But what about trying Southerland at the 5 spot defensively. Lately, he seems to have more blocks than anyone other than Fab. He has rebounded at a C- level. That is as good as Keita and Christmas (except for the UConn game). Nobody on the team has any girth whatsoever... so we are going to be outmuscled at the 5 anyway.

I do agree with using Keita when we are pressing and using the press. But when we are not pressing--is there a different between Southerland and Fair?

In retrospect, it would have been better for Fab to be ineligible for all games and for this team to have learned how to play without him. As always, having a #1 seed is nice... but being ready for March is nicer. Being a 28-5 team as a 3-seed would not have been the end of the world.

Let me also say that this team was not making a Final Four with Melo either. We just were not playing that well. Not exactly riding momentum. Something was off. It started being off when Melo left, but it really never came back. Credit to the team for winning--but plowing through this year's Big East was not as impressive as some other years.

Unfortunately, we have a limited time to redefine ourselves. Without Fab, there will be nobody to rely on for rebounds--everyone needs to step up.

If you are a tortured fan like me, you spend a lot of time trying not to jinx us. I never predict us to win in my brackets. I did that once and got burned. I think about how every game could be a loss and never assume victory. Being up by 20 only means that there is the potential for a devastating loss (think UMass... but Marquette rallied against even this great version of us). And then AO.

But let's assume that we finish the regular season fairly strong--what do we want out of the Big East Tournament? Or... what do YOU want? Poll included.

The primary difference between HCDM and his predecessors is the willingness to change. If you recall, Coach P was highly loyal (scary loyal) to his assistants and philosophies. G-Rob was just clueless. I guess he was loyal to that. In contrast, HCDM has fired assistants.

Now it looks like he is ready to embrace the more interesting style of offense that myself and a few others (Kotite4ever) have been dying for. http://blog.syracuse.com/orangefootball/2012/02/syracuse_university_football_c_38.html

Marrone has studied offenses run by teams such as Toledo and Kansas State that have given the Orange defense trouble and believes one answer lies in designed quarterback runs.

“That is where a lot of the big plays are coming from,” he said. “You have to defend the quarterback runs as well as the quarterback passing. That’s something I think we want to do, is get our quarterback more involved in our running game, because now you can create more misdirection, you can create more gap assignment on the defense, and now you can also handle the rush a little better.”

I love it. You don't need McNabb to use the QB as a running weapon. The FCS schools have given our defense trouble with it. If it moves the ball, who cares what it is called...

But I just noticed that these are the subregional spots this year: Pittsburgh, Columbus, Louisville, Nashville, Greensboro, Omaha, Albuquerque, and Portland. The first four are relatively close travel points.

The East regional is in Boston. Didn't we go through Boston in 2003? St. Louis, Atlanta, and Phoenix makes the other regionals quite a haul.

Would be pretty cool to get a Pitt-Boston bracket draw. And the final is in New Orleans this year.

If the top 3 teams end up including Kentucky, Ohio State, and North Carolina, that is going to be quite the battle for seeding. Nobody out west looks like a good bet for Phoenix. Somebody from the eastern half is going to head out there. If we squeeze into that 4th #1, it would not be unreasonable for Ohio State to get St. Louis.... NC and Kentucky to battle for Atlanta.... and for us to get Boston.

Obviously, we need about 20 more wins before we can worry about that... but at least there are some good options this year.

It's hard to recap the season objectively so close to a final disappointment. But let me try.

#1. 5-7 was a disappointment. Not an embarrassment like the G-Rob years. Not a debacle. Not something you fire your head coach over. Just a disappointment. At 5-2, there was talk of BCS game appearances. If you were willing to go out enough decimal places, we even had a BCS standing score. Nobody expected us to REALLY be 10-2. However, nobody really expected us to be 5-7 either. Somewhere between 6 and 8 wins would have been par.

#2. It will be said, but this year had a very big G-Rob component too it. Setting aside West Virginia, is there any game that really stood out as a "good game" for us? We barely beat Wake Forest, Rhode Island, Toledo, and Tulane. Our 5-2 is a mirage, but if life gifts you a TD, you need to kick that extra point. We lost, despite getting 5 turnovers in a game. That is very hard to do.

