Wow, too much to process. Couple quick thoughts

[billsin01]

1. Assuming we hold on for a couple minutes, nice to get a w on the road against a solid team. Not particularly the way you'd draw it up, but whatever.

2. Should be a fun presser for Babers. First question 'What was up at QB tonight coach?' I wasn't in the chat and I know they wondered about his shoulder but he came back and played. I confused. If he's hurt, by the way, no need for him to play vs. Wagner and if he needed it, give him another week off vs. FSU to try and get him healthy.

3. we may have put up the worst quarter of defense in football history in the third. Pathetic is the only word. Another thing that will have to be answered for. Was it five plays of 60+ yards? They were even ripping off big chunks against our prevent in the fourth. Not pretty.

4. Love to see improvement and maybe we will, but right now I'd trade our entire offense for WMU's other than Dungey. Their OL played better for much of the game and they have better RBs and WRs. That could be an issue.

5. Thank you dungey. He won the game. Almost by himself. Like to see him throw the ball better, but that's a pretty badass one-man show. Somewhere Diamond Ferri is nodding his head in approval.

 

[crales44]

5. Thank you dungey. He won the game. Almost by himself. Like to see him throw the ball better, but that's a pretty badass one-man show. Somewhere Diamond Ferri is nodding his head in approval.

I'm a sucker for any Diamond Ferri reference.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Good stuff. Dungey by far is the most explosive and talented player on the offense. He’s not even that good of a passer but he’s a difference maker and our best runner also.

When Western Michigan skill position players outclass yours there are problems for us. ACC players are going to shred this secondary. Defense looked really small and slight in the back 7 except for like Foster.

DLine is going to need to do better moving forward.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I think it's pretty clear Dungy jammed his shoulder on that run. That's why his touch was so off on some of those passes. The WRs came up with a couple amazing catches after Eric came back in to steady the ship.

Tommy with 4 punts and a fumble in 5 series, when we really only needed him to get one score to settle things down. We certainly need to play him against Wagner and I hope against UConn.
I also wouldn't mind Rex getting a few series if Tommy doesn't play much better next time.

Custis is our #1. Butler had alligator arms a few times too many. If you could gain 50 yards, man, you lay out for a couple of those bombs.

I thought the O Line was dominating, but then the smaller WMU D line began out quicking us. I don't think we seemed better conditioned, even though a couple of their guys cramped. I don't feel like we ever played as fast as advertised.

The safeties have to learn to play deeper and recognize the deep post route much faster. And a couple of those young DBs just gave up in pursuit, when they could have laid out like that WMU defender did, taking away that naked sweep by Dungy that could have been yet another TD.

 

[OrangePA]

Dungey is just outstanding.

As fun to watch as any Syracuse Football player I have ever seen.

 

[billsin01]

Good stuff. Dungey by far is the most explosive and talented player on the offense. He’s not even that good of a passer but he’s a difference maker and our best runner also.

When Western Michigan skill position players outclass yours there are problems for us. ACC players are going to shred this secondary. Defense looked really small and slight in the back 7 except for like Foster.

DLine is going to need to do better moving forward.

Not sure if the coverage or the tackling was worse in the secondary. But it was brutal. For all the hype the DL was a non-factor. Not atrocious but not a difference-making unit. Thought LBs were somewhere around mediocre for three of the four quarters. But a ways to go there as well.

Reed, eskridge and the rb were completely different athletes than I saw on the field for us at we or rb. Glad Neal got 3x as many carries as Strickland but he was only decent. Custis was solid but he’s a little stiff and not going to be a force in the acc that I saw. Riley and Strickland work hard but aren’t acc guys. I want butler to be a stud but he can’t catch.

 

[Orangezoo]

Good stuff. Dungey by far is the most explosive and talented player on the offense. He’s not even that good of a passer but he’s a difference maker and our best runner also.

When Western Michigan skill position players outclass yours there are problems for us. ACC players are going to shred this secondary. Defense looked really small and slight in the back 7 except for like Foster.

DLine is going to need to do better moving forward.

WMU had a very solid O line. We will need more Trill. Robinson was held A LOT. No doubt need to get better but also have to factor that no Dungey gave WMU life on both sides of the ball that wasn't there before he left. Lot of things going on including being game 1 on the road. Too early to be professing the ACC will kill us yet.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Not sure if the coverage or the tackling was worse in the secondary. But it was brutal. For all the hype the DL was a non-factor. Not atrocious but not a difference-making unit. Thought LBs were somewhere around mediocre for three of the four quarters. But a ways to go there as well.

