Syracuse Post Game

[Northeast Stinger]

Looking at the PFF scores, there seems to be a large gap between the right and left side of the O line yesterday fwiw. The other thing that I was surprised with our scores from our DE's, which were higher than I would have guessed. They (DE's) seeemed virtually invisible yesterday and never seemed to be able to set the edge. From my perspective, their angles upfield were terrible and SYR had no problems at all getting to the outside all game.

One side of the line was definitely getting beaten more. One infamous fourth down play they got pretty much blown up.

 

[4shotB]

DB's can't cover, can't tackle......if we don't start bringing 6 or 7 on every play we win 5 games.....

I tend to agree but yesterday I thought the SYR QB was getting the ball out so quick when needed that blitzing 11 wouldn't have resulted in a sack imo. Sure, he sat back in a clean pocket when given the chance but he also made quick decisions when necessary. He didn't portal in from valdosta Stae. There is a reason he was recruited and started at OSU imo. He put on a QB clinic yesterday.

 

[7979]

How many Fire Marcus Freeman threads are up

LOL....
Met him last summer at charity golf event...seems like a really good guy....
ND can't lose to NIU.....EVER.... he's got serious QB issue..... ND does not tolerate embarsssment.... ND is not GT....
Marcus is headed to NFL.... as in "Not For Long", unless ND wins out....

 

[7979]

I tend to agree but yesterday I thought the SYR QB was getting the ball out so quick when needed that blitzing 11 wouldn't have resulted in a sack imo. Sure, he sat back in a clean pocket when given the chance but he also made quick decisions when necessary. He didn't portal in from valdosta Stae. There is a reason he was recruited and started at OSU imo. He put on a QB clinic yesterday.

If you can't cover, you must blitz...versus Syracuse QB (who is very good, I agree) or VMI or UGa....
3rd and 10... Is there any Tech fan comfortable or confident about getting a stop?
3 step drop, TE drags across middle at about 11 yds..... first down.... been that way for 55 years....

 

[bke1984]

Ok. So do we just shut up and let this board go dormant? What must we do?

I mean, that’s a great list of examples to bear in mind, but can we not discuss opinions on what happened yesterday? Please?

This is addressed at the people that are just plain bitching about the loss and not being constructive. It’s fine to be upset that we lost - I know I am - but it’s childish to blame not taking a penalty or throw fit and act like the team has no chance to win more than 6 games based on losing a close game to a good team.

 

[7979]

Yeah these are my thoughts to a T as well. I’m not surprised by our defense. We just don’t have the playmakers on the defensive line IIWII

My main area of concern is our offense. How did we manage only 2 TDs in the first 3 quarters. We seemed to run inside zone every other play and it wasn’t working. The passing game missed some chances and made some plays but was overly lackluster. Why not get more outside runs or qb runs going? I’m sure someone smarter than me will let figure it out

"....We seemed to run inside zone every other play and it wasn’t working...."
THIS!

 

[roadkill]

I don't have an issue with this. We didn't look like a top 25 team yesterday and we have never seemed to handle prosperity all that well over the decades,

I don't have an issue with it either at this point. But there's bound to be a bias that we must overcome on the field if we want to compete for that coveted 12th playoff spot, should we ever get to that stage.

The AP poll bears only a passing resemblance to reality right now. While it’s most heavily influenced by the W/L column, 1-loss LSU allowed an FCS team to score a touchdown in every quarter but the fourth, and moved up 2 spots to 16th, ahead of Michigan. Because SEC!

 

[Bogey]

Fusile hasn’t graded well the last couple of games. He’s been extremely reliable the last year or so. What’s up?

No reason to believe this may be the case but I have wondered what effect the $2.4 million NIL spent recently on one player that hasn't played a down might have on the team.

 

[awbuzz]

This is what I was coming to post. Would’ve been 2nd and 20ish. They would’ve had to pass so incomplete would’ve saved time or call a TO. Just outcoached all game honestly.

No answer to them rushing 3. Got blown up inside all game long. Couldn’t run the ball.

BUT... If they throw a complete pass and DON'T go out of bounds... Add that to the equation and see if the earlier conclusion is still "always" correct.

