Game Observations...from a Syracuse fan

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SyracuseFan

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Hello there! I know what you're thinking...another post from a homer Syracuse fan, just trying to stir things up. I assure you, that is not my intention! I met a few Gopher fans downtown Syracuse Friday night, and a few at the game Saturday and everyone was very nice and respectful. I hope anyone who made the trip was treated the same way! Now on to my observations!

First and foremost, good win by you guys. The entire difference of that game your ability to make the defensive 2nd half adjustments, while Syracuse tried to run the same offense the entire 2nd half (RE: Bubble Screens, Wildcat, and swing passes). That's the difference between our 1st year coaching staff and your coaching staff. That being said, our dropped passes and penalties didn't help our cause.

As a NY Jets fan...when is Decker going pro?! :eek: Wow was that guy impressive. Big, physical, can run, makes the tough catches...just wow. What a dominant performance by him. Wasn't sure what the Syracuse safties were doing (I know what they weren't doing...looking back for the ball), but he was impressive.

Boy can you guys hit. That was some solid Big 10, punch you in the mouth hits out there. #32, I think a LB and a saftey who's number I can't recall were both flying around laying the lumber.

I was very impressed with the way Syracuse was able to get down early and make a comeback. In year's past, down 14-3 quickly would turn into 28-3 and the game would be over. Not going to lie...I thought the was over at that point. What a difference a coaching staff can make on a team. No quit, kept the energy level, and fought back.

What's up with your guys offense? Outside of the short field positions in the beginning and the last drive in regulation, I didn't understand anything your offense was trying to do. Running attack? Short passing? It was like every drive they had a different identity and couldn't make up their mind what they wanted to be. I guess the identity became Decker and that's all that mattered in the end!

Overall, I'm disappointed Syracuse lost, but I'm excited that I can actually be disappointed! It's been so long since I've been able to even be emotionally involved in a Syracuse football game, I'll live with the disappointment.

Thoughts? I'll stick around for a few days to enjoy a little bit of game recap, as long as I don't get flamed. :p

SyracuseFan
Section 302 season ticket holder

P.S. Football can be played in a dome! Especially when there's 48,000 fans with a reason to be loud. :clap:
 


Thanks for the Syracuse perspective. Hopefully, the new coach works out for you. I was impressed with the passion I saw out of the Orange, they are also not without some talent. Yeah, I was a little disappointed with the Gopher offense, I was hoping for more, I just keep reminding myself that it was a road game against a BCS opponent and that they were in their first game with a new offense and a first time (ever) offensive coordinator.
 

mkAz said:
Thanks for the Syracuse perspective. Hopefully, the new coach works out for you. I was impressed with the passion I saw out of the Orange, they are also not without some talent. Yeah, I was a little disappointed with the Gopher offense, I was hoping for more, I just keep reminding myself that it was a road game against a BCS opponent and that they were in their first game with a new offense and a first time (ever) offensive coordinator.
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Syracuse has SOME talent, yes but Minnesota just has more. At the end of the day, talent overcomes heart/passion.

And up until yesterday, Syracuse was a BCS opponent based only on it's conference. ;)
 

SyracuseFan: How much different is this years Syracuse team compared to last? Not only with certain playmakers, but with overall team scheme and talent/will?

I know you guys have been dismal the past couple years, but yesterday your squad looked a lot better than I had read about. My only concern is that we are bad and allowed them to look good. On the other hand, if the Cuse were as improved as I thought, it may turn out to be a pretty quality road win against a formidable and improving team in front of a near sellout and rowdy crowd. Your thoughts? Thanks for the input, good luck the rest of the way.
 


How do you feel about Greg Paulus? I've always been an Orangeman fan even during the days of "He Whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken" drove the program into the ground. I'm curious to know how Syracuse fans feel about Paulus.......
 

sonnygarcia said:
SyracuseFan: How much different is this years Syracuse team compared to last? Not only with certain playmakers, but with overall team scheme and talent/will?

