SWC75
Bored Historian
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The coach’s show is on TK99, (FM 99.5) in the Syracuse area and can also be heard through Orange All-Access on the SU Athletic website. This year it’s 7PM Thursdays- or two days before each game, when they are not on Saturday. They have a link to their “Radio Mailbox” for submitting E-Mail questions on the SU Athletic website. You also can call in questions at 1-888-746-2873 or locally at 315-424-8599. You can also tweet them at hash tag CDMS. The show is broadcast from the Red Robin in Fayetteville.
It can take a while but pod casts of the show are eventually posted here:
http://www.suathletics.com/podcasts.aspx
MY QUESTIONS/COMMENTS
“Coach, your post game press conference after the Cincinnati game contained two comments that concerned Syracuse fans, both about the decision to kick a field goal on 4th and 3 down 24-35 in with 12 minutes left the fourth quarter. You said we were down by 9 and the field goal would get us to within 6 points and that the option of kicking a field goal was “what we had written before the game” for that situation.
Did you really think we were down by nine when you made the decision to kick the field goal and was that decision dictated by the pre-game plan or by what had occurred in the game and the field conditions at the time?”
COACH MARRONE
(I’ve re-arranged the order of some of the comments based on the subject.)
Matt Park describe the Louisville game as a “great opportunity”. Coach first wanted to say that he understands the frustration of the fans with all the mistakes the team has been making. The coaches and players feel it, too. But “I’m in a position to do something about it. The fans can just watch.” He’s told the team that “The man who can drive himself further when the effort gets painful is the man that can win.” (The word “painful” brings back some painful memories. And I wonder if the cure for mistakes is to drive yourself further. Maybe they should try easing off?) “We are a very good football team when we don’t hurt ourselves. It‘s my job to make sure the players wash that away and keep fighting.” Matt quoted someone in NASCAR who said “If winning were easy, losers would do it.”
Coach acknowledged that Louisville is an “outstanding team” and repeated what he said about Teddy Bridgewater, saying that he’d been getting texts from journalists all over the country asking if he really meant that Teddy was better than Matt Barkley. “I stand by that comment. He’s still young but when the deep ball is not open he throws to the backs. He has an uncanny ability to escape vertically down the field or move behind the pocket to extend the play. He can get to the second or third option and make positive plays.”
Matt noted that Louisville doesn’t have guys with gaudy stats. HCDM: “If there was a single guy you can take one person out and force Bridgewater to throw to someone he doesn’t have the same chemistry with. He makes everybody around him better. “
I called in my question. “I misspoke. I was aware of the score at the time. I wish someone had corrected me. It’s the first time I’ve been made aware of it. I’d been asked about 4-5 different situations. In no way did I not know the score. I just didn’t quote it (correctly) at the time. We felt that Ross, based on pre-game practice, is going to make that kick consistently. I had in mind scoring again and going for two. I didn’t want to shift the momentum of the game at that point. I wanted to kick off, stop them score again and go for two. I figured we had 2-3 more possessions at that point.“ (Apparently it made no difference whether we were down 9 and could take the lead with a field goal and a touchdown whereas down 11 we could only tie with a field goal, touchdown and successful try for two.)
Emma asked “How many players get injured in a game?” HCDM said that Tuesday was the worst day for practice, after the team had had a couple of days off since the game. An average of 10-12 players get injured on Tuesdays. (Not sure if he meant every Tuesday or if that‘s the total for the season.) He wasn’t talking about debilitating injuries, just “ strained thumbs, twisted ankles, etc.” In a game that’s nearly doubled to 18-21 players. They get monthly reports on such injuries and illnesses and they are down 50% from previous seasons. He credited the trainers, locker room and cafeteria improvements and the players themselves for using wipes and keeping their dorms clean. (An entire team of Adrian Monks! I'd rather have an enitre team of Art Monks.)
