SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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- Did that actually happen? I woke up this morning wondering if I had dreamed that game up, And I tend to have very strange dreams- I always say I’m glad they are so strange because then I know not to waste any of the moments of my life trying to figure them out. But if this one was real, I have to do an “Upside/Downside” on it. Just in case it was real, here, goes.
- I remember driving to the game listening to the radio and the two hosts did an injury report. Half a dozen guys were out or questionable, including Nick Robinson and Omari Palmer, two expected starter son the offensive line. They said that “In this type of game, it won’t matter.” Really? Then they gave their predictions: Syracuse 48 Villanova 13. Syracuse 38 Villanova 10. Their attitude seemed to be that FCS means “We stink”. The top FCS teams are probably better than 1/3 of the FBS teams. And we were playing one.
- Both teams were playing their opener but Villanova seemed in mid-season form. They were sharp and aggressive from the opening kick-off. Syracuse on the other hand, seemed tentative and our timing was non-existent. The Wildcats seemed more motivated than we did. (Again, I HATE these games where we have nothing to gain by a win and can only lose prestige with a loss.) If the Cats had a competent kicker, (Do you want your place-kicker to be named “Gough”? Isn’t he liable to kick hooks or fades- or shanks?), they are celebrating a big win today. I really felt the better team lost that game. (If it actually happened, that is).
- I have never seen a game in which a quarterback was ejected for punching a guy. What Hunt did was wrong on so many levels. He was going down and got hit from another direction. It wasn’t a late hit. A passer trying to punch a guy in the helmet is a very bad idea. And Hunt is supposed to be a leader of this team. How do you lead when you are flying off the handle like that? Hopefully this is one things we’ve never seen before that we won’t see again, either. Of course, maybe it was just a late flag on Marvin Graves….).
- The loss of Hunt probably hurt us but it’s not like he was ripping it up before he got booted. He was 10 for 17 for 94 yards, which isn’t terrible. But 20 of those came on one play to Ashton Broyld. Like Ryan Nassib, he seemed most comfortable throwing the intermediate pass over the middle but George McDonald had him throwing short passes, where Hunt’s timing and touch were lacking. Austin Wilson came in and put up essentially the same numbers, (11 for 17 for 89 yards). Neither threw a touchdown pass, although we did get one from our punter, (if that actually happened).
- George McDonald was a bigger problem than Hunt’s absence. That was some of the worst play calling I’ve seen. He was in love with the bubble screen. It was back to the Rob Spence Era. Every time we ran it, it got blown up except for one time when Ben Lewis managed to break free for 11 yards. Maybe it’s the design of the play. We always seemed to be out numbers on the flank the ball goes to and the receiver has to catch the ball and fight off defenders at the same time. Not only is it hard to gain but passes can be completed for losses, which shouldn’t happen. If they aren’t completed, they could be fumbles because they are close to being thrown backwards, something Ashton Broyld needs to be reminded of: he stood there after dropping one while the Wildcats scrambled after the ball. Fortunately, the refs had blown the whistle.
- Maybe the worst sequence was when SU got the ball with 7:14 left after Villanova had tied the score. We absolutely needed to put together a long drive, take up most of the rest of the clock and score. Nova’s offense, while productive, was not a quick-strike offense so taking up the time was provably as important as taking the lead. Gulley gained 3 on a pitch-out, lost 8 on another blown-up screen and then Wilson, under pressure, couldn’t find West. Villanova got the ball back at their 33 with 5:52 left. Total fail.
- Then there was the goal line sequence at the end. It was Iowa, 2007 all over again. The first problem is that we had one back in the backfield so the defense knew who to key on. The second problem was that the one back was Adonis Ameen-Moore, a guy who loves to run people over and sometimes does it- and sometimes doesn’t. Adonis has no “bounce-out” ability to find an opening when the initial hole isn’t there. Prince-Tyson Gully does. He also has the ability to catch the ball, which gives the QB another option. Why not have both of them in, at least at the goal line? The third problem was that we kept running the same play. If we’d run that play where the QB fakes to the one running back and runs in the other direction, Wilson could have walked into the end zone. The final problem is that our touted offensive line was getting blown up by an FCS defensive line. If there’s one area where an FBS team should dominate an FCS team, that’s it. But we were getting dominated. (At least in my dream.)
- Part of the problem is the limited nature of our running plays. We either run a simple hand-off, hoping that the defense is focusing on the pass receivers, as they were with Gulley’s long run, or a maybe a toss-sweep or that fake and keep play by the quarterback. With one guy in the backfield and a limited number of plays, our running attack is very predictable. Other than the one long play by Gulley we rushed for 71 yards on 33 carries against and FCS team.
