SWC75
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This season I will once again be charting Syracuse’s games in terms of “winning plays”. I look at the results of each play and decide which team got the minimum they wanted out of the play. Rather than making instinctive judgments, I use a formula:
- On first down, the offensive team wants to get at least a third of the way to a new first down: they will have two more plays before they might have to surrender the ball and if they gain that same amount of yards on each of those two plays, they’ll get the first down. If they don’t make it a third of the way to a new first down, the defense won the play.
- On second down, the offense wants to get at least halfway to a new first down by the same logic.
- On third and fourth down, they want to get the first down.
- Penalties, if added onto a play by the referees, are added on to the results above. If the offense gains 5 yards on first down but there was holding and they lost yardage instead, the defense won the play. If a running back made a 25 yard run on first and ten and the holding was 20 yards downfield, turning it into a 5 yard gain, that’s still a win for the offense. If the defense is penalized and it’s tacked on, again the net result is what is evaluated. The penalties I’ve listed negated the play entirely and are a “loss” for the penalized team and thus a win for their opponent.
- If a penalty was not tacked onto a play, it’s a lost play for the team being penalized. I'll count them separate from the other plays from scrimmage because I don't know if the intended play before the penalty would have been a run or a pass - so I wouldn't know where to put it in the chart below.
- A turnover is, obviously, a win for the team that wound up with the ball.
- On a kick-off a touchback brings the ball out to the 25 yard line. Teams still seem to be trying to kick the ball into the end zone and avoid a runback if they can, so any kick-off that results in the receiving team starting between their goal line and their 25 is a win for the kicking team. Beyond that, the receiving team wins.
- On a punt, a touchback takes the ball out of the 20. So any punt that results in the other team taking over from their goal line to their 20 is a win for the punting team. If the next change in field position is at least 40 yards, the punting team has also won the play.
- A successful place kick is, obviously, a win for the kicking team.
- Any play that results in a touchdown is, obviously, a win for that team that scores it.
- A “victory play” where a team accepts a loss just to let the clock run out, is a win for the offensive team.
I will indicate in parenthesis how many yards there were to go to get a new first down, (if other than 10), unless it was for no gain or negative yardage. If it was a touchdown, (“TD)” a scramble/sack (“S”) a victory play (“V”) or involved a penalty (P). I’ll treat a scramble or a sack as a passing play as the Cuse.com play by play now tells you when it’s either of those two. 1R means first down running plays. 1P means first down passing plays, etc.
I have decided to list the “Big Plays” at the bottom of each team’s summary. A big play is a play from scrimmage of over 20 yards, (or 20+ yards lost), kickoff returns of +25 yards, punt returns of +20, blocked kicks, missed kicks, and turnovers on fumbles, interceptions and downs.
When SYRACUSE had the ball:
Drive Starts: SU25, SU 41, SU 17, SU 25, SU 6, WF 45, SU 37, SU 15, SU 23, SU 24, SU 25, SU 20, WF 40 = 373/13 = SU 29 with 927 yards to go
KO: WF 25, WF 25, WF 25, WF 25, WF 25, WF 29(p)
Total: Syracuse 5 Wake Forest 1
