Home of the Silver

A crowd shot as SU was lining up for the opening kickoff - plenty of good seats were available

Champ has once again offered some excellent observations and links to the latest Greg Robinson lead failure, Syracuse's 34-24 loss to the Pitt Panthers, I thought I'd chime in with my two cents on the latest debacle, viewed by no one, under the teflon bubble.

• First of all, I DON'T BLAME THEM ONE BIT - but the students didn't bother with this game. Hey, they showed up and were loud and excited for Akron and Penn State, you can only abuse people for so long.
  
  
• I've never been a fan of Curtis Brinkley, but this year he's healthy, running with purpose, and having a great year. He's clearly the best running back on the team, pulling him out of the game for no good reason is insane. Claiming he was tired after on 16 carries is another Greg Robinson classic - he's in shape and he's 21 years old - give the damn kid the ball, he's earned it.
  
  
• It's not even worth harping on the coaching anymore - it's been so bad for so long that every salient point has already been made. That being said, Greggo's refusal to use nickel and dime packages on 3rd down is a HUGE reason why this team can't get off the field. Its stunning that a man who has coached for 30 years refuses to put an extra DB on the field in 3rd and long situations.
  
  
• No offense to Da'Mon Merkerson - but he's had a rough year at cornerback, so naturally the staff moves him to offense and now has him playing both ways. This makes sense how? Are you really telling me that Da'Mon Merkerson is so good he needs to play of both sides of the ball? WTF???
  
  
• Mitch Browning - your offense is functional, which is a huge improvement, we thank you for it. It is not exciting however - not even close.
  
  
• If you throw the ball deep on 3rd and 1 - (great call by the way) - but then are not prepared to go for it on 4th and 1, you don't throw the ball deep on 3rd and 1!!!!!!
  
  
• Similarly - if you plan to try and draw the other team off-sides on 4th and 1 - and the other team jumps and you DON'T SNAP THE F-ING BALL - don't try and draw the other team off-sides.
  
  
• It's an open secret Greg doesn't have his team tackle during practice, it shows. You can't excel at something you don't practice.
  
  
• Greg's answer to just about everything for 4 years - I don't know. I don't know how he got this far in his career.
  
  
• Then again, when you hire a guy that got fired from 2 of his last 3 jobs, we should have seen this coming.

Why They Need to Fire Robinson Now

A few weeks ago I was of the opinion that firing Greg during the season wouldn't accomplish anything - from a performance perspective, I still believe this to be the case. I don't think getting rid of him now makes a real difference in terms of how many games the team will win. Due to the ever-increasing complexity of offensive and defensive systems, football does not lend itself to mid-season coaching changes. It is just too hard to change horses mid-stream. Maybe the shock of canning the coach gives the team an emotional shot in the arm and they win one more game than they normally would - big deal.

However, they need to fire him now to give something to the fans. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why fans aren't showing up anymore. We've been ABUSED for the last 4 years and I do not blame anyone for not going to the games. As fans, it's the only recourse we have - if the product is unacceptable, our only option to protest this nonsense is to not go. I drive from Albany to almost every home game - I know some people in the area who used to do the same. They don't anymore.

I have heard the administration is not going to fire Greg before the season is out. It's just a rumor, I don't have anything to back it up, but letting him go now gives the fans a reason to show up again. There's been too much damage done in the relationship between Robinson and the fans. 32 losses in 40 games - many of them horrific blowouts, is the equivalent of Robinson being a sex addict and cheating on his wife repeatedly. Even if he somehow rights the ship, and claims he's gotten help for his problem, we don't believe him. We've been screwed over too many times.

There wasn't a person in that building yesterday - other than the coaches and players - that truly believed they were going to win that game. It's a relationship that's beyond repair, and it needs to end. They need to give us something different to check out, they need to send a message that this performance is unacceptable, or they need to be prepared for two more games of crowd shots that look like this:

Just before opening kick off, there were a lot of people in the dome dressed like empty seats