Chris wanted to know what particular Louisville player the game plan will focus on stopping. The answer to that was obvious. “We definitely have a plan of attack and match-ups for certain players. We have to do a very good job on Teddy Bridgewater. They throw the ball vertically more than any team we’ve played in my 3+ years here. We worked hard in not giving up the big play. We want to force them to drive the ball down the field. It’s not ’bend, don’t break’. We will switch things up. They will try to burn us early. I’m convinced of that.” (Sounds like the game plan vs. USC.) He didn’t want to say too much about it but he believes that their kick-off coverage is a weakness. (Of course Kobena has to hold onto to the ball to exploit it.)
Matt noted that it was senior day and that the team’s seniors would be honored. HCDM: “Some are guys who were on the team when I took the job and some were guys we didn’t red shirt because we needed them immediately. Their record here isn’t quite what we wanted it to be. But there are individual moments they will take with them. What people don’t realize is that in addition to playing football and studying they’ve done a lot of work in the community, meeting the people of Syracuse. You need to learn to touch as many people as you can in a positive way.“
There was a lengthy discussion of the naming of permanent captains, designed to clear up some of the confusion over the issue. I wound up more confused that ever. The captains are Ryan Nassib and Justin Pugh on offense and Siriki Diabate and Shamarko Thomas on defense. “We’ve thought about this since December. We’ve done 360’s with the players. (This appears to mean in depth discussions about their situations with each player.) This day and age it’s more difficult to be a leader. I want everyone to become a leader without labels. During the season four guys were outstanding. (Park pointed out that the four captains were always game captains and others rotated in joining them.) They were voted on by the team. The Freshman had a chance to have a better educated vote. They had game captains in the Ben Schwartzwalder era. I didn’t want to take that away from the kids. It will help them when they go out to get a job. I wanted to make sure these guys earned it. I took off the added burden of saying ’It’s all on you.’ “
Matt brought up the continuing problem of bad starts, often tied to early turnovers. “We are having strategically discussions about that. If we win the toss, do we want to take the ball or defer and get an extra possession in the second half, after we’ve had the chance to make halftime adjustments? We’re still going back and forth on that.” (So the bad starts are beginning to psyche them out.)
Matt noted the basketball team would be starting their season aboard a ship. Coach recalled that when he played in the East-West Shrine game in San Francisco, they were given a tour of the USS Carl Vincent, which alter was the command center for the project to get Osama Bin Laden. That’s where his body was taken and the SEALs returned form Pakistan.
Back to the subject of that lesser enemy, Louisville. “There’s not a lot of trickery. They are still very physical. But they have made some changes on defense that have been very successful. They hit hard on both sides of the ball and spread it out on offense. Sean Watson ahs left his imprint on the offense and helped develop Bridgewater.” They noted that tight end Ryan Hubble had shocked even the Louisville coaches when he took a pass 72 yards to score against Temple. “They didn’t know he had that much speed.”
Matt asked what kind a strain the vertical throws put on the defense. “It’s pressure vs. coverage. 3 deep vs. 4 verticals. He’s, (Bridgewater), not waiting too long if it’s not open. He dumps it right to a back. He’s a general, running the show. Their personnel is not as multiple. They go 10 personnel with four wide-outs or 12 personnel with two tight ends. They did 12 and 11 last year. We need to play faster than Louisville we need to know exactly what we are doing so we don’t have to think about it.” (I’ll let the coaches on the board explain the terminology.)
They talked about the penalty on Keon Lyn. “One thing you cannot do is launch your body. Keon went up with both feet. The league does a good job of reviewing the film and reprimanding players. We got a letter of reprimand and I went over it with Keon. I think in the future all such plays will bring an automatic suspension.”
A fan wanted to know if we might tone down the early schedule in future years so the team can “learn how to win”. Coach said he sometimes envies other teams for their lack of early challenges. “But I think our schedule made us a better team. But we didn’t win any of those games.” Matt noted that we will soon be playing 8 games a year in the ACC. “If we can win four games in the conference…we’ll play four games outside, probably one tough and three we can win. When I was at Tennessee our out of conference schedule wasn’t very difficult. We were loaded and we wondered in each game when we should take the starters out.” Matt pointed out one of the teams they played that year was Syracuse.
