What happened to "our best team in the last 20 years?" | Page 3 | Syracusefan.com

What happened to "our best team in the last 20 years?"

It makes me mad, i’d be pissed if I was banged up today and getting back to the grind after this loss and saw my teammates throwing up look at me videos on instagram. Maybe its just me. Didn’t see Zaire, Paris or Dungey throwing up highlights after the NC State, FSU and Miami losses.

All this being said, Devito is not one of the kids im talking about.

I don’t disagree with any of this, no way in hell I would do that. That type of stuff riles me up but I actually just find the topic in general interesting but I also teach college sociology, so no surprise. I’ve met a lot of 40-60 year old guys that are as full of themselves as any “kid” I’ve ever met. They’re just narcissistic in a different way, or express it in a different way because they’re from a different generation.
 
I don’t disagree with any of this, no way in hell I would do that. That type of stuff riles me up but I actually just find the topic in general interesting but I also teach college sociology, so no surprise. I’ve met a lot of 40-60 year old guys that are as full of themselves as any “kid” I’ve ever met. They’re just narcissistic in a different way, or express it in a different way because they’re from a different generation.
You teach sociology? Nice.

I tried going down that road for a little while.
 
The liberty game was the first game with a new qb. Liberty was hyped. That game is a pass.

Maryland we obviously overlooked and were unprepared. We got punched early in the mouth and couldnt recover. Clearly the defense is better than that.

Clemson is top 2-3 team. Thats just a tough ask. I think their defense is a lot better than people talk about. They held texas am to few points last week. Our defense held its own.

Now, the real season starts and find out how good we are. Dino said in the preseason that the offense couldnt move the ball well against the defense. That was a sign. Need the offense to find some mojo and then can win some games.


Right now, this team has a glass jaw. I don't see the toughness necessary to win most of our "toss up" games, especially on the road. Even our defensive line play has been inconsistent. When they are good, they can be outstanding. But the lines are not playing well right now.
 
We have players that lack mental toughness. We need more "ballers".
We make a handful of really good plays, and then we squander the advantage and fail to capitalize.
In big moments, players are making too many mistakes.

There were obviously 2 or 3 terrible dropped passes early on that undermined the confidence of the offense.
The defense got torched early, but then got a foothold in the game and stabilized things.
The offense had 4 chances in the red zone, and only 2 FG's to show for it.

When Tommy threw the interception on first down from their 9 yard line with the chance to make it a 4 point game, I thought that was the game. But we got right back down there after another interception, and we couldn't punch it in on 4 tries.

We have a lot of talented players on this roster, but we don't seem to have tough guys to provide leadership in big moments. And it doesn't feel like the offense plays together "as a group". They feel disjointed.

And I don't want to turn this into "Tommy Bashing", but for the third straight game, he threw a terrible interception right at the defender. He didn't get close on a couple fade routes in the end zone when we got down close, and although he did have one aggressive run on a scramble, I only remember one. "Pretty Boy" Trevor Lawrence was more of a threat running the ball than Tommy.

They need to really light up these next 2 teams, or this season is going to turn into a crap-fest. North Carolina State is the game that determines whether or not we even get to a bowl game this year.

P.S. - Oh, I have one big question about the defense - why in the world was 5-8 Cordy covering that 6-4 WR Tee on seemingly every play? Don't we have about 10 DBs who are 6 feet tall? Didn't Cordy fail to make our two-deep until this week? What the hell happened in the secondary that he was our best option, after he was getting beat one-on-one over and over and over?
These kids had mental toughness last year?
 
We have players that lack mental toughness. We need more "ballers".
We make a handful of really good plays, and then we squander the advantage and fail to capitalize.
In big moments, players are making too many mistakes.

There were obviously 2 or 3 terrible dropped passes early on that undermined the confidence of the offense.
The defense got torched early, but then got a foothold in the game and stabilized things.
The offense had 4 chances in the red zone, and only 2 FG's to show for it.

When Tommy threw the interception on first down from their 9 yard line with the chance to make it a 4 point game, I thought that was the game. But we got right back down there after another interception, and we couldn't punch it in on 4 tries.

We have a lot of talented players on this roster, but we don't seem to have tough guys to provide leadership in big moments. And it doesn't feel like the offense plays together "as a group". They feel disjointed.

And I don't want to turn this into "Tommy Bashing", but for the third straight game, he threw a terrible interception right at the defender. He didn't get close on a couple fade routes in the end zone when we got down close, and although he did have one aggressive run on a scramble, I only remember one. "Pretty Boy" Trevor Lawrence was more of a threat running the ball than Tommy.

