The Downside | Syracusefan.com

The Downside

SWC75

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- USC got well against us. Wee didn’t get well against them. They played much better than in the first two games while we have the same problems.

- The idea that we were going to have a dynamic offense this year that would carry us while the defense matured just isn’t happening. Nassib is very accurate but it’s all dink and dunk with no running game to speak of. Nassib was 25 for 37 and Barkley 26 for 39 but it wasn’t a wash because Barkley threw for 324 yards and 5 touchdowns and Nassib got only 230 yards and 1 score. We have to have a dozen successful plays in a row to score. They beat us on a couple of deep coverages and that gave them control of the game.

- We don’t supplement our offense with anything. We don’t produce turnovers, (8 in 8 games and the only one today we gave right back). We don’t get anything from kick returns. We don’t block kicks. Those are huge plays and we don’t get them.

- Under those circumstances, you’ve got to make every play to stay in the game vs. a team like USC. You can’t have Philip Thomas drop and interception after we’d just scored. You can’t have Alec Lemon drop a third down pass and Van Chew a fourth down pass, both of which would have been first downs and substantial gains. You can’t have big penalties that keep drives alive.

- We can’t keep the enemy out of our quarterback’s face. McPherson and Chibane are turnstiles and I badly over-rated Antwon Bailey’s ability to pick up the blitz. That’s why we can’t throw deep. Meanwhile Barkley could just stand back there and pick us apart.

- We finally passed to Bailey- three times in the first drive. Then we got it to him twice the rest of the game. The guy needs to be in space. Using him and Gulley is like what Tom Cruise said in Rainman about Dustin’s Hoffman’s attempt to do the “Who’s on First” routine: “Ray, when you do it, it isn’t Abbott and Costello- it’s Abbott and Abbot!”. That’s what our running back tandem is: Abbott and Abbott. We need Smith or Adonis Moore to give us a between the tackles option.

- The punting battle is obviously not over. Raupers kept hitting 30 yarders up the chute and Fisher was sent in. He boomed a 45 yarder when we were trying to pin them. How about using Fisher when we punt from our territory and Raupers when we punt from theirs?

- Can we find a way to block for Jeremiah Kobena? Please? I’d still like him and Graham to be twin safeties rather than graham being an “up” guy. It makes us more versatile.

- Does the ACC still want us?
 
I think what happened tonight we expected to happen. It has no weight on the ACC move. There were some promising things that should be taken from tonights game. We are on the uptick and it is going to be fun how far we can move over the next 5 years. Just hold on for the ride and be proud to be an Orange.
 
"- Does the ACC still want us?"

I don't think they are taking us with football in mind :) So I doubt the score of the game had a big impact on what the ACC thinks.
 
The dropped interceptions are the most disappointing thing (Lemon getting his first drop of the year is a close second; I'd convinced myself that all of last season's drops were solely due to injury).

Barkley threw three or four balls that I saw consistently picked off by teams like LSU, Nebraska, even UConn earlier in the weekend. We didn't even grab one. The interception that two SU guys dropped on SC's first play from scrimmage was maybe most frustrating: four Orange hands touch the ball, and we could've gotten up 10-0.
 

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