Syracuse at Washington - Orange plan to run the ball

…shows us that they really can be “special”. ;O)

Before Saturday, I probably would’ve said yes.

But after watching the way BYU sat on the line of scrimmage and forced Locker to make a decision, as opposed to seeing pressure and reacting to it, I’m not so sure.

Locker’s at his best when he’s instinctive and reactive, when he can either elude or break aggressive tackles. BYU’s defensive gameplan was brilliant. It really neutralized the sandlot broken play aspect of Locker’s game, both as a runner and a passer.

not that competative after all… :D

I am not ready to judge the season on one game in Provo and I am sure most of you are in the same boat.

There needs to be a lot of improvement between week one and two. Most of it is just tightening up what they are doing.

Syracuse is kind of an east coast version of Washington – both are traditionally successful, both took a real nose dive after the turn of the new millennium, both are in year two of a rebuild under new coaches. But I think Washington is a bit ahead of Syracuse – the Huskies went 4-5 in a tougher conference last year compared to the 1-6 mark Syracuse put up in the Big East. Washington was rated higher in all the computer polls at the end of last season. And it wasn’t just this blog that talked up the Huskies this season – it came from all over the country. In fact, even after the narrow loss on the road to BYU, Washington still received votes in the Coach’s poll; Syracuse did not.

As for your superficial comparisons of the east coast vs. the west coast – cute. But completely ignorant of Washington football, a program that was built on out-toughing the more talented opposition, from Jim Owens through Don James and Jim Lambright. We lost that identity under Rick Neuheisel, but we’re gaining it back under Steve Sarkisian. If you don’t think the program is getting tough again, you’ve never been to a practice where Dan Cozzetto and Nick Holt are coaching.

Finally, what is it with Syracuse fans coming on this blog and acting obnoxious? Is this just an east coast thing?

Well…you make a great point…and frankly I am shaking in my boots right now.

I don’t think I am talking down about the Orange…they have a shot at winning on Saturday. I think it is going to be a pretty good match-up.

One thing your off on though is seasons going forward….Washington is recruiting extremely well and is starting to stockpile some talent.

After Jake Locker walks, this program will go from maybe 7-5 this year back to 3-9, 2-10 etc.

The program may or may not fall back a little, but it won’t fall to those depths. Sark has recruited quite well, and while we’ll definitely miss Locker next year, all of the skill position talent around him returns as do all of the best OL, and the defense loses only 3 starters with a lot of promising talent behind them gaining more experience. And while Keith Price and Nick Montana aren’t Jake Locker, the dropoff won’t be as severe as you might be assuming.

This program might hover around .500 for 2011 & 2012 (we’ll see how quickly the young guys develop), but by 2013 I expect this team to be competing for a Rose Bowl.

…are you related to the other Orange head that was on OUR board?

we all acknowlege that this will be a tough test. But naturally based on recent history, the makeup of both teams and the state of each’s rebuilding…we expect UW to come out on top.

You’re batty if you think that the BE was any better than the 5th best conference last year. The Pac-10 was probably the 4th best, but it was top to bottom, waaay ahead of the BE.

By the way, you’re saying that replacing patsies with frosh is going to make your team much better?

…later, you’re a super power? It really should be interesting because you guys should be right where we are. Is that your take?

desperate!

Only thing worse than the pac 10 FB last year was Pac 10 Basketball.

…what’s your prediction for the game?

If you don’t think USC was smash-mouth and tough under Carroll, then I’m afraid I don’t have much respect for your football knowledge. They almost always played great defense with hard-hitting all around, and they ran the ball quite well behind a big, athletic and very physical offensive line. They weren’t a one-dimensional offense – Sark loves the play-action passing game built off the foundation of a strong running game – and they had great QB’s and WR’s and took advantage, so they were a pretty balanced offense. But make no mistake, they could run right over you.

That’s the kind of football Sark and Holt have brought with them to Washington. This isn’t a Mike Leach, throw the ball 50 times a game kind of coaching staff.

…by the way. And this is still America, isn’t it? What’s yours?

…standard for being a fan? That one program can be bigger jerks than another?

It still has potential to be, and based on betting line trends it seems most professionals would agree. We have top notch skill position players and a top flight QB, Cuse’ lacks the talent that UW has overall.

