Syracuse loses 49-14 to #3 Clemson. Here’s my knee-jerk reaction:
-Tajh Boyd and the Clemson offense is fantastic. The Tigers carved up the Syracuse secondary right from the opening drive. That’s one of the best attacks in the country. If the Tigers beat Florida State they have a very real shot at the national championship game. SU’s defense just doesn’t have the talent to hang with athletes like that. But not many schools do. Clemson put up 624 yards, and averaged over 8 yards per play. Boyd threw for 455 yards and 5 TDs. The SU defense will have to play better than that for the rest of the ACC season. Florida State has the weapons to make it scary, but it’s all about assignment football. Just make sure you take care of your assignment, and do your job. If SU does that it can hang with ACC teams like NC State, Wake, and Maryland. SU missed some big time assignments on Saturday.
-How about Scott Shafer lighting into Dabo Swinney? The Clemson coach already led 35-7 at the end of the first half and went for it on 4th down. Shafer was not amused. The ABC cameras caught him screaming, “F*&k you, Dabo! You mother*&ker!” The Tigers are in the national title hunt, but they’ll have to leapfrog Oregon at some point to get there. Dabo may have wanted a flashy win to sway some voters later on in the season. I appreciate Shafer’s intensity, although if you don’t want the opposing coach to rub it in, then hold them to less than 35 first half points. No matter, it was the most entertaining part of the first half. I like that fight from Shafer.
-The Terrel Hunt applause will have to wait a week. After tremendous efforts against Wagner and Tulane he had an incredibly rough outing. He went just 8-for-24, for 52 yards and 3 INTs. He was also sacked four times. The Tigers are one of the fastest, and most talented teams SU will face all season. So Hunt needs to just move on and realize he matched up against a powerful team. Judging from his postgame comments, I think he will.
-The attendance was terrific. I was concerned earlier in the week that so many tickets were still available, but the crowd was announced at over 48,000. That’s a tremendous showing by SU fans, and it was a flashback to the last time the Dome regularly rocked for football – the McNabb years. Hopefully the blowout loss doesn’t turn off the fans thats showed up. The Dome is an incredible place to watch a football game when the place is filled. My senior year in ’00, both Miami and Virginia Tech came up, and the atmosphere inside was electric. It was an unreal experience being under that roof those afternoons. Saturday gave us a reminder how good a packed Dome can be for football.
Posted: D.A.
25 responses to “Syracuse Loses 49-14 to Clemson at Packed Dome: D.A.’s Knee-Jerk Reaction”
Fans gets a A+ for this game. I was very happy with the turnout and atmosphere. Clemson had a huge set of “ba s” for going for it on fourth down before halftime and said to everyone around me that will come back to haunt them someday. I said I hope Boeheim is in the stands and when we are beating Clemson by 20 in basketball he runs up the score. Classless move by Clemson that I think motivated us in the second half and we played very well in the 3rd quarter. Not impressed with corners this year especially Anderson. Please play Reddish the rest of the year if he is healthy. Also I’m a fan of PTG but Jerome Smith needs more touches please. Our WR just aren’t that good at this point. I watched on a lot of plays and there was zero separation, I mean zero separation. We must hope that we get some big time WR next year that has some speed. We got outcoached as well as outplayed yesterday but Schafer hopefully will figure this thing out but I wish he would take over the defense again because he never let a team give up that many points no less twice in a season. Hats of to Clemson though they are very good and may play in a national championship game. If we want to get big time recruits we need to keep having big time fans like yesterday.
The players never quit and showed a lot of heart yesterday, to that I credit the coaches, but the coaches are green, it showed.
But DumpDoug is spot on, SU football woes are all on Gross;t the GRob mess was all his doing, and scarring Marrone away because Marrone was the hiring committee’s guy not Gross’ guy is the real reason for SU’s current football state.
Don’t give me the “Gross got SU into the ACC so he should be saved” crap; recall Jake C had it wired 2003 until the VA Attorney General forced UVA to vote VA Tech into te ACC not SU, so the ACC owed SU the next berth and it just happened to occur on Gross’ watch.
Trustees move on Gross now, whey wait, he needs to go.
IMHO, our defense seemed so unprepared, leaving key Clemson players virtually uncovered on rather simple plays. It was difficult to watch the poor high tackling positions. SU showed heart but who cares about that. They missed many opportunities in the third, and I thought it was because of the poor offensive play calls. Not impressed with our coaching on either side of the ball, or HC yet. I guess a lot depends on recruiting. Clemson is very good, but 49 at home is just plain hurtfulllll….
Two things stuck out to me in this game:
1. Lack of coaching on both sides of the ball. On defense…it looked like Boyd was throwing in practice…all those receivers were wide open…I watch a lot of football, rarely do you see that many guys that wide open for long scores in one game. On offense, we have to get the ball down field quick…where are the slants, where is the tight end?
2. We looked small and slow compared to Clemson. We have no playmakers…..difference makers. Remember when Mike Williams played for us..before we kicked him off the team? Imagine him playing for us now? Who do we have..name one wide out, with his skill set? Why do we not have one guy like that?..Why?
