Positive takeaways from the UW game

by bloodyyank44 on Sep 13, 2010 11:41 AM EDT

I'm not going to rip the team for Saturday's performance. HCDM can handle that job on his own. So here's some positive nuggets to chew on from Saturday's game:

- Lotsa comparisons between UW and SU last week being very similar, but UW is just a flat out better team right now. No shame in losing to a better team on the road. I can't emphasize just how hard it is to win at Husky Stadium. Better teams have looked far worse there.

- For a frame of reference, Syracuse lost this same game by a worse margin in 2007 under GRob. Except, that game was in the Dome and to a UW team that would finish 4-9. (That being said, its too bad we couldn't have played UW on the road first, huh?)

- Delone Carter seems like he's gotten his legs back under him. He may have showed up to camp looking fit and ready to start the season, but his stats for the first 6 quarters of the 2010 season indicate he's a bit rusty. He has not fumbled yet, which is a great sign.

- Derrell Smith was a BEAST. Something like 14 tackles and a forced fumble? Gotta love a performance like that. (Also, who won the Bone last week? Did they get rid of it or something?)

- 2-0 would have made a big statement, but 1-1 is not a bad place to be (just ask Virginia Tech), especially starting out with back-to-back road games. Thats good enough for 3rd in the Big East along with just about everyone else. Consider also that Syracuse is the only team in the conference not to play an FCS team (yet).

- Syracuse started the game exactly how they needed to in order to give itself a chance. At least they accomplished that much.

- Ryan Nassib doing his best Jake Locker impression on the opening drive to scramble for a TD was awesome. Syracuse now has registered TDs on the opening drives of their first two games. On the road. The late TD pass and catch by Lemon were on the money.

- I expected Gulley to make a huge mistake at some point, and it happened. He's a freshman. These things are almost a given. Now I'm just wondering how long it'll be before he brings one all the way back - because he almost did on Saturday. He looks good and I'm excited for when he gets some touches in the backfield.

- Speaking of special teams, other than the Gulley fumble, they had an ok day. Kraut is going to miss a few FGs this year. Accept this. But, at least it appears that the gaffes on XPs seem to be corrected.

- No major injuries to note. I'm not sure I feel better than I do now about the team if Syracuse leaves Washington with a W but suffers a major loss due to injury.

- Winning in the Big East is far more important than winning this game. Speaking of the BE, while the conference has looked thoroughly unimpressive so far, that means the door is wide open for anyone - Syracuse included - to make a serious run. (Well, maybe not L'ville)

- The Big East may not look great right now, but at least there are no winless teams or major embarrassments. The ACC, PAC-10 and SEC can't say the same.

- Playing in front of a hostile crowd on the opposite coast is sure to help the team build the character in needs to compete on the road in the Big East this season. Going 2-2 or better in October doesn't sound so impossible to me right now.

- Back-to-back games against FCS competition will be exactly what this team needs to regain any lost confidence and correct the mistakes that happened vs UW.

That's all I can think of for now. Like everyone else here, I hope to see the hometown fans put up a nice turnout vs. Maine this weekend. The team deserves it. I'll be watching from 2500+ miles away on SNY. GO ORANGE.

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Well said

I’ve posted my thoughts on ezcuse’s and Sean’s threads, so I won’t rehash them here. Bottom line, we were beat by a better team on the road, we start our homestand at 1-1, and have a chance to be 3-1 going into Big East play. We have to take care of business against the FCS teams (cough James Madison cough) and stay healthy. Looking forward to Maine on Saturday…

"(BARF)" - Donovan McNabb, during his game winning drive against Virginia Tech in 1998

by kotite4ever on Sep 13, 2010 12:04 PM EDT reply actions

LOL at Virginia Tech

Seriously. #13 VT losing to JMU at Lane Stadium? Thats worse than App St. over UM at the big house. Honestly though, VT schedules them every year and usually roll them by 150 points or something. Its about time they got a bit of payback for scheduling the same lame-ass team every year. The giant BCS-championship trophy case in Blacksburg will go empty for another season which makes me ecstatic. Also, as much as I thought that Boise St. would make a run at a title last week, their dreams took a serious hit. I couldn’t be happier about that.

I think SU will be PO’ed for their showing vs UW and will be ready to roll Maine by 60. Just need to stay healthy and work out some kinks.

GO ORANGE

by bloodyyank44 on Sep 13, 2010 12:20 PM EDT up reply actions

actually

I have been corrected by some VT alumni friends, they’ve played JMU a total of 7 times. But that still makes them part of an elite group of pasties to beat an ACC team.

GO ORANGE

by bloodyyank44 on Sep 13, 2010 1:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Haha

Yeah, I loved the VaTech beating. Virginia Tech – a team that is ranked in the top five every season for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I remember when they were in the Big East, I think they had a streak there for like 3-4 years in a row where they, as an unbeaten top 10 team, lost every single year to some unranked Big East team. What does that tell you? OVER-RATED! (clap clap clap clap clap). Fuck Frank Beamer and fuck Beamer Ball.

