The Upside vs. LSU

[SWC75]

- I said of last week’s game that it was “a loss with a smile painted on it”, meaning that it was a win on the scoreboard but not an encouraging game because after Dungey went down, we didn’t look like a football team that was going to beat many other teams. Winning isn’t everything . Optimism is what sports fans really want and we didn’t come out of that game with much optimism for this week. This week’s actual loss has a big grin on it because it gives us the feeling that we can now compete with anybody and that all the other games, including Clemson and Florida State, are on the table. Which game left you with the better feeling? Central Michigan or LSU? The difference is: optimism.

- One thing injuries do for you: they force you to use a lot of people. You wind up with a lot of people who have seen game action and you get to see who you can rely on and who you can’t. You may find you’ve got several players who can play a key positon. All the chaos at quarterback the last two years have left us with an emerging star in Eric Dungey, a very solid back-up in Zack Mahoney who just threw three TD passes against the #8 team in the country, another guy who can play if they will ever let him in A. J. Long who threw 2 TD passes against the #1 team in the country last year and a fourth guy in Austin Wilson who a touchdown pass last week.

- People were wondering if we could move the ball on this team- and keep it. We had 21 first downs to the Tigers 17 and controlled the ball for 30:08 minutes to 29.52. After converting only 2 of 17 third down situations the last two weeks against mediocre opposition, we converted 5 of 16 today and then 3 of 4 fourth downs, so effectively we were 8 of 16 while holding LSU to 3 of 10. And that was with a walk on who was running our scout team as a fifth-string quarterback when the season began.

- Mahoney, after a shaky start, (he admitted he was nervous and was using footwork and a throwing motion from high school that they’d thought they’d managed to teach him not to use), Developed some confidence and ran the ball and passed it well, (except for those sinkers over the middle and the mortar shots on those long side line passes). He’s very quick on the option, making him an option for when we need him in the future. My proposal for a nickname, (I know they are calling him "Officer"). How about "The Owl", because when everybody heard his name, they said WHO?

- This team has an amazing pair of stats, considering we’ve used 4 quarterbacks and two centers. We have 3 turnovers in four game, (vs. 8) and have been called for only 17 penalties, (vs. 30). Over the year’s we’ve come to expect that Syracuse would have to try to overcome numerous errors to win games but we’ve been avoiding them very well so far this season.

- Our offense is going to take off like an airplane when Dungey and Erv Phillips get back. Put them with Ismael and Estime and the three-headed monster at tailback, (McFarlane, Morris and Fredericks), along with Dontae Strickland, who has now touched the ball 10 times and scored 3 touchdowns. I wanted to average 30 points a game or more because that what ti takes to beat an average team these days. We are averaging 32.75 and that’s going to go up, not down.

- We came in with the #3 rushing defense in the country. They came in with the nation’s #1 rusher in Leonard Fournette. Something had to give. They both did. Our defense got gashed several times by Fournette and his big, strong line but we had a stretch in the second half where we slammed him back for -6, -2 and then -6 yards again. We had five other plays where he got 3 yards or less. The future Heisman winner will wake up with some bruises tomorrow morning. He knows he was in a game.

- We also had a sack and would have another if Brandon Harris hadn’t had the presence of mind to flip the ball to Fournette, who was standing behind him as he was being sack for what could have bene a big loss but which turned into a 48 yard gain, setting up the visitor’s only score of the first half.

- We didn’t dazzle but managed to ruin for a decent 141 yards. George Morris led the tailbacks with 37 yards in 7 carries. The kid ran hard with determination and he deserves more credit than we have been giving him.

- Riley Dixon had another great day, punting for 45.6 yards per 5 attempts, popping it up or booming it as required, (although he out-kicked his coverage on one of those boomers). He also made a dramatic first down, leaping over a defender to get the final yards.

- It had to happen. 6 minutes to go in the third quarter. His team down 3-17, playing against the team the team that gave the world the Honey Badger, THE SALT BADGER ROARED!!! (He also averaged 25 yards and 8 kick returns.)

- LSU won't be in Blow-out Bowl IV !

3-1 with 8 or 9 to go!


LET’S GO ORANGE!!!!

