Syracuse Football: Breaking Down Offensive Play-Calling vs. Pittsburgh

Full disclosure: this was bad. Honestly, SO bad. It was rough the first time, and the second was an absolute disaster. So few takeaways other than a) this team has no idea how to use its personnel, b) this team has no idea how to execute on a style of play, and c) this team has no style of play. With all that in mind, you'll probably find the same takeaways while parsing through this. I painfully find even more at the bottom of the page, where all the game's terrible tendencies are laid bare.

First Quarter

Play-Call Breakdown: 9 runs, 5 passes

"How could it go much worse?" asked the ESPNU announcing crew after a lackluster first drive. We found out on the first play of drive two -- a fumble by Prince-Tyson Gulley. By drive three, things had begun to turn around a bit, as A.J. Long was able to connect on two decent gains (the 28-yarder to Devante McFarlane and the 14-yard pass to Ben Lewis), but beyond that, nothing all that notable happening on offense. That end zone pick was a bummer as well, eliminating a potential field goal try.

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Second Quarter

Play-Call Breakdown: 8 runs, 6 passes

For some inexplicable reason, A.J. Long is pulled for Mitch Kimble to start the second quarter, and the results are... not good. In fact, take a look down the list of plays above. Of the plays that directly involved Kimble (QB runs and passes), just one was a positive gain (three yards), and the rest were either incomplete or intercepted. That's not effective QB play, and they probably would've been better off continuing to hand it to either George Morris II or Ervin Phillips, both of whom were running the ball fairly well on the evening (and especially at this juncture).

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Third Quarter

Play-Call Breakdown: 9 runs, 7 passes

Long's return pays immediate dividends on the first drive of the half: a touchdown that almost isn't one due to Syracuse's typical goal line ineptitude. Ron Thompson manages to punch it in, but the star of the drive is Steve Ishmael, whose two big receptions (11 yards and 46 yards, respectively) gain most of the team's yardage. While it's understandable why Syracuse would call a lot of read-options and designed QB runs given the players on the roster (all but Austin Wilson are pretty mobile), it's a strategy worth doubting considering the returns at times. For every big gain is a lesser one. And those hits on your QB aren't always the best for him (as we've seen all season).

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Fourth Quarter

Play-Call Breakdown: 8 passes, 2 runs

That 15-yard penalty on Ishmael pretty much sealed things, but it's a cop-out to blame the loss/lack of a comeback on that, obviously. It's mostly just the "moment you knew it was over" and nothing more. The most disappointing part of this game isn't even captured above, however: the moment when this team punted on 4th and inches, down 23 points at their own 47. More than any other, it showed this team and/or coaching staff didn't care enough to even bother going for it when there was literally no downside to doing so. That's disappointment you felt right about then.

***

• Overall play-calling breakdown: 28 called runs vs. 26 called passes (first time in seven games that the team called more run plays than passing plays; though 54 total is very, very bad)
  
• First half play-calling: 17 runs vs. 11 passes (11:15 in second half)
• First downs: 12 total (7 passing, 5 rushing; just three after the 11-minute mark in the third)
  
• First down play selection: 16 called runs, 7 called passes (14:12 last week)
  
• First down play selection on subsequent sets of downs: 9 called runs, 3 called passes (10:2 last week)
  
• First down plays for five or more yards: 8
  
• Second down play selection: 10 called passes, 8 called runs (14:11 last week)
  
• Third down play selection: 10 called passes, 3 called runs (10:6 last week)
  
• Third down conversion: 6-for-13 (4 passes, 2 runs)
  
• 16 of Syracuse's 54 play calls (30 percent) took place in Pitt territory (just six in the second half); last week, that number was 17 percent.
  
• No bubble screens, really, but the option returned for a bit. Don't know how I feel about it, since it only sort-of worked at times, and I don't know if we have the personnel for it or the ability to sell it (yet)
  
• We saw play-action three times, resulting in two receptions for 58 yards. It works. Let's use this.
  
• Syracuse had nine big plays (ones that gained 10 or more yards) -- totaling 180 of Syracuse's pretty awful 255 yards of offense. The other 45 plays gained 1.67 yards per, which is a decent drop from last week's 2.25 (both terrible, by the way). Overall yards per play were 4.72 (vs. 3.25 last week), which is an improvement, but doesn't seem like one because of the miniscule number of offensive plays.

My biggest issues with the rushing attack is that it can't spread the wealth intelligently -- nor can it figure out a smart way to ride a hot back to a successful drive either. In this one, Morris had one meaningful carry (that 33-yard gain) and that's it. Gulley was largely ineffective, while Erv could have done more damage with more carries and McFarlane was largely used in the passing game. Adonis Ameen-Moore didn't see a handoff, which is unforgivable at this point, but not unexpected after he got just three carries last week. The quarterbacks still get the bulk of the carries (10 between Long and Kimble) -- something that belies at least parts of the offense's issues.

In the passing game, let's face facts: Kimble is not a passer at this time, and Long still needs time to grow. I'm fine with the second point, but the first created a bothersome situation vs. Pitt where Kimble being out there did Syracuse nothing good whatsoever. If he can't run either (he couldn't against the Panthers), there's no reason for Kimble to get out there when Long's healthy. Also on passing: you've probably noticed the shrinking list of receivers each week. It's great to see Ishmael reassert himself, but where did Jarrod West vanish to? And Adrian Flemming? So many weapons, yet they're all used in a manner that doesn't allow more than one receiver to shine in a given game.

Re-watching this one, I felt the same way I did the first time: Where is the rhythm, or identity, or focus of this team? Who are its playmakers? Who is its quarterback? These are too many questions for any offense to overcome, and when given so few opportunities as it was on Saturday, it's no wonder that a team with those issues was completely debilitated. I've said it repeatedly, but it's worthwhile to ask again about Tim Lester. What has he shown us as an offensive coordinator so far? I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt, but do you really want to sign up for this or some semblance thereof for another year?

One more game, people. One more...