Thoughts on Stony Brook game

[Stern]

I see a lot of frustration and outrage over how the game played out. To me this is what I expected. SU isn't good enough to blow anyone out. Period! I know many of you view me as Mr. Negative around here but I really don't see what you guys are seeing most games. I don't put a lot of stock into the "good loss" like some of you do and find the moral victories. Not in year 4! I expected this game to be a lot like the Rhode Island Game last year. And well, it sorta was for the most part. Where you just watch in disbelief that SU isn't just blowing this team out.

Let's get one point out of the way, this team has turned NO CORNER at all. None. Let's get that notion out of the way. Yes they may be more athletic and play a different style offense but its the same results. Losing vs decent teams and struggling to win vs lesser teams.

Special Teams is still awful. Forget the missed field goals, ok that happens. I won't kill the kid for that. Catching the kickoff out of bounds, is beyond stupid. And yes Doug can't go out there and catch it for them, but it's his unit and he is to blame. Our punter has no touch and just keeps blasting balls out of the endzone. Minus a miracle turnaround from this unit, IF Doug stays he has to hand off special teams to someone else next year.

In-game coaching decisions were awful again. Doug has no balls ever the past 3 years, the day he decides to grow a pair is today and to go for it on 4th down with the lead? At home? Late in the game? Vs an awful team? Why pass up points? Why not add onto your lead? Being up 4 is useless. Get up by 7 and then eventually 10. As Bill Clinton said... arithmetic! Let the math make the decisions for ya!

Bottom line is this team has 9 games left. If you told me they go 6-3 the rest of the way I wouldn't be shocked. If you told me they go 3-6 the rest of the way I wouldn't be shocked. Every game for them will be a struggle. If they are underdogs in every game this year from here on out, would you be shocked? Ya can't be! They could easily go on a long losing streak once conference play starts again. Or they could just win a bunch just as well. This team in any other conference is lucky to win 1 or 2 conference games. In the god awful Big East they got a chance to win a few more than that.

This is a marginal team with bad special teams and bad decision making in-games from it's head coach. And to me (I know many disagree) they have yet to turn any corner or show they are headed in the right direction. Win some games, beat some decent schools then I will be convinced otherwise. Until then, its the Same Ole SU Football!

 

[qdawgg]

If you told me they go 6-3 the rest of the way I wouldn't be shocked. If you told me they go 3-6 the rest of the way I wouldn't be shocked.

They could easily go on a long losing streak once conference play starts again. Or they could just win a bunch just as well.

Well, this will definitely make it easy for you to post a thread at the end of the season stating you knew how the BE schedule would play out.

 

[Stern]

Well, this will definitely make it easy for you to post a thread at the end of the season stating you knew how the BE schedule would play out.

Not at all. My stance hasn't changed from day 1. I don't think SU will go to a bowl and unless Doug wins alot from here on out and proves me wrong I am anti giving him a contract extension. If I end up being proven wrong I will admit it. But nothing has changed. Would I be shocked if SU went 6-3 here on out, no. Do I expect it, no chance in hell! That is my point. I hope I am wrong though.

 

[qdawgg]

Not at all. My stance hasn't changed from day 1. I don't think SU will go to a bowl and unless Doug wins alot from here on out and proves me wrong I am anti giving him a contract extension. If I end up being proven wrong I will admit it. But nothing has changed. Would I be shocked if SU went 6-3 here on out, no. Do I expect it, no chance in hell! That is my point. I hope I am wrong though.

Busting your chops. To be honest at this point in his coaching "tenure" I'm really not sure what to think. Like you I could see the season going either way and I still wouldn't feel like I knew if we were truly heading in the right direction or not.

 

[Rocco]

And to me (I know many disagree) they have yet to turn any corner or show they are headed in the right direction.

How haven't they turned a corner? Has the ship been completely righted? Not at all. You can't sit there and say that from top to bottom, the entire football program isn't improved. We're not constantly beating Top 25 teams yet, and probably won't for another year or two if all things go right.

I agreed for the most part with your whole post until that statement that I quoted you on. Might be a bit of a push.

 

[Stern]

How haven't they turned a corner? .

What the heck has changed from last year.

