The problem is not the talent

[Alsacs]

While we would all love more talent in the program that loss is on coaching. I feel outside of Bobby Acosta I wish we could have a complete new offensive coaching staff. Acosta has shown recruiting chops in NJ thus he should remain. McDonald had potential to be a recruiter but that bridge was burned after he got demoted. Lester is nothing special , Joe Adam hasn't shown me anything. Look Shafer is not going anywhere even though my opinion is made on him but last year gives him next year to improve.
Fool me one shame on you fool me twice shame on me. The program makes the same freaking mistakes week after week year after year. I get we had injuries but our coaching staff on offense compared to the average D-1 football team looks HORRIBLE. Coaching offense in college football is not hard and every week its always a struggle for Syracuse(outside of the 2nd half of the 2012 season)
Dr. Gross needs to give Shafer some $$$ for this coaching staff or next year will be no different.

 

[RF2044]

Why does everyone always want to look for one magic bullet root cause?

The issues are multi-dimensional. And talent absolutely, certainly is one of the issues hamstringing this team. So is coaching. So is depth. So is a tough, unfavorable schedule. So is the injury bug. So is inexperience at QB. So is the patchwork OL. So is the tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot at key times. So is the lack of offensive production.

It doesn't matter how many times people want to repeat the "its not the talent" mantra--repeating something that is false doesn't make it true. Anyone who watches college football beyond the cozy amniotic sack of SU / the ACC can recognize that right now, our team lacks talent compared to even bottom end top 25 teams. Period. End of sentence. I'm all for diversity of opinion, as this is a message board, but I'm at a loss to see how anyone can view our team [especially on offense] and legitimately believe / assert that lack of talent is not an issue.

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

Why does everyone always want to look for one magic bullet root cause?

The issues are multi-dimensional. And talent absolutely, certainly is one of the issues hamstringing this team. So is coaching. So is depth. So is a tough, unfavorable schedule. So is the injury bug. So is inexperience at QB. So is the patchwork OL. So is the tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot at key times. So is the lack of offensive production.

It doesn't matter how many times people want to repeat the "its not the talent" mantra--repeating something that is false doesn't make it true. Anyone who watches college football beyond the cozy amniotic sack of SU / the ACC can recognize that right now, our team lacks talent compared to even bottom end top 25 teams. Period. End of sentence. I'm all for diversity of opinion, as this is a message board, but I'm at a loss to see how anyone can view or team [especially on offense] and legitimately believe that lack of talent is not an issue.

And I agree but these all stem from the same single problem, a lack of commitment to winning from the school over the last 15 years.

 

[Alsacs]

I said we could always use more talent so could any team. However, we have a stable of WRs/RBs enough depth at OL to be able to patchwork a unit and a young inexperienced but talented QB. We are trying to fit a round peg in a square hole on offense. When something good on offense for Syracuse I honestly shocked when I watch non-top 25 teams peer programs like Pitt and Boston College look so much better on offense it is crazy. College football 2014 pretty much every team has a good offense when Syracuse has scored 30 points this season we have gotten a defensive TD each time. Our offense should be closer to average for a P5 team but I am sure we would fall in the bottom 25 percentile that is below average and IMO falls on coaching as we aren't Wake Forest. Marrone left enough for Shafer to win 7 games last year we are clearly taking a big step back this year thus coaching staff changes on offense need to be made. The status quo with just replacing McDonald would not be a good message as outside of Acotsa no offensive coach I believe has done an adequate job.

 

[Statesman1]

Why does everyone always want to look for one magic bullet root cause?

The issues are multi-dimensional. And talent absolutely, certainly is one of the issues hamstringing this team. So is coaching. So is depth. So is a tough, unfavorable schedule. So is the injury bug. So is inexperience at QB. So is the patchwork OL. So is the tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot at key times. So is the lack of offensive production.

It doesn't matter how many times people want to repeat the "its not the talent" mantra--repeating something that is false doesn't make it true. Anyone who watches college football beyond the cozy amniotic sack of SU / the ACC can recognize that right now, our team lacks talent compared to even bottom end top 25 teams. Period. End of sentence. I'm all for diversity of opinion, as this is a message board, but I'm at a loss to see how anyone can view or team [especially on offense] and legitimately believe / assert that lack of talent is not an issue.

Ditto- Under the radar talent year after the year doesn't stack up. Too many fans get excited and rationalize our lack of talent comparatively to the ACC/top 25 programs and believe because a kid commits early with no other offers or that because our coaches identified him, he must be a diamond in the rough. I'll believe in our future when we start prying away recruits from other peer institutions we are trying to climb over and beat.

 

[SmilinBob]

I don't know Alsacs...to me it's a combo of a score of things like RF wrote and to be honest I don't know enough about football to determine if this staff is screwing things up or not.

 

[ClkWrkOrange]

And I agree but these all stem from the same single problem, a lack of commitment to winning from the school over the last 15 years.

It goes way beyond 15 years.The success prior to that was not due to any commitment from the school itself.They got really,really lucky.That won't happen again.