Reed, eskridge and the rb were completely different athletes than I saw on the field for us at we or rb. Glad Neal got 3x as many carries as Strickland but he was only decent. Custis was solid but he’s a little stiff and not going to be a force in the acc that I saw. Riley and Strickland work hard but aren’t acc guys. I want butler to be a stud but he can’t catch.

I think the line was good early against the run. WMU only had a couple first downs in the first 15-20 minutes of play. It was 34-7 at the half. The D line played pretty well, giving up just the one long run early on. Third quarter was a nightmare, like they were not ready to play.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Not sure if the coverage or the tackling was worse in the secondary. But it was brutal. For all the hype the DL was a non-factor. Not atrocious but not a difference-making unit. Thought LBs were somewhere around mediocre for three of the four quarters. But a ways to go there as well.

Reed, eskridge and the rb were completely different athletes than I saw on the field for us at we or rb. Glad Neal got 3x as many carries as Strickland but he was only decent. Custis was solid but he’s a little stiff and not going to be a force in the acc that I saw. Riley and Strickland work hard but aren’t acc guys. I want butler to be a stud but he can’t catch.

Yeah I agree with this. Those WMU players really jumped out like you said. Eskeridge looks like a Tyreek Hill type of talent though. He will play on Sunday, IMO. That freshman Reed is going to be awesome. Bellamy could be a Sproles-type. Good players and they do outclass our guys. Custis as our num 1 WR is sort of scary since there are only so many routes he can run...a couple. Those guys just hit the holes so hard and fast combined with guys like Whitner not getting off blocks fast enough...rough. Never liked Bradshaw, sigh.

 

[billsin01]

I think it's pretty clear Dungy jammed his shoulder on that run. That's why his touch was so off on some of those passes. The WRs came up with a couple amazing catches after Eric came back in to steady the ship.

Tommy with 4 punts and a fumble in 5 series, when we really only needed him to get one score to settle things down. We certainly need to play him against Wagner and I hope against UConn.
I also wouldn't mind Rex getting a few series if Tommy doesn't play much better next time.

Custis is our #1. Butler had alligator arms a few times too many. If you could gain 50 yards, man, you lay out for a couple of those bombs.

I thought the O Line was dominating, but then the smaller WMU D line began out quicking us. I don't think we seemed better conditioned, even though a couple of their guys cramped. I don't feel like we ever played as fast as advertised.

The safeties have to learn to play deeper and recognize the deep post route much faster. And a couple of those young DBs just gave up in pursuit, when they could have laid out like that WMU defender did, taking away that naked sweep by Dungy that could have been yet another TD.

Dungey struggles throwing the ball all night but I still don’t think even a jammed shoulder explains why he wasn’t in to start the second half. One more drive and stop potentially puts that game away.

 

[TheCusian]

Not sure if the coverage or the tackling was worse in the secondary. But it was brutal. For all the hype the DL was a non-factor. Not atrocious but not a difference-making unit. Thought LBs were somewhere around mediocre for three of the four quarters. But a ways to go there as well.

Reed, eskridge and the rb were completely different athletes than I saw on the field for us at we or rb. Glad Neal got 3x as many carries as Strickland but he was only decent. Custis was solid but he’s a little stiff and not going to be a force in the acc that I saw. Riley and Strickland work hard but aren’t acc guys. I want butler to be a stud but he can’t catch.

I wouldn’t say non factor - Slayton forced that INT to Whitner. But def left a lot to be desired otherwise

 

[upperdeck]

Devito was not the issue, when he came in they just changed what they did on D against us and we were trying to stay simple. with dungey they worried about the run with Devito that just collapsed the oline

 

[upperdeck]

the Safety is the biggest issue, you cant be under the deep ball and take the wrong angles on the long runs 5-6x a game

 

[sufandu]

Here are my take aways.

1. Dungey makes us go, despite throwing at least three balls where guys had to reach backward to make spectacular catches in a way that could get them killed against ACC teams. 1a. Devito isn't ready yet. 1b. We need him be ready soon.

2. Custis looked like a stud. Butler did not.

3. WMU had the fastest player on the field (maybe the 3 fastest)... and our secondary couldn't figure it out. It was as if they said, "There's no way he can run that fast AGAIN!"

4. I want Moe Neal carrying the ball instead of Strickland. Sometimes it's as if Strickland just stands there waiting for a hole to open instead of moving his feet and probing the way most backs do.

5. Neither line looked as good as I had hoped.

I like that this was a win that showed what we need to work on with what should ne a live scrimmage next weekend.

