Lets talk some football: Syracuse

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Curseislifted33

Curseislifted33

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Should be win number one for the season. I don't know too much about them so I did some research, assuming a lot of other posters are in the dark about our first opponent as well.
So here is some unorganized Info on our first opponent, sorry for the tough read!

Syracuse Season Preview from Scout:
http://www.bigeast.org/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=19400&ATCLID=204765978

(FROM ESPN, who ranked them last in QBS for the Big East:)
Syracuse: Greg Paulus won the starting job after four years off and just a week of practice, but it wasn't like he had to beat out Donovan McNabb. The Orange's other options were a redshirt freshman in Ryan Nassib and a former walk-on in Cam Dantley. I still have serious doubts about how effective Paulus can be with so little college football experience. So until he proves otherwise, Syracuse gets the lowest spot on this list.

They have the leagues 'worst rated O-Line' according to ESPN.com big east blogger Brian Bennett.
http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast

I think our deep talent at DT will really show this game and Brown will have a MONSTER game.

They also lack experience at RB: (6th out of 8 teams in the rankings is what the 6 means)

6. Syracuse: This group has the potential to be among the best in the conference, but right
now it's just that: potential. Delone Carter looks ready for a big senior year after dealing with injuries the past two years. Antwon Bailey had a breakout game at Notre Dame, and Averin Collier could push for time. Still, this is a group that returns just 358 rushing yards from a year ago.

They have the conference 'comeback player of the year' in Wr Mike Williams, who will provide the Gophers some trouble in the secondary, the key will be for the pass rush to get there early so he doesn't have time to get free for BPT.

4. Comeback player of the year: Syracuse receiver Mike Williams. After missing all of last year because of academic problems, the Orange's top playmaker from 2007 returns and will be the go-to guy in the passing game. The big question is whether Greg Paulus can get it to him and whether Syracuse can find other options to keep Williams from being double-teamed every down.

BUT, they really lack depth at the WR/TE position:(7th in Big East)
7. Syracuse: Mike Williams should be one of the best receivers in the Big East, provided he hasn't lost too much since his year off. Mike Owen has all-league potential at tight end. Other than that, though, there's not a whole lot to get excited about.


And The BEST/WORST case for their opening season:




Best Case/Worst Case: Syracuse
August 20, 2009 9:30 AM
em>Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett
Syracuse fans probably think they've already seen the worst-case scenario unfold over the last four years. But what about this season? Here are the extreme possibilities on either side:

Best case:

Greg Paulus is The Natural. Shaking off four years of rust, Paulus plays like the Gatorade national high school player of the year he once was as the Orange offense finally generates some excitement again in the Carrier Dome. Receiver Mike Williams is better than he was the last time anyone saw him two years ago, and running backs Delone Carter, Antwon Bailey and Averin Collier give Syracuse an explosive 1-2-3 punch.

The Orange open by shocking Minnesota at home, and though they get shellacked at Penn State, they come back to upset Northwestern the following week. After rolling over Maine for a 3-1 start, Syracuse comes back to earth a little bit by losing to South Florida and West Virginia at home. A win over Akron precedes two more conference losses, to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

But a late-season renaissance brings a third straight victory over Louisville and a year-ending upset of UConn and alumnus Randy Edsall, who turned down the Syracuse job in the offseason. A 6-6 record leaves the Orange bowl eligible, and the International Bowl snaps them up to capitalize on the Paulus craze.

The Paulus experiment is so successful that Jim Boeheim allows all of his players to go out for football the following spring.

Pumped up by being named Big East coach of the year (and by about 10 Red Bulls), Doug Marrone gets the No. 44 tattooed on his forehead.

Worst case:

Paulus is pretty good. As a basketball player. As a quarterback with no college experience, he is completely lost, and opponents can't wait to throw all sorts of blitzes at him. Bruised and battered, he doesn't make it through the first three games, all losses.

The lack of depth on the roster -- 18 scholarship players have left the program since Marrone took over -- begins to exact a heavy toll as injuries mount. The defense lacks answers at defensive end, linebacker and defensive back and is as porous as it was in the lowest point of the Robinson era.

The offensive line continues to struggle in the spring, and there's nobody at receiver to take pressure off Williams. Syracuse wins two games -- against Maine and Akron -- while watching Rutgers win the Big East and excite New York City.

Meanwhile, Michigan leads the Big Ten in points allowed, and Wolverines fans shower praise on their new defensive coordinator, Greg Robinson.

The NCAA grants Eric Devendorf an extra year of college eligibility, and Marrone immediately names him the starting quarterback for 2010.
 

