Given all of the positive vibes surrounding the program the last two weeks I believe the next two games represent a HUGE opportunity for the team to make a statement. Obviously I want to see two wins but what I really don't want to see regardless of whether we win, lose or draw are:
- 1st half KO's (unless we're inflicting them): Too many times in the past a Cuse team has had the opportunity to show that we are "turning the corner" only to be down 21-0 by the end of the first quarter. My belief is that you control tempo with your offense so this is on Lester to have a 1st half game plan that just moves the chains and chews up clock in the first half so that we are still in the game no matter what the D does. We need sustained drives which means no 3 and outs. If we are up two scores then great go for the homerun. I want to see a lot of option the first half.
- Soft-nosed coaching: HCSS showed in the LSU game that when he has nothing to lose he's willing to go for it. I think the mark of a good coach is one who coaches the same whether or not he has nothing to lose or not. I don't want to see HCSS tighten up and coach like a wuss now that he has games where there is a lot on the line.
- Poor tackling: I don't think I've seen a Syracuse team tackle as well the one that I saw play LSU. Fournette is a beast but usually if one of our guys was able to square him up we were able to slow him down enough till help arrived and brought him down. Let's continue to see that discipline and focus against inferior talent.
- Poor discipline: The last 5 years or so I feel like Syracuse has been a very penalized and poorly disciplined team. This year has been refreshing in that we very rarely have beaten ourselves. Let's continue that moving forward.
