Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. And boy did it apply to Syracuse’s poor offensive effort against Notre Dame on a national stage Saturday night.
While the Orange usually has some positive takeaways from every loss, the team proved time and time again that it is not as good as fans hoped it would be. Don’t let the final score fool you, because last night, simply nothing went right on the offensive side of the ball.
First, on the defensive side of the ball, Syracuse allowed 25 straight completions to opposing quarterback Everett Golson, one short of the FBS record. Notre Dame consistently exploited the SU defense on bubble screens. George McDonald probably should have taken notes, as Notre Dame actually demonstrated some successful wide receiver screens with players blocking downfield. The unit did force two interceptions (one returned for a touchdown by Durrell Eskridge) and recovered three fumbles.
Offensively, the Orange effort was pathetic. The defense kept the team in the game throughout the first quarter, but Hunt and the unit could only muster up 70 yards (not counting penalty yards) in the opening frame. Thirty-eight of them came from a drive-opening pass to Brisley Estime. Hunt missed receivers left, right, long, and short all night and never got the offense in rhythm until the game was out of reach. The first quarter ended 0-0, only because the SU defense forced two turnovers.
While blaming the officials is never an excuse, a blatant early whistle at the end of the first half hurt the Orange. With the Irish driving downfield, Golson attempted to spike the ball and, instead, fumbled it because he never had possession of the ball. Julian Whigham recovered the ball and ran it back to the end zone untouched, but a premature whistle blew the play dead. It would have been a huge momentum swing, trailing by only four at the half and getting the ball, but instead Hunt was forced to take a knee with 13 seconds on the clock. The team also committed ten penalties for 85 yards. Whatever could have gone wrong certainly did.
Punter Riley Dixon had a huge 42-yard run on a fake punt, but the offense went four-and-out following the huge gain. With that lone run, Dixon led the team in rushing yards. Missed opportunities were a theme all night long. The offensive line couldn’t keep the pressure out of Hunt’s face, and he took a big hit to the leg/hip on a scramble, which clearly bothered the quarterback all game long. The team was a discouraging 3-15 on third down.
Despite having success through the air, McDonald consistently called runs and screens, leaving fans scratching their heads. PTG was hit in the backfield on nearly every run. When Erv Phillips is the bright spot with only 22 yards, things must have gone badly. Jarrod West broke out with 103 yards on eight catches, but it clearly wasn’t enough.
Shafer and McDonald need to sit down during the week and figure out how to fix the offense before the team’s Friday night matchup with Louisville at the Dome. My advice? It starts with letting Hunt air the ball out downfield and ends with better protection in the pocket. And let’s leave those platinum uniforms in New Jersey — I don’t need to know where each player is sweating on every down.
Posted:  Jason Weingold
14 responses to “Offensive Inefficiency Hurts Orange”
Shafer’s doesn’t need to sit down with MCD.. he needs to find a new O-coordinator.
He has failed!
Starting to look like 4 wins is going to be the outcome… play Wilson.
Play Wilson?? We have no wide receivers that can get open and a very suspect offensive line. Hunt is not the reason we are losing. We do not have a QB in our program that can win these type of games for the Cuse without more talent at the skill positions. The same bubble screens and short passing attack that we all have been screaming against‚Ķ.Well Notre Dame used that to kill us!!!‚ĶSame bubble screens. The difference was Notre Dame has play makers‚Ķ.who make you miss and put pressure on your defense. The Notre Dame QB didn’t play very well‚Ķ.but his skilled teammates bailed him out play after play. Who bails our QB ‚Ķwho ever he is‚Ķ..out? Play calling?‚Ķ.Terrible‚Ķ..but does anyone think we could have run the ball against Notre Dame? Did you see the size of their front seven? Defensive ends..6-4 ,280‚Ķ.with speed‚ĶLinebackers 6-3, 240‚Ķ..with speed‚Ķ‚Ķ..We are playing a 6-4 250lb guy at defensive tackle..the guy’s a converted tight end‚Ķ‚Ķ.
Well it’s sad………
I never thought I would say this but the coaching staff has failed this team, program, fans.
Is Hunt a better QB than he was last year? No. Lester you have failed.
Is the play calling better than last year…and it was horrible at times last year..better now? No. McDonald you have failed.
