SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
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- Because they are Clemson and we are not. Every Syracuse player will look across the line of scrimmage at a player who was higher recruited than he was.
- Their entire defensive line will play on Sundays and at least three of them will be first round draft picks. Dino says they are the greatest defensive line he’s ever seen. We think our d-line is pretty darn good. We have 13 sacks in 148 opponent passing attempts, (8.8%) and 29 tackles for a loss. Clemson has 16 sacks in 82 opponent passing attempts (19.5%) and 40 TFLs.
- On his show last night Dino said that there were two future pros on their offensive line and a third who could develop into one.
- We have a strong kick return game but theirs is as good. We are averaging 19.73 yards per kickoff return and 19.83 per punt return with 2 scores, (one being on a blocked punt). They average 29.3/16.3, respectively, although they haven’t scored yet.
- Their place-kicker has hit all 21 extra points and 3 of 5 field goals. Ours is 24 for 24 and 10 for 11. Advantage Syracuse! But look at the field goal attempts: 5 vs. 11. Advantage Clemson.
- Justin Ross is averaging 28.7 yards per catch. Tee Diggs I averaging 22.7. Travis Etienne is averaging 8.5 yards per carry. With our defensive lapses, those numbers could go up rather than down.
- Trevor Lawrence could be the next Peyton Manning. He’s tall, 6-6 215, sees the whole field and throws the ball brilliantly and with force. Dabo is starting him because he thinks he could be the key to beating Alabama. He’s not even thinking about Syracuse.
- But his team is. They lost to us last year because they were then thinking about the 0-54 game of the previous year. Now they will be thinking of the 27-24 game last year. Throw in our 4-0 record and we’ll get their ‘A’ game. We will need our A+ game just to compete - for a while. We’ll need our A++ game to compete for the whole game and our A+++ game to win.
- Eric Dungey. Tick…tick…tick…
- I don’t know if you noticed, but we haven’t beaten anybody any goo yet. Western Michigan was mediocre, not at all like their team of two years ago. Florida State was not at all like any team they’ve had since the early 70’s, before Bobby Bowden showed up. Connecticut probably belongs in FCS and Wagner probably belongs back in Division 3. Playing Clemson will be a sea change and the teams after that will be the deep end of the pool. We can still have that long losing streak that has ruined many recent seasons.
- We need to retain perspective. Our minimum goal was 6 wins and a bowl. We hoped to do a little better than that, maybe 7-5 or 8-4. We had a chance for a good start, maybe 3-1. Clemson was an automatic loss. The last two games were difficult assignments away from the Dome against two strong teams: Notre Dame and Boston College. But our fate regarding our goals is likely to have been decided by then. The heart and soul of this season is the five games after the Clemson game, all against teams who are rebuilding to some extent and are vulnerable. If we could go 3-2 or maybe 4-1 in those games, we’re all set. The Clemson game, in a different way, is as irrelevant as the Wagner game. It’s just not going to determine what our season is going to be, as long as we can get out of it with the player’s bodies and pride intact. That’s all we are asking for.
- Their entire defensive line will play on Sundays and at least three of them will be first round draft picks. Dino says they are the greatest defensive line he’s ever seen. We think our d-line is pretty darn good. We have 13 sacks in 148 opponent passing attempts, (8.8%) and 29 tackles for a loss. Clemson has 16 sacks in 82 opponent passing attempts (19.5%) and 40 TFLs.
- On his show last night Dino said that there were two future pros on their offensive line and a third who could develop into one.
- We have a strong kick return game but theirs is as good. We are averaging 19.73 yards per kickoff return and 19.83 per punt return with 2 scores, (one being on a blocked punt). They average 29.3/16.3, respectively, although they haven’t scored yet.
- Their place-kicker has hit all 21 extra points and 3 of 5 field goals. Ours is 24 for 24 and 10 for 11. Advantage Syracuse! But look at the field goal attempts: 5 vs. 11. Advantage Clemson.
- Justin Ross is averaging 28.7 yards per catch. Tee Diggs I averaging 22.7. Travis Etienne is averaging 8.5 yards per carry. With our defensive lapses, those numbers could go up rather than down.
- Trevor Lawrence could be the next Peyton Manning. He’s tall, 6-6 215, sees the whole field and throws the ball brilliantly and with force. Dabo is starting him because he thinks he could be the key to beating Alabama. He’s not even thinking about Syracuse.
- But his team is. They lost to us last year because they were then thinking about the 0-54 game of the previous year. Now they will be thinking of the 27-24 game last year. Throw in our 4-0 record and we’ll get their ‘A’ game. We will need our A+ game just to compete - for a while. We’ll need our A++ game to compete for the whole game and our A+++ game to win.
- Eric Dungey. Tick…tick…tick…
- I don’t know if you noticed, but we haven’t beaten anybody any goo yet. Western Michigan was mediocre, not at all like their team of two years ago. Florida State was not at all like any team they’ve had since the early 70’s, before Bobby Bowden showed up. Connecticut probably belongs in FCS and Wagner probably belongs back in Division 3. Playing Clemson will be a sea change and the teams after that will be the deep end of the pool. We can still have that long losing streak that has ruined many recent seasons.
- We need to retain perspective. Our minimum goal was 6 wins and a bowl. We hoped to do a little better than that, maybe 7-5 or 8-4. We had a chance for a good start, maybe 3-1. Clemson was an automatic loss. The last two games were difficult assignments away from the Dome against two strong teams: Notre Dame and Boston College. But our fate regarding our goals is likely to have been decided by then. The heart and soul of this season is the five games after the Clemson game, all against teams who are rebuilding to some extent and are vulnerable. If we could go 3-2 or maybe 4-1 in those games, we’re all set. The Clemson game, in a different way, is as irrelevant as the Wagner game. It’s just not going to determine what our season is going to be, as long as we can get out of it with the player’s bodies and pride intact. That’s all we are asking for.