#3. All three phases of our team stunk. Our defense was expected to be the weak link and was. The surprising thing is how it got weaker as we got healthier from games 8 through 10. Once P. Thomas went away, we were toast. Our offense HAD to carry the team. And yet we routinely had HALVES of games where we looked like we were playing on grease. Just about every game had a drive or two where you could think "why can't we do this more?" But most games did not have nearly enough of them. We got a year older and more experienced, but pretty much stayed the same. See all games after Halloween. Special teams had some good moments against West Virginia, some lucky moments, but was mostly bad. If three phases cannot work, you are going to have a bad year.

#4. With all of the above, you would think we were 2-10. But somehow we won 5 games. We had something to play for each and every week. The season ended with a thud, but we've seen basketball seasons end with a thud too--playing our way right onto the bubble and ending up on the wrong side. Nobody was escorting Boeheim out the door. And only the trolliest of trolls were arguing otherwise. When you lose 5 in a row it stinks... but we had relevance all year long.

#5. Anyone thinking HCDM should be fired really needs to ponder about that some more. A) we didn't fire G-Rob after 3 seasons... and he was 7-28. Why would we fire a coach who is 17-20 with a bowl win? That's just insane. B) you don't fire a coach who has resurrected our program. While we hoped our resurrected program would look a little better, it was dead just a few years ago. C) HCDM has had the three seasons that Coach P had before we hired G-Rob. We are back to where we were pre-GRob. Now it is time to build. D) Who would we hire anyway? Why have program turmoil when we can just tweak by employing a new offensive scheme (more on that later)?

#6. As kotite4ever seem to agree on (to the point where I hear someone is going to tell us to get a room), this offense just does not work. It is not made for college. It requires precision and execution--things that work a lot better when you are a pro team with unlimited practice time, than with a college team capped at 20 hours (unless you are RichRod). It requires a good OL and good receivers, things that Syracuse no longer features. Get a spread offensive OC from the MAC and let's go to work.

#7. Let's not give Shafer a pass here either. He gets a huge benefit of the doubt for those early season games when Jones, Thomas, and Fisher were out. But as those guys returned, we got worse. We had virtually no pass rush from our defensive line all year. We were poor against the run. Tackling regressed. Sacks were down. Turnovers remained few and far between. Guys were wide open in zones. We made bad quarterbacks look good and mediocre QBs look great. We invite teams to beat themselves and only Geno Smith obliged. He's had 3 bad seasons out of 4. Let's hope last year's senior-laden class was not the anomaly.

#8. Coming off a bowl win, he got the benefit of the doubt. But I suggest HCDM follow up his new OC hire with a special teams coach hire. Whatever is going on is not working. We are useless on punt returns. We haven't blocked a kick or punt in his tenure (that I can remember). We commit penalties. I am not sure Kathy Ireland cannot kickoff farther than everyone we roll out. We lost ample field position on punts. If we are playing the uber-conservative game, why do we suck so badly at special teams--where field position can be greatly influenced?

#9. Nassib. I can think of many great passes. I think he would be pretty damn good in a system with elite WRs and better blocking. But that's not Syracuse. And isn't about to be. Even so, I wonder whether he has the touch to do well in that type of system. I consider him too afraid to make interceptions. How many passes against Pitt would have been better if we had just dropped it? Do we need to get Bailey killed? I like the kid, but you can't lose 5 games in a row against this level of competition (an average at best Big East) and inspire confidence. And the Pitt game was influenced greatly by his mistakes. All in all, if someone told me we were going to run the spread with Kinder, I am not sure that I would be sad. Nassib had two seasons... and did not improve enough Year #2. You need points in the college game.

#10. It is what it is. Maybe this team makes zero changes and comes out with a 12-0 season next year. That's pretty much what happened in 1987. It was just as unlikely. Nobody at the end of the season in 1986 had ANY confidence that we were on the right track. Instead, it was Sack Mac. While that's not enough to be confident, it is enough to remain something other than suicidal. It is what it is.

Life will go on. And we'll get one more season in before the Mayan thing happens...

I really have no idea why the Secret Service would be at Bernie Fine's house.  I even felt the need to sift through the comments on Syracuse.com to see if I could find a logical explanation.  I am, as expected, less intelligent for having experienced that.

But do any of the great minds on this site have any ideas?  The closest I could come to is that Davis's interview mentioned something else about Fine--some sort of secret dealings that only someone extremely close to Fine could possibly know about. 

I mean, how do you get from molestation to financial stuff?  And bypass the FBI in the process?  I am a civil lawyer, not a criminal lawyer.  Anyone got any rational ideas?