 

[Orangezoo]

Yeah I agree with this. Those WMU players really jumped out like you said. Eskeridge looks like a Tyreek Hill type of talent though. He will play on Sunday, IMO. That freshman Reed is going to be awesome. Bellamy could be a Sproles-type. Good players and they do outclass our guys. Custis as our num 1 WR is sort of scary since there are only so many routes he can run...a couple. Those guys just hit the holes so hard and fast combined with guys like Whitner not getting off blocks fast enough...rough. Never liked Bradshaw, sigh.

A bit of a stretch on talent of those guys. We just dropped them by 2 TDs at their house. Clearly they didn't outclass us enough. Eskeridge might play on Sundays other guys did well but with help of Cuse mistakes.

 

[TheCusian]

Devito was not the issue, when he came in they just changed what they did on D against us and we were trying to stay simple. with dungey they worried about the run with Devito that just collapsed the oline

Way, way too early to say anything definitive about DeVito. I think this was probably good for him.

 

[upperdeck]

It would help if we had WR who could get open.. we may need to see the young kids sooner than they wanted too

 

[SoBeCuse]

A bit of a stretch on talent of those guys. We just dropped them by 2 TDs at their house. Clearly they didn't outclass us enough. Eskeridge might play on Sundays other guys did well but with help of Cuse mistakes.

Maybe but I’ll stick with my call. I watched them shred my Trojans and give them a game. NFL doesn’t look at scores of games and Wassink isn’t going into the league. We got lucky on that one drop/INT and another Wassink mistake. Fortunately the DL and OL started pretty strong and Dungey has great vision on his runs. Those guys did some damage to the MSU D last year too. If they do some damage to UM next week who should be a VERY good D then we’ll know more I suppose.

 

[SoBeCuse]

It would help if we had WR who could get open.. we may need to see the young kids sooner than they wanted too

Seriosuly. Get those young bucks in. We saw that Reed kid on the opposite side...

 

[billsin01]

I think the line was good early against the run. WMU only had a couple first downs in the first 15-20 minutes of play. It was 34-7 at the half. The D line played pretty well, giving up just the one long run early on. Third quarter was a nightmare, like they were not ready to play.

Yeah they were ok. Just didn’t feel like they exerted much control. Decent, not great. I guess it depends how good wmu is, however.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Dungey struggles throwing the ball all night but I still don’t think even a jammed shoulder explains why he wasn’t in to start the second half. One more drive and stop potentially puts that game away.

In fairness, Tommy did make a couple plays in that first series or two, like that 10-15 yard run for a first down, and he threw a couple nice balls over the middle, and one nice out that was dropped. I think Dino wanted to put the young man under pressure and see if he could rise to the occasion.

The answer was, not this first time. He's got more to learn, and to get up to game speed against live competition. It's not just practice. He found that out today. But he throws a nice ball.

 

[Orangezoo]

Maybe but I’ll stick with my call. I watched them shred my Trojans and give them a game. NFL doesn’t look at scores of games and Wassink isn’t going into the league. We got lucky on that one drop/INT and another Wassink mistake. Fortunately the DL and OL started pretty strong and Dungey has great vision on his runs. Those guys did some damage to the MSU D last year too. If they do some damage to UM next week who should be a VERY good D then we’ll know more I suppose.

I agree I'm curious to see them next week. MSU last year was bad. I like their talent level. That said until Dungey went out they were pedestrian. Momentum played a big role for both teams so at that point have to take that into account.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Yeah they were ok. Just didn’t feel like they exerted much control. Decent, not great. I guess it depends how good wmu is, however.

I would agree with that. We contained their running game, but we didn't get any real penetration into their backfield with the rush, or on running plays. Of course, we didn't really blitz any, either.

 

[SoBeCuse]

I agree I'm curious to see them next week. MSU last year was bad. I like their talent level. That said until Dungey went out they were pedestrian. Momentum played a big role for both teams so at that point have to take that into account.

True. Or they just found out, finally said it, and realized that they should go deep on like every play, ha. I think for awhile they just wanted to pound the run and then go play action. Fortunately they went to those wideouts too late!!

 

[SoBeCuse]

In fairness, Tommy did make a couple plays in that first series or two, like that 10-15 yard run for a first down, and he threw a couple nice balls over the middle, and one nice out that was dropped. I think Dino wanted to put the young man under pressure and see if he could rise to the occasion.

The answer was, not this first time. He's got more to learn, and to get up to game speed against live competition. It's not just practice. He found that out today. But he throws a nice ball.

Yeah. I think Tommy was generally fine. Made a couple of nice plays. You could have Brady back there and this offense would struggle because not enough skill players. Dungey is like RGIII/Vick for us but without the weapons those guys had. It’s paramount he stays healthy.