DGTII - Week 8

A Tale of Two Halves. I didn't watch the game this weekend so I can't get into the nuances of where we played well and where we played awful. If you are looking for detailed information like that you are better off checking in with The Axeman who sat inside and watched the entire game. Instead of being inside watching what I knew was going to be a pathetic loss to a good South Florida team, I attended the 40 Below Summit.

For those of you who do not know about 40 Below, it is essentially a community engagement organization that strives to make Central New York a much more vibrant and exciting place to live. They are working to remove the defeatist attitude that is pervasive in the community and they are working to get young people involved in the community. It is a good organization and you should definitely check it out.

While attending the 40 Below Summit I took a look at my blackberry to get the score for the game as I was riding a Connective Corridor bus downtown. What I saw was a Syracuse team that was only down 21-13 in the 3rd Quarter. I had no idea how we had looked in the first half or what we had done, but I knew that we were only down by 8 against a team that we had no business playing with. I thought for a moment that maybe we were turning a corner since we have looked decent at times in our recent losses to Pittsburgh and West Virginia.

About an hour later, I looked at my blackberry again and the score was 38-13. So much for the good feelings. Thank you 40 Below for the after party and the beer.

Based on these second half stats alone (0 first downs, 18 plays, 9 total yards, 1-10 passing, 6:40 time of possession), I am pretty sure you know what the team gets for the weekly DGTII:

DGTII - Week 7

Since we had a bye week in Week 6 of the season there was no DGTII. Although I suppose I really should have given the team 5 Daryl Gross mugs for not losing to the bye week then because it was more of the same with a disappointing loss in Week 7.

The Orangemen had the Mountaineers right where we wanted them, only down by four points, 10-6, until we let Noel Devine go off for 92 yards and a touchdown to seal the victory. Things won't get much easier for the Orangemen this coming week down at South Florida and while Greg Robinson did make some positive adjustments (4-2-5 defense anyone?), he still failed to make the right calls when needed to ensure that we walked away with the victory.

Once again, we did some positive things in the game. If you had told me that we would put up 346 yards, go 8-18 on third down, average 4.0 yards a carry, and possess the ball for 35:16 in the game, I would have told you that we won. The problem continues to be putting all of the pieces together to get a complete game and a win out of the Orange.

So with that, The DGTII for Week 7:

DGTII for Week 7:

DGTII - Week 5

This week I happened to be at the game and I was one of the few people in the Dome who wasn't wearing silver. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Danny from The Sport Hump. He summed up our thoughts perfectly when, during the first quarter we were both thinking Oh my shit, what if GROB wins this game! Would this ensure him a leash to finish the season? Well, as we all know, it doesn't really matter because Greg Robinson continues to show why he is unfit to be a Pop Warner coach.

For three quarters of the game, I was prepared to do something that has not been seen in the five weeks of the Daryl Gross Tangible Improvement Indicator, give the team four or five Daryl's. However, with their impending Fourth Quarter collapse I can't bring myself to come anywhere near that. The agony of such a defeat and the fact that we now have to wait until the Orange travel to Piscataway in November to see our next opportunity for a win is something that will sting worse than the Syracuse winter.

DGTII for Week 5:

DGTII: Real or small progress?

The Daryl Gross Tangible Improvement Indicator is a measure of the success of the football program in the eyes of DOCTOR Daryl Gross. Daryl has been very quiet about what 'tangible improvement' actually means, but Nancy Cantor shed some more light on the situation when she was interviewed by Donnie Webb for the piece he did in today's Post-Standard.

"One thing about football, it's quantitatively clear. You can know what real progress means. I think Daryl chose the words, real progress. That means real progress, not small progress."

So we have to see real progress, and not just small progress. Fortunately for you, I happen to have access to a dictionary and this is what the dictionary has to say about real progress and small progress.

According to dictionary.com, progress can be, "a movement toward a goal or to a further or higher stage". It can also be "the development of an individual or society in a direction considered more beneficial than and superior to the previous level". But really, I prefer this definition, "to grow or develop, as in complexity, scope, or severity".

I think that we can all agree that the football program has grown in severity under Greg Robinson. Things are clearly at a breaking point and in that case, he has shown progress. But is it real progress? Or just small progress?

Again, according to dictionary.com, real means, "unfeigned or sincere". I have always thought that Greggers has been a very sincere guy. I mean he always shows a lot of want-to and he REALLY makes me hope that he can put it together. So I think that he has shown real progress.

Now, small means "of little strength or force". I believe it was Jim Brown who was railing on the team in that ESPN piece about the lack of intensity that he saw. Well I think that Jim Brown knows best and so we have definitely shown small progress.

So I guess maybe the problem for DOCTOR Daryl Gross is that Syracuse has shown real progress in football but we have also shown small progress. It is like a Catch-22 and Daryl Gross is caught in the middle of it all.

