What Changed the Riverboat Gambler? | Syracusefan.com

What Changed the Riverboat Gambler?

AngryOtto

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I’m interested in posters thoughts on what appears to be a change in Dino’s philosophy. In his first couple of years he was the riverboat gambler. He would go for it on forth down in su territory. He seemed to have the attitude that if we throw a short out or slant you cannot stop us. I remember him saying a short pass was like a run. The only thing that seems to have changed is the qb. Now I know some will say it’s the OL but we all know our OL has been a weakness for a number of years minus 2018. It was just ED athleticism covered a lot of the problems.
I am curious do people think Dino really did not want to play that style when he first arrived but was forced based on personnel or do you feel Dino does not believe the current personnel has that ability?
 
He always played that style prior.
It’s part of why he got hired.

I have NO CLUE why we don’t see ANY of that anymore??

Our “playbook” is just a pamphlet at this point.

Why we don’t get the ball out quickly to JJ (pitch or swing pass), or a quick hitter to Taj, Nyk and then they make a guy miss, pop pass to a TE, screens to ANYBODY, jet sweeps, end arounds -
ANYTHING other than a dive into the middle of a ton and a half of humanity. :confused:
 
Our 3rd down plays are so bad it’s not shocking he won’t go for it on 4th down.
Our QB never gives me confidence we will complete a 3rd down pass play.
Dino isn’t going to go for it if he doesn’t believe they will convert.
 
I’m interested in posters thoughts on what appears to be a change in Dino’s philosophy. In his first couple of years he was the riverboat gambler. He would go for it on forth down in su territory. He seemed to have the attitude that if we throw a short out or slant you cannot stop us. I remember him saying a short pass was like a run. The only thing that seems to have changed is the qb. Now I know some will say it’s the OL but we all know our OL has been a weakness for a number of years minus 2018. It was just ED athleticism covered a lot of the problems.
I am curious do people think Dino really did not want to play that style when he first arrived but was forced based on personnel or do you feel Dino does not believe the current personnel has that ability?

Perhaps practicality has poisoned his "blind faith" mantra?
 
I've started wondering if Lewis was secretly a whole lot more important than we realized.

His two years we seemed to always be on the attack. We were less afraid. Senior Dungey carried that through.

Now it feels like we just give up on possessions. I don't believe that's the plan. It does look like sometimes we're content to get the offense off the field and try again next time, though.

It actually makes me feel sad.
 
I think Sean Lewis had a HUGE role in this...

If Dino strings together another two awful seasons (this season and next) I am going to bet that their might be some calls out to Lewis and if he would be interested in the HC position at Syracuse
 
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I think he's gone conservative because of the ineptitude of the offense. They have to dial it down because he just can't continue to put the defense on the field.

The more confident they are the more riverboat gambler we'll see.
 
I think this is a classic example of there not being one single explanation, and a number of factors that all contribute. Short answer is that NOTHING has fundamentally changed in terms of the philosophy -- what's changed has been driven by personnel / depth / injury considerations:
  • It's a lot easier to gamble and bet on yourself when you have a gamer like Eric Dungey quarterbacking -- and it is a lot easier to take risks when a guy can beat the opposition in multiple ways
  • OL struggled immmensely last year, and is in an injured state of flux this year. It wasn't even that great Dungey's senior year, but his mobility and ability to make plays on the run partially masked that
  • Sean Lewis was a terrific offensive coordinator, he's now a HC somewhere else
  • DeVito seems to lack the "it" factor
  • Playing fast has inherent risk. When you don't move the chains, you hand the ball right back to the opposition, which has the dual impact of keeping the defense on the field and wearing them down. Since our offense last year / so far this year hasn't shown it can move the sticks and put up points, we've gotten more inherently conservative -- not because that's how Babers wants it, but due to that being the approach that has given us the best chance to keep the score close
  • Kirk Martin wasn't the most qualified QB coach, for a D1 P5 program
  • Babers loves to use the threat of the pass to get opposing defenses in pass protect mode, where he can then gouge them with internal runs using players like Jarveon Howard. That's still what he wants to do, but the pass isn't get established, therefore it can't be used as a decoy for the run.
  • And building upon the preceding bullet point -- since our OL has stunk, teams can load up to stop the run and they are comfortable taking the risk that DeVito won't beat them with the pass [he hasn't proven that he can do so]
 
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I think Sean Lewis had a HUGE role in this...

