A Sea Of Red

thepostman wrote: ↑September 26th, 2021, 10:23 am I wasn't really so upset with the decision to not kick a FG. Especially with how our kicking game has been thus far. My biggest head scratching moment was the clock management and challenging that fumble. 3 timeouts could've gone a long way.

Regardless, Syracuse was amped up for this game for a lot of different reasons. There were plenty of things we could've done better in all 3 areas of the game and with coaching.

Hopefully they learn from it and grow.

Side note, I wish we would stop slowing things down. It is frustrating.

Can't blame HF for playing to his strengths. He made the correct call. Malik and TJ appear headed to the right pylon with space to score, but our FB doesn't block, number 7 flies in, and blows up the play. Malik has no option at this point other than to try muscling his way through a congested line. With proper execution, that's definitely a score.

Agreed. More times than not we convert there and at this point it was more of a sure thing then our FG kicking. That is for sure.

Which is why my critical comments are on time management and the poor decision to challenge a play that was clearly a fumble.

We aren’t talking a 40 yarder here. It’s basically an XP. Barbir has been fine on those.

While I think we should've kicked, I'm not upset that we went for it. I just didn't like the play call. To be honest, I wanted to go for it when Barbir missed the FG in the 1st.
But Freeze, Malik and Co. brought us this far, and I trust they'll do quite well for us in our remaining 9 games. So I'm not complaining anymore, I did that in an earlier post. I'm excited to see how well and where we finish.

Keep in mind, we had the option to call time out if we didn't think we were favorably matched up for the play. But, SU was not in position to stop it formation-wise. it was there for the taking. What ultimately stopped us was yet another blown assignment. Our FB overcommits to the outside, allowing a rusher to blast through on the inside, forcing MW to change direction and ultimately get swallowed up.

Syracuse can trash talk all they want. Freeze and Austin are huge assets with play design. ACC or not, SU is not in our league in that regard. They were very fortunate to come out on top. We defeated ourselves with lack of intensity early and mental errors down the stretch.

A one-point loss here doesn't kill us. What matters is how we respond to it.

I've never coached a football game in my life, and my only playing experience is as a wide receiver/cornerback on a Christian high school flag football team in the 1970s, so I'm speaking mostly out of ignorance and lack of experience, but I still would have kicked the FG from extra point range to take the LEAD with 8 minutes left (though my two 70-something mentors in the Old Men's Club disagree and would have gone for the TD).

If I learned anything from Coach Sam during his time at LU, keeping Ole Mo (aka, momentum) on your side is a really big deal for a team psychologically, and a FG and our first lead of the game would have given us that. And then we TRUST our defense.

If Gill or Rocco had made that call this would be a completely different thread

TH Spangler wrote: ↑September 27th, 2021, 9:44 am If Gill or Rocco had made that call this would be a completely different thread

True, but HF hasn't had any/many Rocco, Gill moments so far at LU. Plus he hasn't lost to teams we should have beat by 20+.

Symons summed it up perfectly - we had a chance to win but didn’t deserve to win. I was shocked we had more yards than them - felt like they controlled the game.

flameshaw wrote: ↑September 27th, 2021, 1:54 pm

TH Spangler wrote: ↑September 27th, 2021, 9:44 am If Gill or Rocco had made that call this would be a completely different thread

True, but HF hasn't had any/many Rocco, Gill moments so far at LU. Plus he hasn't lost to teams we should have beat by 20+.

I found using analytics to the extent he is fascinating. It's completely taken over sports, from the training room, player evaluation to play calling. Coaches are in trouble as artificial intelligence becomes more common. Coaching salaries will move over to the best software developer.

Can AI motivate players ....... na, he's safe.

tyndal23 wrote: ↑September 27th, 2021, 2:21 pm Symons summed it up perfectly - we had a chance to win but didn’t deserve to win. I was shocked we had more yards than them - felt like they controlled the game.

We dominated the second half, on both side of the ball.