SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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- Another chapter in a still-born season. It’s like watching a series of demolition videos. It’s there. It’s still there…it’s still there….then some puffs of smoke and the building slowly collapses onto itself.
Except it’s not ‘cool’.
- At one point, Brian Higgins listed the five interior offensive linemen who were on the field. None were in the starting line-up at the beginning of the season. Behind them were our fourth-string quarterback and our 4th string running back. A Duke offensive lineman came off the field and Higgins said he’s the only Duke linemen who had missed a game- the Tulane game. “The others have played the whole season- and quite few games before that, as well”. Sigh…
- I hate looking at SU’s video highlights and seeing a bunch of 10 yard plays. Especially when they don’t show the other team’s 50 yard plays.
- I didn’t used to be impressed with Jarrod West but my respect for him has grown as the season has gone along. But today, the ball rolled back down the hill. On our first possession, Wilson threw a beautiful long pass to him that West should have caught in stride. He might well have scored, (although he’s not all that fast). But West never even put his arms up to catch the ball. He just let it hit the ground, directly in front of him and bounce harmlessly away. I wondered if he was held but there was no flag and Higgins and Gedney in booth were mystified as to why he didn’t at least try to catch the ball. It would have been exactly the play we needed to open the game and get everybody excited and “into it”. Then, in the fourth quarter, Wilson threw another long one, clearly expecting him to cut across the field to catch the ball. But West broke off his route and stood there while the Duke player, (Breon Borders- who made both interceptions), waltzed over and caught the ball like he was making a fair catch. Obviously there was a confusion on routes but I can’t believe that West was supposed to just stop and stand there. We don’t run 40 yard button hooks. I just don’t know where his mind was today. (Someone will say “that’s coaching”. Right.)
- If West, who will lead the team in receptions this year, doesn’t score in the last two games against Pittsburgh and Boston College, it will be the second straight year that we’ve gone through a season without our leading receiver not having a touchdown pass, something that hadn’t happened in 40 years. That stat fits in very well with this one: Prince Tyson-Gulley went 65 yards for a score in the first period vs. Villanova. Adonis Ameen-Moore scored with a 2 yard run with 10:04 to go in the second period of that same game. No Syracuse running back has scored since.
- That last point may be, in deed, be “coaching”. Such negative accomplishments suggest a very badly designed offense. Today it seemed as if George MacDonald had chloroformed Tim Lester and took his place in the booth. It was back to endless bubble screens to receivers with single blockers trying to fight off 2-3 guys. We completed 17 passes but only two of them were for over 10 yards. I counted two for no gain, one for a yard, on for two yard and two for three yards. At least we didn’t lose yardage or turn it over
- Poor Julian Whigham had to cover 6-6 Isaac Blakeney. Once he missed a tackle in the open field. Another time he mis-timed a leap and fell down in from of Blakeney, who in both cases thundered past him to score. Those two plays accounted for more than half of Duke’s points and 14 of their 17 point margin. All I can say is that I hope someday we star using Jamal Custis the way they lose Blakeney. They are the same size.
- Coach compared Jamison Crowder to Brisley Estime and Crowder certainly made his presence felt with 9 catches for 58 yards and a crushing 52 yard punt return. Brisley must have been watching and wishing that he could get on the field to do things like that. Earlier, DeVon Edwards had taken a kick-off back all the way for Duke, only to have the play called back for a hold that wasn’t what sprang him, (those are the worst penalties: the ones that didn’t create the play). I remember Doug Marrone in 2009, when we also had a lot of injuries, explaining how that impacted kick coverage: you normally use your reserves on special teams. If they also have to replace starters for scrimmage plays, they are going to wear down as the game progresses. Scott Shafer made the same point in his post- game press conference. It really showed today.
- Both Austin Wilson and Mitch Kimble got banged up during the game: they had to replace each other. We weren’t far from seeing Riley Dixon behind center. Hopefully, with two weeks to rest up, Wilson, Kimble and maybe Long will be available for the Pitt game. Wilson sure can fling it but he flung it into coverage on the first interception. Kimble had one amazing throw, (see “the Upside” but otherwise was mediocre at best as a passer. He was the one who badly underthrew the corner of the end zone pass that forced us to kick a field goal in the first quarter. I hate that call by the way: there’s no options. It’s there or it isn’t. I want my QB to have several receivers to throw to or the option of running. Who needs an all-or-nothing play in front of the other team’s goal line?
- Twice Jason Emerich snapped the ball high. It didn’t result in a turnover but both plays resulted in losses that got us off track and resulted in punts. Just another result of playing back-ups.
- The ACC seems to be full of great kickers. We’ve got two very good ones in Dixon and Murphy but every one we play seems to have a pair that are even better. Ross Martin hasn’t missed a place-kick all year. Will Monday kicked everything either long or up the shute. People downplay the importance of good punting but I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many balls land inside our 10 and not get into the end zone as I’ve seen this year.
- Even our good plays are bad: Brandon Reddish made an interception, our first take-away since the third quarter of the Clemson game. But we got the ball on the two yard line, making it the equivalent of one of Monday’s punts. We wind up punting from our end zone. As Shafer explained in his presser, that meant that we had to keep more guys in for protection of the punter, since he can’t step back as far as usual. That meant that they couldn’t get into positon downfield as fast and that’s when Crowder struck.
- On the way home, I heard some woman who had called into one of the post- game shows saying that we blew it when Shafer was hired. We should have gone out and gotten a “program-changer” like Brian Kelly, (as if he would have left Notre Dame for Syracuse). I got home, flipped on the TV and saw that Notre Dame was down 3-31 to Arizona State in the second quarter, (they lost 31-55). I changed the program.