-Bad Special teams...still do it
-Bad in game decisions...still do it
-Ok the offense is more "exciting" to watch but we played down to Stony Brook today and struggled to put them away. Losing close games to Northwestern and USC and struggling to beat Stony Brook at home doesn't mean you improved any. I'm sorry. Might look a little different but its the same results as last year.

Tell me what has changed! What am I missing?

 

[PoppyHart]

What the heck has changed from last year.

-Bad Special teams...still do it
-Bad in game decisions...still do it
-Ok the offense is more "exciting" to watch but we played down to Stony Brook today and struggled to put them away. Losing close games to Northwestern and USC and struggling to beat Stony Brook at home doesn't mean you improved any. I'm sorry. Might look a little different but its the same results as last year.

Tell me what has changed! What am I missing?

We play up tempo, so we'll beat anyone by 10-14 points. Just check the epic Rutgers-USF thread for confirmation.

 

[chakka3421]

Nevermind

 

[orangehomer]

the game was a show.

 

[mantonio]

Here's the problem with Stern's assessment:

It's game 3, & we have played two BCS caliber schools, one of which is #2 in the country. The 3rd team is stronger than usual, & according to all research, is most likely the best FCS school in the country. You might disagree with that last assertion, but we really don't know yet, which is exactly my point.

It's far too early to make a general prediction about our growth as a program. If we played 3 lower tier programs & were 1-2 or 0-3 at that point, then I would agree with Stern's beliefs. Otherwise, you are jumping the gun in a big way.

Yes, we have some tough issues on special teams & game day decision making, but that is correctable in time.

If we stir in some reality to our ORANGE stew, what do we get? We have a team that is getting better talent, but has a bit more room for growth until we can create a stable program that can count on 8 or more wins per season.

Right now, we have the talent & moxie to earn a Bowl Berth, but we stand precariously close to missing out again. We cannot expect to be a dominant Eastern program until we get more infrastructure, but it will come.

I can see the improvement from my house...

 

[Stern]

Here's the problem with Stern's assessment:

It's game 3, & we have played two BCS caliber schools, one of which is #2 in the country. The 3rd team is stronger than usual, & according to all research, is most likely the best FBS school in the country. You might disagree with that last assertion, but we really don't know yet, which is exactly my point..

Game 3 in year 4!!! The last 3 years count! They happened on Marrone's watch!

And stop making excuses, it's friggin Stony Brook! You can't make a claim that SU has "turned the corner" and then struggle vs Stony Brook at home.

Yes, we have some tough issues on special teams & game day decision making, but that is correctable in time.

Doug hasn't corrected either issue in 3 years. To think he will do so mid-season right now I don't think is going to happen.

 

[mantonio]

Game 3 in year 4!!! The last 3 years count! They happened on Marrone's watch!

And stop making excuses, it's friggin Stony Brook! You can't make a claim that SU has "turned the corner" and then struggle vs Stony Brook at home.

They didn't really struggle as much as you think. They made many correctable mistakes, & clearly dominated them in the second half.

The biggest problem I see with this team is their slow start. If they can fix that, they will not have problems putting away most of their remaining opponents.

Yeah, this is year four, climbing out of the ABYSS...

It often takes longer than this, but fortunately... WE ARE THE 'CUSE !!!!

 

[Stern]

They didn't really struggle as much as you think. They made many correctable mistakes, & clearly dominated them in the second half.

It was a 4pt game in the 4th quarter vs a IAA school at home. They struggled a lot. They couldn't tackle the RB the entire first half. The special teams stunk again. The offense wasn't pretty most of the game. This wasn't the team that played vs USC last week. Not even close. SU struggled today vs SB.

These correctable mistakes haven't been corrected in Doug's entire time here. It's the same mistakes week after week and year after year. They might be correctable for some coaches, no our's it seems like. Year 4!! This is Year 4!

 

[suthrills]

What the heck has changed from last year.

-Bad Special teams...still do it
-Bad in game decisions...still do it
-Ok the offense is more "exciting" to watch but we played down to Stony Brook today and struggled to put them away. Losing close games to Northwestern and USC and struggling to beat Stony Brook at home doesn't mean you improved any. I'm sorry. Might look a little different but its the same results as last year.