They need to really light up these next 2 teams, or this season is going to turn into a crap-fest. North Carolina State is the game that determines whether or not we even get to a bowl game this year.

P.S. - Oh, I have one big question about the defense - why in the world was 5-8 Cordy covering that 6-4 WR Tee on seemingly every play? Don't we have about 10 DBs who are 6 feet tall? Didn't Cordy fail to make our two-deep until this week? What the hell happened in the secondary that he was our best option, after he was getting beat one-on-one over and over and over?
I thought same thing. Jones at least is 6 ft with a 4.29 speed.
 
These kids had mental toughness last year?


You don't win 10 games if you don't fight back.
How about Dungey jumping into the chest of that Miami defender? That was mental toughness. Slayton in the middle was more irreplaceable than most people thought. Losing a couple key guys on the lines has been a killer. That's where most toughness starts out - in the lines and at linebacker and safety.
 
These kids had mental toughness last year?
I think we had other players who were leaders and displayed mental toughness last year and the year prior. I think it’s up to the younger ones to learn it or grow into it. Part of it is their mental dna so to speak in my opinion. Some display toughness by example, some are more vociferous, some display mental toughness by not giving up on something, some step up when it is required. If there is a vacuum on the team though around that attribute, the coaches best make sure to target some leaders in future recruiting classes. Zaire was never the best athlete on the field but he was a leader of men on that field and off the field.
 
I think we had other players who were leaders and displayed mental toughness last year and the year prior. I think it’s up to the younger ones to learn it or grow into it. Part of it is their mental dna so to speak in my opinion. Some display toughness by example, some are more vociferous, some display mental toughness by not giving up on something, some step up when it is required. If there is a vacuum on the team though around that attribute, the coaches best make sure to target some leaders in future recruiting classes. Zaire was never the best athlete on the field but he was a leader of men on that field and off the field.
The kids that are on this team, that were on last years team, won 10 games. That is something that Zaire didn't do in 2 years. Nothing against Zaire, but he was here two years ago.
 
Agreed. Was just saying not everyone is a leader and maybe has the same levels of mental toughness but when the young guys see it on display it spurs and motivates them to emulate what they see. Last year it was guys like ED, Strick and Slayton. I referenced Zaire as he was another leader is all. This year who is filling the shoes left empty by the guys above? I am not sure who is. Could be a gap or is something that is in development.
 
You teach sociology? Nice.

I tried going down that road for a little while.

Technically I’m a MS/HS teacher but I teach a SUNY intro course to High School kids for college credit and I have a masters in the area.

Probably a good road not to pursue in general, assuming you want to pay your bills. Lol.

What direction did you end up going?
 
Zaire was elected captain as a soph. 3 x captain here. that's called leadership. cisco is the kid making plays.
rest of the unit needs to step it up to his level . we giving up way too many plays and points.
 
There were people with pretty credible opinions this off-season that talked up the talent we have and how good this team is.

Maybe that team is still in there, but nothing looks right.

Were those opinions just way off-base? Did we fluke into 10 wins last season?
Well, they best or 2nd best program in the country every year.
I thought they were improved over Maryland game.
 
Technically I’m a MS/HS teacher but I teach a SUNY intro course to High School kids for college credit and I have a masters in the area.

Probably a good road not to pursue in general, assuming you want to pay your bills. Lol.

What direction did you end up going?
Marketing. I'm hoping with some more years of high level experience and a few adjunct courses under my belt I might be interesting enough for a business school to hire. Long term I'd much rather teach.
 
Marketing. I'm hoping with some more years of high level experience and a few adjunct courses under my belt I might be interesting enough for a business school to hire. Long term I'd much rather teach.

I teach Micro-economics too and get into some marketing aspects. A lot of commonalities between the two fields and it's great to teach. Good luck!
 
Babers made a comment about the QB, TE, and RBs. I saw Neal whiff on a few blocks that Strick probably would have picked up. I know the TE (think it was Benson) was supposed to chip, then release and clearly forgot that aspect on another one.

My guess is it’s 50/50. I mean, we had a few guys so open on slants it was stupid. Then again, after getting hit every play I get why Tommy got gun shy as well.

Alexander definitely struggled. We need to get Heckel back so Servais can slide to LT and Carlos can move to RT.
Neal is horrendous in pass blocking, not to knock him but he's big play guy.
This has been the single worst o line play I've ever seen from a su team. Perry Patterson had enough time to skip his way through the pocket
Tommy is constantly running for his life
 

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