Except it’s not ‘cool’.
- At one point, Brian Higgins listed the five interior offensive linemen who were on the field. None were in the starting line-up at the beginning of the season. Behind them were our fourth-string quarterback and our 4th string running back. A Duke offensive lineman came off the field and Higgins said he’s the only Duke linemen who had missed a game- the Tulane game. “The others have played the whole season- and quite few games before that, as well”. Sigh…
- I hate looking at SU’s video highlights and seeing a bunch of 10 yard plays. Especially when they don’t show the other team’s 50 yard plays.
- I didn’t used to be impressed with Jarrod West but my respect for him has grown as the season has gone along. But today, the ball rolled back down the hill. On our first possession, Wilson threw a beautiful long pass to him that West should have caught in stride. He might well have scored, (although he’s not all that fast). But West never even put his arms up to catch the ball. He just let it hit the ground, directly in front of him and bounce harmlessly away. I wondered if he was held but there was no flag and Higgins and Gedney in booth were mystified as to why he didn’t at least try to catch the ball. It would have been exactly the play we needed to open the game and get everybody excited and “into it”. Then, in the fourth quarter, Wilson threw another long one, clearly expecting him to cut across the field to catch the ball. But West broke off his route and stood there while the Duke player, (Breon Borders- who made both interceptions), waltzed over and caught the ball like he was making a fair catch. Obviously there was a confusion on routes but I can’t believe that West was supposed to just stop and stand there. We don’t run 40 yard button hooks. I just don’t know where his mind was today. (Someone will say “that’s coaching”. Right.)
- If West, who will lead the team in receptions this year, doesn’t score in the last two games against Pittsburgh and Boston College, it will be the second straight year that we’ve gone through a season without our leading receiver not having a touchdown pass, something that hadn’t happened in 40 years. That stat fits in very well with this one: Prince Tyson-Gulley went 65 yards for a score in the first period vs. Villanova. Adonis Ameen-Moore scored with a 2 yard run with 10:04 to go in the second period of that same game. No Syracuse running back has scored since.
- That last point may be, in deed, be “coaching”. Such negative accomplishments suggest a very badly designed offense. Today it seemed as if George MacDonald had chloroformed Tim Lester and took his place in the booth. It was back to endless bubble screens to receivers with single blockers trying to fight off 2-3 guys. We completed 17 passes but only two of them were for over 10 yards. I counted two for no gain, one for a yard, on for two yard and two for three yards. At least we didn’t lose yardage or turn it over
- Poor Julian Whigham had to cover 6-6 Isaac Blakeney. Once he missed a tackle in the open field. Another time he mis-timed a leap and fell down in from of Blakeney, who in both cases thundered past him to score. Those two plays accounted for more than half of Duke’s points and 14 of their 17 point margin. All I can say is that I hope someday we star using Jamal Custis the way they lose Blakeney. They are the same size.
- Coach compared Jamison Crowder to Brisley Estime and Crowder certainly made his presence felt with 9 catches for 58 yards and a crushing 52 yard punt return. Brisley must have been watching and wishing that he could get on the field to do things like that. Earlier, DeVon Edwards had taken a kick-off back all the way for Duke, only to have the play called back for a hold that wasn’t what sprang him, (those are the worst penalties: the ones that didn’t create the play). I remember Doug Marrone in 2009, when we also had a lot of injuries, explaining how that impacted kick coverage: you normally use your reserves on special teams. If they also have to replace starters for scrimmage plays, they are going to wear down as the game progresses. Scott Shafer made the same point in his post- game press conference. It really showed today.
- Both Austin Wilson and Mitch Kimble got banged up during the game: they had to replace each other. We weren’t far from seeing Riley Dixon behind center. Hopefully, with two weeks to rest up, Wilson, Kimble and maybe Long will be available for the Pitt game. Wilson sure can fling it but he flung it into coverage on the first interception. Kimble had one amazing throw, (see “the Upside” but otherwise was mediocre at best as a passer. He was the one who badly underthrew the corner of the end zone pass that forced us to kick a field goal in the first quarter. I hate that call by the way: there’s no options. It’s there or it isn’t. I want my QB to have several receivers to throw to or the option of running. Who needs an all-or-nothing play in front of the other team’s goal line?
- Twice Jason Emerich snapped the ball high. It didn’t result in a turnover but both plays resulted in losses that got us off track and resulted in punts. Just another result of playing back-ups.
- The ACC seems to be full of great kickers. We’ve got two very good ones in Dixon and Murphy but every one we play seems to have a pair that are even better. Ross Martin hasn’t missed a place-kick all year. Will Monday kicked everything either long or up the shute. People downplay the importance of good punting but I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many balls land inside our 10 and not get into the end zone as I’ve seen this year.
- Even our good plays are bad: Brandon Reddish made an interception, our first take-away since the third quarter of the Clemson game. But we got the ball on the two yard line, making it the equivalent of one of Monday’s punts. We wind up punting from our end zone. As Shafer explained in his presser, that meant that we had to keep more guys in for protection of the punter, since he can’t step back as far as usual. That meant that they couldn’t get into positon downfield as fast and that’s when Crowder struck.
- On the way home, I heard some woman who had called into one of the post- game shows saying that we blew it when Shafer was hired. We should have gone out and gotten a “program-changer” like Brian Kelly, (as if he would have left Notre Dame for Syracuse). I got home, flipped on the TV and saw that Notre Dame was down 3-31 to Arizona State in the second quarter, (they lost 31-55). I changed the program.
