Why Not Us?

[jr4750]

This helps:

 

[Alsacs]

I won't argue that the had too many What games, but he gave others a bunch of What games too. I'm thinking BC/Ferri, Auburn, VT 3OT, VT every other year, etc. Paul was inconsistent but still one hell of a coach. We've been trying to get back to his level for 13 years. We might have finally done it.

Paul did a good job and I would concede the facilities he had were inferior for the type of program we had.
The mistake was not investing while the program was hot in the 1990s.
Paul was a company man but he was a guy who lost games where he had the superior talent. That Oklahoma loss at OU in 1997 always bothered me a lot.
Such a bad loss and was on the coaching staff.
Paul was like Mack Brown at Texas he was always good when he had the QB but he overstayed his welcome and both left when they didn’t want too.
Coach P was a legend but it was time for a new voice. The problem was Dr. Gross hired an idiot.
That destroyed 25 years of work from Coach Mac.
FWIW P’s defense for your Lions looks putrid.

 

[JeffCuse]

I was stunned to learn that Syracuse hasn't been 4-0 since 1991.

It was often because of those poor early season losses. When we started 0-2 in 96... I remember the expectations were HUGE when we started ranked #9. Poof...then in 97 the loss at home to a crappy NC State team when we were ranked #13...poof ...unranked. And it kicked off 3 losses in a row (although the other 2 were not bad losses). Then in 98 ANOTHER loss to another mediocre NC State team off a #11 ranking...ranking plummeted yet again.

 

[Orangello]

I'm not looking beyond UCan't at this stage. This has the all the hallmarks of a classic SU let down game. Edsal is a bum and will do everything possible to burst our balloon. We absolutely cannot afford another MTSU type performance.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Paul did a good job and I would concede the facilities he had were inferior for the type of program we had.
The mistake was not investing while the program was hot in the 1990s.
Paul was a company man but he was a guy who lost games where he had the superior talent. That Oklahoma loss at OU in 1997 always bothered me a lot.
Such a bad loss and was on the coaching staff.
Paul was like Mack Brown at Texas he was always good when he had the QB but he overstayed his welcome and both left when they didn’t want too.
Coach P was a legend but it was time for a new voice. The problem was Dr. Gross hired an idiot.
That destroyed 25 years of work from Coach Mac.
FWIW P’s defense for your Lions looks putrid.

The Minnesota loss the year before was worse.

 

[Pyle]

Paul did a good job and I would concede the facilities he had were inferior for the type of program we had.
The mistake was not investing while the program was hot in the 1990s.
Paul was a company man but he was a guy who lost games where he had the superior talent. That Oklahoma loss at OU in 1997 always bothered me a lot.
Such a bad loss and was on the coaching staff.
Paul was like Mack Brown at Texas he was always good when he had the QB but he overstayed his welcome and both left when they didn’t want too.
Coach P was a legend but it was time for a new voice. The problem was Dr. Gross hired an idiot.
That destroyed 25 years of work from Coach Mac.
FWIW P’s defense for your Lions looks putrid.

I'm not ready to put the Lions defensive woe's on P right now. Fact is the entire team looks like rhino dung under Patricia. Want to talk about a formula that doesn't work? Let's take a team on the rise, with a winning record, fire the coach, and hire somebody from Belichek's coaching tree, a coaching tree which has shown almost no ability to win outside of NE. brilliant. I want Caldwell back.....NOW

 

[Alsacs]

I'm not ready to put the Lions defensive woe's on P right now. Fact is the entire team looks like rhino dung under Patricia. Want to talk about a formula that doesn't work? Let's take a team on the rise, with a winning record, fire the coach, and hire somebody from Belichek's coaching tree, a coaching tree which has shown almost no ability to win outside of NE. brilliant. I want Caldwell back...NOW

The Lions problem was keeping the entire offensive staff. Jim Bob Cooter wanted the HC job and they brought in an outsider. The offensive players like Cooter so they don’t like Patricia.
Patricia should fire Cooter and hire whomever Stafford likes on the outside.
That would kill a lot of the problem.

 

[Trueblue25]

This helps:

Thank god our defensive depth this year is far superior to last

 

[Crusty]

ESPN FPI now has Syracuse expected to win 5 more games with Wake now close to a toss up. Louisville now up to 78% and NCST 59%. I think it is time to reset expectations. I know people are worried about getting to 6 and all that, but the way the schedule is breaking and the way the team is starting to look will you be pleased with 6 wins knowing what you do right now? I think we should set the goal at 8, but hope for more because it's there for the taking. Even Notre Dame haven't looked like world beaters.