Live and learn. A #3 USA college team (or better that #3) came to the Dome and cleaned our clock. No shame in that when the talented southerners took out a mediocre rebuilding SU orange team. I agree with TRUTH that we are still living in the aftermath of the Cantor-Gross affirmative action hire that has cost us millons of $$$. The move to the ACC was a no effort, no brainer set up from the Virginia Tech political play of yesteryear. Thank you Mr Woolford. Glad to see you in the Dome.
The academic PC crowd at SU won’t pay a coach, otherwise we could have kept Marrone’s staff intact. But, with the unsold seats, cheaper ticket prices, less food and Jersey sales etc. etc., that has to be 5-10 million a year in lost revenue. Not a very sound business decision.
Got back home from game and watched replay of game last night. NIGHTMARE!!
Syracuse put the old hat on greatly for the start of their ACC football season. Great job!! Old memories were every where!! The old DOME was a rocking again!!
SU still does not have quality starting QB at all. 59 yrds for a game is a joke and throwing as he was falling was STUPID!! Hunt really has no speed either!! Watch the film!!
OL sucks. TD’s were scored because Clemson thought pass. Great call by OC, but still OL is not of DIV 1 level!!
FINALLY!!! Even the media recalled this issues a number of times and I/WE saw it live at the game to. The Guetto dancing after a routine play has to stop. HCSS has lost the team here. Even the national press was mocking these stupid dances after a routine play being 28 points down. Stop it now!!
Was is the GPA of SU’s DB/S or Coaches???????????? 1.0!! We were pointing from the snap from the stands as Clemsons WR’s ran PAST the SU’s DB/S with ease. Again STUPID!!! Also SU was playing against a Offensive nightmare, why play a speed up game. So you can give the ball back quicker to Clemeson’s “O”! STUPID again on HCSS and staffs part. Slow it down and let them score less. After SU showed no real threat from their passing game!!
The Uni’s suck too. They look like bricqets running around out there. The Uni’s wore during the PSU/NW games were great. Get back to them now!! PLEASE!!
My gut says we lost HS recruit talent because of this poor performance!!
RON/RUSS and your budies that think 2 star talent is fine because they have heart to. Well you can die to if your punched in the chest hard enough!! I’m tired of your saying that lower level talent coached up works well since Coach P SU’s record is below .500 ain’t it on 2 star talent-Quiet!!
Saturdays game smelled of Coach P/GROBISM?dougie all over again. The “O” just showed up and the “D” got smacked around. I/WE ARE TIRED OF THAT!! For all these years sincere SU fans(I/WE too) have spent thousands of $$$$$$$$ for what two lousey SNOW BOWLS!! With Clemson you saw what a NCAA college football team is all about. We just want 75% of that once in awhile. Now SU looks like 10% of that!!
WR West was lost out there. OL/WR/DB/S are or should be top gets for recruits. If so HCSS has to offer SU’s best Freshmen talent to start from get go. Clemson had a handful of FR playing. And other major programs start FR players!! SU had ONE!! Hell it can’t hurt after Saturdays game!!
On Clemson!! They will not win NC. Their running game didn’t show much yesterday. I was totally impressed by FSU!! So Clemson has to get by them and maybe a game or two latter on from the ACC. SU has games coming that are loses unless this team improves, but I/WE just don’t see that much improvement coming against good ACC play. Thankgoodness for DUKE/WF. Well maybe. No bowl game this year!!! SORRY RON/RUSS!!
Clemson was way better than SU. No problem there at all and it showed yesterday!! But to sit on our hands and refuse to admitt that SU is really the same it was back just before Coach P got fired is INSANE!!! SU is well below .500 from that time to now and below .500 now this year. Tired of it!!! Its got to stop. Oh yeah Wagner won yesterday!!
Do not forget the abused children of PSU. The NCAA did!! Or DO NO FORGET GET AM 103 either. God Bless you all!!
Phew!! Done!! Sorry I RONed it!! LOL!!
I think a game like this establishes the bar and exposes the deficiencies under the proverbial magnifying glass of the fan base and football world. Our secondary is outmatched and about on par with our current WR unit which is to say not close to top Div1 standards for either of them. Our free safeties failed on multiple plays to give deep coverage assistance allowing Clemson WRs to run free back there.The front seven had a problem stopping the run as well pretty much allowing Clemson to call its shot at will offensively.
Terry,one of the announcers on ABC said the Clemson players said they wanted to teach us a “lesson” cause our fans were talking too much sh*t?More than they’ve ever seen on message boards??What did they expect?A “white flag”?Of course we had confidence…were fans!!They are arrogant like there coach!!@Terry,wtf?When did I ever say I’m happy with 2* talent?Im always crying we need more and better talent than we’ve been getting but we have to make do for now with what we have!Support them cause we can still have a bowl season as were becoming tested now under fire and steel and the schedule gets easier outside FSU.I always give you credit when you’re right and you were right recently(except Tulane)!Its gonna take awhile for me to cool down after yesterday!
