Syracuse Should Be Embarrassed Using Single Cadence Throughout 2014

The Syracuse Orange are looking to find some consistent success on the football field but have found tough sledding, going just 3-9 in 2014. One reason might be their anemic offense, which ranked among the worst in college football last season. One reason for that: the offense apparently was using a single cadence for every offensive snap.

Offensive coordinator Tim Lester admitted in an interview with Syracuse.com that the offense didn’t change up its snap counts in 2014. They used a single snap count not only for entire games, but for the entire season. “You can’t use just one, which is what we did,” Lester admitted, going on to say that the coaching staff didn’t trust their linemen with being able to avoid false start penalties if they went on a different count.

Offensive linemen…recruited to an FBS program in the ACC…could not be trusted to know the snap count and avoid moving early. Let that sink in.

The result, predictably, was a dreadful Syracuse offense in 2014. The Orange shuffled through offensive linemen regularly, none of which apparently knew how to go on different cadences, and finished No. 121 in the nation in points per game, No. 105 in passing yards per game, and No. 93 in rushing yards per game. You can deduce that a significant portion of their struggles were tied to the offensive line’s inability to handle a discipline learned at the earliest levels of football.

This spring, Lester says they have been drilling the offense to be able go on different cadences in 2015 with rough results. The first day, the offensive coordinator said the offense jumped “like 27 times” but showed some improvement. Being able to mix up the snap counts has to be a point of emphasis for Syracuse in fall camp if for no other reason than to put this embarrassing deficiency behind them.

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