Syracuse Orange

[nelsonmuntz]

Offense

Ryan Nassib is illustrative of most of Syracuse's better players. He doesn't suck, but how many other teams in the Big East would want him as their starter? He dinks and dunks down field (averaged barely 10 yards per completion), doesn't make that many mistakes, and hands off a lot. His receivers are kind of the same thing. Lemon may play, but Sales and West are expected to carry the load. Are either really that good?

Bailey was a good back, but he is gone and none of the returning players distinguished themselves last year. I expect running back by committee. There isn't a playmaker here or at wide receiver, which makes it very hard to win with a dink and dunk offense. No one ever breaks a big one.

The offensive line is OK. Pugh is good, 2 other starters are back. 3.6 ypc is not good, especially with a back like Bailey on the team, and 29 sacks allowed is barely acceptable. With the mediocre receivers and downgrade in running back, I expect both poor numbers to decline further.

Defense

Syracuse's defensive line just ties up blockers to enable the linebackers to make plays. Historically, the d-line has done just that. Last year's 3.5 ypc allowed and 28 sacks was a solid performance, but Chandler Jones is gone as is Marinovich. None of the returning linemen are particularly impressive, and I expect a significant drop in the d-line's numbers.

Marrone has had solid linebacking units during his time here, although he has leaned heavily on GRob recruits. Most of them are gone now. Vaughan, Spruill and Davis are all good, and will have a big year for Syracuse.

The pass defense was poor last year, and Syracuse loses 2 starters and another key DB. Their best CB Lyn missed the spring, and I don't know his status. This could be another weak pass defense.

Schedule

The schedule is ridiculous. Northwestern, USC (Jersey), Stony Brook, @ Minnesota, @ Missouri and 4 conference road gapes plus Louisville at home. Syracuse could play OK football and end up 3-9. Temple is a road game, which further reduces SU's potential win total. I am all for challenging a team, but this schedule is crazy, and could cost Marrone his job.

Conclusion

Marrone has not recruited well. He was still leaning on GRob's players heavily into last year. There are only a couple left, but it will be interesting to see he he does with just his own guys.

There just is not a lot of talent on this team. Name 3 guys you really wish UConn had. I got Pugh and Spruill, and that's it. That schedule together with a mediocre team and this could be Marrone's last year in upstate New York. Prediction:

3-9, 1-6

 

[johnhuskies95]

True freshman Ashton Broyld is supposed to be very good, and a potential playmaker.

 

[Dann]

if both bc and cuse have brutal years(i think its possible for each), could both coaches get the can? if so if will be funny to watch all the northeast kids look around again after picking over us once. if we just have a good year i will take enjoyment in all those recruits watching us rise while there private schools fall apart.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

True freshman Ashton Broyld is supposed to be very good, and a potential playmaker.

Every true freshman is going to be the best player at his position in the program's history.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Every true freshman is going to be the best player at his position in the program's history.

? He was the only player who did anything of note on offense in the spring game.

 

[uconndogs]

I think Nassib is a fine QB. Not great, but among the better in the conference. There just isn't much in front of him and around him. That the Cuse put two OLmen and a RB on the first team all conference after last season is an absolute joke. How does that happen when you win one game in conference?

I think Marrone is a pretty good coach and maybe he gets them over the hump and back to respectability after whatever GRob did to the program. But, I don't think it's this season and I fully expect we go into the Dome and win our sixth straight against them at which point I fully expect some Orange fans to throw themselves over the balcony.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I meant to mention in my writeup that I also think Marrone is a very good game coach. He is 9-5 in games determined by 1 score or less. The problem is the number of times that Syracuse got blown out, especially last year. Louisville, USF, Cincinnati and Pitt all blew Syracuse out in the last 5 games, with the loss to UConn as the only close game in that stretch. The other problem is the number of times bad teams were able to keep it close. Toledo wasn't bad last year, but they should have beaten Syracuse. Tulane and Rhode Island played the Orange very close.

This just isn't a very good team.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

? He was the only player who did anything of note on offense in the spring game.

I ignore freshmen in my analysis, and assume that if a true frosh is going to start, it is a bad sign, not a good one. Fans get worked up over recruiting rankings and the next great frosh, but 90%+ of key contributors on this year's teams were on last year's teams. Football is a sport that requires a lot of coaching and physical development to compete at the major D1A level. It is hard to count on frosh.

 

[coachcap]

My new catch phrase for this Season, starting with UMass & especially against the Fruit: "Let's hang 60 of them!"

 

[uconnric]

Syracuse may be the toughest place to recruit to in the league. Their facilities are not up to big time standards. The Dome, from a tv standpoint, seems like a horrible football venue.

I think Nassib is pretty good also. If he goes down, it will get ugly quick up there.

 

[pj]

My new catch phrase for this Season, starting with UMass & especially against the Fruit: "Let's hang 60 of them!"

on them?

It would ruin the season if our players got arrested for murder!

 

[pj]

Syracuse may be the toughest place to recruit to in the league. Their facilities are not up to big time standards. The Dome, from a tv standpoint, seems like a horrible football venue.

I think Nassib is pretty good also. If he goes down, it will get ugly quick up there.

Marrone's done a pretty good job recruiting last year and this. But it may be too little, too late.

 

[Dann]

its the acc bump in his recruiting. this class is better than the others for him but its not anything special. PP did a better job recruiting there then he will.

 

[coachcap]

on them?

It would ruin the season if our players got arrested for murder!

You're correct, of course. Looks like we've lost the edit button on the threads.

 

[mattp]

You're correct, of course. Looks like we've lost the edit button on the threads.

it'll let you edit up to 30 minutes or something like that, but i think you were right the first time anyway

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

I think Cuse is going to rot this year.

