’t?
The Show
(I sometime re-arrange the comments so that statements made on the same subject are reported together, even if they came at different points of the show.)
Coach said that he was anxious to get back on the field: “It’s been too long a time since the first game”. He said he and the coaches love the “week in, week out grind. It has a calming effect on coaches. It actually feels good. We’ll have nine straight weeks of it.” I wonder how they’ll feel about it then.
Matt noted that much of the staff is going back to their roots, “where you all became friends”. SS: “It’s good to get back. I spent ten years in that conference.”
I called in my questions about the bubble screen and the goal-line offense:
Regarding the Bubble Screen, (the BS?): “It’s been in the advent for 10-12 years. It’s another way of looking at a defense vs. the run. It’s along outside zone play we use rather than the toss sweep. It’s supposed to be caught behind the line to set up the blocking. With the drive package, it’s really a form of the triple option. It’s not intended to be a backwards pass but it was thrown backwards that one time by Wilson. It’s a cat and mouse game about where the numbers are and aren’t. You have to roll the dice. It’s helped us and it’s helped other teams. Wrap your mind around it in a different way. It’s along hand-off. A high percentage play. A strong running team doesn’t lose sleep over a no gain play. We also use ‘flash’ screens across the middle. The idea is to get 4 yards or more. It’s been good and will get better.“
(I wonder what percentage of the time we’ve gotten 4+ yards on that play. They are either being called at the wrong times or executed poorly.)
Matt noted that we ran for 103 yards, (actually it was 126) vs. Villanova and that we topped that in 10 of 13 games last year. Can we do better? “I hope so! I don’t know of any better answer that I could give you on that!”
Regarding the goal line offense: “Adonis made seven yards and got tripped up on one play. I wish we could have punched it in so we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Your idea to have two backs in there is a good one. Sometimes you want to go one back so the defenders will have to walk out to cover the skills. The quarterback run is normally involved but we didn’t have Terrel involved. You have to change up your tendencies.”
They discussed Central Michigan. “It’s power football. There are a lot of similarities to Boston College last year. Two backs, sometimes two tight ends. Iso plays. Load up on the power. Isolate the weakside linebacker. Send the fullback through the hole and kick them to the side. Big, strong, guys up front. They know what they are doing and they do it fast because they have so many veteran players with 10 of 11 starters back on offense.”
Matt pointed out that CMU is +5 on takeaways and their 6 interceptions lead the nation. Their quarterback, Cooper Rush, took over last year and has led them to 8 wins in 13 games. He’s completing 62% of his passes. “They run to pack defenses in and then take shots down the field. They opened it up early vs. Purdue, going with an empty backfield, then tightened it up. They make downhill plays. We need to make them go sideways so it’s a battle of foot speed and force them to go downfield under pressure.
Shaf on his linebackers: “I like to err on the side of athleticism. Even when we’ve had good defenses, they’ve tended to be a bit undersized.”
Someone on Twitter asked if tackling is an issue this year. Matt said that it’s an issue every year. SS: “I’ve studied it for a lot of years. Our goal each game is to have less than 10 missed tackles and give up less than 50 yards on them. We’ve been well under 50 in a lot of years. We’ve been good tacklers here. I backed off from physical contact the last week of practice after both our guards got injured. Game 1 is usually the ugliest.”
Dave in Syracuse noted that Ron Thompson had moved inside: isn’t he a bit undersized? Also will freshman tackles Wayne Williams and Jaylen Henry would see any action this week. SS: “Ron Thompson will play DE and DT. He’ll be inside sometimes but we won’t having facing those double-teams the whole game. Quickness can nullify size. Wayne will get some reps. It’s too early to tell if Harvey will redshirt or not. The hardest conversion from high school to college is defensive tackle. They have to take on 600 pounds of double team.”
Nick Robinson and Omari Palmer will be back for this game. Coach considers all three of them to be his starters at guard and he is comfortable with any combination.