 

[SUskibum]

Explosive plays had been one of the many bright spots for this offense so far this year. The thought is always whether we can keep it up against elevated competition. We did keep it up with a 40yd touchdown by Salt Badger and several more big punt returns. We also have every reason to think we are still have not gotten to cruising altitude yet (to stay with your flight analogy)

 

[chakka3421]

If I'm not mistaken, if we made changes in the Oline by moving Trudo to OG and Emerich at C gives us the best group at point of attack in my opinion - unless my eyes are deceiving me, almost a coming out for Emerich if this change is permanent. I don't think we will face a better Dline than LSU the rest of the season so we need to keep watching how this develops as well.

Second will be how Dungey performs when he comes back along with Philips. With our D this year given its lack of experience, we need an offense to consistently score 30 plus points a game to win any game moving forward.

It will be fun to watch as it unfolds...with 9 to go !

 

[bcubs9497]

Here's an upside: we held LSU to 268 yards total rushing. Fournette accounted for 240ish yards of that total. Also, Fournette carried the ball 26 times, moreso than any other RB on their team, combined. Auburn gave up 411 yards rushing and a butt-load of points. Mississippi State gave up 266 yards rushing, and they did this with a DL made up of guys easily 2-3 years older than ours.

I'd say we have one of the best rushing defenses in CFB. And, it's gonna get better.

 

[TheCusian]

Here's an upside: we held LSU to 268 yards total rushing. Fournette accounted for 240ish yards of that total. Also, Fournette carried the ball 26 times, moreso than any other RB on their team, combined. Auburn gave up 411 yards rushing and a butt-load of points. Mississippi State gave up 266 yards rushing, and they did this with a DL made up of guys easily 2-3 years older than ours. I'd say we have one of the best rushing defenses in CFB. And, it's gonna get better.

Watched a lot of Steven's play - held his own vs that C that has NFL sc outs drooling. He's only going to get better. Fun to watch!!!

 

[bcubs9497]

Watched a lot of Steven's play - held his own vs that C that has NFL sc outs drooling. He's only going to get better. Fun to watch!!!

Was about to bring up the fact that, for the most part, our DL is comprised of freshmen and redshirt freshmen. LSU's OL? Mostly Jrs, and all of them rated as 4 stars or better.

 

[Gumbeaux]

Was about to bring up the fact that, for the most part, our DL is comprised of freshmen and redshirt freshmen. LSU's OL? Mostly Jrs, and all of them rated as 4 stars or better.

LSU has 2 freshmen starters on its OL

 

[SWC75]

If I'm not mistaken, if we made changes in the Oline by moving Trudo to OG and Emerich at C gives us the best group at point of attack in my opinion - unless my eyes are deceiving me, almost a coming out for Emerich if this change is permanent. I don't think we will face a better Dline than LSU the rest of the season so we need to keep watching how this develops as well.

Second will be how Dungey performs when he comes back along with Philips. With our D this year given its lack of experience, we need an offense to consistently score 30 plus points a game to win any game moving forward.

It will be fun to watch as it unfolds...with 9 to go !

I really think it's possible that we might, with good health, exceed 30ppg in all our remaining games.

 

[bcubs9497]

LSU has 2 freshmen starters on its OL

Said "mostly" juniors.

According to this: http://www.lsufootball.net/depthchartlsu.htm there is exactly 1 true freshman starter, #75 Maea Teuhema. The others are 2nd or 3rd on the depth chart and, in going back through game footage (DVR is a wonderful thing), I didn't see Weathersby or Brown at all. Maybe I didn't see them 'cause I'm old and fat. Or, maybe they didn't start. Or play. For that matter, I didn't see much, if any, of the RS frosh either, excepting Clapp. So, in summary, Clapp and Teuhema. The rest, upperclassmen.

Our interior DL has exactly one upper classman, John Raymon; the others are either RS frosh, or, like my son, a true frosh. Our starting DEs are upperclassmen, the 2nds are one junior and a true freshman. I'm pretty sure Sheppard didn't play much, though. Regardless, there was certainly, on paper, a disparity in experience and age between our interior DL and your OL.

I will also say that as a true frosh, my son capably handled the double teams from what I've been told (repeatedly) are guys who are NFL material.