SWC75
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Coach Babers’s show this year show will be Thursday nights at 7PM except when the game is not on a Saturday.
I’ll be summarizing the comments directly related to the team and the next game (late) on the night of the broadcast and anything else interesting the next day, (if there is anything else that seems interesting). I’ll have a “first hour” and a “second hour” question.
They are doing the show on Zoom, not at any local restaurant.
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: Home | Free Internet Radio | TuneIn
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
#AskDino or through Cuse.com, (the SU Athletic website):
Submit a Question! - Syracuse University Athletics
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
I’ve been asked to continue doing the summaries, even by people who listen to the podcasts. I may focus on the major points, rather than trying to record everything.
My Question(s) or Comments
“Coach, first I’ve got a movie reference for you. I like old movies and especially Errol Flynn movies and one of his best is “the Dawn Patrol” about World War 1 air aces played by Flynn and David Niven. Flynn is appointed commander of the unit and Niven’s kid brother shows up as a newly trained pilot. Niven asks Flynn to leave his little brother behind and give him time to train him. “He doesn’t even know how to roll out”. It made me think of your comment on our back-up quarterbacks at your press conference.”
“Coach, I’ve been an SU fan since the days of Ernie Davis. In my time I’ve seen a 10th ranked SU team in 1968 go out to play California and lose 0-43 due to 11 turnovers. I was in Archbold Stadium for the opening of Ben Schwartzwalder’s last team to watch them lose to Bowling Green by 4 touchdowns and go on to star the year 0-8. I was in the Dome in 1983 when we played Kent State the team with the nation’s longest losing streak and fumbled the first three times we got the ball and fell behind 0-10. Tim Green and his teammates motioned to the fans to make some noise and get behind the team and they came back to win and have a winning record. I remember when we got shut out by a bad Rutgers team, 0-19 with #1 Nebraska coming to town the next week- and we won. I remember Scott Shafer lighting up a victory cigar when we lost to Middle Tennessee State in 2017 – and then we beat Clemson a month later. So my message to SU fans is ‘This, too, will pass’ and it’s worth it to continue supporting the team.”
“This is your 5th year here and I wonder if you can give us a ‘state of the program’ summary: where are we in terms of facilities, budget, coaching staff and the quality of the roster when everyone is healthy?”
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.)
Matt called this “Coach Sweeney’s most talented team.” Dino: “Their usage of freshmen without losing a year of eligibility makes them extremely deep. They have more guys on their away team than we have at practice. They have three high school All American quarterbacks and a walk-on yet their punter is 2 for 3 in passing on the season because they’ve actually used him at quarterback.”
“What happened Saturday?” (against Liberty) “We couldn’t stop the run. They played their fastest tailback and our guys didn’t bring him down one-on-one. Iffy Melifonwu ran them down a few times and Trill Williams did when he came in, but our young guys couldn’t do it. Their quarterback was the best and fastest athlete on the field and probably the best dual threat quarterback we’ll see this year.” Matt said, “You could really see in some of their players that here’s a guy who could make a difference.” DB: “We saw plenty of tape on him and had to assign a good player to stay on him, which took that player away from covering the tailback. (Willis) still beat our best players on some plays. You’ve got to stop the run…”
Matt asked about Williams. Dino said that he had a “lower body injury. He didn’t practice that week. He was playing a safety-nickel position. We needed an older, more mature player there.”
I called I n my comments, above and my question. Dino was interested in the Dawn Patrol, (although he confused it briefly with the 60’s TV series ‘Rat Patrol’. He said that my describing other bleak moments and subsequent achievements “lifted my spirits”. As to the state of the program., he said there are “things coming down the road that will put us where we need to be in recruiting the Northeast corridor. The players who hopefully will be coming back next year will give us a chance to have a bridge, a transition from our initial recruits to where we are headed. Our new recruiting class will be our best ever and we want them to spend a year getting bigger, stronger and faster.”
Matt looked up The Dawn Patrol and came up with the following statistics: it was released on Christmas Day 1938, when war was starting in Europe. It cost $500,000 and made $7 million. Dino was impressed with the profit margin. Matt also discussed that long-ago Nebraska game., noting that we’d lost to them 7-63 the year before in Lincoln, then got shut out 0-19 by Rutgers, then beat the #1 Cornhuskers 17-9, a score the rest of the country considered a misprint. He wondered if there even had bene a betting line. Dino suggested that it was the greatest win in school history.
Dino recalled that when he was at Hawaii in 1982, they almost upset Nebraska. “it came down to two passes into the end zone”. (Actually they lost 16-37.) “They had all those NFL guys That was the hardest hitting game I’ve ever been in in my life. Nebraska was the first school to go heavily into weight training.” Matt noted that Tom Rathman, who played fullback for the 49ers for years, was knocked out in the opening kickoff in the game and the Dome and that set the tone.