What a weird weekend.  Setting aside the top of the BCS standings, I am beginning to share the concern of some that we need to get to 7 wins to get selected for a bowl.

I had pondered about the Big East getting all 8 teams to a bowl, which was then reported by ESPN 30 hours later.  That is still possible.  Now, UConn needs 2 wins in 2 games to get that. Pitt, USF, and Syracuse get 2 tries to win one.  But will one win be enough?

The Bad News:

Right now, the Big XII has 8 of its 10 teams bowl eligible, with Texas Tech still alive with a game against Baylor.  Baylor is good, but it is still possible that they get to 9 teams.

The ACC has 9 of its 12 teams bowl eligible.  And NC State needs one win and gets (ugh) Maryland this week, so 10 is likely.

The Big 10 has 9 of its 12 teams bowl eligible.  And Purdue needs one win and gets (ugh) Indiana this week.  So 10 is likely.

The Pac 12 had all of its 5 win teams get to 6 wins.  So they will have 7 of 12 eligible.

The SEC has 7 of 12 eligible.  But 5-win Vandy and Tennessee play each other.  So one of them is getting to 6.  And 5 win Mississippi St. plays (ugh) Ole Miss.  So they could get to 6.  That would be 9.

So not many conferences are going to have open slots.

The good news:

The good news is that Navy lost.  That opens up the Military Bowl in the DC area which I think would be PERFECT for Syracuse.  We have lots of alums there... it is close... and we would play an ACC school.

Also, CUSA, which has 5 non-BCS bowl slots (same as Big East for some reason), might not pull that off--especially if Houston gets drawn up into a BCS bowl. 

If the SEC ends up getting both Alabama and LSU in the title game, that might prevent them from being able to fill its BBVA Compass slot against the Big East.  Obviously that would not mean that a Big East team would get that slot.... but any open slot helps clear the log jam.

The best news: Cincy looks vulnerable!

Somberly showing support like many did the night before is one thing. Getting tanked and acting like a moron solves NOTHING.

And I stop and think, what if it was Bernie Fine? And Gmac found him? And they told Boeheim and nothing happened? I would probably say the same about that as I did about this. Fire EVERYBODY. Sorry, too much was compromised. You can’t continue to overlook what has happened and side with anything that could remotely resemble complacency. Keeping JoePa means he retains his power and basically takes no part in the blame.

This whole thing is terrible. I feel terrible for the kids that go to school there. But why the F*@% aren’t you driving to Sandusky’s house and lynching that piece of trash?!!?

Born in '87, Orange fan since '86

by StealthTurkey on Nov 10, 2011 7:10 AM PST reply actions  

I think Gerry has more pull with the community at large than Fine, rather than the way it was with Sandusky.

Twitter

by Nick Petrilli on Nov 10, 2011 7:15 AM PST up reply actions  

reports to head coach.

Born in '87, Orange fan since '86

by StealthTurkey on Nov 10, 2011 7:25 AM PST up reply actions  

Just makes me cringe.

by cuse2012 on Nov 10, 2011 8:46 AM PST up reply actions  

www.CuseRugby.com

www.SyracuseRugby.com

by 'CuseRugby on Nov 10, 2011 10:24 AM PST up reply actions  

:(

Born in '87, Orange fan since '86

by StealthTurkey on Nov 10, 2011 10:34 AM PST up reply actions  

not that you wrote it. Seems like a suitable comparison.

www.CuseRugby.com

www.SyracuseRugby.com

by 'CuseRugby on Nov 10, 2011 11:04 AM PST up reply actions  

I’ve tried to put myself in Penn State students’ shoes thinking “what if Boeheim had something similar?” I guess just attaching more names we love to set up the exact same scenario just hits a nerve. But it is our equivalent to it.

by cuse2012 on Nov 10, 2011 3:55 PM PST up reply actions  

and I decided that i would give up watching all sports forever because my heart would be too broken. I almost gave up the NBA when I found out that Robert Parrish threw his pregnant wife down some stairs…

F#&% the Big East

by dacj501 on Nov 13, 2011 2:39 AM PST up reply actions  

If Pitt beats West Virginia in two weeks, they get it.  

If USF beats Miami this week, they get it.

If Uconn finishes the season with 2 wins over Louisville, Rutgers, and Cincy, they get it.  