John in Baltimore wondered why we don’t use more play-action passes: are they still in the offense? SS: “It’s still a part of our offense. We weren’t on the field much vs. Villanova, (and had the back-up QB in half the time). “We like the inside-outside zone pop passes. Read the movement of the linebackers. They used an odd front stacking their linebackers. The play didn’t match up. CMU is a 4-3 team. There are two kinds of play-action: two back over the top, which CMU likes. And what we call boots and naked fake outside zone plays, which I like because it scared me as a defensive coordinator.”
The reminisced about the 9/15/190 game in the Dome vs. Michigan State, (the last of the 13 times we’ve played them), in which Michigan State got to kick a late field goal, (I recall it was due to a fourth down penalty, much like the 1998 Tennessee game), and tied us 23-23. No OT in those days. Current SU broadcasters Chris Gedney and Dan Conley played in that game, as did CMU coach Dan Enos, who was the Spartan QB and SU’s current defensive coordinator, who started as middle linebacker for the first time in that game. He said it was one of the toughest games he could remember.
I wish we would start up the MSU series again, since we are recruiting the midwest hard. They are good but there’s no shame in losing to them. There’ll be no real shame in losing to the Chippewas, either but plenty of it will be heaped on us if it happens.
http://cuse.com/news/2014/8/26/FH_0826140732.aspx#.U_39wfldX5N
(I do both so they can be prepared to give me an informed, reasoned answer.) You can also contact them via Twitter (@SUSportsNetwork) using #AskShafe. The football show is an hour in duration, (Coach Boeheim’s basketball show is usually 2 hours).
They’ve actually been kind enough to post a schedule in advance:
The show will air at 7 pm on the following dates:
Wednesday, Aug. 27
Thursday, Sept. 11
Thursday, Sept. 18
Thursday, Sept. 25
Wednesday, Oct. 1
Thursday, Oct. 9
Thursday, Oct. 16
Thursday, Oct. 23
Thursday, Oct. 30
Thursday, Nov. 6
Thursday, Nov. 13
Wednesday, Nov. 26
The show can be heard in Syracuse on AM 1260 or FM 97.7.
My Question(s)
Coach, people are wondering about two plays: the bubble screen and our goal line offense. The bubble screen looks to me like a sideways or backwards pass to a receiver and blocker who are always out-numbered by the defense, such that the receiver has to fight his way back to the line of scrimmage. All those carries by Adonis Ameen-Moore were plays where he was the only running back in the backfield the defense knew he was getting the ball. Wouldn’t it be better to have the versatile Prince-Tyson Gulley in there so the defense can’t key on Moore? Could you discuss those plays, why you like them, how they were supposed to work and why they didn’t?
The Show
(I sometime re-arrange the comments so that statements made on the same subject are reported together, even if they came at different points of the show.)
Coach said that he was anxious to get back on the field: “It’s been too long a time since the first game”. He said he and the coaches love the “week in, week out grind. It has a calming effect on coaches. It actually feels good. We’ll have nine straight weeks of it.” I wonder how they’ll feel about it then.
Matt noted that much of the staff is going back to their roots, “where you all became friends”. SS: “It’s good to get back. I spent ten years in that conference.”
I called in my questions about the bubble screen and the goal-line offense:
Regarding the Bubble Screen, (the BS?): “It’s been in the advent for 10-12 years. It’s another way of looking at a defense vs. the run. It’s along outside zone play we use rather than the toss sweep. It’s supposed to be caught behind the line to set up the blocking. With the drive package, it’s really a form of the triple option. It’s not intended to be a backwards pass but it was thrown backwards that one time by Wilson. It’s a cat and mouse game about where the numbers are and aren’t. You have to roll the dice. It’s helped us and it’s helped other teams. Wrap your mind around it in a different way. It’s along hand-off. A high percentage play. A strong running team doesn’t lose sleep over a no gain play. We also use ‘flash’ screens across the middle. The idea is to get 4 yards or more. It’s been good and will get better.“
(I wonder what percentage of the time we’ve gotten 4+ yards on that play. They are either being called at the wrong times or executed poorly.)