The national perception, and even local for the most part is that we have a weak defense. I disagree. They have basically been dominate in 11 out of 12 quarters, and we all know what happened there. We have already seen substantial improvements from our true Freshman Cisco. If we go back and replay that WMU game now I don't think they put up half the number they did. That kid is the real deal. His maturity beyond his years showed on that tailback pass. I believe it was after a couple scores, everybody was amped up. You would expect a young kid, or almost all of our other FS in the last 15 years to bite and get burnt over the top, but Cisco was right there for the play.

I think last year's tough road losses, as well as the huge home win vs Clemson was an invaluable learning experience. First, we learned that we can compete with some of the best talent in the country and at some of the most challenging venues in the country. We took some hard losses on the chin where 1 or 2 plays decided the game, but we also saw what it takes to win in a big game atmosphere vs Clemson. We only had Dungey for a few quarters after that win. Who knows what happens if he doesn't go down, or if we have someone to put in that wouldn't hurt us?

However the most important aspect is the depth Dino built. It was on display Saturday when TD had to take over for ED. As much as some around here loved the Officer, that just wouldn't be possible over a long period of time. I loved how FSU immediately started blitzing him and he remained composed and began to light up there defensive with 4 and 5 star athletes all over the field. Plus it's just not at QB. We have great depth at DB, DE, interior OL, and WR. If they were to come (which i'm hoping they don't since we are overdue to have some good fortune go our way on that front) we will be much better prepared.

If you look back and dig into some of the more surprising runs like Wake in 2007 and Kansas in 2008(?) they had similar profiles and circumstances as this Syracuse team. They each had proven, 3-4 year star starting QB's, as well as HC's, who usually had an advantage vs the opposing HC. They also had a conference that was having a down year. Both of those teams came out of no where. Kansas had 6 wins the prior year, Wake had 4. There was no slow build up in wins as some assume is the way it goes.

We have the talent and the HC to compete now. There aren't going to be many years where the whole conference is down except Clemson, BC, and Wake to an extent. Clemson is a whole other beast, but you know at least we aren't out talented by BC and Wake. Sure we go to their place, and we definitely play significantly better at home, but i'll take both our athletes, scheme and HC vs theirs any day.

Let's go Orange!

Enjoyed your post.

Everything you say is possible but not necessarily probable.
I don't think we can be that sure about the defense based on the teams we have played thus far. We have seen this movie before so lets see however do with Clemson before we judge.

Dungey, God bless him, is Dungey and probably doesn't play every game. I love TD but he will have ups and downs as he learns.

Lastly, we are competitive at long last but not dominant. This conference is still tough.

I think 7 - 8 is realistic and more is not impossible but many things have to break our way, including weather.

What is true is that this debate is fun!!

 

[Pyle]

The Lions problem was keeping the entire offensive staff. Jim Bob Cooter wanted the HC job and they brought in an outsider. The offensive players like Cooter so they don’t like Patricia.
Patricia should fire Cooter and hire whomever Stafford likes on the outside.
That would kill a lot of the problem.

Nobody likes Patricia. It's not just the offense. He's running a military camp and it's not sitting well with the players.

 

[FortyFourCT]

Let's really imagine what if...
What if we go undefeated? (We won't, just for fun)...Are we in the playoffs or considered a giant fluke and left out?

 

[anomander]

I'm not looking beyond UCan't at this stage. This has the all the hallmarks of a classic SU let down game. Edsal is a bum and will do everything possible to burst our balloon. We absolutely cannot afford another MTSU type performance.

We are 28 point favorites vs UConn. There is no way in hell we lose this game . If they lose I will never post on this board ever again.

 

[Alsacs]

Let's really imagine what if...
What if we go undefeated? (We won't, just for fun)...Are we in the playoffs or considered a giant fluke and left out?

We go undefeated we are in the CFB playoff no doubt.
Our nonconference schedule would include 2 wins away from home/including a top 25 ND team.
A win at Clemson and then a neutral site ACC title game.
100% in.
We aren’t running the table though.

 

[UnknownOrange]

Let's really imagine what if...
What if we go undefeated? (We won't, just for fun)...Are we in the playoffs or considered a giant fluke and left out?