Tell me what has changed! What am I missing?

We absolutely thoroughly dominated them in the 2nd half in every conceivable way. The offense moved the ball at will except for one 3 and out and our D shut them out. I think SB ran a total of 17 plays, had only 2 first downs, and never crossed midfield. We outscored them 14-0. You can't dominate a team anymore than we did in the 2nd half.
You asked what has changed and that is huge change from any game I can remember in the DM era. Can you remember any game where we dominated that thouroughly?
I'm not saying I'm happy with the overall performance. There is plenty to work on which you mentioned but that is certainly a change.

 

[1orange]

Tell me what has changed! What am I missing?

450 yards on offense per game.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Tell me what has changed! What am I missing?

450 yards on offense per game.

Well there is that, but why let facts get in the way of another curmudgeonly styled rant as if the university and Marrone owe him something

 

[OrangeTown]

Why do you use improvement over the past 3-4 years to bolster your argument, but when someone says we have turned a corner, you insist on only going back to last year to compare? Not saying I disagree with all your points, but I think you need to be consistent in your comparisons.

 

[Stern]

Tell me what has changed! What am I missing?

450 yards on offense per game.

But who cares if the end results are the same.

 

[RF2044]

It was a 4pt game in the 4th quarter vs a IAA school at home. They struggled a lot. They couldn't tackle the RB the entire first half. The special teams stunk again. The offense wasn't pretty most of the game. This wasn't the team that played vs USC last week. Not even close. SU struggled today vs SB.

These correctable mistakes haven't been corrected in Doug's entire time here. It's the same mistakes week after week and year after year. They might be correctable for some coaches, no our's it seems like. Year 4!! This is Year 4!

That's not really true. We definitely struggled for two series in the first quarter to slow them down, then did a fine job defensively after that. The one RB made an exceptional run that will undoubtedly be one of the SC top plays of the day, otherwise we hold them to around 10 points. Stony Brook also didn't cross mid-field in the second half.

Now, I sure wasn't feeling comfortable when we only had a 4 point lead--I'll grant you that--but I don't think we "struggled" yesterday like you are implying. This was a pretty lopsided game in many respects, and we left a lot of points off the board.

 

[Alsacs]

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/...network&page=cfoot2/misc/tsn-div-1aa-poll.htm
Stony Brook was ranked 17th in the 1-AA poll coming into this week. So they weren't a pushover I-AA team to schedule like those dbags in the armpit of America have scheduled each year since UNH beat them years ago. However, Minnesota our next opponent beat UNH who is ranked 18th in I-AA 41-7 last week. So we will need to improve a lot next week to beat Minny.

 

[upperdeck]

minn outgained NH 410 to 230 and won 44-7
we outganed SB 550 to 310 but only won 28-17

from the stats you would think we won easily, not so much on the score board.. of course had we made the two FG, we probably kick the other 2 and win 40-17 or ride the momentum to a 48-17 type win , struggling in the red zone was the down side to the game

ccst played Sb and NH lost 49-17 and 43-10. so the teams probably compare pretty well.

 

[Orange Rust Belt]

Clueless, and relentlessly negative.

You must be a joy to people who actually know you.

If you read his initial post and seriously think he's clueless then I'm in embarrassed at the naivety of some SU football fans. I dont always agree with Stern but I couldn't agree more with about 90% of what he said.

 

[anglerman]

Stern you keep saying this is year 4 and thing haven't changed as if the 3 previous years were all bad. Doug went 8-5 his second year and you act like it didn't happen. I'm frustrated with some of things that have happened in these games but we are averaging more then 500yds of offense per game. So for you to say things haven't changed is just BS

And some of the special teams have been verygood like th kick off coverage. You need toe more objective.

 

[Stern]

If you read his initial post and seriously think he's clueless then I'm in embarrassed at the naivety of some SU football fans. I dont always agree with Stern but I couldn't agree more with about 90% of what he said.

Thank you!

 

[Cusee44]

We went vanilla against SB and they stayed close. USC went vanilla against us and we stayed close. Same story, different game. Not much else to talk about.