As to Boise State, I’m pleased by that as well. You can cry about making a national title game when you play more than 1-2 (at MOST) good teams per year, and basically have 8 weeks of exhibition games after that.

"(BARF)" - Donovan McNabb, during his game winning drive against Virginia Tech in 1998

by kotite4ever on Sep 13, 2010 1:17 PM EDT up reply actions

Hype

that’s Tech’s downfall. They’ve built themselves up on this false pretense that they should be contending for a national title every year, and the media continually feeds that fire. So upon reflection, its not really surprising they got embarrassed on Saturday. They were so deflated by losing to Boise St. and having BCS title hopes all but dashed they forgot that JMU is actually a pretty decent FCS team. Kind of makes me wish Syracuse had just kept them on the damn schedule instead of Colgate after all (although, if we were still playing VT, they’d have never played Boise, and probably would be undefeated coming into the game vs. SU. But I digress).

All in all, I don’t see the same scenario playing out for Syracuse over the next two weeks. We need both of these wins and need to do it to the tune of 55-0. Or something like that. Aside from a win, I think we desperately need to get the backups more reps and avoid injury to the starters. I’m sure HCDM will have the team properly motivated, based upon the tirade he unleashed after UW.

GO ORANGE

by bloodyyank44 on Sep 13, 2010 2:22 PM EDT up reply actions

As much as I hate to say it

VT is highly ranked in the preseason these days usually because they won nine or ten games the previous year, are returning some promising players, lost games for boneheaded reasons that shouldn’t happen again, and who else is going to win the ACC?

by drothgery on Sep 13, 2010 9:01 PM EDT up reply actions

You're right

I will say I do know a bunch of classy VT fans, and they have a good and sometimes great team every year. The thing that drives me nuts about them and the rest of their fan base is this notion that their program is on par with the likes Ohio St., Texas, OU, ‘Bama, Florida, etc (a couple of Boise St. fans I know are the same way). The funny part is, given how weak ACC football looks right now, even after losing to JMU there’s no reason to think VT can’t regroup and win that conference.

GO ORANGE

by bloodyyank44 on Sep 14, 2010 12:09 PM EDT up reply actions

stayin healthy is def the first thing to do..

historically east coast teams do awful on the west coast. not just syracuse. that and syracuse has only won 1 game on the west coast since the 60s i guess it is what it is. good start tho! maine and colgate go as plans i like our chances v. the big east this year.

by orngfan on Sep 13, 2010 12:17 PM EDT reply actions

We could probably handle UCLA

They look absolutely disgraceful. But otherwise, you are entirely correct.

GO ORANGE

by bloodyyank44 on Sep 13, 2010 12:21 PM EDT up reply actions

I'll make a couple excuses here...

…since HCDM and the boys should surely know better than to do such.

1) Winning is a habit: It takes a radical shift of psyche to not only mentally understand that you have to bring it every play, but to physically do it on every play. In football especially, there are 2-4 plays per game that are not just the difference between winning and losing, but having a close game and a blow out as well. These plays have been noted by the others. It should be a good learning experience for the team, as they can work on having those 2-4 plays go their way in the next couple weeks so that they don’t just win, but they win by a significant margin. These next couple weeks are by no means throw-away weeks. Football is a Six Sigma game. Hopefully this taste of humility reinforces that concept.

2) They way our team was talking after the Akron game (amazed at going out there and playing in such of a large crowd, etc.) what could you expect when they go across country and play against an energized, motivated, equally as desperate to win program in a 72,000 seat stadium? Freshmen and inexperienced players will most likely make some errors. Refer to Point 1 to understand the affect.

by TheRenegadePumpkin on Sep 13, 2010 1:41 PM EDT reply actions

Im putting my butt in a seat

for almost every home game this year barring some other event (i.e. wife enforced), and I recommend everyone else do the same. For me, I see Morrone as the perfect fan of SU football. " I loved it so much, I now coach the program!" and someone we can count on to keep grinding out better and better years for the forseeable future.

I love the feeling inside the Carrier dome. Its got a completely different vibe between bball and football depending on which is being played, and Im looking forward to packin em in again this year.

Either way, Im in for penny/pound this year.

by Pinker on Sep 13, 2010 3:59 PM EDT reply actions

Great points and in general there is nothing to dislike here as you state

Even in this lose the effort and progress this team has made is noticable. The loss was frustrating and feels out of character for the fans and players – already.

This team hasn’t had a winning season in what 6 or 7 years and the ENITRE team is talking about this loss like it’s unacceptable. That’s a tremendous shift in focus and belief.

The team is short on talent still, but really should be able to head into the BE play 3-1 and feeling very confident. Right now the conference is hard to figure out and SU seems like they can stay with most of the teams.

Since the biggest issue I see right now for SU is heavy pass attacks, it doesn’t seem like they’ll run into that issue too much more in the big east. Also the defense should get better as the season goes on.

by JonnyNYC on Sep 13, 2010 5:05 PM EDT reply actions