Dino also recalled that when he got a job with UNLV in 1987, he went to get a haircut and noticed a short but muscular young man sitting in the next chair. “He had no neck and said he was a boxer. I wondered how any opponent could ever hut hit. The only punch he would be vulnerable to was an uppercut. And it was an uppercut that finally knocked him out, thrown by Buster Douglas. It was Mike Tyson.”
On upsets: “With Clemson, we’ve already done it once and there are coaches an players with us now who were on that team. It was a fantastic win and I hope fans loved it. But we never won another game that year. It was such a physical battle that many of our players got injured. Some tried to play hurt and got injured the next week. This is a daunting task, especially with the numbers they’ve got.”
Matt said that this will be the first actual crowd the team will be playing in front of. They will allow 20-30,000 people into the stadium. DB: “It’s the biggest crowd these freshmen will have ever played in front of. We get to check another box and will check bigger boxes next year. You don’t want to go through the front part without getting a benefit in the back part.”
Matt asked about John Wildhack’s statement that Dino would be back next year. What impact has that had on the team? DB: “My players would know if something is going on and we haven’t event talked about it. We’re just preparing for the next game in our meetings. Nobody has mentioned it.”
They discussed the eligibility situation. Matt assured him that both Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne will be gone next year. They are on zoom between each other and matt reported that Coach had given that idea a ‘thumbs up’. On whether players will come back: “It depends on what they want to do with their lives. Andre Cisco decided the time was right for him to leave. Other guys who want the NFL will want to play one more year and also have a chance to get a master’s degree. Those not going onto the NFL will just want to have another year to play college football before they join a softball team. I also look forward to getting transfers from other schools. Of course, there won’t be any transfers from our schools because who wouldn’t want to be at Syracuse University? Why would anybody go anywhere else?” (Chuckles.) Will he have to re-recruit the team? “A lot of kids are at the edge of the draft or being free agents. You get a much bigger guarantee if you are drafted. Stay 12 more games and go to the NFL in the right way. You can get a master’s degree without having to pay tuition. SU has a one-year master’s program. Most colleges don’t have that.” Dino called the change to do that “high cotton”. I’ve never heard that phrase, but I assume it’s a good thing. “Some guys have jobs lined up and will pay into my social security and I’m all right with that, too.” (Chuckles again).
What was Coach’s reaction to the Clemson – Georgia Tech score. “I didn’t hear about it until much later but I did see the halftime score, (52-7). It was 7-7 at one point. Georgia tech got a score on along pass. They never got in the red zone. In Clemson’s last two games, their opponents got single digits in first downs. We’ll try to get to double digits and see if we can score on first and second down.”
On Trevor Lawrence: “I don’t like talking about other people’s quarterbacks. He’s an exceptional athlete whose arm can reach the whole field. Look at who eh got to transfer, (Kelly Bryant and Chase Brice). He’s also involved with athlete rights and social justice causes.” On Travis Etienne, Matt said that in three games against Syracuse he’s rushed for 350 yards and 4TDs, which is more than Syracuse rushed for in those games. DB: “That’s a big number.” The one thing we do well is turning the ball over but not turning it over is a Clemson strength. Lawrence just had his first interception in a year and Etienne his first fumble in a year. “And their back-ups haven’t turned it over at all. Their line gives Trevor a lot of time to sit back and find an open receiver. With Travis, you’ve got to get to him in the backfield or you’ll never catch him. You have a choice to tackle him and got for the ball. That’s 50-50 and if you lose, he’ll have a 60-70 yard run.”
They actually gave Mike Lynch, the running back coach enough time to say something. Matt noted that he’s had to get along without Abdul Adams and Jarveon Howard. ML: “We respect their decision to opt out and are behind them 100%. Jawhar Jordan had a great camp and Sean Tucker will be a real good one. They have to get used to the speed of the game and of the players. They are still processing everything. Sean is a smart guy and it’s coming fairly natural for this. He had 100 yards in his first game and you wouldn’t know it to talk to him. Cooper Lutz had only 3 spring practice. But he’s a quick study and is strong and fast. Markenzie Pierre is the ‘old man’ of the group but he’s had some carries. Trebor Pena is a scatback who can be a runner or a receiver. He can help us down the road. Matt noted that he'd dropped his first pass but that Coach Babers had said that “The firs tone goes on the ground for everybody”. On Travis Etienne: “He’s very special, big and fast. We’ve seen a lot of him the last couple of years. he’s fun to watch but not fun to tackle.”