The play of our DBs particularly corners, has been/is attrocious. Bubble screens is mentioned. DID YOU SEE THE FEATURE ON SCOUT LAST WEEK AFTER MARYLAND??!! Their WR took a screen pass and was 7 yards over the line of scrimmage BEFORE any CB got near him..and went 90 yards for a TD. We run a bubble screen and our receiver has to make an evasive move to get back to the line of scrimmage. THEN our DBs get burned on deep routes- so they’re not stopping either type of pass. Our Dbs “techniques” have been poor for the last 2 years. Reid has failed.
SOFT practices, poor special teams play, penalties…Coach Shafer- sorry- YOU HAVE FAILED.
We had so many returning players for this season and yet in nearly ever facet of a college football game-save Riley Dixon- we are worse.
Team grade year to date ……..D
Well said! Now that people on this sight have stopped talking about 9-3 and “elite” QBs we can start discussing what’s going on in the Program!
I know it sounds silly because it’s his team but I don’t want to give up on Shafer..not yet. He inherited a tough situation. I was never a DM fan and think .he left a mess. People talk about the job he did getting us to bowl games.. Come on ..the Pin Strip./Texas or whatever the hell it was…..Wv was a big win… But he got there against a terrible schedule of Big East/ Nobodies.
Shafer gets thrown into the ACC with limited talent and a staff that Gross forced to be on the cheap. Compare our coaching salaries to the winning programs and we shouldn’t expect much. Look at MCD.. A wide receiver coach that jumped from job to job because people think he can recruit South Florida. He’s a joke!
On the Hunt issue…he is slow and deliberate. The extra weight he put on would be good if he was a lineman/fullback but he’s a QB. He seems to have hit his calling in improvement..granted the coaching sucks.. If it’s not Wilson..fine..got a better idea. Just keep loosing. Loosing is one thing…looking inept is another.
Dr.Bill;
I had to work and didn’t watch the game ,but did listen to it on the radio. We’ve all breen told for a very long time if you win the turn over battle you win the game. Well we won the turn over battle agqainst the Irish and lost the game. Five turnovers in the first half and we could only muster 98 total yards and 3 points on the score board. Keep on believing that Hunt is the man. If were going to lose then put in Wilson and give him some game experience. What’s the worst that could happen lose the game? We’re doing it now with the so called stud at QB.
I hat to say this but changes are needed in the coaching. shafer and crew have to realize that we’re not playing football in the MAC Conference,they need tov get serious. If Gross doesn’t get on board and start paying a coach that will do the job that is necessary,then he needs to go and go now.
The adminstration needs to understand in order to be successful you need to spend the money. It’s about time they got off their dead asses and started supporting this team.
Last week we lost the game after controlling the clock and gaining 598 total yards. This week we win the turn over battle and gained 480 total yards and lost again. Both situations are totally unacceptable.
Ron…
Exactly!
Cuse17;
My computer was stuck for over a week and couldn’t/wouldn’t post because I thought the website got hacked. Finally figured out what the problem was. It’s good to be back joining in the conversation that is Syracuse Football.
So Cuse17, I need to ask you a question. Believe me when I say that I’m not getting personal here. The last statement I read from you is when you responded to Dr. Bill by saying that you were a 4 time “Block S’ award winner and graduated from Syracuse University and returned to get your master’s degree and are currently a big time contributer to the school.
If that’s true then I understand your animosity towards Dr. Gross. Which in my book isn’t a bad thing. Did you earn your Block S award playing football? If you did then I congratulate you on your graduation and success and want to say thank you very much for picking Syracuse University.
We all are entitled to our opinions so I will state mine again: I never said Hunt was a Stud QB..or an elite QB…never said ..nor do I believe it! Hunt is not the only problem here. If Wilson was better, he would be playing. The problem is ..we have no QB in our program who has the potential to be Elite right now!
QB play is critical to offensive success‚Ķ.but so is play calling, so is coaching, so are play makers‚Ķ‚Ķwe don’t have enough of any of those elements to be successful right now. People are calling for the coaching staff to be fired‚Ķ.I say, not so fast. I have been hearing this‚Ķlet’s pay big money for a big time coach‚ĶI remember all the people calling for Skip Holtz‚Ķ..Turner Gil‚Ķeven Lane Kiffin‚Ķ.LOL‚Ķ..Syracuse doesn’t have the money yet to compete on the kind of stage you are talking about and pay a coach 2 million dollars and if you think so, then you are deceiving yourself. Marone, HCSS, are the kinds of coaches‚Ķ.Cuse can afford right now. If you look at what Dr. Gross has done ( I know you all hate him), he has tried to improve the financial strength of our program and coming from USC, he understands how $$$$$$$$$ controls everything. WE are in a better position now‚Ķwith the ACC money than we were in the past. We need better players‚Ķ..that is the bottom line. We need bigger faster players to compete in the ACC‚Ķ‚ĶSchemes and coaching can only do so much‚Ķ..Players win games‚Ķ.we need more players‚Ķand more money!!!