We’d be ACC champs with road wins be Clemson, ND, and BC and a acccg win over Miami/VT/or a Duke. We’d be the 2 or 3 seed in the playoff lol

 

[GoSU96]

Tiers, revised from what we’ve see so far

Bad teams
UCONN




UNC
Louisville

Middle
PITT
Us
Wake
NC State

Top 25 good
BC
ND

Elite
Clemson

The only thing Top 25 about ND right now is their name. I think they belong firmly in the middle tier. The gap between UNC/Lville and Uconn isn't that big, Uconn has an ridiculously bad defense just a poor offense

 

[TheCusian]

Enjoyed your post.

Everything you say is possible but not necessarily probable.
I don't think we can be that sure about the defense based on the teams we have played thus far. We have seen this movie before so lets see however do with Clemson before we judge.

Dungey, God bless him, is Dungey and probably doesn't play every game. I love TD but he will have ups and downs as he learns.

Lastly, we are competitive at long last but not dominant. This conference is still tough.

I think 7 - 8 is realistic and more is not impossible but many things have to break our way, including weather.

What is true is that this debate is fun!!

This is where I am.

There are still a lot of unknowns and a lot can happen - any team outside of UCONN will have comparable or better talent. It will be up to our kids and coaches to make it a special season. If we top out at 6 and learn a lot - I'm still giddy.

 

[TheCusian]

The only thing Top 25 about ND right now is their name. I think they belong firmly in the middle tier. The gap between UNC/Lville and Uconn isn't that big, Uconn has an ridiculously bad defense just a poor offense

They are top 25 stat wise and have a win over Michigan and a decent Vanderbilt. We'll see where they end up. Their offense might not be very good.

 

[sufandu]

To win 10 games 1 or 2 will have to be against average teams when we have an off day. Are we good enough to pull off a couple later this year when we are in the heart of the ACC schedule and we have a bad day?

I will feel we've made progress with 6, I'll be really happy with 8, and ecstatic with 10.

 

[cuse309]

Thank god our defensive depth this year is far superior to last

Great point. We were in the top 5 in the same category last year. Once the injuries piled up, that stat changed quickly. I think we're more able to whether injuries in some spots.

 

[TheCusian]

Great point. We were in the top 5 in the same category last year. Once the injuries piled up, that stat changed quickly. I think we're more able to whether injuries in some spots.

Truth

One thing that is interesting is that this is the second time that 3rd down % has gotten very good. That means it's a feature of the D not a once in a lifetime comet

 

[GoSU96]

They are top 25 stat wise and have a win over Michigan and a decent Vanderbilt. We'll see where they end up. Their offense might not be very good.

ND is top 25 stat wise? Where is that?

 

[IthacaBarrel]

The Lions problem was keeping the entire offensive staff. Jim Bob Cooter wanted the HC job and they brought in an outsider. The offensive players like Cooter so they don’t like Patricia.
Patricia should fire Cooter and hire whomever Stafford likes on the outside.
That would kill a lot of the problem.

That right there is a nightmare waiting to happen in any organization. I just never know how anyone could think this could be successful as Cooter is pissed because he didn't get the job. Thought they played better yesterday but I agree. Patricia should have cleaned house those type moves just don't work, I am sure the place is a mess and full of division amongst players. Cooter didn't help himself when the Jets said they knew what the Lions were going to do before they ran the plays, that's on old Jimmy Bob.

Also lets give Patricia a year before we declare he can't coach, Bill Simmons aside.

 

[TheCusian]

ND is top 25 stat wise? Where is that?

S&P+ has them at #18 overall, #67 Offense and #5 on D. I like that ranking because it's opponent adjusted.

vs FBS they are giving up 4.56 a play on D - good for #18. We're at #108 (thanks to that WMU 3rd Q).

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Let's really imagine what if...
What if we go undefeated? (We won't, just for fun)...Are we in the playoffs or considered a giant fluke and left out?

In 100%, might get in if we run table other than lose to Clemson and Clemson runs table other than that and we win ACC by tie breaker and then ACC Championship game. 12-1. Not that it will ever happen, I understand. I am still in the win 7 camp

 

[cuse309]

Truth

One thing that is interesting is that this is the second time that 3rd down % has gotten very good. That means it's a feature of the D not a once in a lifetime comet

They were occasionally great on defense last year. Let's hope they're consistently good this year.