If Dino strings together another two awful seasons (this season and next) I am going to bet that their might be some calls out to Lewis and if he would be interested in the HC position at Syracuse
Going to be pretty much impossible to move on. His contract reportedly runs through 2024 and the school does not have the boosters to buy out 3 years of that deal and pay for a desirable hire. Babers is going to be around until at least the end of 2022. Whether that is a good or bad thing, we shall see.
 
Going to be pretty much impossible to move on. His contract reportedly runs through 2024 and the school does not have the boosters to buy out 3 years of that deal and pay for a desirable hire. Babers is going to be around until at least the end of 2022. Whether that is a good or bad thing, we shall see.

He has some solid recruits coming in so things could certainly change to his favor. I haven’t given up on Dino by any means, just being proactive in case this ship reallllly goes sideways
 
Going to be pretty much impossible to move on. His contract reportedly runs through 2024 and the school does not have the boosters to buy out 3 years of that deal and pay for a desirable hire. Babers is going to be around until at least the end of 2022. Whether that is a good or bad thing, we shall see.
Maybe that's what Wildhack's donation was for?
 
He punted at the 32 when it was 4th and 3 with about 8 minutes left and we were down 25 points.

I lost my mind (again)

I love Dino but I want my riverboat gambler back also
Wait, Dino did this?

Have I just blocked it out? Like my brain refused to believe it?
 
Our 32 not the UNC 32

Even still, your original point is valid. What are you losing at that point? Worst that can happen is you get experience in that situation for when it really matters in the future.
 
I’m interested in posters thoughts on what appears to be a change in Dino’s philosophy. In his first couple of years he was the riverboat gambler. He would go for it on forth down in su territory. He seemed to have the attitude that if we throw a short out or slant you cannot stop us. I remember him saying a short pass was like a run. The only thing that seems to have changed is the qb. Now I know some will say it’s the OL but we all know our OL has been a weakness for a number of years minus 2018. It was just ED athleticism covered a lot of the problems.
I am curious do people think Dino really did not want to play that style when he first arrived but was forced based on personnel or do you feel Dino does not believe the current personnel has that ability?
2 THINGS have changed.. 1) Sean Lewis Departure 2) Devito taking over for Dungey. I think its a combination of BOTH that have our O looking like a broken down old Chevy... Sean Lewis is probably a more important loss for the fact that he helped game plan/call plays/ feedback to QB's during Prep... The last point I will make concerning the OL... Last year by GAME 3 it was apparent Servais could not play Center... and I mean he might have played the worst D1 Center i have ever seen.. Yes i would have put the freshman in there at about game 3.. I said so on this board.. All we heard is that he wasnt ready.. Magically by game 8 he was ready and all of a sudden the OL looked at least competent... not buyng it gentlemen.. it was a gross miscalculation of eval(after the start of game 1) and negligence during the preseason to not have him ready enough.. It probably cost us 2 games..1 at least.. I was very disappointed with the staff.. and lost a wee bit of confidence in them as a whole after that debacle
 
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I think he's gone conservative because of the ineptitude of the offense. They have to dial it down because he just can't continue to put the defense on the field.

The more confident they are the more riverboat gambler we'll see.
The defense is on the field all the time now. So why dial it down?
 
I mean a 4th and short isn't something we are geared to. We lose yards when we run as often as gain them. And a perfectly executed pass play is likely to end in a drop. Harris never makes contested catches.
 
A 3 and out is a 3 and out but I would rather have a 3 and out with aggressive play calling instead of 2 dives and a throw out of bounds to the sideline.

Seems that is basically every drive.
 

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