The difference between last year / this year is stark

[RF2044]

Last year, our players seemed small and overmatched -- especially against the better teams on the schedule. How many big plays for TDs did we give up, seemingly every game?

This year, we're going toe-to-toe in the trenches with the likes of Clemson and LSU, playing tough on the road, etc. Last year, our defense got worked over. This year, they can play with anyone. Night and day difference.

What a head coach and coaching staff we have. Just imagine when the talent is better optimized for what they are trying to do. We're going to be a team that nobody wants to play.

Honestly, I feel like we can beat every team remaining on our schedule. I don't expect that to happen, but we COULD. Last year, we got rolled by Louisville and Pitt. What a difference.

 

[qdawgg]

Marrones recruits are really starting to come into their own and mature.


I kid, I kid.

 

[nyucuse]

Last year, our players seemed small and overmatched -- especially against the better teams on the schedule. How many big plays for TDs did we give up, seemingly every game?

This year, we're going toe-to-toe in the trenches with the likes of Clemson and LSU, playing tough on the road, etc. Last year, our defense got worked over. This year, they can play with anyone. Night and day difference.

What a head coach and coaching staff we have. Just imagine when the talent is better optimized for what they are trying to do. We're going to be a team that nobody wants to play.

Honestly, I feel like we can beat every team remaining on our schedule. I don't expect that to happen, but we COULD. Last year, we got rolled by Louisville and Pitt. What a difference.

I've been living overseas for several years now. But I have very fond memories of attending two games in particular - McNabb vs Miami where we destroyed then something like 63-7 (maybe not quite that bad but it felt it), and when we got hosed vs Manning and Tennessee, what a nad kick that game was.

Watching online last night from London was the first time since then they I have felt that type of energy for and around the program. Man does it feel good.. now we need to build on it and keep it going,

 

[StopCoolio]

Dino just outcoached Dabo pretty handily IMO and he's widely regarded as a top 5 coach.

The offense just gave Brent Venables' defense a lot of problems, and he might be the best DC in America.

The O line just stood toe to toe with Clemson and their 4-5 first day draft picks on the D line.

And on and on...not much of this felt all that fluky. Clemson didn't fumble 6 times or throw 2 pick sixes and so suddenly this all feels repeatable.

This team has to believe they can beat anyone now.

 

[HOFCeluck]

I've been living overseas for several years now. But I have very fond memories of attending two games in particular - McNabb vs Miami where we destroyed then something like 63-7 (maybe not quite that bad but it felt it), and when we got hosed vs Manning and Tennessee, what a nad kick that game was.

Watching online last night from London was the first time since then they I have felt that type of energy for and around the program. Man does it feel good.. now we need to build on it and keep it going,

I hate to be that guy, but Tee Martin was QB for Tenn. Peyton Manning left the season prior.

I will never, EEEEEEEVER forget that game.

 

[djorange1989]

Marrones recruits are really starting to come into their own and mature.


I kid, I kid.

I was going to say the effect of once having guys like McDonald and Joe Adam as mentors finally has shown itself several years later

 

[djorange1989]

I hate to be that guy, but Tee Martin was QB for Tenn. Peyton Manning left the season prior.

I will never, EEEEEEEVER forget that game.

Worst pass interference call ever

 

[HOFCeluck]

Worst pass interference call ever

The PI gets all the attention, but the bizarre equipment violation calls that I had never seen before or since really kill me.

 

[chugg21]

Dino just outcoached Dabo pretty handily IMO and he's widely regarded as a top 5 coach.

The offense just gave Brett Venables' defense a lot of problems, and he might be the best DC in America.

The O line just stood toe to toe with Clemson and their 4-5 first day draft picks on the D line.

And on and on...not much of this felt all that fluky. Clemson didn't fumble 6 times or throw 2 pick sixes and so suddenly this all feels repeatable.

This team has to believe they can beat anyone now.

Clemson had all the fluky plays to keep it close. All 3 TDs were super long. 0 sustained td drives.

 

[OburgOrange]

I hate to be that guy, but Tee Martin was QB for Tenn. Peyton Manning left the season prior.

I will never, EEEEEEEVER forget that game.

Ya. I was there. Ugh

 

[SWC75]

I hate to be that guy, but Tee Martin was QB for Tenn. Peyton Manning left the season prior.

I will never, EEEEEEEVER forget that game.

I like being that guy. The Miami score was 66-13.

 

[HOFCeluck]

Clemson had all the fluky plays to keep it close. All 3 TDs were super long. 0 sustained td drives.

Ha. Should've been 24-7 at half.

 

[anomander]

This was a Clemson defense that has been absolutely dominant all year. The same Clemson defense destroyed Lamar Jackson and basically shut down everyone. Last night our offense dominated them. They had what 25 first downs? We didn't get lucky on fluke plays, we were gashing them.