If Louisville wins either of its games at UConn or USF, it gets it. 

There are a few ways to divide up the wins between Louisville and UConn to make it work.

And if Syracuse can beat Cincy, then we get it obviously.

However, if WVU beats Pitt and Cincy beats us, then the game against Pitt would be for bowl eligibility.  Yikes.

Anyway, there are various scenarios where all 8 Big East teams could become bowl eligible.  Also, some are discussing the possibility of Penn State and/or Ohio State declining bowl invitations.  The SEC and Big-12 both run the risk of not filling up their eligible bowls.  Navy needs to win out to qualify for its bowl.  There are scenarios where all Big East teams get the chance.  I mean... if it is Pitt or Temple, you think a bowl is choosing Temple?   

And the best news is that Syracuse can win out and this could still happen!

1.  Well, we have hit rock bottom.  3 straight losses.  5-5.   We haven't had this many losses in a season since... well, last year... and the year before... and the year before... and the year before... and the year before... and the year before... and pretty much every year back to 2001.  And then the two years before that.  And even during the McNabb era, we averaged 3.5 losses per season.  So I guess we are simply regressing to the norm.  

2.  In other words, I should be negative, but I am really just not feeling it.  Maybe spending too much time analyzing the Penn State crap has softened me, but I look outside and just don't see the sky falling.  Now I don't live in CNY anymore, so y'all will have to let me know if it is different there.  (Not sure why I said y'all.... I am in Michigan... taking this ACC thing to heart, I guess).

3. I should be maud (mad, angry, upset, disappointed) in the offensive coordinator.  I remain perplexed that we fail to try to go to deep on downs where teams can safely go deep, such as 2nd and 3.  You know... like the second play of the game.  We just ran for 7 yards, why not try a little play action there?  I get that we have decided to waste portions of every game trying to "establish the run."  After all, at the end of every season, a team is measured by its devotion to the run... not wins, losses, points, etc.  And I also get that it is important for our undersized RB to do most of his damage when the other team is physically strong.   And I get that it is better to be predictable and run straight up the middle as many times in a row... at least until the game reverts to "oh crap, now we have to pass every down."  But, at the end of the day, you can only have some many dropped passes in the end zone or for first downs where it begins to shift back to... well, maybe our offensive coordinator is playing chess after all.  I'll go from maud to numb.

4.  I should be maud at Nassib.  He's the leader of this team and seems to be coming up short lately.  But I saw him tuck it and run with all disregard for his safety several times last night.  It's not his fault that he does not have Daniels' speed.  I saw him slowly pull himself off the carpet and pretend that he was not hurt.  Yeah, some of those passes had some zip on it.  There were enough drops that weren't caused by the zip.  And when it is zipped into your hands, really not much of an excuse. 

5.  I am trying not to be maud at the receivers.  Lemon had an outstanding game.  Had he caught that TD pass when we were down by 13, it's a whole different game.  As is often the case in life, you can do as much as you can, but people will remember the bad one.  And Van Chew needs to be on a milk carton.  After 8 games last year, he was a star.  What happened?  Dorian Graham is now officially rattled.  It's one thing to miss a catch, it's another to be avoiding the passes like they have Ebola virus on them.  Ah well. 

6.  I am trying not to be maud at the offensive line.  It's not their fault that they are playing a more athletic team and don't have BJ Daniels to run away from pressure so easily.  It's not their fault that Bailey is an inconsistent blocker in passing situations.  We lost two third-down opportunities because Bailey decided to dive at someone instead of slowing him down.  Of course, most of us his height would have turned and run in the opposite direction.  So there's that.   Our offensive scheme of run, run, run.... pass, pass, pass....bomb, pass, pass.... run, run, pass... doesn't seem to be doing them any favors.

7.  I am trying not to be maud at the defense.  Heck, we knew this was going to be our weakness.  We have ONE defensive lineman who can get pressure on the QB... Chander Jones.  That's just not enough.  Not sure what happens when Jones leaves, but this is a problem.  And then we have green all over the rest of the field.  I come away being so impressed with Spruill every game.  If our defense can make as much of an improvement next year as he did in this offseason, good things will happen. 

