SWC75
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AmeriCU Dino Babers Show Returns Thursday - Syracuse University Athletics
The AmeriCU Dino Babers Show at Heritage Hill returns tonight!
Coach Babers’s show this year show will be Thursday nights at 7PM except when the game is not on a Saturday. This year it will be 60 minutes, with the first 50 minutes being with Dino and the last 10 minutes being with a ‘special guest’, who in the past just got a couple minutes at the end of the show.
The show originates from Heritage Hill Brewery in Jamesville:
Heritage Hill Brewhouse
Heritage Hill Brewhouse in Pompey. Handcrafted Beer, Homemade Food & Amazing Views set upon our active crop and animal farm. A family friendly destination that's an escape but close enough to call home.
You can also listen to the show live each week on the Syracuse IMG Sports Network and Cuse.com. Wednesday's show will be on 99.1 FM and 97.7 FM, as well. The show will regularly air on 99.5FM (Syracuse) 99.1 FM (Utica) and 1200 AM.”
You can also get it on: https://tunein.com/radio/home/
There hasn’t been any change in the phone numbers, which last year were 315-424-8599 (local) or 1-888-746-2873. You can call to ask questions or submit them via Twitter at: https://twitter.com/CuseIMG (Update: this account seems to have closed.)
#AskDino or through Cuse.com, (the SU Athletic website):
Submit a Question! - Syracuse University Athletics
Submit your question for Syracuse Learfield Sports Network programs.
You can (or could last year, anyway), listen to a podcast of the show, probably the next day, at: Search results for babers | Free Internet Radio | TuneIn
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My Question(s) or Comments (or theories)
Coach, a hundred years ago, Percy Haughton was the coach at Harvard. He had a guy paint brown ovals on his team’s crimson jerseys. When they ran a play the other team couldn’t figure out who had the ball. There’s something you can try to keep fooling the opposition!
Coach, did Garret Shrader take a slide on that last run of his as an act of sportsmanship, self-preservation, or clock management?
Also, you seemed disappointed that Oronde Gadsden’s true status was announced prior to the game and still won’t reveal when Kalan Ellis or Joe More might be available. I can see how the availability of a star receiver might impact an opponent’s preparation for a game but how much difference would it make in their plans to get offensive linemen back?
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The Show
(I sometimes re-arrange the comments so that statements made on the same subject are reported together, even if they came at different points of the show.)
(It’s finally Thursday!)
They had a good crowd at Heritage Hill, including the offensive line, Garrett Shrader and 275 pound tight end David Clement. I hope they had enough food for that crew.
They went right into the Purdue game. Matt announced that it had never really been in doubt due to the early lead and the takeovers forced by our defense. Coach told him that he didn’t feel the game was in hand, in part due to the decisions the referees were making. “The ball Sparrow whipped out was…very interesting.”
He did agree that building up a two-touchdown lead early in the game was very big. He repeated the phrase from last week: “When you go on the road, bring your defense” but added “and the best quarterback in the game.”
Matt anticipated, (in fact seemed to have totally lifted), my first question and Dino agreed that Shrader “could have housecalled it”. He said Garrett slid “for time management, not wanting to take a shot and sportsmanship”. Matt noted that Garrett had a fairly incredible 33 career rushing touchdowns. “Those are explosive plays.” Dino: “He can carry and pass the ball with the best of them”.
Liam of Pompey beat me to the phone line-up. He said the refs had several questionable calls. Dino: “We submitted a couple of calls but 90%...85-90% of the calls went their way”, (when we reviewed the film to see if the refs were right). Matt asked about the roughing-the-passer calls. Dino said “you can’t hit the quarterback below the knee. There were a couple above the knee so I guess the rule also covers the knee. We’ll adjust.”
I called in and said that the theme for the Purdue game was “belief without evidence”. We tried to get Purdue to do that. I told the Percy Houghton story, which got no reaction. They’d already covered my first question, so I just expressed disbelief that Purdue had twice fumbled the ball and never gained control of the ball but was twice awarded it by the refs. I then asked my second question.