I know you guys have been dismal the past couple years, but yesterday your squad looked a lot better than I had read about. My only concern is that we are bad and allowed them to look good. On the other hand, if the Cuse were as improved as I thought, it may turn out to be a pretty quality road win against a formidable and improving team in front of a near sellout and rowdy crowd. Your thoughts? Thanks for the input, good luck the rest of the way.
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That's honestly the money question..were you guys just bad on the road yesterday, or is Syracuse improved quite a bit? The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle?

The biggest difference this year is team speed and accountability. Marrone brought in a speed coach that has drastically improved our team speed, which in the last few year's, was probably near the bottom in the country. There also seems to be more accountability all the way around. I thought Greg Robinson was a great guy, classy, good person...but players could just get away with stupid mistakes and penalities game after game. There's already been a handful of players quit the the team this year because they couldn't take the no nonsense, accountability driven approach that Marrone has brought in. Hell, we had a kicker quit the team 2 weeks ago because he couldn't hack it. A kicker! That speaks volumes.

I'm not going to say we are going to out and win 6 games now to be bowl eligible based off of 1 game...but I don't think teams are going to look at their schedule and see Syracuse and automatically put a "W" there either...
 

thailleagle said:
How do you feel about Greg Paulus? I've always been an Orangeman fan even during the days of "He Whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken" drove the program into the ground. I'm curious to know how Syracuse fans feel about Paulus.......
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You gotta understand that Paulus is like the prodigal son here. Football wise? He gives us the best chance to win now at the QB position (doesn't say much), but is over-hyped and is a better off the field story than on the field story. What he is doing though is generating interest, both nationally and locally, for a team that has had very little of both in the last 5-6 years. That can prove to be more valuable than anything he will do on the field toward recruiting and donations...
 

SyracuseFan said:
Syracuse has SOME talent, yes but Minnesota just has more. At the end of the day, talent overcomes heart/passion.
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True, talent doesn't accumulate overnight though as Gopher fans are well aware.
 



As a huge 'Cuse fan 364 days of the year, I had to pretend I hated the orange yesterday, because the gophers are #1 for me. I was slightly optimistic about what I saw from Paulus. He was one play away from winning the game. I was waiting for him to make some dumb mistakes throughout the game, but he really didnt, until the very end. Did he possibly have a mental lapse and throw that pass in OT because he thought it was a fourth down situation where he might as well throw it up? It was just a bizarre play, because there was about 6 Gopher players who could have intercepted that pass.

I will be interested to see how the Orange do this year, Penn St will be a tough one, but I they might give Northwestern a game...Carter, and the other running back (#29 I think) looked pretty decent. Mike Williams minus a drop or two looked okay too.

Would Paulus be viewed as a local hero if you made it to 6-6 or to a bowl??
 

We were really bad on offense. It kind of is who we have been for a few years. Trying a bunch of new stuff with very little success. So if I were a SU fan I wouldn't be too excited. SU did get 20 points but I can't remember the last time I saw the Gopher defense hold a team down like they did SU. SU will not win more than a couple games this year if yesterday was representative. Syracuse is the closest thing to an auto win in BCS football this year.
 

Rotundo said:
We were really bad on offense. It kind of is who we have been for a few years. Trying a bunch of new stuff with very little success. So if I were a SU fan I wouldn't be too excited. SU did get 20 points but I can't remember the last time I saw the Gopher defense hold a team down like they did SU. SU will not win more than a couple games this year if yesterday was representative. Syracuse is the closest thing to an auto win in BCS football this year.
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This must be your first year as a Gopher fun because we held Indiana to 7 points last year and Purdue to 6, Florida-Atlantic to 3 and BGSU to 17.......
 

From what I saw Paulus might have made the wrong decision when he chose what sport to go into. He looked great as a QB for a D1 program in his first game in like 4 years. He is definitely a better QB than point guard. Imagine what he would be like if he played football instead of basketball. I will say he is a natural born leader and it showed yesterday.
 