He asked the coach, “If we are successful in this game, what will we see out there?” HCDM: “We will be tackling well, have good balance on offense and score touchdowns in the red zone.”
Matt said that enxt week's show will be the last Doug Marrone Show of the seaosn. Apparenlty they won't be doing one before the Temple game, which will be on a Friday.
It can take a while but pod casts of the show are eventually posted here:
http://www.suathletics.com/podcasts.aspx
MY QUESTIONS/COMMENTS
“Coach, your post game press conference after the Cincinnati game contained two comments that concerned Syracuse fans, both about the decision to kick a field goal on 4th and 3 down 24-35 in with 12 minutes left the fourth quarter. You said we were down by 9 and the field goal would get us to within 6 points and that the option of kicking a field goal was “what we had written before the game” for that situation.
Did you really think we were down by nine when you made the decision to kick the field goal and was that decision dictated by the pre-game plan or by what had occurred in the game and the field conditions at the time?”
COACH MARRONE
(I’ve re-arranged the order of some of the comments based on the subject.)
Matt Park describe the Louisville game as a “great opportunity”. Coach first wanted to say that he understands the frustration of the fans with all the mistakes the team has been making. The coaches and players feel it, too. But “I’m in a position to do something about it. The fans can just watch.” He’s told the team that “The man who can drive himself further when the effort gets painful is the man that can win.” (The word “painful” brings back some painful memories. And I wonder if the cure for mistakes is to drive yourself further. Maybe they should try easing off?) “We are a very good football team when we don’t hurt ourselves. It‘s my job to make sure the players wash that away and keep fighting.” Matt quoted someone in NASCAR who said “If winning were easy, losers would do it.”
Coach acknowledged that Louisville is an “outstanding team” and repeated what he said about Teddy Bridgewater, saying that he’d been getting texts from journalists all over the country asking if he really meant that Teddy was better than Matt Barkley. “I stand by that comment. He’s still young but when the deep ball is not open he throws to the backs. He has an uncanny ability to escape vertically down the field or move behind the pocket to extend the play. He can get to the second or third option and make positive plays.”
Matt noted that Louisville doesn’t have guys with gaudy stats. HCDM: “If there was a single guy you can take one person out and force Bridgewater to throw to someone he doesn’t have the same chemistry with. He makes everybody around him better. “
I called in my question. “I misspoke. I was aware of the score at the time. I wish someone had corrected me. It’s the first time I’ve been made aware of it. I’d been asked about 4-5 different situations. In no way did I not know the score. I just didn’t quote it (correctly) at the time. We felt that Ross, based on pre-game practice, is going to make that kick consistently. I had in mind scoring again and going for two. I didn’t want to shift the momentum of the game at that point. I wanted to kick off, stop them score again and go for two. I figured we had 2-3 more possessions at that point.“ (Apparently it made no difference whether we were down 9 and could take the lead with a field goal and a touchdown whereas down 11 we could only tie with a field goal, touchdown and successful try for two.)
Emma asked “How many players get injured in a game?” HCDM said that Tuesday was the worst day for practice, after the team had had a couple of days off since the game. An average of 10-12 players get injured on Tuesdays. (Not sure if he meant every Tuesday or if that‘s the total for the season.) He wasn’t talking about debilitating injuries, just “ strained thumbs, twisted ankles, etc.” In a game that’s nearly doubled to 18-21 players. They get monthly reports on such injuries and illnesses and they are down 50% from previous seasons. He credited the trainers, locker room and cafeteria improvements and the players themselves for using wipes and keeping their dorms clean. (An entire team of Adrian Monks! I'd rather have an enitre team of Art Monks.)
Chris wanted to know what particular Louisville player the game plan will focus on stopping. The answer to that was obvious. “We definitely have a plan of attack and match-ups for certain players. We have to do a very good job on Teddy Bridgewater. They throw the ball vertically more than any team we’ve played in my 3+ years here. We worked hard in not giving up the big play. We want to force them to drive the ball down the field. It’s not ’bend, don’t break’. We will switch things up. They will try to burn us early. I’m convinced of that.” (Sounds like the game plan vs. USC.) He didn’t want to say too much about it but he believes that their kick-off coverage is a weakness. (Of course Kobena has to hold onto to the ball to exploit it.)