I think we’re all overlooking a very important fact in the decline and why Syracuse Football continues to struggle to regain it’s glory of yesterday year. Look at the decent/great college football programs across the country,they all have one thing in common. They have a chancellor and AD that believe(in the man leading their successful football program’s)will bring unbelievable amounts of money to their schools.
At times I wish the board of directors would take the iInitiative/lead and hire a chancellor and AD that would actually lead us back to glory. We need another Melvin Eggars who was hitred in 1971 as an economics professor and retired in 1991 as the chancellor. We need another Jake Crouthamel as AD who played the game of football later becoming the head coach at Dartmouth who became athleticdirector in 1978 and retired in 2005.
I don’t understand how we ever got in a position to hire Nancy Cantor who hired Dr.Gross who hired Greg Robinson.
The level of ignorance between the two is unparalled is school history. After firing GROB and looking for a new coach,they ended up hiring Doug Marrone instead of hiring a local guy by the name of George O’Leary. If you don’t think he would have been a great hire look at what he’s accomplishing down at USF. I think O’leary would/could have brought Syracuse back to being relevant in football again and doing it in front of a sold out Carrier Dome.
Ron,
I think the key to all the successful football programs in the country has little to do with the President/Chancellor/AD and more to do with MONEY‚Ķand in Syracuse’s case‚Ķ.the lack there of!!! Let’s start with the SEC: Alabama, Florida, LSU, Auburn, Tennesse, Georgia, South Carolina, these are all either large state institutions or supported by large, Wealthy football boosters. That’s the difference in my opinion. When we get lots more $$$$$$$$$$, we will have a better program!!!!!
Dr. Bill my point mentioning the Chancellor/AD helping to make things work. For instance Eggars was hired as an economics professor and Crouthamel was hired AD after he was a head coach and a person who played the game at another University. During Chancellor Eggar’s time, he over saw the largest expansion in both the construction of new buildings and student enrollment. Both gentlemen had a vision of what was needed to improve the football program. Eggars gave the approval to build the dome and Crouthamel hired Dick MacPhearson as our head coach. I would say that both of these gentlemen gavea great deal of input into the athletic programs to make them successful. When we first started playing the games in the dome it was reported that a home game would generate $1 million a week for the city of Syracuse and that didn’t count the monies the University made on each home game. Then the damn politicians got involved and wanted a piece of that pie and things have been going down hill ever since. But if I was a betting man I’d bet that if you really looked at the Chancellors and AD’s at the big schools you would find that all of them have a lot more in common than what you think. Their the engine that makes the printing presses that print all of that money work. It’s about time we get someone in here that will support the team. I’ve never said I hate Dr. Gross. I just don’t like him period. I’ve seen him first hand work his magic with big time boosters trying to get them to fork over some of their money. He’s pretty good at what he does,but let’s face the facts. How much money do you think he’s spent down in NYC promoting our University? What about the hiring of a head coach that couldn’t find his way around Syracuse let alone the State of NY when recruiting? If he was doing such a fine job out at USC why did they let him go? I feel if you want to be an AD,you would understand what it takes to play/win games. I just don’t feel he’s the right man for the job. I feel that if we get the right people in key positions within the University the money will come automatically.
Just my opinion Dr. Bill just my opinion.
let me say it a little differently;
Chancellor=economics professor, AD=player and head coach of a football team===great combination of academics and athletics===LEADERSHIP.
We don’t have any leadership at the top that knows anything about the game of football or what it takes to run a program.
WE NEED LEADERSHIP!!!!!!!!!
I merely stumbled across your web site from the friend’s digg profile. Bless him. Websites like yours are truly rare inside of a webspace full of crap and spam.
Incredible, it is just a very good part of write down which i’ve seem throughout extended long while. Make of course have a look at our own web.