 

[OrangeTarheel]

Why does everyone always want to look for one magic bullet root cause?

The issues are multi-dimensional. And talent absolutely, certainly is one of the issues hamstringing this team. So is coaching. So is depth. So is a tough, unfavorable schedule. So is the injury bug. So is inexperience at QB. So is the patchwork OL. So is the tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot at key times. So is the lack of offensive production.

It doesn't matter how many times people want to repeat the "its not the talent" mantra--repeating something that is false doesn't make it true. Anyone who watches college football beyond the cozy amniotic sack of SU / the ACC can recognize that right now, our team lacks talent compared to even bottom end top 25 teams. Period. End of sentence. I'm all for diversity of opinion, as this is a message board, but I'm at a loss to see how anyone can view or team [especially on offense] and legitimately believe / assert that lack of talent is not an issue.

The term "cozy amniotic sack" is just fantastic on a cold morning. Cheers for your wordsmithery.

 

[tipphill]

plain and simple it is a lack of talent and depth---offensively for sure. no qb in sight as well.

 

[Alsacs]

If it is talent then winning 7 games last year was the biggest fluke of all time. We lost Jerome Smith who was a good college RB and improved our WR situation had an entire summer to get better and have regressed to a 3 win program.
Listen I said after the ND game it was 2 star talent vs 4 star talent. Our team doesn't have top 25 talent but we have 7-5 talent and the fact is we are underachieving. Every team in the country could use more talent. I don't think talent is the primary reason our offense looks bad or we will stink for the forseeable future.

 

[Orangello]

It also doesn't help when your head coach's primary aspiration is to shoot for "under the radar types" in recruiting. That's like a manager saying my hiring philosophy is to look for talent that nobody else really wants and hope I get a hit more time then I strike out. This is craziness. We need a HC that recruits the best possible talent he can find irrespective of who else he's competing with. This poor red headed stepchild routine has grown cold. Before anyone says "but we can't recruit against the big boys", I acknowledge the fact that we have had problems historically reeling in the 4 and 5 stars when they have offers from higher profile programs but I submit that is more about our long running lack of success on the field than anything else. The University needs to do the same and go out and spend the money to get a big time staff to right this ship once and for all and make us a perennial top 25 program. There is absolutely no reason why we can't get there if the right pieces are put in place.

 

[qdawgg]

If it's talent than our offensive numbers shouldn't put us at the very bottom of all the P5 schools because there are a lot of schools recruiting less talented players than us but putting up better offensive numbers.

 

[hoopsupstate]

Nothing is going to change. We have one of our highest recruiting classes coming in next year, but it's still rated 10th in the ACC. We're not going to gain on anyone at this rate. I'm tired of hearing the same old every year. We should be better over the next couple of years. I've been hearing this for the past 12 years as a season ticket holder. SU is a bad team and the recruits that visited yesterday saw that, along with a lousy fan base. If people think it's going to change, stop kidding yourselves. This is a program that hopes to win 6 games a year and qualify for a bowl. It doesn't take much to win 6 games. You almost have to try hard NOT to win.

 

[dasher]

I said we could always use more talent so could any team. However, we have a stable of WRs/RBs enough depth at OL to be able to patchwork a unit and a young inexperienced but talented QB. We are trying to fit a round peg in a square hole on offense. When something good on offense for Syracuse I honestly shocked when I watch non-top 25 teams peer programs like Pitt and Boston College look so much better on offense it is crazy. College football 2014 pretty much every team has a good offense when Syracuse has scored 30 points this season we have gotten a defensive TD each time. Our offense should be closer to average for a P5 team but I am sure we would fall in the bottom 25 percentile that is below average and IMO falls on coaching as we aren't Wake Forest. Marrone left enough for Shafer to win 7 games last year we are clearly taking a big step back this year thus coaching staff changes on offense need to be made. The status quo with just replacing McDonald would not be a good message as outside of Acotsa no offensive coach I believe has done an adequate job.

I'm not going to defend the coaches but we have a talent gap. Our wide recievers are slow. Our backs aren't good enough. Our o-line was overrated to begin with. We just aren't good enough. Marrone was .500 against inferior competition than we play now. Look at our qb play. Would any of our qb's play at a SEC school?: Or a upper level ACC school? Let's do this, when we were good, the 90's, how many of our players today would have started or even played on those teams? We have to get better.

 

[Statesman1]

It goes way beyond 15 years.The success prior to that was not due to any commitment from the school itself.They got really,really lucky.That won't happen again.

We had athletes all over the field- it wasn't luck

 

[longislandcuse]

Shafer and co just scream low rate coaching staff to me. Everything about them feels small time and the interview with Shafer about going for the "under the radar" types created an impression I'm rooting for a miracle to win any games.

I just don't like his hot headed, scrappy style. Shafer makes me feel like we're a team who has been picked on and are trying to stand up to the bullies but we just keep getting beat up.

 

[dasher]

Shafer and co just scream low rate coaching staff to me. Everything about them feels small time and the interview with Shafer about going for the "under the radar" types created an impression I'm rooting for a miracle to win any games.