P: 44 to WF 1, 17 to SU 35, 38 to WF 30, 29 to WF 45
Total: Syracuse 1 Wake Forest 3
FG: NG from 52, NG from 34
Total: Syracuse 0 Wake Forest 2
XP: Good, Good, Good, Good
Total: Syracuse 4 Wake Forest 0
Kicking plays total: Syracuse 10 Wake Forest 6
1r: 13, -1, 6, 9TD, 1, 10, 12, 2TD, 7, 4, -1v, 1, 0, 0, 1, 4, 17, 8TD
Total: Syracuse 10 Wake Forest 7
1p: 11, I, 2, I, 8, 44, 33TD, 30, 13, 18, 41TD, 25, I, I, I
Total: Syracuse 9 Wake Forest 6
First Down Total: Syracuse 19 Wake Forest 13
2r: -2, -2, 10(3), 11(9), -13, 2(6), 8
Total: Syracuse 3 Wake Forest 4
2p: 17, I, I, I, 43(2), -12(s), I, Interception-TD, I, I
Total: Syracuse 2 Wake Forest 8
Second Down Total: Syracuse 5 Wake Forest 12
3r: 10(20), 18(23), 39(2)
Total: Syracuse 1 Wake Forest 2
3p: 13(13), 9(4), I, -11(s), -12(s), 10(4), I
Total: Syracuse 3 Wake Forest 4
Third Down Total: Syracuse 4 Wake Forest 6
4r: none
Total: Syracuse 0 Wake Forest 0
4p: 24
Total: Syracuse 1 Wake Forest 0
Fourth Down Total: Syracuse 1 Wake Forest 0
Total on running plays: Syracuse 14 Wake Forest 13
Total on passing plays: Syracuse 15 Wake Forest 18
Total on plays from scrimmage: Syracuse 29 Wake Forest 31
Penalties not tacked on to plays: -10 Syracuse 0 Wake Forest 1
Game total when SYRACUSE had the ball: Syracuse 39 Wake Forest 38
Big Plays: 34kr, (45TD canceled for holding), 43pass, 44pass, 33passTD, 37kr, 30pass, 41passTD, 25pass, 43pr, 39run, 24pass
When WAKE FOREST had the ball:
Drive Starts: WF 25, WF 1 SU 35, WF 25, WF 25, WF 20, WF 25, WF 30, WF 45, WF 25, WF 29, WF 20 = 335/12 = WF 28 with 865 to go
KO: SU 25, SU 41, SU 25, WF 45, SU 37, SU 23, SU 24, SU 25
Total: Syracuse 3 Wake Forest 5
P: 47 to SU 17, 29 to SU 15, 25 to SU 20, -7 to WF
Total: Syracuse 1 Wake Forest 3
FG: Good from 33
Total: Syracuse 0 Wake Forest 1
XP: Good, Good, Good, Good, Good, Good
Total: Syracuse 0 Wake Forest 6
Kicking plays total: Syracuse 4 Wake Forest 15
1r: 17, 3, 9, 4, 4(5), 4, 18, 5, 3, 7, -8(s), 5, 11, 1, 7, 5, 7, 3, 8, 4, 4TD, 3, 7, 2(5), 3, 12, -1v
Total: Syracuse 9 Wake Forest 18
1p: I, 7, I, I, I, I, -7(s), 36, 9, 29TD, I, 7, 10TD, 11, I, I, 14
Total: Syracuse 9 Wake Forest 8
First Down Total: Syracuse 28 Wake Forest 26
2r: 592), 7, -3, 3, 4(1), 4(1), 10(5), 8(5), 2(30, 7(30, 5(2), 5(6), 4(3), 0, 3(7), 1(13)
Total: Syracuse 6 Wake Forest 10
2p: 3, 6, 11, 15(p), 12TD, 16(1), 4(6), 7(7), 10(3), 6(2), 16, 6(3), -5(s), I, 5, 17TD, -4(s), 9(7)
Total: Syracuse 4 Wake Forest 14
Second Down Total: Syracuse 10 Wake Forest 24
3r: 5(2), 6(3), 1(2), 391), 4(1), 7(4), 712)
Total: Syracuse 2 Wake Forest 5
3p: 10(6), I, 13(7), I, I, 11, 13(14), I
Total: Syracuse 5 Wake Forest 2
Third Down Total: Syracuse 7 Wake Forest 7
4r: 0, 2(1)
Total: Syracuse 1 Wake Forest 1
4p: none
Total: Syracuse 0 Wake Forest 0
Fourth Down Total: Syracuse 1 Wake Forest 1
Total on running plays: Syracuse 18 Wake Forest 34
Total on passing plays: Syracuse 18 Wake Forest 24
Total on plays from scrimmage: Syracuse 36 Wake Forest 58
Penalties not tacked on to plays: - ½, +5, -5, +8, +5, -5 Syracuse 3 Wake Forest 3
Game total when WAKE FOREST had the ball: Syracuse 43 Wake Forest 76
Big Plays: 36pass, 29passTD, Pick 6
Overall Game total: Syracuse 82 Wake Forest 114
Comments: What was that out there? Syracuse? Eight passes of over 20 yards, three for touchdowns, (one called back but it should not have been), a 39 yard run and three kick returns of 30+ yards. Where has that been? But for once the big play team, (the hare) lost to the tortoise. Wake had two big offensive plays but had twice as many successful offensive plays by my measure, (29-58). Hey had an incredible 36 first down to our 21 and had the ball 35 minutes to our 25.
