Clearly turnovers and penalties lost this game. But looking deeper:
1) On O play calling, we would get some momentum running the ball and then try passing just because of the need to establish a "balanced" offense. I'd like to see us keep pounding the rock (when it's working) until they show they can stop it and THEN start mixing in more passes. No need to mix it up just to have "balanced" pass/run stats...
2) Kicking game and overall special teams are unexplainably bad - the joke of college football right now. How can this level of kicking game not have been exposed earlier in practices? Points strongly to coaching/recruiting/practice issues. HAS to improve this season or the responsible coach should be fired to send message that repeated "below the line" performance is unacceptable.
3) A lot of missed tackles on D - too many to help extend their drives early. Can be improved within this season.
4) Pass blocking was well below average - direct cause for 2 of the 4 INT`s. Hated to see the Oline regression here. Can be improved within this season assuming our injuries remain manageable.
5) DL and LB's did poor job applying pressure relative to previous Syracuse opponent results. We all know this is a clear recurring weaknesses - hope more recruiting and depth for the front 7 will help - don't expect we'll see much improvement here until that happens. Likely not to improve much this season.
6) Our WR's are not creating enough separation - QB is having to go through progressions routinely which compounds issues with a Freshman QB... Can improve route running skills and getting off the line better this season.
7) Our DB's are getting beaten on a regular basis - have really regressed here - we were better here last season. I know Tre is out but a lot of our DB's are trailing opponent receivers by a yard or two even on incomplete passes. Not sure what the answer is here...
On the positive side (hard to find in a game like this), our running game looked great, punting was on NFL level and.....that's about it... In summary, if the running game is working, keep running until it's not working... This changes the passing game dynamics entirely (ie less INT's). Fix the penalties, and we win this game...