I think next week I’ll reference “The Charge of the Light Brigade”.
en.wikipedia.org
I’ll be summarizing the comments directly related to the team and the next game (late) on the night of the broadcast and anything else interesting the next day, (if there is anything else that seems interesting). I’ll have a “first hour” and a “second hour” question.
They are doing the show on Zoom, not at any local restaurant.
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: Home | Free Internet Radio | TuneIn
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
#AskDino or through Cuse.com, (the SU Athletic website):
Submit a Question! - Syracuse University Athletics
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
I’ve been asked to continue doing the summaries, even by people who listen to the podcasts. I may focus on the major points, rather than trying to record everything.
My Question(s) or Comments
“Coach, first I’ve got a movie reference for you. I like old movies and especially Errol Flynn movies and one of his best is “the Dawn Patrol” about World War 1 air aces played by Flynn and David Niven. Flynn is appointed commander of the unit and Niven’s kid brother shows up as a newly trained pilot. Niven asks Flynn to leave his little brother behind and give him time to train him. “He doesn’t even know how to roll out”. It made me think of your comment on our back-up quarterbacks at your press conference.”
“Coach, I’ve been an SU fan since the days of Ernie Davis. In my time I’ve seen a 10th ranked SU team in 1968 go out to play California and lose 0-43 due to 11 turnovers. I was in Archbold Stadium for the opening of Ben Schwartzwalder’s last team to watch them lose to Bowling Green by 4 touchdowns and go on to star the year 0-8. I was in the Dome in 1983 when we played Kent State the team with the nation’s longest losing streak and fumbled the first three times we got the ball and fell behind 0-10. Tim Green and his teammates motioned to the fans to make some noise and get behind the team and they came back to win and have a winning record. I remember when we got shut out by a bad Rutgers team, 0-19 with #1 Nebraska coming to town the next week- and we won. I remember Scott Shafer lighting up a victory cigar when we lost to Middle Tennessee State in 2017 – and then we beat Clemson a month later. So my message to SU fans is ‘This, too, will pass’ and it’s worth it to continue supporting the team.”
“This is your 5th year here and I wonder if you can give us a ‘state of the program’ summary: where are we in terms of facilities, budget, coaching staff and the quality of the roster when everyone is healthy?”
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.)
Matt called this “Coach Sweeney’s most talented team.” Dino: “Their usage of freshmen without losing a year of eligibility makes them extremely deep. They have more guys on their away team than we have at practice. They have three high school All American quarterbacks and a walk-on yet their punter is 2 for 3 in passing on the season because they’ve actually used him at quarterback.”
“What happened Saturday?” (against Liberty) “We couldn’t stop the run. They played their fastest tailback and our guys didn’t bring him down one-on-one. Iffy Melifonwu ran them down a few times and Trill Williams did when he came in, but our young guys couldn’t do it. Their quarterback was the best and fastest athlete on the field and probably the best dual threat quarterback we’ll see this year.” Matt said, “You could really see in some of their players that here’s a guy who could make a difference.” DB: “We saw plenty of tape on him and had to assign a good player to stay on him, which took that player away from covering the tailback. (Willis) still beat our best players on some plays. You’ve got to stop the run…”
Matt asked about Williams. Dino said that he had a “lower body injury. He didn’t practice that week. He was playing a safety-nickel position. We needed an older, more mature player there.”
I called I n my comments, above and my question. Dino was interested in the Dawn Patrol, (although he confused it briefly with the 60’s TV series ‘Rat Patrol’. He said that my describing other bleak moments and subsequent achievements “lifted my spirits”. As to the state of the program., he said there are “things coming down the road that will put us where we need to be in recruiting the Northeast corridor. The players who hopefully will be coming back next year will give us a chance to have a bridge, a transition from our initial recruits to where we are headed. Our new recruiting class will be our best ever and we want them to spend a year getting bigger, stronger and faster.”
Matt looked up The Dawn Patrol and came up with the following statistics: it was released on Christmas Day 1938, when war was starting in Europe. It cost $500,000 and made $7 million. Dino was impressed with the profit margin. Matt also discussed that long-ago Nebraska game., noting that we’d lost to them 7-63 the year before in Lincoln, then got shut out 0-19 by Rutgers, then beat the #1 Cornhuskers 17-9, a score the rest of the country considered a misprint. He wondered if there even had bene a betting line. Dino suggested that it was the greatest win in school history.
Dino recalled that when he was at Hawaii in 1982, they almost upset Nebraska. “it came down to two passes into the end zone”. (Actually they lost 16-37.) “They had all those NFL guys That was the hardest hitting game I’ve ever been in in my life. Nebraska was the first school to go heavily into weight training.” Matt noted that Tom Rathman, who played fullback for the 49ers for years, was knocked out in the opening kickoff in the game and the Dome and that set the tone.
