Sorry Doug, this one's on you

We like to be positive at the Joe Fields Era, as you already know. But we also have to be truthful, to some degree. And while all Syracuse fans can pretty much agree HCDM has the Orange moving generally in the right direction, we also have to be critical at times. Marrone is a very good coach, but Saturday was not his best game.

Syracuse.com

Hey, I get it. It's tough to go on the road to the west coast and pull off a win against a team that's probably more talented. It's not so much that SU lost, but the way it lost. The Orange looked unprepared in several areas that should have been pretty obvious heading into the game. Let's break them down ...

1. What was the plan in the secondary?
You can harp on execution all day, but the gameplan to cover the Washington receivers looked downright terrible, if not non-existent. SU corners were seemingly giving a 10-yard cushion on every pass. With a poised quarterback like Jake Locker, that's simply not going to work. Plus, when a team has a star receiver who it targets regularly, you'd think it might be a point of emphasis for the defense. So letting Jermaine Kearse put up nine catches for 179 yards and three TDs is unacceptable.



2. No response for a change in momentum
Jumping out to an early lead is essential on the road. You can take the crowd out of it and maybe pull off a surprising upset. But to think Washington was just going to roll over is downright foolish. Syracuse went up 10-0, then proceeded to allow 27 unanswered points. It's on the coaching staff to make adjustments and keep the players focused enough to come back when the tables turn. That didn't happen.

3. Time management at the end of the first half
Part of this falls on Nassib, but the coaching staff needs to remind the young quarterback how to manage the clock in those situations. With six seconds left, any play had to be quick, and it's up to Marrone and his staff to be SURE that Nassib knows this. You cannot leave points on the board against a superior team on the road.

Now, to be fair - like I said I would be - Marrone wasn't the one dropping passes, fumbling kickoff returns or missing field goals. He can't do everything. And to be fair again, the Orange did not quit at the end of this game like teams under a previous coach. They even made you believe late in the game they could pull off a historic comeback, even though that wasn't happening.

But SU could have been more prepared for this game. And they could have done a better job adjusting to the situations that came up. And that's on HCDM. He will be a great coach for this program, I'm sure, but he can do better than he did on Saturday.

Brian Tahmosh is now hiding in a cave for fear that Doug Marrone will hunt him down and kill him.