I thought about writing something like a "things to look out for" but never got to it. Wrote the bullshit intro piece, but nothing beyond. The clifs of what I was going to see are:
On Defense
- I’m curious about how often we’ll use a fourth down lineman. Our base defense usually has a NT, a DT, and a DE on the line. Sometimes we add another lineman, called the “Jack” or the “Spur”, to create more pressure. If we do that frequently, it might indicate that our base defense is a 425 instead of a 335. Syracuse typically brought a 4th man to the line, but that man rarely put their hand in the ground.
- The Jack position is intriguing to me. I think Jimari Butler or Blaise Gunnerson will play it. I wonder how they will act. We’ll stick to our base defense most of the time, so I’m curious if they will be more like a lineman or a linebacker. This position is important for our defense. I agree with @ChocaEgg that Butler is a player to watch.
- I'm curious to see how we stack/align our defense. TCU, for example, typically plays two 2-techs and a 0- or 1-tech, and they had their Linebackers stacked behind the lineman. I didn't see Syracuse do the same. They were all over the place, and the LBs were all over the place.
- I'm curious to see what we do with the Rover position and who plays it.
- I'm curious if we've shuffled the deck in the secondary. We hear names of people that are performing well, and it seems like we've got more people doing well at corner than we do at Safety. Do we move some positions around?
On Offense
- When we get to see the FB and who's playing it. You know we will with Solich returning and the offseason charade around the position.
- I’m curious about our top three WRs. I assume they are Billy Kemp, Marcus Washington, and Isaiah Castenada-Garcia. Will there be any unexpected names in the mix? I’ve heard good things about Washington’s potential, but I’m also interested in how we’ll use Kemp. Will he run more crossing routes, screens, and motions to the backfield? Maybe we won’t see much of that in this game, but I’ll keep an eye on him.
- Of course I want to see how accurate Haarberg and Sims are. And can Purdy not look like he's about to have a breakdown.
- I wonder if Ajay Allen will play. He was our second-best back last year, but now he seems to be behind two others. He doesn’t get much attention when we talk about our backs. He might enter the transfer portal, and if he doesn’t get much playing time or any at all that would be a bad sign for him.
- I want to see the frequency at which we play multiple TEs and we aren't on the goal line. Who those two are and what we do with them. When I see multiple TEs on the field, I'll have my eyes on them. Hopefully Fidone is on the field, too.