8.  Defense continued.  I like Philip Thomas.  But spare me the celebration after every tackle.  The guy runs for 8 yards on first down, there is nothing to celebrate.  Same with the other DBs.  You barely got away with pass interference and you are celebrating?  There is just too much of that.  We didn't see that last year.  And yet our defense was far more suffocating.  Exuberant youth, I suppose.  But save the celebration for moments when your team has more points than the opposition.  Or at least is dictating the game. 

9.  I am trying not to be maud at Marrone.  I liked that we went for it on 4th down at the 2 yard line.  I didn't like that we didn't try play action on 1st and goal.  We just ran the ball effectively.  We have Provo and Lemon.  Just saying.  But, hey, I agree with going for it.  A field goal is not going to help us against a team that has put up 70 points in a game this season.  I like that he went for it again.  Screw what the TV commentators were saying in between discussions of the Pac-12 and Boise St., a TD is what is needed there. A field goal would have just made the loss look closer. 

10.  Here is the deal though.  South Florida had a game where they put up 70 points.  We scored 21 against Rhode Island.  That's all you need to know about our season.  Our offense--fully healthy--could only score 21 points against an FCS team.  Meanwhile... USF got the ball inside their own 20 with less than 2 minutes to go and decided to drive the field for a FG.  We would have run the ball a few times and sat on it.  We would not have scored the TD to go up 37 to 17.  Syracuse University Football is NEVER going to be nationally relevant with a team that scores 25 points per game.  It's a new era.  3 yards and a cloud of synthetic turf residue is not going to win games.  We need a dynamic offense and then have to hope to heck that our defense is at least average.  We are going to need a QB that can beat you with his legs, as well as his arms.  That dual threat screws up defenses at this level.  And we are going to need to play for points from minute 1.  Not try to establish the run.   What did we run for against West Virginia?  WHO CARES!!!  We won.  It doesn't matter HOW you do it.  It only matters THAT you did it. 

So there it is.  It was cathartic for me.  As there is good news sprinkled above, no need to separate it out.  This team can still make a bowl game.  Heck, if G-Rob could win @ Notre Dame, I don't think we can ever chalk anything up as a certain loss ever again.

1.  This loss bothered me more than Louisville.  Much like Rutgers bothered me more than USC.  When a team gives you a win, even a mediocre team needs to accept that gift. I apologize that I cannot be more positive for most of this.  I see no real reason to be positive.  Narrowly beating Rhode Island and Toledo is much easier to swallow when you think of us as being injured back then and needing to improve.  Well, we have gotten healthier and yet regressed.

2.  After 3 years of the HCDM era, I think I have it figured out.  Teams that are finesse.... we will play smashmouth football and have a real good chance of winning.  See West Virginia, USF, and Cincy last year.  Teams that play a pro-style or run the ball are going to beat us at our own game.  See Louisville, UConn, and Pitt.  Rutgers last year had no offense at all, but this year reverted to more of a power game...therefore, the win.  I guess that makes this week a very important game for us. 

3.  Said it before.  This teams needs to score 30 points to win.  When you lose 7 seniors on defense, your offense needs to carry the load.  Unfortunately, our offense just cannot do that.  We have had two decent offensive games... Tulane and West Virginia.  We have had two others where we had decent portions of games... Wake Forest and Toledo.  Otherwise, the offense has let this team down.  Not sure whether that is the fault of the system, HCDM, the O.C., Nassib, Bailey, the offensive line, or what.  All I know is that it is not working very well overall.  The offense should be the strength of the team... not the biggest concern going into every game.

4. Hackett.  I really do not understand what we do sometimes.  We design longer passes on first down, but then run the ball on second and short.  Sometimes I almost think he outsmarts himself... as in "I know people ordinarily pass here, but the countervailing wisdom is to mix it up here and go run... but since they will expect us to run, let's pass."  And so on.  All I know is that our team does so much better when we can avoid third and long.  We have a lot of plays in our arsenal to pick up 4 or 5 yards.  Maybe it's just me, but those slant passes on first down seem like a good idea.  Get a 2nd and 5 and go from there.  So much better than a slow-developing run with Bailey. 

5. Nassib.  It's looking more and more like the WVU game was the anomaly.  Rutgers, Louisville, and UConn all were successful at really taking him out of his rhythym.  More concerning is that we have to sit through one or more quarters of him "getting his touch."  The fact that he CAN be accurate for long stretches doesn't do us much good when we squander 3 or more drives in most first halves and are playing catchup.  There are worse offensive lines and receivers on teams.  At some point, it falls on him to make the good decisions and then make a good pass.  Too many passes are to places where the receiver has to make a good play to catch it.