- Adonis Ameen-Moore gets 10 carries and George Morris and DeVante McFarlane get a total of 5? What am I missing there?
- The Salt Badger was toothless today. He caught one pass for 1 yard, (he could have gained 3-4 but danced around looking for an opening.) He had one “rushing attempt” for -8 yards, except that wasn’t what it was: it was another one of our bubble screens in which he started running before he secured the ball and had to fall on it. Matt Park said he was “dribbling it”. Wrong sport. He returned 1 punt for -1 yard and was not on the kick-off team. We went with a single kick-off returner, (which makes it harder to cover those corner kicks that are in vogue).
- Nice work on that punt return. Good, high, long punt by Dixon. Three guys over-run the play. Two guys whiff on tackles. Another guy falls down. Totally turned the game around.
- It seemed like every time somebody was down on the turf, it was one of our guys. They all seemed to come back into the game but it wasn’t a good sign. We were getting out-hit.
- The Daily Orange special edition they passed out outside the Dome was interesting. For one, it had no roster for Villanova. For another, it said that Terrell Hunt had 5,386 yards passing last year. Pretty good. (He actually had 1,638.) But the most interesting thing was the opening article which said that McDonald wanted Syracuse, which averaged getting off 2.42 plays per minute last season, wanted to get off 3.33 plays per minute this year so we could be like Ohio State, Missouri, UCLA, Texas A&M, Oregon and Texas Tech, (who actually averaged less than that last year) so the defense would be “gassed”. We actually averaged 3.11 plays per minute to Villanova’s 2.30. But the Wildcats kept the ball for 37:48 to 22:12 for us. They ran 87 plays to our 68. I wonder who was gassed? It’s not the number of plays. It’s the number of SUCCESSFUL plays. (More on that later.)
- I was switching my radio back and forth between the SU game and the Chiefs game, (they lost again when a potential pennant winning lost was caught two feet from the top of the fence). The Chiefs announcers were keeping their audience abreast of the SU game. When Hunt was ejected with us only being up 10-7, they invited their audience to “Come on out and see the best team in Syracuse: THE CHIEFS! I was feeling pretty sour when the Chiefs had lost and Villanova was lining up to win it with a chip-shot field goal. But the Buffalo Bisons lost, which clinched at least a playoff spot for the Chiefs and SU came back to win so it wasn’t such a bad night after all. (If it really happened, that is.)
- I remember driving to the game listening to the radio and the two hosts did an injury report. Half a dozen guys were out or questionable, including Nick Robinson and Omari Palmer, two expected starter son the offensive line. They said that “In this type of game, it won’t matter.” Really? Then they gave their predictions: Syracuse 48 Villanova 13. Syracuse 38 Villanova 10. Their attitude seemed to be that FCS means “We stink”. The top FCS teams are probably better than 1/3 of the FBS teams. And we were playing one.
- Both teams were playing their opener but Villanova seemed in mid-season form. They were sharp and aggressive from the opening kick-off. Syracuse on the other hand, seemed tentative and our timing was non-existent. The Wildcats seemed more motivated than we did. (Again, I HATE these games where we have nothing to gain by a win and can only lose prestige with a loss.) If the Cats had a competent kicker, (Do you want your place-kicker to be named “Gough”? Isn’t he liable to kick hooks or fades- or shanks?), they are celebrating a big win today. I really felt the better team lost that game. (If it actually happened, that is).
- I have never seen a game in which a quarterback was ejected for punching a guy. What Hunt did was wrong on so many levels. He was going down and got hit from another direction. It wasn’t a late hit. A passer trying to punch a guy in the helmet is a very bad idea. And Hunt is supposed to be a leader of this team. How do you lead when you are flying off the handle like that? Hopefully this is one things we’ve never seen before that we won’t see again, either. Of course, maybe it was just a late flag on Marvin Graves….).
- The loss of Hunt probably hurt us but it’s not like he was ripping it up before he got booted. He was 10 for 17 for 94 yards, which isn’t terrible. But 20 of those came on one play to Ashton Broyld. Like Ryan Nassib, he seemed most comfortable throwing the intermediate pass over the middle but George McDonald had him throwing short passes, where Hunt’s timing and touch were lacking. Austin Wilson came in and put up essentially the same numbers, (11 for 17 for 89 yards). Neither threw a touchdown pass, although we did get one from our punter, (if that actually happened).
