What sucks most is the good will being lost in a pandemic season

[RF2044]

We played well against GA Tech and won. We ran out of gas against UNC, Pitt, Clemson, and Wake. Those losses are all easier to deal with. Duke and Liberty are bad football teams and we had our butts kicked in by both. Those two games bring up question marks. That plus last season plus our roster makeup and lack of talent. Next season is huge. We need to come close to making a Bowl and the incoming Freshman class needs to look legit. If those two things happen I will be confident that Dino can turn this around. If neither happen we will need to see when we can afford to make a change.

That's kind of what gets me. Went on the road the first two games with a completely patchwork OL, couldn't generate any consistent offense, but the defense kept us in both games.

Then, we play a GT team coming off a big win against FSU, the defense forced a ton of turnovers, and we got the running game going -- looked like the offense [and the OL] were beginning to gel, with Tucker's emergence.

But then there was a dropoff -- the positive signs from the GT game weren't sustained.

 

[DilemaCuse]

Nobody in their right mind thought this team would be really good and be a contender this season.
No spring practice.
Little conditioning.
Players being away.
Summer Practice being delayed.

What sucks is the HC has just performed so poorly and his comments publicly are just garbage it loses credibility.

If we were losing and getting beat because of talent it’s not an issue.
This team isn’t losing as badly because of talent. It’s awful in-game
Coaching, it’s game plan, it’s adjustments.

We are just irrelevant. That is on the HC.
I get he doesn’t like the media. When he talks publicly it’s to the fans and diehards realize fans want to make an excuse for this season. Give them a reason.

The crap being spewed is just passive aggressive frustration with no accountability.

It’s sad in a season that should be a bonus for even happening I wish didn’t happen at all. In year 5 of DB Era that is on him 100%.

Agree w most of the post. However alot of teams had their off season schedules affected, unfortunately 2 new coordinators can make that worse. Everything is going downhill, sort of the opposite of 2018 where almost everything broke right. The mojo from Dino is gone, no postgame speeches to go viral, etc. Need to get wins for that.

I go back to August when practice started, and the days where the team boycotted practice. That to me was THE Bad Omen for this season.

Championship caliber (even conference level champs) teams don't boycott practice. They go out and work and grind and get better. It might be culture/mindset issue that's instilled in the program.

 

[orangecuse]

Agree w most of the post. However alot of teams had their off season schedules affected, unfortunately 2 new coordinators can make that worse. Everything is going downhill, sort of the opposite of 2018 where almost everything broke right. The mojo from Dino is gone, no postgame speeches to go viral, etc. Need to get wins for that.

I go back to August when practice started, and the days where the team boycotted practice. That to me was THE Bad Omen for this season.

Championship caliber (even conference level champs) teams don't boycott practice. They go out and work and grind and get better. It might be culture/mindset issue that's instilled in the program.

Solid point on the boycott, bad omen and culture of losing sentiment that the program has. The culture of losing breeds an acceptance of one's rationale in their believed circumstance and plight vs winning programs where it doesn't exist, at least not consistently. And, where this festered culture is so deeply seeded and septic.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

That's kind of what gets me. Went on the road the first two games with a completely patchwork OL, couldn't generate any consistent offense, but the defense kept us in both games.

Then, we play a GT team coming off a big win against FSU, the defense forced a ton of turnovers, and we got the running game going -- looked like the offense [and the OL] were beginning to gel, with Tucker's emergence.

But then there was a dropoff -- the positive signs from the GT game weren't sustained.

Not only that but we had 2 weeks to prep for Duke. That was the 2nd game in the last two years where we looked worse coming off a bye than going in.

 

[RF2044]

Not only that but we had 2 weeks to prep for Duke. That was the 2nd game in the last two years where we looked worse coming off a bye than going in.

Completely agree -- extra week to prepare, winnable home game, the team coming off of an impressive win. And we sh-- the bed. Inexcusable.