I think this game will hinge on our creation of turnovers. If the Syracuse OL is as depleted as it reads to be, and the talent is lacking at WR/TE like people say, I think we can be aggressive, get to Paulus and turn this into a 5-TO laugher by the 4th quarter, walking away with a solid win. Syracuse could wind up looking like the '07 Gophers pretty easy. I think the parallels are there.

What makes me uneasy is how relatively in the dark we are as fans about our own team. In conversation by the coaches, Eskridge always is the name brought up last behind Bennett and Whaley. Is that a hint? All these special packages and wildcat formations we keep hearing rumors about we haven't seen.

Overall, though what gives me hope is that we're stronger on the OL and DL this year.

Edit: I should add that we also haven't seen any blitz packages and the D at the scrimmage was VERY vanilla.
 

Nothing with Gopher football is a sure thing (yet). If they lose this game it will be a very close one. There is potential for a blow out victory. Although I'd be surprised if they lost, I would not be shocked.

All that being said, a loss would be a major downer because we all know the schedule is much harder this year and pretty much anyone would rank SU as one of their top three "weakest" opponents (on paper anyway). So, a loss here would suddenly make a likely 7-5 season look more like a potential 5-7, 4-8, or worse.
 

Don't forget...

Syracuse is replacing their entire starting DB's....Might be a chance to throw some to more than Decker.
 

re3886 said:
Syracuse is replacing their entire starting DB's....Might be a chance to throw some to more than Decker.
Click to expand...

I like the idea here. When in doubt, simply throw more to Decker. It might be predictable (as it has been our most effective play call the last few seasons) but it certainly works
 


cclaufer said:
I like the idea here. When in doubt, simply throw more to Decker. It might be predictable (as it has been our most effective play call the last few seasons) but it certainly works
Click to expand...

It will be an opportunity to spread the ball around. It would be great to see a WR step up as a compliment to Decker and what better game to do it than against a team with a inexperienced backfield. The confidence gained could carry forward into the home opener and lead to a really strong season for the #2 guy. It will do wonders for Weber to gain confidence in another guy and would make Decker more dangerous.

If the Maroon and Gold can get an early lead, I'd like to see them run the ball and see what the RBs can do in a game situation. As another poster noted in another thread, we're entering our 4th season in a row without a running back.
 

I think the gameplan has to include a physical start running the ball, probably off tackles, they have one excellent DT, but very little LB depth, wear down the DE's and LB's early, that said, they have to be looking to take Decker away, I see alot of TE/HB/FB/Slot clearouts and crosses early and then Decker can get more chances for one on ones.
Look for the pounding running game to try to set up play action, and some misdirection.

On D, who knows? If I'm reading things, this is a similar offense to NO saints, is that right?
They have serious OL troubles and will attack our dbacks with alot of motion, quick slants/rollouts/etc. They key I think will be the pash rush and messing up Paulus's timing, Brown/Small/Edwards/Kirksey will need to penetrate up the middle to make him move his feet and think scramble quickly, if we can do that it should make it a less deadly passing attack and we can do some robber coverages/spy coverages and delayed blitzing to minimize his running and force them back to a between the tackles running attack which we can handle IMO. Simmons is going to need to do a good job of minimizing their top WR who apparently is excellent, I'm still not sold on our safeties' speed in coverage, but we will need to have help over the top and underneath for this guy, however they seem to have not much else in they way of Wr's so sherels/carter should be able to handle the remaining targets.

Special teams could be dominant for us, they have lost 16 scholarship athletes and have 5 scholarship LB's left and have also run a bear of a camp so far, Stoudemire has to be one of those guys who wears coverage units out, and a physical return game can help to set up the O and D, the wild cards are the kickers for both teams, they have lost 3 in the last 6 months, and are down to a walkon, who for all we know could be excellent, but it does make you wonder, we will have two new kickers also and they need to be solid on the road for the kicking game to be a plus for us.

Overall I'm thinking back to Northern Illinois last year, a similar situation new coach, new O, season opener, etc, but we will have better athletes and depth.
I see Fisch setting up a great game plan and the D to overpower their OL. A tight first half gives us a 3 point lead and halftime adjustments by the D leads to an eventual 14 point victory for us.
31-17 Gophers.

Weber throws for 235 2 TD 1 INT
Bennett runs for 90 and catches 3 for 50 and a score
Tow Arnett has 5 rec for 50
Decker 6 for 100 and a score

Lawrence 2 sacks
Theret 1 INT
Brown/Small 4 TFL

Dang that was kinda fun.
 


Ole said:
I see Fisch setting up a great game plan and the D to overpower their OL. A tight first half gives us a 3 point lead and halftime adjustments by the D leads to an eventual 14 point victory for us.
31-17 Gophers.

