SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 34,006
- Like
- 65,626
The show this year will be broadcast on Thursdays at 7PM from TGI Fridays on the third floor of Destiny USA, (just past the theater ticket booth and on the right after you walk down the hallway). I don’t know if they will take questions from the audience there but they say you can watch the show whereas when it was at a restaurant, their table tended to be in a secluded location. (Remember its Thursdays at TGI Fridays, not Fridays at TGI Thursdays). The football show is an hour in duration, (Coach Boeheim’s basketball show is usually 2 hours).
Note: because the first game is on a Friday Night, the first show will be on Wednesday, September 2nd. After that it will be on the Thursday before each game until the last game when the show will again be on a Wednesday, (11/25) due to Thanksgiving.
“Fans are invited to attend the show in person or participate via telephone (1-888-7-Go Cuse or 424-8599) or Twitter (@CuseIMG) using the hashtag #AskShafe. 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: http://tunein.com/radio/WGVA-1240-s29191/
That first phone number is 1-888-746-2873 numerically.
You can also send them in advance at this site:
http://cuse.com/sb_output.aspx?form=4
(I do both so they can be prepared to give me an informed, reasoned answer.)
My Question(s)
Why can’t we have a couple of plays designed for short yardage situations with the quarterback under center so he can either sneak it or hand off to a running back who already is running forward and is two yards behind the line of scrimmage? Why does every play, regardless of the down and distance, have to be run from the pistol, where the quarterback is five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the running back farther than that?
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.)
Coach Shafer said the team is glad to be back in the Dome – for the only time this month. Matt suggested the Pittsburgh series is a “football lover’s series featuring similar players and approaches to the game.” SS: “Things were more regional in recruiting in the old days. It was about coal miner’s sons, just like in Ohio where I grew up.” Coach Shafer and Pat Narduzzi are old coaching buddies from their days at Rhode Island (1993-95). “I chuckle when I run the tape. They are doing things Pat and I talked about doing years ago. We arrived at our preferences together.”
Pitt is 5-1 and ranked #25. They lost one game, against undefeated Iowa on a 57 yards field goal and then beat Georgia Tech in another on a 56 yard field goal. “Both teams have had a lot of fourth quarter games. It takes one play and you don’t know what play it’s going to be. We’re a play or two from winning the last three. Pittsburgh has found a way to win theirs. They are a veteran team.”
Matt noted that Pitt has one freshman up front. He said that they’ve rushed the passer OK. SS: “They run AA gap pressure, meaning that both linebackers hit the A gap, but sometimes they run crisscross routes. “
“We’ve lost some very good players on defense. We think the players we are using there can become good players, too but there’s a learning curve. On offense, we’ve got a lot of experience up front. I’m pleased with our offense.” He said that our 2009 defense was “young and developmental, that our 2010 defense was very good and that in 2011, we lost 7-8 guys, just as we have this year. “Coach Bullough runs the defense, not Coach Shafer. He uses simpler blitzes but has a little more experience available than in 2011).
“Our first down defense is pretty sturdy. Our long down defense has been our nemesis. We have not finished plays on third down, in our underneath defense. We get into positon but we don’t finish. We fall backwards, rather than forwards. I like the posturing of the kids and what the coaches have taught them but there have been too many negatives.”
Liam in Pompey, who has taken to beating me to the punch with the first question wanted the Coach’s take on the ‘fumble’ call on Dungey’s pass in the first half. Liam’s take it that it was an incomplete pass and that the bad call cost us the game. Coach: “I can’t publically criticize the referees and they have a difficult job but I agree that one should have gone the other way. That’s two weeks in a row we’ve had difficult calls not go our way. It usually evens out over the course of a season. We’re actually third best in the conference in avoiding penalties and 18th in the country. But that one was difficult to swallow.
I then called in my question. Coach said that we actually do have plays, (besides the victory play), where the quarterback goes under center if we need them. “The pistol is a downhill opportunity. It shields the linebackers. I hated to go up against it as a defensive coordinator because the linebackers can read their keys as cleanly or as quickly. They have to make different decisions in reading things. We always look at what we need for each game. Our decisions are backed up by data and what we saw on tape. We’ve scored 19 out of 21 times in the red zone and 13 times in 14 goal-to-go situations, counting that one. We’re 20th in the country in that statistic.
Coach said he likes “academic achievers” on his team because they can pick up the offense and defense better.