For some reason our second down passing was a problem. We had two successful passes out of 10, six incompletions, a 12 yard sack and pick 6. Counting the interception return, we had a net 12 yards and -7 points. First down passes are the easiest to complete because defenses are expecting a run but Wake had 5 incompletions and a sack in their first 7 first down passes. But after that they had 7 completions, (including Wake’s only two 20+ yard plays), in 10 for 116 yards and two TDs. Their second down (14-4) and third down (5-2) passing was similarly productive.
But Wake wasn’t supposed to be able to run the ball but they were 34-18 on running game and rushed for 212 yards, 84 more than their average. In our sic game winning streak, we were 84-83 defending the run. In the five game losing streak, we’ve been 87-164.
There’s a similar split in the kicking game: On our kicks we were 86-11 during the winning streak and are 41-32 during the losing streak. On their kicks we were 27-38, then 15-67.
The last five games have been frustrating:
Syracuse 77 Clemson 102 = -25
Syracuse 66 Notre Dame 113 = -47
Syracuse 66 Pittsburgh 105 = -39
Syracuse 59 Florida State 100 = -41
Syracuse 82 Wake Forest 114 = -32
The games in the Babers Era most similar to this one:
2016 Syracuse 99 Louisville 132 = -33 We lost 28-62
2016 Syracuse 71 North Carolina State 103 = -32 We lost 20-35
2017 Syracuse 86 Miami 119 = -33 We lost 19-27
2019 Syracuse 82 Maryland 112 = -30 We lost 20-63
2020 Syracuse 76 North Carolina State 108 = -32 We lost 29-36
- On first down, the offensive team wants to get at least a third of the way to a new first down: they will have two more plays before they might have to surrender the ball and if they gain that same amount of yards on each of those two plays, they’ll get the first down. If they don’t make it a third of the way to a new first down, the defense won the play.
- On second down, the offense wants to get at least halfway to a new first down by the same logic.
- On third and fourth down, they want to get the first down.
- Penalties, if added onto a play by the referees, are added on to the results above. If the offense gains 5 yards on first down but there was holding and they lost yardage instead, the defense won the play. If a running back made a 25 yard run on first and ten and the holding was 20 yards downfield, turning it into a 5 yard gain, that’s still a win for the offense. If the defense is penalized and it’s tacked on, again the net result is what is evaluated. The penalties I’ve listed negated the play entirely and are a “loss” for the penalized team and thus a win for their opponent.
- If a penalty was not tacked onto a play, it’s a lost play for the team being penalized. I'll count them separate from the other plays from scrimmage because I don't know if the intended play before the penalty would have been a run or a pass - so I wouldn't know where to put it in the chart below.
- A turnover is, obviously, a win for the team that wound up with the ball.
- On a kick-off a touchback brings the ball out to the 25 yard line. Teams still seem to be trying to kick the ball into the end zone and avoid a runback if they can, so any kick-off that results in the receiving team starting between their goal line and their 25 is a win for the kicking team. Beyond that, the receiving team wins.
- On a punt, a touchback takes the ball out of the 20. So any punt that results in the other team taking over from their goal line to their 20 is a win for the punting team. If the next change in field position is at least 40 yards, the punting team has also won the play.
- A successful place kick is, obviously, a win for the kicking team.
- Any play that results in a touchdown is, obviously, a win for that team that scores it.
- A “victory play” where a team accepts a loss just to let the clock run out, is a win for the offensive team.