Matt noted that we ran for 103 yards, (actually it was 126) vs. Villanova and that we topped that in 10 of 13 games last year. Can we do better? “I hope so! I don’t know of any better answer that I could give you on that!”
Regarding the goal line offense: “Adonis made seven yards and got tripped up on one play. I wish we could have punched it in so we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Your idea to have two backs in there is a good one. Sometimes you want to go one back so the defenders will have to walk out to cover the skills. The quarterback run is normally involved but we didn’t have Terrel involved. You have to change up your tendencies.”
They discussed Central Michigan. “It’s power football. There are a lot of similarities to Boston College last year. Two backs, sometimes two tight ends. Iso plays. Load up on the power. Isolate the weakside linebacker. Send the fullback through the hole and kick them to the side. Big, strong, guys up front. They know what they are doing and they do it fast because they have so many veteran players with 10 of 11 starters back on offense.”
Matt pointed out that CMU is +5 on takeaways and their 6 interceptions lead the nation. Their quarterback, Cooper Rush, took over last year and has led them to 8 wins in 13 games. He’s completing 62% of his passes. “They run to pack defenses in and then take shots down the field. They opened it up early vs. Purdue, going with an empty backfield, then tightened it up. They make downhill plays. We need to make them go sideways so it’s a battle of foot speed and force them to go downfield under pressure.
Shaf on his linebackers: “I like to err on the side of athleticism. Even when we’ve had good defenses, they’ve tended to be a bit undersized.”
Someone on Twitter asked if tackling is an issue this year. Matt said that it’s an issue every year. SS: “I’ve studied it for a lot of years. Our goal each game is to have less than 10 missed tackles and give up less than 50 yards on them. We’ve been well under 50 in a lot of years. We’ve been good tacklers here. I backed off from physical contact the last week of practice after both our guards got injured. Game 1 is usually the ugliest.”
Dave in Syracuse noted that Ron Thompson had moved inside: isn’t he a bit undersized? Also will freshman tackles Wayne Williams and Jaylen Henry would see any action this week. SS: “Ron Thompson will play DE and DT. He’ll be inside sometimes but we won’t having facing those double-teams the whole game. Quickness can nullify size. Wayne will get some reps. It’s too early to tell if Harvey will redshirt or not. The hardest conversion from high school to college is defensive tackle. They have to take on 600 pounds of double team.”
Nick Robinson and Omari Palmer will be back for this game. Coach considers all three of them to be his starters at guard and he is comfortable with any combination.
John in Baltimore wondered why we don’t use more play-action passes: are they still in the offense? SS: “It’s still a part of our offense. We weren’t on the field much vs. Villanova, (and had the back-up QB in half the time). “We like the inside-outside zone pop passes. Read the movement of the linebackers. They used an odd front stacking their linebackers. The play didn’t match up. CMU is a 4-3 team. There are two kinds of play-action: two back over the top, which CMU likes. And what we call boots and naked fake outside zone plays, which I like because it scared me as a defensive coordinator.”
The reminisced about the 9/15/190 game in the Dome vs. Michigan State, (the last of the 13 times we’ve played them), in which Michigan State got to kick a late field goal, (I recall it was due to a fourth down penalty, much like the 1998 Tennessee game), and tied us 23-23. No OT in those days. Current SU broadcasters Chris Gedney and Dan Conley played in that game, as did CMU coach Dan Enos, who was the Spartan QB and SU’s current defensive coordinator, who started as middle linebacker for the first time in that game. He said it was one of the toughest games he could remember.
I wish we would start up the MSU series again, since we are recruiting the midwest hard. They are good but there’s no shame in losing to them. There’ll be no real shame in losing to the Chippewas, either but plenty of it will be heaped on us if it happens.