DGTII - Week 4

There was a lot of excitement over the weekend. It was homecoming, and Orange:44 gave you the guide to Syracuse Homecoming 2008. While I disagree with his choice of Pita restaurants (I can't help being old school) and I am saddened by the lack of a mention of Syracuse and Armory Square's best bar, The Limerick Pub, it still is a pretty damn good description of what to expect and where to go.

As mentioned before, I was at a wedding over the weekend and didn't attend the game but from what I saw on television there is a lot that can be said about the game. There was absolutely no one there. The Idiot's gave us a few good pictures of the stands and the thing that I kept saying to everyone at our rental was just how few people there were at the game.

As for the team, there were some things to be pleased with. I know that we were playing I-AA Northeastern, but the defense only gave up 383 yards of total offense. That compares to 484 to Northwestern, 478 to Akron and 560 to Penn State. Baby steps people. Bruce Williams recorded an interception. I am so pleased to see him making such a difference on the defensive side of the ball. He also registered a team high 7 solo tackles. Nice work Bruce. Bad work linebackers.

All in all, a win is a win and even though it wasn't pretty and we didn't blow out Northeastern, we didn't post an O-fer.

DGTII for Week 4:

DGTII - Week 3

I think we all knew exactly how this week was going to end up, but we were hoping that the football team would show some sign of life. I'll be honest, the team had me fooled for about thirty seconds. When Nick Santiago forced the fumble on Penn State's second play from scrimmage, I thought, just for a moment, that maybe something magical could happen. Oh how I was wrong.

Last week the team was able to move the football but still only received one Daryl Gross mug on the DGTII because they lost to a team that was predicted to finish last in the MAC. This week, it is more of the same for from the Indicator. I can't, reasonably, give the team any more points on the scale when they give up 560 yards of total offense and only gain 159 yards of total offense.

TDGTII for Week 3:

DGTII - Week 2

Once again, welcome to Monday. Last week I was at an Anniversary Party and didn't catch the entire game. Of course it was a good thing since there was an open bar and Syracuse ended up losing 30-10 to Northwestern. Originally I was going to attend the game since I was able to find tickets for as cheap as $2.50 on Stubhub, however my father was of the opinion that we were better off watching the game at home. I tend to agree with his assessment due to the fact that we were able to drink our own beer ($7.99 for a 6-pack of Peroni instead of $5 a beer at the Dome) and if at any point we got sick of seeing Syracuse play poorly we could flip it over to one of the other college games that might have provided a little more excitement. Since the game wasn't on HD, I went over to my parents house to watch and showed up right around kickoff. I will admit that while listening to the pre-game broadcast on TK99, I was getting goosebumps hearing the band play the fight song (I'll buy a beer for anyone who wasn't at one point in the band or colorguard and can recite all the lines without looking them up).

After Akron scored on their opening drive I just knew it was going to be a long day. Thankfully, I got a call from work and they wanted me to come in and take care of some things that night so I actually missed the final 10 minutes of the game or so. The most telling moment of the game for me, was when Syracuse tied the game at 28. My mom let out a yell and looked over at my dad and I to see us both sitting in our seats with a blank expression on our faces. I didn't make a sound, I didn't budge, I didn't even crack a smile. Why? I didn't do anything that would exude positive emotion because I knew that the game wasn't over and that Greg Robinson would find a way to foul it up. And Greggers didn't disappoint.

The stats for this one tell all, Syracuse gave up almost 500 yards of total offense. Akron held the ball for 33:24 to our 26:36. Akron was 10-14 on third down conversions. And of course the only stat that matters, Akron 42 Syracuse 28. While it was encouraging to see the offense continue to build on their small successes from last week, it was apparent to everyone that the defense has regressed and will continue to regress under Greg Robinson.


And now for TDGTII for Week 2:



Unfortunately, the bad outweighs the good and I can only give this game one Daryl Gross Mug. Had we been able to win this game, the team would have received two Daryl Gross Mugs, but there is no way that in a loss to Akron the team can show any sense of improvement.

The Daryl Gross Tangible Improvement Indicator ⓒ

We are going to be doing something new here at Get Gross Out this year. After every Football, Men's Basketball, and Men's Lacrosse game we will be rating the performance of the Orange with our brand spanking new Daryl Gross Tangible Improvement Indicator ⓒ (patent pending). The Daryl Gross Tangible Improvement Indicator ⓒ is the easiest way for you to tell how the team has performed. Simply look for the number of Daryl Gross heads that accompany the report and you will know just where we stand.

For instance, if the football team is able to handily dispatch Northwestern this weekend, you might see The Daryl Gross Tangible Improvement Indicator ⓒ like this:



However, if the Orangemen fail to score and are demolished like the last time they faced a Big 10 opponent on opening weekend, you might see The Indicator like this:



If any of the indications about the 2008 football season are correct, I don't think you will be seeing too many of Daryl Gross' mugs on the screen...