 

[Chip]

But then there was a dropoff -- the positive signs from the GT game weren't sustained.

It ended up being more that the red flags from the GT game were exposed. Cutcliffe and Freeze are very good offensive coaches, and they knew just what to do. They had enough personnel to pull it off.

 

[Briancuse]

People here tend to completely overrate the teams we are losing too. A few weeks ago people were talking about Unc being in the playoffs,since then they lost to fsu and uva. There was a thread about Pitt having a say in the playoff picture, they haven't won a game since. After Duke beat us people were saying they weren't that bad, yes they are. Our schedule really isn't that difficult.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Home attendance will be really bad next year. You make great points, but the people filling the stands just see another blow out loss. Simple beings.

Ya assuming that fans are even allowed back ( a huge assumption based on many factors I won't get into here) attendance is going to be brutally bad at least to start. SU is going to take a massive financial hit when it can at least afford to. Attendance should spike back in 2022 assuming there's a new staff/HC.

 

[SU94]

Nobody in their right mind thought this team would be really good and be a contender this season.
No spring practice.
Little conditioning.
Players being away.
Summer Practice being delayed.

What sucks is the HC has just performed so poorly and his comments publicly are just garbage it loses credibility.

If we were losing and getting beat because of talent it’s not an issue.
This team isn’t losing as badly because of talent. It’s awful in-game
Coaching, it’s game plan, it’s adjustments.

We are just irrelevant. That is on the HC.
I get he doesn’t like the media. When he talks publicly it’s to the fans and diehards realize fans want to make an excuse for this season. Give them a reason.

The crap being spewed is just passive aggressive frustration with no accountability.

It’s sad in a season that should be a bonus for even happening I wish didn’t happen at all. In year 5 of DB Era that is on him 100%.

Dino supporter here.
That said, I too have not been enamored with Dino's rhetoric this year with the media. But I also do not place any great significance on it. It means something, ... I just don't think it's nearly as much as everyone here believes. I care much more about what his players are hearing and seeing from their leader in the public space, along with what he is saying in private (in practice or meetings).

As for game-planning, I have seen adjustments. I saw Wake doing their walking handoffs for the first 20 minutes on Saturday. Then I saw SU/White deploy an extra defender on the LOS. Wake's running advantage was severely lessened.

That's one example. I saw more passes Saturday to running backs/Lutz than I saw all season.

What we need is older/bigger/stronger, more mature players. I mean, Wake's running back was bigger than our safeties and linebackers.

We need to universally red-shirt all players with the exception of kickers and punters. This is what good, private school (read smaller) programs do. This year is obviously a one-off aberration, but going forward, we need to become the Pitt Basketball/Jamie Dixon of ACC Football. This is what Wake evidentially does and it is working for them.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Not only that but we had 2 weeks to prep for Duke. That was the 2nd game in the last two years where we looked worse coming off a bye than going in.

Its the little things like that will likely lead to Babers downfall besides the overall record. Not prepared to play out of the bye weeks, continued undisciplined play, constant issues with penalties, timeout and clock management that would make Coach P blush etc etc. To say its not a great sign were still dealing with these issues in year 5 would be a huge understatement.

 

[orangecuse]

Ya assuming that fans are even allowed back ( a huge assumption based on many factors I won't get into here) attendance is going to be brutally bad at least to start. SU is going to take a massive financial hit when it can at least afford to. Attendance should spike back in 2022 assuming there's a new staff/HC.

At least SU will still bring in the tens of millions from the TV contract, with or without fannies in the seat. That being said, with this year's amazing debacle on the field, and with the distinct possibility of yet another losing season next year, perhaps SU needs to bite the bullet and full stream ahead on the other Dome phases.

Perhaps, that, along with a new head coach in '22, will get fans reinvigorated and to the Dome. I know the folks here that are diehards will attend, but it's going to take a major campaign to get the local casual fans breathing SU football again IMO.

