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AmeriCU Dino Babers Show Returns Thursday - Syracuse University Athletics
The season's first edition of the AmeriCU Dino Babers Show is set to air at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 2, live from Heritage Hill Brewery.
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 90 minutes, with the first hour being with Dino and the last half hour 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: Listen to Free Radio Online | 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
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
My Question(s) or Comments (or theories)
First segment question:
I’ll start by giving him my updated stats on punt and kickoff returns: Teams that have returned kick-offs for touchdowns are 22-17 while those who have returned punts for touchdowns are 34-8. I will suggest the reason is that good teams tend to return more punts and bad teams then to return more kickoffs.
“Coach another thing I researched was your record in one score games. People have suggested that you have problems making good decisions in close games. Over your career you are 17-17, so you must have made some good decisions along the way. That’s 7th among the 14 current ACC coaches and 13th among the 32 coaches schools that have played in the ACC since we joined it, (including Maryland and Notre Dame), have employed during that period. But this is strange: through the 2017 Clemson game, you were 14-6. Since then, you are 3-11.
That may be just a run of bad luck. But the coaches among those 32 with the best career records in close games are Brian Kelly (.660), Jimbo Fisher (.633) and Dabo Swinney (.615). My theory is that, even if an underdog manages to overcome a talent gap to make a game close, that talent gap will still give the favored team a better chance to make the plays needed to win close games. I think you generally had more talent than your opponent in your Eastern Illinois and Bowling Green days and have tended to have less talent in your Syracuse days.
Why do you think you’ve lost 11 of your last 14 one-score games?”
Second segment question:
“Coach, I’ve been reading Coach Smith’s book and I wanted to ask about this passage on pages 61-62:
“Procedures and decisions mostly, although not always, separate themselves. What separation does is encourage high-repetition work on decisions…What you do in simulation is to get yourself led into dilemmas and make decisions. If a dilemma ties you up and threatens to make you waste time or call time-out, you ‘push the reset button’, which is to say that you have your assistant start you over. You do this until you are sure that indecision by you in a game will not cost your team precious seconds.”
Chapter 20 describes what seems like an elaborate board game involving the coaches and quarterbacks. Is that how you prepare to make the decisions you need to make in a game – or have you evolved your own system?”
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.)
Louisville’s stadium is right next to Churchill Downs and they are going to be retiring Lamar Jackson’s jersey. “Traditionally we play them there at night so a Noon game will be different. It will be ‘Wake ‘em up, feed’ and go play the game.” They will arrive on Friday and “the patrons of the hotel will be able to look out their windows and see 100 players going through run-throughs.”
Matt said “North Carolina State and Pittsburgh are ranked so you’ll be fighting Louisville to become bowl eligible.” (We are 5-4: they are 4-5 so they have more work to do.)
I had problems getting through and so John in Baltimore beat me to it. He wanted to see more play-action passes off of Sean Tucker’s running and alto to see more hang-time on the punts. In a big upset, Dino answered the second question first. “Hang time depends on how high you get the ball.” (Galileo would approve.) Most coaches will take a relatively short punt of 35-40 yards if it has good hang time and there is no return. We’ve been a little spoiled with 45-50 yard punts with great hang time. We’re working on it.”
As to play-action passes: “They work great. But if you also have a quarterback who can run, you have two guys getting touches. It cuts down on the opportunities. If you do it, you have to hit it so you don’t wind up with 2nd and 10. That gets you off-schedule. The service academies are great at staying on-schedule: 2nd and 7, 3rd and 3, they even go for it on 4th and 1 because they are so good at it. If you can get them where they have to throw more than run, they are in trouble. I forgot the game but people complained that so-and-so didn’t get the ball in the second half. They have to realize that we were throwing the ball.” (Tucker vs. Rutgers?) John suggested we could use short play-action passes. Dino said that they’d done that against Florida State and that that was what set up Garett Shrader’s 55 yard run. “The guy was covered and he had the ability to run to open space.” Matt and the Coach then discussed how the fans don’t realize that we are running plays with multiple options and they don’t realize what the other options were when an on-the-field decision gets made as to which one to take. They also got into discussing plays where Shrader hands off to or “takes the ball away” from Tucker. Dino: “it’s a feel-touch type of thing. It takes a while for you and I to get married.” Not that that there’s anything wrong with that.
I finally got through on my third attempt. I started by quoting the kick return information and my theory that good teams return more punts, bad teams more kickoffs. Dino” No. Good teams return kick-offs and bad teams return punts for touchdowns. It’s the mentality. There’s no measurable. Punts, if you run them back or block them, are a greater momentum shifter. Kickoff returns might be a mistake by one guy. Punt returns involve major mistakes by 2-3 guys. The stress is huge and the momentum swing is higher and the celebrations longer.” I still think that good teams return more punts and bad teams more kickoffs.
