Game review

Once again SU was able to pull one out at home. This was a big W IMO. Had SU lost it would make next week's RU game a must win. Now SU has some breathing room to get to a Bowl.

HC
You have to love how Marrone has been able to piece together wins the last two years. When he is able to get talent here look out. We have a good HC. However Marrone continues to struggle on time management and nearly cost SU the game. He cost SU 10-45 seconds at the end of the half which allowed Toledo to get a FG. On first down SU snapped the ball with 9 seconds on the play clock. That is 5-6 seconds right there. Then on 2nd down he should have called a run play IMO. You are still trying for a TD but calling a draw or a pitch to take time off the clock. If Toledo doesn't call TO after the play, then you can take another 40 seconds off the clock. If Toledo does call TO then another 2-3 seconds. So worst case 7 seconds have gone by and Toledo has 1 less TO. Which means one of the two TOs they used on their drive, they would have had to spike it instead. That adds at least another 2-3 seconds. That brings at minimum 9 seconds lost by time management. At most around 46 seconds. Since Toledo kicked the FG with 6 seconds left, they would have ran out of time easily and never gotten the FG.

The funny thing is this totally changed the game. Had he used proper time management then SU goes for two instead of the missed PAT at the end to go up by 7 points. So Toledo woulda been down 5 or 7 points that last drive.

Then to start the 2nd half he used a TO with 13:45 left. IMO 2nd half TOs should be treated like gold. SU ended up punting one play later. Waste of a TO.

OC
I like the O in the 1st half but hated the 2nd half. We looked pretty good in the 1st half and scored 13 points despite not touching the ball in the 1st Q. So it was almost like 13 points in one quarter and not an entire half. Then in the 2nd half we were too adamant on running the ball and only passed when we had to. Hell we even ran on a 3rd and 12. That made zero sense. I have to wonder if we were running so much to keep Toledo off the field. And we weren't even running well. We had some nice gains on pitches and draws, but the bulk of our runs on normal handoffs had to be under 3 yards per cary. Bailey was at 4.1 which is decent in the NFL but poor in CFB, where you should be near 5 yards per carry. This was a game where we needed to outscore Toledo yet we were conservative in the 3rd Q when our D was actually making stops. Hated the fade call on the questionable PI play as well.

DC
I still think we are too conservative out there. We did finally use some twists at least by the DL. Even so it didn't generate much pressure. Also I don't get using the LBs in passing situations. I know we have injuries but if we are going to play zone and try to just cover teams on these 3rd and longs, then shouldn't we use DBs? I rather see Desir at FS, Reddish at CB, and then Phil Thomas and Scott at Nickle/Dime. Sure we would be playing FR, but they would be replacing Lynch (FR) and Anene (walkon). So either way you have inexperience out there. Does it not make more sense to have more speed and actual cover guys out there vs having LBs? Hopefully Shamwow and Fisher are back this week and we won't have to worry about this anymore.

I also didn't get the running the DTs on and off the field in the 1st Q. It seemed like it was every play. I know you want to keep guys fresh, but having them constantly sprint on and off IMO uses more energy than having them play 4-5 play in a row and then coming off.

QB
Nassib again had a pretty good game. He took a bad sack on one play and missed a wide open Chew. Besides that he was good as usual. The Chew play killed as we had momentum and coulda put Toledo in a hole. He has to do better there. The throw to Lemon though was great. And he continued to improve by making some good throws by stepping up in the pocket.

RB
Wow PTG. Love him. He has a serious burst. hope we continue to use him the way we do. Not sure he woudl be effective on normal runs though. Bailey could never really get going. For whatever reason this year he seems to be off balance a lot.

WR/TE
What a run by Provo. He did a great job just to get the 1st down and then carried a guy well after that. It was nice seeing some other WRs stepping up. Nice 3rd down catch by Graham. Two big 3rd down catches by West. And a big 4th down by Stevens. Chew made a nice pass but was lucky there was no INT with double coverage. Shoulda thrown it away.

OL
We continue to struggle running between the tackles. If we run out of the shotgun, on a draw, or on a pitch then we are fine. Rest of our runs I bet get 2.5 ypc this year. Mackey started off horrible. He had the bad snap and then a holding. He continues to struggle often getting blown back on runs and passes. In addition Chibane continues to struggle on run blocking. Usually his struggles come when he has a DT in the gap between him and Mackey. While he should be able to make that block, you wonder why he doesn't at least get a chip from the C. Did that happen last year with Bart? Does that explain why he struggles so much this year vs last? If so then Mackey should at least chip the DT before releasing to the LBs.

DL
Still can't get a pass rush. Marinovich did a nice job running down plays from the week side. Ball made a big shoestring tackle on a 3rd down when the Toledo QB took off. Bromley got a good push on the OT INT preventing the QB from stepping into the pass, which was under thrown.

LBs
Quiet day for the group. I like Lynch but he missed a few tackles. Davis fell for play fakes twice that lead to big gains to Page over the middle. In his defense should he really be responsible for an All American WR?

DBs
Big INT by Scott. Continue to like what I see from Lyn. Thomas had a nice game and made a nice hit on Owens to get a 4th down stop. Wilkes missed a few tackles which was disappointing. I like our secondary and think the issues are not with them but the middle zone and LBs. I also think we miss Fisher a lot on passing situations.

STs
Krautman struggled hitting one upright and missing a PAT entirely. Good KRs by both Graham and Kobena. Surprised we kicked so often to Page. We got a lucky call on the KR TD.

Refs
Odd PAT play. Ref said it was good and one angle looked good. Other looked no good. Can't overturn. Thought the block in back on Page's KR TD was a bad call. Equally questionable though was PI on the throw to Lemon. I wouldn't have called it but it could have been. A play earlier Wales was called for a false start when the defender moved first and was in the neutral zone. So a 2nd and 2 turned into a 2nd and 12. Bailey was an obvious facemask, no call. End of half the refs missed the spot on the illegal pass, giving Toledo an extra 2 yards making the FG easier.