Scott Shafer’s second season at the helm of the Orange has officially come to an end, and it was an ugly one.¬†Syracuse fell to Boston College 28-7 in the season finale in Chestnut Hill.¬†With the loss, the Orange finishes the season at 3-9, the worst since 2008.
The biggest problem for Syracuse this season was the offense and the inability to move the ball down the field. That continued Saturday. The Orange had 128 total yards on offense, and the lone score was a 4-yard touchdown run for true freshman quarterback, AJ Long.
The Eagles entered the game averaging 261.8 yards on the ground per game, which ranked 11th best in the NCAA. Credit the SU defense because it kept BC to 142 yards on the ground.
“For the most part, I was really pleased with the way our defense played today,” Shafer said. “It’s just difficult to win games when you’re struggling as much as we have on offense.”
That has been the biggest problem throughout the season. The Syracuse defense put the offense in position to put points on the board and win. As the focus starts to transition to next season, all eyes are on what has to change, and who has the biggest roles.
“We had a lot of uncontrollable moments,” Shafer said after the game. “A lot of things that weren’t easy for our kids — and our coaches.”
While most bowl eligible teams will start preparing for games soon, the Syracuse coaching staff will begin to prepare for next year. The struggles on offense this year helped younger players, such as Steve Ishmael, Ervin Philips, and Long get more playing time.
The struggles were on every part of the offensive game.
The quarterback situation:
Passes were inaccurate all season long. Most times there were communication issues between quarterback and receiver. When there are three different quarterbacks throughout the season, it is difficult for everyone to be on the same page.
For Long, he knows there is one thing he has to do in the offseason to make himself a better quarterback.
Long added that being bigger and stronger makes him a better passer with more accuracy.
The running backs:
Rushes up the middle did not work. Prince-Tyson Gulley and Adonis Ameen-Moore are fast, tough, physical backs, but not strong enough to rush past the defensive line and linebackers. Against Boston College, there were more pitches to the outside left and right with Philips and although his numbers were not impressive on paper, he was able to show off his speed and footwork against a quick defense like BC.
This team thinks it learned about itself, and changes can be expected for the start of next season.
“Any time you struggle, you learn a lot about yourself,” Shafer said.
10 responses to “Syracuse Football Goes Back to Drawing Board to Begin Fixing Problems for ’15”
Sad end to a season with expectations. The Line has to improve and I hope our recruting stays intact
Brooklyn SU Football fan; Nice to see you back Brooklyn. I hope that you and your family had a happy peaceful family Thanksgivng Day.
Here’s my take on the season, waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy too many injuries. Two weeks ago against Pittsburgh ,Syracuse had 17 starters were on the injured reserve list. One of the main staples in the program has been to play the seniors in their last year of the program. When doing so I think it makes the team to predictable and the defenses key on certain players. I believe that they need to get away from that policy and start playing the players that want’s to play the game. Prince Tyson Gulley’s best year was his freshman year and really didn’t have a good year after that. Terry always told me that he would break our hearts and cause Syracuse to lose some games. I don’t think I’ll ever second guess him ever again. AJ Long is not the QB to lead the Orangemen over the next three years. Way too small to play that position. I’m hoping that Alin Edouard and this kid from out west somewhere’s can come in and take control of the team. We had 9 recruits in for the Florida State Game and some of them were OL and a couple of them DL,all were out of Milford Academy. I’m hoping we get some of those players to commit to the Orangemen. It’s been reported that Lester is going to start using the TE’s in his offensive schemes,boy I hope he stays true to his word. Everyone has to remember that the kids graduating this year were Doug Marrones recruits. In 2015 they will be all gone and in 2016 Coach Shafer will have a squad of his recruits. I believe that’s when the program gets turned around.
Aj says he has to get bigger now…
Let’s see he came here in January and NOW weighs in at 177.
Wonderful strength and conditioning group we have.
By his senior year he ‘ll probably be 191.
There’s nothing that AJ Long can do to get bigger & stronger nothing. Alin Edouard is coming in standing 6’3′ or 6’4″ and approximately 225 lbs. It’s about the same size as Wilson and Kimble. I guess I just couldn’t see what the coaching staff saw when they thought he was the 2nd coming to Donovan McNabb. It’s nice to see the guy’s getting back on and talking some smack.
It’s great guy’s,thank you very much.
Yo Ron,
Where did you hear that Alin was that big?
I thought his recruiting numbers were something like 6’2″ and 188 lbs…LAST YEAR.
Of course AJ was suppose to be 6’2″ and 190…and we see how accurate THAT was!
I was wondering if they offered AJ to get to KJ, the 4 star WR(cousins?) who failed to qualify and got kicked out of prep school.
I thought that’s what I read about him last summer when he committed to us. I will try and find out if it is true or not and repost his size and weight. I think your right on target with AJ’s recruitment. AJ looked awful small when a picture appeared in the papers with him and a couple of other recruits last summer and if you remember there were a few of us that didn’t agree with his reported size. I’ll look up the stats on alin though.
orangeinva
According to the 247sports website they have Alin listed as a 3* Dual Threat QB at 6’1″ and weighing 180 lbs who picked Syracuse over Miami,South Florida,Louisville and Tennessee.
I would guess that maybe he’s gained some weight and if he arrives on campus next month will weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 lbs.
Hey Ron, there were issues posting on the site..atleast on my end(something about cookies) so I just browsed the site for a while…and vented occasionally on twitter. Hope the same for you and your family.
Hey hey hey, I encouraged patience with T Hunt…and I want to do the same for AJ as well. He was a true freshman thrust into action due to injuries and had a leaky O line plus injuries in his wr corp(which might be considered average in talent even when healthy. I do agree that he needs to get bigger. Ever since the spring ganme, that was the thing I noticed about him. His frame is pretty slight, but I can see him getting to about 190ish.. Now there is a question of whether or not that is large enough…
Going into next yr, I just want an open competition for the starting job and two backup slots. Depending on how it shakes out, I’d even consider red shirting AJ next yr. If Hunt comes back as a 5th yr Sr, looks healthy and wins the job outright, then if AJ isn’t the number 1 backup, I’d redshirt him and let him get go full time on a conditioning plan. Al Eduard isn’t a big guy himself, but he’d def be in the battle and to me seems like he could stack on more mass.
The O Line’s consistency and the wr play are crucial to next yr. Though GMII hasn’t shown it, I DO believe he can be a steady leady back in a runningback by committee approach. Phillips had a good freshman campaign and DMAC might be due for some great games ahead.
The one thing everyone should be on the same page with is that Terrel Hunt wasn’t the problem and was the easy scapegoat.
Brooklyn SU Football Fan,the website did indeed have problems. I think they got hacked and that alone caused problems that needed to be fixed. I thought my computer had a bug and sent it to the repair shop. My technican told me that it wasn’t my computer that was causing the problem but theirs at the other end. I sent DA an e-mail telling him about the problems and he responded by telling mme that he had his experts working to resolve them.
It came out in todays Post Standard that Terrell Hunt is in position to take the team back as the #1 Qb for 2015. In my opinion if that does happen it will only exacerbate the problem’s of 2014. I looked up Alin Edouard’s stats and he too is not as big as I thought was first reported. I agree with your statements on AJ Long. I think that he got a reality check this year and came to the conclusion that he wasn’t playing high school ball any more and come to realize that Div 1 football was a totally different animal.
I know one thing,2015 is going to be really interesting and if things don’t get turned around I feel changes will be made at the Athletic Director Position and within the coaching staff.
The new IPF is approximately 85% completed. The indoor carpet has been laid and is ready to go. Can’t wait for the open house ceremonies to begin.