The Coordinators

[OrangeinBoston]

Nixon: This is the first time I've watched a game and asked myself: "What the hell is Nixon doing?" For example, that failed trick play on 4th and 2 deep in UCONN territory that fooled absolutely no one on the Huskies' defense. Of course, it didn't help that Angeli couldn't throw the ball into the ocean for a long stretch of the game. But, he did resurrect the passing game when it was crucial. Things Nixon ought to think about:
1. Willis should get the ball twice as much as his kid. At least.
2. Get creative with the run game. Allegedly, we have some super fast RBs. Use them.
3. Work on 3rd down and 2. It shouldn't be as hard as we make it look.

Robinson: Got to hand it to him. He made the adjustments that kept UCONN to 2 field goals in the second half. Not bad at all. He still has a maddening tendency to go soft in critical situations. Like on the drive that put UCONN in position for the tying field goal. He pressured, pressured, and then went soft allowing the long completion. Granted, the guy had to make a superb catch, but if the QB was under duress, he doesn't make that throw.

Brumfield: For the first time in the Fran era, special teams don't feel like an adventure. OK, they missed a field goal. But, someone said it was Fran's kid doing the long snapping with resulting problems. Maybe the kid needs to practice this season instead of coming in, in critical situations.

 

[XC Cuse]

I think Angeli needs to be rolled out more. It helps against pressure, and Angeli has adequate athleticism to scramble

 

[Cuse On 3]

Good breakdown Boston! I agree with everything you said, particularly the adjustments Robinson made 2nd half. For all the bashing I’ve done on our DC, I gotta give him major props to holding a good UConn offense to 6 points in the 2nd half.

 

[GoSU96]

The defense was fine yesterday. They adjusted on the outside zone and shut it down in the second half. They had only one busted run, which is actually an improvement.

The issue yesterday was the offense. Period.

 

[The Viking]

I like the observations made above. It appears the coaches are adapting to circumstances, even as they deal with injuries. I'm most concerned by how unprepared the team seems early. That surfaces in the wasted timeouts, silly penalties, and poor performance.
Plenty of shining moments, though, that make me excited to see how the team perform when firing on all cylinders.

 

[CA Monk]

Fourth and three down 17 to 6 five minutes 48 seconds left we won. Yippee Calle mofo.
Double yippee Calle

 

[djorange1989]

The defense was fine yesterday. They adjusted on the outside zone and shut it down in the second half. They had only one busted run, which is actually an improvement.

The issue yesterday was the offense. Period.

It was very similar to Stanford last year, where the D was decent and the offense was crap.

 

[Dinkyspond]

Fourth and three down 17 to 6 five minutes 48 seconds left we won. Yippee Calle mofo.
Double yippee Calle

I am still dumbfounded we won this game. We played like crapola for 54 minutes. To pull this off was an Orange miracle.

 

[llandz]

The play calling looked stale compared to what UConn was doing. Uninspired until the last 10 minutes. Angeli kept playing one side of the field. Many times he didn't even look at receivers on the other side. He radio signaled where he was going many times. Again, all of this changed those last 10 or so minutes. That is the team I travelled to see. As far as what Fran said about not bringing the product he promised to the fans? Well I also love this kind of emotional rollercoaster type of game where we end on top. The excitement is breath stopping. For the 60% of the fans who left half way through the 4th Q, I hope you are having some big buyers remorse today. You missed a classic type ending.

 

[bigmike]

Nixon: This is the first time I've watched a game and asked myself: "What the hell is Nixon doing?" For example, that failed trick play on 4th and 2 deep in UCONN territory that fooled absolutely no one on the Huskies' defense. Of course, it didn't help that Angeli couldn't throw the ball into the ocean for a long stretch of the game. But, he did resurrect the passing game when it was crucial. Things Nixon ought to think about:
1. Willis should get the ball twice as much as his kid. At least.
2. Get creative with the run game. Allegedly, we have some super fast RBs. Use them.
3. Work on 3rd down and 2. It shouldn't be as hard as we make it look.

Robinson: Got to hand it to him. He made the adjustments that kept UCONN to 2 field goals in the second half. Not bad at all. He still has a maddening tendency to go soft in critical situations. Like on the drive that put UCONN in position for the tying field goal. He pressured, pressured, and then went soft allowing the long completion. Granted, the guy had to make a superb catch, but if the QB was under duress, he doesn't make that throw.

Brumfield: For the first time in the Fran era, special teams don't feel like an adventure. OK, they missed a field goal. But, someone said it was Fran's kid doing the long snapping with resulting problems. Maybe the kid needs to practice this season instead of coming in, in critical situations.

All in on point #2.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

STs do look to be fixed. Let's hope that is the case.


Short yardage killed the O in the 1st half.

Drive 1: we tried that trick play last year and it failed then too. Two yards is too long for that. Need to convert on a 4th and 2.

Drive 2: 3rd and 1 and we got stuffed forcing a punt.

Drive 3: 4th and 2 was the sack and disaster of a fumble. By then we should have taken the FG, get on the board.

The 2nd half we became one dimensional. Yes, we were down 11 points but there was a ton of time left. Harder to get a pass rush when you have to worry about the run.

I also hated the 2pt conversion play call.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Good breakdown Boston! I agree with everything you said, particularly the adjustments Robinson made 2nd half. For all the bashing I’ve done on our DC, I gotta give him major props to holding a good UConn offense to 6 points in the 2nd half.

Are we sure those adjustments are credited to ERob? if Fran had to tell him to let Reese rush the QB, then what else is E not getting?

 

[upperdeck]

If the oline would RB just to an avg ability we probably score those first 2 drives and force UConn a bit instead of failing and making us chase them.