I then went on to my breakdown of Dino’s record in one-score games. He said that I was playing chess, not checkers with question. “It’s really in-depth so I’ll give an in-depth answer. From 2012-2017 we had one quarterback making all the decisions. It was Jimmy at Eastern Illinois. At Bowling Green we lost our starting quarterback the first year but we lost him early so the back-up, (James Knapke) started most of the year. Then the starter, (Matt Johnson), played the whole year in 2015. We had Eric Dungey in 2016-17. He got hurt in both seasons. But then he was in there throughout the 2018 season, backed up by Tommy DeVito. You can’t have a revolving door at quarterback and play consistently or make the right decisions. The quarterbacks who are best at winning close games are the ones who have bene around the longest. Joe Montana , Drew Brees, Manning, Rodgers and the best of all, Brady. They don’t’ have to think.” I suggested the fact that we lost three close games after our quarterback switch but have now won a couple means we are going into the right direction. DB: “We’ll have to see how that plays out. He’s still got to develop with clock management. It’s great to run around in the first half but at the end of games you’ve got to know that a run won’t stop the clock.” We were 2-0 in one score games in 2016, 2-2 through the 2017 Clemson game, then 0-2 and 1-2 in 2018, then lost 4 in a row before the Liberty game, then 3 more losses in a row until Va Tech.
Marty in Tampa said that orange Nation in Florida was waiting for the team to arrive to play in a bowl game down there. Did they ‘win the bye week’ in terms of player getting healthy? Dino already said that Carlos Vettorello and Trebor Pena were out of the season. DB: “”We’re about as healthy as we can be. There’s a lot of flu going around. We didn’t want to practice and make each other sick. Nothing hurts me more than to 300 pounder sending their fluids out toward other players. A lot of owies are gone. One thing you worry about after a bye is getting off to a slow start. The bruises have healed up and nobody wants some new ones. This will be a physical game. This is the latest bye I’ve been around.” Matt said that it was the latest in the conference.
Brian at Heritage Hill asked “How do we beat Pitt?” the Panthers were up 17-0 on North Carolina and Dino said “Ouch!” but he added “It’s taboo to talk about a future opponent. I’m not going to do that. I’m playing the fastest quarterback in the ACC, a guy who splits defenders like Moses parting the red Sea. Moses was like Gayle Sayers. He needed just 18 inches – and the hole just got wider and wider. All I can say about Pitt is that we’ll show up.” He added that SU handled Covid well so we don’t cancel games here.
Connor in Lakeland called in with has grandfather, a Navy veteran dating back to 1939 on Veteran’s Day. They just wanted to thank Coach and matt for wall they’ve done for the program. Coach: “It upsets me when people compare football to war. Our veterans should fly free. We should hand them food and let them use our bathrooms….the reason veterans are drawn to football and that it’s become our most popular sport is that it involves team work towards a common goal. Football trains you to push for something greater than yourself.”
They asked “Who has stepped up to become a star?” Dino doesn’t see stardom. “I see growth spurts. I see what they will become. When you continue to grow you become stars. You need to prioritize things off the field so you can be a success on the field and off and become good sons, husbands and fathers. By the way: Go Navy – beat Army!”
Matt, before introducing wide receivers coach Terrance Samuel, asked for one last ‘focus point’ about Louisville. “It’s the two best running quarterbacks in the conference against each other. The team with the quarterback who makes the least mistakes, has the most tenacious defense and avoid special teams errors will win.” Isn’t it always?
Samuel’s association with Dino Babers started when he was a wide receiver at Purdue, “Blocking for Mike Alstott”. Dino was his position coach then. Matt said “Now your guys have to block a lot in this offense.” Samuel tells his charges to “do whatever we need to do to win. Escort your man into the end zone and get your picture taken.”
How did his players respond to the loss of Taj Harris, who will be playing for Kentucky next season? “I told them to appreciate the moment. Put your skill set on display so we can see it. We will know you by the plays you make.” Matt asked about the attitude of guys toward the emphasis on running the ball. TS: “it’s all in how you recruit them. If you tell as guy that he’s going to have 100 catches and won’t have to block, you’ll have a problem. But if you can get guys to buy in and tell them that if we get to the national championship game, you’ll be seen by everybody, you will be OK.”
Gomez took over for the last hour and talked about the worsening weather and a shrine heritage Hill had put together with the Onondaga County Historical Society to local brewers and their beers.