Dino also recalled that when he got a job with UNLV in 1987, he went to get a haircut and noticed a short but muscular young man sitting in the next chair. “He had no neck and said he was a boxer. I wondered how any opponent could ever hut hit. The only punch he would be vulnerable to was an uppercut. And it was an uppercut that finally knocked him out, thrown by Buster Douglas. It was Mike Tyson.”
On upsets: “With Clemson, we’ve already done it once and there are coaches an players with us now who were on that team. It was a fantastic win and I hope fans loved it. But we never won another game that year. It was such a physical battle that many of our players got injured. Some tried to play hurt and got injured the next week. This is a daunting task, especially with the numbers they’ve got.”
Matt said that this will be the first actual crowd the team will be playing in front of. They will allow 20-30,000 people into the stadium. DB: “It’s the biggest crowd these freshmen will have ever played in front of. We get to check another box and will check bigger boxes next year. You don’t want to go through the front part without getting a benefit in the back part.”
Matt asked about John Wildhack’s statement that Dino would be back next year. What impact has that had on the team? DB: “My players would know if something is going on and we haven’t event talked about it. We’re just preparing for the next game in our meetings. Nobody has mentioned it.”
They discussed the eligibility situation. Matt assured him that both Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne will be gone next year. They are on zoom between each other and matt reported that Coach had given that idea a ‘thumbs up’. On whether players will come back: “It depends on what they want to do with their lives. Andre Cisco decided the time was right for him to leave. Other guys who want the NFL will want to play one more year and also have a chance to get a master’s degree. Those not going onto the NFL will just want to have another year to play college football before they join a softball team. I also look forward to getting transfers from other schools. Of course, there won’t be any transfers from our schools because who wouldn’t want to be at Syracuse University? Why would anybody go anywhere else?” (Chuckles.) Will he have to re-recruit the team? “A lot of kids are at the edge of the draft or being free agents. You get a much bigger guarantee if you are drafted. Stay 12 more games and go to the NFL in the right way. You can get a master’s degree without having to pay tuition. SU has a one-year master’s program. Most colleges don’t have that.” Dino called the change to do that “high cotton”. I’ve never heard that phrase, but I assume it’s a good thing. “Some guys have jobs lined up and will pay into my social security and I’m all right with that, too.” (Chuckles again).
What was Coach’s reaction to the Clemson – Georgia Tech score. “I didn’t hear about it until much later but I did see the halftime score, (52-7). It was 7-7 at one point. Georgia tech got a score on along pass. They never got in the red zone. In Clemson’s last two games, their opponents got single digits in first downs. We’ll try to get to double digits and see if we can score on first and second down.”
On Trevor Lawrence: “I don’t like talking about other people’s quarterbacks. He’s an exceptional athlete whose arm can reach the whole field. Look at who eh got to transfer, (Kelly Bryant and Chase Brice). He’s also involved with athlete rights and social justice causes.” On Travis Etienne, Matt said that in three games against Syracuse he’s rushed for 350 yards and 4TDs, which is more than Syracuse rushed for in those games. DB: “That’s a big number.” The one thing we do well is turning the ball over but not turning it over is a Clemson strength. Lawrence just had his first interception in a year and Etienne his first fumble in a year. “And their back-ups haven’t turned it over at all. Their line gives Trevor a lot of time to sit back and find an open receiver. With Travis, you’ve got to get to him in the backfield or you’ll never catch him. You have a choice to tackle him and got for the ball. That’s 50-50 and if you lose, he’ll have a 60-70 yard run.”
They actually gave Mike Lynch, the running back coach enough time to say something. Matt noted that he’s had to get along without Abdul Adams and Jarveon Howard. ML: “We respect their decision to opt out and are behind them 100%. Jawhar Jordan had a great camp and Sean Tucker will be a real good one. They have to get used to the speed of the game and of the players. They are still processing everything. Sean is a smart guy and it’s coming fairly natural for this. He had 100 yards in his first game and you wouldn’t know it to talk to him. Cooper Lutz had only 3 spring practice. But he’s a quick study and is strong and fast. Markenzie Pierre is the ‘old man’ of the group but he’s had some carries. Trebor Pena is a scatback who can be a runner or a receiver. He can help us down the road. Matt noted that he'd dropped his first pass but that Coach Babers had said that “The firs tone goes on the ground for everybody”. On Travis Etienne: “He’s very special, big and fast. We’ve seen a lot of him the last couple of years. he’s fun to watch but not fun to tackle.”
I think next week I’ll reference “The Charge of the Light Brigade”.