Rotundo said:
We were really bad on offense. It kind of is who we have been for a few years. Trying a bunch of new stuff with very little success. So if I were a SU fan I wouldn't be too excited. SU did get 20 points but I can't remember the last time I saw the Gopher defense hold a team down like they did SU. SU will not win more than a couple games this year if yesterday was representative. Syracuse is the closest thing to an auto win in BCS football this year.
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See that doesn't even make sense to me. If that's the case, you shouldn't get too excited as a fan of Minnesota, since Syracuse is the "auto win" and you guys won in OT. You can't have it both ways. Like I said, I think the truth is somewhere in the middle of you guys didn't play your best and Syracuse is much improved.
 

I believe Week #2 will answer that question for both our teams.......
 

I think most of us have a lot of respect for the Orange tradition, though you have been down the past couple of years. We had memorable games with Syracuse back in the 90s. Agree with your observations - we have a new O-coordinator, just getting his fet wet. Decker is the real deal, as you say. Paulus should work well for you this year if he avoids injuries. He's got a good arm and is a real leader, with a lot of enthusiasm. Your team seemed greatly improved over last year on both sides of the ball (as was Washington - did you see their late game with LSU?). Second half, we adjusted, you didn't - but we couldn't score. Your dome was loud, as ours was on days when the fans turned out. Most of us prefer the new outdoor stadium, but some don't.
 


I am not excited about MN beating Syracuse by 3 in OT. I am glad we won but I think a 3 pt win in OT over Syracuse is a very mild accomplishment. SU is like Indiana this year - one of the three or four weakest teams in bcs conference football.

SU had something along the lines of 70 yds in the 2nd half vs our defense. That should really concern you as a syracuse fan.
 

SyracuseFan said:
You gotta understand that Paulus is like the prodigal son here. Football wise? He gives us the best chance to win now at the QB position (doesn't say much), but is over-hyped and is a better off the field story than on the field story. What he is doing though is generating interest, both nationally and locally, for a team that has had very little of both in the last 5-6 years. That can prove to be more valuable than anything he will do on the field toward recruiting and donations...
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You are VERY WRONG greg paulus does not give us the best chance to win dantley does he is a senior qb that at the end of the year was playing well. If dantley started yesterday I have no doubt that we would have wob by at least two touchdowns minnesota played bad and we should have won. With dantley at qb su could of had a very nice season compared to years past and I could see them going 5-7 or even 6-6 but with paulus that will not be the case. You are right however about him generating interest that is the only reason he is starting which i find disgusting and feel bad for the other players. It always comes down to money bring in paulus and watch the ticket sales go up forget about the team winning
 

SyracuseFan said:
Eh maybe. Syracuse @ Penn St probably won't be a great barometer of how the rest of our season will go. :cry:
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If the Orangemen can keep it interesting I'm sure there will still be feelings of optimism from the fans. If it's a slaughter then I don't know...I know if they manhandle Syracuse then I'm really gonna be nervous when we play them :(

We lose to AF and Brewster is gonna be under fire the rest of the season.......
 

Rotundo said:
I am not excited about MN beating Syracuse by 3 in OT. I am glad we won but I think a 3 pt win in OT over Syracuse is a very mild accomplishment. SU is like Indiana this year - one of the three or four weakest teams in bcs conference football.

SU had something along the lines of 70 yds in the 2nd half vs our defense. That should really concern you as a syracuse fan.
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How many yards did Minnesota have in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd quarters? I'd be concerned about that, especially against "one of the three or four weakest teams in bcs conference football". You can even make the argument that what the Minnesota offense did in the 4th quarter was a byproduct of the defense being on the field so much in the 2nd half, not because they did anything dramatically different in play-calling or execution. Although that is purely speculation...

Again, the difference was your defense adjusted and the Syracuse offense did not. I'd like to find out why we didn't change anything.

