SWC75
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Every Thursday night of the football season at 7PM, Head Coach Scott Shafer does a call0in show with Matt Park on TK99, (99.5 FM) in Syracuse. To submit a question during the show, you can call 1-888-746-2873 or, locally 315-424-8599. You can send a question to Matt Park via Twitter at Matt Park 1. You can also send one in ahead of time with this link:
http://suathletics.syr.edu/sb_output.aspx?form=4
MY QUESTION
“Coach, there’s been a lot of discussion after the Penn State game about communication. Drew Allen complained that his receivers were not communicating with him or each other. There were also times when the offense was standing on the field looking to the sidelines for the next play. Last year the team did a great job of getting the plays in and getting them off quickly. The players seemed to perform better at the faster pace and the opposition seemed to get worse as they faced one play after another. I recall there was a card system being used last year. Is the same system in place this year?”
COACH SHAFER
Coach Shafer felt the defense played well and that “we got them out of their tight end situations”. We did very well on third down, stopping them 94% of the time. We also had four takeaways. Offensively “We have a goal of making 4 yards on first down to manage the sticks and take the pressure off a young offense”. (We did that 5 times in 22 plays.) He said that they’ve got to improve communications “from sidelines to quarterback to personnel groups. I thought we could hang with them until the fourth quarter. I didn’t want to put too much pressure on the newbies, (with a complicated game plan). I thought we had enough people to win the game. Drew Allen showed some good composure and gave us good information. He occasionally got flustered after a bad play but kept his poise. “He’s on it. He owns it. We didn’t help him with 5 drops and a couple of routes not run correctly. He’s self-critical and has a good demeanor.”
At this point I tried to call in my questions but TK99 was having its own communication problems.
Matt Park continued the conversation, asking Coach Shafer to contrast Penn State’s two quarterback situation to that of our next opponent, Northwestern. Coach said that it was a different situation because Penn State’s quarterbacks were similar but Northwestern’s are different. “It’s two types of game plans. We have been looking at film for formation tendencies. They have similar kids at the running back and wide receiver positions. You can’t tell which is which except on freeze frame”, the coach joked.
They talked about Ashton Broyld. Coach noted he had 5 touches and had “done a good job”. But he noted “a couple of plays that could have been really good gains.”
I finally got through with my question about communication and offensive tempo. The only thing Coach Shafer would say about the communication system was that there were “some similarities”. He attributed the communication problems to “First game, a quarterback who hasn’t started since high school, whereas last year we had a three year veteran quarterback.” Matt Park added that we had a first year head coach and play caller. Shafer agreed and said “The only way you can get better at playing the game is to play it.” He added that, even with the 3rd year quarterback, we had problems, spotting Northwestern a 21 point lead, (but that wasn’t because of the offense). He said I was “dead on” that “we need to continue to work on getting the bugs out.”
They talked about penalties. “The key is were they aggressive or something like lining up in the neutral zone. “
They talked about the defense. Coach praised Cam Lynch for having 10 tackles Marquis Spruill and Dyshawn Davis were “as expected”. The corners were “for the most part good…Robinson is a very talented kid”. Robert Welsh was the ACC defensive lineman of the week. Shafer said we needed him to come up big for us because “one guy was dismissed form the team and another tore an ACL”. (Who tore an ACL?). “We need to just keep on keeping.”
Coach said he was stressing the team concept and how “something that’s strong on one side and weak on another comes together”. We scored on 2 of 3 takeaways “which is our goal” and stopped Penn State from scoring off our turnovers so as a team, we won 83% of those situations. He also said we were “+4” comparing “our coverage teams to our return yards”. I assume he means that we got more good returns than Penn State did. Of course they got no return when we had the bad snap. “I put it as a team on each other to get the job done for their teammates.”
Matt asked how he is coaching players to avoid the new “targeting” rule. “By teaching. A coach is a teacher. The old technique was to hit high and hard and stay off the legs. Shoot your hands and keep your eyes to the sky to avoid getting hurt. The new technique is to tackle lower. We are trading concussions for more ACL in juries. I hope they don’t change the game from the one we played growing up. NFL rules tend to filter down to the colleges. The intent is good. Anything too far in either direction isn’t very healthy. “
They talked about the NFL . “A college coach doesn’t get much chance to see his former players play.” But he’s been in touch with Arthur Jones, (who I thought wasn’t playing), and Shamarko Thomas. He knows Justin Pugh and Ryan Nassib are very nervous right now. Matt Park noted that the Giants had released David Carr, clearing a path for Nassib to be retained as a back-up quarterback. “We’ve got some high character kids and the high character types have the longest careers in the NFL.”
They talked about going to Chicago and playing Northwestern at Ryan Field, which doubled for Archbold Stadium in the movie “The Express.” Coach said they’d used that movie for recruiting. He said Chicago was “A great second city, has great museums and zoos.” The coach and his family like to spend time at such places. (I’m trying to imagine Coach P at a museum.) Matt Park said that SU was doing some serious recruiting in that area. Coach said he wanted to get 3-4 kids a year from the Chicago area. He used to recruit there when he coached in the Midwest, especially at Northern Illinois. He said he likes the “south side kids. We had about 7 of them when we, (NIU), beat Alabama, (19-16 in 2003). We get the White Sox fans. We look at tape of players form there and they are playing again big, strong guys and that will get them ready for the ACC. ” He warned Matt not to use ketchup with his hot dogs in Chicago or he might get punched.