 

[SWC75]

This was a Clemson defense that has been absolutely dominant all year. The same Clemson defense destroyed Lamar Jackson and basically shut down everyone. Last night our offense dominated them. They had what 25 first downs? We didn't get lucky on fluke plays, we were gashing them.

28!!!

Syracuse University Athletics - Football vs Clemson on 10/13/2017

 

[OburgOrange]

Ha. Should've been 24-7 at half.

Said the same to my son at halftime. We left some points out there before half. Worried me a bit

 

[nyucuse]

I like being that guy. The Miami score was 66-13.

What an atmosphere at that game, unreal.

 

[nyucuse]

I hate to be that guy, but Tee Martin was QB for Tenn. Peyton Manning left the season prior.

I will never, EEEEEEEVER forget that game.

Yep that's right, memory fades. I was living in NYC at the time, came home and brought my younger brother to the game with me who was 14 at the time. He became a man that night with the things he heard,

 

[SWC75]

What an atmosphere at that game, 'ing unreal.

It was like a dream sequence.

 

[Jake]

I was at the dome last night. And yes, we did go toe to toe with them, but the size differential in players is still huuuuge.

 

[Dino2112]

I like being that guy. The Miami score was 66-13.

great game but he killed SU football for years !!

 

[bballbeadle]

Last year, our players seemed small and overmatched -- especially against the better teams on the schedule. How many big plays for TDs did we give up, seemingly every game?

This year, we're going toe-to-toe in the trenches with the likes of Clemson and LSU, playing tough on the road, etc. Last year, our defense got worked over. This year, they can play with anyone. Night and day difference.

What a head coach and coaching staff we have. Just imagine when the talent is better optimized for what they are trying to do. We're going to be a team that nobody wants to play.

Honestly, I feel like we can beat every team remaining on our schedule. I don't expect that to happen, but we COULD. Last year, we got rolled by Louisville and Pitt. What a difference.

We have so many important players leaving this year. What are your thoughts about talent on next year’s team? I don’t know the roster well enough.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

We have so many important players leaving this year. What are your thoughts about talent on next year’s team? I don’t know the roster well enough.

The guys we lose are really important, but there are surprisingly few of them.

We have room for some new stars.

 

[nzm136]

Dino just outcoached Dabo pretty handily IMO and he's widely regarded as a top 5 coach.

The offense just gave Brett Venables' defense a lot of problems, and he might be the best DC in America.

The O line just stood toe to toe with Clemson and their 4-5 first day draft picks on the D line.

And on and on...not much of this felt all that fluky. Clemson didn't fumble 6 times or throw 2 pick sixes and so suddenly this all feels repeatable.

This team has to believe they can beat anyone now.

I think Clemson's winning percentage would be tangibly higher if we each played 100 random teams.

However, I think we'd win more than we'd lose if we played Clemson 100 times in the Dome, and probably a neutral site as well.

We aren't better than they are, but we do match up against them really well. I don't think that they have an answer for a lot of what we like to do. The score was close, but the game never felt like SU wasn't in control.

We were soundly in control in every meaningful aspect of the game.

And yeah, they missed a couple of kicks, but we had some fluke bad luck too (see the scoop and score from our FG range), and we had some really shady calls/shots/non calls that probably cost us some points.

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

We have so many important players leaving this year. What are your thoughts about talent on next year’s team? I don’t know the roster well enough.

Ish could be hard to replace. Butler hopefully continues to improve, Thompson-Bishop and Jordan are unknown quantities (they're red-shirting this year), and the true freshmen coming in are talented, but there's that learning curve that makes true freshmen unpredictable.

The slot options (Riley, N. Johnson, S. Johnson, Neal(?)) should be able to supplant Erv's production.

Linebacker is a bit fuzzy - Armstrong doesn't seem to be the sure thing he seemed to be last year. Can Fagan crack the rotation? Are the redshirt freshmen (Trotter and Richards) any good? Will Cullen or Henderson live up to their potential? Will Whitner grow into the linebacker role? Lots of questions, but the staff hopefully likes what they have.

Otherwise, I have no concerns about replacing our graduating seniors (McGloster, Mahoney, Avant, Butler, Martin, Murphy.)

 

[nzm136]

The guys we lose are really important, but there are surprisingly few of them.

We have room for some new stars.

This is just a cost of doing business in college sports. Your best players are usually the seniors, and they're always in their last season.

The flip side is that players develop a lot over each season/off season, and a good coach can often develop something out of seemingly nothing.

To your point, I'm not sure we jump forward next year, but that's OK. Wins like this one and the VT win bought Babers enough cover to build a long term foundation by red shirting key players.

And honestly, we're playing like a team. I think star power would push us to the next level, but our success is that pretty much everyone on the field represents a credible threat. And based on that diffusion of talent, I'm not sold that we'll take a step back, either.