What went wrong for Syracuse football’s offensive line vs. Pitt? (what we learned)

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Yikes.

 

[Orijinal]

5 false starts?? This has got to be corrected. 2 is understandable every game. 5 is unacceptable

 

[Chip]

5 false starts?? This has got to be corrected. 2 is understandable every game. 5 is unacceptable

Obviously our fans are too loud when we have the ball.

 

[patcuse]

5 false starts?? This has got to be corrected. 2 is understandable every game. 5 is unacceptable

When using all your thought process to figure out your blocking assignment. The snap count is not what your thinking about.

 

[Chip]

These guys' confidence is completely shot. Physically they haven't been there this year, but mentally too and it's just getting worse.

These things don't get fixed in a week. They sometimes don't get fixed in a year. Look no further than our opponent this weekend.

 

[sufandu]

Why are we hearing about (and seeing) Servais getting bull rushed so much worse this year? I get that he dropped some weight in anticipation of playing tackle, even if I don't understand why it was necessary, but did he lose a bunch of strength too? I'm not saying I expect him to pancake everybody, but, given his experience at the position, he should be performing better at center.

 

[SmilinBob]

I'm curious to exactly what a false start is. I've seen a plethora of linemen jump just before the snap on offense all year in college and NFL and it's a very low percentage of them are called. Are these obvious ones or are the refs just staring at certain players and making sure they are doing it perfectly? Just asking because honestly this type of penalty seems to be a little confusing to me.

 

[Orijinal]

Why are we hearing about (and seeing) Servais getting bull rushed so much worse this year? I get that he dropped some weight in anticipation of playing tackle, even if I don't understand why it was necessary, but did he lose a bunch of strength too? I'm not saying I expect him to pancake everybody, but, given his experience at the position, he should be performing better at center.

Servais is way too skinny ...especially below the waist ...for any offensive line position

 

[CuseMan4]

While Servais, Adams and Davis haven’t been great on the interior they have held their own at times but have obviously made some bad mistakes as well. Davis has gotten blown up a few times and Servais is being pushed back behind the line way too often. I really think most of our problems stem from the tackles. Alexander and Vortello have been HORRIBLE. Their feet have been stuck in the mud, they have had multiple penalties every game, it baffles me and scares me that we apparently have no one water behind them. Personally I would put in Pat Davis or the Canadian Freshman in for Alexander and have the other push Vortello. I think one of the two if not both of those guys are starting next year or by the end of this year.

 

[sufandu]

Servais is way too skinny ...especially below the waist ...for any offensive line position

That doesn't explain why he is worse this year than last. I didn't not hear/see anyone say anything about him getting manhandled last year or the year before.

 

[Cusefan69]

That doesn't explain why he is worse this year than last. I didn't not hear/see anyone say anything about him getting manhandled last year or the year before.

I think it was just less obvious. ED scrambled out of 10 to 12 sacks last year but the line still gave up 39 sacks. That’s horrible but when you find ways to win it doesn’t become the focus or Its more masked. Truthfully though we have not had what I would even consider a good oline in years. The last decent one had Pugh, Hickey and was it the frosh version of Trudo who played pretty good? For the 2017 season I think the line gave up 45 sacks. Anyone thinking this year might be different just wasn’t paying attention or they were blinded by the “TD brings in elite qb skills” negating oline deficiency’s perspective which was really not fair to TD. Also let’s face it, when your center weighs 275 wet, your qb is going to see a ton of pressure up the middle.

 

[hungrychuck]

I think it was just less obvious. ED scrambled out of 10 to 12 sacks last year but the line still gave up 39 sacks. That’s horrible but when you find ways to win it doesn’t become the focus or Its more masked. Truthfully though we have not had what I would even consider a good oline in years. The last decent one had Pugh, Hickey and was it the frosh version of Trudo who played pretty good? For the 2017 season I think the line gave up 45 sacks. Anyone thinking this year might be different just wasn’t paying attention or they were blinded by the “TD brings in elite qb skills” negating oline deficiency’s perspective which was really not fair to TD. Also let’s face it, when your center weighs 275 wet, your qb is going to see a ton of pressure up the middle.

Good post. Some people have consistently underestimated how Dungey's scrambling ability masked other deficiencies last year, including OL deficiencies.