 

[JeremyCuse]

At least SU will still bring in the tens of millions from the TV contract, with or without fannies in the seat. That being said, with this year's astonishing debacle on the field, and with the possibility of still yet another losing season next year, perhaps SU needs to bite the bullet and full stream ahead on the other Dome phases. Perhaps, that, along with a new head coach in '22 will get fans reinvigorated and to the Dome. I know the folks here that are diehards will attend, but it's going to take a major campaign to get the local casual fans breathing SU football again IMO.

The other dome phases are going to be delayed at this point, at least that's what I expect. SU's not in a position to move forward in the current climate or until at least the pandemic is over and Babers status is resolved one way or another.

 

[PatMark]

I think this week is a good test of the "new coordinators" narrative. BC is a completely new staff. Yet they have at least been competitive in every game but one. Injuries is a different story but many, many teams went through coaching changes and have been much more competitive than our team has been.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Its the little things like that will likely lead to Babers downfall besides the overall record. Not prepared to play out of the bye weeks, continued undisciplined play, constant issues with penalties, timeout and clock management that would make Coach P blush etc etc. To say its not a great sign were still dealing with these issues in year 5 would be a huge understatement.

To be fair we looked good after the 2nd bye week last year.

I think last year we were all pretty confident that we were making a Bowl going into the 1st bye week. Those next 4 games it seemed hard to justify going 2-2 let alone going 0-4 and getting creamed each game. We were 3-2 and the O looked to be finally on track. Yes, the MD game happened but it seemed like a one off. NC State was really bad last year and we had a week and a half to get ready. We played our game on O and still almost won it at the end. That is how bad NC State was. We then played like crap the next three games which going into the bye week seemed like possible wins.

 

[orangecuse]

I think this week is a good test of the "new coordinators" narrative. BC is a completely new staff. Yet they have at least been competitive in every game but one. Injuries is a different story but many, many teams went through coaching changes and have been much more competitive than our team has been.

Hard to argue with this. Unless of course, you fall into the woe is Syracuse category and all of the excuses intangible obstacles, hurdles, etc. it faces that other schools, let alone the peer ones like BC, don't have.

 

[JeremyCuse]

To be fair we looked good after the 2nd bye week last year.

I think last year we were all pretty confident that we were making a Bowl going into the 1st bye week. Those next 4 games it seemed hard to justify going 2-2 let alone going 0-4 and getting creamed each game. We were 3-2 and the O looked to be finally on track. Yes, the MD game happened but it seemed like a one off. NC State was really bad last year and we had a week and a half to get ready. We played our game on O and still almost won it at the end. That is how bad NC State was. We then played like crap the next three games which going into the bye week seemed like possible wins.

Good points. That said for me the moment I knew we were in major trouble was that NC State game. That was an awful NC State team that was missing pretty much every offensive skill player with a pulse to injury and was starting a 3rd string QB who got beat out at his JUCO school the year before and we lost and lost in horrific fashion. It was the first time I thought we really may have an issue at HC. Nothing I have seen since then has led me to believe that feeling was wrong.

 

[sutomcat]

You watched our run defense correct?
We don’t make the adjustment of bringing an extra DL in to lessen the gaps for opposing RBs.
We can have a base defense which works but when an opponent exposes it see Duke, Liberty you can adjust.
We don’t.
Our offense doesn’t adjust. It’s same plays every week.

I am not going to go all-22 but watch the games we don’t change.

I wonder sometimes if you watch the games.
Duke's HC David Cutcliffe said after Duke started to hurt Syracuse with the run, SU changed its defense and went with their goal line package to try and stop the run. You really didn't see the adjustments?

Did they work? No. But they sure as hell made adjustments.