I will indicate in parenthesis how many yards there were to go to get a new first down, (if other than 10), unless it was for no gain or negative yardage. If it was a touchdown, (“TD)” a scramble/sack (“S”) a victory play (“V”) or involved a penalty (P). I’ll treat a scramble or a sack as a passing play as the Cuse.com play by play now tells you when it’s either of those two. 1R means first down running plays. 1P means first down passing plays, etc.
I have decided to list the “Big Plays” at the bottom of each team’s summary. A big play is a play from scrimmage of over 20 yards, (or 20+ yards lost), kickoff returns of +25 yards, punt returns of +20, blocked kicks, missed kicks, and turnovers on fumbles, interceptions and downs.
When SYRACUSE had the ball:
Drive Starts: SU25, SU 41, SU 17, SU 25, SU 6, WF 45, SU 37, SU 15, SU 23, SU 24, SU 25, SU 20, WF 40 = 373/13 = SU 29 with 927 yards to go
KO: WF 25, WF 25, WF 25, WF 25, WF 25, WF 29(p)
Total: Syracuse 5 Wake Forest 1
P: 44 to WF 1, 17 to SU 35, 38 to WF 30, 29 to WF 45
Total: Syracuse 1 Wake Forest 3
FG: NG from 52, NG from 34
Total: Syracuse 0 Wake Forest 2
XP: Good, Good, Good, Good
Total: Syracuse 4 Wake Forest 0
Kicking plays total: Syracuse 10 Wake Forest 6
1r: 13, -1, 6, 9TD, 1, 10, 12, 2TD, 7, 4, -1v, 1, 0, 0, 1, 4, 17, 8TD
Total: Syracuse 10 Wake Forest 7
1p: 11, I, 2, I, 8, 44, 33TD, 30, 13, 18, 41TD, 25, I, I, I
Total: Syracuse 9 Wake Forest 6
First Down Total: Syracuse 19 Wake Forest 13
2r: -2, -2, 10(3), 11(9), -13, 2(6), 8
Total: Syracuse 3 Wake Forest 4
2p: 17, I, I, I, 43(2), -12(s), I, Interception-TD, I, I
Total: Syracuse 2 Wake Forest 8
Second Down Total: Syracuse 5 Wake Forest 12
3r: 10(20), 18(23), 39(2)
Total: Syracuse 1 Wake Forest 2
3p: 13(13), 9(4), I, -11(s), -12(s), 10(4), I
Total: Syracuse 3 Wake Forest 4
Third Down Total: Syracuse 4 Wake Forest 6
4r: none
Total: Syracuse 0 Wake Forest 0
4p: 24
Total: Syracuse 1 Wake Forest 0
Fourth Down Total: Syracuse 1 Wake Forest 0
Total on running plays: Syracuse 14 Wake Forest 13
Total on passing plays: Syracuse 15 Wake Forest 18
Total on plays from scrimmage: Syracuse 29 Wake Forest 31
Penalties not tacked on to plays: -10 Syracuse 0 Wake Forest 1
Game total when SYRACUSE had the ball: Syracuse 39 Wake Forest 38
Big Plays: 34kr, (45TD canceled for holding), 43pass, 44pass, 33passTD, 37kr, 30pass, 41passTD, 25pass, 43pr, 39run, 24pass
When WAKE FOREST had the ball:
Drive Starts: WF 25, WF 1 SU 35, WF 25, WF 25, WF 20, WF 25, WF 30, WF 45, WF 25, WF 29, WF 20 = 335/12 = WF 28 with 865 to go
KO: SU 25, SU 41, SU 25, WF 45, SU 37, SU 23, SU 24, SU 25
Total: Syracuse 3 Wake Forest 5
P: 47 to SU 17, 29 to SU 15, 25 to SU 20, -7 to WF
Total: Syracuse 1 Wake Forest 3
FG: Good from 33
Total: Syracuse 0 Wake Forest 1
XP: Good, Good, Good, Good, Good, Good
Total: Syracuse 0 Wake Forest 6
Kicking plays total: Syracuse 4 Wake Forest 15
1r: 17, 3, 9, 4, 4(5), 4, 18, 5, 3, 7, -8(s), 5, 11, 1, 7, 5, 7, 3, 8, 4, 4TD, 3, 7, 2(5), 3, 12, -1v
Total: Syracuse 9 Wake Forest 18
1p: I, 7, I, I, I, I, -7(s), 36, 9, 29TD, I, 7, 10TD, 11, I, I, 14