Weber throws for 235 2 TD 1 INT
Bennett runs for 90 and catches 3 for 50 and a score
Tow Arnett has 5 rec for 50
Decker 6 for 100 and a score

Lawrence 2 sacks
Theret 1 INT
Brown/Small 4 TFL

Dang that was kinda fun.
Click to expand...

I could see this happening.......
 



I did a poor job of expressing myself...

re3886 said:
Syracuse is replacing their entire starting DB's....Might be a chance to throw some to more than Decker.
Click to expand...

The idea, not clearly stated, was to spread the ball around. Weber, and who can blame him?, tends to look at Decker as the first and second option, then move on. I would like to see the Gophers go for a kind of Rope-A-Dope, knowing that Syracuse will know that Weber to Decker is a great combo, they will shade or roll a safety his way. You go away from that early and often, spread the ball around. Then when the Orangemen adjust you go back and punish them for it. Not very different from the short passing game, to open up the bomb.
 

If the game is close and/or we have a hard time running the ball, I see Gray coming in and running some option.
 

The keys to this game is proper execution, taking care of the ball and the coordinators making adjustments to what Syracuse does.

New offense & OC, inexperienced OL, new DC's, rookie kickers, a good number of RS Frosh and newbies, etc. all need to get their feet wet and play well enough for a W.
 

I look for us to be pretty vanilla on offense. Syracuse is undermanned in the front seven so I see us establishing the run first. In the passing game I see a lot of play action and screens. I see Syracuse trying to hustle and be aggressive to make up for a lack of talent and being susceptible to misdirection. On defense, putting pressure on Paulus and not letting him get comfortable is paramount, so I see a lot of shifting and blitzes.
 



As Coach Brew said

Johnnies and Joes are more important that x's and o's. We've got the players - if any of you think we're not winning more games this year than last, you're cracked.
 

In doing a little homework on the Orange, it reads like they don't have an entirely new starting defensive backfield...if that matters...Mike Holmes plays both CB and S and is back...had 68-tackles and 2-picks last year, while also forcing a fumble.
 

Your right, my "source" was wrong

Doogie said:
In doing a little homework on the Orange, it reads like they don't have an entirely new starting defensive backfield...if that matters...Mike Holmes plays both CB and S and is back...had 68-tackles and 2-picks last year, while also forcing a fumble.
Click to expand...
You are correct. He was starter, he was shifted from one postion to the other due to injuries. Listed as a free safety this year. While ok as a defender he is a big threat in both return games. So my upstate New York friend tells me. He says he feels bad about forgeting him, he says,the teams "D" play last year was mostly forgetable, or he wishes he could at any rate.
 

My question is, can the new offense come together quickly enough to put 35 points on the board? If they can, I think the Gophers win this one comfortably.

I think the Gophers veteran defense should make things tough on Syracuse. I also think that the Gophers are helped by being used to playing in a dome, something that many teams don't have much experience with.

Syracuse was able to beat Notre Dame and Louisville last year (though Louisville only won one Big East game) and played a couple other teams tough. I know they've lost a number of players from that team, but I am not sure they are the cupcake that they are treated like in the media.

My fear is that this game is closer than expected due to the offense sputtering out of the gates and Syracuse being pumped to play for their new coach.
 

I would like to see us run the ball about, say, 35-40 times.

We run the ball that much, tackle well, don't give up big plays...we win.
 

If we are up comfortably by half time, God willing, i would really like to see Weber play the rest of the game without Decker. Force him to find his #2 reciever. And dont give the Air Force and Cal scouts much to look at when it comes to Weber-to-Decker.

Also, I hope we are very run-heavy on offense early on. That needs to be established as a staple of this team; and the o-line, fullback, and rbs need confidence in their game.

On defense.... blitz Paulus out of his mind. Best way to create turnovers, especially from an inexperienced QB. Turnovers are the best way to win football games. Plus it helps us greatly control the pace of the game which gives us more opportunity to run the ball.

When we were able to cause turnovers last year, we were good.
 

Not to be a smart guy but....

Studwell55 said:
I would like to see us run the ball about, say, 35-40 times.

We run the ball that much, tackle well, don't give up big plays...we win.
Click to expand...


Would this not equall victories in about 99% of all games, especially if you threw "don't turn over the ball."?
 

I'm new to this site and love the insight...thanks.

It looks to me the Gophers should win easily:
- New everything which usually spells disasterous 1st season...2007 for us...
- 4 years for Paulus since he played in a real game.

But I do fear we may be overlooking them. Coach Brewster in his speech at the kickoff luncheon said they are totally focused on Syracuse and will not even think about September 12...then he talked about what a challenge Air Force will be with their system and motivated players; and the importance of the opening of TCF Stadium... I'm sure they have worked a lot against the Air Force option attack in camp, but I hope this week is all about Syracuse.