I'm a little more bullish on Nassib and Lemon than nelson is, but I don't see this team winning more than 2 conference games.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Syracuse may be the toughest place to recruit to in the league. Their facilities are not up to big time standards. The Dome, from a tv standpoint, seems like a horrible football venue.

I think Nassib is pretty good also. If he goes down, it will get ugly quick up there.

I think it is Marrone. It is rare for a former pro coach to be such a poor salesmen, but Marrone rarely wins fights against the majors. Usually, when a pro coach struggles with college recruiting, like Weis, it is because he is making the sale but is struggling with talent evaluation. It is a lot harder to project an 18 year old kid to high level FBS than it is to project a college star to the pros. The latter is not easy, but the former is incredibly hard.

 

[orangehomer]

this is the first year marrone has had a full roster. unless he goes winless, there is 0 chance he gets fired this year. not going to happen.

 

[uconndogs]

I agree. Marrone inherrited a disaster and while last season was certainly a disappointment Syracuse needs to give him another couple of years.

Fans (UCONN's included) want to fire their coaches after every loss. The reality is, those moves are fraught with risk and GRob was a classic example of that. At the time he was a pretty sexxy pick to replace Coach P. Four years of that and then you need close to a decade to get back on track.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I agree. Marrone inherrited a disaster and while last season was certainly a disappointment Syracuse needs to give him another couple of years.

Fans (UCONN's included) want to fire their coaches after every loss. The reality is, those moves are fraught with risk and GRob was a classic example of that. At the time he was a pretty sexxy pick to replace Coach P. Four years of that and then you need close to a decade to get back on track.

It is year 4 for Marrone and there is little talent on this team. If we could take 5 guys off this roster, who would you want? Pugh and Lemon on offense, Vaughan (who probably wouldn't start for UConn but would be a nice backup) and Shamarko Thomas are it.

Strong had brought in kids that were taking playing time by Strong's second year and now very little of Kragthorpe's recruits are still significant contributors. And Kragthorpe was not a terrible recruiter, he was a terrible game coach, which means Strong was bringing in talent. Marrone was leaning on GRob's players heavily in his third year, and there are still a few, Lemon, Sales and Nassib for example, that are major contributors this season. Marrone's recruits couldn't push Greg Robinson's recruits out of the starting lineup by their third year in the program. What does that say about Marrone?

The bigger issue is that schedule is going to get ugly fast. If Syracuse doesn't at least split Minnesota and Northwestern, the wheels could come off this season. Syracuse fans believe they should be playing for national championships, and a 2 or 3 win season in Marrone's 4th year is not going to go over well in central New York. Unless there is a miracle this season, it will be Marrone's third losing season in 4 years, and there is little talent on this team to indicate that next year will be any better.

I don't know if Marrone deserves to get fired or not, but back to back losing seasons in years 3 and 4 of your term are hard to survive unless the Administration at the school has reset expectations down. I don't have the answer to that.

 

[freescooter]

I'm not overly enamored with Marrone, either. Don't think he is much of a recruiter for exactly the things you mention, and I don't quite understand why he isn't on the hotseat this year. I think that it is in fact possible that the move to the ACC will to a degree allow Syracuse to do what Miami has done, no not cheat, but de-emphasize football to at least a certain degree. While I don't expect them to become Duke, having a program that regularly goes between 5-7 and 7-5 would probably make everyone happy. It is possible that I have misread this, but I get the feeling that the leadership in Central NY doesn't much care about football any more.

 

[mattp]

of course they'd be happy with between 5-7 and 7-5. they've averaged less than 4 wins/season since they showed P the door. that's why they really should be happy with Marrone. he's showed them an unprecedented level of success over the last decade. in the ACC he could have them averaging 6 wins and that's about as good as they can hope for

 

[docsu]

I'm not overly enamored with Marrone, either. Don't think he is much of a recruiter for exactly the things you mention, and I don't quite understand why he isn't on the hotseat this year. I think that it is in fact possible that the move to the ACC will to a degree allow Syracuse to do what Miami has done, no not cheat, but de-emphasize football to at least a certain degree. While I don't expect them to become Duke, having a program that regularly goes between 5-7 and 7-5 would probably make everyone happy. It is possible that I have misread this, but I get the feeling that the leadership in Central NY doesn't much care about football any more.

No

 

[freescooter]

No

Are you agreeing with me or disagreeing? Can't tell by your response. I really do think that Syracuse leadership doesn't much care about the program any more...they've become accustomed to losing and are more than happy to sort of use football to fill the dead space until basketball season starts. My sense of things is they neither expect nor are willing to make the investment to really be a major player any more. Having Morrone there is in some ways a perfect fit. He's old Syracuse so he won't complain, and while he is no more than an average coach, they'll use the Old Grad argument to keep him around. He goes to the odd Chicken sandwhich with mustard bowl every 4-5 years and everyone is happy.

 

[docsu]

Are you agreeing with me or disagreeing? Can't tell by your response. I really do think that Syracuse leadership doesn't much care about the program any more...they've become accustomed to losing and are more than happy to sort of use football to fill the dead space until basketball season starts. My sense of things is they neither expect nor are willing to make the investment to really be a major player any more. Having Morrone there is in some ways a perfect fit. He's old Syracuse so he won't complain, and while he is no more than an average coach, they'll use the Old Grad argument to keep him around. He goes to the odd Chicken sandwhich with mustard bowl every 4-5 years and everyone is happy.

Well, I'm pretty sure Darryl Gross was a hire to try to address the football side of things, the University has already made upgrades to the dome turf, locker rooms, and I think more are being planned. We also wouldn't be moving to the ACC if we were content on just being a "basketball school."