1 game. The first game at that, and we all of a sudden think TD won’t be as good. That smells of overreactions and ridiculousness just like your “contrived excuse” about lack of game film.
It has been said numerous times that we had no film on their team. Dino stated they played a a defense that TD had never seen before. We have film on Maryland, he will be better. Preparation throughout the week is very important and we went into this game blind.As many have opined, Tommy's performance was nothing to write home about. If I had one concern that is larger than "just a bad game" or it was his "first start" is what Dino stated in the presser afterwards...that "Tommy is a gunslinger." Being a gunslinger is not only a physical attribute, but it's built/borne into one's mindset. Being patient and "taking what the defense gives you" is something a gunslinger has a lot of difficulty dealing with/adjusting to. If Liberty schemes can fluster/challenge him (patience, mentally, etc.) so much, what will other P5 schools be able to do in that regard with much better personnel? Time will tell I guess...I hope TD has the mental capacity to adjust moving forward.
There was at least one other instance where Tommy threw it to a Liberty DB & they didn’t hold on/have a good angleOne thing: even with the struggles of the passing game to get untracked, I think things would feel a lot better if you just took away that one bad decision(that the Liberty kid also made a great play on) before half. That was really the only play that “scared” me. Take that one away and we’ve likely got 3 more points, and he only has 1 pick that was largely meaningless.
I say that because the other pick was 4th down anyway and it basically served like a great punt. I didn’t mind taking a shot there.
Next week though, I think it’s safe to say we’ll need to be on the positive side of 50% completion percentage and TD/INT ratio to win comfortably.
Look, I think TD will be good, however, I think it’s going to take a little longer than what we all thought. I think we all assumed he would step right in and be great.
On the flip side, thank god we have a defense. They just completely shut out a team, a rare feat against any opponent. We won by 24.
Luckily we won’t need to rely on the offense as much this season as in others with a strong defense.
I think TD will improve over the season and I think next season will be his year to shine.
But hey, here’s to hoping he proves me wrong
There was at least one other instance where Tommy threw it to a Liberty DB & they didn’t hold on/have a good angle
That’s true, there was a near pick 6. That seemed like a miscommunication between Tommy and whoever he was throwing to(forgot)?
It has been said numerous times that we had no film on their team. Dino stated they played a a defense that TD had never seen before. We have film on Maryland, he will be better. Preparation throughout the week is very important and we went into this game blind.
Yes but couple that with a vanilla game plan on our end and stuff happens. Maybe I am being too optimistic, but I don’t think we saw what our real offense will look like.I understand, but some of that is coach speak too. It's not as if taking away the long ball or scheming to that effect, etc. is unique to football. Teams do this all the time depending upon a particular chosen game plan. You have to be able to adjust accordingly. Tommy has played highly competitive organized football for some time, and he's 3 years into SU's program.
The comparisons to Dungey are poor. Dungey had bad games we forgot about because he had to hero ball the remainder of the game as a result of nobody else on the team being able to step up. Dungey was a warrior that put himself on the line to get our O going when his arm certainly couldn’t.
Thank the lord Tommy does not need to do that. We have three outstanding running backs and a defense that provides some forgiveness.
UNC didn’t have to respect the pass against us last year, until they did. Then it was too late.Ahhh, I'm pretty sure that SU fans know from bitter experience what happens when the opponent doesn't have to respect the passing game. We start talking about the number of "men in the box".
I'm sure TD will improve because I have seen him play well before and I have faith in Babers. My concern is about the amount of improvement he has to make. A "little better" might not be enough against Maryland. It sure isn't going to be enough against opponent #3 on the schedule.