 

[PhatOrange]

People here tend to completely overrate the teams we are losing too. A few weeks ago people were talking about Unc being in the playoffs,since then they lost to fsu and uva. There was a thread about Pitt having a say in the playoff picture, they haven't won a game since. After Duke beat us people were saying they weren't that bad, yes they are. Our schedule really isn't that difficult.

lets be real not one person said unc was a playoff team. Pitt got more board love...and since they lost their QB they've faltered. (hey what do you know, a team with an important injury has lost some games)...their all league safety Paris Ford just opted out the rest of the year to.

 

[PhatOrange]

I think this week is a good test of the "new coordinators" narrative. BC is a completely new staff. Yet they have at least been competitive in every game but one. Injuries is a different story but many, many teams went through coaching changes and have been much more competitive than our team has been.

I wonder if their ND transfer QB and Ohio State transfer WR have made a difference. The WR was better than anything Clemson had.

 

[PatMark]

I wonder if their ND transfer QB and Ohio State transfer WR have made a difference. The WR was better than anything Clemson had.

For sure, they attacked the portal when they arrived. Same with Rutgers. I didn't want to add that to what we should have done this past offseason!

 

[Briancuse]

lets be real not one person said unc was a playoff team. Pitt got more board love...and since they lost their QB they've faltered. (hey what do you know, a team with an important injury has lost some games)...their all league safety Paris Ford just opted out the rest of the year to.

Unc was getting some playoff talk, I'm not sure the Pitt qb was anything to write home about, Pitt fans did not like him.

 

[Alsacs]

I wonder sometimes if you watch the games.
Duke's HC David Cutcliffe said after Duke started to hurt Syracuse with the run, SU changed its defense and went with their goal line package to try and stop the run. You really didn't see the adjustments?

Did they work? No. But they sure as hell made adjustments.

I think Cutcliffe was being nice.
The 3rd quarter we weren’t in goal line.

 

[Briancuse]

I think Cutcliffe was being nice.
The 3rd quarter we weren’t in goal line.

Yup that is the ole talk up the team you just beat shtick.

 

[Alsacs]

I wonder sometimes if you watch the games.
Duke's HC David Cutcliffe said after Duke started to hurt Syracuse with the run, SU changed its defense and went with their goal line package to try and stop the run. You really didn't see the adjustments?

Did they work? No. But they sure as hell made adjustments.

Yeah I don’t watch the games.
You are right.


My god disagree with me I don’t care bring better chit next time. We weren’t in goal line till they got into the red zone. Our base defense got torched for chunk plays in the first half and second half. Duke knew how to attack what we had done the first 3 weeks and torched it.
I believe our D and brand new DC have done an excellent job overall given the fact we have one the worst offenses in college football and they have gotten a lot of turnovers.

 

[sutomcat]

Yeah I don’t watch the games.
You are right.


My god disagree with me I don’t care bring better chit next time. We weren’t in goal line till they got into the red zone. Our base defense got torched for chunk plays in the first half and second half. Duke knew how to attack what we had done the first 3 weeks and torched it.
I believe our D and brand new DC have done an excellent job overall given the fact we have one the worst offenses in college football and they have gotten a lot of turnovers.

Again, what you said, that Syracuse tried no adjustments, is categorically wrong. I implore you to read or watch games closely and educate yourself.

HOW WAS THE TEAM ABLE TO ABSORB THE LATE PUSH FROM SYRACUSE AND STILL CONTROL THE GAME?

To be honest with you, I think they were confident by their preparation. And I'm going to tell you. They, defensively, because they had an open date, they did more things that they had not shown. Our guys handled it because our coaches did a great job of preparing them for it in the run game. They came with safety pressure weak, safety pressure strong, backer pressure off edge. They went basically to their goal line defense to stop the run. But in every case, I thought our front was ready and they responded, and there was a toughness to our team today that just didn't really exist before. It was good to see. That mentality is one of the things you have to grow. It's just been a different year, and hopefully we can hang on to this.

Everything Coach Cutcliffe said after Duke's first win

Duke finally got their first win of the year, Coach Cut breaks down why

247sports.com