6. Rest of offense.  Bailey is not DC3.  In this offense, we may need a North-South runner more than anything.  Smith seems to be developing into a guy that can get that tough 2 yards.  That is huge.  We need someone who can get the tough 7 yards now.  Bailey gives us a great chance for 47 yards... but we need a few more yards out of his runs.  Not sure he does a great job reading his blocks.  A lot of runs you are left wondering why he didn't bounce it out or why he did bounce it out.  With  Lemon, Chew, and Graham, as well as Provo and Stevens, there is enough to throw to for this offense to be successful enough. 

7. Defense.  Tackling has been getting worse lately.  And not the CBs, but the safeties and LBs (other than Spruill).  You can't win in this defense with poor tackling.  All we needed to do was tackle well in the second half and it was a different game.  The fact that UConn was one-dimensional and unstoppable is beyond disappointing.  All you can ask for is one-dimensional.  Hard to be disappointed with 5 turnovers, but all they needed to do was stop UConn twice.  Iowa friggin State and Vanderbilt did.  Unreal.

8.  Special teams.  This continues to perplex me.  If HCDM does not prioritize this, then my unwavering support for him will start to erode.  Regardless of everything else he brings in, he needs to go find someone who can kickoff this offseason.  Junion college.  Whatever.  I know Krautman was hurt, but this has gone on all year.  We need someone who can get kickoffs that are high enough to allow our coverage to get down field and deep enough for it to matter.  And perhaps that person will be able to punt more than 20 yards.  Just pathetic.  Every once in a while, you are going to have a good return against you.  But you CAN control the depth of the kickoffs and punts.  

9.  HCDM.  At the time he did it, I was unhappy.  7 seconds left in the first half.  Either (a) take one shot at the end zone; or (b) have Nassib take a snap and line the ball up in the center of the field.  I just don't get not using all of your time there. 

10.  I am really beginning to question whether this style of offense works in the college game.  I think we need a mobile QB who is a threat to run.  We may not put said QB in the NFL, but I am not sure we are putting Nassib or Loeb there anyway.  We saw how important McCummings was for UConn's offense.  We KNEW he was going to run and couldn't stop it.  11 on 11 when the QB can run.  We can't do anything about it now, of course.  But methinks that we should really embrace what other colleges and high schools are doing so successfully.  I am sure a pro style offense can win championships in college--but I also am sure that it will be a football factory doing it (USC, MIchigan, etc.), not a school like Syracuse. 

11.  Good news.  We are still 5-4.  We have lost a few games that we feel like we should have won (Rutgers, UConn).  We have won a few games that we probably should have lost (Wake Forest, Toledo).  So it goes.

12.  Better news. My feeling going into the season was 6-6.  But I also expected the next three games to be USF (very tough), Pitt (tough), Cincy (hopeful).  Now it looks like the opposite.  Who knows.  No matter how bad we have looked in Big East play, there is no reason we cannot beat anyone left on the schedule. 

13.  Best news.  Game on Friday!  No need to wait until Saturday....

1. Welcome back to reality.  All this talk of BCS bowls was light years premature.  This is a team that barely beat Toledo, Tulane, and Rhode Island, and may very well have lost to Wake Forest had its starting QB not gotten injured.  While the West Virginia win was as impressive a victory as I can remember, it is just one game.  As is every game.  Not sure why some folks want to live the roller coaster.  We're a good, not great, team.  We can beat most anyone.  But we can lose to most anyone.  Teams like that do not go 10-2.  Teams like that have a legit over-under of 7 wins.

2. This game was nearly the opposite of last week.  Last week, if we all took a drink with every poor play call, poor execution, or stupid penalty, we would have had a sober night (no less fun).  This week, we all would have been drunk before halftime. There was a lot that happened today that wasn't merely bad luck.  This was just a stinker.  We followed up an epic win with a stinker. Nobody on that plane ride home can feel "well, I did my job."  Nobody. 

3.  Feel free to disagree with me... but I consider Charlie Strong and his staff to be excellent coaches. They recruit well, obviously.  The rankings bear that out.  I don't care about 2009 and Kragthorpe.  In 2010 and 2011, this Louisville team has just looked well coached against us.  I know Lville is 4-4 now.  But that is a team that lost 25 seniors and had 7 true freshmen starting--that is more youth than us.  They have beaten Kentucky.  They have beaten Rutgers.  Now they have beaten us.  It's not a fluke.  They are the next big thing in the Big East.  This was NOT an upset.  This was a team with equal coaching and comparable talent (better, but younger) winning a home game against a good, but not great opponent.