Russ my issue is with the SU players doing guetto gestures after rountine plays is garbage and HCSS lets it happen game after game. If SU was 5-0 or 4-1 can see that, but SU’s play has been High Schoolish against decent talent.!! Even though INDIANA beat PSU-gez!! As for the fans in the stands we can’t control that at all. The coaches can control its own though and should!! Sorry for putting you into the 2-star theroy, but don’t you believe the recruiting sites are not always right. I believe in them better than the average fan does??
WsaltineW: What’s up with your constant references to affirmative action hire and Cantor and Gross? What do you mean by this? In the history of Syracuse football, we have our first African American AD. What does race have to do with it? Is he a bad AD because he is black..or is he a bad AD?….We have never had a black football coach. Are these coaches losing and bad coaches because they are white? You never hear anyone saying stuff like that.
Terry,yeah they are MOSTLY right but guys that avoid or can’t afford to go to sponsors camps get overlooked,neglected and ignored!Peter Moukwah is a good example on SI,NYC but RU’s coaches are from the area dug him out and earned his trust early before Bama and 3 or 4 big southern schools got the “word” and offered to no avail!!He’s a NY kid and happy to stick close to home!The only difference is he’s 6’5″305lb DT/NG who run’s like a TE!We have to find these kids before the factories do and show love.What do we gain by dissing them like coach Moore(whom I respect)?Just don’t think hes a good recruiter for NY/NJ area just cause he grew up on LI!But you pegged yesterdays game when the rest of us were blinded by hope!@CDL,Sorry to see you lose your money AND the game if you were able to make it….I hope your visits to Hobart and Colgate went better?
Russ LOL Hobart and Colgate were years ago(10+ yrs ago-I think)!! I agree with HCSS if they are playing games(Mavety) then good riddance. We have too many wannabes on this team already!! SU needs 3 star/better players who are committed to play in the Salt City not somewhere else!!
RON/RUSS my experience with a “real” tailgate while on the hill was great. Met, tailgated and partied with some strong Clemson fans to( they were out-numbered)!! My age to!! Tried their pork shoulder it was awesome, but they thought our homemade sauage was to kill for. We packed them up with some on their way home!! But all in all they felt that they had a WRONG immpression of Syracuse U. We cleared them of that. They loved the older sense of the place. We told them we do too! But they said everything was still scattered around and we told they giggling away(must of been the rum) we are working on that too. FSU being my 2nd team after SU kinda got their hackles in a stir, but all in all it good fun. After the game and a good bye hug they invited us to “their” idea of a full game experience(as they call it) at Clemson the next time SU plays Clemson! I grabbed that quickly and they said bring your clubs too. No problem there!!
@Terry;
My gut says we lost HS recruit talent because of this poor performance!!
We got a committment on Sunday from 3* 6’6″ 295 lb OL Aaron Roberts out of De La Salle High School Chicago Illinois.
Great get Cuse,great get.
@Terry;
I’m glad that you were thee host at the party,I’m glad that you answered their questions and had a good time with them.
I paid attention to the Clemson Fans and I thought they displayed class before during and after the game. They represented their region well and should be proud of what their team has accomplished.
@Terry;
Good God man,I never posted anything like that. How long did that take to write,6 hours? Come on,you need to save some space for the rest of us.
It’s nice to hear that you had a good time and made some new friends.
Ron,its a good sign that one of the visiting recruits (A.Roberts)verbaled even though we lost so badly!It’s obvious especially to OLmen that theres an oppurtunity to get early playing time here until we get some depth and higher ranked (3*+)recruits in the next couple of classes!Southerners are usually always much friendlier than us Yankees!!Just always been that way as long as I can remember!!I see RU fans get on well with Arkansas fans who even join RU’s board and actually make lots of friends.On UConn’s board a lot of Tobacco road fans (NC,NC st,WF,Dook) show in their support of UConn to the ACC in spite of antagonistic FSU and Clemson fans!!They can’t understand BC’s fear of local competition?Quoting the closeness of ACC teams in Tobacco road creating better rivalries!
@Russell Stugots;
On the bright side Russell,I guess all’s not lost after Saturdays humiliation on national tv.
Well, I cant say I didnt expect that kind of beatdown.
The atmosphere was great, the game was fun and payback will come during basketball season when we beat Clemson by 35 haha
Remember guys this was the same team the WVU humiliated in a bowl 2 years ago after we thrashed WVU!!We learn a lesson from this and recruit to improve and in 2 years when we solidify the OL and QB position and add some NJ/Fla speed on D and reverse the result as you know their not gonna think we can beat them!We have to unleash our fury on them remembering this embarresment after our coaches have time to organise!Last year we could have surprised them and Dougie saw this learning year(as did I)coming!I allowed myself to become caught up with hope this year.I still think 7-5 is doable!
love that fact that coach Shafer did what he did and stood up for his team. Also glad SU stuffed Clemson on both 3rd and 4th down on that drive to send them back into the locker room with their tails between their legs, Huge moral victory for SU in this game. GO CUSE ! ! !
I am the mom of the little ring baeerr, thank you for capturing such a sweet picture of him! He did indeed take a series of pictures of you as you were working away. Your photos are beautiful! a0a0
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