“When the ball was on the sideline, it was touched by one of their players – who never had a ghost of a chance of gaining control of it. It was something I’ve never seen before but we looked up the rule and the call was correct…We were with Oronde. I was not upset that he announced his status. The offensive linemen are hurt and we don’t know when they will be back. It does impact how much we can do. When they come back it will be a question about how much better they are than the guys who have replaced them, considering their injuries and what kind of shape they are in.” Matt asked Dino if there was “any reason for optimism” about the return of Ellis and Moore. Dino: “I think we’ve got a chance.”
They talked about Army. Matt said “You have to have respect for service men and women.” He referred to what cadets and midshipmen have to go through. Dino: “If you are not special, you will be. The freshmen and sophomore years are taxing. They want the weak to drop out. If they make they will be a 2nd lieutenant, a first lieutenant and then a Captain. Then they will have decide if they are a lifer.”
Matt: “They have a scary one-off style of play.” Dino: “You don’t want to play anyone who is totally committed, unselfish and who doesn’t care who gets the credit when they accomplish something.” Matt: “The have no turnovers, commit no penalties, allow no sacks.” Dino: “ADs may not like but you’ve got to admire the way they play. Their current offense is similar to that Colorado team that won the national championship. They were an I-bone team and this is an I-bone out of a shot gun. They do RPO’s, some of the Baylor shotgun veer off of Houston’s veer.” {You got that?] He said it was “Very Interesting”, [see above]. “It’s old school with a shotgun to make it interesting.” Matt noted that Army had run 16 plays on their opening drive vs. UTSA. Dino said they were 10 for 10 on 4th down. Matt: “You have to keep from losing your mind.”
Then they talked to Steve Farmer, the new offensive line coach. He, in turn, praised “Coach Beck, who has done a great job combining Art Briles’s offense with a west coast offense and an air raid passing attack. [But will that beat Colorado’s I-bone with Baylor and Houston’s veer out of the shotgun?] Farmer said that “We like to try to stretch the field vertically. Mike Johnson is the best receivers coach in America.” [The others all have guys drop balls, too.] He praised all the stats that are available today, allowing for a ‘deep dive’ into opponents using things like PFF.
He then talked about the line, lauding the benefits of cross-training. He’s proud of the away Ptery and Bradford have filled in for More and Ellis. Matt asked if J’onre Reed is, indeed, a “Big General”. “He’s a work in progress. Some days he’s a private. He’s learning the difference between preparing for a junior college game and preparation at this level.”
“Purdue takes way the running back and so you go to Garrett Shrader.” Matt: “He ran for almost 200 yards. If those sideline passes had connected, he would have passed for 300 yards.” Coach Farmer: “And they will connect”. He added that “Army is a 3-4. They have a really good blitz package. They like to disguise things.”
They took questions from the restaurant. One patron wanted to know how this year’s team compares to 2018. Dino: “Two mobile quarterbacks. We have a better defense now but that, (2018), was the best offensive line we’ve had since I’ve been here.”
There was a question about replacing both coordinators in the same year. “When we lose personnel, that’s where I take over. What I want is to get someone who is as good or better than the guy we lost.”
Somebody asked what his favorite Italian dish was. Mine:
Dino doesn’t have one. He’s ‘neutral’ on Italian cooking. He should take the tour with JB. That will change his mind. He did give this bit of financial advice: “If you want to make a killing, buy up all the spam and ship it to Hawaii. They love it out there.” Dino likes it fried and put on rice. What would JB say about that?
Mark in Cicero loved the way the team stuff Purdue on 4th down after we didn’t get the turnover. {So did I.] Dino again noted that Army hasn’t been stopped on 4th down yet. “It reminds me of basketball where Wisconsin runs the four corners and then beats you with a backdoor layup”. [Princeton?] Matt: You’d better not panic because they won’t.” They talked briefly about SU’s 1996 Dome rout of a 9-0 Army team. Matt said those were his college days and he was trying to remember it.
The finally got to Ben Schwartzwalter who will make the ‘Ring of Honor’ in a halftime ceremony but the show-closing music was already playing. Dino describe SU as being “on the cutting edge of diversity. We need to understand and be proud of that.”