Nothing about the loss yesterday, the even the loss itself, has me concerned. Quite the opposite in fact. Passion, energy, speed...all things that have been absent from this team for years returned yesterday.
 

lets go orange said:
You are VERY WRONG greg paulus does not give us the best chance to win dantley does he is a senior qb that at the end of the year was playing well. If dantley started yesterday I have no doubt that we would have wob by at least two touchdowns minnesota played bad and we should have won. With dantley at qb su could of had a very nice season compared to years past and I could see them going 5-7 or even 6-6 but with paulus that will not be the case. You are right however about him generating interest that is the only reason he is starting which i find disgusting and feel bad for the other players. It always comes down to money bring in paulus and watch the ticket sales go up forget about the team winning
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Based off of what? What Dantley did last year in a completely different offense? Minus the INT at the end, it wasn't mistakes by Paulus that cost Syracuse the game. It was the inability to change up the offensive playcalls/Minnesota's adjustments defensively in the 2nd half, dropped passes, and penalties that stalled every drive in the 2nd half.
 

SyracuseFan said:
How many yards did Minnesota have in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd quarters? I'd be concerned about that, especially against "one of the three or four weakest teams in bcs conference football". You can even make the argument that what the Minnesota offense did in the 4th quarter was a byproduct of the defense being on the field so much in the 2nd half, not because they did anything dramatically different in play-calling or execution. Although that is purely speculation...

Again, the difference was your defense adjusted and the Syracuse offense did not. I'd like to find out why we didn't change anything.

Nothing about the loss yesterday, the even the loss itself, has me concerned. Quite the opposite in fact. Passion, energy, speed...all things that have been absent from this team for years returned yesterday.
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Considering it was your coaches first game ever he did pretty decent. He needs to adjust quicker but his gameplan depended on where Syracuse was on the field at the time and he started showing a pattern and I think our D-Coord caught on.

Have you seen anything from your backup QB? What's the reason Paulus got chosen to start?
 

thailleagle said:
Considering it was your coaches first game ever he did pretty decent. He needs to adjust quicker but his gameplan depended on where Syracuse was on the field at the time and he started showing a pattern and I think our D-Coord caught on.

Have you seen anything from your backup QB? What's the reason Paulus got chosen to start?
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Bingo!

Syracuse has 3 QBs that all had a chance to start this year...Dantley (starter for much of last year, Redshirt Freshman Ryan Nassib (named starter during spring practices), and of course Paulus.

Dantley, from what I've read, just couldn't run this offense. We went from a power run game/I form Team to, as I'm sure you guys noticed, a Spread offense. Nassib (he was #12 that always checked in during the Stallion formation, or our version of the Wildcat) I guess came from a spread offense in high school, and with no real competition considering what I said about Dantley, won the job.

Paulus came and was named the starter within the first 2 weeks of being here. How much of that is the hype, tickets, boosters, etc...that's up for debate. From what I watched though, he looked good for someone that hasn't played football in 4 years. Hell he looked better than a lot of 1st year starters that are only a year or 2 removed from high school. He was able to spot the blitz and make adjustments repeatedly yesterday, which was amazing to see. It's too bad the O Coordinator didn't put him in a better position the 2nd half however.
 

SyracuseFan said:
Bingo!

Syracuse has 3 QBs that all had a chance to start this year...Dantley (starter for much of last year, Redshirt Freshman Ryan Nassib (named starter during spring practices), and of course Paulus.

Dantley, from what I've read, just couldn't run this offense. We went from a power run game/I form Team to, as I'm sure you guys noticed, a Spread offense. Nassib (he was #12 that always checked in during the Stallion formation, or our version of the Wildcat) I guess came from a spread offense in high school, and with no real competition considering what I said about Dantley, won the job.

Paulus came and was named the starter within the first 2 weeks of being here. How much of that is the hype, tickets, boosters, etc...that's up for debate. From what I watched though, he looked good for someone that hasn't played football in 4 years. Hell he looked better than a lot of 1st year starters that are only a year or 2 removed from high school. He was able to spot the blitz and make adjustments repeatedly yesterday, which was amazing to see. It's too bad the O Coordinator didn't put him in a better position the 2nd half however.
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Interesting........