Matt noted that it was senior day and that the team’s seniors would be honored. HCDM: “Some are guys who were on the team when I took the job and some were guys we didn’t red shirt because we needed them immediately. Their record here isn’t quite what we wanted it to be. But there are individual moments they will take with them. What people don’t realize is that in addition to playing football and studying they’ve done a lot of work in the community, meeting the people of Syracuse. You need to learn to touch as many people as you can in a positive way.“
There was a lengthy discussion of the naming of permanent captains, designed to clear up some of the confusion over the issue. I wound up more confused that ever. The captains are Ryan Nassib and Justin Pugh on offense and Siriki Diabate and Shamarko Thomas on defense. “We’ve thought about this since December. We’ve done 360’s with the players. (This appears to mean in depth discussions about their situations with each player.) This day and age it’s more difficult to be a leader. I want everyone to become a leader without labels. During the season four guys were outstanding. (Park pointed out that the four captains were always game captains and others rotated in joining them.) They were voted on by the team. The Freshman had a chance to have a better educated vote. They had game captains in the Ben Schwartzwalder era. I didn’t want to take that away from the kids. It will help them when they go out to get a job. I wanted to make sure these guys earned it. I took off the added burden of saying ’It’s all on you.’ “
Matt brought up the continuing problem of bad starts, often tied to early turnovers. “We are having strategically discussions about that. If we win the toss, do we want to take the ball or defer and get an extra possession in the second half, after we’ve had the chance to make halftime adjustments? We’re still going back and forth on that.” (So the bad starts are beginning to psyche them out.)
Matt noted the basketball team would be starting their season aboard a ship. Coach recalled that when he played in the East-West Shrine game in San Francisco, they were given a tour of the USS Carl Vincent, which alter was the command center for the project to get Osama Bin Laden. That’s where his body was taken and the SEALs returned form Pakistan.
Back to the subject of that lesser enemy, Louisville. “There’s not a lot of trickery. They are still very physical. But they have made some changes on defense that have been very successful. They hit hard on both sides of the ball and spread it out on offense. Sean Watson ahs left his imprint on the offense and helped develop Bridgewater.” They noted that tight end Ryan Hubble had shocked even the Louisville coaches when he took a pass 72 yards to score against Temple. “They didn’t know he had that much speed.”
Matt asked what kind a strain the vertical throws put on the defense. “It’s pressure vs. coverage. 3 deep vs. 4 verticals. He’s, (Bridgewater), not waiting too long if it’s not open. He dumps it right to a back. He’s a general, running the show. Their personnel is not as multiple. They go 10 personnel with four wide-outs or 12 personnel with two tight ends. They did 12 and 11 last year. We need to play faster than Louisville we need to know exactly what we are doing so we don’t have to think about it.” (I’ll let the coaches on the board explain the terminology.)
They talked about the penalty on Keon Lyn. “One thing you cannot do is launch your body. Keon went up with both feet. The league does a good job of reviewing the film and reprimanding players. We got a letter of reprimand and I went over it with Keon. I think in the future all such plays will bring an automatic suspension.”
A fan wanted to know if we might tone down the early schedule in future years so the team can “learn how to win”. Coach said he sometimes envies other teams for their lack of early challenges. “But I think our schedule made us a better team. But we didn’t win any of those games.” Matt noted that we will soon be playing 8 games a year in the ACC. “If we can win four games in the conference…we’ll play four games outside, probably one tough and three we can win. When I was at Tennessee our out of conference schedule wasn’t very difficult. We were loaded and we wondered in each game when we should take the starters out.” Matt pointed out one of the teams they played that year was Syracuse.
He asked the coach, “If we are successful in this game, what will we see out there?” HCDM: “We will be tackling well, have good balance on offense and score touchdowns in the red zone.”
Matt said that enxt week's show will be the last Doug Marrone Show of the seaosn. Apparenlty they won't be doing one before the Temple game, which will be on a Friday.
