Syracuse - Cincinnati Postgame Reactions OR One Step Forward, Seven Steps Back
0 Comments Published on 12.02.2008 by Brian Harrison
Well... looks like it's about time to be hittin' the ol' dusty trail.If there's a God, he is laughing at us
and our football team.
~ Effington by Ben Folds
This was the final game for Syracuse in another season of disappointment. The 2008 campaign started off hopeful, just like every other. Although there were some high points along the way, this was certainly not one of them. Syracuse loses in a route to the Big East Champion Cincinnati Bearcats 30 to ten.
Offense
D+
Cameron Dantley had an abysmal day (6/23, 59 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT), Curtis Brinkley was a non-factor (16 carries, 60 yds, 3.8 ypc, 0 TD), and no one seemed to contribute in any meaningful way consistently on offense. Syracuse had nothing to play for but pride and that was not enough for Syracuse to sustain drives like they did against Notre Dame the previous week. Whether it was the dropsies, a bad pass, or simply no where to run, Syracuse’s offense stalled quite a lot. Syracuse only converted three of 14 on third down conversions and only managed 211 total yards of offense. This was another step back in a season full of backwards motion.
Defense
D+
Granted, Tony Pike is a great quarterback. But when you have such a dangerous quarterback on the other team you would think that the defense would not give receivers six yards of space. For instance, on Cincinnati’s last touchdown, the man in the flat had a good six yards of space. Keep in mind that Cincinnati was in the red zone on the 15 yard line. There is not even that much ground you have to defend and yet Cincinnati made it look easy against our secondary. It is supposed to be harder to score in the red zone. While they did have one interception, the secondary was simply the worst in this game I have seen them all year, and seeing as it was the last game of the year, that is more than unacceptable. Hopefully the next coaching staff can come in and actually teach people how to properly defend.
Special Teams
B-
Patrick “Sex Offender Mustache” Shadle did his part, as per usual. He nailed a 33 yard field goal in the second quarter and added an extra point late in the game. Rob Long also did his part, kicking seven times for a total of 271 yards. No punts ended up behind the Cincy 20 yard line however. Mike Holmes had seven kick returns for 161 yards and averaged 23 yards a return. Not bad, but he could have had better. All in all, a pretty pedestrian day for the special teams.
Coaching
C
While they did not make any horrific decisions in this game, once again they get a mediocre grade because of the failure to adjust during a ball game. With literally no tomorrow, you would have thought they would pull out all the stops and try a lot of different things just because they could and they probably would not be in a similar situation like this in the future. They did not.
GPA
C- (1.83)
This game was brutal to follow. While you had to root for Syracuse to pull an upset and have these kids, and yes even Greg, go out on a win, they did not even muster a touchdown until basically garbage time of the fourth quarter. They looked absolutely awful, and they did not even play this bad against UConn, USF, or West Virginia. A sad ending note to the Robinson tenure, and proof positive that a change needed to be made. Good luck to Cincy in the BCS. Then again, they might not need it.
Syracuse football now rests for another year. Sort of. As we all know there is now a very public (sort of) search for the next Orange head coach. No matter who is picked will have the daunting task of fixing this broken program, and returning us to at least being competitive in the Big East once again, as well as sending us to Bowl Games. I will have my annual wrap up of the football season, or final grade for the semester. That will show the highlights, lowlights, and everything in between. Also, we say goodbye to Greg as he departs from Syracuse, possibly at gunpoint. Until next season, the crying child sleeps.
Offense
D+
Cameron Dantley had an abysmal day (6/23, 59 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT), Curtis Brinkley was a non-factor (16 carries, 60 yds, 3.8 ypc, 0 TD), and no one seemed to contribute in any meaningful way consistently on offense. Syracuse had nothing to play for but pride and that was not enough for Syracuse to sustain drives like they did against Notre Dame the previous week. Whether it was the dropsies, a bad pass, or simply no where to run, Syracuse’s offense stalled quite a lot. Syracuse only converted three of 14 on third down conversions and only managed 211 total yards of offense. This was another step back in a season full of backwards motion.
Defense
D+
Granted, Tony Pike is a great quarterback. But when you have such a dangerous quarterback on the other team you would think that the defense would not give receivers six yards of space. For instance, on Cincinnati’s last touchdown, the man in the flat had a good six yards of space. Keep in mind that Cincinnati was in the red zone on the 15 yard line. There is not even that much ground you have to defend and yet Cincinnati made it look easy against our secondary. It is supposed to be harder to score in the red zone. While they did have one interception, the secondary was simply the worst in this game I have seen them all year, and seeing as it was the last game of the year, that is more than unacceptable. Hopefully the next coaching staff can come in and actually teach people how to properly defend.
Special Teams
B-
Patrick “Sex Offender Mustache” Shadle did his part, as per usual. He nailed a 33 yard field goal in the second quarter and added an extra point late in the game. Rob Long also did his part, kicking seven times for a total of 271 yards. No punts ended up behind the Cincy 20 yard line however. Mike Holmes had seven kick returns for 161 yards and averaged 23 yards a return. Not bad, but he could have had better. All in all, a pretty pedestrian day for the special teams.
Coaching
C
While they did not make any horrific decisions in this game, once again they get a mediocre grade because of the failure to adjust during a ball game. With literally no tomorrow, you would have thought they would pull out all the stops and try a lot of different things just because they could and they probably would not be in a similar situation like this in the future. They did not.
GPA
C- (1.83)
This game was brutal to follow. While you had to root for Syracuse to pull an upset and have these kids, and yes even Greg, go out on a win, they did not even muster a touchdown until basically garbage time of the fourth quarter. They looked absolutely awful, and they did not even play this bad against UConn, USF, or West Virginia. A sad ending note to the Robinson tenure, and proof positive that a change needed to be made. Good luck to Cincy in the BCS. Then again, they might not need it.
Syracuse football now rests for another year. Sort of. As we all know there is now a very public (sort of) search for the next Orange head coach. No matter who is picked will have the daunting task of fixing this broken program, and returning us to at least being competitive in the Big East once again, as well as sending us to Bowl Games. I will have my annual wrap up of the football season, or final grade for the semester. That will show the highlights, lowlights, and everything in between. Also, we say goodbye to Greg as he departs from Syracuse, possibly at gunpoint. Until next season, the crying child sleeps.
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