He might be decent this year, I have a feeling you'll know where Paulus stands after the Penn St. game as there are too many questions looming for both our teams on both sides of the ball that couldn't be answered yesterday due to both teams having NEW everything, lol.......

I think your O-Coord's problem was he was having success with his gameplan in the first half and stuck with it despite our halftime adjustments and never made changes when it stopped working. He pretty much ran the Stallion EVERYTIME your team got past your own 40 until you got inside our 40, EVERYTIME.......Screen plays inside your own 40 and nothing but slants past the 50 yard line it seemed. He'll have to work on that but Paulus was good at changing things on the line.......
 

Paulus certainly outplayed our supposed All Big Ten candidate QB. I agree, he looked good for not having played football in 4 years. Of course there's film on him now (and on the new Syracuse offense), so it'll be interesting to see how it plays out going forward.
 

SyracuseFan said:
Based off of what? What Dantley did last year in a completely different offense? Minus the INT at the end, it wasn't mistakes by Paulus that cost Syracuse the game. It was the inability to change up the offensive playcalls/Minnesota's adjustments defensively in the 2nd half, dropped passes, and penalties that stalled every drive in the 2nd half.
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Were we watching the same game? paulus had 4 or 5 passes that SHOULD have been int but minnesota dropped them any other team and we would have been blown out. Also why do people always blame the coaches they call the play but the qb has 4-5 options every play where to throw the ball and paulus looked like he took the first option everytime throwing 2 yd passes to wr's that were covered. Plenty of times I saw wrs wide open down the field and he wasn't even looking. The only reason paulus is starting is to get attention and sell seats daryl gross is the worse thing to happen to su sports. Dantley has experience and would have not thrown that int in ot and if he was in we wouldn't have been in ot in the first place. Paulus will be exposed against penn st trust me
 

Not trying to be insulting, but I did not think the Syracuse offense was that good. It was just the tweaks that the Gophers needed to figure. Did not look like the orange had any Offensive adjustments or anything different once the Gophers got it figured out. They will need more then simple razzle dazzle if they are going to improve or it will be like the Gophers last year. When their OL weaknesses was discovered in the NW game, they were exploited by everyone and did not make any successful adjustments.

It is hard to say if the Orange Def is that improved because Weber had such a bad game and the OL was nothing special, at least was not playing as well as hoped for.
 

Using what critria?

mkAz said:
Paulus certainly outplayed our supposed All Big Ten candidate QB. I agree, he looked good for not having played football in 4 years. Of course there's film on him now (and on the new Syracuse offense), so it'll be interesting to see how it plays out going forward.
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Weber shouldered his team at the desperate end, and lead them to the tying score. What did Paulus do? Throw a couple of Joe Capp ducks? One TD on an insanley stupid play by a safety? 50 yards or less in the second half? Turn off ESPN, and maybe you could be objective.
Weber out played, out gained, and lead his team to victory, Paulus sat on the field, head in hands, after losing the game for his team on a stupid, stupid pass. Weber played poorly, but still out played Paulus. Sorry but facts suck when you are a ESPN cheerleader.
 

re3886 said:
Weber shouldered his team at the desperate end, and lead them to the tying score. What did Paulus do? Throw a couple of Joe Capp ducks? One TD on an insanley stupid play by a safety? 50 yards or less in the second half? Turn off ESPN, and maybe you could be objective.
Weber out played, out gained, and lead his team to victory, Paulus sat on the field, head in hands, after losing the game for his team on a stupid, stupid pass. Weber played poorly, but still out played Paulus. Sorry but facts suck when you are a ESPN cheerleader.
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You are getting pissed off and beating a drum on how your Junior QB outplayed someone that hasn't played competitive football in 4 years, and first game in college. That's impressive. :clap:
 

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