4.  Nassib.  I get that there was a lot of pressure.  HCDM told us on Monday that there was going to be a lot of pressure.  That was not a surprise.  I also get that Nassib is the best QB we have had since McNabb.  I agree with that.  But I also think that he did not have a good game, even relative to the pressure that he was under.  On one sack, he stepped into the rush.  On a few occasions, he didn't seem to sense the pressure.  In a few other instances, he sensed non-existent pressure and made a rushed pass.  The best play, IMO, was the one where he tucked it and ran for 18 yards.  Just a great decision.  So much better than forcing a pass or waiting another few seconds and getting sacked.  None of this criticism means he is a bad person or terrible QB.  I think we all need to temper our expectations.  He is someone that can win a game for us.  He is also someone that  can have a pretty off game.

5. Hackett.  I was disturbed after Rutgers.  I was elated by WVU.  I am disappointed by today.  What worked against WVU was success on first and third down.  We had a lot of 3 and 3 plays against WVU.  Our game plan was short plays and long drivers.  Today, it seemed like we lost our patience.  We were trying to get big plays, rather than drive up and down the field.  If we got 4 or 5 yards on first down, we would follow that up with a slow developing, east-west running play that lost 3.  We tried a few long passes on first down.  Sure, a TD is great.  But our offense is not that dynamic.  We didn't have any medium looks to Provo until late in the game.  And did anyone really think that the Express on 3rd and 2 was going to work?  I would have much preferred Nassib under center in that situation.  Too many three and outs this year.  Just way too many.  And too many offensive funks.  We cannot have 15 minute stretches where we can only punt.  That falls on him.

6. Defense.  Oh how the game might have been different.  We had 3rd and relatively long and allowed a 44 yard pass.  We made Bridgewater look great that first drive.  It's hard to really point to specifics. There were the usual issues like missed tackles and secondary gaffes.  But after that first drive, there was no sensation that the defense was overmatched.  We just needed our offense to show up also.  Our defense made stops in the third quarter.  14 points allowed after 3 quarters.  Not totally unreasonable.

7. Bridgewater.  I liked what I saw.  I think he was more impressive than our defense was poor.  Unlike Geno Smith, he moved to avoid the pressure.  He showed good composure.  He did not force passes--did we even come close to an interception?  He showed nice touch on the TD to Chichester.  He didn't look like a freshman.  At times, I thought he looked more composed than Nassib.  Give the kid credit.

8. The penalties.  You had to know this was coming.  First, incompetent refs tend to favor home teams.  if I am not mistaken, this was the same crew from Toledo.  Second, I thought most of the calls against us were pretty reasonable.  Just need to play smarter.  Unbridled aggression is the lazy person's substitute for hardnosed football.  We don't need punches in the pile, we need hard blocks and solid tackles.  Third, I know they missed a few calls against us... but that is just part of the game.  And the refs did call back TWO Louisville TDs based on penalties.  It is what it is.  Not the reason we lost.

9. The bright side.  Like last week was one week, this week is only one week too.  Other teams will be looking to the Lville game plan.  But we are also going to know that other teams will be doing so.  Our coaches will be able to look at what went wrong today and come up with a plan to prevent that from happening next week.  Football is a game of adjustments.  Hackett and Shafer will go back to the drawing board and do better next week.  I think this loss will be a motivator for the team too. We are somewhere between the teams that played the past two weeks.  That in between team can win any of the remaining games.

10.  The brighter side.  Chew returned.  West had a nice TD.  Smith had a great run on 4th and 1.  Another sack for Jones.  Nice guts by HCDM in going for it there.  We got to practice an onside kick.  I was disappointed not to see a backup QB get some PT, but I liked the idea to practice our 2-minute drill.  We scored a TD in less than 2 minutes. 

11. The brightest side.  We get a second chance at this "HCDM has never beaten" thing.  We get hated UConn.  Maybe the players will rise to the occasion this time and get that first win over UConn for the coach.  I mean... if we can't outcoach Pasqua-Deleone... I don't even want to think about it.  Let's go beat UConn and get bowl eligible.