We ran the one WR run play early where if he just runs the play as designed he scores but he went wide and lost yds.

 

[JRHEETER]

Can we talk about how our OL looks. It’s not good to be pushed back by a smaller team on the line of scrimmage.

Believe this is on Coach Dale Williams as our line should have been a significant upgrade and seems to be floundering

 

[Trueblue25]

Holy cow how about Gill’s hit on the punt returner? Big boy football

 

[Blanko97]

The defense was fine yesterday. They adjusted on the outside zone and shut it down in the second half. They had only one busted run, which is actually an improvement.

The issue yesterday was the offense. Period.

giving up ~420 yards to UConn is honestly not "fine." Syracuse is bigger, faster and supposedly more talented. It's also important to note the adjustments are nice, but why are they coming in so unprepared? This has now been a problem for 15 games. The game is 4 quarters which means quarter 1 and 2 are still important and Erob needs to start coaching it that way. UConn you can come back against, anyone else with a pulse (see UT) you cant.

 

[syrBossHogg]

I think the TE sneak is fine if it was 4th and 1. 4th and 2 is just long enough for a sneak to fail, especially if your O-line isn't getting push in the run game.

My big issue with Robinson is the heavy reliance on the D-line to win with 3 or 4 rushers. We don't have the horses to rush 4 and play coverage most of the time, would like to see more dictating with both the rush and the coverage on the back end

 

[Rautins07]

STs do look to be fixed. Let's hope that is the case.


Short yardage killed the O in the 1st half.

Drive 1: we tried that trick play last year and it failed then too. Two yards is too long for that. Need to convert on a 4th and 2.

Drive 2: 3rd and 1 and we got stuffed forcing a punt.

Drive 3: 4th and 2 was the sack and disaster of a fumble. By then we should have taken the FG, get on the board.

The 2nd half we became one dimensional. Yes, we were down 11 points but there was a ton of time left. Harder to get a pass rush when you have to worry about the run.

I also hated the 2pt conversion play call.

Agreed on 1 & 3, I could have lived more with Villari in shotgun, it at least gives a slight hint of a pass and gives Villari some momentum and time to see where he might go. I knew what was happening when he was in motion!

 

[Goin' Deep]

Nixon: This is the first time I've watched a game and asked myself: "What the hell is Nixon doing?" For example, that failed trick play on 4th and 2 deep in UCONN territory that fooled absolutely no one on the Huskies' defense. Of course, it didn't help that Angeli couldn't throw the ball into the ocean for a long stretch of the game. But, he did resurrect the passing game when it was crucial. Things Nixon ought to think about:
1. Willis should get the ball twice as much as his kid. At least.
2. Get creative with the run game. Allegedly, we have some super fast RBs. Use them.
3. Work on 3rd down and 2. It shouldn't be as hard as we make it look.

Robinson: Got to hand it to him. He made the adjustments that kept UCONN to 2 field goals in the second half. Not bad at all. He still has a maddening tendency to go soft in critical situations. Like on the drive that put UCONN in position for the tying field goal. He pressured, pressured, and then went soft allowing the long completion. Granted, the guy had to make a superb catch, but if the QB was under duress, he doesn't make that throw.

Brumfield: For the first time in the Fran era, special teams don't feel like an adventure. OK, they missed a field goal. But, someone said it was Fran's kid doing the long snapping with resulting problems. Maybe the kid needs to practice this season instead of coming in, in critical situations.

Agree about Erob,,,he goes prevent/rush 3 linemen...?
Did it against Tenn late in the 1st half resulting in a TD.
And repeated it yesterday with allowing UConn going about 60 yds. in 45 seconds leading to a tying fieldgoal'
And Duce...? That play(leading to FG position) was right in front of him and he hesitated to break up the reception. And nice job taking a horrific angle on Uconn's TD run...C'mon man!!

 

[Nahson]

I don’t love this narrative about E Rob stepping up in the second half. Go back and watch that second half. They brought pressure with Reese, a move that Fran took credit for in the presser. Then watch how many times UCONN shot themselves in the foot by not being able to catch a football. Not sure what adjustments you can make that causes open receivers to drop passes but okay.

Also, anyone making the excuse about not having the talent to execute is lying to themselves. I’ve watched smaller, slower, less talented Syracuse’s defenses dial up good pressure, and play tougher then what I’ve seen week in and week out out over the last 15 games.

I want E Rob to have success, I’ve been trying hard not to let my frustration cloud what I’m seeing, so I can give credit where credit is due… but right now I see zero positives, schematically.

 

[OrangeinDC]

I think Angeli needs to be rolled out more. It helps against pressure, and Angeli has adequate athleticism to scramble

He actually seemed more comfortable rolling out too..

 

[HRE Otto IV]

He actually seemed more comfortable rolling out too..

Wasn't the INT on a roll out?

 

[OrangeinDC]

Wasn't the INT on a roll out?

I believe it was... Not saying the results were always there, but he seemed more comfortable out of the pocket to me. I may be wrong..

 

[OrangeinDC]

I believe it was... Not saying the results were always there, but he seemed more comfortable out of the pocket to me. I may be wrong..

Said it before in another thread... He's missing a pocket awareness, timeclock or something. He doesn't "feel" the pocket if that makes any sense.

 

[GoSU96]

giving up ~420 yards to UConn is honestly not "fine." Syracuse is bigger, faster and supposedly more talented. It's also important to note the adjustments are nice, but why are they coming in so unprepared? This has now been a problem for 15 games. The game is 4 quarters which means quarter 1 and 2 are still important and Erob needs to start coaching it that way. UConn you can come back against, anyone else with a pulse (see UT) you cant.

20 = fine