Shafer expects to have his hands full with the Northwestern offense but that the defense is anxious to get back on the field with them after what happened last year. “Cal ran 100 plays on them, (99 in a game that seems eerily familiar: http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?id=332430025 ), and we got a chance to see what was going on. Happiness is to have Game 1 over and now we are ready to go with the game plan for Northwestern. “
“The character element is the highest I’ve been around. The key is not to change. Pretty or ugly, win lose or draw.”
http://suathletics.syr.edu/sb_output.aspx?form=4
MY QUESTION
“Coach, there’s been a lot of discussion after the Penn State game about communication. Drew Allen complained that his receivers were not communicating with him or each other. There were also times when the offense was standing on the field looking to the sidelines for the next play. Last year the team did a great job of getting the plays in and getting them off quickly. The players seemed to perform better at the faster pace and the opposition seemed to get worse as they faced one play after another. I recall there was a card system being used last year. Is the same system in place this year?”
COACH SHAFER
Coach Shafer felt the defense played well and that “we got them out of their tight end situations”. We did very well on third down, stopping them 94% of the time. We also had four takeaways. Offensively “We have a goal of making 4 yards on first down to manage the sticks and take the pressure off a young offense”. (We did that 5 times in 22 plays.) He said that they’ve got to improve communications “from sidelines to quarterback to personnel groups. I thought we could hang with them until the fourth quarter. I didn’t want to put too much pressure on the newbies, (with a complicated game plan). I thought we had enough people to win the game. Drew Allen showed some good composure and gave us good information. He occasionally got flustered after a bad play but kept his poise. “He’s on it. He owns it. We didn’t help him with 5 drops and a couple of routes not run correctly. He’s self-critical and has a good demeanor.”
At this point I tried to call in my questions but TK99 was having its own communication problems.
Matt Park continued the conversation, asking Coach Shafer to contrast Penn State’s two quarterback situation to that of our next opponent, Northwestern. Coach said that it was a different situation because Penn State’s quarterbacks were similar but Northwestern’s are different. “It’s two types of game plans. We have been looking at film for formation tendencies. They have similar kids at the running back and wide receiver positions. You can’t tell which is which except on freeze frame”, the coach joked.
They talked about Ashton Broyld. Coach noted he had 5 touches and had “done a good job”. But he noted “a couple of plays that could have been really good gains.”
I finally got through with my question about communication and offensive tempo. The only thing Coach Shafer would say about the communication system was that there were “some similarities”. He attributed the communication problems to “First game, a quarterback who hasn’t started since high school, whereas last year we had a three year veteran quarterback.” Matt Park added that we had a first year head coach and play caller. Shafer agreed and said “The only way you can get better at playing the game is to play it.” He added that, even with the 3rd year quarterback, we had problems, spotting Northwestern a 21 point lead, (but that wasn’t because of the offense). He said I was “dead on” that “we need to continue to work on getting the bugs out.”
They talked about penalties. “The key is were they aggressive or something like lining up in the neutral zone. “
They talked about the defense. Coach praised Cam Lynch for having 10 tackles Marquis Spruill and Dyshawn Davis were “as expected”. The corners were “for the most part good…Robinson is a very talented kid”. Robert Welsh was the ACC defensive lineman of the week. Shafer said we needed him to come up big for us because “one guy was dismissed form the team and another tore an ACL”. (Who tore an ACL?). “We need to just keep on keeping.”
Coach said he was stressing the team concept and how “something that’s strong on one side and weak on another comes together”. We scored on 2 of 3 takeaways “which is our goal” and stopped Penn State from scoring off our turnovers so as a team, we won 83% of those situations. He also said we were “+4” comparing “our coverage teams to our return yards”. I assume he means that we got more good returns than Penn State did. Of course they got no return when we had the bad snap. “I put it as a team on each other to get the job done for their teammates.”
Matt asked how he is coaching players to avoid the new “targeting” rule. “By teaching. A coach is a teacher. The old technique was to hit high and hard and stay off the legs. Shoot your hands and keep your eyes to the sky to avoid getting hurt. The new technique is to tackle lower. We are trading concussions for more ACL in juries. I hope they don’t change the game from the one we played growing up. NFL rules tend to filter down to the colleges. The intent is good. Anything too far in either direction isn’t very healthy. “
They talked about the NFL . “A college coach doesn’t get much chance to see his former players play.” But he’s been in touch with Arthur Jones, (who I thought wasn’t playing), and Shamarko Thomas. He knows Justin Pugh and Ryan Nassib are very nervous right now. Matt Park noted that the Giants had released David Carr, clearing a path for Nassib to be retained as a back-up quarterback. “We’ve got some high character kids and the high character types have the longest careers in the NFL.”
They talked about going to Chicago and playing Northwestern at Ryan Field, which doubled for Archbold Stadium in the movie “The Express.” Coach said they’d used that movie for recruiting. He said Chicago was “A great second city, has great museums and zoos.” The coach and his family like to spend time at such places. (I’m trying to imagine Coach P at a museum.) Matt Park said that SU was doing some serious recruiting in that area. Coach said he wanted to get 3-4 kids a year from the Chicago area. He used to recruit there when he coached in the Midwest, especially at Northern Illinois. He said he likes the “south side kids. We had about 7 of them when we, (NIU), beat Alabama, (19-16 in 2003). We get the White Sox fans. We look at tape of players form there and they are playing again big, strong guys and that will get them ready for the ACC. ” He warned Matt not to use ketchup with his hot dogs in Chicago or he might get punched.
Shafer expects to have his hands full with the Northwestern offense but that the defense is anxious to get back on the field with them after what happened last year. “Cal ran 100 plays on them, (99 in a game that seems eerily familiar: http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?id=332430025 ), and we got a chance to see what was going on. Happiness is to have Game 1 over and now we are ready to go with the game plan for Northwestern. “
“The character element is the highest I’ve been around. The key is not to change. Pretty or ugly, win lose or draw.”
under their belt.