- George McDonald was a bigger problem than Hunt’s absence. That was some of the worst play calling I’ve seen. He was in love with the bubble screen. It was back to the Rob Spence Era. Every time we ran it, it got blown up except for one time when Ben Lewis managed to break free for 11 yards. Maybe it’s the design of the play. We always seemed to be out numbers on the flank the ball goes to and the receiver has to catch the ball and fight off defenders at the same time. Not only is it hard to gain but passes can be completed for losses, which shouldn’t happen. If they aren’t completed, they could be fumbles because they are close to being thrown backwards, something Ashton Broyld needs to be reminded of: he stood there after dropping one while the Wildcats scrambled after the ball. Fortunately, the refs had blown the whistle.
- Maybe the worst sequence was when SU got the ball with 7:14 left after Villanova had tied the score. We absolutely needed to put together a long drive, take up most of the rest of the clock and score. Nova’s offense, while productive, was not a quick-strike offense so taking up the time was provably as important as taking the lead. Gulley gained 3 on a pitch-out, lost 8 on another blown-up screen and then Wilson, under pressure, couldn’t find West. Villanova got the ball back at their 33 with 5:52 left. Total fail.
- Then there was the goal line sequence at the end. It was Iowa, 2007 all over again. The first problem is that we had one back in the backfield so the defense knew who to key on. The second problem was that the one back was Adonis Ameen-Moore, a guy who loves to run people over and sometimes does it- and sometimes doesn’t. Adonis has no “bounce-out” ability to find an opening when the initial hole isn’t there. Prince-Tyson Gully does. He also has the ability to catch the ball, which gives the QB another option. Why not have both of them in, at least at the goal line? The third problem was that we kept running the same play. If we’d run that play where the QB fakes to the one running back and runs in the other direction, Wilson could have walked into the end zone. The final problem is that our touted offensive line was getting blown up by an FCS defensive line. If there’s one area where an FBS team should dominate an FCS team, that’s it. But we were getting dominated. (At least in my dream.)
- Part of the problem is the limited nature of our running plays. We either run a simple hand-off, hoping that the defense is focusing on the pass receivers, as they were with Gulley’s long run, or a maybe a toss-sweep or that fake and keep play by the quarterback. With one guy in the backfield and a limited number of plays, our running attack is very predictable. Other than the one long play by Gulley we rushed for 71 yards on 33 carries against and FCS team.
- Adonis Ameen-Moore gets 10 carries and George Morris and DeVante McFarlane get a total of 5? What am I missing there?
- The Salt Badger was toothless today. He caught one pass for 1 yard, (he could have gained 3-4 but danced around looking for an opening.) He had one “rushing attempt” for -8 yards, except that wasn’t what it was: it was another one of our bubble screens in which he started running before he secured the ball and had to fall on it. Matt Park said he was “dribbling it”. Wrong sport. He returned 1 punt for -1 yard and was not on the kick-off team. We went with a single kick-off returner, (which makes it harder to cover those corner kicks that are in vogue).
- Nice work on that punt return. Good, high, long punt by Dixon. Three guys over-run the play. Two guys whiff on tackles. Another guy falls down. Totally turned the game around.
- It seemed like every time somebody was down on the turf, it was one of our guys. They all seemed to come back into the game but it wasn’t a good sign. We were getting out-hit.
- The Daily Orange special edition they passed out outside the Dome was interesting. For one, it had no roster for Villanova. For another, it said that Terrell Hunt had 5,386 yards passing last year. Pretty good. (He actually had 1,638.) But the most interesting thing was the opening article which said that McDonald wanted Syracuse, which averaged getting off 2.42 plays per minute last season, wanted to get off 3.33 plays per minute this year so we could be like Ohio State, Missouri, UCLA, Texas A&M, Oregon and Texas Tech, (who actually averaged less than that last year) so the defense would be “gassed”. We actually averaged 3.11 plays per minute to Villanova’s 2.30. But the Wildcats kept the ball for 37:48 to 22:12 for us. They ran 87 plays to our 68. I wonder who was gassed? It’s not the number of plays. It’s the number of SUCCESSFUL plays. (More on that later.)
- I was switching my radio back and forth between the SU game and the Chiefs game, (they lost again when a potential pennant winning lost was caught two feet from the top of the fence). The Chiefs announcers were keeping their audience abreast of the SU game. When Hunt was ejected with us only being up 10-7, they invited their audience to “Come on out and see the best team in Syracuse: THE CHIEFS! I was feeling pretty sour when the Chiefs had lost and Villanova was lining up to win it with a chip-shot field goal. But the Buffalo Bisons lost, which clinched at least a playoff spot for the Chiefs and SU came back to win so it wasn’t such a bad night after all. (If it really happened, that is.)
