What I Expect From Syracuse Football: A Community Sound Off

[IthacaMatt]

I'm glad that at least one of the posts in this thread is realistic.

Most of the others include one or many "I wants" or "I expects" that are things we haven't had since the late 90's -
since when, the college football landscape has changed dramatically, and not in a way that Syracuse will ever return to those sort of glory years.

We're a lot closer to Wake Forest overall, than Pitt or BC.
Minus the recent success and consistency of any of them.
Wake has been on a really nice roll these past 6 seasons.

Why is it "unrealistic" to think we can be as good as - or better than - Pitt and BC?
Talk about overly pessimistic expectations!

 

[IthacaMatt]

Imagine how bad the team would be if Dino wasn’t so secretive.

At this point I just want to feel like we’re building a solid program that gets better each year. Basically I want to have hope in SU football again.

That's not his point. If you want attendance at games (and, y'know, REVENUES), then you have to engage with the community and make them feel like they are part of the program.

Dino perpetuates the University / Town divide by not engaging AT ALL with the fans.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Read through all of this thread again. I think what I expect and want is basically what Minnesota found with PJ Fleck. I think they are a fairly decent comparison for us though they are obviously in a much bigger city, it's certainly no football recruiting hot bed. Most of the negative recruiting against us also applies to them. They took a swing at a hotshot young coach and have been able to retain him and so far are having a 5 year run that is essentially everything we all have been voicing that we want.

5-7, 7-6, 11-2, 3-4, 8-4.

If we could be Minnesota right now, I would be extremely happy. They had exactly 1(2003) 10 win season in the entire history of the program so it's not like they have any kind of history that compares to ours.

that's a very good comp.

 

[Millhouse]

What I'm seeing so far is a group who has expectations near or worse than what you had with Coach P. Who HAD TO GO.

Fair and inevitable.

Recruiting rivals in shambles+racist QB recruiting =higher standards

Would be unfair to hold him to the same standards if he were brought back and for the love of God don't get any ideas

 

[Millhouse]

Agree. You start the year with a built in W against FCS. So have to go 5-6 to make a bowl game. There's typically at least 1 other OOC that should be a sure win (often 2, but not next year). So now you have to go 4-6 to make a bowl game. 3-7 to just go 5-7.

If a new coach came in, blew it all up, decided to start all young players as a long term strategy, ok maybe. If there's an unusual rash of injuries that forces way too many young players, ok maybe.

But in the transfer portal days, no one is going to go the young guy, develop on the field route. They're going to develop them in practice, weight room, and try to fill the gaps. It's why a guy like Hafley could walk right in and go to bowl games. You saw what what happens with no Jurkovec.

5-7 should be the every so often low bar, and frankly, the ACC isn't THAT good.

So we either have a Dino problem, or a Syracuse problem that very few can solve. Better hope it's the former.

I agree that 5-7 is the floor but 3-9 and 5-7 are still so not fun, I don't really care

 

[721Comstock]

I don't get why that's so funny, Comstock. I guess you feel we'll never be a good program again. But those numbers are hardly "un-obtainable". I've been a fan for nearly 60 years (egads, is that possible?) and for at least half that time, we have been at that level.

The results beg to differ.

Syracuse Orange Football Record By Year | College Football at Sports-Reference.com

Since the end of WWII, let's call that 75+ years - Syracuse football has had 2 "glory years" segments, each of which lasted about 15 years or so:

Schwartzwalder/44 era
Mac/P era

ALL of the remainder we were meh, at best.
And downright awful (o hai GERG!) at worst.

40% of the time Cuse football has been good, relevant, winning.
60% of the time, we've sucked. (2018 was a major outlier)

So, I'll ask it again: which is the norm, and which is the exception??
The results make it pretty clear which is which.
Especially for the past TWO DECADES.


Also - BOTH of those glory years eras were largely due to the fact that Syracuse gave African American athletes
(RB's - the 44's; and then QB's for Mac/P era) opportunities to play and shine, that many other programs did not.

We no longer enjoy that advantage either, and never will again.

I'm an optimist - but I'm also a realist.

 

[kcsu]

I expect a top 50 recruiting class or better each year
6 wins or more each year
Good special teams with exceptional kickers as we play inside
Strong physical and mental play
Organized staff

 

[All4SU]

The results beg to differ.

Syracuse Orange Football Record By Year | College Football at Sports-Reference.com

Since the end of WWII, let's call that 75+ years - Syracuse football has had 2 "glory years" segments, each of which lasted about 15 years or so:

Schwartzwalder/44 era
Mac/P era

ALL of the remainder we were meh, at best.
And downright awful (o hai GERG!) at worst.

40% of the time Cuse football has been good, relevant, winning.
60% of the time, we've sucked. (2018 was a major outlier)

So, I'll ask it again: which is the norm, and which is the exception??
The results make it pretty clear which is which.
Especially for the past TWO DECADES.


Also - BOTH of those glory years eras were largely due to the fact that Syracuse gave African American athletes
(RB's - the 44's; and then QB's for Mac/P era) opportunities to play and shine, that many other programs did not.

We no longer enjoy that advantage either, and never will again.

I'm an optimist - but I'm also a realist.

I’m realistic about my optimism.

 

[DownTheField]

That's not his point. If you want attendance at games (and, y'know, REVENUES), then you have to engage with the community and make them feel like they are part of the program.

Dino perpetuates the University / Town divide by not engaging AT ALL with the fans.

You think that was a serious comment?

 

[DoubleDee]

racist QB recruiting

?? Did I miss something during my fanhood?

 

[Millhouse]

?? Did I miss something during my fanhood?

Racist recruiting by other teams

Don't know how old you are but blacks not being smart enough to play QB really was a thing in the eighties and beyond. So incredibly stupid but he'll it still lingers. I still think about gruden's dlckhead interview of cam Newton and polian talking about Jackson switching to wr

 

[DoubleDee]

Racist recruiting by other teams

Don't know how old you are but blacks not being smart enough to play QB really was a thing in the eighties and beyond. So incredibly stupid but he'll it still lingers. I still think about gruden's dlckhead interview of cam Newton and polian talking about Jackson switching to wr

I think I do recall that yes. I was afraid you were referencing SU.

 

[Forza Azzurri]

Read through all of this thread again. I think what I expect and want is basically what Minnesota found with PJ Fleck. I think they are a fairly decent comparison for us though they are obviously in a much bigger city, it's certainly no football recruiting hot bed. Most of the negative recruiting against us also applies to them. They took a swing at a hotshot young coach and have been able to retain him and so far are having a 5 year run that is essentially everything we all have been voicing that we want.

5-7, 7-6, 11-2, 3-4, 8-4.

If we could be Minnesota right now, I would be extremely happy. They had exactly 1(2003) 10 win season in the entire history of the program so it's not like they have any kind of history that compares to ours.

I believe that this is a very reasonable comparison.

Over the last 20 years, Minnesota has 129 wins and 118 losses.

That works out to an average record of 6.45 wins and 5.9 losses.

They have also gone to 14 bowls over that 20 year span.

Fleck has done better: 36 wins (if you extrapolate the 3-4 2020 record to a full 12 game season) in 5 years for an average of 7.2 wins and 26 losses (5.2 losses extrapolated). So, so far, he is doing better than their 20 year average.

I would take both their 20 year average and Fleck's record in a heartbeat for us.