TheCusian
Living Legend
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- Sep 24, 2012
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I think that a lot of the public facing comments from Babers about patience are about setting the public expectations pretty low. This is a smart approach. (Contrast that with loud pronouncements from McF*&kit). Addelson from ESPN was on Axe's show yesterday and basically admitted to putting Syracuse low in the rankings because Dino doesn't spend a lot of time talking about how good his players or system will be. She said she and her colleagues put us that low because they have tons of unanswered questions and can't get him to talk about his team. Pair this with Babers request to let him have time with his team, the lack of public events, and lack of practice availability (just 1o min of practice every other day) - and it's clear Babers wants an incubation period. Talk is cheap and he's not selling any.
Unfortunately this all leaves us with very little info going into Colgate in two weeks. I personally think that he was pleasantly surprised with the young pieces on the team on offense especially. His time at BG and Eastern Illinois proved that he can take the existing talent and maximize it in year one. As he's repeatedly said, year two is where it really clicks - but I think we've been so bad on O, that 75% of Dino-ball is better than any year in the past 10 by a pretty large measure (with a hat tip to Nassib's senior year).
We'll be fast, better, and we'll put up a lot of points. I also think that the youth matures, in-game coaching improves, and that S&C is better.
I've been thinking that the key to figuring out the W/L this year is "Who can keep up?" ... If Dino thinks he can score every time we have the ball faster than his opponents, who do you look at and think "Um, that's going to be dicey" ..
1. at Clemson* (Ranked #10 in O S&P+ with a lot of returning talent at QB/RB/WR). They may be the best offensive team in the country.
2. ND* at MetLife (Ranked #8 in O S&P+ with the good kind of QB competition, 3 guys who can all sling it). They do lose a few pieces, but will be very good on offense.
3. FSU* (Ranked #21 in O S&P+ with a true freshman QB and a Sr who is injured and will be back by our game). They have the best RB in CFB in Cook. They can play keep away and run clock and I don't think we'll have an answer. This is about O, but their secondary is going to be lights out. Game is in the Dome. Should be interesting.
-- Decent drop-off, IMO
4. Louisville (Ranked #49 in O S&P+ with good WR talent and a rising QB who can run for days). I think the key here is "Can Jackson read the Tampa 2 and show discipline passing the ball from the pocket on the road?" This is where we'll need to score a lot to put the pressure on their QB. I see a shoot-out in a winnable game.
5. at PITT (Ranked #38 in O S&P+ with a returning if unspectacular QB in Peterman.) This is FSU light. If we can score quickly, it hurts the strength of their offense, RB. I'm not sold on the PITT WRs.
6. USF (Ranked #50 in O S&P+ with a good core returning from the team that we had a tough time with last year). This is Louisville light. They have an athletic, improving QB in Flowers and athletes at WR. I think it will boil down to how patient Flowers is on the road vs the Tampa 2.
7. VT (Ranked #72 in O S&P+ with QB question marks, but good overall talent). This offense is very hard to read. I think Fuentes elevates them - but how much in year one? No idea.
-- Another decent drop-off, IMO
8. NCst (Ranked #32 in O S&P+ with a new QB and a new OC). They play so many cupcakes their numbers are junked even in the advanced stats world. They will be okay on O. But they have too many question marks. And the game is in the Dome. And our players don't like them.
9. at Wake Forest (Ranked #108 in O S&P+ with a mediocre QB and limited weapons). The ever improving, always on the rise Wake team returns a bevy of mediocre players and were bad last year. But they did beat BC in the "Great Battle of the Kickers" so there's that.
10. at BC (Ranked #124 in O S&P+ with a decent grad transfer QB and a new mediocre OC). Towles will help them be less awful. Not sure about their retread VT OC. Better means getting out of the 100's. I do like their RB Hillman. But it won't be enough.
11. at UCONN (Ranked #114 in O S&P+ with a kind of bad QB returning). This will be like battling our meat head past. I expect their D to hold us for a bit, but for them to suck on O. But unlike BC, they don't have a QB.
Unfortunately this all leaves us with very little info going into Colgate in two weeks. I personally think that he was pleasantly surprised with the young pieces on the team on offense especially. His time at BG and Eastern Illinois proved that he can take the existing talent and maximize it in year one. As he's repeatedly said, year two is where it really clicks - but I think we've been so bad on O, that 75% of Dino-ball is better than any year in the past 10 by a pretty large measure (with a hat tip to Nassib's senior year).
We'll be fast, better, and we'll put up a lot of points. I also think that the youth matures, in-game coaching improves, and that S&C is better.
I've been thinking that the key to figuring out the W/L this year is "Who can keep up?" ... If Dino thinks he can score every time we have the ball faster than his opponents, who do you look at and think "Um, that's going to be dicey" ..
1. at Clemson* (Ranked #10 in O S&P+ with a lot of returning talent at QB/RB/WR). They may be the best offensive team in the country.
2. ND* at MetLife (Ranked #8 in O S&P+ with the good kind of QB competition, 3 guys who can all sling it). They do lose a few pieces, but will be very good on offense.
3. FSU* (Ranked #21 in O S&P+ with a true freshman QB and a Sr who is injured and will be back by our game). They have the best RB in CFB in Cook. They can play keep away and run clock and I don't think we'll have an answer. This is about O, but their secondary is going to be lights out. Game is in the Dome. Should be interesting.
-- Decent drop-off, IMO
4. Louisville (Ranked #49 in O S&P+ with good WR talent and a rising QB who can run for days). I think the key here is "Can Jackson read the Tampa 2 and show discipline passing the ball from the pocket on the road?" This is where we'll need to score a lot to put the pressure on their QB. I see a shoot-out in a winnable game.
5. at PITT (Ranked #38 in O S&P+ with a returning if unspectacular QB in Peterman.) This is FSU light. If we can score quickly, it hurts the strength of their offense, RB. I'm not sold on the PITT WRs.
6. USF (Ranked #50 in O S&P+ with a good core returning from the team that we had a tough time with last year). This is Louisville light. They have an athletic, improving QB in Flowers and athletes at WR. I think it will boil down to how patient Flowers is on the road vs the Tampa 2.
7. VT (Ranked #72 in O S&P+ with QB question marks, but good overall talent). This offense is very hard to read. I think Fuentes elevates them - but how much in year one? No idea.
-- Another decent drop-off, IMO
8. NCst (Ranked #32 in O S&P+ with a new QB and a new OC). They play so many cupcakes their numbers are junked even in the advanced stats world. They will be okay on O. But they have too many question marks. And the game is in the Dome. And our players don't like them.
9. at Wake Forest (Ranked #108 in O S&P+ with a mediocre QB and limited weapons). The ever improving, always on the rise Wake team returns a bevy of mediocre players and were bad last year. But they did beat BC in the "Great Battle of the Kickers" so there's that.
10. at BC (Ranked #124 in O S&P+ with a decent grad transfer QB and a new mediocre OC). Towles will help them be less awful. Not sure about their retread VT OC. Better means getting out of the 100's. I do like their RB Hillman. But it won't be enough.
11. at UCONN (Ranked #114 in O S&P+ with a kind of bad QB returning). This will be like battling our meat head past. I expect their D to hold us for a bit, but for them to suck on O. But unlike BC, they don't have a QB.
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