Steve Ismael “does the dirty work. He’s a great perimeter blocker, with increased strength this year. He stays on people. I think he’s ready for a breakout game.” This brought of memories of Coaches Pasqualoni and DeLeone praising Marvin Harrison for his blocking and lauding his team play in a year where he had only 36 catches.
Coach is proud of the fact that we’ve scored at least 24 points in six games in a row, the first that’s happened since 1959, “a pretty good team.” He noted that 97% of the yards have been gained by under-classmen and 70% by first or second year players. “We didn’t think we were going to be in this quarterback predicament for the second year in a row. But even before Terrell got hurt, Eric was improving rapidly. He’s learning that pro-style passing game fast. He’s 10th in the country in passing efficiency. He’s averaging 14 yards per completion.” Matt compared him to Andrew Luck, who gets a lot of interceptions because he wants to pass the ball down the field.
Coach: “We don’t have big strong kids up front so we like to run the ball in unique ways with the option and to throw the ball downfield. The kids will continue to get better with more game action.”
Matt noted that our defensive third down efficiency held the opposition to a 30% success rate at home but that ballooned to 62% when we are on the road. Pittsburgh has a 39% offensive third down efficiency which is “below the middle of the pack.” Coach praised Nathan Peterman, the Tennessee transfer who has been “doing a good job” at quarterback. He noted that his coach, Jim Chaney, was Drew Brees’ coach at Purdue. Chaney was using Tyler Boyd all over the place- at tailback, even throwing passes. He nearly got a TD pass last week on a pass he completed near the goal line. “There hasn’t been a huge drop-off in the running game with James Connor out. They’ve got good talent there. We tried hard to recruit Qadree Ollison. Now we’ve got to get after him. “
Jim in Syracuse wondered why we didn’t use our time outs at the end of regulation to try and get the ball back- were we out of them? Coach said we had time outs but not enough time to go down the field. Instead, he used a time out to “ice” the kicker.
Richard in Liverpool complained that Shafe’s predecessor left after 3 years, (actually 4). “If you were offered a contract extension today, would you take it? Coach: “I’d consult with the one other person who has something to say about that- my wife Missy- and then we’d hug and I’d say Let’s go!” (By which he meant “Let’s Stay!”.) “We like it here. This university has the same value system that’s important to me as a coach. We’d love to be here for a long time.” His daughter is deciding on a college and coach is actively recruiting her to go to SU. (He didn’t say what positon she plays.) He said they could have lunch together and that he knows some big guys who would be there to protect her.
They had a trivia contest- what SU quarterback threw for the most yards in a game against Pittsburgh? I’ll post the answer and the stats tomorrow.
Note: because the first game is on a Friday Night, the first show will be on Wednesday, September 2nd. After that it will be on the Thursday before each game until the last game when the show will again be on a Wednesday, (11/25) due to Thanksgiving.
“Fans are invited to attend the show in person or participate via telephone (1-888-7-Go Cuse or 424-8599) or Twitter (@CuseIMG) using the hashtag #AskShafe. 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: http://tunein.com/radio/WGVA-1240-s29191/
That first phone number is 1-888-746-2873 numerically.
You can also send them in advance at this site:
http://cuse.com/sb_output.aspx?form=4
(I do both so they can be prepared to give me an informed, reasoned answer.)
My Question(s)
Why can’t we have a couple of plays designed for short yardage situations with the quarterback under center so he can either sneak it or hand off to a running back who already is running forward and is two yards behind the line of scrimmage? Why does every play, regardless of the down and distance, have to be run from the pistol, where the quarterback is five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the running back farther than that?
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.)
Coach Shafer said the team is glad to be back in the Dome – for the only time this month. Matt suggested the Pittsburgh series is a “football lover’s series featuring similar players and approaches to the game.” SS: “Things were more regional in recruiting in the old days. It was about coal miner’s sons, just like in Ohio where I grew up.” Coach Shafer and Pat Narduzzi are old coaching buddies from their days at Rhode Island (1993-95). “I chuckle when I run the tape. They are doing things Pat and I talked about doing years ago. We arrived at our preferences together.”
Pitt is 5-1 and ranked #25. They lost one game, against undefeated Iowa on a 57 yards field goal and then beat Georgia Tech in another on a 56 yard field goal. “Both teams have had a lot of fourth quarter games. It takes one play and you don’t know what play it’s going to be. We’re a play or two from winning the last three. Pittsburgh has found a way to win theirs. They are a veteran team.”