That's not to say last year's OL wasn't better. Was anyone else concerned that Ryan Alexander was only "honorable mention" in the Sun Belt conference?

But Dungey was a star who made everyone around him better. We don't have anyone like that this year.

 

[sufandu]

I think it was just less obvious. ED scrambled out of 10 to 12 sacks last year but the line still gave up 39 sacks. That’s horrible but when you find ways to win it doesn’t become the focus or Its more masked. Truthfully though we have not had what I would even consider a good oline in years. The last decent one had Pugh, Hickey and was it the frosh version of Trudo who played pretty good? For the 2017 season I think the line gave up 45 sacks. Anyone thinking this year might be different just wasn’t paying attention or they were blinded by the “TD brings in elite qb skills” negating oline deficiency’s perspective which was really not fair to TD. Also let’s face it, when your center weighs 275 wet, your qb is going to see a ton of pressure up the middle.

ED certainly masked some things, but the jail break stuff we've seen this year wasn't there when ED got hurt his junior year or the couple of times TD came into the games to relieve ED last year.

 

[Orijinal]

That doesn't explain why he is worse this year than last. I didn't not hear/see anyone say anything about him getting manhandled last year or the year before.

Not sure what he weighs this year, but he looks markedly lighter than he was last year. His weight for center is definitely an issue. I don't know why the coaches would allow him to drop so much, especially if they knew he was the backup center. I don't get this at all and it's super frustrating.

 

[PhatOrange]

One of the false start penalties directly cost us points against Pitt.

 

[Cusefan69]

ED certainly masked some things, but the jail break stuff we've seen this year wasn't there when ED got hurt his junior year or the couple of times TD came into the games to relieve ED last year.

I think TD benefited from a few things last year with D Coordinators not have anything to base a game plan on (limited tape), the fact that we ran similar calls for TD as they did for ED (including QB designed runs in which TD executed pretty well) and while subtly different we had guys like Koda Martin and others including a much heavier Servais if I recall correctly. Also and I would not underestimate the overall mentality of the team from last year to this year. Much different.

 

[Millhouse]

Why are we hearing about (and seeing) Servais getting bull rushed so much worse this year? I get that he dropped some weight in anticipation of playing tackle, even if I don't understand why it was necessary, but did he lose a bunch of strength too? I'm not saying I expect him to pancake everybody, but, given his experience at the position, he should be performing better at center.

i'm not sure how much weight he dropped but it's really hard to lose a substantial amount of weight in a short time and not get weaker

 

[Millhouse]

I think it was just less obvious. ED scrambled out of 10 to 12 sacks last year but the line still gave up 39 sacks. That’s horrible but when you find ways to win it doesn’t become the focus or Its more masked. Truthfully though we have not had what I would even consider a good oline in years. The last decent one had Pugh, Hickey and was it the frosh version of Trudo who played pretty good? For the 2017 season I think the line gave up 45 sacks. Anyone thinking this year might be different just wasn’t paying attention or they were blinded by the “TD brings in elite qb skills” negating oline deficiency’s perspective which was really not fair to TD. Also let’s face it, when your center weighs 275 wet, your qb is going to see a ton of pressure up the middle.

i don't have any numbers on it but i don't think there is much of a correlation between mobile qbs and fewer sacks. mobile qbs are great for making something out of nothing when guys are covered but they don't avoid sacks that much and for every time they do, there might be another time they hold the ball a little longer knowing that they have some ability to spin out, so it all might wash out

 

[sufandu]

i'm not sure how much weight he dropped but it's really hard to lose a substantial amount of weight in a short time and not get weaker

Which is why it doesn't make sense for him to lose that much. Is he really that much faster? I doubt it.

 

[TexanMark]

Good post. Some people have consistently underestimated how Dungey's scrambling ability masked other deficiencies last year, including OL deficiencies.

That's not to say last year's OL wasn't better. Was anyone else concerned that Ryan Alexander was only "honorable mention" in the Sun Belt conference?

But Dungey was a star who made everyone around him better. We don't have anyone like that this year.

I was, Honorable mention Sun Belt could mean one vote from one voter. Let's face it the Sun Belt Conference is filled with many teams on par with the best FCS teams.

I thought Alexander had a chance to be a functional starter but also thought he was in reality a depth guy in a league like the ACC. This isn't a knock against Ryan as it is tough to come up to speed in one season.