Anyone else take this loss differently than they'd expect?

[Cane6]

Honestly, I’m pretty ****ed and it’s not because I didn’t know what we were getting with Mario because all of the points about expectations with him are valid but those expectations never came with the idea that that would you have a bad defense but that you would have a terrible defense. Even with all of his faults it’s not unfair to have an expectation that you would be average in things with recruiting and portal and the resources the program now has it for the defense to fail not just by being average or even bad but to being the worst I have ever witnessed on an ongoing basis

Guidry’s 2024 defense was within 1 ppg within conference play of the 2015 Dorito defense, to put it into perspective

Two worst defenses I hope to see in my lifetime

 

[LyndenCane22]

Not upset at all.

Losing always sucks, but the consensus prediction for this season was 10-2. The 2 losses were going to be against some teams that we weren't technically supposed to lose to, because that's Mario's trademark.

Even at his absolute best at Oregon, he would have games like
- 2018 vs Stanford
- 2018 vs Wash ST
- 2018 vs Utah

- 2019 vs AZ ST

- 2020 vs Cal

- 2021 vs Stanford
- 2021 vs Utah (twice)

That's just who Mario is as a Coach. He's not ever going to lead your team beyond what expectations are. People are only upset or shocked because they buried their heads in the sand back in 2021-22 before he got hired here. It was discussed & brought up by some on the board, but people ignored it & called them mopes.

The reality, this is probably the best it will get under Mario's tenure. We'll be able to go on runs & catch lightening in a bottle depending on if we can keep getting NFL caliber QB's via Portal.

But, the whole long process "doing it the right way" building through HS recruiting stuff is not going to work with him as our HC. It's an old model in a new era.

So, the best way to deal with these types of losses as a fan, is just understand that this is what comes with it. You can't/shouldn't be upset about a loss to GTech or Cuse, or whoever, if you understand that this apart of the HC's DNA.

If you really think he can turn us into a perennial playoff team that can compete for Natty's, it's because you simply want to believe it, not because you have an actual reason to believe it.

Do bringing in the right coordinators get us past just the 9-3/10-2 hope every year for something more?

 

[88]

I keep seeing 21-0 talk, but it was 21-0 pretty early on in the game and I felt there was so much time for Syracuse to start moving the ball at will and tighten up the lead. Especially the way we get pushed in in 2nd quarters.

But when you hear that its a Syracuse record comeback it really puts into prospective how bad our defense is to have expected that lead to dry up so quickly unless the offense was perfect.

 

[Hoyacane1620]

 

[Shogungts]

But, the whole long process "doing it the right way" building through HS recruiting stuff is not going to work with him as our HC. It's an old model in a new era.

I don't know if I would agree with the above (agree with everything else) as:

1. He is isn't just relying on recruiting but is using the portal as well. If you look at the schools that are having the most success (UGA, OSU, Oregon, etc), they are both near the top of recruiting and using the transfer portal (and the higher they are in recruiting, the less they typically use the portal)

2. As you pointed out, he dropped games that he shouldn't pretty much every year even before NIL so I think the answer is that is just isnt going to work out.

I mentioned this in another thread and I know that I am not the only one that has been saying/said this, but I was concerned from pretty much day one (or whenever it became apparent that NIL was going to become a free for all) that Mario was not the right coach b/c NIL negates (or at least significantly reduces) his biggest advantage.

And as much as I was pleasantly surprised by Miami opening up the pocketbook for Mario to use, did anyone really think that we would be able to keep up with schools with much larger and more passionate fan bases on a long term basis?

I hope I am wrong on both Mario and NIL and I applaud the school for at least trying to compete with the big boys, but after 3 years what has really changed? We occasionally pull off a decent win against a 'big opponent' (who often we later find out wasnt that good) and still end up losing multiple games a year to schools with significantly less talent (and if the talent is not significantly less, shame on us for not having significantly more in year 3).

To the subject of this topic, I wasn't that upset b/c I - like many others - a) saw it coming with how bad the D was and how many close games we were in with inferior (theoretically) teams and b) I have become numb to it after 20 years. Each year I watch, I am less upset when we lose; I long for the days when I couldn't look at anything sports related for several days after a Miami loss.

 

[Shogungts]

I don't know if I agree with Pate's comments about players not giving it their all. I feel like that may have been an issue in the past (especially if we fell behind big), but now I think the problem is that they are not fast, have no idea what they are doing, or both.

 

[BentSteelCane]

Even when we were up 21-0 I knew the D was lurking and would "show up" sooner or later. Still ****ed but they've set an expectation that no lead is safe and no outcome is predictable.

 

[HurricaneKush]

I was definitely mad but kind of with you. This team got what it deserved. It got worse and worse in basically all facets except RB as the season went on, including Cam. It was stupid and poorly coached. It played with its's food and was arrogant and lacked discipline. It also lacked talent in several spots. We are the 13th best team in the country and it would be stupid if we got in the playoffs, but I'd watch.

 

[1mg of Epi]

Not upset at all.

Losing always sucks, but the consensus prediction for this season was 10-2. The 2 losses were going to be against some teams that we weren't technically supposed to lose to, because that's Mario's trademark.

Even at his absolute best at Oregon, he would have games like
- 2018 vs Stanford
- 2018 vs Wash ST
- 2018 vs Utah

- 2019 vs AZ ST

- 2020 vs Cal

- 2021 vs Stanford
- 2021 vs Utah (twice)

That's just who Mario is as a Coach. He's not ever going to lead your team beyond what expectations are. People are only upset or shocked because they buried their heads in the sand back in 2021-22 before he got hired here. It was discussed & brought up by some on the board, but people ignored it & called them mopes.

The reality, this is probably the best it will get under Mario's tenure. We'll be able to go on runs & catch lightening in a bottle depending on if we can keep getting NFL caliber QB's via Portal.

But, the whole long process "doing it the right way" building through HS recruiting stuff is not going to work with him as our HC. It's an old model in a new era.

So, the best way to deal with these types of losses as a fan, is just understand that this is what comes with it. You can't/shouldn't be upset about a loss to GTech or Cuse, or whoever, if you understand that this apart of the HC's DNA.

If you really think he can turn us into a perennial playoff team that can compete for Natty's, it's because you simply want to believe it, not because you have an actual reason to believe it.

The season over/under was 9.5 so actually Mario exceeded expectations.

 

[canes461]

Is he Schnelly or Jimmy? Nope.

Are we in a better situation than we have been in the last 17 years?
Pretty sure we are.

Hoping he continues to grow as a HC and makes some key off season coaching fires / hires in areas we are sorely lacking.

Hurts that we dropped 2 that we could have won however it was clear we had big holes in our D.

All in all... a very good season with some painful losses.
Still better than anything we have put on the field in a long,long time.