That said, we saw last week how much this team has to grow, and it’s quite a bit, which leads me to believe this game will be tough. I should note that nobody I’ve seen has called cuse’ soft.

And thank you for being the first person to call out my clearly stupid name, not even our rivals fans have had a lamer point of contention in a debate.

There’s another thread where someone calling himself “Gotch Carr Superstar” started off OK, then quickly devolved into acting like a jackass. And before the season started, someone else was flipping John B a bunch of crap about him naming his daily posts with a dog theme.

…that’s not what we get upset about. My guess is that you come on our board and make disrespectful comments. You’re more than welcome to come in here and debate football. Just realize who’s house you’re in. And yes we all have opinions and yes I think we’ll win on Saturday. I don’t think it’s going to be a blowout but you’re in our house and I think we’ll get the job done.

I can’t believe how upset people are getting by me saying this will be a close game and that your guys will leave feeling very banged up and like they have been in a game.

It has nothing to do with this. I’ve been saying myself that I think this game could very well be uncomfortably close for UW fans.

No, the objection is to obnoxious statements like saying Washington will sink back to 3-9, 2-10 when Locker leaves and making ill-informed suppositions about the toughness of Washington football.

…to your opinion. And that’s how we do it in the Pac-10!

…the same guy that was here before? Because man, you write just like him!

…the line on the game by the way?

I hope Syracuse stacks the box and leaves their DB’s alone without deep help against UW’s receivers. One-on-one, UW’s receivers are dangerous, and fast. Locker has the arm for the deep ball and an extremely quick release.

He will get some pressure, but you better hope the Syracuse D plays some contain zone defense like BYU did, or else Locker will get some yards on the ground as well.

If Syracuse decides to just try and play their normal style of defense against Locker by attempting to flood the backfield after him, they’re going to get burned for some big plays on the ground from Locker. Their best hope is to play containment zone defense and try to force Locker to beat them with his arm, which he can. Otherwise, once Locker gets rolling on the ground, the UW offense will be extremely difficult to stop from getting on a roll. He’s likely to to rush for a TD or two if this happens.

Also, I wonder if you’re not being a little overconfident about Syracuse’s ability to play well on the west coast. Syracuse has won, what, 1 game on the west coast in the last 40 years?

…the BEST coast!

You’re always welcome. We may not agree but we can talk about it.

More talk tomorrow?

If you want to talk football and leave the snark and obnoxiousness behind, please do.

I live on the east coast, and you’re embarrassing me. I actually made an SBNation account for the purpose of saying that. Please talk football without being so abrasive. If I wanted abrasive, I’d go find east coast customer service.

And Dawgfan clearly just mixed up what you were saying. I somehow doubt that, in the context of that argument, he wanted to call the east coast the “best coast”.

Thanks for the perspective on Syracuse. Can you expand on the part about “tricks in the offensive gameplan” for Syracuse? Trick plays? Unusual formations?

I’m also curious to know more about the Syracuse defense. We’ve been told their philosophy is to stop the run first and foremost, to the extent of leaving their corners on an island. Does this mean a lot of blitzing up the gut by the LBs? Stacking the box with the safeties? Are they playing with a 1-gap or 2-gap philosophy? How is the pass rush? Do they get adequate pressure from the ends, or do they need to run a lot of stunts and blitzes?

To me it’s that Syracuse has traveled to the west coast only 13 times in 46 years. 46 YEARS! That’s not a very consistent sample to weigh anything against. Especially when you consider the current head coach and players are all 0-0 for SU on the West Coast.

Also in the last 10 years, let alone 46, cross country travel and transportation for football teams has improved by light years. In the 60’s and 70’s SU probably had two bus rides and 4 connecting flights to get from upstate NY to Seattle.

For this game, they had either a direct flight or 1 connection – hardly any different then a flight to Florida for them.

Huksy’s have more talent and have a tremendous homefield advantage, that is more important then any historical record.
If SU is going to win this game, it’s going to be very hard earned.

  Would be a more important stat if SU had gone out west every year for the last 13 years and had only 1 win, but

t would be one thing if SU was traveling out west every year ( I would like that) and was 1-11-1 in the last 12 years, but 13 games over 46 years?

I mean 46 years