The cupboard was bare defensively for this staff

[two3zone]

I won't say our talent is top notch, that much is obvious. But, you can eliminate big plays and unsound defense regardless of talent.

Ward may be fine, but, he was thoroughly out coached tonight.

We were 112th last year in defensive yards per play, we were awful last year too.

 

[RF2044]

That's just not true, poor talent is an excuse. Lack of execution is evidence of poor coaching.

It can be, but it can also be indicative of lack of suitability of personnel.

I acknowledge your point, but you're only focusing on one symptom of a multi-dimensional problem. It would be great if there was one magic bullet root cause, but in this instance that isn't the case.

 

[Finwad32]

We were 112th last year in defensive yards per play, we were awful last year too.

Still didn't give up 62... Our offensive staff is infinitely better, I'm not debating that, but, blaming the prior staff for our D is wrong.

 

[RF2044]

Still didn't give up 62... Our offensive staff is infinitely better, I'm not debating that, but, blaming the prior staff for our . . . . D is wrong.

Can we blame them for the incumbent personnel on hand?

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Still didn't give up 62... Our offensive staff is infinitely better, I'm not debating that, but, blaming the prior staff for our . . . . D is wrong.

I'm not sure why the point total is bothering you so much.

 

[Finwad32]

Can we blame them for the incumbent personnel on hand?

I'm not saying SS left us all ACC players. Simply stating that I saw situations where defenders were put in a position to lose. That's poor coaching. Antwan cordy was not beat over the top by 20 yards last season.

 

[RF2044]

I'm not sure why the point total is bothering you so much.

I do--tonight was a debacle.

But there are lots of ways that could have decreased points / scoring that wouldn't change the fundamental issue. We could have run, run, run and shortened the game and attempted to keep the ball out of their hands. That would have certainly led to a more favorable set of defensive numbers. But it wouldn't have put us any closer to winning the game.

 

[Finwad32]

I'm not sure why the point total is bothering you so much.

Because it was avoidable, or at least, could've been slowed.

 

[Finwad32]

You could've played cover 3 with a spy all night and limited big plays. On multiple big TD's it looked like we were cover 0, if we weren't, players were not clear on assignments.

 

[Briancuse]

You could've played cover 3 with a spy all night and limited big plays. On multiple big TD's it looked like we were cover 0, if we weren't, players were not clear on assignments.

Ya we could have, but they would have just beat us underneath.

 

[RF2044]

Because it was avoidable, or at least, could've been slowed.

Respectfully, I think that is a disconnect with Babers's philosophy. He doesn't want to slow the game down and play to keep things close.

It is going to take some time for some in the fanbase to reconcile what they know about traditional football versus what a modern offensive coaching philosophy attempts to do.

 

[Finwad32]

Ya we could have, but they would have just beat us underneath.

Better than 1-play drives... Another excuse. Defense could not have been worse in the 1st.

 

[Finwad32]

Respectfully, I think that is a disconnect with Babers's philosophy. He doesn't want to slow the game down and play to keep things close.

It is going to take some time for some in the fanbase to reconcile what they know about traditional football versus what a modern offensive coaching philosophy attempts to do.

His offense and defense are not the same. If you think that he wanted what was happening in the 1st tonight, you're wrong.

 

[Briancuse]

Better than 1-play drives... Another excuse. Defense could not have been worse in the 1st.

Its either die a slow painful death, or put me out of my misery early, at the end of the day our defense wasn't good enough.

 

[Finwad32]

Guys, I'm not slamming DB, but, Ward had a terrible night. It's really not debatable.

I'm all in on this staff, they'll be successful, tonight did not need to be this bad though.

 

[Finwad32]

Its either die a slow painful death, or put me out of my misery early, at the end of the day our defense wasn't good enough.

Or get a flicking stop, talk about defeatist.

 

[JLine]

If you can't tell the difference between the garbage that we've had on the field for so long and what we're seeing on offense now then I really don't know what to tell you.

It's just unfathomable how dense some Syracuse Football fans are. The second game of a new era, against a top 15 team, and people are going nuts. With a great new Coach, recruiter, and staff. Working with inferior talent. Don't jump back on detractors, when Dino gets this rolling. Just unbelievable to me. Time to stay away from the football board. Armchair Quarterbacks who have no clue.

 

[RF2044]

His offense and defense are not the same. If you think that he wanted what was happening in the 1st tonight, you're wrong.

That's a straw man, and you know it.

Of course that isn't what they wanted to happen. But that doesn't alter the fact that no defense we run with this group of players would meld them into an effective unit capable of slowing down the team we played tonight.

On the scale of things that went wrong tonight:

Personnel






Scheme


And BOTH were issues.

 

[Finwad32]

Excuses, BS... Just bc we had a bad night doesn't mean we put it on 20 yr olds, it's bs. I know what I saw schematically in the 1st, and it was bad.

You don't have to believe me.

 

[atom58]

Respectfully, I think that is a disconnect with Babers's philosophy. He doesn't want to slow the game down and play to keep things close.