Matt noted that Pitt has one freshman up front. He said that they’ve rushed the passer OK. SS: “They run AA gap pressure, meaning that both linebackers hit the A gap, but sometimes they run crisscross routes. “
“We’ve lost some very good players on defense. We think the players we are using there can become good players, too but there’s a learning curve. On offense, we’ve got a lot of experience up front. I’m pleased with our offense.” He said that our 2009 defense was “young and developmental, that our 2010 defense was very good and that in 2011, we lost 7-8 guys, just as we have this year. “Coach Bullough runs the defense, not Coach Shafer. He uses simpler blitzes but has a little more experience available than in 2011).
“Our first down defense is pretty sturdy. Our long down defense has been our nemesis. We have not finished plays on third down, in our underneath defense. We get into positon but we don’t finish. We fall backwards, rather than forwards. I like the posturing of the kids and what the coaches have taught them but there have been too many negatives.”
Liam in Pompey, who has taken to beating me to the punch with the first question wanted the Coach’s take on the ‘fumble’ call on Dungey’s pass in the first half. Liam’s take it that it was an incomplete pass and that the bad call cost us the game. Coach: “I can’t publically criticize the referees and they have a difficult job but I agree that one should have gone the other way. That’s two weeks in a row we’ve had difficult calls not go our way. It usually evens out over the course of a season. We’re actually third best in the conference in avoiding penalties and 18th in the country. But that one was difficult to swallow.
I then called in my question. Coach said that we actually do have plays, (besides the victory play), where the quarterback goes under center if we need them. “The pistol is a downhill opportunity. It shields the linebackers. I hated to go up against it as a defensive coordinator because the linebackers can read their keys as cleanly or as quickly. They have to make different decisions in reading things. We always look at what we need for each game. Our decisions are backed up by data and what we saw on tape. We’ve scored 19 out of 21 times in the red zone and 13 times in 14 goal-to-go situations, counting that one. We’re 20th in the country in that statistic.
Coach said he likes “academic achievers” on his team because they can pick up the offense and defense better.
Steve Ismael “does the dirty work. He’s a great perimeter blocker, with increased strength this year. He stays on people. I think he’s ready for a breakout game.” This brought of memories of Coaches Pasqualoni and DeLeone praising Marvin Harrison for his blocking and lauding his team play in a year where he had only 36 catches.
Coach is proud of the fact that we’ve scored at least 24 points in six games in a row, the first that’s happened since 1959, “a pretty good team.” He noted that 97% of the yards have been gained by under-classmen and 70% by first or second year players. “We didn’t think we were going to be in this quarterback predicament for the second year in a row. But even before Terrell got hurt, Eric was improving rapidly. He’s learning that pro-style passing game fast. He’s 10th in the country in passing efficiency. He’s averaging 14 yards per completion.” Matt compared him to Andrew Luck, who gets a lot of interceptions because he wants to pass the ball down the field.
Coach: “We don’t have big strong kids up front so we like to run the ball in unique ways with the option and to throw the ball downfield. The kids will continue to get better with more game action.”
Matt noted that our defensive third down efficiency held the opposition to a 30% success rate at home but that ballooned to 62% when we are on the road. Pittsburgh has a 39% offensive third down efficiency which is “below the middle of the pack.” Coach praised Nathan Peterman, the Tennessee transfer who has been “doing a good job” at quarterback. He noted that his coach, Jim Chaney, was Drew Brees’ coach at Purdue. Chaney was using Tyler Boyd all over the place- at tailback, even throwing passes. He nearly got a TD pass last week on a pass he completed near the goal line. “There hasn’t been a huge drop-off in the running game with James Connor out. They’ve got good talent there. We tried hard to recruit Qadree Ollison. Now we’ve got to get after him. “
Jim in Syracuse wondered why we didn’t use our time outs at the end of regulation to try and get the ball back- were we out of them? Coach said we had time outs but not enough time to go down the field. Instead, he used a time out to “ice” the kicker.
Richard in Liverpool complained that Shafe’s predecessor left after 3 years, (actually 4). “If you were offered a contract extension today, would you take it? Coach: “I’d consult with the one other person who has something to say about that- my wife Missy- and then we’d hug and I’d say Let’s go!” (By which he meant “Let’s Stay!”.) “We like it here. This university has the same value system that’s important to me as a coach. We’d love to be here for a long time.” His daughter is deciding on a college and coach is actively recruiting her to go to SU. (He didn’t say what positon she plays.) He said they could have lunch together and that he knows some big guys who would be there to protect her.
They had a trivia contest- what SU quarterback threw for the most yards in a game against Pittsburgh? I’ll post the answer and the stats tomorrow.
