A critical analysis of Dino Babers' post-game locker room speech after beating Virginia Tech

The Syracuse Orange football team's 31-17 victory over the Virginia Tech Hokies was a pleasant surprise for fans. Even more so was the video of Dino Babers and the players celebrating the win in the locker room afterward.

You've probably watched it a dozen times already but let's watch one more time and then we need to break this sucker down.

Syracuse locker room is LIT pic.twitter.com/h7MElz0XiS

— ESPNU (@ESPNU) October 15, 2016

Before we get started, i think we need to point out the way this video proves what control and mastery Dino Babers has over his profession. I'm not saying that he wouldn't have given this speech if there weren't cameras in there, but there were and he knew that. He knew those were ESPN cameras and that his team had just defeated a ranked opponent on an ESPN network and if there was ever a moment when the rest of the nation would be paying attention to Syracuse Football, this was it.

What I'm getting at is that I'm not sure many other coaches, perhaps including Dino's predecessor, would have understood exactly what this moment needed to be. Anyone could have said some nice things and let the team celebrate. But this was a masterclass in creating not just a moment but an atmosphere. Others wouldn't be able to orchestrate this so perfectly that it would go viral and show up on the homepages of sports sites across the internet.

It's always been clear that Babers understands everything, and I do mean everything, that goes into being a college football head coach at this level. This just confirmed it.

Also, hi, Macky MacPherson!

"People don't know what we went through. They don't know about the kombaya meetings we had this week."

You guys, I am really upset about missing the kombaya meetings. If they did team-building exercises and Zaire Franklin did a trustfall into Zach Mahoney's waiting arms, I wish I had been there to spot him.

We. Are. Together.

Catchphrase No. 1

"We play as one. We win as one. Off the field. On the field. From picnics to the classrooms."

YOU GUYS, THEY ARE HAVING PICNICS ALSO WHY ARE WE NOT INVITED TO THE PICNICS??? CAN I BRING COLESLAW???

"They thought they were gonna come in here and just have an easy game."

Yeah they probably did.

"Somebody in Vegas told them they were gonna win by 20 to 23 points."

This is true. Also, can we just marvel at a moment where the head coach of a college football team openly references the betting line on the game to his student-athletes and none of us bat an eyelash? Hi, Mark Emmert.

"They didn't look into your heart. They didn't look into your heart. They didn't look into my heart."

Maybe I'm just programmed by sports movies to react to any mention of heart but that was a legitimate chills moment.

"Because they came into WHOSE HOUSE?"

"OUR HOUSE!"

Take note of this because it's the first time Dino asks about home-ownership. It won't be the last, causing me to wonder if he has a problem with hearing cause those guys respond very loudly. I'm surprised he didn't hear it.

"They didn't know."

Shade.

"They didn't know."

So much shade.

"They didn't know!"

Shaaaaaaaaade.

"It's not their fault!"

Shade dot org backslash donate now.

It's not their fault!

#AllTheShade

"WHOSE HOUSE?"

"OUR HOUSE!"

So now he's had his question answered twice, I feel like it's clear who owns-

"WHOSE HOUSE?"

"OUR HOUSE!"

Coach, they'd told you. I'm sure we can find someone with access to the docume-

"WHOSE HOUSE?"

"OUR HOUSE!"

Can someone just write it down, cause-

"WHOSE HOUSE?"

"OUR HOUSE!"

Mr. Babers, please acknowledge that you can hear th-

"WHOSE HOUSE?"

"OUR HOUSE!"

"WHOSE HOUSE?"

"OUR HOUSE!"

Okay now you're just asking for the sake of it caus-

"WHOSE HOUSE?"

"OUR HOUSE!"

Guys, he can't hear you! Stop yelling at him!

"WHOSE HOUSE?"

"OUR HOUSE!"

At that point societal niceties broke down and chaos ensued. Which I suppose was the point.

G'ORANGE!