I just don't like his hot headed, scrappy style. Shafer makes me feel like we're a team who has been picked on and are trying to stand up to the bullies but we just keep getting beat up.

I like SS but hated, and I mean hated, that interview. We look for guys that no one else wants? Yeah, because we are so much better at both discovering talent and developing talent. Complete B.S.. It says to me that we are afraid to go after big time talent. Maybe they know they can't get them. But if that is true, why have a team?

 

[ClkWrkOrange]

We had athletes all over the field- it wasn't luck

Why did we have those athletes?We weren't getting them before the dome/Coach Mac combo.

 

[CuseOnly]

The talent we have is adequate enough to get to a bowl every year.

I don't feel this coaching staff can out scheme anyone we have played. Marrone and his staff could, that is the difference. Not saying Marrone was great but he could always put together a game plan that gave us a chance to win. AND he had less talent than we have now.

 

[longislandcuse]

I like SS but hated, and I mean hated, that interview. We look for guys that no one else wants? Yeah, because we are so much better at both discovering talent and developing talent. Complete B.S.. It says to me that we are afraid to go after big time talent. Maybe they know they can't get them. But if that is true, why have a team?

And he's not gonna apologize for it...

 

[Killdozer]

I'm with you hoosuptate......I in my 50's have lived through the great years of the 80's-90's. I feel bad for my kids as they have no idea what it is like to see the dome packed and SU blowing out a good team. I was telling my son how great the Fla game was when Kirby Dar Dar ran back the kick off and the rabid fan base. He said that he wish he could experience that. I felt so bad and realize that he may never see that. The ting is, he loves SU as much as I do....very sad.

 

[CuseOnly]

Why did we have those athletes?We weren't getting them before the dome/Coach Mac combo.

Social media also wasn't turning every kid into a Prima Donna and telling them they are above going to Syracuse. We as a program also did not poop the bed on national/large regional TV 2-3 times a year.

Things have changed and SU over the past 20 years has not changed with them. We are still in a huge hole that we are still trying to did out of. Perception of the Program has to change before we are completely out of the hole. The IPF will not change the public's and recruits perception but it will help. The only thing that will truly change how SU Football is viewed is wins.

 

[longislandcuse]

Social media also wasn't turning every kid into a Prima Donna and telling them they are above going to Syracuse. We as a program also did not poop the bed on national/large regional TV 2-3 times a year.

Things have changed and SU over the past 20 years has not changed with them. We are still in a huge hole that we are still trying to did out of. Perception of the Program has to change before we are completely out of the hole. The IPF will not change the public's and recruits perception but it will help. The only thing that will truly change how SU Football is viewed is wins.

We also need a better Gameday atmosphere. Do we have a "thing". All the good ACC teams have awesome entrances, fireworks etc. We obviously can't do fireworks but maybe we can hand out some sparklers? That seems more our style.

 

[Alsacs]

I like SS personally but that interview was awful. I wish the guy gave more confidence. I am being to realize I owe Doug Marrone an apology. I didn't realize how tough he had it. Thank goodness we had Nassib, Lemon, Pugh, Chandler and Arthur Jones play for Doug Marrone. We were mediocre but Marrone prepared the team well each week.
Doug saw the writing on the wall with Gross/SU paying for big time football and bailed when he realized how tough the job was. I never criticized DM for leaving for the NFL but I really think he left because of SU's lack of commitment. I am sorry for criticizing you after the Minnesota 2012 game Doug Marrone.
Syracuse needs to accept being a stepping stone job and hire the best coach it can in the future. If SU is just happy cashing checks SS gets 2 more years if I was running the AD next year is make or break.
We have enough talent to win 6 or 7 games this year.

 

[OrangePA]

Why does everyone always want to look for one magic bullet root cause?

The issues are multi-dimensional. And talent absolutely, certainly is one of the issues hamstringing this team. So is coaching. So is depth. So is a tough, unfavorable schedule. So is the injury bug. So is inexperience at QB. So is the patchwork OL. So is the tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot at key times. So is the lack of offensive production.

It doesn't matter how many times people want to repeat the "its not the talent" mantra--repeating something that is false doesn't make it true. Anyone who watches college football beyond the cozy amniotic sack of SU / the ACC can recognize that right now, our team lacks talent compared to even bottom end top 25 teams. Period. End of sentence. I'm all for diversity of opinion, as this is a message board, but I'm at a loss to see how anyone can view or team [especially on offense] and legitimately believe / assert that lack of talent is not an issue.

True.

The game, in essence, was lost in a split second yesterday because of the extraordinary talent of Pharoah McKeever.

As a DE, he dropped into coverage - made a solid INT and ran like a WR 82 yards for the winning score.

That was a talent issue.

And ultimately wins and losses come down to talent.

Desire drops a sure INT. Kirkland fails to cover a sure fumble recovery. Moore drops a great slant throw by Long. West drops a tough but catchable streak throw by Long.

Players - the talent - have to make the plays to win the game.

Our players failed repeatedly to make the plays.

Are there coaching issues? Probably. But that's not why we lost the game yesterday.