Total: Syracuse 9 Wake Forest 8
First Down Total: Syracuse 28 Wake Forest 26
2r: 592), 7, -3, 3, 4(1), 4(1), 10(5), 8(5), 2(30, 7(30, 5(2), 5(6), 4(3), 0, 3(7), 1(13)
Total: Syracuse 6 Wake Forest 10
2p: 3, 6, 11, 15(p), 12TD, 16(1), 4(6), 7(7), 10(3), 6(2), 16, 6(3), -5(s), I, 5, 17TD, -4(s), 9(7)
Total: Syracuse 4 Wake Forest 14
Second Down Total: Syracuse 10 Wake Forest 24
3r: 5(2), 6(3), 1(2), 391), 4(1), 7(4), 712)
Total: Syracuse 2 Wake Forest 5
3p: 10(6), I, 13(7), I, I, 11, 13(14), I
Total: Syracuse 5 Wake Forest 2
Third Down Total: Syracuse 7 Wake Forest 7
4r: 0, 2(1)
Total: Syracuse 1 Wake Forest 1
4p: none
Total: Syracuse 0 Wake Forest 0
Fourth Down Total: Syracuse 1 Wake Forest 1
Total on running plays: Syracuse 18 Wake Forest 34
Total on passing plays: Syracuse 18 Wake Forest 24
Total on plays from scrimmage: Syracuse 36 Wake Forest 58
Penalties not tacked on to plays: - ½, +5, -5, +8, +5, -5 Syracuse 3 Wake Forest 3
Game total when WAKE FOREST had the ball: Syracuse 43 Wake Forest 76
Big Plays: 36pass, 29passTD, Pick 6
Overall Game total: Syracuse 82 Wake Forest 114
Comments: What was that out there? Syracuse? Eight passes of over 20 yards, three for touchdowns, (one called back but it should not have been), a 39 yard run and three kick returns of 30+ yards. Where has that been? But for once the big play team, (the hare) lost to the tortoise. Wake had two big offensive plays but had twice as many successful offensive plays by my measure, (29-58). Hey had an incredible 36 first down to our 21 and had the ball 35 minutes to our 25.
For some reason our second down passing was a problem. We had two successful passes out of 10, six incompletions, a 12 yard sack and pick 6. Counting the interception return, we had a net 12 yards and -7 points. First down passes are the easiest to complete because defenses are expecting a run but Wake had 5 incompletions and a sack in their first 7 first down passes. But after that they had 7 completions, (including Wake’s only two 20+ yard plays), in 10 for 116 yards and two TDs. Their second down (14-4) and third down (5-2) passing was similarly productive.
But Wake wasn’t supposed to be able to run the ball but they were 34-18 on running game and rushed for 212 yards, 84 more than their average. In our sic game winning streak, we were 84-83 defending the run. In the five game losing streak, we’ve been 87-164.
There’s a similar split in the kicking game: On our kicks we were 86-11 during the winning streak and are 41-32 during the losing streak. On their kicks we were 27-38, then 15-67.
The last five games have been frustrating:
Syracuse 77 Clemson 102 = -25
Syracuse 66 Notre Dame 113 = -47
Syracuse 66 Pittsburgh 105 = -39
Syracuse 59 Florida State 100 = -41
Syracuse 82 Wake Forest 114 = -32
The games in the Babers Era most similar to this one:
2016 Syracuse 99 Louisville 132 = -33 We lost 28-62
2016 Syracuse 71 North Carolina State 103 = -32 We lost 20-35
2017 Syracuse 86 Miami 119 = -33 We lost 19-27
2019 Syracuse 82 Maryland 112 = -30 We lost 20-63
2020 Syracuse 76 North Carolina State 108 = -32 We lost 29-36