It is going to take some time for some in the fanbase to reconcile what they know about traditional football versus what a modern offensive coaching philosophy attempts to do.

Interesting point you make - Clawson at Wake has played like a classic BB slow down game to keep them close - last year they lost to UL 20-19 and FSU 24-16 I think and of course Wake is famous for the low scoring games against VaTech and BC. I think they beat VaTech 3-0 or something like that in OT in what was regarded by some as possibly the worst CFB game ever - but they won! Babers is more like his mentor Art Briles and the Big 12 coaches - all out on offense in track meet games, sort of like the 58-55 victory Pitt had over Duke in 2013. Babers will win with offense but in the short run will have to adjust the defense I think. Stacking the box will prevent long runs but the CBs will have to be very active. For the secondary at least, that off season conditioning should have been helpful, as long as they don't have double duties of helping to stop the run.

 

[RF2044]

Excuses, BS... Just bc we had a bad night doesn't mean we put it on 20 yr olds, it's bs. I know what I saw schematically in the 1st, and it was bad.

You don't have to believe me.

As a function of coaching, you know more about football than most posters here combined. Which is why you know better than anyone that the difference between good execution and poor execution and a positive outcome any given snap versus a disastrous one is often an athlete making a play.

And I'd like you to draw upon your coaching acumen to remind me again about how the Tampa 2 optimally functions, on paper? How it relies upon a defensive line being responsible for generating upfield pressure and making plays behind the line of scrimmage, and how having a relatively slow, converted DT manning one of the edge positions because our other DEs are too green, too inexperienced, and otherwise not prepared to contribute inhibits that? Remind me again of how those big linebackers are supposed to support the run, and also drop into coverage, and how that scheme works with a couple of 212 pound outside 'backers who don't excel in coverage? Enlighten me about how those big, physical corners are going to prevent receivers from getting into their routes, and use their size to compensate for being isolated on islands while the front 7 flow to keep the play in front of them and prevent it from developing downfield?

I think the sentiment you're expressing is admirable. Nobody is "blaming" the 20 year old players. I don't recall anyone in this thread or the others posted about the defense tonight singling out any individual players and calling them out or laying blame. Acknowledging that our personnel on that side of the ball are sub-optimal isn't bashing them.

 

[Finwad32]

That's primarily what I'm talking about, we should've had 2-Deep minimum. Go back and watch the 1st 2 TD's, tell me how many guys Jackson could've hit for 6 and where.

I'm not trying to be a douche, I hope to all that is good BW succeeds, but, it was not good tonight early on. Maybe the kids were confused, if they were, I believe that's a coaching problem. If they had them in a cover 0 and they got beat, so be it.

 

[sufan4eva13]

At the end of the day, this is the same secondary that got carved up like swiss cheese on a routine basis last year. I hate to be insulting but the fact of the matter is we do not have one starting caliber (on a good team) ACC player on our defense. We have a bunch of small slow defensive backs, a bunch of small linebackers who struggle with tackling, and a bunch of defensive linemen who cannot get any pressure. I expected the defense to be horrible this year and it will probably be pretty bad most of the season. The fact is our talent level on defense is a joke. It was a joke last year and it's still one. Only recruiting is going solve this, the previous staff had an obvious eye for skill position talent but couldn't have done worse in recruiting on the other side.

Frankly, I am not worried at all. I expected some teams to explode on us this year and until we get better defensive Personnel it will probably be that way. We are going to scratch and Claw our way to six wins one way or another this season. Once we get there we're gonna be a different team than we are now.

 

[tipphill]

just got back to bethlehem pa. disappointed but not surprised. i and others have said all along we were very concerned about the defense, particularly the pass coverage--well there isn't any. there is barely a semblance of an effective oline.
for the most part the speed kills offense was absent for most of the game. thank god ville dropped passes, at least two of the drops were sure td's. you cannot color this any other way but bad. the we were only two touchdowns down going into the 4th does not change a thing. the score could have been even worse than it was.
dino will need to figure a few things out,i don't envy him.

 

[Alsacs]

The scheme was irrelevant. People may hate the Tampa 2 we couldn't stop Louisville period. They carved us up last year with backup quarterback from tonight. We couldn't stop anybody last year either.

The kids played hard but they did but we need more calavary. Very little push up front. The LBs got gashed on 3 drives UL scored 3 rushing TDs. We got burned deep several times without any pressure up front. Games against Notre Dame, Louisvile, Florida State, Clemson we have no chance.

We will be competitive in the other 8 games. My point is that Babers is truly taking over a rebuild and I am not mad at him or his staff one iota. It sucks we lost bigtime but I will be patient and hope we see a severe uptick in talent the next few years.

I mean the last 3 NFL drafts we have had 3 total players drafted. 2014- Bromley, 3rd round, Sprull 5th round, 2016 Dixon 7th round.

The NFL hasn't been interested in our roster. We have some kids now who could get drafted but I can say Babers will develop annual draft talent on offense no doubt. The cupboard is bare.