Also, the fans will be jacked at the start of the game because of their new regime, so an early turnover or two could be disasterous...

All that said, I'm looking forward to, and expecting, a promising start to our season.

Go Gophers!!!
 

I'm looking forward to this game. I think that the Syracuse fans may be overestimating how quickly a new coach can turn a team around. Their QB may turn out to be great, but you've got to think this will be his rustiest game of the season.

In one thread on their board, they are claiming that we won't be prepared for the heat. I looked at the weather forcasts for Saturday, and 76 degrees is prediucted for Syracuse, versus 75 degrees here. Just how cold do they think it is here?
 

RodentRampage said:
I'm looking forward to this game. I think that the Syracuse fans may be overestimating how quickly a new coach can turn a team around. Their QB may turn out to be great, but you've got to think this will be his rustiest game of the season.

In one thread on their board, they are claiming that we won't be prepared for the heat. I looked at the weather forcasts for Saturday, and 76 degrees is prediucted for Syracuse, versus 75 degrees here. Just how cold do they think it is here?
Click to expand...

They're referring to the heat in the Carrier Dome. It has no air conditioning.

From Wikipedia:
Despite carrying the name Carrier (an HVAC manufacturer), there is no air conditioning in the dome. The need for it is presumed low, as the facility is primarily used during the academic year (August–May), during most of which the outside temperatures rarely go far above room temperature. However, the temperatures greatly rise when filled to capacity even in November.​
 

That may be true, but I don't think the temperature in the Carrier Dome is going to be so high that it's some kind of jungle in there. It doesn't appear it will be filled to capacity anyway.
 

RodentRampage said:
In one thread on their board, they are claiming that we won't be prepared for the heat. I looked at the weather forcasts for Saturday, and 76 degrees is prediucted for Syracuse, versus 75 degrees here. Just how cold do they think it is here?
Click to expand...

I read that too. The poster said that Minnesota wouldn't be prepared for the "humidity" in the Carrier Dome.

WTF????:confused:

They may not realized that the last time we played a home game outside of a dome was in 1981.

I ususally expect the opposing team's fans to expect a victory, but in reading their Scout forum, they are downright delusional. Most are predicting a lopsided victory based mostly on the x's and o's of their new coaching staff. The 5th year seniors on that squad have had the following results:

2005: 1-11 (over a 1-win Buffalo team)
2006: 4-8 (only 1 win against a team with a winning record)
2007: 2-10
2008: 3-9 (including a win over a 1-AA team and their signature victory over a #40-ish Notre Dame team)

I sincerely hope that Syracuse can rebuild. They are a storied program that really deserves a great deal of improvement. IMO, the biggest issue they have and will continue to have is that they now have to share their recruiting territory with Rutgers and Connecticut - whereas they used to have the northeast all to themselves.

Given the following, though, I can't see Syracuse faring well even if I remove my Maroon and Gold colored glasses:
  • the caliber of athletes that have accomplished only 1 win against a winning program in their last 30+/- attempts.
  • a new coaching staff with new schemes
  • a quarterback that hasn't taken a snap against a high-school defense (let alone a BCS-league college defense) in four years.

Stranger things have happened than would be the case with a Syracuse victory, but I think the cards are stacked pretty high against them.
 

Go Gophers Rah said:
I read that too. The poster said that Minnesota wouldn't be prepared for the "humidity" in the Carrier Dome.

WTF????:confused:

They may not realized that the last time we played a home game outside of a dome was in 1981.
Click to expand...

I'd note that the Dome was/is air conditioned. It's not exactly apples to apples.
 

Part of this does appear to be Syracuse fans thinking that the Gophers will come into the game being used to playing on permafrost. The weather outside will be about the same, I doubt the increase in temperature and humidity will be enough to overwhelm the Gophers.
 

They're being delusional, they aren't factoring the fact that we have an indoor practice facility, close the doors crank up the heat we'll be fine. The overnight low will be 58F so the game time temp should be in the upper 60's. Syracuse, to win this game, will need to get up early , hang on, and hope that it's hot enough we wilt in the second half . It will not happen! They simply don't have the athletes to pull it off. I see it it close in the first quarter, like 10 to 6 Gophers while we figure them out, in the second we blow them out. By the second half, they will be playing for pride, while our second unit hangs a couple of more scores on them.
 

Does anyone know how much the temperature and humidity increases in the Carrier Dome?

In any case, this is not going to be like going to Miami, the outdoor temperature won't even reach peak until the game is over. Going to Miami, the heat and humidity can be an assault on you the entire time you are there.

The last update I saw, they had sold about 36,000 tickets.
 

Syracuse's record in the Carrier Dome during the past 5+ years is a testament to the impact of the heat/humidity inside the facility.
 

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