 

[roadkill]

Excuse my cynicism, but perhaps mods should start a separate thread (so I can ignore it) just to deal with the discussion about The Decision To Decline The Penalty. Y'all could also include stats on Win Probabilities +/- based on the decision. Probably less than 2% difference either way, but who cares?

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Idk, coverage was pretty tight on him. The TE just absolutely manhandled the press attempt which gave McCord the window to throw the ball into. Recovery was good, just a better throw. Missed opportunity to catch a pick on the screen on first down. Then Burrell had a silver-platter pick thrown right to him on the curl, except his back was turned to the ball (no shocker there, DJ White was the last GT cornerback that played the ball, not the receiver and look at how many picks he had). Then, we get gifted a 15 yard penalty which almost assures us getting the ball back, which we politely declined to save a timeout and give up the most predictable pass play they have in the playbook. IIWII, but we most definitely had our chances and that’s not even bringing up the missed FG at the end of the half which would have ended up making a tied game after our miraculous 14 point run with less than 5 minutes left in the game.

Good observations, the problem I have with the coaches was he had been running that seam route all day against mismatched linebackers and then a mismatched DB. He was the go to guy, their best all around athlete, the comfort blanket, it was going to him in crunch time and we let them isolate on a defensive back. "Manhandled" is the right word just like our vaunted offensive line was manhandled all day and our lightly, if that, defensive line was manhandled. The only guy I saw that was not manhandled were the subs who never got in the game. They are better than we are it is that simple. There will be no playoff spot, no contending for the ACC championship and it is even money on whether we will win 6 games without a crummy bowl. IIWII

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

F playing for just a bowl game. We can still win the ACC and make it to the playoffs! Yes this was a terrible game but that doesn't mean we can't turn it around. We are only 3 games in and 2-1 which is about where most people saw us with the FSU and Cause games swapped.

Love your enthusiasm and support for the team...that said, you are looking at a team that is not that good. We will be fortunate to win 6 games with this defense. It is that bad.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Well damn. Too little too late.

The coaching decision to decline the penalty on Syracuse’s last possession could have gone either way. I agree with Key’s decision. Those suggesting that was the ballgame are shamelessly ignoring the way our defense got owned for 90% of the game.

Also our offense was way too conservative for 80% of the game. Not converting some points after the blocked punt was a big failure.

We are still miles ahead of where we were when Key took over from that wannabe.

I understand your reasoning but taking the penalty puts pressure on McCord facing a first and what was it? 22 yards or so. Blitz the SOB and hit him, hit him hard and see if that does not unnerve him a bit. An incomplete pass stops the clock. We actually had a couple of chances to win a game we absolutely had no business winning. They beat us on every metric: total offense, rushing offense, passing offense, time of possession, total plays. they even got more penalty yards Ok, that's not a good thing but frankly, I think they are a better team. What will we do with Louisville? This season may ride on that game.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

I’m 100% on board with taking the penalty. Make them earn a 2nd and 22. They would have had to have two plays like the one they got to convert. You take that penalty in the 2nd quarter in the same position, why not there? The goal is to get the ball back and we didn’t play the odds. We had timeouts. At worst they punt with 1:35 on the clock if they don’t get 22 yards over two downs.

I thought it would have been 1st and 22 but you are probably right which in my view makes it a good decision to back them up and put pressure on McCord for the first time in the game.

 

[bke1984]

Yeah these are my thoughts to a T as well. I’m not surprised by our defense. We just don’t have the playmakers on the defensive line IIWII

My main area of concern is our offense. How did we manage only 2 TDs in the first 3 quarters. We seemed to run inside zone every other play and it wasn’t working. The passing game missed some chances and made some plays but was overly lackluster. Why not get more outside runs or qb runs going? I’m sure someone smarter than me will let figure it out

The three and outs and one first down drives killed us. Syracuse just played keep away. Imagine if we make the FG to end the half and score a TD on that opening drive? Different game.

I may be misremembering this, but it seems to me we ran on first down a ton. To the point where Cuse just guessed run and sold out to stop it. Then they moved to max protect on 2nd and long and 3rd and long while we went straight to downfield passing. When nothing was open Haynes checked down and they did a great job making open field tackles around the line of scrimmage.