They talked about the military academies. Dino played on the same team with the navy head coach, Ken Niumatalolo, who was their quarterback while Dino was their running back. Actually, he was their back-up QB and did not play with Dino:
Ken Niumatalolo College Stats, School, Draft, Gamelog, Splits | College Football at Sports-Reference.com
Check out Ken Niumatalolo's College Stats, School, Draft, Gamelog, Splits and More College Stats at Sports-Reference.com
www.sports-reference.com
Dino Babers College Stats, School, Draft, Gamelog, Splits | College Football at Sports-Reference.com
Check out Dino Babers's College Stats, School, Draft, Gamelog, Splits and More College Stats at Sports-Reference.com
www.sports-reference.com
Dino managed to watch other games during the bye week. He said it was fun “watching other coaches have to make split-second decisions. They are never wrong. It’s just that sometimes they don’t work out right. He also watched film of the BC game. “It’s good if you like defense. The offenses made some mistakes but they weren’t major. We made some halftime adjustments, jumped on them in the third quarter, got a goose egg from the defense. After that it was clock management.”
Somebody they called “Chief” called up to aske two questions. He saw Sean Tucker was wearing #34 but so was somebody on defense. Wasn’t that confusing? Coach was embarrassed that he couldn’t recall who wore #34 on defense. After a few minutes he thought of it – Eric Coley – and was embarrassed he couldn’t think of it more quickly, as Eric is the son of Vinson Reynolds, his defensive tackles coach.
The second question was: What is the coach’s favorite ice cream? He asked that because if we get to a bowl game, Chief is going to make available a bowl of the coach’s favorite ice cream, (apparently, he runs a restaurant). Coach: “Are you ready for this? My favorite ice cream is…. VANILLA! The team gets ice cream before the game. It’s always vanilla. You can turn it colors if you want by putting stuff on it but it’s going to be vanilla.” (As long as the offense isn’t.)
I called in for my second question but first asked the coach if he was talking about real vanilla or the white stuff? He said he likes both. I don’t see how you could like both. Vanilla comes from a bean just like chocolate and can be just as delicious if it’s the real thing. And the real thing is yellow.” Coach: “You go way back, Steve.”
This:
Not this:
The chapter 20 I referred to says:
“A simulator has:
- A table-top football field, about 2 X 4 feet
- Two special stopwatches to represent the clock and the 25 second counter
- A strip to represent the chains A pencil to show ball motion
- Two chairs at one end for the head coach and the QB
- One chair at the other end for the operator of the watches, who can be another QB
- A chair on the side for the controller, who can double as clock-management specialist
- One chair on the other side for the press box play-caller
To force decision-making, the controller wants to know, ahead of time, where the ball is to be and what the clock is to show for the decision and, hence, where the first down needs to be. Since he is in control, he can have:
- The offense gain of lose any yardage
- The ref take more or less time with his process
- The clock stop or keep moving and
- Measurements, penalties, and player equipment problems interrupt.”
I asked Coach is that’s the way he does it or does he have his own system. He said that eh first read that book in 1996, (when he was at Arizona), and he used exactly that sy7stem at that time. Since then he’s put some of his own wrinkles in it and they use video for more realism. He participated himself at Eastern Illinois and Bowling Green but at a bigger school where he ahs more things to do like this show, it’s more likely to be done with the coordinators. “The way you are reading the book is the way he actually spoke. He was very aloof. But he had the biggest impact of any coach on me. His wife contacts me after every game. She congratulated me on the win over Boston College and will be watching the Louisville game.” I told him it was an aloof book but a valuable one.
Gomez was interested about the change in duties at a ‘big school’. He had read that the Georgia coach, Kirby Smart, sometimes only sees his team on game day. Dino: “I fly in an out and when I get home, I want a homecooked meal. We have a sign at home that rads “We interrupt this marriage for football”. The whole family has to buy in on it. It’s God, country and football in that order but in the fall the dividing lines narrow.”
Gomez noted that SU and Louisville are rare venues that sell beer during games. He noticed that a few years back when he had to broadcast from there and then from Iowa. At Iowa they didn’t sell it during the game so the fans imbibed at the tailgates and were rowdy when the game began. Dino commented that he wants our fans rowdy from the beginning of the game.
Louisville “Has a very physical offensive line, a stable of downhill running backs, explosive wide receivers, a strong defensive line and linebackers. They bring linebacker and corner blitzes. They’re going to dare us to throw the ball.”
What are Dino’s top three war movies?
- Saving Private Ryan Saving Private Ryan - Wikipedia
- Midway (the Charlton Heston one) Midway (1976 film) - Wikipedia
- “the one who got all the awards – was it Eddie Murphy?” No coach, it was Audie Murphy:
To Hell and Back (film) - Wikipedia
My choices would be:
- All Quiet on the Western Front All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film) - Wikipedia
- The Bridge on the River Kwai The Bridge on the River Kwai - Wikipedia
- The Guns of Navarone The Guns of Navarone (film) - Wikipedia
What’s yours?
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