Over the past several weeks there has been growing animosity towards head coach Scott Shafer. There has also been an ever-increasing faction of people that want to see him fired and have the Syracuse football team go in a different coaching direction.
While I personally think that might be jumping the gun, those same fans have certainly had a lot of ammunition over the past few weeks with blowout losses to Florida State and Louisville.
Cue the Clemson game yesterday. I don’t think anyone expected the Orange to pull out the upset, but how many people even expected them to play as well as they did? I’d wager not many. Even the sportswriters at syracuse.com expected them to get mauled. Combined, they predicted Clemson to outscore Syracuse 145-44. That’s an average margin of defeat of over 33 points. Syracuse only lost by 10.
So to say that the Syracuse football team played well is a bit of an understatement. In fact, even in the loss, they played their best game of the season in my opinion. Even without star quarterback Eric Dungey, or one of their best defenders in Luke Arcienega. Even after Jordan Fredericks left the game injured in the first half. With all of that, they still stepped up and performed incredibly well on a very big stage.
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Aside from just the players playing well, the coaching staff did a good job too. They ran a ton of misdirection in with the read option and it continually caught Clemson off guard. It’s not often you catch a top 10 college defense napping, but Syracuse did it with consistency and ease yesterday.
They also mixed in some perfectly timed passes that helped keep drives alive. Even the fake punt they attempted in the second half was well-timed and well-executed. About the only downside I can really see is that Shafer might have been a tad too conservative at times.
But in those situations, such as not going for it on 4th and 9 at his own 20 with under 6 minutes left, it was mostly a toss-up and not necessarily bad decisions. It certainly wasn’t anything like the double timeout debacle at the end of the first half of the FSU game.
So that being said, does this game against Clemson help to save Shafer’s job? Well, it’s a start. I honestly don’t think that Athletic Director Mark Coyle has made his decision yet. He seems like a very smart man who likes to see the whole picture, and that picture is still unfolding. I mean, what if SU closes out the season with two decisive victories? Would that not be a vast improvement over last year? Would anyone really be silly enough to demand a coaching change in the midst of clear and evident progress?
Of course, if SU were to lose the next two games, it’s a different story. Especially if they get blown out, or there are more questionable coaching decisions. In that case, I don’t really think it will make any difference how good a job he did in the Clemson game. We would finish with another 3-9 season, and you can only go so far living on hopes and dreams. Results are necessary at some point.
So in the end, while I do think that this Clemson game may have helped Shafer in the short term, I truly feel that his job is still very much up in the air. Syracuse needs to play well down the stretch next week against NC State and then in the season finale against Boston College if Shafer is going to keep his job. I think that with this game, he might have bought himself a bit of leeway and might keep his job even if he only wins one more game.
Next: Syracuse vs. Clemson: Recap
I mean, four wins is still an improvement over three. Don’t forget to factor in that 80% of our offense comes from freshman and that 7 of the 11 defensive starters are underclassmen.
Shafer has an incredibly young nucleus to build around, and there are clearly some talented players there. Just ask Clemson. So really, the answer to the question posed in this article is no. The Clemson game didn’t save Shafer’s job. However it did give him a lifeline. Had we been blown out, I don’t think there would have been much hope.
With how the team performed, it definitely opened the door for him to stay. Personally, I’m glad. I like Shafer. I think he’s a good coach. I think he’s passionate and he really cares about the program and winning. He deserves another year to see what he can do with these young players.
If in a year we are still in the same spot, or even just marginally better, then it’s time to move on. But I’m not ready to give up just yet. I’m on board the Shafer bandwagon, so let’s hope he can pull out a victory or two to close out the season and save his job. #IStandWithShafer