I think Haynes could have held on a bit longer and created some plays (both runs and open receivers) with his legs. If we did this a bit more I think it may have turned out differently. I actually think this was what led to our better play in the second half of last year. And quite frankly the fourth quarter yesterday. I’m worried that we are trying to preserve him too much. I get that it’s a long season, but we’re going to have to turn him loose to win some of these games. If we do then we should be fine.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

"Our fans don't have to worry about the 12 team playoff" is genuinely an astounding take.

We're not gonna be favorites @Louisville either way but we'd be playing to become 3-0 and become the odds on favorite to make the ACCCG. Why in the world are we settling for some bowl game against a G5 directional school and ending up in a conference with Memphis, USF, Boston College, Tulane, and Rice 3 years from now?

Because our defense is really awful and the vaunted offensive line is helpless against a really good defense although Syracuse's defense is the same one that allowed a MAC team to run all over them with the running back getting over 200 yards alone. The odds on are whether or not we win six games.

 

[slugboy]

Excuse my cynicism, but perhaps mods should start a separate thread (so I can ignore it) just to deal with the discussion about The Decision To Decline The Penalty. Y'all could also include stats on Win Probabilities +/- based on the decision. Probably less than 2% difference either way, but who cares?

There is one, but this conversation spills over everywhere.

We didn’t keep pace in the first half. The defense was on their heels in the first half, and blocked a field goal to keep us even. The defense needed a lifeline; instead, we punted after 3 downs. Then they scored a TD, and we punted. Then they scored a TD, then we scored a TD. We’re down 21-14, behind the 8-ball, but trying to hang in. We make them punt, make a great special teams play, then we miss a field goal.

That missed field goal at the end of the first half was huge. It was bigger than declining the penalty. Not getting a TD to go to halftime even was bad enough, but not having a chance to take the lead when we got the ball back was really bad.

We get the ball to start the third, and we go 3-and-out. They go up 10 on a FG. We waste the 3rd on offense.

Our next big (negative) play was losing 3 yards on 4th and 1.

We overcame all of that to claw within 3.

The big problem is we kept digging ourselves into a hole, and didn’t dig ourselves out until the 4th quarter. They had the ball for most of the game. It’s hard to say how much they choked off our air supply vs how much we did it to ourselves. We got chances and left them to fizzle.

They had 79 plays to our 65, even with us stealing a drive with an onside kick. We had defensive woes for sure, but had we just been consistent on offense, we’d have won anyway. It’s really hard to win when you’re behind and when you don’t have the ball in your hands often.

It’s a long way of saying, there are bunches of errors you can blame the loss on—why pick declining a penalty as THE error?


Final

	1	2	3	4	T
GT	7	7	0	14	28
SYR	7	14	3	7	31

We blew the 8 minutes around halftime. Had we played better to end the 2nd and start the 3rd, we might win. It cost us more than 3.

"Middle 8" Plays	9	14
EPA	-3.34	0.87
EPA/play	-0.37	0.06
Passes	5 (56%)	10 (71%)
Rushes	4 (44%)	4 (29%)
Successful Passes (Rate)	1 (20%)	3 (30%)
Successful Rushes (Rate)	0 (0%)	1 (25%)

Drives	GT	Syracuse
Total	10	9
Avg Starting Field Position	Own 19	Own 38
Plays/Drive	8.35	9.76
Yards/Drive	48.45	55.73
Available Yards %	59%	89%

Turnovers	GT	Syracuse
Turnovers	0	0
Fumbles	0	0
Fumbles Lost	0	0
Fumbles Recovered	0	0
Interceptions	0	0
Turnover Margin	0	0
Expected Turnovers	0.7	1.3
Expected Turnover Margin	0.7	-0.7
Turnover Luck (pts)	-3.3	3.3

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

I’m trying to decide if the irrational level of agitation with CBK is a symptom of Tech being competitive again and raising expectations or if it’s a function of some people not being sold on him as a coach and confirmation bias is setting in.

Kind of shocked by all this to be honest.

I would not worry about it too much. They and me are just blowing off steam. Slaughter VMI and all will be well...for awhile anyway.

 

[roadkill]

There is one, but this conversation spills over everywhere.

Where? I need to know so I can put it on ignore.

 

[awbuzz]

Where? I need to know so I can put it on ignore.

If you don't know which one it is, you either already have it on ignore, or it is so well camouflaged that you can't tell.